MAME ROW #96 - Timber
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This is the MAME Random Of the Week #96
The three random numbers for this week are: 118 368 1936
Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #96?
The result of the poll is posted on Wednesday, so we have Monday and Tuesday for experimentation.
118
Game Name: Bouncing Balls
Company: Comad
Year: 1991
ROM file name: bballs.zip368
Game Name: Cybattler
Company: Jaleco
Year: 1993
ROM file name: cybattlr.zip1936
Game Name: Timber
Company: Bally Midway
Year: 1984
ROM file name: timber.zipWhat 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:
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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.
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There's no need to use RetroPie to join the MAME ROW! You can play it on any platform you want.
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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
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Gave these a try last night.
I'm not a huge fan of the ball-matching games, and Bouncing Balls tries to throw some arithmetic into the mix, to make it a bit different. Unfortunately I don't derive pleasure from having to perform quick mental arithmetic while gaming (although I concede, I may be in the minority here). So I'm afraid Bouncing Balls didn't hold my interest for very long.
Cybattler looks pretty cool on the YouTube preview. And in play it's pretty good too. It took me a little while of out of control spinning and firing to realise that if I held down the fire button, I would continue to fire in the same direction. Having to fire in different directions during the game made it quite a challenge, and I like the fact they have opted for an energy bar, rather than a number of lives you can lose with one hit. I never really got to grips with the control mechanism, I think this would work better with a dual joystick set-up such as Smash TV/Robotron or similar games. Having said that, it was still a fun shooter.
I didn't have great hopes for Timber from the preview video, but it's actually quite a cute game. The presentation reminds me of the fictional 'Fix It Felix Jr' game from the film Wreck it Ralph.
I enjoyed the uncomplicated gameplay of chopping down trees as fast as I could, collecting birds and avoiding the bee hives thrown by angry bears.
It's not the most technically complicated game in this week's selection, but I found it the most fun (it tickled my nostalgia bone), so for that reason this week I'm voting for....
TIMBER!
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I've never heard of 'Timber' before, but the art style and soundtrack instrumentation scream "'Tapper' conversion kit". Sure enough, that's exactly what it is. Heck, it even looks like the same guy. Say what you will about his mustache, but guy's work ethic is beyond reproach. Also, I love twin stick shooters, so I'm really looking forward to trying 'Cybattler' as well.
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Cybattler has definitely got the wow! factor, it's simply amazing. Robots, giant spaceships - 2D extravaganza, especially viewed on my 29" RGB CRT Trinitron :D I was actually instantly at home with the control scheme, I think it's very responsive, and well made in general -not always the case with such games. Plus the sensible enemy patterns and lack of one-hit deaths make it "fair" and very playable.
Somehow I don't have Tapper in my romset. But I don't think it would be a match for Cybattler anyhow in this vote :) -
@obsidianspider I already discovered Cybattler. The whole robots and style is pleasing and doesn't feel cheap gameplay wise. The other games are sure interesting to try out, but not really good for highscore play I suppose.
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This week's winner is Timber
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Cool, been interested in trying this for real. The Tapper-style is really charming.
However, some of these games seem non-retroarch based and makes me have control issues, even though I'm emulating via lr-mame2003. It's the same with Tapper...
I first got myself entangled into some black/white mame menu, and now when booting it gets into a "select desired test menu" that doesn't respond to input at all...
How do you get it to work?
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Ha, Too funny! This guy had it much easier tending bar.
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@mediamogul said in MAME ROW #96 - Timber:
Ha, Too funny! This guy had it much easier tending bar.
No not at all... after passing stage 2
You are entering bonus stage
Tipp:
You can push the direction of the tree. But you can't push the bear up to the tree ;)
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I don't understand anything of these last posts...! :)
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'Timber' really is a lot like 'Tapper', only with a significantly higher chance of being murdered in the woods.
Tip:
If you hear dueling banjos, it's not a bonus level. Just exit out of the game.I don't understand anything of these last posts...! :)
It might all make sense when you play the game... maybe.
However, some of these games seem non-retroarch based and makes me have control issues, even though I'm emulating via lr-mame2003. It's the same with Tapper... How do you get it to work?
This issue with Midway MCR titles in lr-mame2003 was just recently resolved after existing for several years. However, the changes may not have filtered into the available binary. It could be that you'll have to do an install from source. However, since the fix stems from the work being done on lr-mame2003-plus, it could be that the changes haven't been carried over to lr-mame2003 yet at all. I'm not sure.
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@mediamogul I've been planning to test mame2003-plus for a while, I guess I could just install latest binary mame2003-plus and use this emulator, right?
The latest mame2003 binary didn't solve the problem.
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@andershp said in MAME ROW #96 - Timber:
The latest mame2003 binary didn't solve the problem.
If the changes aren't in the lr-mame2003 binary, you may want to try the 'install from source' option. If they're not in the current source, then lr-mame2003-plus should work for you. Any of the AdvanceMAME options should run the game as well.
RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive
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@andershp I got the self test menu problem with MAME2003 as well, I resorted to using Advmame1.4 instead, where it works fine.
I sometimes get sound sync issues with Advmame1.4 and have to use Advmame0.93, but the sound seems fine on Timber (apart from the initial tune is a bit odd, but I don't know if it is supposed to sound like that!)
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I had another few games of Timber last night. It seems a bit odd that you only get 1000 points for completing the bonus stage (stay on the spinning barrel for 20 seconds) and yet you also get 1000 points just for picking up a red bird during the main game.
At some points I managed to get 500 points for killing the bees, but I'm not quite sure how I did it.
The game became a lot easier when I realised that the two fire buttons are for 'chop left' and 'chop right'!
Anyway, I got to 69010, which was level 6 or 7 I think. I kept tripping over trees and getting killed by bees while I was stunned in the end.
I also had another try of Cybattler. It's growing on me.
The boss at the end of Level 1 still gets me ever time though.
I got to 72040pts in Cybattler.
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@cyperghost said in MAME ROW #96 - Timber:
Ha! That reminds me of a sign that I saw at Sigiriya last year. Note, everyone near this sign was extremely loud.
eyeroll
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@gtbfilms said in MAME ROW #96 - Timber:
I sometimes get sound sync issues with Advmame1.4 and have to use Advmame0.93
You might also want to try AdvanceMAME 3.x in these situations as well. Out of the lot, it's the only one that has been optimized for the Pi and is being actively developed.
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