Game of the Day - Pulstar

Pulstar is a beautiful horizontal shooter from our friends at Neo-Geo (Aicom).  It is a tough bitch of a game that I thank the devil exists in MAME, because it would take a million quarters for me to get through it all in the arcade.

The gameplay is pretty standard.  You have two buttons.  One to fire your cannon and one to control the function of your drone (of course you have to get a drone before you can control it).  If you press the two buttons simultaneously, you launch the drone for its own attack.  Also, there is a charge shot accomplished by holding down the fire button - it is ultra-important in battling all the nasty enemies in the game.

The graphics are the star of this game.  The pre-rendered, quasi-realistic, metallic objects look great and beat your ass blue.  The colors are eye-popping, the dimension is deep and rich and the variety of things to blast is off the charts.

As usual, you have power-ups in the form of speed (which you need to get quickly - pun intended) and many different weapons.  And, of course, each can be strengthened as you go.

It's nothing new or unique, but the play and graphics make it very exceptional.  Around the middle of the first level, you come upon some sort of fish thing that shoots guided shots at you - I died MANY times before I got by him for the first time - good luck.

Hardware Review - Ferrari Thrustmaster F430 Wireless Controller

Okay, let's get the most obvious thing out of the way... what in the world was this company thinking when they named themselves "Thrustmaster"?  Don't even want to google that, god knows what I'd see.  Keep in mind also, that I think this model is discontinued, but subsequent models are very similar and have the same features.

Anyway, I'm always looking for add on controllers for my rig - especially wireless ones.  The Xbox wireless (PC) controller I have is the gold standard.  It plays and feels great and there are gazillions of combinations to program its use in MAME.

So how does the F430 compare?  It doesn't, EXCEPT for one important feature.  It's has an optical dial/wheel.  This could be very important if you don't have a spinner on your MAME machine.  There are many, many games that require a spinner for full enjoyment: Tempest, Forgotten Worlds, Xybots, Caliber 50 are some of the great games that use a spinner or rotary joystick and almost all steering wheel driving games.

The controller sets up easy enough and has all the buttons the Xbox controller has, but it just doesn't feel or play the same.  The buttons are mushy and sticky, the R2 and L2 are in weird positions and the analog sticks feel flimsy (insert Thrustmaster joke here).  BUT, it all works fine and does have the benefit of wireless(ness).

The one big feature, the optical wheel, is wrapped around the D-pad where your left thumb goes.  It doesn't move very far clockwise or counter (about 90 degrees total), but you can program the sensitivity in MAME.  It'll take some getting used to playing Omni shooter type games where you walk around with the joystick and aim with the spinner, but it works.

So, my conclusion is that it is not a great controller and suffers in comparison with the Xbox one.  However, if you don't have a spinner or steering wheel, it serves that purpose and still does the rest of its job adequately.  In my opinion, you need to have a wireless controller for fun in emulation (not just MAME) - so get the Xbox one.  THEN, if you don't have a spinner/rotary dial, get the Ferrari Thrustmaster F430 (or its successor).

Game of the Day - Cosmo Gang the Video

It's like someone sprayed a Galaga '88 game with the remnants of a 10 year old's birthday party.  But it's cool.

Cosmo Gang the Video (there were previous Cosmo Gang arcade machines) is a Galaga style cute-'em-up with style to spare and a myriad of crazy things that happen.

Let's get the bad out of the way...  The cute is too cute sometimes, especially in the sound and goofy quotes.  Luckily, most of the goofier stuff goes away after Gang 4 or 5 - giving your ears a rest.  Also, there is the occasional "challenging stage" equivalent that is useless and easy.  Luckily, I've been to Gang (stage) 20, and have only seen two of these stages.

Now the good.

Cosmo is incredibly playable.  The enemies fly in and attack in swarms from all different formations and at many different speeds.  The collision detection is well done and the shooting is very satisfying while still remaining challenging.  Every level is drastically different.  The waves of dudes attacking you come from anywhere and attack in all sorts of different ways.

In addition to great levels and controls, Cosmo has a VERY deep and wide variety of enemies, graphics and power-ups.  There are power-ups that give you more and stronger weaponry, there are several different types of "bombs" (buzzsaw, clown face, etc) and other strange things to discover.  Some enemies are killed with one shot.  Some with several.  Some change their attack method after getting shot.  There are also enemies that get larger each time you shoot them until they finally explode.  In later levels, some shoot lasers at you and some breathe fire.  I've been to level 20 and am still seeing new types of enemies and/or power-ups on each level.  It is awesome to have this kind of variety.

In fact, on level 19 some kind of chinese parade dragon went across the screen and I didn't hit it.  Don't know what would have happened.  Also, starting at about level 18, there are (sort of) mines that sit stationary in the sky.  If you hit them within a certain amount of time, they "explode" and shoot bullets in several directions.  If you don't hit it within a certain amount of time, it explodes and shoots those bullets at you.

The cutesy stuff doesn't end either.  About level 10 there is a dude that is shooting at you and if you shoot him, he morphs into something else and walks off apologizing.

So, make sure to stick out the first couple of stages with the annoying quotes and silly challenging stage.  There's WAY more to come.

Game of the Day - B.C. Story

In honor of the Great Track & Field Experiment, today's GOTD is a modern (1997), Stone Age version of the classic T & F.  And while it will never attain 1% of the fame or cult status of the original, B.C. Story is a very creative and fun version of the olympic theme.

There are many secondary features here that I will get into shortly, but the main draw is the creative and varied use of the controls you use to compete in the events.  There are events where timing or speed or rhythm all matter to varying degrees - and in one big difference from T & F, the joystick is involved in many events.

For instance, there is a running event where the only thing you do is move the joystick in a reverse circle as quickly as you can.  There is a log sawing event where you move the joystick back and forth quickly to saw the log.  There are events where you start with one button (timing) and then button mash on the other button (to throw or run).  There are events where you use the joystick and buttons in combination to achieve the goal.  Anyway, you get the picture, the imaginative uses of the controls and the primal drive of the competition (I know I can get a better time!) make the game a great diversion. 

