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

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

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

BIL wrote:"?" capsules.
Was gonna write something about the practicality of collecting these (don't forget about those hidden items too) in a game that seems to loop forever but now I'm completely confused again as to which version I'm playing. Replay Burner's demonstration seems to have a far less aggressive second loop. Things I noticed during my run: not only are there far more enemy shots, the powerup placement has been adjusted as well, leaving you far too underpowered to take out the flying rocks and this part becomes extremely difficult. You cant take down the two enemy bases quick enough and the screen some becomes flooded with bullets and enemies.

This must be some weird revision. My version limits you to one speedup. It's possible to jinx this by getting the game to drop 2 Ss and grabbing them both but after that, S will never drop again until you die. The above video shows S always dropping. BIL which version are you playing?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

New Japan, via PS4 ACA - I definitely didn't get quite so aggressive a loop, actually it seemed pretty similar, so I called it a day there. Wish I'd made a savestate for research purposes. :oops:

EDIT: ah balls, I'm curious about Speedups too. BACK 2 THE FRONT Image I was practicing stage 4/battleship, starting with a state that had died at the third boss. I was getting at least two speedups, there, before I reset the game. Now that you mention it, in no-miss play, I don't recall seeing another speedup after the very first one, in stage 1.

However I have been drinking and gaming all Saturday, so it may be I was just studiously avoiding them, as one speedup is plenty imo Image

It seems clear that your current loadout directly affects the weapons that appear. EG, you have to have four Options for super weapons to drop. You have to have a super weapon for "?" to drop. I guess dying and returning to base status has some effect on speedup drops.

EDIT2: Whoa, weird. The music's at a slightly lower tempo in that ReplayBurners vid, compared to not only ACA... but every recording I've ever heard of the game's music, including straight off the PCB. Bizarre! :\ I know they can use some formidably ancient MAME versions (I seem to recall a Ninja Spirit replay using friggin 2001), maybe that explains it. Here's what I'm used to hearing.

FIRST ATTACK ♫, what a great st1 tune! Catchy and commanding. I only wish the stage were a little more cinematic. However, this is made up for a thousandfold hearing the sadistically keening GREAT BATTLESHIP ♫ against teh sunset sky, as the player plunges into the metal jaws of hell Image MACHINE GRAVEYARD is quite moody on OSV but becomes a cowbell-tapping behemoth via AST! TAP THAT COWBELL YOU FUCK Christ these games make me nerd out hard Image
Last edited by BIL on Sat May 01, 2021 6:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Firehawke »

And this is precisely why I'm so frustrated with people demanding to run old versions on their Pi.

It creates massive headaches like these. Imagine how bad it'll be in 20 more years when there will be even fewer people alive who ever played it on the original hardware and able to tell what it's supposed to be like!
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

BIL wrote:MACHINE GRAVEYARD is quite moody on OSV but becomes a cowbell-tapping behemoth via AST! TAP THAT COWBELL YOU FUCK Christ these games make me nerd out hard Image
Probably been mentioned before but this tune was used again for Gradius III's moai stage with a different arrangement.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Holy fuck, yeah :o Ominous tunes both. Never twigged that, somehow. Then again I didn't spot the Skywalker/In The Wind connection until the composer himself pointed it out, either. Image
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

Yeah never caught that one! I have to say Skywalker makes for a much better first stage. I do remember rediscovering Thunder Cross via MAME about 20 years ago and recognising the tune from Gokujou Parodius.
Last edited by Sly Cherry Chunks on Sat May 01, 2021 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

God damn, I went to look up this ancient favourite and WTF @ downvotes. Image Cunts Image
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote:God damn, I went to look up this ancient favourite and WTF @ downvotes. Image Cunts Image
I added an upvote. Mario Paint is good stuff.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

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

Post by Marc »

Picked up Thunder Cross 2 on Switch.... there's only one version included!?
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Also, is it me or Thunder Cross fares a lot better as a 1988 title, al things considered, than the half-baked sequel in 1991?
Yeah, I was thinking the same last night. In fairness though, I didn't play for too long and a was quite drunk, but I was certainly a little underwhelmed.
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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 »

Seems ACA Gradius was quietly fixed on PS4 - it'd stopped saving screen/button config since the big update, which added a bunch of new performance options. All good now!

Meanwhile, this might get interesting. :o ACA: Hacha Mecha Fighter in the works?

