Autofire Setting Questions - What is default?

[Aquas]

Did a little search and couldn't find anything in particular to my query. But link me if there has been discussion on this.

I'm wondering just how does one know if altering the autofire settings is a legitimate thing to do to complete a game or to score in a game? Like how do you know if the game encourages it and doesn't care, and how do you know when it's like cheating?

This is a broad set of questions... but I'm also wondering how you folks approach your shmupping endeavors when using turbo or a specific autofire setting to increase the ease it takes to take down tough enemies, or do you do it simply because you want to? and if you do, do you turn up the difficulty, etc.

In my case, I just want to know if I'm playing a shmup the way it was intended to be played.

Thanks!

[JoshF]

I don't think anyone here is Takahashi Mejin, and some games like Darius Gaiden require autofire.

[Ayanami]

Use all the auto fire ya want I say. Being able to press a button really fast should not be part of a game's difficulty.

[-Bridget-]

Use all the auto fire ya want I say. Being able to press a button really fast should not be part of a game's difficulty.

Definitely agreed.


Having to push such a button over and over and over and over again can be tiring, and make your hand/arm cramp up..... not pleasant.


I use autofire with MAME; for any game. I have a program that is good for that, as it allows mapping to any button/key, and yet I can still retain the ability for charge shots / concentrated fire (holding down the fire button).


ALOT less tiring than the way I was doing it before, lol.


I dont think anyone would consider it "cheating" or even "easier". It's just a smart thing to do.

[JoshF]

Of course autofire won't get you anywhere in older games like Gradius or games with charge shots.

[Twiddle]

(you can bind seperate buttons for autofire)

[shoe-sama]

whats autofire

[KNTain]

i think its that spread flame shot thing in bakraid

[Twiddle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfwFP_RwTQ

real-life autofire circuit

[lewisit]

playing the likes of Mars Matrix or Gigawing with an seperate Autofire-button never occurred to me...

in my opinion the button-layout is essential to the game-balance in arcade-games - that's not to say that i consider Autofire illegitimate but to master the intended button-configuration is part of the fun for me

[Damocles]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfwFP_RwTQ

real-life autofire circuit

You wouldn't believe how many ARs and AKs come through our shop that have been screwed up because some jackass tried something similar on their gun. That and, unless you're shooting at a very isolated range, everyone within a few miles will know what's up. That's attention you don't want.

...but, we're happy to fix, and charge handily, the guns those jackasses bring in.

[SFKhoa]

This is where that Hori rapidfire peripheral comes to use!

[Mortificator]

What I like to do when I try a shooter in MAME is see how fast it'll fire when I jam on the button, then adjust the autofire rate accordingly. You'd think it'd be the same rate for every game, but it doesn't seem that way to me (or maybe I just have an inconsistant thumb). For the aforementioned Darius Gaiden, though, I just set it to maximum like in the hack.

The ability to bind one button to autofire and another to normal fire is great for games with a charge shot, like R-Type. I could do the same thing for Gradius (where you wouldn't want autofire for the laser or cyclon laser), but with how slow Vic Viper fires I don't think autofire has much benefit.

[Ed Oscuro]

I usually don't use autofire, and don't go out of my way to enable it. Many games I play wouldn't really be helped that much due to the shot limit. Autofire would improve my accuracy, certainly, but it's not that important to me.

[Aquas]

There's been some mention of autofire mapping programs used with Mame... could I get a link to try that out?

The other reason I bring up this topic is because it seems autofire can often give you a big advantage, like more bullets actually coming out of your vessel than before. I guess it might take some experimenting. Good feedback though.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's an example of Capcom's 1986 arcade Jamma PCB by the name of Sidearms that on the default settings, the given autofire rating upon pickup of the icon, results in faster autofire rate than if one were to use such an external autofire PCB circuit setup. (It doesn't happen very often with such older arcade shmup PCB titles with Sidearms being the exception in this case -- it would seem that older PCBs would be more apt to benefit from such external autofire hack for saving one's fingers from the tedious & consistant button mashing.) ^_~

The currently out of production optional Sanwa produced autofire PCB that hooks up between said arcade Jamma PCB and arcade cabinet or Supergun setup comes to mind -- it only supplies autofire rate at a fixed rate rather than having such a variable autofire rate if had been endowed with "555" timer chip set (then such afforded luxury of variable pot adjustment could be done to one's liking)... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Rob]

There's been some mention of autofire mapping programs used with Mame... could I get a link to try that out?

The other reason I bring up this topic is because it seems autofire can often give you a big advantage, like more bullets actually coming out of your vessel than before. I guess it might take some experimenting. Good feedback though.

MAME 32 Plus.

[BulletMagnet]

I don't think anyone here is Takahashi Mejin, and some games like Darius Gaiden require autofire.

And then there's the Saturn port of Gun Frontier, whose autofire option apparently makes the game a lot less challenging.

In all honesty, though, in most cases I don't think autofire usage is that big of a deal...and in the few cases where it makes a huge difference, you could always just keep "autofire" and "non-autofire" score tables, or something like that.