I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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BIL
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Oh! :o OHOOO! :shock: WHOAMG Image CREAMY-san, I notice the INTERNATIONAL VER of Raiden plays a whole lot like the JAPANESE VER. This means you can have not one, but TWO mighty savestates in play at once! I suggest, at the least, smacking one at the first boss, because while stage 1 is a fuckin joke, everything after is ultra dangerous Image The st1 dual boss speedkill will PUMP YOU UP 4 ACTION :cool:

Meanwhile, use Hi Score mode for full runs when you are ready to go for the clear, but FFS, don't pause to scratch your nose or it'll shitcan the run. Pause is banned, save is banned! Autofire is ok, but you'll be marked as an Autofire Criminal. Fuck the police, climinal team it is. Image
Fingolfin wrote:Thank you very much BIL!!
Thank you all!

Great news and info all around — as always!!

Not supposed to apologize so this puts me in a tricky spot linguistically and logically — what would Chomsky or Aristotle say? — but although I am not a good or skilled player by my own account and accord, leaderboards, personal shooter history, etc a few ACA Arcade games seem like maybe 90-95+ % arcade accurate but again might be observer effect and/or user error.

Don’t get me wrong: It is absolutely wonderful that ACA Arcade exists!! I love the series and play ACA as much as CAVE 360 ports / Raiden Fighters Aces or PS4 M2 Shottriggers wonders of wonders.

I didn’t play arcade X-Multiply or Image Fight so no ancient reference points there, but did play many quarters of In The Hunt and Moon Patrol (via Williams in the US).

Moon Patrol also seems noticeably different from 100s of arcade plays worth of muscle memory. Moon patrol — can remember being so excited for a new and different shooter! Not sure how to frame or explain that nowadays.

Nichibutsu wise Terra Force and Moon Cresta feel weird but that might be due to some other factors; by contrast ACA Scramble and Terra Cresta on Switch and PS4 and Galaga published by Namco on 360, Switch and PS4 all feel spot on (not sure of devs/emulation for Galaga versions).

Could be I need to stand up and move my monitor/perspective?
At least until neural nets!

Sittin’ and or not leaning over an old table top has done messed up the whole darnfalutin’ Weltanschauung!

Goofy chiptune bliss https://youtu.be/A2-hlZTigZg

EDIT x2 brain fart on Scramble on new hardware
ACA Scramble & Terra Cresta, and Namco's Arcade Game Series (Galaga/Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man/Dig Dug) were all by Gotch, whose work I notice runs exceptionally smoothly, at seemingly zero cost to input latency - none of the slight, regular scrolling hiccups noticeable in other current-gen emulation, even absolutely first-rate ones like ShotTriggers. Compare their ACA MagMax with the recent ACA Seicross for an easy example.

I don't know if it's due to Gotch focusing on 60hz/60hz-adjacent boards, or something else, but that might be why those releases seem nearer the original boards than others. Gotch are staffed by founding members of Rutubo Games, responsible for the excellent 32X/Saturn versions of Space Harrier, After Burner II and OutRun (the last one Saturn-only) - they were also the first developer to properly emulate Contra instead of going with broken 3D stages ala MAME. So it's no surprise their stuff tends to impress.

Regardless, I wouldn't get too hung up on whether any home version, even the best stuff, is truly 100% arcade-perfect. You'll have a far more productive time regarding them as precisely that: home versions. If they play comparably to the boards (ACA and ShotTriggers certainly land in the ballpark), you shouldn't have much trouble translating your experience to real hardware, in the event you want to chase WRs, or if you simply want to enjoy the original boards for aesthetic reasons. Quoth another great American philosopher NIC CAGE-san, Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to jack off in the rain Image
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Flashman »

TransatlanticFoe wrote: That is exactly what gets me, I have a decent diagonal route through that wave pattern but almost always get caught by the next spray when moving back in to attack - I feel rushed because the damn thing seems to have so much HP and that wave pattern it does scares the hell out of me :D Calm, FOCUS! Maybe going over to the side will help
I find another good strat is to min damage the boss until it reaches the end of scrolling the screen (you always want vulcan on this boss because of the parts that come flying off it at the start of it's pattern and also the part on the tracks leading up to it) when the fight starts move to the bottom right and just hit the boss with the very edge of your weapon, destroying the side part, avoiding missile's catching it (you don't want homing at this stage of the game). Then just defend against the parts that fly off it and destroy the blimp thingy enemies which fire a spread shot when they explode.

