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 »

DenimDemon wrote:Holy shit ! there’s new display options in this Mutant Night ACA release. You can use scanlines and disable the blur filter. Well not totally disable but you can choose if you want the usual ACA blur or a sharper filter.That’s new since Xexex from last week didn’t have it yet. You can also select scanline thicknesse.
PS4 Mutant Night updated to those (v1.01) when I launched it just now. :smile: It's one of Gotch's - several of theirs have quietly added those snazzy new display options (Thunder Cross, Salamander), and I think input latency reduction too (A-JAX; it's worded a bit unintuitively, "Reduce Time To Display Screen"). Also, they fixed that annoying ACA Gradius bug where it wouldn't save your control/display config.

EDIT: Yep! Mutant Night has the latency reduce option, too. It's in "Preference Settings," titled "Improve Game Operation." On by default, much like M2's ShotTriggers equivalent. As there, I think it's meant for laggier displays. Gotch's stuff has always seemed sharp as all hell to me, perhaps a placebo with ACA in general feeling much the same.

I wish someone would hook up The Lord Of King with one. >_> Damn thing seems to have native 5f lag. Far from game-ruining, but dints an otherwise remarkably easygoing coinop hack/slash.

This regarding the PS4, but AFAIK it's exactly the same on Switch. There's the occasional addition of Hi Score and Caravan modes to older stuff, too (Super Dodge Ball got such an update, recently).

I wonder what the staff crossover is like (if any) between Gotch and Hamster. I get the feeling the recent Namco stuff is being handled by the former, having their characteristic just-slightly-more plush options. All good to see, at any rate.

Mutant Night is a cool game. Deeply eccentric, but quite agreeable once adjusted to... UPL tended to do well at those. Mutron-kun is a little star, at any rate. Surprised he never got even Ninja-kun's level of minor stardom, he's a really timeless design.
Last edited by BIL on Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:20 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 DenimDemon »

Mutant Night I’m on Switch ,so yeah! Those options apply as well. Gotta check the other releases. Soo coooolll this game. This 2 latest releases are really my kind of jam. Great week
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

BIL wrote:Yep! Mutant Night has the latency reduce option, too. It's in "Preference Settings," titled "Improve Game Operation." On by default, much like M2's ShotTriggers equivalent. As there, I think it's meant for laggier displays.
So low-lag displays would get even less lag than the original game with it? Otherwise, I don't understand why is it an option.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Overkill, I guess. Better to include the option for users stuck with laggy screens, then hold it back because most hobbyists will be on low-latency ones. Maybe some poor prick is jonesing for ACA Thunder Cross, but his only HD display is the ancient laggy behemoth he bought for his grandma to watch Maury on. :o

As for faster-than-PCB response times, I don't see why not. Input lag stinks. I'd wire the console to my brainstem if I could. :lol:

I do think it's cool M2 and Gotch allow the user to toggle lag reduction on/off. I could imagine a pro SSFIIX player with 30yrs' muscle memory appreciating the option of arcade-accurate or reduced lag. More customisation is a good thing in general, particularly on locked platforms, ie the typical console.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Reducing input lag figures from the original values is rarely an easy task when coding emulators. If they're really achieving that in all these cases, they've kind of surpassed M2.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

They already did imo - first accurate home Contra ever, official or otherwise, a multi-decade curse broken. :cool: :lol:

I dunno, can't say how effective their lag reduction really is - I've only ever played their stuff on low-latency displays and controllers, and I don't perceive a difference whether it's on or off. I could swear I notice with ShotTriggers Mahou Daisakusen, where it's like going from "HOLY FUCK, MY MIND IS IN THE SCREEN" (Lag reduce: On) to "Yeah feels good, take my money!" (Lag reduce: Off). But for all I know, Mahou's a natively laggy game, just like Garegga.