Some other things that make the game effective include a wide variety of events (10), ability to pick your next event, humorous cave-manny graphics, and varying difficulty levels at the different events.  So, when you are done playing T & F and want to keep the sweat going, crank up B.C. Story.

The Great Track & Field Experiment

Okay, I admit it, I suck at at Track & Field.  Played it in the olden days in the arcade (1983) and my friend always beat me (prick).  Owned a dedicated one for many years and never got much better.  Had parties where folks beat my ass despite the fact that I owned the machine.  Now I only play the game on MAME, but the results are pretty much the same, no breaking 10 seconds in the 100 for me.

The fact is, after all the years of trying off and on, I still (usually) produce a better score with one hand than two.  I just can't get the rhythm down.  Clearly, I could never be a drummer.  Yeah, I've seen all the stuff online about guys using 3 and 4 finger methods to Lord-out at the game and yeah, I'm jealous like a mother-fucker.

So I was wondering, how many guys out there (not just the freaks on youtube) can slay at T & F?  So, how about this, if you have access to the game (either dedicated or in MAME), crank the game up on default settings and run the 100 (the first event) 3 times.  Report your best score on the survey in the right column of the blog.  It's obviously anonymous (so no embarrassment) and a much better survey if guys of all skill levels do it, not just the uber-players.  I'll play my three soon and post the results, good luck.

UPDATE:  Ran my three 100 Meter dashes and got 10.14, 10.49 and 10.54.  I did them with one hand.  When I tried after that with 2 hands, I got my speed faster by the end, but I can't do well consistently, so my times were essentially the same.

Game of the Day - Chelnov: Atomic Runner

He's Russian, Nuked-up and has things to do.  Chelnov reminds me of early PC games and some early SNES and Genesis games.  You run around as the screen scrolls, shooting everything in your way.  There is jumping and somersaulting to be done as the terrain has obstacles and levels to it.  One thing about this game is that it CONSTANTLY scrolls, you don't have to move in that direction to keep going.  You are essentially always just keeping up.

There are three buttons that you play with, shoot, jump and change direction you are facing.  You change direction to shoot things that are behind you.  Also, the shoot and jump together cause you to somersault.  Shooting while you somersault enables you to shoot in all directions and can eliminate a lot of enemies.

It adds a lot to the game that you can shoot either direction and at 45 degree angles - unlike lots of games from this era.

The graphics are uninspired but it doesn't matter much.  The game mechanics are great and the game is both fun and challenging.

Game of the Day - Sparkz

Sparkz (a.k.a. Dr. Sparkz Lab) never made it past the prototype stage.  It's a puzzle game that can easily be described as Tetris meets Pipe Dream meets the Bride of Frankenstein.

The game plays on a split screen.  The left is where you play, the right has your progress in creating your monster.

On the playfield, there are pipes that run up both sides.  You have to connect one side to the other (Pipe Dreams) with the pieces that fall from the top (Tetris).

Of course, all the typical genre things are here, most importantly you can rotate the pipe piece as it comes down to make it fit how you want.  There are special pieces that float down that block your progress or help you bust up pipes that didn't fit correctly.  And the speed of the falling pieces increases as the round goes on.  The pace can get very fast very quickly.

Each round requires you to make a few "sparkz" - which means connecting the pipes across the playfield.  You have to make more sparkz in succesive rounds.  When you finish a round successfully, you get another body part on your monster.

It's good, well-flowing fun, and a must play if you enjoy Tetris or the like.

QuarterZone Shots - Sonic

Game of the Day - Nebulas Ray

A few days ago, I did a special GOTD post on games don't emulate correctly but are still great games.  Several had no sound.  Today is the first GOTD that I WISH had no sound.  Nebulas Ray (aka Nebulasray by some) is a straight-forward but very cool vertical shooter.


The gameplay is pretty standard stuff.  There are typical shot and bomb buttons and plenty of cool-looking power-ups to collect.  The big draw here are the mesmerizing graphics and the interesting enemy A.I.

The first round is space based and looks like you are flying through an enemy armada.  Lots of huge, detailed ships to fire on.  There are also many ships in the background in different shapes and sizes.  Some you can fire upon, some are strictly background eye candy.  While there are giant ships to shoot at and destroy, they also have accompanying smaller ships that jitter, twitch and fly every which way you can imagine.  These smaller ships are as detailed as the large ones.  They all have a quasi-3D, photo-realistic look.  In fact, they roll and spin and move in a way that adds to the 3d feeling.  It all reminds me of the scene in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon is pulling away from the Empire's armada.

Subsequent levels take place in different backgrounds, but the game is just as enjoyable.

Now for the bad part... the sound.  It's awful.  Yeah the music is bad and yeah, the sound is tinny, but the really bad part is the voices.   There are folks communicating is some combined English/Japanese/Nonsense that is particularly grating.  Also, as part of this communique, they say "Okay" a gazillion times (I counted).  So, turn the sound down and play Nebulas Ray, it's worth it.

Game of the Day - Xenon

No, it's not the classic pinball machine (although that is awesome also) - it's a combo shooter that was the first game coded by the famed Bitmap Brothers (although published by Arcadia).

Xenon is a frantic, frenetic, (insert next "fr" word here) vertically scrolling shooter with lots of stuff going on and one big, important feature.  At any time you can change your ship from a ground-based futuristic tank to an air-based plane.  You hit the button and it transforms in a second.  The distinction between the two is very meaningful.  The tank can shoot it any direction (always in the direction it's facing) like an omni-shooter and the plane only shoots forward like any other air-based vert shooter.

The problem is, that air and ground-based enemies are co-mingled and interspersed the whole way, so you are either constantly changing forms, or just flying by or avoiding half the targets.  When you are in the plane, you can fly anywhere but your bullets don't take out all the ground enemies and when you are in the tank, you have to go around all kinds of obstacles in the futuristic (metallic?) terrain.