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

Post by m.sniffles.esq »

Not a shooter, but they just put out probably my favorite pac-clone: Guzzler

(I tried unsuccessfully to obtain a working Guzzler cabinet for like 10 years. Every single one that came up in auction (which weren't many) had either been dropped down multiple flights of stairs, used for target practice (literally. There was one with multiple bullet holes in it. Who the fuck would shoot Guzzler?), or simply "didn't power on. No idea why not" and had "CUM" scrawled atop "Centuri" in bright blue paint...)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

I've been enjoying both Guzzler and Swimmer (which I think ran on the same hardware) - Tecmo/Tehkan's stuff always controls so sharply, and with such colourful personality, too. I hope we see a few more of their late 80s/early 90s titles, like Silkworm, Final Star Force and Wild Fang. Technically NMK games, but Thunder Dragon and Saboten Bombers seem like good signs on that front.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jeneki »

The only thing I can think of when playing Guzzler:

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

Post by BIL »

I particularly like how you can spike your Kool-Aid dude with the booze pickup, altering his perception so all the enemies give more points. :mrgreen: Earliest example of a beer goggle mechanic?

Speaking of NMK: Task Force Harrier out tomorrow for Switch, next week for PS4. GUNMETAL VTOL SHOOTING Image Thunder Dragon 2, Gunnail and Hacha Mecha Fighter can't be far off, right? Image

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

Post by m.sniffles.esq »

I particularly like how you can spike your Kool-Aid dude with the booze pickup, altering his perception so all the enemies give more points. :mrgreen: Earliest example of a beer goggle mechanic?

This always perplexed me. I understand that puking water on the fireballs extinguishes them, but won't puking the booze on them make them larger?

Anyway, there was a pool hall/pizzaria/'arcade' (I put that in quotes because it consisted of three cabinets and a pinball machine) around the corner from my church. So after sunday school, we'd go over and tear up some Guzzler (which was never occupied, unlike Venture and Popeye)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

Task Force Harrier looks very.... Thunder Dragon.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BrianC »

Bought Guzzler for PS4. For some odd reason, I thought it was Konami, not Tecmo. Konami made a similar game called Sparkie for MSX and there was a version for the Othello Multivision (SG-1000 clone) along side Q*Bert (which was licensed to Konami in Japan).
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Marc wrote:Task Force Harrier looks very.... Thunder Dragon.
Much more conservative game overall. It's part of that subset of late-80s verts that upheld Xevious-style ground bombing, rather than simplifying ala Hishouzame. Very A-JAX or Fighter/Attacker. Some finessed if functional weapons, and an interesting high/low-altitude format, with massive terrain destruction on the latter. Aesthetic is ridiculously tight-assed Cold War gunmetal/tundra, I love it. :mrgreen: TARGET IS T-64 TANK Image

I've always liked its Treco-published Mega Drive "EX" version - not an accidental classic on par with their MD Kyuukyoku Tiger, just the sort of meat/potatoes army vert I like having around. Quite looking forward to this.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by LordHypnos »

Task Force Harrier Mega Drive
Apparently this game has the highest quality voice samples of any Mega Drive game, so I have heard. I suppose it wouldn't take much to beat Thunder Force IV in that department :P
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

MD Vapor Trail will always be my #1, it's not every day Popeye is your CO. :mrgreen: "Destwoy tha cowe!"
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by CRP »

Wow Task Force Harrier, looking forward to it never played before. getting a bit for spritual succesor to xx mission vibe.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

It hit me while messing about in MAME just now, it's something of a topdown counterpart to P-47. Roughly the Xevious to that one's Scramble. Simple, precise and violent adrenaline shot, with balls-hard style. That second low-altitude stage, where you demolish the railyard while picking off sniper tanks, before duelling T-X FLAMETHROWER TANK in the icy forest is fuckin bangin'. Your ground bombs get comically massive around then.

Watch out for TINY DOODS ala P-47 - these poor bastards get blowed up, complete with teeny pixel gore. :shock:

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Spoiler
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*Great Escape BGM intensifies*
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And it also just hit me: no horizontal panning whatsoever. Image A welcome clarity at the best of times - but especially so, given TD1's wobble woes. Image Better bullet visibility than TD1 or P47 so far, too.

HIDE-KAZ's bleakly fiery post-punk goes great with the chilly aesthetic. Wish this was out on PS4 tomorrow, looking forward to next week!
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

BIL wrote:
Marc wrote:Task Force Harrier looks very.... Thunder Dragon.
Much more conservative game overall. It's part of that subset of late-80s verts that upheld Xevious-style ground bombing, rather than simplifying ala Hishouzame. Very A-JAX or Fighter/Attacker. Some finessed if functional weapons, and an interesting high/low-altitude format, with massive terrain destruction on the latter. Aesthetic is ridiculously tight-assed Cold War gunmetal/tundra, I love it. :mrgreen: TARGET IS T-64 TANK Image

