Any arcade shmup PCBs that counterstop?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I do recall that in the Capcom CPS2 version of Mars Matrix and in Cave's version 1.0 Dodonpachi-Dai-Fukkatsu, both PCBs can be counterstopped.

What other arcade shmup PCBs can be counterstopped?

And care to explain in simple "lay-man" terms, exactly what counterstopping is? And do you think arcade developers include it intentionally or by accident, hence the firmware updates to stop that particular situation?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[clp]

im pretty sure the first revision of battle bakraid counter stops .

[emphatic]

Flying Shark?

[Udderdude]

Looks like a few are CSed here .. http://cowboy.ikaruga.co.uk/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=147

Guwange
Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Ultra
Dodonpachi Dai Fukkatsu 1.0
Battle Bakraid (Really wierd CS number)
Great Mahou Daisakusen
Fantasy Zone
Gradius IV
Raiden
Raiden 2
Raiden DX Advanced course

[Udderdude]

And care to explain in simple "lay-man" terms, exactly what counterstopping is? And do you think arcade developers include it intentionally or by accident, hence the firmware updates to stop that particular situation?

It's always intentional, the programmers have to add a hard cap to the score for it to happen. The code would look something like this :

if(playerScore>99,999,999)
playerScore=99,999,999;

When players hit this cap before the developers really intend them to, they will try and fix it.

In some cases, if a game has a bug that allows the player to keep gaining score without end (infinite scoring bug/exploit), a counterstop will prevent the player from doing something like causing the score value to overflow back to 0 (integer overflow : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_overflow).

[jpj]

counter stop is a weird term. strictly speaking, it should be when a game runs out of digits, ie you can be on the last level with 9,999,990 (or whatever) and your score simply stays at that level no matter how many more enemies you kill. fairly straight-forward.

but some games "counter roll" (i made this word up ), so you could have 9,999,990 and score 100 points more, and get 0,000,090, etc. and this is weird because the game knows that the score is higher, but there aren't enough digits. but on the high score table, it will be placed higher than a 100,090 score, for example.

the mushimisama dvd shows the maniac score player doing this with 1 billion score. same again with metal slug 3, if you score over 10 million. and the original donkey kong arcade game, as shown with the 1+ million scores from the king of kong movie.

then there are the counter-stops, which aren't counterstops, and is something i disagree with in some cases. games like the old raiden or gradius games. where the score trackers (gamest magazine) *stop* counting scores past a certain number when the game has inifnite loops. and then the best score is the person who can reach that number with the fewest amount of stages/loops. so the raiden world record may be listed as 9,999,990, reaching stage 2-6. but the game can clearly display scores of over 10 mill, ie 10,550,980 (etc). so they do not "counter roll". this is one of the few things that i think twin galaxies do better than the japanese score trackers, with their "marathon" scores. despite a game looping infinitely, and possibly even counter-rolling as well, the best player is deemed the person with the highest score, which usually means the guy who can sit at the cabinet and keep his concentration the longest. i for one would love to see someone getting up to loop 10 on raiden. mainly though, i think it sucks because it means certain records will never be broken

and interestingly, mushi futari's ultra mode counter stops at 3,999,999,999 ^_~

[Udderdude]

but some games "counter roll" (i made this word up ), so you could have 9,999,990 and score 100 points more, and get 0,000,090, etc. and this is weird because the game knows that the score is higher, but there aren't enough digits. but on the high score table, it will be placed higher than a 100,090 score, for example.

This is more of a display bug than anything else. The score isn't being stopped from increasing, rather the game's score layout doesn't have enough digits to display the entire score!

and interestingly, mushi futari's ultra mode counter stops at 3,999,999,999 ^_~

That's pretty close to the max value of an unsigned 32-bit integer (4,294,967,295)

[jpj]

sorry, i meant that as a lead-in paragraph to my next point

[Plasmo]

Cave:
Guwange (all characters)
Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (Ultra mode - only with Palm)
Dodonpachi 1.0 (all ships, fixed in 1.5)

Raizing:
Battle Bakraid (fixed in unlimited version)
Dimahoo (only with Grimlen)

Other:
Area 88
Batsugun (special version, all ships)
Blazing Star (only with Peplos)
Fantasy Zone
Gradius 4
Mars Matrix (both ships)

[PC Engine Fan X!]

A big thanks to all the fellow shmuppers for listing arcade shmups PCBs that counter stop. ^_~

And a special big thanks to Udderdude for explaining it in simple lay-man terms. ^_~

This shmups.org forum is the best place/site for the latest 411 on shmups whether it be for PCBs, consoles or even the PC platform.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Acid King]

I forget why Blazing Star can only be counter stopped with Peplos. It's the rapid fire shot or something, right?

[lgb]

According to sikraiken, the game Kotetsu Yousai STRAHL can be counterstopped. However, I think it's more like Dimahoo and less like Daifukkatsu. (That's me saying that in Dimahoo, you work for the counter-stop.)

[jpj]

I forget why Blazing Star can only be counter stopped with Peplos. It's the rapid fire shot or something, right?

the final boss never times out. but with the other ships, you will eventually do enough incidental damage to him while collecting blue gems and shooting babies. but because peplos's shot is so weak, i think it's possible to counter-stop it before that happens

[ave]

Tatsujin can also be counterstopped. Actually, I'm just not quite sure about the other Toaplan games but I think many of them can be counterstopped, not just Batsugun Special and Tatsujin.

[Damocles]

Vimana

[Gemant]

I forget why Blazing Star can only be counter stopped with Peplos. It's the rapid fire shot or something, right?

Peplos have a max power in default. At the final boss infinite leeching (永久パターン or 永パ) is possible. But nobody player have counter stop because infinite pattern is banned, and score with Peplos isn't archivied.

there are games with counter stop:

area 88=9.999.990 (only with 永パ = naga pattern: infinite pattern)

tatsujin 100.000.000pts : 1 player have.
vimana 100.000.000pts : 1 player have.
hisho same 100.000.000 : 1 player have.
guwange all chara 99.999.999
gradius 4 type 1-4-5 9.999.900
thunder blaster 9.999.900
battle bakraid 63.999.900 (ver. A)
mazinger Z 9.999.900
plus alpha 10.000.000
hacha mecha fighter 99.999.999 (with autofire only)
etc.

10.000.000+α (ex. raiden or tatsujin ou) is not counter stop.