What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Only for plebs who didn't make their own home arcade setup two decades ago when shmup PCBs were like 150 bucks.

I bought a dedicated Donkey Kong 3 cabinet in pretty great shape for less than half that. Just saying...
With that said, when I lived in a loft, I did toy around with the idea of having some sort of 'master cabinet' to just swap pcbs in and out of. But now that I live in a regular-ass apartment?? Fuck that...

[Sumez]

I thought the real pain in the ass was maintenance/longevity.

The only arcade PCBs I've ever had to do repairs on, already had their faults when I bought them.

To use the parlance of our times, trying to claim that buying and playing arcade PCBs is convenient is an extreme case of copium - even on a shmups forum.

I've always been a big proponent of the ideal way to play a game is turning on the power and now you're already playing. My favourite consoles will play the title screen music before my finger has even left the power button.
The more additional UI, menus, load times, online features etc. a gaming environment try to pull over my head, the more distanced I feel from the game itself. For everything it does, this is probably the one thing that makes me prefer the Switch the most over any other current console, simply because it has the most lightweight and unintrusive interface of them all.

Now, needing to have the space for an entire arcade cabinet, as well as a storage solution that allows for easy access and quick swapping out of PCBs etc is definitely a massive overhead, and arguably you could just as easily, if not easier, have a computer that is entirely dedicated to MAME, that you don't use for anything else, and fires up directly into what you need - or even directly into the last game you played. It's possible, and I've seen people do it. They still have an annoying boot-up time, but it would be convenient.

But, that's simply not the setup I have. If I want to mess with mame, I have to hijack my work computer, make sure the other software I usually have running all the time isn't hogging resources, then I gotta either wait for stupid slow mame UI, or mess with command lines, find out how to set up stuff for the game I want to play, and occasionally mess around with mismatching rom sets and whatever. And even then I'll still end up playing with a solution that's more laggy than the original PCB, in an office chair at a desktop.

There's no way in hell it's copium that I think just turning on my cabinet and sitting down to push buttons is more convenient than that. It really all depends on the setup you have.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Sorta off topic (but sorta on) does

Copium = Rationalization?

I realize people aren't talking about bugs. And using context clues, it certainly seems it means 'rationalization'. But the actual definition (as much as these words are capable of having actual definition) is very... unclear. (i.e. this definition: A fictional soothing agent or drug. Uh...)

I apologize for my lack of twitter-speak knowledge

[Sumez]

Copium = Trying to justify something against reason, typically because of bias or pride. Of course comes from coping

[Air Master Burst]

And even then I'll still end up playing with a solution that's more laggy than the original PCB, in an office chair at a desktop.

There's no way in hell it's copium that I think just turning on my cabinet and sitting down to push buttons is more convenient than that. It really all depends on the setup you have.

Dedicated PCB setups aren't cheap or easy without specialist knowledge. Any idiot can get MAME running in 15 minutes on a toaster. Don't confuse personal preference for convenience.

Let's not pretend some PCBs don't take a while to boot up, either, unless you just leave your cab on attract mode all the time.

And I'd also like to nominate reclining in a fancy ergonomic office chair as the most comfortable way to play games. It sure beats the hell out of a backless casino barstool (or fucking standing, god forbid!) in front of a cab.

[Sumez]

Dedicated PCB setups aren't cheap or easy without specialist knowledge. Any idiot can get MAME running in 15 minutes on a toaster. Don't confuse personal preference for convenience.

This is such a weird argument to force, but I'll humour you
"Any idiot" can plug a PCB into a jamma connector - meanwhile I actually do quite regularly hear people on Discord and forums, etc. - including people I thought were already well versed in emulation - confused about MAME, and asking how to go about it.
I'm not gonna pretend mame is more complicated than it is. But unless you have such a dedicated setup that everything is already accessible within a couple of clicks, trying to argue than it's more convenient than just plugging in a board and turning on the power, sounds equally biased.
Of course, if you don't have a cabinet or supergun ready to use, that's equally an obstacle. But in that case, the PCB isn't just inconvenient, it's useless. Just like you can't use MAME without a PC to run it.

Like I started out saying, the biggest obstacle is the prices (especially the way they have been going the past 5-10 years) and storage space. It's definitely not a lack of convenience.

[Air Master Burst]

Of course, if you don't have a cabinet or supergun ready to use, that's equally an obstacle. But in that case, the PCB isn't just inconvenient, it's useless. Just like you can't use MAME without a PC to run it.

Everyone has a computer or a phone that can run MAME. My grandmother's cheapass phone can run MAME. You can download and install a preconfigured MAME with romset and GUI in 10 minutes. Sure, it won't be optimized, but plenty of stuff will be playable instantly, and it's all free to boot. It'll take more than 10 minutes for the average gamer to even figure out where to source a cab.

