August 1, 2015 - Norcal summer meet

[segasonicfan]

I would *LOVE* to see a Mega Everdrive. That's the newer one, different from the Everdrive MD, correct? I've been dying to compare them

and Galuda 2 port would be really fun! I'd enjoy that one if its easy to hook up.

I could show off my Game Gear TV with li-ion mod...I mean theres nothing like it in the world, if anyone is interested in seeing it.

-Segasonicfan

[Aru-san]

and Galuda 2 port would be really fun! I'd enjoy that one if its easy to hook up.

duuuuude I'd love to try and destroy Arrange and Omake mode again

It's been too long since I've played the 360 modes. MAX RANK PLS

[Nereid]

I should probably post that I'm going

[stormS]

I'm about a solid maybe at the moment. I've out-of-town visitors arriving the week after, so I may end up spending the day running errands Apologies for being so undecided.

[alamone]

Actually mine is probably the older Everdrive MD, didn't know there were multiple versions.

I got a Zero Wing PCB in so I will be swapping out Gradius IV for Zero Wing.

[bradtemple87]

Zero wing!

[papa_november]

The older Everdrive MD can be identified by, if nothing else, it's long load times. I really should upgrade mine someday.

[alamone]

The Neo Geo MVS setup now has a stock Japanese BIOS installed which should make it more compatible with my multi-carts.
I also added a remote power on-off switch to make it easy to reboot to the menu to change games.

[segasonicfan]

Actually mine is probably the older Everdrive MD, didn't know there were multiple versions.

ah, OK. Can dunpeal2064 still bring his? The new one is a big upgrade - in-game menu, instant load times, and other bells and whistles. Has a price to match though.

Can bring by home made wine cake and/or brownies like last time!

I vote for brownies !!

The Neo Geo MVS setup now has a stock Japanese BIOS installed which should make it more compatible with my multi-carts.
I also added a remote power on-off switch to make it easy to reboot to the menu to change games.

That's why Al is THE MAN.

[Aru-san]

Any estimates on food costs for the meet? I have some cash on hand with me and just wanna know so I can prepare myself beforehand.

[alamone]

Regarding food, because I don't know how many people actually want food I'm not planning to order anything
until people are actually present. So it will be opt-in, probably order a pizza or two from Patxi's like usual.
Probably around $5-8 per head

[ApolloBoy]

Hey Al, is it alright if I bring over a couple of guests? I'm planning on meeting up with a couple of close friends of mine and it'd be real nice to have them around on my birthday.

[alamone]

Think we can squeeze them in, the RSVP list is not a hard limit but you know how large my place is.
I'll be sending out invites shortly.

[trap15]

I'll be bringing my WonderSwan and WonderWitch with a location test version of Fire Lancer on it. It'd be nice to get some impressions from everyone that gives it a shot

[schnoo]

Just moved in the area to continue working in the game biz. This meet up sounds awesome!!

[Frenetic]

Hey alamone,

Are you going to livestream the shmupmeet? Softdrink is kind enough to set one up and people from all over shmupsland tune in, participate, and chat with the attendees.

Best wishes for your shmupmeet!

--F

[schnoo]

Anyone going to the meetup from SF and wanna car pool or something? I am in Noe Valley. feel free to DM me.

[alamone]

The cabs will be livestreamed; trap15 wants to stream some two-player JJ Squawkers; other games may be swapped in and out during the meet.

[BER]

Oh yeah, I'm bringing some ice cream.

[Frenetic]

Great to hear that there'll be livestream! It will be so much fun to pop in and chat with you guys.

Thank you so much,
--F

The cabs will be livestreamed; trap15 wants to stream some two-player JJ Squawkers; other games may be swapped in and out during the meet.

[alamone]

Stream will be live on my twitch channel, starting around noon Pacific Time on Saturday.
http://www.twitch.tv/alamone

[BER]

I'll be heading out...soon. Going to gather some supplies. I think I'll be there at about 1:00 pm. Looking forward to this!

[alamone]

Stream is now live

http://www.twitch.tv/alamone

[antron]

Thanks Al, killer setup as usual. I had a great time; good to see/meet everyone.
This was incredible:

I had no idea this effect was used in the real cab:

My picture angle was a little off. Looked great, and with a rumble stool as well!

[BER]

This meet had quite a few wonderful surprises. Thanks for hosting this, alamone! And as always, nice to see everyone again.