Assuming that even is what the "Improve Game Operation" toggle is doing. Currently just a hypothesis, from back when it IIRC first appeared in ACA Thunder Dragon, which AFAIK wasn't by Gotch.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jonpachi »

Mutant Night is SO WEIRD. Were it something that came out today as a one-man indie project, I wouldn't think much of it, but to consider that an arcade producer had to manufacture PCBs, create promotional materials, find buyers, distribute it to arcades... It's kind of inconceivable that it exists.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Ha, I know. :mrgreen: Fever-dream run/gunning.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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I think the game is awesome. I’m just finding hard to be consistent (good) like on other arcade releases. Runs go very differently for me. Super cool game nonetheless.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote:
DenimDemon wrote:Holy shit ! there’s new display options in this Mutant Night ACA release. You can use scanlines and disable the blur filter. Well not totally disable but you can choose if you want the usual ACA blur or a sharper filter.That’s new since Xexex from last week didn’t have it yet. You can also select scanline thicknesse.
PS4 Mutant Night updated to those (v1.01) when I launched it just now. :smile: It's one of Gotch's - several of theirs have quietly added those snazzy new display options (Thunder Cross, Salamander), and I think input latency reduction too (A-JAX; it's worded a bit unintuitively, "Reduce Time To Display Screen"). Also, they fixed that annoying ACA Gradius bug where it wouldn't save your control/display config.
Several of Gotch's releases already had the display options for sharp/soft from the start. They also retained the options when they were ported to Switch. Moon Cresta and Star Force have them.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jonpachi »

DenimDemon wrote:I think the game is awesome. I’m just finding hard to be consistent (good) like on other arcade releases. Runs go very differently for me. Super cool game nonetheless.
It is a fun one. I have "jump" mapped to a turbo trigger for those levels that require you to "fly" and it's helped my runs get better. Part of me wants to go for a 1CC.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by velo »

Jonpachi wrote:Mutant Night is SO WEIRD. Were it something that came out today as a one-man indie project, I wouldn't think much of it, but to consider that an arcade producer had to manufacture PCBs, create promotional materials, find buyers, distribute it to arcades... It's kind of inconceivable that it exists.
Well said. On top of everything else the soundtrack is a trip. Sounds like stray minimal IDM or something in bits.
Jonpachi wrote:
DenimDemon wrote:I think the game is awesome. I’m just finding hard to be consistent (good) like on other arcade releases. Runs go very differently for me. Super cool game nonetheless.
It is a fun one. I have "jump" mapped to a turbo trigger for those levels that require you to "fly" and it's helped my runs get better. Part of me wants to go for a 1CC.
I save-stated my way through it in MAME... for me it got pretty brutal way before the end. If this game's supposed to have any kind of story, I'm curious what it might be.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Koa Zo »

Am I correct that Mutant Night and Atomic Robo Kid aren't on the US Playstation Store? I can't find either of them.

If so, anyone know what the deal is with these two UPL games and why they'd be omitted?

Are there any other Arcade Archives releases for PS4 that aren't available on US Playstation Store?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Koa Zo wrote:Am I correct that Mutant Night and Atomic Robo Kid aren't on the US Playstation Store? I can't find either of them.

If so, anyone know what the deal is with these two UPL games and why they'd be omitted?

Are there any other Arcade Archives releases for PS4 that aren't available on US Playstation Store?
I think Earth Defense Force is JP only for PS4. It is on the US eShop though.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Hopping Mappy announced for the 20th: https://twitter.com/EZ_takayoshi/status ... 8530541569

I don't really know anything about this one but it sounds like it's only had a couple home ports before.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Interesting... I like that they're covering some of the less feted entries from those iconic IPs. Though to be honest Libble Rabble could keep me in a Namco food coma all year, so I'm easily pleased ATM. Image I'd love to see more from Mirai Ninja's epoch. If I understood the translation correctly, Hamster's president mentioned they'd be releasing not just the really obvious stuff, but also cultier titles... gimme Metal Hawk and I'll be happy as a seek/destroy clam. (he also mentioned Ganbare Ginkun and Angel Eyes are still in the pipeline - I know someone here was wondering about those. I don't know either game offhand, but their hardware would be far and away the most modern ACA has ever seen, so I'm following with some interest there)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by trap15 »

BIL wrote:Ganbare Ginkun [...] I don't know either game offhand, but their hardware would be far and away the most modern ACA has ever seen
Ganbare Ginkun is actually on recycled Saboten Bombers PCBs, I guess NMK was scrambling to get rid of all their unused stock by this point and sold Tecmo their unused stock for them to use for something cheap? A little curious about the situation with it.

