An arcade that has heavy respect for Shumps!

[Ghostlord]

Hi everyone. I just joined the site/forums and hope to be able to contribute as I am a big shmup fan (and know many fellow). I am one of the owners of the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL. We have a growing collection of shooters, with most recently being Metal Black & Salamander 2 going on the floor this week. We have over 360+ games (all original arcade boards...no emulation) (Following will be a pretty complete list of our shooters), and really spend a lot of time making sure that all of them are playing great (replacing joysticks and buttons at the first sign of any issue). We are very focused with tracking high scores and use aurcade.com for score verification. I've seen us mentioned on here a time or two, so I just basically wanted to introduce myself, and ask for any of you who come to the Galloping Ghost Arcade from here, please let us know who you are and if there is anything we can do or get to better the Shmup scene...we always try to be accommodating. I'm very open to importing and trying rare and obscure games. I also look forward to furthering my shooter knowledge through what looks to be a great forum...Thanks - Doc Mack - Ghostlord - Galloping Ghost Arcade -
www.gallopingghostarcade.com


1942
1943
Aero Fighters
Aero Fighters 2
Air Buster
Alcon
Bermuda Triangle
Cobra Command
Dangar UFO Robo
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Donpachi
Dragon Saber
Dragon Spirit
Forgotten Worlds
Gradius II
Halley's Comet
Ikaruga
In The Hunt
Life Force
Mega Force
Metal Black
Mission Craft
P-47 Phantom Fighter
Raiden
R-Type
Silk Worm
Sky Shark
Sol Divide
Strikers 1945 Plus
Space Fortress Macross
Terra Cresta
Thunder Force AC
Tiger Heli
Truxton
Twin Cobra
Twin Eagle
Twin Eagle II
U.N. Squadron
Vulgus
Zed Blade

[opt2not]

Dang, the last time i was in Chicago I really wanted to drive over to Brooksfeild to check out Galloping Ghost, but we were so strapped for time due to a friend's wedding that we couldn't.
The next time I'm in the area I'm going to make sure I make time!

[Deca]

Gah I just drove all the way out to Chicago last week to buy a car, I may have to plan another trip sometime soon!

Is the Daioujou cabinet Black Label by any chance?

EDIT: I just saw you have Elevator Action Returns and TGM on your list of stuff to add!! I'll definitely have to make it out there to play some proper Tetris, I've always wanted a chance to play TGM on an actual cab

[Some-Mist]

I live about 45 minutes away and I try to go at least once every couple of months. Awesome arcade. I usually spend 99% of my time on ikargua and dodonpachi/ddpdoj. I haven't been there in awhile (looks like truxton and in the hunt are fairly new), so it's about time I stop in again!

[Cagar]

Oh yes, you had that hilarious "FLAWLESS" daioujou gameplay video on youtube.

Ah, there's new one too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMP1GADPXgM

Just to let you know, these game should only be played on NORMAL difficulty and with normal extends.
Check out some of our very basic scores: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10147

[Eaglet]

A tip if you want the correct WR's and Western records for each respective shooter:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38524

Also, get yourselves some Raizing.
Armed Police Batrider would work great in a western arcade environment i think.
Battle Garegga would also have a pretty broad appeal because of it's awesome music, old school aesthetics and challenging gameplay for those who feel like taking on something a bit unusual.

[Erppo]

Raiden - 558,070 - WORLD RECORD

Oh come on.

[powersoul]

Damn! Mega force! None of my local arcades have that anymore. I missed that game since the SNES days.

[Ghostlord]

I can already see this forum is going to be very helpful...thank you all for responding.

Deca - Our Daioujou is only regular....not Black Label. I'm open to upgrading, but I have to find the board at a reasonable price. Elevator Action 2 & Tetris GMC are ones we hope to have very soon!

Some-Mist - I appreciate you making the trip out! Truxton & In The Hunt we've had for a little while now. The In The Hunt cabinet, we custom made the marquee for it. We made a water filled tank with the mini sub toy that was released in Japan. We added an air system so it bubbles and everything...pretty cool.

Cagar - Yeh with that Daioujou video...flawless was only meant that he didn't die.