There are also power-ups galore.  I don't even know what they all are yet.  You shoot certain enemies (especially cannons and turrets) and they turn into different letters.  Collect those letters (in the proper vehicle) and your power-up corresponds to the letter you procured.  Again, ground-based power-ups (that were released by enemies on the ground) can only be picked up by the tank, the plane will fly right over.

Most importantly, the gameplay is great.  The tank scoots around feverishly and reacts quickly to the controls.  The enemies are plentiful and fun to watch.  Power-ups like satellites add a lot to the already interesting strategy.

The graphics are a little spartan/minimalistic, but very nice and sharp and only enhance the game.  One little complaint, a large portion of the right side of the screen is taken up by a quasi-communication center (worthless) and other info.  It's too much, they could have used some of that real estate to make the playfield bigger.  But, it's a small complaint and doesn't mean much in such a great game.

Game of the Day - Crazy Fight

This game is simple to describe - it's Whac-A-Mole on your MAME machine.  And it's fun.

Just came across Crazy Fight screwing around with Hyperspin - one of the joys of having Hyperspin is watching all the previews.  You control the action with six buttons, one corresponds to each of six different positions on the screen - 3 across the bottom row and 3 across the top row.  Obviously, you can program any buttons in MAME to correspond to any button in the game, but the game plays better and makes more sense if you happen to have buttons laid out in two rows of three (a keyboard works well for the same reason).

Anyway, you choose a level (difficulty changes) and you start shooting things as they pop up.  So, if a guy with a gun appears in the top row, middle position; you push the top, middle button and you shoot him as fast as you can (b4 he shoots you).  This is a simple game - you won't play a lot, but it would be great for parties or for people who aren't usually gamers.

There are little twists like the scenes changing and innocent folks that you aren't supposed to shoot (you lose points).  And the graphics add to the fun - but let's face it, it's just Whac-A-Mole...  But there's a reason why everyone knows the name Whac-A-Mole, it's fun (for 10 minutes).

Sweet Tables for the Game Room

Found these tables on Etsy.  Haven't ordered one yet, but they looks pretty nice.  (they're sold individually)

Cool looking Pac-Tables at Etsy

Game of the Day - J. J. Squawkers

You're a pissed-off, bad-ass, bird-type dude.  And you are running and jumping and shooting your way in a cutesy-animal and evil-veggie laden cartoon world.  The previous sentence may set the record for hyphens in one sentence, but you get the idea.

JJS as I'll now call it is a cutesy platform game.  But it can also be bitch hard.  There are the traditional two buttons, run & jump.

There are extra nice cartoon backgrounds as you play and an imaginative set of enemies to shoot at and 2D lands to explore.

As in most games of this ilk, you can gain power-ups in the form of life energy and different weaponry.  Some of the weaponry is crazy-ass and looks like the programmers were smoking something powerful when they wrote it.  Giant flowers, flying squirrels (not Rocky), rubber ducks all are on the offensive.

I don't play a lot of run & jump games, but this one seems to have an extra nice balance of action, things to shoot, difficulty level and humor.  It's not overly simple and yet it's not an "adventure" game either.  Just old-fashioned R & J and Shoot.  Be aware that I died many times before making much progress...  There needs to be a "yell out an expletive" button.

It's goofy and juvenile in some ways, but most of all, JJS is playable and fun.

Game of the Day - Four Great Games....Except!!!!!

In honor of our power going out for three days, the first post outage GOTD is actually four games of the day.  They are all games that are fun to play, but do not emulate completely correctly in MAME (at least in the version I'm playing which is .143).  One game has graphics that eventually go haywire and the others are all without sound.  So, if you feel like playing MAME with some headphones on listening to music, or with no sound so you don't wake the baby, here are 4 good but imperfectly emulated games.

1. Flame Gunner - A great and unique 3D shooting game.  The aiming is a little tricky, but the action and graphics are really cool.  Eventually, the graphics will freak out leaving you with a pinkish mess or the like.  But it's worth playing until then.

2. Ghox - Ghox is simply the best and coolest looking Breakout/Arkanoid type game I've ever played - BY FAR.  It just has no sound in MAME.  But the graphics (3D, treasures, ghosts, etc) are fantastic and the play is fast and creative.  Play it and try to tell me otherwise.

3. Wivern Wings (also spelled Wyvern in some references) - A modern (2000s) shooter that has all the looks and play you want, but again, no sound in MAME.  So if you've mastered the other modern shooters, put on some music and play WW.

4.  Vimana - a mid-generation shooter from the 90s that again represents all the good of the genre. Cool power-ups, weapons and graphics along with crazy gameplay.  Alas, it too has no sound.  Still though, worth checking out.











So there you have it, four great games that have something wrong with them, but still are worth checking out.  A nice bow to put on the end of the power outage.

Comparison of Omni (Field) Military Shooters

I didn't get enough guff over my ratings of Fighting games, so here's another game comparison.  I love this genre.  The walk-around military shoot-at-anything game.  I rated them in 7 categories.  Graphics, Gameplay, Spinner use, Controls, Weapons, Maps and Sound.

Keep in mind I like ALL of these games, so the scores are just relative to each other.  A "1" means that the game is above the average of the others and a "-1" means the game is below the average of the others.  A blank means the game falls in the average range of these games.

A little explanation... All the games that use a rotary/spinner to aim got a bonus point.  I love that style of play and as I've said before, a push/pull spinner works great.  You walk with the joystick, aim with the spinner and fire and throw grenades by pushing the spinner down and pulling the spinner up.

A gave a nod in the weapons category if the weapons were fun to watch, or the power-ups were extra good.

The "Controls" category (separate from the spinner) was for how good the game felt in playing and how many different moves were available to do.

Most of the games are just on open playfield battlegrounds.  So, to earn an extra point in the "Maps" category, the map had to be intricate, have terrain, wind around barriers or something different.

The rest should be self explanatory, so here is the list...  Then go play them and tell me I'm crazy.

The MAME-pocalypse is Over

The aftermath of the storm is gone and we have internet again, so let's get some games rolling...

MAME-Pocalypse. a.k.a. MAME-megeddon

Giant ice storm. Power went out Thurs AM. Just got power and cell svc Sat afternoon. Still no Internet. Just wanted to do a quick update as to why no posts. Should be able to as soon as our cable modem comes back to life.