I've always liked its Treco-published Mega Drive "EX" version - not an accidental classic on par with their MD Kyuukyoku Tiger, just the sort of meat/potatoes army vert I like having around. Quite looking forward to this.
I really don't need any more shooters, but I know what's going to happen as soon as I open a beer this weekend. Guzzler looks kind of funky too.
I lost my shit with Flak Attack last night, did they deliberately go out of their way to make enemies so hard to spot. First level, grey planes over grey buildings, second level, red lava balls over red lava. Fuck right off!
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Koa Zo »

BrianC wrote:(...)Konami made a similar game called Sparkie for MSX and there was a version for the Othello Multivision (SG-1000 clone) along side Q*Bert (which was licensed to Konami in Japan).
Guzzler was on Othello Multivision, but not Sparkie.
m.sniffles.esq wrote:(...)
Anyway, there was a pool hall/pizzaria/'arcade' (I put that in quotes because it consisted of three cabinets and a pinball machine) around the corner from my church. So after sunday school, we'd go over and tear up some Guzzler (which was never occupied, unlike Venture and Popeye)
Outside of Asteroids, Galaga, and Defender; Guzzler is an earliest "arcade" memory for me. We had a convenience store (Pensupreme) at the edge of the neighborhood, Guzzler and Silverball Mania devoured many precious quarters. I only had vague memories of Guzzler since I never saw it again anywhere else. Learning about the SG-1000 version some years ago (really just seeing the box art) brought back memories of that time, not surprisingly that version in insufferable.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BrianC »

Koa Zo wrote: Guzzler was on Othello Multivision, but not Sparkie.
Sentence came out more awkward than I intended, but Guzzler was the game I was referring to with the words "there was a version".
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Fingolfin »

BIL sez “ Your ground bombs get comically massive around then.”

Image

Previously mentioned Cold War aesthetic by BIL also begged for inclusion of Slim Pickens cowboy hat waving modern dance interp of idiocy of nuclear weapons use.

(Please not nuclear war is not funny and it’s more than surreal — that’s the point of Strangelove;
also I promise not to drop photo bombs like this...too often....).
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Creamy Goodness »

BIL wrote:I particularly like how you can spike your Kool-Aid dude with the booze pickup, altering his perception so all the enemies give more points. :mrgreen: Earliest example of a beer goggle mechanic?

Speaking of NMK: Task Force Harrier out tomorrow for Switch, next week for PS4. GUNMETAL VTOL SHOOTING Image Thunder Dragon 2, Gunnail and Hacha Mecha Fighter can't be far off, right? Image

Image Image
One of the few instances where the console version is better than the arcade IMO. Arcade ship moves around way too fast and I like how the console version maps air and ground attacks to the same button with autofire. Graphics did take a heavy hit though. And here's hoping for TD2 and Gunnail getting releases. TD2 is leaps and bounds better than the first and I haven't had much luck emulating Gunnail properly so an ACA release would be the only way I can really play it right.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

I like Task Force. Well, I like the first level and a half, around halfway through level 2 it throws you two tanks that are murder to get rid of, haven't seen past there yet. It's not much of a looker though, reminds me of some SNES game I played way back when. BiL makes reference to it being an NMK game earlier and I've seen stuff on the internet that agrees, but it's got the UPL logo on Switch, what gives? This is definitely going to be my weekend game anyways.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by trap15 »

UPL published, NMK developed. Lots of NMK games don't have their names on their works. Their full arcade game list:
  • Argus (1986/Jaleco)
  • Valtric (1986/Jaleco)
  • Psychic 5 (1987/Jaleco)
  • Butasan (1987/Jaleco)
  • P-47 (1988/Jaleco)
  • Makai Densetsu (1988/Jaleco)
  • Otogizoushi Urashima Mahjong (1988/UPL)
  • Saint Dragon (1989/Jaleco)
  • Task Force Harrier (1989/UPL)
  • USAAF Mustang (1990/UPL)
  • Double Dealer (1991/NMK)
  • Hacha Mecha Fighter (1991/NMK)
  • Black Heart (1991/UPL)
  • Thunder Dragon (1991/Tecmo)
  • Saboten Bombers (1992/Tecmo)
  • Macross (1992/Banpresto)
  • Gunnail (1992/Tecmo)
  • Thunder Dragon 2 (1993/NMK)
  • Bomb Jack Twin (1993/Tecmo)
  • Quiz Panikuru Fantasy (1993/NMK)
  • Macross II (1993/Banpresto)
  • Rapid Hero (1994/Media Trading Corp)
  • Operation Ragnarok (1994/SNK)
  • P-47 Aces (1995/Jaleco)
  • Desert War (1995/Jaleco)
Might be a handful I haven't caught, and some I haven't listed for lack of confidence, but that's about it.
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