What game is this?

[Aleksei]

[BryanM]

Internet says it's Assault.

Images of the dash.

[KAI]

I've been playing Assault today. Love that game.

[Ed Oscuro]

If I could have just one cabinet...

[boagman]

It's a pretty fun game, too. It worked well with that style of input. I liked it, anyway.

[Ed Oscuro]

I know, right? Here's a game where you FLIP A FUCKIN' TANK OVER like nothing, and all we get with modern games are QTEs.

Never played World of Tanks though. Maybe it's comparable in fun? Yeah, sure.

[ikaruga007]

Wow, that looks pretty fun. Never seen it before.

I assume you could map rolling, firing and bombing to buttons in MAME (forward, back and rotating with the stick)? Doesn't sound as fun but should at least make it playable in a regular cab.

[boagman]

I know, right? Here's a game where you FLIP A FUCKIN' TANK OVER like nothing, and all we get with modern games are QTEs.

Never played World of Tanks though. Maybe it's comparable in fun? Yeah, sure.

Now, see, that's where I get lost a lot of times. One of the biggest reasons that arcade games succeeded was that they offered something that you just *could not get* at home, whether it was graphical quality, individual cabinet input, screen type/size/differentiation, or whatever. Assault, to me, just can't be played outside of that particular cabinet, because without it, it's not assault.

It's like playing Daytona USA outside of a properly working arcade cabinet. It's just not the *same*.

[zinger]

I love that game. Only played the arcade version on a cabinet. I've heard that the Namco Museum Volume 4 port of it is supposed to make good use of the Dual Shock to emulate the original control scheme, anyone tried it?

[BryanM]

something that you just *could not get* at home

Oi, Ikari Warriors without a rotation dial or a rotary stick. Just brutal on your index fingers on a pad, and of course the NES version is a shadow of the real game.

[boagman]

something that you just *could not get* at home

Oi, Ikari Warriors without a rotation dial or a rotary stick. Just brutal on your index fingers on a pad, and of course the NES version is a shadow of the real game.

My very point. Another fine example.

[BIL]

I love that game. Only played the arcade version on a cabinet. I've heard that the Namco Museum Volume 4 port of it is supposed to make good use of the Dual Shock to emulate the original control scheme, anyone tried it?

Vol.4's port is excellent, it includes the revised arcade release Assault Plus, and it supports the official PlayStation Analog Joystick (SCPH-1110) for arcade-style dual stick control. Basically, every other game on Vol.4 could be Wonder Momo and I'd still own a copy!

Actually all five volumes plus the JP-only Encore are worth having, imo. Lovely comps, full TATE all the way. Game selection could've been a bit less nostalgia/novelty-leaning (where the F are Rolling Thunder 2, Metal Hawk and Phelios?) but the gems are just that. Assault, Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber, Baraduke, Galaxian/Galaga/Gaplus, Valkyrie, Pole Position and Rolling Thunder are a great set.

[Ghegs]

Lovely comps, full TATE all the way.

Sadly they TATE the "wrong" way (the right side of the TV becomes the bottom), which can be problematic depending on your setup.

[ELabit]

I had a chance to play on an origin US cab recently and it was AWESOME. Ive seen pics of this game played in Japanese arcades with custom panels with two analog sticks in like a NAC cab before as well.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Never heard of this one before. I mean it looks great. But I don't see what makes it so different from Contra 3 overhead stages. Or even Neo Contra.

[BIL]

But I don't see what makes it so different from Contra 3 overhead stages. Or even Neo Contra.

The only common ground between Assault and those two is the basic concept of top-down seek and destroy. They handle totally differently... think Contra III's usual sidescrolling versus the brief tank segment in stage 1. You (and enemies) can't zip around turning on dimes in Assault, it's much heavier and more calculating action.

There's also the hybrid arcade/sim nature of the dual stick controls. It's a really impressive fusion of "realistic" tank piloting and no-nonsense action. Great fun!

[Pretas]

Think Virtual On/Katamari Damashii controls.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Oh, I get it now. That's probably a really cool unique game then. The video I watched the strafing looked so smooth I thought it was like Contra 3. Vindicators does a similar kind of thing. But doesn't look nearly as smooth as this game. World of Tanks is more like a slow methodical fps really.

[Ed Oscuro]

Now, see, that's where I get lost a lot of times. One of the biggest reasons that arcade games succeeded was that they offered something that you just *could not get* at home,

Vol.4's port is excellent, it includes the revised arcade release Assault Plus, and it supports the official PlayStation Analog Joystick (SCPH-1110) for arcade-style dual stick control.

Well, here's the answer. Our markets just didn't have players like Dempa Micomsoft releasing ports and unique controllers for them. Granted Assault didn't get any port and I don't know of any X68000 (or similar) twin stick, but many of the releases came quite close. The Libble Rabble controller comes close, but it's dual digital pads, not sticks. The near-complete lack of digital twin stick home and arcade games after Robotron is one of the great accidents of gaming history.

