[Sniper Honeyviper]

TODAY'S GAME IS: Gunbarich (Arcade)

The third game in Psikyo's Gunbird series, and one of their last non-mahjong works, is a very interesting Breakout-like with shmup and pinball elements. Not the most obscure thing, I know, but it usually gets overlooked in favor of their standard shmups.

You can apply a considerable amount of english to the ball after a hit with the flippers. This means that those aggravating one-block-left situations can be quickly remedied, with enough skill. I haven't really been able to determine how the two characters are different, but I had much better luck with Marion. I think Grutan hits harder but has less control.

Whenever the ball has a trail behind it (after a flipper hit), it can be guided. Left and right move it slightly, up and down make it swerve dramatically. The red powerup is particularly important, since it gives the ball piercing capability when in the trailing state.



First:
- Sniper Honeyviper: 1118300, Grutan

Best:
- Sniper Honeyviper: 3889200, Marion

The Mexican band on the high score table is amazing.

[cake]

i had some trouble getting this to work -- nearly every source i could find didn't include the eeprom file in the archive. this site had it though.

[allensmithee]

oh gosh, thanks for that, cake.

i've been finding a lot of places don't have the roms that work with eeproms missing. but that place'll hopefully be the problem solver.
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[cake]

... Minutes later ...


I had no idea this existed! The Gunbirds are two of the few shoot 'em ups I've played more than once, thanks to a cheap copy of Gunbird Special Edition on the PS2. (I don't play many arcade / MAME games though, and I'd never heard of Atomic Robo-kid or Change Air Blade either. Or Tube Panic or Banbam. Or anything in this thread apart from I, Robot which I'd never got around to playing before and is pretty cool.)

My initial impression is that it looks awesome... it's colourful and light and it seems like they've added enough elements to stop the brick breaking getting boring. My heart sank a little when I saw a boss, but the game kind of made up for that by letting it explode into pastel coloured clouds of smoke. Will play this a bit more and see how far I can get.

[Schwere Viper]

Charming little number, this one. They really just went into mahjong games after all their great shmups? What a waste.
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

[cake]

Well, I played this on & off all day, and my high score was 2215800, Marion

I had a lot of trouble figuring out how I was occasionally getting high scores.. it seems like the way to get a big score is to hit long combos whilst also hitting the treasure chests which sometimes appear. Once I got over a million on 1-1 and then barely doubled the score by the time I lost my lives on 3-X somewhere.

Anyone got any insight into the scoring?

I kind of wish there was a home adaptation with a more chilled out alternative mode, perhaps like the non-arcade mode of Landmaker on the PSX, but I don't have much idea of what that would actually play like.

[Youpi]

Pretty nice game indeed. Probably my favorite attempt at fixing Breakout so far, but I generally hate breakout.

First: 430080 2-2 Marion

Best:

[Sniper Honeyviper]

As far as I know, hitting one of the 2x jars grants a double-point bonus for the rest of the stage, or the bonus lasts very long, at least. So it would be good to hit one as soon as possible.

Also, finishing fast and having three lives makes your end-of-stage bonus substantially larger.

[end of the world]

[Sniper Honeyviper]

TODAY'S GAME IS: Tac/Scan (Arcade)

A experimental early vector shmup from Sega, pleasantly hypnotic in its gentle repetition and the level of concentration demanded. Much like I, Robot, it's quite complicated by 1982 arcade standards, which is likely part of the reason it failed.

Instead of controlling merely one ship, you steer an entire fleet. The first button fires, the second button fills an empty slot with one of your reserve ships, if one has been destroyed. You start with 8 reserves. As well as earning extends through score, you can snag floating ships into your formation by catching them in a slot. In the tube-flying stage, keep your ships within the green lines.

The original cabinet used a dial controller, like those found on Arkanoid. Unless you've got one of those, I strongly recommend using the mouse.

First:
- Sniper Honeyviper: 134500

[Schwere Viper]

I took to this one quite fast! Would have been nice to tune the mouse sensitivity beforehand, though.