Convenience is 7-dollar gas station milk. It ain't ideal, but it's quick and easy.

[Immryr]

I don't think anyone is trying to suggest swapping out a jamma board or turning on a cab is difficult or inconvenient. it's literally every other thing that needs to happen before and after that which is not exactly what you could call convenient.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Copium = Trying to justify something against reason, typically because of bias or pride. Of course comes from coping

Yeah, I got the prefix. It was just the things about drugs was throwing me.

So "inventing a baseless rationalization to make oneself feel better" -- got it.

Yeah... I would say there's some pretty firm bases to owning PCBs. I mean, there's 28k blu-ray discs of Laurence of Arabia, but I couldn't say anyone feeling more comfortable owning a print was wrong.

[XoPachi]

I don't think anyone is trying to suggest swapping out a jamma board or turning on a cab is difficult or inconvenient. it's literally every other thing that needs to happen before and after that which is not exactly what you could call convenient.

Looked up what peoples storage solutions are for having a lot of PCB's.
Yeah fuck that. Lol

[Sumez]

Looked up what peoples storage solutions are for having a lot of PCB's.
Yeah fuck that. Lol

It's the worst.
But I'm pretty happy with mine.


It would be great if I could actually fit all my PCBs in it. And that's just the top third, too.

[XoPachi]

I feel like I'm looking at $6000.

[Lander]

Hubba hubba.

[Marc]

I fancied dicking around with a GTA gane for a few hours, realised I'd never seen the upgraded V on PS5, so installed that.l

It lasted 5 minutes. It's got to have the worst, floaty, stupid vehicle physics of any open world I've ever played. Fucking awful. I spent more time installing than I did playing.

I've started Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins again. At least I can make SOME progress here, unlike Resurrection.

[Lander]

I really liked Ultimate GnG when I had it on PSP. Less brutalizing than its arcade peers, but with a recognizable tricksy bastard charm nonetheless.

The progression system was particularly interesting; having to to fetch powerups from later stages to reach hidden areas in earlier ones, but without making them all permanent like a metroidvania. Nice way to avoid trivializing all the early stuff and eventually escalating to you just fly now.

It got remixed into a more traditional arcade experience with the JP-exclusive Kai release too, though I've thus far lacked the intestinal fortitude to get very far with that version.

[Sumez]

I bounced off hard on the original release of Ultimate due to all the home-console style collection stuff.
Bought the Kai version eventually, and "less brutalizing" definitely doesn't describe that one. It's extremely challenging, and I guess technically it may be less so than Resurrection? But just the feel that a one-credit 2-ALL seemed completely and utterly impossible to me made me give up on it the moment I was done credit feeding through it once.
Meanwhile I've already replayed Resurrection many times, and cleared its initial loop with as little as 2 deaths.

[Sima Tuna]

I bounced off hard on the original release of Ultimate due to all the home-console style collection stuff.

Same. I also don't like how squashed the screen becomes with the increased size of objects and character models. You can barely see in front of your face.

[Lander]

Fie, next you'll be telling me Mega Man Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X aren't the definitive versions of their respective games

Spoiler

Alright, maybe not MHX. But I'll go to bat for Mega Man Maker with playable everyone!

[XoPachi]

Lot of demos dropping amongst all the gaming announcements. Ex Zodiac and the two actually somewhat promising F-Zero fan successors got an update in the last 24 hours. The Big Catch had it's very excellent prologue come out a few days earlier that I enjoyed enough to do every last little challenge it offered. I was testing all of those over the week.

[Sima Tuna]

Fie, next you'll be telling me Mega Man Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X aren't the definitive versions of their respective games

Spoiler

Alright, maybe not MHX. But I'll go to bat for Mega Man Maker with playable everyone!

Maverick Hunter X made me so fucking mad when I played it. If I were a wordsmith like BIL, maybe I could try to put into a massive shitpost just how annoyed I was by every decision that game made compared to SNES MMX.

Nothing Maverick Hunter X tries to do differently works. It all left me saying, "SNES got that right the first time. What did you have to go and fuck it up for?" It's been some years since I played last, but I remember the game feeling a fair bit laggy too. Not as bad as the mega man x legacy collection, but not good. If a perfect 10 is the snes version, mega man x legacy would be a 2 and Maverick Hunter X a 4.

[Marc]

Meanwhile I've already replayed Resurrection many times, and cleared its initial loop with as little as 2 deaths.

That's insane, that gane absolutely violated me. It just never lets up, the first game in a long time I've given up on without seeing past the second stages.

Tried out Kai last night, not sure if it's just me but spawn rate seems slightly decreased? Still hard, but actually seems a tad more manageable moment-to-moment compared to the original.