Eaglet - Thanks for the link to the scores. With Aurcade, the scores must be verified by one of their referees. I'm working on them acknowledging other high scores verified by other scoring houses (currently only scores from Twin Galaxies are referenced). They do have to be set on traditional arcade cabinets with original PCB hardware in a live arcade setting. Its similar to Twin Galaxies. Aurcade tracks what arcades have what games, and they have no record of any other arcade with several of the shooters we have, so many of their world records are held here. There are obviously much higher scores but they just aren't verified with Aurcade. Also thanks for the game suggetions...I will look into them for sure.

Erppo - We greatly look forward for someone from these forums to come in and smash some of the existing scores on games like Raiden! Again we go by the scores that have been submitted to Aurcade.

Powesoul - Mega Force, definitely a great game...we had a guy come in from Canada not too long ago and just wreck the house record. He put up over 1.8 million in it.

Again thanks guys...this input is really going to help us grow and make our selection even better!

[bestcellar]

Oh yes, you had that hilarious "FLAWLESS" daioujou gameplay video on youtube.

Ah, there's new one too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMP1GADPXgM

Just to let you know, these game should only be played on NORMAL difficulty and with normal extends.
Check out some of our very basic scores: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10147

The new one is my video, actually. I know it's not even close to the skill level of some people here, but it was nevertheless an achievement that I was proud of, since I'd never played the game before June of this year and just recently got into these japanese shooters.

Btw, why do you feel these games should only be played on NORMAL difficulty? The folks at the arcade like the very hard modes.

Also, I believe the variant of Donpachi there is the Hong Kong one, which provides more of a challenge than the US version.

[Zerst]

Hey Doc, glad to see you aboard. Hope your time here will bring good things to the arcade. I'm that Ikaruga/DOJ guy who was down there for a little while in the late summer to play a bunch of the shmups.

Just to touch on a couple points here...

Regarding the "world record" issue, the Japanese shmup community has a verification system in place that we have accepted in this forum. The bulk of those scores were done live or by recording, and submitted to Arcadia/Gamest Magazine. Since they have their own score tracking community, very few Japanese players even bother looking outside Japan to get their scores out. They just have no reason to submit to TG/Aurcade.

This is a compiled list of Japanese records, compared against the best scores that players outside Japan have claimed (though not necessarily verified in that case). http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38524 Compare the scores on this list to the scores you have posted, and you'll get an idea of where we're coming from. Note in particular that Raiden has been counterstopped (9,999,990) by both Japanese and Western players.

I understand you run by Aurcade's verification process and don't necessarily want to list other scores unless they've been verified to your standards, but it looks very silly to us to see such comparatively low scores being touted as World Records. The attitude of "well if you don't like the listed score come and beat it" doesn't fix the problem (as we aren't going to be able to go there and top the Japanese scores), and you may drive some potential competition away by people who don't want to involve themselves with such a label. Not to say you have to abandon your system, but just be cautious about emphasizing it too much here.


In kind of the same vein, DOJ/donpachi being on harder-than-default settings was a bit irritating for me to play when I was there. Most shmups made in the 90s and afterwards are very well balanced on the default, and the harder dips are likely only there to give profit-by-credits operators a chance to shorten/lengthen game time as needed. Is that monitor (yes, it's as washed-out-blue as it looks in the linked video above) on a list of things to eventually replace?


I can definitely agree that picking up a Raizing shmup (Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Battle Bakraid, Dimahoo) would help round out your collection quite a bit. They're games that have really unique and fun scoring systems, tons of secrets, and great music. Garegga is considered by some to be one of the greatest shmups ever made. http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=38073


I hope this post isn't coming off as too negative, but criticism is how things improve.