Game of the Day - The Next Space

The Next Space (1989 by SNK) is a shooter that is all about the power-ups.  In fact, when you start, you have an array of targets (square blocks) to hit and collect as power-ups (or weapon changers).  The trick is that they have a letter on them (they all start with "A") and every time you hit one, it advances to the next letter.  The letter it is when you collect it (run into it) is what determines the weapon or power-up you get.  There are so many, I still don't know them all off the top of my head and have to play for a few minutes each time to find out what each letter does.

You have typical controls in The Next Space (TNS), an 8-way joystick and two buttons.  The two buttons are normal weapon shot and alternate weapon shot.  Each can be changed by the aforementioned letters.  Among other things, you get missiles and lasers and squiggles and a cool effect where fire just comes out of your cannon steady, but not very far, so you have to go burn things by getting close to them.

Being from 1989, it is from the era when the backgrounds were simple (black scrolling starfield for the most part) - but the enemies were plenty.  Enemies - especially mech-spidery-looking-thingies fly in from everywhere and dance all over the screen.  As in other games I like, they are very unpredictable, some just dive and leave, others circle around, others hover and bombard you - but they are all very twitchy.  In fact, if you ever watched Stargate-SG1 (the TV series - not the movie) the enemies remind me of the Replicants from that show.

Straight-forward play, sharp graphics, great enemy A.I. and a host of power-ups & weapons make The Next Space today's GOTD.  Last note: Another terrible name - it is neither fun, nor cool, nor descriptive.  IA game's name should at least be one of those things (if not more).

Upcycled Game Console Desk Caddies

This person takes old Game controllers and Consoles and makes functional desktop caddies from them.  They look pretty cool.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68291965/valentines-sale-recycled-gamecube


(you can click here to see all posts on cool stuff to buy)

Game of the Day - Terminator 2

T2 is simply my favorite cross-hair shooter.  The arcade game had a mounted gun, but I play it with a trackball and the gameplay is (quoting Arnold) awesome!

I hadn't made T2 a Game of the Day before because I thought it was too common and popular, but when you look at the data, it's not as known and widespread as I thought.  Besides, if I help ONE new guy discover T2, then this post is worth it.  The game has no peer in its era. (info on how I figure out how well-know a game is can be found here)

The is a first-person slowly scrolling shooter that stops for long periods of times on scenes, then continues on to the next scene, slowly scrolling towards the right as you shoot.  There are two buttons to use, shot and missile/special.  As mentioned before I use a trackball for aiming and it works so well it feels like the game was designed for it.  Of course if you don't have a trackball or gun, you can use the MAME setup to use the joystick for aiming your cross-hair.

The scenes are FILLED with action and things to blast.  Mostly, there are the endoskeletons (terminators).  But there are also Hunter-Killer ships, orbs and other crap.  There are also great power-ups everywhere.  Some come flying at you, many are in crates in the foreground that you have to blast open.  One of the power-ups is a coolant for your main gun.  This is important because your gun overheats and stops firing.  In fact, as you hold down the button for machine gun action, the gun's power slowly reduces.  As the power reduces, the speed at which the gun repeats slows down and you are able to blast less enemies.  Either find some coolant or try not to fire for a few seconds to cool the gun off.  Another power-up is a nuke/smart bomb that blows up everything on the screen when you shoot the bomb.

The other gauge is your energy gauge.  As you take hits, it decreases (although you can find ways to increase it).  If it runs out, you are terminated.

Additionally, there are many scenes that have allies (humans) help you fight in the foreground - don't shoot them, they'll crab at you and you will have some points deducted from your score (maybe it's worth it)!

All the details aside, what makes the game so great is the phenomenal graphics (unmatched and way ahead of their time) and the constant action that is so well connected to the awesome movie of the same name.  The graphics are great in their detail of the enemies and the landscape, but also in emulating the Heads-Up-Display/overlay that the movie used so effectively to show how the Terminator analyzed his surroundings.  The sound is also a huge standout.  The constant fire of your machine gun is the best I've heard and the high pitched whine when you launch a missile adds to the realism.

If you haven't tried T2, you must, it's a moral imperative.  If you haven't played in a while, crank it up and remember how much fun it is.

Game of the Day - Wild West C.O.W.-Boys Of Moo Mesa

Since the Gun.Smoke strategy guide was my last post, decided to stay with the Wild West theme.

Moo Mesa could be called Sunset RIders 2 - Revenge of the Bulls.  It's a side-scrolling platformer (shooter) with lots of extra goodies and Saturday Morn cartoon flavor.  That's reasonable because it was based on a TV cartoon of the same name (who knew?).

You choose one of four cow/bulls to gun-up and blast away at lots of enemies.  In fact, four players can play at once, which is fun, but can be confusing when it comes to who is shooting what.  Of course, if bulls could really shoot guns, we'd all be in trouble.

The graphics are cartoony but fun, as you go thru old west towns, barns, mines, etc shooting the enemy.  Like other later side-scrollers, you get to shoot in all directions, left, right, up, down, diagonal.  You have to jump to shoot down  And that's it for the controls, shoot and jump.  But, there are many ways to use them together.  There is a dash/charge when you push them both.  Also, many power-ups can be procured and many of them have a special attribute when pushing both the buttons (shoot & jump).  The power-ups can be found in lots of places and are dropped when shooting certain things roaming the landscape.

There are also other interactive features... For instance on the first level, there is an old-fashioned dynamite detonator.  The kind with the one big handle that you push down.  So, you walk your character up to it and use the joystick to push it down - and then, Boom.  There are inventive little touches like this throughout the game.

So, if you want a game that plays a little like Gunforce meets Sunset Riders, or if you are a vegetarian and want the cows to get their revenge, play Wild West C.O.W.-Boys Of Moo Mesa.