[cake]

my first go got messed up by a firefox popup appearing... but it wasn't even close to a rank in. i ended up using a dualshock because my mouse is no good, but i couldn't find a satisfactory way to use a dualshock analogue stick for dial control in MAME.

Best: - cake: 107500


I'm wondering why the different sections exist. My feeling is that the overhead section is the 'real' game, the 3D shooting part is harder & designed to steal some lives, and the tunnel flying is a break section. I like the idea of the firepower/vulnerability tradeoff that one is supposed to make, but I'm not sure it really works in practice, in some part because multiple units generally imply tactical use, and the formation changes don't seem to be user controlled. I also think I'd do better if I had all those lives one at a time.

[Loki Laufeyson]

a suggestion: aquaventure for atari 2600
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

Only two participants yesterday? Did the vectors scare you guys off? Anyway, all your suggestions have been considered, but I'd like to feature a personal favorite first:

TODAY'S GAME IS: Satan's Hollow (Arcade)

Seems to be well-known among vintage arcade collectors, but I've never seen it mentioned anywhere else.

A dramatic reworking of Galaga, unrelenting in its pace and escalating difficulty. If you think you can get through a tight pattern, you can't. Just strategically use the shield button. Keep in mind that enemies don't have any "dead zone" that stops them from firing up close. Clear out the huge waves as fast as possible, but take it slow on the lighter ones to build up your bridge. For detailed instructions, consult KLOV or the attract mode, and I can assure you you'll need them. (Also look at the amazing control panel.)

When one of the lesser devils or Satan is about to appear, just fire a bunch of shots off, about half the time you'll catch them before they can do anything.



First:
22365

Best:
62785

[cake]

Nooooo don't make me play Satan's Hollow. It's horrible (altho' I don't remember the colour changing sky or the Milky Way appearing) and weirdly addictive. I played it for several hours ages ago when it was on one of those 'Midway Arcade Treasures' compilations. I still suck at it. I'm suggesting Satan of Saturn instead.



1ST - cake: 13005
TOP - cake: 22740

how come JP has 12845 in your screenshot?

[allensmithee]

the top four say

help oh no!
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

Ha ha, thanks for pointing that out Smithee.

cake, I don't find it a terribly difficult game until the invisible enemies start showing up. You just need to get all three gun barrels as soon as possible, and make judicious use of the shield (remember that you can ram enemies with it). I admit that luck is a big factor, though. And no, I don't know how the JP changed score. I definitely didn't enter those initials.

Anyone know if there's an earlier game with a graphical day/night cycle?

[VgameT]

First score was sub 10,000 :<
When the music played at the beginning of the game I said "hell yeah this is a real videogame" to myself
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

Participation seems to have dropped off...would more people join in if I started featuring popular favorites, or do my selections just suck? I mean, we had a ton of scores for Crazy Balloon. Anyway, here's Loki's suggestion, and our first non-arcade game:

TODAY'S GAME IS: Aquaventure (Atari 2600, unreleased prototype)

In my first run, I assumed this was just an endless version of Jaws NES' single-screen scuba stage, but there's some actual structure and progression to it. It goes like this: Move down a number of screens, grab the treasure at the bottom, then head back to the top and touch the mermaid to advance to the next level. The red spiky walls will kill you. Interestingly, you have four lives instead of the usual three.

You don't get points for clearing a stage, just for shooting fish and grabbing the treasure. I guess if you really want to farm for points, you can hang around in each level until the air is about to run out, though you won't have much time for this after the second level. I'd almost be willing to label this as an early "survival horror" game--with your limited air supply, it can get seriously claustrophobic and tense. Shame it wasn't released.



First: 20875 (not pictured)

Best: 136750

[Youpi]

FWIW I like your selection, although my own participation is gonna be pretty erratic.

Tac/Scan - First:
- Youpi: 38900
Pretty interesting one!
Difficult to play with the mouse though, I thought that vortex thing was a cutscene and lost a bunch of ships there. I'll try it again with an analog controller.