[Ghostlord]

Hey Zerst! Thanks for commenting in...We don't take the advice to better our place in a negative way at all.
Aurcade is still relatively new and is still constantly growing. At your request, I'll be talking with the owner of Aurcade today about adding scores from Arcadia as a respected source...hopefully they will be receptive to the idea. Obviously there are scores out there that are higher than that listed on Aurcade, but its the standards we work with and hopefully the pros won't look at it as a put off. We want people to set scores here but first and for most we look at as place for people to come play these games. Most people have never had a chance to play a lot of these outside of just emulating them. It has already has helped get a lot of new players into the shooter scene and grow some great competitions here. So please don't take it the wrong way if we say something is a world record...consider it to be the Aurcade World Record, until we can get the true world records listed in the site.
We definitely listen to what the people who play here regularly ask for, which is why Daioujou is on the hardest setting...several of our regulars wanted a great challenge.
The screen still is too blue, but it will be fixed (hopefully within the 10 days)...with 360+ machines its hard to keep everything 100% perfect. We do try, and focus on what people mention directly to us first and of course the most serious issues. That's definitely one that has been bugging me for awhile too. Everything does get fixed eventually.

We will keep an eye out for Battle Garegga...I'll move that one to the top of our list of games to look for.

Thanks again for the input

[EmperorIng]

It's an impressive place (from looking at the cabinet list) and as I live in Chicago proper I've been meaning to try and find an easy way over there. Good luck on getting that Darius cabinet!

[KAI]

Buy Pinksweets if you want a great challenge.
Changing default options is stupid, they should play for score if they want something harder.

[EmperorIng]

At the same time, from a profit-standpoint, how much money can a game like Pink Sweets actually draw in? Especially, you know, with a name like "Pink Sweets"?
At least DaiOuJou sounds goofy and hardcore with a name like "BLISSFUL DEATH."

At the same time I will not claim any knowledge in this business, so disregard this post at your leisure!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kudos for Vulgus, although I'm not sure if I'd like to play it without autofire.

[Zerst]

At the same time, from a profit-standpoint, how much money can a game like Pink Sweets actually draw in? Especially, you know, with a name like "Pink Sweets"?
At least DaiOuJou sounds goofy and hardcore with a name like "BLISSFUL DEATH."

At the same time I will not claim any knowledge in this business, so disregard this post at your leisure!

Galloping Ghost has a $15 door fee, and all games are on free play (or have credit switches), so the profitability of individual games is a nonissue.

We will keep an eye out for Battle Garegga...I'll move that one to the top of our list of games to look for.

Be aware of the region you're getting with this one. The default is Japanese (listed as Nippon in game), and the European/Asian/English versions were very watered down in difficulty. I believe you can change the region of the board to Japanese by cutting a jumper (though I would certainly check with other people on that first).

[Deca]

OK hearing that DOJ isn't running on default settings is actually enough to make me reconsider a trip out there as it's one of the games I'd intend to spend the most time playing.

The idea of increasing the difficulty of DOJ to provide a "great challenge" is laughable at best, especially considering you're running White Label. DOJWL has never been cleared by a western player and I have a feeling you could count the total number of Japanese clears on two hands.

HK DonPachi

This is awesome news, however. If it's true you should put a little note on the marquee pointing it out if you haven't already.

[Zerst]

I believe donpachi is actually the Japanese version with the difficulty set to Very Hard...though this plays very similarly to the HK version.

[hail good sir]

from

[bestcellar]

Interesting to hear that no western player has ever cleared white label on normal. I just don't know if id agree it's laughable to set it at this very hard setting, to me it's just a different option with a different set of challenges. At first I could barely play, but then I just kept at it. Certainly it provides a different challenge than many of the other games at that arcade.

I planned one completing one loop of doj on this setting at some point over the next several months, but I'm rotating the ikaruga, donpachi and doj to keep them all fresh for me, so currently I'm working on the end of the first donpachi loop. Maybe I'll go back to doj after that and see if I can finally crack into 1-4.

[bestcellar]

So does this Aurcade thing link different arcades together that choose to use it? I suck with a stick, but I still have the urge to be an ass and destroy that Ikaruga high score. Not trying to drive to IL though.

Any player reasonably good at ikaruga will destroy my score the moment they walk into galloping ghost. I don't feel it's anywhere close to where it needs to be.

[Erppo]

currently I'm working on the end of the first donpachi loop.

If it's really the Hong Kong version then umm... good luck!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For Ghostlord,

It's possible to upgrade your DDP-DOJ White Label PCB into the more highly desired Black Label variant by the use of a single eprom chip upgrade (rather than having to source a bona-fide geniune DDP-DOJ BL PCB itself which is still a pricey board to aquire these days):

1.) By going with the DOJ-BL eprom with the back-up Varta battery removed, such high scores & high score initials aren't saved.