Guest Gamer Strategy Guide - Gun.Smoke by Josh (GunSmoke Guy)

(Intro by Mamezach)
 

Gun.Smoke (one of the first GOTD), is a great game made better by a completely unique shooting scheme.  Instead of the joystick or trackball or spinner deciding what direction you are shooting, it's actually the buttons.  Which button you push (and every combo of buttons!) shoots a different direction - I can't recall another game that has this setup.  Anyway, go to the GOTD listing to see the details...  This space is for tips and strategies by the World Champ - as verified by Twin Galaxies - for both the arcade and MAME versions, Joshua (a.k.a. GunSmoke Guy on the KLOV forums).  His tips are below...

Hmm… as far as Gun.Smoke goes, it's important to space the buttons out properly on the control panel in a arc formation so they feel more natural since that's the way your fingers are. Familiarize yourself with the button combinations in the game, you can actually shoot 6 ways, not just 3. Unlike the NES version the Arcade version utilized 3 buttons.

The game has different variations in MAME, some which has the Indian Chief as Level 3, and some as Level 6. Don't miss any barrels as you need to collect the various items inside of them to increase your shooting distance, the speed of the bullets, and the increased movement of the deputy. Getting the horse will allow you to take a few hits before your horse dies, however running into barrels with the horse will harm him. Every time you die you will have a decrease in your items. So it is imperative before you die again to try to re-collect anything you might have lost such as bullets ,boots ,guns ... You will notice certain other items such as cows, stars, dragon flies, crystals etc... these are worth extra points. When you get more points, you get more lives and you will be able to progress further and further. The consistency of what's inside the barrels is good however when you advance to later levels some contain items such as skulls which will deduct some of your power items, so it's best to avoid collecting a skull.

The levels pretty much don't really change, sometimes you will see a slight variation but if you can memorize where the enemies come from and what their habits are in addition to the bosses you will enjoy the game. Gun.Smoke is very consistent, it's all about memorizing the levels. Also don't become bullet shy you have unlimited ammo, so fire away constantly!

Game of the Day - Dimahoo

I should just put every game by 8ing/Raizing in as a GOTD now.  They are mostly spectacular.  Dimahoo is a crazy-good vertical shooter that has lots of cool detail that makes the game more complex.

First, the normal stuff.  Dimahoo (released in 2000) has the great graphics, sound and gameplay you should be able to expect by such a late generation shooter.  The graphics are mech/D&D/cartoony and done with fine detail and beautiful color.  Some of my favorite graphics in any game.  The gameplay is equally impressive as you are immersed in the battle from moment one with great controls and constant (but not absurd) action.

The controls are somewhat straight-forward with an additional (color-based) twist.  You choose from 4 ship/characters (actually 8 if you know the easter eggs).  Each has a gun you shoot with the first button and bombs you launch with the second button.  The shot button also has a charge shot if you hold it down that is customized for each character.  Here's where the twist comes in...  When you charge your shot, the color will be red or blue (and then begin changing) - if you release the shot when red - then the damage to blue enemies is magnified, and the converse - your blue charged shot will cause more harm to red enemies.  So, make sure to release your shot relative to who is on the screen.

The next cool thing (of many) is that enemies killed with charged shots will drop prizes of ALL different kinds.  I'm talking treasures, bread, curry, jewelry, etc.  You grab the stuff and start a collection.  Not only do you get a bonus, but the game shows you what you collected in each round and at the end of the game displays your entire collection to show everyting you snared and empty slots to show all the stuff you did not.  This "inventory" is a cool little feature and another way to try to get achievements in the game.

Gold diamonds abound and you collect them to build up the bomb gauge.  Every time a gauge is filled, you are awarded another bomb.  Bombs are shown trailing your ship, so it's easy to always know how many you have.

Dimahoo also has a good "Goldilocks" factor.  Meaning it's not too easy and it's not too hard - it feels "just right" and very playable.  You are constantly challenged yet it's not so overly done that you can't tell your ass from a Cinnabon.  Until about the 4th level, that is, when the difficulty factor starts to increase.

If you like very shooters at all, it's impossible not to like Dimahoo.  Go ahead, try not to like it.

By the way, another Japanese video game with a name that I have no idea what it means... Wish I could use video game titles in Scrabble, then I could make all kinds of words.

Game of the Day - Caliber 50

Caliber 50 is a walk-around omni shooter that gets just about everything right.  You are at war in the jungle and it's time to use your gun and grenades to take out the enemy - and they are everywhere.

Right off the bat, you should know that Caliber 50 plays much better with a spinner and especially a push/pull spinner if you have one (even better would be a rotary joystick like the original arcade game).  The controls work like several in this genre...  You use the joystick to walk/swim in any direction, but you use the spinner/rotary to turn around to aim your gun in any direction.  So if you are using the js in one hand and the spinner in the other, is can be difficult to shoot and toss grenades unless your js has buttons on it or you have the aforementioned push/pull spinner (which makes the game spectacularly playable - while spinning around, you push down to shoot your gun and pull up to lob a grenade - very cool).  As an alternative, you also can use the MAME setup to program buttons to "rotate left" and rotate right" if you don't have a spinner.  That way, you can still enjoy the game's features.  And while it's not optimal, it can work pretty well with a modicum of practice.

There are many games of this genre (Ikari, Shock Troopers, Gundhara, Desert Breaker, Ninja Commando to name a few), but I think Cal 50 is near the top.  The graphics are excellent.  Very tightly drawn details of the landscape, enemies, animals, etc. all look great.  I also like the terrain, there are lots of places to go and they are not all obvious.  Hills, water, underground rooms and caverns all make for nice diversity.  I also like the weapon/life force system.  There is a gauge at the top that shows your "power" (it goes from empty to full).  You can increase it by collecting the little artillery shells that all the enemies cough up when you kill them.  When you fill up a gauge, your weapon upgrades to a more poweful version.  When you take hits and the gauge decreases, the reverse happens and your weapon downgrades (or you die, depending on how many gauges you have filled).

Good enemies, great control scheme and sharp, fun graphics make Caliber 50 a stand-out.  Go strap on your boots and check it out.

Info: Romstar, 1989, Omni Shooter

See my post on the push/pull spinner here...