Once the boss is at the end of the screen start damaging it and get it onto the second cycle - if you do go for the kill right away you will have to contend with the bosses' circular spread and the blimp enemies. As a bye product you milk the boss for score but I play (badly) play Raiden for survival and don't really care about that beyond extends.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Klatrymadon »

Any tips for getting the ACA Neo Geo games looking a bit better (at least on PC, where I presumably have more options)? I've been playing some Shock Troopers and Last Resort on both PS4 and PC, and the games look smeary and filtered even with the filtering/scanline options turned off. I'm not expecting to be able to use the best CRT shader around with these games (or even something like the HLSL setup on my current version of MAME), but is there anything I can do to sharpen the image slightly?

(AMD's integer scaling doesn't seem to bring out the 'raw pixels' the way it would for a low-res PC game, but maybe that's an unreasonable expectation anyway. I've no idea what I'm doing.)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Hm... I'm no expert either, nor much of a CRT connoisseur - but FWIW, on PS4 both ACA and ACA-NG stuff looks pretty sharp n' grainy to me, provided I turn scanlines off and leave the image at its default res (go to screen resize and press "Option" to reset it, if it's been changed). Sadly, the scanlines have a mandatory smudge filter attached. But to be honest, I'm kinda paranoid about image processing lag, so I'd go without anyway. :mrgreen: Can pick out individual pixels quite easily on my random BenQ monitor.

(large images, captured via PS4 screenshot)
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Not a lot of options, as you say. Rastan78 has mentioned Gotch's stuff (particularly Thunder Cross) being a cut above M2 and Hamster when it comes to the filtering, but again it's way beyond me, I just like sharp edges and no appreciable lag.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Klatrymadon »

Cheers, BIL! On closer inspection the 'off' setting is producing results like yours - I think it's just our big living-room TV making it look a blown-up mess anyway. On the 21" PC monitor Last Resort looks basically like it does unfiltered in MAME, which will do for now! :P
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

That's about the benchmark I go for, too. :lol: I wish taking screencaps was as easy, but I guess it's past time for a proper 60fps/full res capture setup. Nostalgic memories of taking ST gameplay screencaps with a faulty keyboard on the floor for super professional footpad action. :cool:

(various screencaps dicking about with the Option button waiting for Bloodborne to finish downloading)
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Fingolfin
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Fingolfin »

Holy effing shite!!!

Believe I have puzzled out a possible work around that appears to offer at least one more or more than one save state in ACA games

tested this on Switch and appears underline appears this might work

Use an alternative player name on Switch

For example

my NA Switch username is Fingolfin

my Japanese username is mithrandir

I think this works to allow for more than one save state via different id/username

I hope this helps folks looking for more than the previously thoroughly documented save state use for ACA by BIL on previous page of this thread...

If I am mistaken or wrong, or this has been covered with or previously

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Get back in yer car and go play Oakie dickhead some place else.... :P :mrgreen: :idea: 8)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Holy crap, yeah, seems to work fine on PS4 too. :o Made new savestates with my EU account in both the JP and INT versions of Raiden. Switched back to JP, and those ones were unaffected. Great catch! I'm still pretty new to all this accounts stuff, I just have the EU one for EN-language narrative-reliant stuff.

That means a grand total of FOUR mighty savestates for ACA Raiden, maybe more depending how many user profiles you feel like creating. :mrgreen:
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Fingolfin »

Excellent!