Some highlights:

Clearing Hyper Duel. I did play this several years ago, but I didn't feel like completing it because it was more of a diversion to me. Standing still to gain per-frame points? Nahhhhh.

But I still enjoyed the game's epic mecha battle music, so I diverted to this game to relive those memories. Much to my surprise, I started progressing deeper than I ever done before, so I kept plugging away at it, and I was surprised to see how easy it was to reach the final boss.

The boss's final barrage was a huge jump in difficulty, though. It scatters the screen with lasers without any discernible pattern, and it throws in some missiles and huge beams to keep me bouncing around. I couldn't get by with two lives. I tried again and somehow managed to no-miss my way to the final boss. It was a battle of attrition in the end as I used up all four of my spare lives to take down the boss. But still...wow.

alamone and Twitch were gracious enough to archive this:
* http://www.twitch.tv/alamone/v/9337407?t=4h55m45s (video ends at the start of the final boss)
* http://www.twitch.tv/alamone/v/9368476 (video starts with the final boss)

Sound Voltex! Nereid, thanks for bringing this in!

SFKhoa showed off some videos of this game, and I was enamored by the perfects and near-perfects in high-level charts that players can pull off. I was surprised to see it brought in...and with the actual control panel specs, too! (Tupperware Voltex will always have that endearing charm, though.) I gave it a few tries, and spinning the effector knobs around engaged me with the music more so than probably any other game. I enjoyed this.

Aru-san stole the show, though, with his attempt at one of my most entertaining charts, #Fairy_dancing_in_lake on Exhaust difficulty. Someday, Aru-san. Someday...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ZBWMeBEDM

Bike shmup? Shmup bike? Just kidding. It's just alamone's normal recumbent exercise bike. But I usually eat quite a bit of ice cream in these meets, so I figured I'd burn some...well...43...calories...in a futile attempt to make room. A nice diversion, especially when I got a view of the live stream, too.

Even though I'm pretty much out of the loop with shmups and arcade games these days, I always look forward to these meets to relive the times when I was actually good at something. :)

[segasonicfan]

What an AMAZING meet!!

Thanks so much Alamone for hosting another spectacular shmuptraveganza
Highlights for me were:
*Alamone's amazing Portable Cave PCB /ipad screen/ XRGB hack. I mean, WOWww.
*Playing Neo Turfmasters for the first time! and battling Papa_November
*Espgaluda II on a giant screen with the most amazing kickass 360 Hori stick
*Aleste 2 on MSX II (!!!!) getting my ass handed to me has never been so fun. Took over 30 min to beat the first boss
*Viper Phase I action on a crystal clear PVM with Fiio headphone amp with crystal clear audio
*Sega Nomad action because we thought there was only one controller an people HAD to play some of that vapor trail. The blurry screen action prevails ! haha

I really love all those headphone adapters you got for these meets. its so great to have the arcade experience AND hear the jams!

and I didn't realize you MADE a wonderswan game ! Louisg told me later and I wish I could have given that one a go. Do you have anyway to play it on emu?

-Segasonicfan

[alamone]

You'll have to ask trap15 about the Wonderswan game as that's his project.
He's still polishing it so I don't think there's a public release yet.

[trap15]

Yeah, it's not done yet. In hind-sight I probably should've made it more obvious, but I didn't wanna be annoying about it Can't share a ROM until it's done.

[Aru-san]

Aru-san stole the show, though, with his attempt at one of my most entertaining charts, #Fairy_dancing_in_lake on Exhaust difficulty. Someday, Aru-san. Someday...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ZBWMeBEDM

Someday indeed...I will also be attacking the wall that is Skill Level 04 as well. Gotta polish my knob game, haha

Shmupmeet was fun as usual, especially playing the first Darius with that setup since I've never run into a Darius cabinet ever :c
SDVX was plenty of fun as well, and now that I know my limits, I can focus on practicing for the long haul...once Round 1 in San Jose opens.
I also tried casually playing Darius II doubles, but that was an exercise in futility when I realized that oh right, missile and arm are mapped to separate buttons orz
Alongside that, seeing a Sega Nomad after so many years brought back some memories. I didn't play on it, sadly enough, but it was nice to see it once more in person
Fire Lancer was interesting, though I probably should've played it a little bit more and got more used to how things worked. I think I might've jumped to a hasty conclusion when I said that "even on Easy, it was pretty hard"...also, first time seeing and playing on a WonderSwan \o/

[papa_november]

Tkanks guys! I had fun.