Game (MAME) popularity and the Games of the Day

How does anyone know how popular or widely known any arcade/MAME game is?  Clearly, we can rattle off the Top X that everyone knows:  The Pac-Mans, Donkey Kongs and Tempests of the world, but if I want to find games that are lesser known as candidates for Game of the Day, how to I gauge their popularity?

Old school games are better known by geezers like me, while newer games - not so much.  I largely quit going to the arcades before Clinton was President.  So the games I know are based on my arcade history, console games I've played, games my friends told me about, even the geographical region I grew up in.  It's an easy trap to think that the games I know are the ones everyone is familiar with and also the opposite - if I didn't know a game, I figured most didn't.  But that's a little self-important, and so I wanted to find a better measurement of how well a game is known.  So, here a a few of the better tools I look at to find out.

1.  KLOV - the KLOV database has (almost) every arcade/MAME listed.  What I look at is the info it provides info about two things: census ownership and census "wants".  Part of the site allows user to list the games they have (ownership) and are looking for (wants).  For instance, Total Carnage scores 18 out of a possible 100 on ownership (comparatively speaking) and 9 out of 100 on their census of "wanted".  Obviouly, comparatively speaking, Total Carnage is not the most widely owned or desired game in the world, but that's just one source from one group of users.

2.  Arcade Game Popularity Charts - On Solvalou.com (a great site) there is a tally of all of the times each arcade game is mentioned on three large usenet video game discussion groups.  (rec.games.video.arcade.collecting, rec.games.video.arcade.marketplace and rec.games.video.arcade)  Again, this is an inexact science, but a great tool to see how much a game is in the consciousness of the gaming world as it is simply a tally of often each game appears.  For instance, Ms. Pac-Man is first with 22,092 mentions and Total Carnage is 287th with 1,068.

3.  Rom Download counts at several sites - Mostly, I check Emuparadise (not all download sites give counts of downloads by rom).  So, by checking how many times a MAME rom has been downloaded, it gives another way to compare how popular games are.  For instance, Total Carnage isn't even in the Top 850 roms for downloads on the EP site.

So, if I love a game, I check all these sites.  If there are hundreds (sometimes there are thousands) of games that are more well-known or popular than the game I'm checking on, then it can be a Game of the Day.

Game of the Day - Juno First

If you've read the blog before, you know that the point of the Games of the Day is to introduce fun, great games to those who may not have seen or played them before.  It would be stupid to have the game of the day be Galaga or Pac-Man, because everyone knows them.  So, hopefully there is a little obscurity that shrouds any GOTD, or at least I'm introducing it to a different generation of players who missed it in the arcades.

That's why Juno First (Konami,1983) has not been a GOTD before now.  My impression is that it is widely known, but what games anyone knows can be affected greatly by their age, where they play games, what genres they like, how much they are into MAME, what their friends play, etc.  So, it turns out, Juno First is not as popular or well-known as I thought - and I want to make sure everyone has a chance to check it out.

Juno First is a simple old-school vertical shooter in the vein of Space Invaders and Galaxian.  With one button, you shoot aliens coming at you down the screen, the other button is a warp that allows you to dematerialize and then rematerialize elsewhere to avoid getting hit.  You have a joystick that moves you in all directions to complete the control set.

The special thing about Juno First is the 3D illusion of the grid it projects that you play on.  Your shots don't actually go straight up the screen, they shoot towards the horizon (roughly following the grid lines), culminating at the vanishing point where the aliens first appear.  The grid also moves with you when you move the joystick (fly) around the screen.  Pull left or right and watch the grid flow with you, push forward and you move up the grid (as it slides back), pull back and you back up as the grid flows out in front of you - slowing the approach of aliens and their missiles.  This moving around and quasi-3D grid effect is what makes Juno First very enjoyable to play. And it doesn't give me Ecco-the-Dolphin-Syndrome!

It also a few other tricks up its sleeve (more than most old school shooters)...

1. If you shoot an asteroid that releases a floating dudestronaut, pick him up and the aliens stop shooting for a while.
2.  The aliens get more hostile with time, so make sure you kill them as fast as possible (no one likes a hostile alien)
3.  Speaking of speed, you have 99 seconds to complete each wave and more importantly, you get a bonus based on how fast you complete it.
4.  There's a kind of radar at the top of the screen showing where the enemies are before they hit the grid.  It is helpful, as you get to know where they are starting from so you can suss out your angle when they begin their attack.

If you haven't played Juno First, go check it out, it is easy to fall in love with.

Game of the Day - Total Carnage

Of all the games I've found on MAME that I never played in the arcades, Total Carnage is in my top 5 favorites.  To be fair, Total Carnage is a dual joystick game in the mold of (and closely related to) Smash T.V.,  and I'm a sucker for dual joystick games.

Just like Robotron or previous GOTD - Black Widow or Smash T.V., you move with the left joystick and shoot the direction you want with the right js.  It is an age old (yet not done often enough) control scheme that I find to be very enjoyable.  There is one added control wrinkle in Total Carnage not in those other games, you can toss bombs/grenades by pushing the start button (with what, your dick?).

Of course the controls alone don't make a great game.  Total Carnage is presented in a very colorful, cartoony and humorous way.  The graphics of the landscape, your enemies, the explosions and especially your powered up weapons are very crisp, sharp and fun to see.  The upgrades to your weapons come in several varieties and there are bombs to collect everywhere.  But that's not all...

In addition to killing enemies, vehicles (that you are constantly trying to avoid) and collecting power-ups and bombs, there are a few other things to look out for...


1. Human hostages - (rescue them if you feel like it - except the whiny kids.  The game keeps count)
2. Teleporters - Spinning discs that transport you immediately to another (finite) area (you'll come back)
3. Password teleporters - If you have the passwords, you can jump to specific areas
4. Keys - collect 220 for the "surprise" ending
5. Land Mines - Don't run into them or you will be blown sky high (although it's fun to see)
6. Direction choices - In many areas you get to choose where you go next

Total Carnage is an action-packed, eye-candy-laden, exhilarating game that is just about the most pure fun I've had on MAME.