I also played a bit of Cool Riders.... the hell were Sega smoking at this point? I can't decide if it's the most fuck-ugly abomination I've ever seen, or a work of utter, no-shits given genius. It's OutRunners with even looser handling and the sane chaotic feel as Power Drift.... I really like it. I think.

[Daytime Waitress]

the two actually somewhat promising F-Zero fan successors got an update in the last 24 hours.

What are they called?

I'll take almost anything that's not a Unity-based asset flip after the hessian sack doused in lukewarm garbage water that was - you know what? I'm not even gonna type its name, because that shit was not F-Zero.
You want to do a battle royale mode because it's popular with the kids, super.
You want to make your consumers "grind" for "dailies", fine and fucking dandy.
Just keep both of those things out of my Mode-7 racing game and give me actual space to race.
I would've given you clowns actual money if you'd just bolted a Mario Maker-style track creator onto the original and established an online presence for it.
Instead I deleted a game from my library when it cost me nothing - BIL's dead-on with that ethos.

[XoPachi]

What are they called?

I'll take almost anything that's not a Unity-based asset flip after the hessian sack doused in lukewarm garbage water that was - you know what? I'm not even gonna type its name, because that shit was not F-Zero.
You want to do a battle royale mode because it's popular with the kids, super.
You want to make your consumers "grind" for "dailies", fine and fucking dandy.
Just keep both of those things out of my Mode-7 racing game and give me actual space to race.
I would've given you clowns actual money if you'd just bolted a Mario Maker-style track creator onto the original and established an online presence for it.
Instead I deleted a game from my library when it cost me nothing - BIL's dead-on with that ethos.

Aero GPX and XF Extreme Formula. I think some their design is missing the mark a little bit and the art direction needs...help imo. GPX splits the boost and health meter and XF sort of just has random non-feature bloat that doesn't add anything to the driving. But in terms of feel and sense of speed, they've got it where it counts. I just hope they continue improving.

[Marc]

the two actually somewhat promising F-Zero fan successors got an update in the last 24 hours.

What are they called?

I'll take almost anything that's not a Unity-based asset flip after the hessian sack doused in lukewarm garbage water that was - you know what? I'm not even gonna type its name, because that shit was not F-Zero.
You want to do a battle royale mode because it's popular with the kids, super.
You want to make your consumers "grind" for "dailies", fine and fucking dandy.
Just keep both of those things out of my Mode-7 racing game and give me actual space to race.
I would've given you clowns actual money if you'd just bolted a Mario Maker-style track creator onto the original and established an online presence for it.
Instead I deleted a game from my library when it cost me nothing - BIL's dead-on with that ethos.

I really enjoyed it for a while. Classic mode 20-player was awesome. A small part of me hoped they'd add in the BS tracks and sell it as a complete package. But, Nintendo gonna Nintendo.

[Air Master Burst]

I also played a bit of Cool Riders.... the hell were Sega smoking at this point? I can't decide if it's the most fuck-ugly abomination I've ever seen, or a work of utter, no-shits given genius. It's OutRunners with even looser handling and the sane chaotic feel as Power Drift.... I really like it. I think.

I'm guessing those old super scaler cabs were expensive as shit, and they were doing whatever they could to make a bit of that back in the face of encroaching 3D dominance. I adore all of those last-gen sprite scalers except trash-ass Arabian Fight, which is sad, because I really wanna like Arabian Fight.

[XoPachi]

Oh this game has the sauce.

https://youtu.be/ZafTnR6S9xc

[Sima Tuna]

Oh this game has the sauce.

https://youtu.be/ZafTnR6S9xc

Looks right. But I need to see how it works with 30 cars on the track. F-Zero X and GX are the kings precisely because of the controlled chaos and high skill play even in the midst of so many cars. The way certain cars have certain AI is just a chef's kiss on top.

[Air Master Burst]

Oh this game has the sauce.

https://youtu.be/ZafTnR6S9xc

Looks right. But I need to see how it works with 30 cars on the track. F-Zero X and GX are the kings precisely because of the controlled chaos and high skill play even in the midst of so many cars. The way certain cars have certain AI is just a chef's kiss on top.

While that track is fine for the beginner circuit, they need to have good course design throughout; and I really wanna see more vertical sections and loops. This looks a bit small for f-zero levels of traffic, too, but I am fascinated by the boost pads being under the track.

[XoPachi]

I was initially not feeling the boost/health split, but now I thoroughly get why he felt the need with that Final Burn mechanic he's got going on. I appreciate that he was able to work out his own risk-reward tightrope that is in line with what makes F-Zero so great, but is something all his own.

[Sengoku Strider]

I beat the original mode in Super Hang On... I think. Great game, but is there really no ending? I won the fifth race of the 7th stage, and it gives me a password and boots me back to the title screen. If I use the password I get maxed out money to buy the perfect bike, but I can't try it out because if I select race it just sends me back to the title screen yet again. Is that really how this ends?