How accurate are some MAME versions of shmups?

[Elixir]

I've been wanting to 1cc a shmup for awhile now. My choices are as follows:

Shiki 2(progressing)
Guwange(failing to understand the spirit system generally has me killed on level 2)
ESP Ra.De
Dodonpachi
Raiden DX
Dangun Feveron

As you can see, 70% of those are arcade. I have dodonpachi on PSX, though. I'm not going to sit through a game for 200+ hours just to evaluate the differences between one and another. From experience, which should I start out with?

No, I'm not going to buy a PCB.
No, I'm not going to play all at once.
And no, I'm not going to have people tell me to use the search function.

As much as I hate to admit it, there's too many to choose from. If I were good at decisions, this question wouldn't currently be existing. I've pretty much decided that they all have a relatively equal difficulty level, but I've yet to actually focus on one specific one.

I can't stop jumping from one title to the next.

[LAshujin]

Go for Guwange, I think once the spirit system is understood it becomes incredibly fun

Check this out:
http://symphony.gamersgraveyard.com/guwange/

Be sure to download the replay that it uses to explain stuff

[icycalm]

I'd go for DDP.

[Ex_Mosquito]

Whatever you go for stick to it, switching between too many will get you nowhere fast. Go for Esprade.

[CIT]

Go for Guwange, I think once the spirit system is understood it becomes incredibly fun

Check this out:
http://symphony.gamersgraveyard.com/guwange/

Be sure to download the replay that it uses to explain stuff

I second that.

If you like "collecting" games go for Guwange.

[Rob]

Raiden DX. I say out of spite.

[Damocles]

I've been wanting to 1cc a shmup for awhile now. My choices are as follows:

Shiki 2(progressing)
Guwange(failing to understand the spirit system generally has me killed on level 2)
ESP Ra.De
Dodonpachi
Raiden DX
Dangun Feveron

As you can see, 70% of those are arcade. I have dodonpachi on PSX, though. I'm not going to sit through a game for 200+ hours just to evaluate the differences between one and another. From experience, which should I start out with?

No, I'm not going to buy a PCB.
No, I'm not going to play all at once.
And no, I'm not going to have people tell me to use the search function.

As much as I hate to admit it, there's too many to choose from. If I were good at decisions, this question wouldn't currently be existing. I've pretty much decided that they all have a relatively equal difficulty level, but I've yet to actually focus on one specific one.

I can't stop jumping from one title to the next.

Hell, they're all good choices. If you want to just get one out of the way, go for Shiki 2 since it is, by far, the easiest.

I say either Esprade or Raiden DX.

BTW, what's with the title? All are pretty much perfect in Mame except Shiki 2 and Raiden DX (which is perfect in Epsxe).

*waits for flamewar about "perfect emulation" to start* 3...2...1...

[Elixir]

Well, I can load MAME roms on my modchipped console as it has MAME built in. After playing dodonpachi on my tv, and then playing it on the PSX, you'll begin to realize just how horribly ugly the PSX version looks in comparison.

[ArrogantBastard]

I'd go with ESP Ra.De...

[al138]

Well, I can load MAME roms on my modchipped console as it has MAME built in. After playing dodonpachi on my tv, and then playing it on the PSX, you'll begin to realize just how horribly ugly the PSX version looks in comparison.

You can say the same thing about Strikers 1945 II and its PSX equivalent Strikers 1945. There is a sizable gulf between the two version. In my experience, the more playable is almost always the arcade/MAME over the PSX. The only possible exceptions at this time are G Darius and (in my opinion) Shienryu/Geki-oh.

Keep plugging away at Shiki 2. That's what I'm doing.

[ResOGlas]

Go for either EspRaDe, DoDonPachi, or Dangun Feveron. You can't go wrong with Cave! I love all 3 of those games, but DoDonPachi will forever be my favorite.

[uwfan]

ResOGlas, that avatar rocks!

[llabnip]

MAME accuraccy isn't the big problem. The big problem with MAME is that it's 3000 games without soul.

If you own PSX DoDonPachi - I'd recommend that be the game you stick with - experience it, learn it and attempt to master it. It's a great port of a fine game - be sure to play in TATE mode for proper screen orientation and resoultion. I believe you'll get far greater enjoyment out of one scrolling shooter game you own.

I've been down the emulation path. I'm not condeming those that use it - that would be hypocritical of me.

I went the full 9 yards with emulation. Built a dual Super-8, 16 button arcade box from parts I bought at the local coin-op dealer, added a high-quality spinner for Tempest and a 4-way leaf switch joystick for games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Wired a PSX and Saturn pad to my USB port. Added a SNES controller to my machine through the paralell port (one of the neatest tricks - using the 5V TTL logic of your paralell port to power the SNES pad). Had a fast machine and a big enough (TATE-able) monitor. It was nearly arcade (and console) perfection - right down to the controllers. But it all fell short of the real thing - and it wasn't about pixels or framerates. It was about soul - the games seemed so.... lifeless. Maybe it was because the effort involved in obtaining those games was nil. Maybe it was because I felt guilty in playing something that was essentially stolen. Maybe it was the nearly endless sea of games - none of which had any tangible ties to keep my grounded in playing - and so I would jump from game to game without any real focus. In the end, it didn't matter what the reason was when I discovered that owning the actual games brought far more enjoyment for me both while playing and even when sitting in my entertainment room watching baseball and looking at the colorful boxes/spines of real games. I realized that ROMs are not a collection - they are an admittence of defeat. For me, owning the game, handling the cart, case and instructions plus having the original machines in operation made playing far more enjoyable. It also limited the number of games - which reduced the frequency of hapless switching from one game to another. As I said, I don't condemn the use of emulators (except when it comes to emulation or piracy of current and/or viable games - those people are lower than pond scum) but would suggest that people make an effort to own original games and the actual systems - it's quite possible that you will get a greater sense of enjoyment from the hobby (then again, I'm sure there will be plenty of people that have had the opposite experience... to each, their own).

