DonPachi on PSone

[marco75]

I've tried out the PSone version of DonPachi, after having played it in MAME for years. Have a look:

http://marco75.no-ip.info/mambo/content/view/35/43/

Isn't that a strange design decision? Why did they do that, I wonder?

[MadSteelDarkness]

I would recommend that you try playing it in tate...

It's the best way to experience Donpachi, IMO.

[marco75]

By TATE I assume you mean, with the monitor in a portrait orientation -- I'm puzzled why You gave me this piece of advice, as I included a photograph of my 60 cm TV, you big silly.

Anyway, don't say TATE when you can say vertical or portrait or upright. It makes You sound like a blowhard. I'm more impressed by effective communication than knowledge of obscure jargon.

vertical orientation has a long history... there was a SEUCK mod* for the Commodore 64 system (featured on a cover tape of Zzap!64) that was designed to be played with the TV on its side. More recently, Shark!, the toaplan emulator, also supports a vertical orientation, and I don't mind risking my old 14" SVGA to play Outzone that way.

*A vertical 2-player shmup that allowed You to change the graphics, sounds, attack/waves and bullet patterns of a basic Starforce/Commando style game (no powerups). Excellent user interface, and brilliant for its time.[/i]

[MadSteelDarkness]

Well, the advice was offered freely and non-judgementally. I guess I must have missed the reference to the size of your TV.

BTW, I think you'll find a lot of folks here use the terms "Tate" and "Yoko". It isn't meant to sound...ummm, exclusionary. It's just shorter to type than "vertically oriented".

But that's me, I guess: a big, silly, tate-playin' blowhard.

[angrycoder]

By TATE I assume you mean, with the monitor in a portrait orientation -- I'm puzzled why You gave me this piece of advice, as I included a photograph of my 60 cm TV, you big silly.

Anyway, don't say TATE when you can say vertical or portrait or upright. It makes You sound like a blowhard. I'm more impressed by effective communication than knowledge of obscure jargon.[/i]

TATE is neither obscure nor is it jargon. If you only learn one new shmup term, it needs to be TATE. Vertical shmups ported to home systems usually have two orientations - TATE and YOKO, although sometimes you only get YOKO. I believe TATE is japanese for vertical and YOKO is japanese for horizontal. You will see the options labeled as such in the shmup's options menu.

[MadSteelDarkness]

Jeepers, what is it lately with people not liking the use of the word "Tate"? I'd been lurking on this board for years before registering last November, and I can't recall anyone not liking the word. First it was kidneythief and now marco. Guys, relax...

"Tate" is a beautiful word.

[angrycoder]

I would just shrug it off to Marco's newness. Like I said, its not like TATE is some made up super secret handshake word. It is a common term for fans of this genre. Asking us to use a word other than TATE for his benefit would be like flying to Rome and bitching about everyone speaking Italian.

[BulletMagnet]

If you don't like to use the word yourself then you don't have to, no one around here will complain if you don't; however, on the flipside of the coin, a lot of people around here DO use it, and will continue to do so, so you're pretty much just gonna hafta get used to hearing/reading it. But honestly, no one who uses the term intends to be elitist or anything like that, it's not a big deal.

[jiji]

"Portrait" is indeed the most accepted English equivalent of "tate." Around here, though, people are used to seeing "tate" and "yoko" on their options screens, so that's used most often No pedantry or snobbishness is meant by use of the term.

[Cthulhu]

I believe TATE is japanese for vertical and YOKO is japanese for horizontal.

Correct. Tate is not taken from "roTATE" as some people believe, but it makes a nice mnemonic device for remembering it.

[llabnip]

I would just shrug it off to Marco's newness. Like I said, its not like TATE is some made up super secret handshake word. It is a common term for fans of this genre.

It's more than just a common term, it's the correct term for the option as presented in virtually every Japanese import shooter. It's YOKO or TATE. When you see it on screen or in the options menu, that's how it's written and that's what you select to change the orientation.

It's also not pronounced as in roTATE, it's pronounced TAH-TEH or (less correctly but still close) TAH-TAY. YOKO is prounounced just like the girl that split up the Beatles.

People here have twisted the term a little and say things like "TATE your TV" but TATE is not a verb. It means a vertical orientation or a portrait layout (which implies that you need to rotate your TV). Anyway, it's a common term and the term that is used in most of the import scrolling shooters that are discussed here. You'll find a few elitist attitudes and terms here on the board, but this isn't one of them

Lastly, DonPachi on the PSX is the best home version available. In TATE mode, the game is more or less the same viewing area as the arcade counterpart. It actually plays smoother - they added a 'wait on' option to simulate the arcade board slowdown (I prefer the smoother rev myself).