MAME ROW #98 - The Legend of Silkroad

[obsidianspider]

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #98

The three random numbers for this week are: 265 399 1678

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #98?

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

265
Game Name: Champion Wrestler (World)
Company: Taito Corporation Japan
Year: 1989
ROM file name: champwr.zip

399
Game Name: Double Dribble
Company: Konami
Year: 1986
ROM file name: ddribble.zip

1678
Game Name: The Legend of Silkroad
Company: Unico
Year: 1999
ROM file name: silkroad.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

[GtBFilms]

Quite a difficult choice for me this week.

Champion Wrestler

I'm not a huge fan of wrestling, my era is more UK Saturday afternoon wrestling than the more modern WWE, but I do like wrestling games.

UK ITV Wrestling wasn't quite as glamorous as WWE

I like this one, it had the right level of humour and the controls were good enough (although inevitably control seems to involve just mashing the buttons as quickly as possible).

It brought back some good gaming memories, firstly of "Rock 'n Wrestle' on the old ZX Spectrum, and then later I remember some hilarious evenings with friends playing WWF SmackDown! on the PS2 where you could design your own custom wrestlers - cue wrestlers based on each other with huge right arm muscles and big fat bellies!

Rock 'n Wrestle, ZX Spectrum

I like this one, and although it didn't always seem like I was in full control of proceedings, it was definitely fun.

Double Dribble

This game is the polar opposite of the over-the-top-fun of Champion Wrestler. It takes the sport of Basketball and tries to replicate it accurately, with teams of five players. I guess for the time it probably wasn't bad, but it's been totally eclipsed by later games such as NBA Jam, which did basketball so much better, by emphasising the speed and fun.

I'm ON FIRE in NBA Jam!

The Legend of Silkroad

I liked this one too, reminiscent of Golden Axe, which is one of my all-time favourites, it has high production values and all the necessary elements - swords, bigger swords, and magic! I played it for a few games and didn't come across any mounts, but it was still a fun hack and slash game. I read some criticisms online that this game tends to be a coin gobbler, and getting to the level 1 boss seems to bear this out. There didn't seem to be any obvious way of taking out the boss without taking a lot of damage. Although perhaps I need more practice. One criticism I read was that every time the player dies, all the enemies fall over and take damage, so it's possible to actually progress just by jamming more coins in. Not a concern for our single-credit MAMEROW, but it perhaps explains why the end of level bosses are so difficult to beat.

So this week, despite being impressed by The Legend of the Silk Road, I've voted for....

Champion Wrestler

[obsidianspider]

This week's winner is The Legend of Silkroad

[youxia]

Damn, forgot to vote :) But Silkroad made it anyway, thank god.

[mediamogul]

Beat 'em ups can get pretty monotonous over time, but this one manages to break up the typical single button attacks with several multi-button special moves and magic attacks similar to those found in the 'Dungeons & Dragons' arcade games. I didn't use any special moves on my first play, but I was able to get through a few bosses all the same. With a little study of the moves and a some memorization, the game might actually be beatable on one credit. My first go was 267800. One major tip is to be hyper-aware of when a stage is ending and rush to pick up the power-ups, items and especially the life potions before the 'Stage Clear' message appears or they'll be lost.

[mediamogul]

@mediamogul said in MAME ROW #98 - The Legend of Silkroad:

With a little study of the moves

Surprisingly, this didn't help. I learned all the moves for Son of Wind and while the game was much more fun overall, I scored considerably lower by using them. Previously, I was using the Konami golden rule for brawlers to where you simply never let an opponent move above or behind you. However, once you get to the third level and enemies start attacking you from the air, an upward special attack might be the only real defense.

[GtBFilms]

This is a tough one! It took me a good number of attempts just to get on the scoreboard!

Best I can manage so far is 242300

[GtBFilms]

Improved a bit. Still not good enough though: 251000

[mediamogul]

@gtbfilms

I haven't been able to score any higher either. I had everything working for me in that one go. I actually started stage three with a full health bar without haven fallen yet. Since then, I haven't even been able to make it out of stage one without at least a hit or two against me.

[obsidianspider]

MAME ROW #99 is live