‘...Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'

EDIT hoping for peace among arcade shooting game enthusiasts
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by CRP »

Fingolfin wrote: I hope this helps folks looking for more than the previously thoroughly documented save state use for ACA by BIL on previous page of this thread...
Missed that, could someone link to the post ?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Nothing all that grand, haha. Just my usual method for learning quick n' scrubby 1CCs. Anyone going for WR-calibre scores is going to need more resources, but then that's what the internet (formerly the arcade, for those of us lucky enough to have had them) is for.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BloodHawk »

And here I was thinking the one save state ACA gave was just a one-time-use to continue where you left off last time :D

Now that I think about it, whenever I used it before I always selected "Reset Game" in the options instead of going back to the title screen so it always cleared it. Good to know that it can actually be reloaded for practicing stages!
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

BIL wrote:One of our more prolific posters (since banned for his various incorrigible ways :lol:) named his account after the game, complete with Robo-Panther avatar. From Greece if I recall.
Was thinking about this guy after another poster recently went off the deep end after 10+ years of normal posting.

My impression was that Saint Dragon was more well known in Europe. It's one of the rare cases of when the European artwork was better than the japanese.
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Saint Dragon is one of the tiny handful of ACA titles I actually spent money on (R-Type fever currently dominating my life) but I really didn't get on with the interrupt save. No rapid reload, having to exit all the way out of the game to restart. Resetting deletes your save! What a pain.
The biggest unanswered question is where is the money? [1CCS]
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Holy fuck, there he is! ROBOPANTHER in all he chromey glory! :shock: Presumably a little lighter on the ol' extreme nationalism than our own, since-banned mechanical big cat, but you never know! I was a little sad to see he's just a random (and short-lived) enemy, in-game. I thought he'd be ur BFF ala Strider! Although Strider's robopanther fuckin sucks big dick compared to the lethally shredding Saucers, so maybe not! Leave him folded up wherever you see him, trust me ok Image
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by velo »

BloodHawk wrote:And here I was thinking the one save state ACA gave was just a one-time-use to continue where you left off last time :D

Now that I think about it, whenever I used it before I always selected "Reset Game" in the options instead of going back to the title screen so it always cleared it. Good to know that it can actually be reloaded for practicing stages!
I think different games might work differently? Like some auto-delete your save when you die, others keep it unless you reset. I could be wrong. In any event, I wonder what led them to use such a bizarre scheme. They must get complaints about it, but they've heroically stuck to their guns.
BIL wrote:Holy fuck, there he is! ROBOPANTHER in all he chromey glory! :shock: Presumably a little lighter on the ol' extreme nationalism than our own, since-banned mechanical big cat, but you never know! I was a little sad to see he's just a random (and short-lived) enemy, in-game. I thought he'd be ur BFF ala Strider! Although Strider's robopanther fuckin sucks big dick compared to the lethally shredding Saucers, so maybe not! Leave him folded up wherever you see him, trust me ok Image
I can't figure out the scale of the objects in this game. Is the dragon small, or is the panther/bull very large?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

In-game, I'm guessing it's a fookin massive panther, like the size of a moderate suburban bungalow, because otherwise that's one shitty little dragon. D: BOSS BULL a few minutes in must be even bigger!

Of the hundred-odd ACA/ACA NeoGeo games I've picked up over the last couple years, all work exactly the same WRT saves. As long as you don't use "Game Reset," or Game Over, the save will remain in place.

I think the Game Over thing relates to the "register score?" prompt, which more recent releases let you disable in Game Preferences. AFAIK, if you see that prompt, or go past where it'd usually be, your save gets wiped.

Not ideal, but it's pretty easy to keep track of, imo.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

BIL wrote:In-game, Of the hundred-odd ACA/ACA NeoGeo games I've picked up over the last couple years, all work exactly the same WRT saves. As long as you don't use "Game Reset," or Game Over, the save will remain in place.

I think the Game Over thing relates to the "register score?" prompt, which more recent releases let you disable in Game Preferences. AFAIK, if you see that prompt, or go past where it'd usually be, your save gets wiped.