Oh, one other thing, it's BITCH hard.

Game of the Day - Gunlock

Gunlock (aka Rayforce) is a slickly done vert shooter with a great secondary weapon and superior graphics.

You have only two buttons in Gunlock and no bombs.  The first button shoots your normal weapon (and can be significantly powered up) and the second button shoots locked-on guided missiles.  These missiles and the great visuals are what make Gunlock fun.

In order to lock the missiles on a target, you simply "paint" an enemy by flying your cross-hair over them.  Your cross-hair is fixed in a position directly out in front of your ship.  So, you mark/paint as many opponents as you can, and then unleash your missiles which come out of all sides of your ship, circle around, and destroy everything that had been locked-onto.  It's a great effect.  In fact, just the "painting" of the enemies is a nice effect in that little targets lock onto them and show targeting information and a tiny little cross-hair.  Very cool.

What's also cool is the look of the game.  It is a space shooter with LOTS of detail in the mid and background.  Starfields that move, planets that you come close to and get very large as you fly by, quasi-3D effects when you fly by other large ships, it's all way ahead of its time.

Keep in mind, all this cool thought and art is wrapped around a very playable game.  The enemies come in a wide variety and have a nice mixture of difficulty in dealing with them.

There aren't a lot of shooters with this lock-on feature as part of the standard play (there were two sequels) - and not too many vert shooters that are this much fun.

Game of the Day - Marchen Maze

This is the weirdest game I've liked in a while.  It is a platform-maze game combo that plays on a suspended track (like Mad Crasher) and has an isometric view.  Oh, and it has cutsie Alice-in-Wonderland graphics.

Your goal is to shoot bubbles (I can't make this stuff up) and kill/knock off your enemies before you are knocked off the track and fall.  Enemies roll balls and marbles at you and they knock you backwards (or to the side depending on how they hit).  You have two buttons, shoot and jump.  So, you can try to shoot everything out of the way or just jump over stuff.

The only way to lose a player is too fall off.  There is no way to die and there is no maximum number of times you can get hit as long as you aren't knocked off the platform/track.  It can make for some very long battles with the bosses because you keep running in from the edge and trying to shoot them, meanwhile they knock you back some and you have to be careful not to fall.  Again, this can theoretically go on in perpetuity.

As you go along the track, it gets wider and narrower.  There are many places where there is no room maneuver, and you have to blast or jump a myriad of crap in your way.  The enemies are little wind up toys, penguins, pigs, balloons, all kinds of weird cute-'em-up crap.  There's also a little more platform stuff thrown in as you have to jump chasms, land on moving platforms and leap over all kinds of oscillating stuff in the landscape.

It's not the greatest game you'll ever play, but you'll have fun doing so and certainly remember it for a long time.

36 Great Fighting Games

In the past couple of months I've played over 150 top rated MAME fighting games.  Some were Vs. fighters, some were side-scrolling beat-'em-ups.  These are my current favorite 36.  I rated them on fighting (gameplay), graphics and the extra stuff that make some of the games special and unique.

To say the least, there's a ton of subjectivity.

Graphics are different for different eras and different types of games (scrolling vs 2d fighting vs 3D fighting).  So it's hard to compare Game X vs Game Y directly, all I did was rate how much I liked the graphics in any particular game and if they added to the fun.

I rated fighting on the satisfaction felt when using the controls and beating the crap out of someone as well as the variety and complexity of the moves available.  Keep in mind, I suck, so there are lots of moves I haven't seen or done. 

The last column is for coolness and specialness and uniqueness and any other -ness that makes the game interesting, fun and different.

No doubt that since it took a while to compile the ratings, I probably didn't rate with exactly the same critical eye each time I played.  Sometimes I may have been more generous, sometimes the opposite.  I also feel I might have been grading a little on a curve - for instance, I expect Street Fighter games to be good, so maybe I'm a tougher judge of them.

Certainly you'll find some games missing and other games that you don't think belong - that's the fun of the list.  It's only intention is to hopefully remind someone of a great game they forgot about or possibly introduce a new game to someone who had never seen it before.

Cool Custom Controllers by ProModz

So, this place called ProModz paints and customizes Xbox and other controllers.  They have many designs or you can have them make anything custom.  You can also save $$$ by mailing them your controller to start with - and you'll want to save because the suckers are expensive.  But hey, they're cool. Here's their site... http://www.promodz.com/

Game of the Day - Viper Phase 1

Viper Phase 1 is a great, modern vert shooter that continues where the Raiden series left off.  It is set in space and on space stations and has a fairly simple control scheme.  It has many things going for it as it excels in most aspects of what makes a good vert shooter.  Here are some of those things:

1.  Graphics/Visual Detail:  VP1 has unbelievably detailed graphics.  There are men running around in all directions, there are big, detailed mechs, complex space station buildings and spaceships that burn and blow apart.  Clearly, some extra care was taken in the graphic presentation and it shows.  The ships catch fire and burn when hit.  The fire flickers and grows, it is very well done.  Shrapnel flies everywhere, but they used restraint as it is not so much as to be confused with what you have to avoid or blow up.  The Napalm power-up has green explosions (you know, for realism) and they're cool.  It's just a lot of eye candy to enjoy.

2.  Sound:  Nice bass-laden booms in the explosions.  Hard to understand why some modern shooters have crappy/weak sound, but VP1 sounds great (except the overall volume is low compared to other MAME games, so turn it up)!

3.  Nice gameplay with a reasonable learning curve:  If you've read some of my other GOTD entries of modern shooters, sometimes I bitch because they are too crowded and it's too hard to see what's going on.  In VP1, the play is hectic, but you can see and control what you need in order to be successful.  They let you get your feet wet for the first couple of rounds and then amp up the chaos to make sure your adrenal gland is working.

4.  Scoring System:  First, the score is NOT gigantic to start.  Your "ones" digit even moves and your score goes up in increments of 10s and 100s.  You get bonuses for the medals you pick up and of course, everything you blast.  At the end of the round, you get some more bonuses for how well you played including a big multiplier that is based on what % of everything you destroyed.

