I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Jeneki]

On the stage with growing vines that chase you, I've noticed I sometimes can't get a shot out, autofire or not. Must be pushing the game hard at that point.

Got to stage 6 so far. Liking this one more than Dangerous Seed at the moment.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Can't you set autofire in ACA games all the way down to 10hz? Would it still be fucked up at that level?

No, sadly not. The Switch version of Halley's Comet only allows 30, 20, and 15 as options. All three of these are way faster than necessary. 15 hz works at high shot power but is unnecessarily fast and doesn't work well at lower shot power compared to a more modest autofire rate like 10 hz or slightly lower would.

[GFoyle]

On the stage with growing vines that chase you, I've noticed I sometimes can't get a shot out, autofire or not. Must be pushing the game hard at that point.

Yeah, I got that at least once as well. Makes me thing something is wrong with this release. Didn't happen to me when I tried to X360 version, I was able to get shots, both manual and rapid fire just ok

[BIL]

We'll probably see a bugfix, if something really is screwed up on Hamster's part.

[BrianC]

On the stage with growing vines that chase you, I've noticed I sometimes can't get a shot out, autofire or not. Must be pushing the game hard at that point.

Yeah, I got that at least once as well. Makes me thing something is wrong with this release. Didn't happen to me when I tried to X360 version, I was able to get shots, both manual and rapid fire just ok

Both old and new versions? AFAIK, the version on X360 is based on the new version.

[Herr Schatten]

Both old and new versions?

Both versions are affected equally.

[BIL]

I've seen one Japanese tweet (on the recent Genpei Toumaden bugfix, incidentally) asking about a Dragon Spirit bugfix, but I've also seen a playtester's tweet featuring his personal PCB kit and endorsing the ACA version (Hamster make a point of playtesting with arcade veterans).

(obligatory "they paid him off!" here )

If it really is just something the board does, I wouldn't 100% bet on a fix - ACA tends to be warts n' all, unlike ShotTriggers where M2 will actively address say Garegga's well-known native lag. OTOH, there have been isolated amenity patches, going beyond fixing critical instadeath bugs and the like (Trigon's smaller hitbox, Gunnail's alarm toggle, Thunder Dragon's latency reduction). So maybe something will come through.

If it's a bug on Hamster's part, though, I'd be really surprised if it's not sorted out, given their solid track record on maintaining their stuff, often many years post-release.

God that vine section blows.

[Herr Schatten]

I think I've seen this in replays from people playing the PCB, so maybe they fixed it in the X360 port while Hamster preserved the original behaviour?

[Fingolfin]

Qix coming 3/10!

[Sima Tuna]

Good excuse to skip that overpriced taito memories thing that's coming out.

[Jonpachi]

Qix coming 3/10!

Is that a release date or a review score?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Qix coming 3/10!

HOT
HOT
HOT

Spoiler

[BIL]

Ha, had no idea Qix was American-made. By a married couple no less. Easy pickup, actually I think this is the first time I've had the AC version (have long enjoyed the cute little GB cart, an early gem of its library).

[Udderdude]

Zoo Keeper next? lol

[Marc]

Cool, but it makes me more excited for more potential Taito goodness

[m.sniffles.esq]

Zoo Keeper next? lol

Hey, Zoo Keeper is pretty rad

True story: The very first arcade cab I ever owned was a Qix cocktail. I always dug it as a kid (it was just so strange and abstract), and I had a job overnight cleaning this cheeseball 'alterna' bar that was previously a old man bar. The previous tenants had left a Ms. Pac Man and a Qix cocktail. The Ms. Pac Man was placed out front so customers could play, but the Qix was in back with beer cases stacked on it. "I don't know what the hell that game is. I don't even know how to say it" responded the (cheeseball) owner when I asked him why it wasn't in front too. So I worked for one week sans pay (it was an under the table job while I was collecting unemployment insurance anyway), and I had to haul it ("and I mean you have to bring your own help too. Because I ain't helping you carry that fucking thing") but we played the shit out of some Qix for about three months until the power supply died (perhaps I shouldn't have left it on constantly, but y'know, high scores...)

[Jeneki]

I hope Zoo Keeper includes one of those Hamster tweaks, to disable the edge-of-screen seizure flashing.

[BIL]

Pros: you don't die of a seizure
Cons: now the zoo animals don't either, and a chimp eat your asscheeks off

[Ms. Tea]

Qix coming 3/10!

Is that a release date or a review score?

[EmperorIng]

qix as a concept is cool and I would come to it on Taito Legends here and there but the series itself didn't really grab me until I played Volfied on the ps1 (released iirc as Qix Neo). That game sucked me in and I played it a lot a few years back.

Needless to say, I'd prefer a release of Volfied!