Still stand by my initial comment though - we could do fun stuff like this on today's hardware; QTEs are a pretty modern malaise. The developers just choose not to incorporate new (or old) ideas.

[BrianC]

The near-complete lack of digital twin stick home and arcade games after Robotron is one of the great accidents of gaming history.

What's surprising is that, while there was no twin stick controller, most BITD ports of Robotron supported two Joysticks. Some Atari 800 versions of Robotron even had a holder for two joysticks on the box. 7800 version doesn't have the holder, but can be played with Genesis controllers and the same joysticks the Atari 800 uses since the game doesn't use both buttons on the 7800 controller.

I find it frustrating that most modern collections of classic games don't bother with special controllers. Some games in DE's collections didn't even bother to get the analog nature of the controls right. I did like the touch screen support for paddle and trackball games in the later DS Atari collections (not to be confused with the first Retro Atari Games collection) and how Namco Museum Megamix made fine use of the Wiimote with Cutie Q, though.

[zinger]

Namco System 2 (Assault, Metal Hawk, Burning Force etc) uses a set of two 68000 processors though, can't imagine a faithful X68000 port. Still, the motorized sit-in Metal Hawk cabinet is probably an even better example of what the arcades could offer beyond any home set-up (excepting perhaps that of Michael Jackson). Looks ridiculous from the youtube videos (http://youtu.be/uGyRoXDvfIo), but being inside it and playing it for the first time with Hosoe's soundtrack booming is one of the most intense arcade experiences for me ever.

EDIT: thanks for the details on NMV4 BIL.

[BrianC]

Telling from the video, it looks like that Metal Hawk is in a After Burner cabinet. Sega had some nice moving cabinets.

edit: NM. AB was just close to it.

Actually all five volumes plus the JP-only Encore are worth having, imo. Lovely comps, full TATE all the way. Game selection could've been a bit less nostalgia/novelty-leaning (where the F are Rolling Thunder 2, Metal Hawk and Phelios?) but the gems are just that. Assault, Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber, Baraduke, Galaxian/Galaga/Gaplus, Valkyrie, Pole Position and Rolling Thunder are a great set.

Namco Museums are definitely good stuff. I'm not sure of other volumes, but V2 actually has some differences with the US version. US gets Super Pac-Man (which I like quite a bit), but misses out on the paddle games like Cutie Q. I heard those paddle games work with a paddle controller, as well. Also, worth mentioning is that while the ports are well done, some of them like Pac-Man, Pole Position, and Ms. Pac-Man have a few noticeable differences from the arcade version.

The funny thing is that I'm probably the only person who got Namco Museum V2 becuase it had the game I knew as "Galaga 3", Gaplus. Mappy and Super Pac-Man were the other reasons I got it, but I enjoyed the other games in it too.

According to wikipedia, Gaplus was released under its original name in the US, but had a conversion kit to change the title to Galaga 3.

[BIL]

Our markets just didn't have players like Dempa Micomsoft releasing ports and unique controllers for them. Granted Assault didn't get any port and I don't know of any X68000 (or similar) twin stick, but many of the releases came quite close. The Libble Rabble controller comes close, but it's dual digital pads, not sticks.

My favourite X68k control solution is Cameltry's strange device that turns your mouse into an analogue spinner. \M/ETAL power.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Wow, I'd forgotten about this game. Played it a few times in the arcades but, as I was about 9, was predictably rubbish in understanding how to drive a tank - I spent most of my time rolling and launching in the air. Definitely need to revisit it, and now I hear there's a dual stick version on PSX!

[goombakid]

Did Assault on Namco Museum work with the original Dual Shock controllers as well, or was it only with the Analog sticks/controller? That was a fun game back in the day, and I'm feeling like reliving it.

[Mischief Maker]

Astro port made a clone of this called Adventia.

Have a demo link!

[Mortificator]

Assault on Namco Museum

Sounds like a take on Precinct 13. Valkyrie & Kagekiyo and fend off a savage gang.

But no, Namco Museum 4 doesn't support the Dual Shock, unfortunately.

[Ed Oscuro]

Sounds like a take on Precinct 13. Valkyrie & Kagekiyo and fend off a savage gang.

Oh man, Wonder Momo is the ice cream girl

[goombakid]

Assault on Namco Museum

Sounds like a take on Precinct 13. Valkyrie & Kagekiyo and fend off a savage gang.

LOL! Namco should make a game like that.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The port could had been out of the question; sprite rotation here isn't a gimmick anymore (like it arguably was in Ordyne), but something of a selling point and the spectacle anticipates Raiden. Fewer frames of animation, but hey...