Satan's Hollow - First:
- Youpi: 6295

Aquaventure - First:
- Youpi: 8500

Least worst score:
- Youpi: 70250
Dying by hitting a fish I've already shot is really infuriating.
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Twitter: @youpi

[Loki Laufeyson]

[cake]

My stumbling point with Satans Hollow was always the large waves - altho' it's kind of impressive in its brutality when all the enemies on screen dive at you at once, I couldn't survive it very often.

I quite like Aquaventure. Despite the crudeness of the graphics, it still manages to evoke the underwater environment.. maybe due to the diver animation and the lack of music. The 'revenge fish' mechanic can be used strategically, and both the dodging and shooting work well enough that when I mess up it feels like my fault, which makes me feel like I can do better if I have another go. Also it has raster fish.

I lost my first score due to confusion about whether I was alive or dead or just difficult to see.

Best score:
- cake, 294250

[spectralsound]

my participation on a daily basis is less dependent on the choice of game so much as whether or not i feel like utter shit that day

i was actually going to suggest Tac/Scan! the complexity scared me, though

[Schwere Viper]

For Satan's Hollow:



Nice game, but it's very aggressive.

As for Aquaventure, I hope this is acceptable. Only Atari emu I had on hand was a build of StellaX from 1999, and PrtScn didn't seem to agree with it:



It took me about a minute to figure out that there was more than one screen, so that didn't feel good :<
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'll keep the thread going as long as I can. Schwere, didn't you read where I explained that Aquaventure has more than one screen?

This is such an incredible find I'm hopefully going to give it a huge thread of its own in the future, but here you go:

TODAY'S GAME IS: Gunbuster (Arcade, unrelated to the Gainax anime)

The first FPS with simultaneous movement and vertical aiming, predating Doom by a year. I can't think of another game so radically ahead of its time, and it's unfair to call it a lightgun shooter, since you always have full movement control. I'm sure the reason it's forgotten is because no Japanese person in 1992 would've been able to figure out circle-strafing. The controls, the scaling, the level design, the early 90's Katsuhiro Otomo/Terminator-inspired visuals (from Taito, of course), are all perfectly executed. It really has to be played to be believed. The only thing it's lacking is a versus mode, but that's unreasonable to expect from when the FPS "genre" didn't exist.



Many will be confused by the unusual setup and gobs of Japanese text, so here's a little guide:

- Make sure MAME has mouse support enabled for the lightgun (actually a positional gun, in this game's case).
- Map the joystick to the WASD keys, or whatever you want.
- Map buttons 1 and 2 to the left and right mouse buttons.
- Disable button 3 (service button that freezes the game).
- Your controls are all set. The four characters are identical aside from their secondary weapons. From top to bottom, they are Rocket, Laser, Fire, and Spark.
- Upon starting your first mission, you'll be given a quick tutorial. After it ends, you can walk around the small room that makes up the first stage, firing at the boss. To turn, swing the cursor to the far left or right of the screen.
- Like your gun, your secondary weapon (button 2) has infinite ammo, but reload times and power vary between characters.
- There are some forced-scrolling stages later in the game where you can only move left and right (turning/aiming is not restricted.) These should be pretty obvious.

First game was spent figuring out the controls and stuff.

Best:
- Sniper Honeyviper: 632500, Fire

Definite room for improvement, I took all the easy low-scoring paths. Good luck to you all.

[Schwere Viper]

[cake]

I've been reading up on Aquaventure, as I was wondering why it was never released, and it seems like maybe there are two versions. Some articles about the game mention that the revenge fish are indestructable (which they aren't in the version I've been playing) and some screenshots look different (the text which is yellow in Sniper Honeyviper's screenshots is white instead). If anyone has found the version with white text or indestructable fish, can they point me at it?

[Youpi]

Great find that Gunbuster indeed, and I thought I couldn't be any more amazed by what Taito pulled off in the early 90's.
The first 2 stages are incredibly playable for something that sounds like it should be a clunky tech demo, but the circlestrafing obstacle courses get in bullshit territory very fast. Maybe it'll work better if I can override my FPS instincts...
My first game didn't rank in, and the score disappears as soon as you die, but a screen I took at very low health confirms I had at least 218700, and the score is mostly earned at the end of the level, so it should be pretty accurate.
First:
- Youpi, 218700, sunglasses dude

Somehow I got past stage 3 with 1 health bar, here's my best so far:
- Youpi, 401700, Mr. T

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[cake]

I don't think my system is up to Gunbuster.