Not ideal, but it's pretty easy to keep track of, imo.
Yeah, I've never played one that doesn't work this way. The only thing I've ever found really inconsistent about them is local hi-score saving.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by SPM »

Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:I really didn't get on with the interrupt save. No rapid reload, having to exit all the way out of the game to restart. Resetting deletes your save! What a pain.
It's actually really fast. Just go "back to title screen" and start a new game to load it. You don't need to close the game.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Klatrymadon »

Not too bothered about this since it isn't bad enough to affect gameplay, but is anyone else noticing audio delay in any of the ACA Neo Geo games? The sfx for fired shots and charged drone attacks in Last Resort only seem to be starting up when these things have almost left the screen, and there's a good half-second lag for the 'lock' sound, too...
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

I don't think I've noticed anything amiss on PS4 - audio sync on shots and explosions seems tight, and the Lock chirps as fast as I can tap the button.

[short test video]
[short test video the another ver: chirpin like a muhfucka]

Any specific areas? I know Last Resort can chug hard even on cart (st2's turret nest if left un-demolished comes to mind). As an aside, the way ACA NeoGeo audio glitches slightly when you insert an initial credit (the distinctive Neo "coin in" SFX gets cut up) is hardware-accurate. I always quietly despised its tattiness (what am I payin you for?!?!?! :O), but I was kinda glad to see it here too. Image
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Klatrymadon »

Ah, this is a consistent thing on the PS4 version for me, occurring regardless of the amount of action going on, but I suspect it's something to do with my setup, because I've just tried the same release on PC and the sound was a lot snappier. I'll have to have a mess around, but the TV the PS4 is hooked up to is in 'game mode' and generally doesn't cause issues, so I'm not sure what I could do...

Appreciate your diagnostic pics and vids a lot, btw - cheers! :D
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by OldSkoolShmuper »

Darwin 4078 is next on tap for Nintendo Switch.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/ ... _on_switch

Cool, yet another shmup release.

Hmm, I think the first I'd ever heard of any of the Darwin vert scrolling games was in an International Outlook segment in EGM. they had a capsule on the MD version of one of the Darwin games.

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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Klatrymadon wrote:Appreciate your diagnostic pics and vids a lot, btw - cheers! :D
Can hardly help myself on the Option button, tbh :mrgreen: After a decade of putting off getting captures sorted out, this'll be another five years' procrastination. :cool:
OldSkoolShmuper wrote:Darwin 4078
Always takes me back, seeing MD Strider and PCE Ninja Spirit previews... those were two of the absolute killer home conversions, back then. :smile: They still hold up pretty nicely today, too, albeit not as dead-on as MD Daimakaimura.

Picked up Darwin for PS4 on a lark, having enjoyed my brief spin in MAME many months back when it was first announced. I was never certain if its MD version was a straight conversion, or a sequel, or something in-between. The AC one's always struck me as oddly artsy for its era - the weird, evolving bioship reminds me a lot of Sega's later Crying - albeit without the twisted settings or OST to match. I like how they gave each of the ship's many forms its own name, haha. Depowered "PISTER" has it rough out there - you gotta keep your flying dick up, or you'll be Darwin'd fast!

Designwise, seems like a perfectly solid Xevious-esque... I like the quick default speed and relatively lithe hitbox, feels snappier than say Dragon Spirit. Some pretty big guns too, digging the flamethrower (a future DECO staple Image Image). Bit early to say what's viable but it all feels pretty good.

Manual Flyer Scan A
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Get EVOL to survive :o Wonder if this was the start of the Creepy Powerups more (in)famous in Metal Black's brain-jolting NEWALONE.

Manual Flyer Scan B
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Scary bat thingy BLACK DEAME (as seen in the attract mode) seems to be the designated ULTIME LIFE FORM Image

Most notable thing about this release for me is, beyond another DECO title in safe hands (WOLF FANG pls), it's the third in a row now from the official schedule (albeit Poseidon was added very recently). Makes me hopeful we'll finally see Rabio Lepus and Mizubaku, and beyond that, maybe get a fresh slate for 2021/22. Of the others, beyond Chack n' Pop's legacy stature, Taito's Spartan X-alike Kuri Kinton seems just ok, DECO's Trio The Punch is an infamous gag sidescroller I actually think plays pretty well. I couldn't care less about Angel Eyes or Ganbare Ginkun, but I am intrigued at the Tecmo hardware they run on - might open up some interesting possibilities.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

