MAME ROW #54 - Paperboy

[obsidianspider]

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #54

The three random numbers for this week are: 657, 1271, 460

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #54?

The result of the poll is posted on Wednesday, so we have Monday and Tuesday for experimentation.

657
Game Name: Grand Champion
Company: Taito
Year: 1981
ROM file name: grchamp.zip

1271
Game Name: Paperboy (rev 3)
Company: Atari Games
Year: 1984
ROM file name: paperboy.zip

460
Game Name: Dragon Buster
Company: Namco
Year: 1984
ROM file name: drgnbstr.zip

What is the MAME ROW?

MAME ROW stands for MAME Random Of the Week. We randomly select an arcade game from the 0.78 MAME Reference Set to play on the week. The idea is to play games we've never played before, interact with other forum members, post hi-scores, share game strategies, fun facts, and (the most important) HAVE FUN!

Notes:

1. We usually post hi-scores screenshots after playing with only one credit. If you used more than one credit, please mention it on your post.

2. There's no need to use RetroPie to join the MAME ROW! You can play it on any platform you want.

3. Feel free to post your hi-score (or any content about the game) anytime you want on the previous rounds topics (link below).

Every Monday we create a topic at the "General Discussion and Gaming > MAME Random Of the Week" forum section with the 3 random games to be voted. And on Wednesday we check the result.

These "rules" are constantly being improved!

Previous Rounds

[meleu]

@obsidianspider said in MAME ROW #54:

Game Name: Paperboy

Everytime the Paperboy arcade game comes to my mind I remember this picture of a guy holding the original Paperboy board:

Makes me think that it was made to play only one game and that now we can play virtually infinite games on a Raspberry Pi board...

Source: https://goo.gl/images/1esZ5s

[A Former User]

@meleu GOOD GOD THAT BOARD

Grew up playing Paperboy on NES. Arcade game runs way too fast and loose for me comparedly.

[cyperghost]

@livefastcyyoung Well the McDonalds BigMac in 80's was also bigger than nowadays :D

My fist Paperboy game was in the mid 80's - Amstrad CPC

[meleu]

@lilbud no shooters for this week!! Join us!

I voted for Paperboy btw.

[AndersHP]

Forgot to test Paperboy yesterday, but is this even possible to play on MAME? Doesn't the original cabinet have a bike handlebar built onto it?

[obsidianspider]

This week's winner is Paperboy

[AndersHP]

I can't control this game to save my life! :-)

[A Former User]

@andershp Same. Didn’t realize the Arcade version had a special controller. Could explain it. The NES version controls excellently.

[cyperghost]

@livefastcyyoung @AndersHP @obsidianspider @meleu
Yes... the controller is a special one.
Can we use the NES-version instead?
It seems to be not playable....

[obsidianspider]

@cyperghost I can play it with MAME 2003 and a D Pad. He does drive pretty quickly, but pressing down seems to slow him down. What’s the problem?

[cyperghost]

@obsidianspider I try mame2003 but the it's super difficult to control that dude ;)
Maybe I first try to slow down the guy as you said ;)

[meleu]

Hey guys, I'm having bad times to control too.

When I tested I just launched the game and didn't play seriously, but today I tried to play to make some score and looks like the control is a bit crazy... with some random movements...

I would like to propose that we vote again for the other two games (using the same poll) and check the results tomorrow when it'll be night on @obsidianspider 's part of the world.

What do you guys think?

[obsidianspider]

@meleu I think you slow him down and try again. The game is not easy, but it is playable. So far I have gotten to 3275 points on Tuesday on Easy Street. My goal after work is to try to get on the leader board.

This is why people should try the games and then vote. 😜

[meleu]

@obsidianspider OK, let me try it again slowing him down.

[obsidianspider]

@meleu it’s really not that bad once you press Down. Conversely, Up makes him go faster.

Breaking windows on non-customer houses gives you points, but not on customer houses.

[obsidianspider]

After seeing some wonkiness when trying to put my initials in, I think I know what MAME is trying to do. Since Paperboy was originally using an analog input, when you press a direction on the d-pad, MAME just keeps pressing that direction for you. I am not sure of a great way to "stop" it other than pressing the opposite way. That said, the game is totally playable. After only a few rounds I got 4575 on Easy Street.

[obsidianspider]

7525. Getting your name in is quite difficult. Somehow I ended up with "N" before the timer ran out.

[GtBFilms]

I've not tried it on MAME yet, but I played this one in the arcades (with the bicycle handlebars controller) and remember it was a right &*#@%^ to control then as well!

[obsidianspider]

I just noticed that default by the names in the grid for Middle Road and Easy Street say something.

PAPER BOY IS THE GREATEST

PUT YOUR SCORE ON THIS TABLE