[DenimDemon]

There was a Qix clone with the naked girls, beside the populated Street Fighter 2 cab when I was 16. Remember being in-line to the Capcom cab and peeking at the gameplay of that erotic game. And every time I went there, there’s always the same dude playing it.
Later I tried the game myself and beside the naughty stuff the gameplay concept was quiet cool. That was my introduction to Qix.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I hope that Dragon Saber is on the menu sometime soon.

[BrianC]

Ha, had no idea Qix was American-made. By a married couple no less. Easy pickup, actually I think this is the first time I've had the AC version (have long enjoyed the cute little GB cart, an early gem of its library).

Wow. I didn't know this either. I grew up with the GB and DOS ports of the game. It was also one of the games to get a completely different port on the Atari 5200 compared to the Atari 800 version (I like both ports, though the drawing on the Atari 800 version is slooooow). I also have the Lynx port that was actually much better than I expected it to be.

Looks like it has something in common with Phoenix, which often ends up in Taito collections.

Zookeeper has a nice unofficial port for the 2600.

[Skyknight]

There was a Qix clone with the naked girls, beside the populated Street Fighter 2 cab when I was 16. Remember being in-line to the Capcom cab and peeking at the gameplay of that erotic game. And every time I went there, there’s always the same dude playing it.
Later I tried the game myself and beside the naughty stuff the gameplay concept was quiet cool. That was my introduction to Qix.

There were waaaay too many fleshy knockoffs of Qix, it seems...That's not even a remotely narrowing reference.

[Fingolfin]

Qix coming 3/10!

Is that a release date or a review score?

Review scores are useful
Paragraphs/pages more so
Qualitative and quantitative (w/ screenshots) is best

Hopefully someday Aca Arcade Space Dungeon (also Taito by an American programmer); same hardware as Qix

Qix aptly fits the Bushnell maxim:
“All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master.”

On the most basic level(s), happiness in video games = some degree of intuitiveness, easy control(s), bright colors and engaging patterns in thoughtful combinations

[Sima Tuna]

The more taito games ACA release, the better the odds of someday getting Elevator Action Returns, Growl, Metal Black and Gekirindan. Come on, Hamster! You gave me Liquid Kids. It's time to pony up the rest of the goods! Don't blueball me.

[CecilMcW00t]

Even Toy Pop wasn't arcade accurate!? What was different in the Namco Museum release?

Oh, my bad. I don't know if it was accurate or not, I just wanted it on a modern platform.

RE: Dragon Spirit Autofire funkiness
Okay, I was also noticing the game was behaving oddly with autofire turned on. Most of my muscle memory for this game was still there, but I found myself getting hit more often or getting dropped inputs when trying to dodge in certain areas of the game. The way autofire is implemented seems to be messing with the game. So, I am playing the Switch port, and I decided to use my Hori Split Pad Pro's built-in rapid function to see if it made any difference. I noticed that the rate of fire is a tad bit slower than the 15 hz setting. This has made a huge difference for me personally and I'm curious to hear if this fixes the dropped inputs issue for you guys if you have controllers with rapid fire.

[Sumez]

There was a Qix clone with the naked girls, beside the populated Street Fighter 2 cab when I was 16. Remember being in-line to the Capcom cab and peeking at the gameplay of that erotic game. And every time I went there, there’s always the same dude playing it.
Later I tried the game myself and beside the naughty stuff the gameplay concept was quiet cool. That was my introduction to Qix.

There were waaaay too many fleshy knockoffs of Qix, it seems...That's not even a remotely narrowing reference.

Though it's safe to say it was probably Gals Panic, which was an incredibly popular game, and published by Taito as well.

Though the Gals Panic series itself saw tons of Kaneko self-published sequels and eventually went down the anime/soft h route, as opposed to terribly digitized models, the first game is the one that had distribution all over the world and very frequent presence in early 90s arcades and greasy takeaways. I still see PCBs for sale very frequently among local arcade collectors, and they never sell for much.

And to be honest, the Gals Panic series does the Qix formula quite well, they are good games. I'd wager there's a lot of people out there who are more familiar with the horny version of Qix than the original game.

[hamfighterx]

LMAO at getting the original arcade Qix twice in one week, in 2022. Arcade Archives, and the Egret Mini (mine showed up on Tuesday from Amazon.jp, shipping to the US).

I'm not sure I had ever even PLAYED the arcade version before this week. Put a lot of time into the GB version back in the early 90s though!

[m.sniffles.esq]

Uh, is anyone having issues with Qix and an arcade stick on Switch?

Regular pro controller seems fine(ish). But my arcade controller... I'll push left and the dot won't respond. I'll center and push left again and dot will move left, but then suddenly stop (as if I let go of the stick even though I didn't). I'll center then push left again and the dot will start moving again.

(I'm having problems in all directions, I only used left as an example)

I switched over to Darius Gaiden just to see if suddenly my stick shit the bed, but no, there's definitely something up with the game.