2.) By going with the second DOJ-BL eprom upgrade with saving capability + the back-up Varta battery is still place, then will such saving the high scores + high score initials be possible. If the back-up battery dies, then the NVRAM will lose such scores & initials indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[hail good sir]

catchin

[Bee Cool]

Interesting to hear that no western player has ever cleared white label on normal. I just don't know if id agree it's laughable to set it at this very hard setting, to me it's just a different option with a different set of challenges. At first I could barely play, but then I just kept at it. Certainly it provides a different challenge than many of the other games at that arcade.

Do you have any idea how hard the game is on normal? Your posts clearly show you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to difficulty or reasonable expectations for clearing a game. Defending the decision to have DOJ on very hard is just pathetic and will only alienate people who are willing to come out and play their shooters.

Does anyone know what kind of controls these shmup cabinets have, and what condition they are in?

I'm going to be in Chicago this spring, but I'm probably going to skip this arcade if it's all happ sticks and buttons coupled with busted monitors and unfair difficulty settings.

It's also hilarious how you ignore japanese scores, when it's so obvious you know nothing about these games.

[NTSC-J]

Obviously there are scores out there that are higher than that listed on Aurcade, but its the standards we work with and hopefully the pros won't look at it as a put off.

I respect you for the extra work you're putting in to getting people to play shooters, but I'm honestly very put off by this method which is very similar to how Twin Galaxies does business. Ignoring completely valid scores that have been verified by live witnesses, licensed arcade operators and recorded onto DVDs, simply because they didn't do them at a Twin Galaxies or Aurcade location is ridiculous. It's made even more ridiculous by the fact that Arcadia actually has a published, edited, official magazine that has been running for over 20 years with scores that utterly obliterate those seen on TG or Aurcade. I've lived in Japan for years and have seen these players set records in person, it's very legit and a source I trust above the archaic TG method.

When you limit yourself to accepting scores only from the very small group of people who know about your operation, the pool of good scores is naturally going to be very small. The competition on this site has gotten much better in recent years as more people have found it, so until this Aurcade is more widely known, I would go with a source that is.

I don't mean to come down on you or the Aurcade people because I imagine you simply didn't even about Gamest or Arcadia, but Twin Galaxies does and yet they stubbornly maintain that only they can accept scores and I just don't want to see the same mistake made again.

We definitely listen to what the people who play here regularly ask for, which is why Daioujou is on the hardest setting...several of our regulars wanted a great challenge.

Do they realize that the record for this game is over 60 times higher than the highest score on your site? It suggests that they aren't even sure how to play the game, so maybe show them one of the superplay videos on youtube or niconico. I doubt they'll want to have it set at a higher difficulty once they see how it's meant to be played.

[XoPachi]

DoDonPachi 3? Looks like I'm moving.

[hail good sir]

out

[bestcellar]

Interesting to hear that no western player has ever cleared white label on normal. I just don't know if id agree it's laughable to set it at this very hard setting, to me it's just a different option with a different set of challenges. At first I could barely play, but then I just kept at it. Certainly it provides a different challenge than many of the other games at that arcade.

Do you have any idea how hard the game is on normal? Your posts clearly show you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to difficulty or reasonable expectations for clearing a game. Defending the decision to have DOJ on very hard is just pathetic and will only alienate people who are willing to come out and play their shooters.

Does anyone know what kind of controls these shmup cabinets have, and what condition they are in?

I'm going to be in Chicago this spring, but I'm probably going to skip this arcade if it's all happ sticks and buttons coupled with busted monitors and unfair difficulty settings.

It's also hilarious how you ignore japanese scores, when it's so obvious you know nothing about these games.

Hey man, I just play the games.

I don't really fancy myself an expert or even a good player. I leave the "expert" stuff to you guys. As I said, I just started playing these games this summer. I guess if it makes you feel better to put me down, go right ahead. I really don't care. As for the very hard mode, I'll keep playing it and putting up scores and you guys can keep thinking its dumb.

For what it's worth I feel the cabinet is in excellent shape but obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll just stop posting here. Cheers.