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

MAME accuraccy isn't the big problem. The big problem with MAME is that it's 3000 games without soul.

If you own PSX DoDonPachi - I'd recommend that be the game you stick with - experience it, learn it and attempt to master it. It's a great port of a fine game - be sure to play in TATE mode for proper screen orientation and resoultion. I believe you'll get far greater enjoyment out of one scrolling shooter game you own.

I've been down the emulation path. I'm not condeming those that use it - that would be hypocritical of me.

I went the full 9 yards with emulation. Built a dual Super-8, 16 button arcade box from parts I bought at the local coin-op dealer, added a high-quality spinner for Tempest and a 4-way leaf switch joystick for games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Wired a PSX and Saturn pad to my USB port. Added a SNES controller to my machine through the paralell port (one of the neatest tricks - using the 5V TTL logic of your paralell port to power the SNES pad). Had a fast machine and a big enough (TATE-able) monitor. It was nearly arcade (and console) perfection - right down to the controllers. But it all fell short of the real thing - and it wasn't about pixels or framerates. It was about soul - the games seemed so.... lifeless. Maybe it was because the effort involved in obtaining those games was nil. Maybe it was because I felt guilty in playing something that was essentially stolen. Maybe it was the nearly endless sea of games - none of which had any tangible ties to keep my grounded in playing - and so I would jump from game to game without any real focus. In the end, it didn't matter what the reason was when I discovered that owning the actual games brought far more enjoyment for me both while playing and even when sitting in my entertainment room watching baseball and looking at the colorful boxes/spines of real games. I realized that ROMs are not a collection - they are an admittence of defeat. For me, owning the game, handling the cart, case and instructions plus having the original machines in operation made playing far more enjoyable. It also limited the number of games - which reduced the frequency of hapless switching from one game to another. As I said, I don't condemn the use of emulators (except when it comes to emulation or piracy of current and/or viable games - those people are lower than pond scum) but would suggest that people make an effort to own original games and the actual systems - it's quite possible that you will get a greater sense of enjoyment from the hobby (then again, I'm sure there will be plenty of people that have had the opposite experience... to each, their own).

I totally agree with Dave(llabnip) here. Everything he said is the truth.
I would also recommend the playing/1CC goal of DoDonPachi.(at least 1st loop).
I own the Saturn port, and even though its good(not as "good" as the PSX), I still prefer to play it via MAME on my Xbox. (complete with arcade panel etc)

Jumping around is cool to check things out, but you will lose focus faster than you may realize.

[welcometoyourdoom]

Rom clutter, the bane of emulation! A sacrifice I am willing to make, however, to have these games at my fingertips. I only have 1000 or so roms for Mame, though...I don't really need 100+ versions of Mahjong or the rest of the crap that I have filtered through since I started collecting Mame roms about four years ago. But even only a third of the supported games is enough to somewhat dilute the "specialness" of each unique game, and can lead to the aforementioned darting around from game to game, with no real focus. Emulation isn't perfect for any number of reasons, but the pros FAR outweigh the cons.

[Elixir]

Rom clutter, the bane of emulation! A sacrifice I am willing to make, however, to have these games at my fingertips.

But even only a third of the supported games is enough to somewhat dilute the "specialness" of each unique game

Emulation isn't perfect for any number of reasons, but the pros FAR outweigh the cons.

Uh oh, contradiction central. I'll stick with my PSX version of dodonpachi although the detailed graphics between the MAME version and the PSX are significantly obvious.

[japtor]

dangun! its easy to 1cc!*

*of the shmup boards i own, dangun and gunbird 2 are the only ones where i havent even been able to reach the last level (other boards are ketsui, doj, esprade)

[freddiebamboo]

dangun! its easy to 1cc!*

*of the shmup boards i own, dangun and gunbird 2 are the only ones where i havent even been able to reach the last level (other boards are ketsui, doj, esprade)

Jeez! I find dangun hellish, although compared to DOJ + ketsui fair enough

I definitely hold out more hope for an esprade than a dangun 1cc

[gameoverDude]

Raiden DX: 0% (Not yet playable, but the perfect PS1 port in ePSXe will stand in nicely.)
Donpachi: Probably 100%.
DDP: In the MAME/PCB version, both players can use different ship types. Probably 100% here.

You may wish to carry on with Shiki 2. I'll also join the chorus on ESPRaDe- it's a little tougher than ESPGaluda, but you'll probably 1CC it before you would Dodonpachi.

ePSXe also runs Gradius Gaiden dead-on to the real PS1.

[ResOGlas]

I have DoDonPachi for MAME, PSX, and PCB! This game is just the absolute best, so start dancin' around those bullets and get all the bees!

Most here go for default, but I personally recommend that you hold F2 at the title screen to get to the config menu so you can rock this baby on Very Hard. I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more DoDonPachi!