I'm not even exaggerating about recycling either, the PCB literally still has the Saboten Bombers game code silkscreen on it. So, I'm not sure what the hold up could be (other than marketing timing maybe?)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Oh right! :o Don't know how I got the idea it ran on the same hardware as Angel Eyes... and now that I think about it, I don't know that board either. :oops: I should say they'd be the most recently-released games on ACA, by some distance (not counting the Neo subseries). IIRC Kaitei Daisensou ('93) is the current newest. Promised land of mid-90s Konami/IREM/Taito/DECO/Namco pls. Image

The Famitsu interview with Hamada is here, but it seems pretty information-light. Mostly about the pandemic tbh.

I'm mostly surprised he mentioned Trio The Punch :lol: That KFC license can't come cheap >_>
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jeneki »

Super Pac-Man is up now.
Koa Zo wrote:Are there any other Arcade Archives releases for PS4 that aren't available on US Playstation Store?
Wonder Boy, which was also a real bitch to find on the Japanese store. PSN searches would turn up the remake only. I think I had to google search for it using katakana for both Arcade Archives and the Wonder Boy Japanese name, buy it through the website, then look at purchase history on PS4 to install.

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

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Jeneki wrote:Super Pac-Man is up now.
Koa Zo wrote:Are there any other Arcade Archives releases for PS4 that aren't available on US Playstation Store?
Wonder Boy, which was also a real bitch to find on the Japanese store. PSN searches would turn up the remake only. I think I had to google search for it using katakana for both Arcade Archives and the Wonder Boy Japanese name, buy it through the website, then look at purchase history on PS4 to install.

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I tried to look for Wonder Boy in the switch jpn store, and using katakana I found all the other Wonder Boy games except the first one :/ oh well, I still got the excellent M2 collection for the PS2 so I guess it does not matter.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jeneki »

MJR wrote:I tried to look for Wonder Boy in the switch jpn store, and using katakana I found all the other Wonder Boy games except the first one
Did some searching around. Oh hey the Hamster website now has links to the stores, that makes things way easier. How long has that been around? 8)

Unfortunately it shows Wonder Boy PS4 only. http://www.hamster.co.jp/arcadearchives/wonderboy.htm
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Jeneki wrote:Oh hey the Hamster website now has links to the stores, that makes things way easier. How long has that been around? 8)
Mid-2019 I think, I only got into ACA around then and I can't remember the shop links not being there.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Marc »

Ok..... Super Pac Man is a weird ass game.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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Ha, I thought the same. Has a bit of an "official ROMhack" aesthetic going on, with the screenloads of pretzels and fruit. Technically, it was just regular Pac-Man to me, as a kid - machine in the local pizza place, opposite SNK's Vanguard, some of my earliest gaming. Place was on the waterfront, just typing this I can smell the sea air, damn.

Totally forgot everything about it in the years since, other than the giant Pac-Man who can just dickwave all over the screen, which feels pretty rad. :cool:
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by MJR »

Am I the only one here who love's Neo Geo's ASO II: Last Guardian (=Alpha mission II) to bits? There is only one entry in the high score table.
Sure, it's not perfect since it forces you to memorize everything and use certain weapons at certain spots - not to mention that first 30 seconds will make or break your session - but the attention to detail is just outstanding and the power up weapon system with all the toy weapon aesthetics is sweet. Not to mention the second level where you fly in to the innards of a massive mothership. There are details like bombing certain hotspot strongholds in the scenery, and you can see the explodings carrying on as a chainreaction, as the strongholds are connected. This will also prevent them from generating enemies. Or if you wipe out a line of turrets, the tile underneath them turns around to give you second set, something to do when you look for more destruction and score on repeated runs. Admittedly the first two stages are the most filled with presentation set pieces and detail, and then it becomes more of "ordinary" console shmup.