So Sis this just an ACA release of the game that's already out on Jonny Turbo's Arcade, or are they different titles? I thought the JT game sucked.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BrianC »

Marc wrote:So Sis this just an ACA release of the game that's already out on Jonny Turbo's Arcade, or are they different titles? I thought the JT game sucked.
Different titles. Darwin 4078 is the first game and Super Real Darwin is the sequel. From some reason, SRD was renamed to Darwin 4081 when ported to the MD. Darwin 4078 has a port by Hudson Soft on the MSX.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

^^^ Aha, interesting! I completely blanked on there being a second AC Darwin title. Guess that explains 4078's minimalist, almost art-deco (oh God, I didn't mean to do that :shock: keepin' it tho :cool:) look, versus the more generically late 80s-lookin' sequel. At least, I remember the MD version not jumping out at me, while 4078 certainly does.

I really like the original's style. It's clean and crisp yet subtly creepy, owing to the theme of rampant mutation and primal, fiery violence. Almost like I'm playing the Japanese sleeve of Crying (MD).

EDIT: Haha. BLACK DEAME has a few fans, it seems. :mrgreen:
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Fingolfin »

Raiden:
Auspicious start to a top tier STG series

Seibu Kaihatsu

Raiden (1990)
Raiden II / Raiden DX (1993)

Viper Phase 1 (1995)

Raiden Fighters (1996)
Raiden Fighters 2 (1997)
Raiden Fighters Jet (1998)

Moss
Raiden III (2005)
Raiden IV (2007)
Raiden V (2015)

We all love a beautiful woman, piece of art, music, etc yet with Raiden as good looking as it is/was, gameplay transcends beauty


Examples following are readily encountered...should be relatively spoiler free

Raiden’s bomb replacement power up spins with ingenious physics:
like a billiard ball ricocheted

not exclusive to Raiden but still noteworthy and advanced for its day


The smallish enemy bomb/missile that has tiny wings also has some degree of variation depending on player shooting/location on screen

Enemy w/ a red “nose” and spinning rotor wings bout 3/4 thru stage 1


Raiden OG is punishing but very fair:
memorize as much as possible and save bomb stock for choke points and bosses (of course that applies to most arcade shooting games pre - or non bullet hell)

You all here have taught me why Raiden matches wit and gets harder to match your play/ability/etc

Rank!...now I know why these games are so compelling yet so very frustrating


@ BIL if you’re Nick Cage, why jerk off in the rain when you can park it into Elisabeth Shue?!?
VIVA Las Vegas / Leaving Las Vegas

Thanks BIL!!
Thank you all!
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

BrianC wrote:
Marc wrote:So Sis this just an ACA release of the game that's already out on Jonny Turbo's Arcade, or are they different titles? I thought the JT game sucked.
Different titles. Darwin 4078 is the first game and Super Real Darwin is the sequel. From some reason, SRD was renamed to Darwin 4081 when ported to the MD. Darwin 4078 has a port by Hudson Soft on the MSX.
Ah cheers. Does this one suck as well? SRD is ass.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Nah, from the casual spins I've given it, it doesn't suck in the least. Technically tight (love the locked vertical cam, as always), and the action is furied from the get-go. The oddly sterile aesthetic may not be for everyone, but I think it's really cool in its sanguine way. Good contrast with the wicked pace.

Maybe give it a spin in MAME first, the odd powerup mechanic might not be to your liking. I'm currently playing casual fire/forget mode, ship's constantly changing form. No idea if that's conducive to good play, but it's entertaining at least. Trident lasers one second, dual flamethrowers the next, shredding spreadfire after that. Some impressive guns at no cost to speed, but ala Slap Fight, you gotta contend with a bit more hitbox.

I like this a lot, easy recommend if you dig Xeviousesques ala Terra Cresta and can embrace a bit of weirdness.

I remember the MD version being a lot slower-moving than this, but tbh it's been years, and I really only picked it up to go with my other, significantly more-played DECO carts. I should give it and the AC version it's based on another look.
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