First score:
- cake, 3200

[Sniper Honeyviper]

Yeah, the "huge room full of enemies" levels of Gunbuster are the low points of the game, but at least they're not completely unfair. You can shoot down all the missiles coming your way, and take cover behind pillars. I found my FPS instincts served me well.

I should mention that there is a minor graphical glitch in the emulation, specifically, the floating green mines in level 2.

[cake]

Yeah... I was wondering if the other version was an earlier prototype and everyone just decided to use the later one, but if that's the case, why circulate the CCE version?

Anyway I looked thru quite a few sites, and then got fed up and played Aquaventure instead. And then remembered that since I now had a working 2600 emulator, I could look at some demos, so I did that too.

[Sniper Honeyviper]

Maybe Schwere can post a link in the axe to where he got the white-text rom?

[Loki Laufeyson]

highest. i'm sure i got higher, but that was before i found the screenshot option and all attempts to replicate that run have been unsuccessful. playing and taking screenshots all on my gp2x! lap of luxury itt. also, the image is 1kb. amazing!
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[spectralsound]

(both are first tries)

Gunbarich:



Tac/Scan:



Gunbuster wouldn't run on my computer

[end of the world]

[Youpi]

Is it supposed to be 4P or dual wield 2P?
It might be possible to rig wiimotes to this.

I've explored the later stages with save states, I think I'm starting to play it right. I've yet to beat my own score legitimately though.
My strategy so far:
I pick character 2, powerful laser with low spread, high damage, long charge
Stage 1: 1 free hit can be safely taken, healed at the end. When he launches missiles in succession, it's easier to avoid than shoot them all.
Stage 2: take it slow and pick the route with fewer flying enemies, hit and run with subweapon
Stage 3: hug the windows, the biggest hazard is getting stuck in the setpieces. Once destroyed the tables are still unpassable. Don't use ears to determine when to leave cover, the shots fly too slowly for this strategy. Don't bother about the knife attacker, there's no avoiding his hit if the subweapon is charging.
Stage 4 - Angel: always be moving left or right, don't bother attacking when it is invincible
(No strategy for either stage 5, both are insta-kill for me.)
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[Sniper Honeyviper]

It's two players to a side, hence the "Red Team." And I'm pretty sure it's only co-op, not versus. It's like Lucky & Wild in that the second gun is just along for the ride, with the first player doing all the movement control.

I find Fire (third character) to be the best, his subweapon isn't really any weaker than the laser, and leaves lingering pools of flame that can decimate slow-moving bosses.

The spider boss is still a death trap for me, although constantly circling around the line of machinery prolonged my life.

[Sniper Honeyviper]

TODAY'S GAME IS: Mad Planets (Arcade)

Found out about this from the new Insert Credit post. "Asteroids on crack" would be a not-inaccurate description, if not for your ship's lack of physics. Shame it gets nearly impossible after Round 5, or at least a lot more luck-dependent.

Set up the controls like this: Joystick goes to WASD or your four keys of choice, button one goes to left mouse button, the dial's analog goes to the mouse. Move with the stick, aim with the analog, fire with the button (hold it down for rapid, tap it for long-range shots).

If a formed planet has any moons orbiting it, it's invincible, though you can leech some minor points off it. When all the moons are destroyed, it'll turn red and become "mad," which means it can be killed, but will quickly home straight in on you. There are also comets, which spiral around a bit before homing in. The little white and blue dudes are astronauts, who can be picked up for points. They'll probably be substantial contributions to your score.



First:
8941

Best:
15606

[Lucaz]

Played with character 2, but couldn't get acreenshot of the score. Not that it matters, didn't even got into the hiscore, so it's below 34000.
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[Schwere Viper]