I originally played it at home back in 1995, when I was able to borrow a Neo Geo and couple of games (Last resort, Samurai Shodown II, View Point, ASO II) from the Housemarque's offices. My workmate had raved about it, how it was "better than R-type", such bold comment forced me to check it out as it was available for try. I fell in love with the game, hard, though I was never able to complete it, always gave up at the last boss (same thing happened with the View Point, game I would love to have on my collection, but the prices it commands never encouraged me much.)

Sure it can be argued whether it really is better than R-type, but the amount of good stuff it has going on is insane, it has way more detail and features and presentation as your average shmup. After all these years I still find it very addictive. I bought the MVS cartridge as soon as I got myself a jamma cab with Neo Geo motherboard as add-on, but I bought it for my Switch nonetheless, because I love having a practice go without having to open the cab and replug the jamma connector to Neo Geo.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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MJR wrote:Am I the only one here who love's Neo Geo's ASO II: Last Guardian (=Alpha mission II) to bits? There is only one entry in the high score table.
I've had the MVS cart for a long time but I've barely played it, so I put in a few credits because of your post. I couldn't quite come to grips with the armor mechanics with those credits, but it seems pretty cool. Managed to squeeze my way into Area 3 before biting the bullet.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

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BIL wrote:Ha, I thought the same. Has a bit of an "official ROMhack" aesthetic going on, with the screenloads of pretzels and fruit. Technically, it was just regular Pac-Man to me, as a kid - machine in the local pizza place, opposite SNK's Vanguard, some of my earliest gaming. Place was on the waterfront, just typing this I can smell the sea air, damn.

Totally forgot everything about it in the years since, other than the giant Pac-Man who can just dickwave all over the screen, which feels pretty rad. :cool:
Pac 'n Pal is even stranger and feels more like an official ROM hack since it shares the same hardware as Super Pac-Man. Super Pac-Man is actually on different hardware than Pac-Man.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Udderdude »

Most of my experience with Super Pac-man is the Commodore 64 port. Definitely a wierd one from Namco's "WTF do we do with this now?" phase. As well as Pac 'n Pal. lol
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by MJR »

Ghegs wrote:
MJR wrote:Am I the only one here who love's Neo Geo's ASO II: Last Guardian (=Alpha mission II) to bits? There is only one entry in the high score table.
I've had the MVS cart for a long time but I've barely played it, so I put in a few credits because of your post. I couldn't quite come to grips with the armor mechanics with those credits, but it seems pretty cool. Managed to squeeze my way into Area 3 before biting the bullet.
My subjective view is that you've missed a classic, but great if you can get into it. It's just that it does take a while to figure out the weapon system - it's a weird mix of Terra Cresta and any other shooter with powerups.

Some tips for ASO II if you want them:

You have to first shoot the powerup pods to get enough S,L,M (Speed, laser and missiles), and then bomb the structures for few K-letters (As Keep, you will keep your powerups if you die). Once you get that, you are ready to deploy armor - do not use them if you are not powered up, since once you have armor on, the powerup pods and structures will yeild E-letters instead (Energy), that will replenish your armor. Armor can be bought with gold that comes from the G-letters (which will be the last letter you will have if you shoot it enough) and gained by bombing ground structures - this is where it becomes like Terra Cresta, you have to get the pieces in order of 1,2 and 3; if you pick up different armor piece you lose the earlier incomplete armor set. So you need to know what pieces to pick and when. There are also 1-ups and other more rare letters to be gained from bombing targets, which come at more random interval, like zoom which acts like umbrella in Bubble Bobble - it zooms you past a scenery for a bit.

The good side to this system is that you can build your ship to have quite impressive and varied arsenal, and it can take many hits, the downside is that once you have depleted all your powerups and armor, recovery is almost impossible, and you are better off restarting the game. So it's a truly game for those who prefer to 1cc. But you have to play 2 loops to get an actual ending. Most of the challenge comes from figuring out where to deploy what armor and when to collect them or buy them, not sure if that is ideal design choice as it forces the player to memorize and play in certain way; but it never diminished my enjoyment of this game.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Glad to see some ASO2 guidance. :smile: I always loved the colourful, chunkily metallic aesthetic, but I've just never sat down with it, mostly on account of the fairly intimidating menu/upgrade system. Will refer back here whenever I finally give it a go, cheers MJR.
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