There is nothing overly unique about VP1. it's simply a very nicely polished modern vertical shooter.  If you haven't played it, check it out and enjoy.

Game of the Day - Beastorizer

Beastorizer is a fun fighting game that is the first in the Bloody Roar series.  You may have played one of the Bloody Roars in the arcade or on a home console system.  The hook in all of them is similar.  Unleash your inner animal.

Since Beastorizer was the first in the series, it is the most primitive in terms of graphics and control.  But don't let that deter you from playing, it's a fun, FAST game.

You only have 3 buttons to concern yourself with: Punch, Kick and Beast.  The beast button turns you into your associated beast (and there are some good ones: rabbit, mole, warthog thing, etc).  There is a beast gauge that diminishes as you take damage and once it runs out you turn back into your human form (bummer).  On the same token, once that has happened, you have to wait some time (and inflict some damage) to build the bar back up before you can change back into the beast.

As is traditional in fighting games, combos of joystick movement and buttons give you different sorts of attacks.  And as you might have guessed, you have a whole other set of moves and special stuff available when you are the beast.  Some smart programming along with the human/beast transformation makes for lots of different moves and things to see despite the simple control scheme.

So, with its nice graphics (though a little polygonny), simple controls (good for novices but elaborate enough for experts), extremely fast action and the hook of beasting out, Beastorizer has something for everyone.

Game of the Day - Captain Tomaday

Okay, so you're a mutated tomato.  And your enemies are things like eggplants, mechanized carrots, evil pumpkins, aluminum cans and babies, for starters.  And your hands aren't even attached to your body.

Capt Tomaday is a vert shooter - no, actually a vert puncher from Neo Geo.  It has a crazy theme, gigantic and colorful cartoonish graphics, and a tomato with disembodied fists for weapons.

You fly up the screen and attack all the incoming vegetariana by using two buttons - one shoots/throws your left fist and the other shoots/throws your right.  Then it returns to you.  So you punch your way through the cartoony hell, left and righting your way through an increasingly tough band of veg-enemies.  There are many, many power-ups.  You can get big, small, turn into many things including a lizardy thing, a baby and others.  Also, you can clone yourself.  When there are two of you (and the two don't have to both be the tomato - it could be the tomato and the baby, for instance), a third button comes into play.  This third button controls the formation that you and your clone fly in when attacking.

Another unusual feature of your weaponry is that if you punch with the same fist (left OR right) several times in a row, the other fist becomes giant and the next time you throw it it is a "super blow" (insert your own joke here).  So, there are many strategies since you can push both buttons at once (or even hold them down to repeat) and have both fists flying, or just use one a lot and save the other for the "super".

The graphics are Saturday morning cartoon style.  In fact, some are so detailed that the screen stops scrolling and you play against a static background.

Capt Tomaday is fun to watch and to play.  And they get a 10 for uniqueness.  Below is one of the flyers...

New poll: Have you ever let anyone beat you at a video game?

Maybe your kid.  Maybe your downtrodden friend.  Maybe your uncoordinated cousin from far away.  Maybe your honey.  You didn't want to play Pac-Man or Galaga all day anyway...  The question is have you (do you) let anyone win at a video game?  Poll on the right.

New search box on the blog

I've now added a search box to the blog in the right column.  It finds any entry or link or page that has the word(s) you search.  Try it if you want.  "Geezer" currently has two hits on the blog (and more in the links).

Game of the Day - Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein

Plasma Sword (a.k.a. Star Gladiator 2) is a fun 3D fighter from Capcom.  You choose from humanoids, mechs, robots, etc to begin the fighting.  Many of the 24 characters are the same as the first Star Gladiator if you happen to be familiar with that game.  If not, no big deal, just jump into the action.  As with many Capcom games, there are lots of special & double-dog-super-uber-duper moves.

The controls start out simple.  Everyone has a weapon.  The first two buttons are for different attacks with that weapon and the third button is for a kick.  The last button is for stepping in/out and otherwise as we are playing in 3D.  Of course, the joystick controls where you move in the ring and how you complete all the special moves.

The graphics are a little chunky, but overall very enjoyable.  Specifically, the animations are very creative and many of the attacks made me laugh the first time I saw them.

As I have written here before, I am NOT, by any means, an expert or even very accomplished at fighting games.  Therefore, my analysis of them is very superficial and based primarily on the look and feel of the graphics, and the feel and variety of the controls and moves.  I have not played enough to discuss the depth of the characters individual attributes or a lot about defensive/counter moves at higher levels.

I do know that if you like fighting games, Plasma Sword should hold your interest for a while whether you are an expert or a beginner.

If you'd like many more details about the games characters and controls, there is a very nice article on Wikipedia here.

Game of the Day - Brave Blade

Brave Blade is a typical 8ing/Raizing vert shooter.  And that's a very good thing.  Modern, colorful graphics combine with smooth, complex controls and imaginative scoring to make a great game.  You choose from many ships and have a joystick and three buttons at the helm.  Button one fires the main weapon (and the gathered power-ups and enhancements), button two attacks with your sword (or comparable weapon) and button three deploys your BFB (big fat bomb).  The type of sword weapon and bomb you have are related to which ship/character you choose to play.

As in many of the more recent games of the genre, scoring is a lot more complex than the scoring in older games like Galaga or Space Invaders.  You get additional points for chains, etc and more points (in the form of dropped bonuses) from killing with the sword as opposed to your gun/lasers.

Another feature of the sword based weapon (button 2) is a shield.  When you hold it down, a shield forms around you and you are invulnerable for as long as the shield holds.  If something impacts or blasts the shield sufficiently, it can be annihilated.  You will be warned that it is gone and you will have to wait a while to be able to deploy it again.

As is the case for many modern vert shooters, the star here is the graphics.  Cool spaceships, giant buildings and interesting villages are all part of what you'll encounter.  In fact, in one of the first stages, a giant castle blows up and you have to blast/avoid the pieces asteroids-style while the other enemies still are trying to smoke you.

If you like vert shooters, it's hard not to enjoy Brave Blade.