MAME ROW #99 - Super Stingray

[GtBFilms]

I only managed to get some time to try these out today, but here are my first impressions:

Super Stingray
This one looks like it should be a lot of fun - what's not to like about tanks, right? But on playing it I seemed to get to the end of level, then always die in the melee at the top of the screen. The game kept suggesting I 'Go back' and eventually I took notice and found that by returning to the bottom of the play area, I could recharge my defence. So it seems that the key is to balance trying to destroy the fort at the top , with returning to recharge, and working out how much damage you will take on the way back. It's quite addictive.

Bio Attack

Ah, it's the 1966 film 'Fantastic Voyage' in videogame form, but named something different to avoid litigation!

It's a nice idea, I'm not entirely sure why the patient has what look like cats throwing spears in his/her bloodstream, but this game suffers from being just a bit too difficult. The cats seem to home in on your ship, so you really need to take them out, and the speed of the game doesn't work in your favour (as your fire-rate doesn't really match the speed of the oncoming cats). It's an odd one, but in 1983, this was up against the Star Wars vector arcade game, and Track & Field, I can't see this one taking too many quarters.

Recordbreaker

Talking of Track & Field, this is a copy-cat button masher coming out five years after that ground breaking title. So had they managed to develop the button-mashing sports game genre in that time? No, not really. It looks pretty nice, but it's the same old button mashing mechanic with nothing much new. It reminds me of good old Daley Thompson's Decathlon on the trusty ZX Spectrum (and pretty much every other 8-bit machine).

Daley Thompson's Decathlon, ZX Spectrum, 1984

Man, I mashed at least a couple of joysticks playing that game! I remember at the time, one of the playground suggestions was to play it using the keyboard, with a golf ball rocking between the two keys for maximum 'waggle' - I'm glad to say I never tried that, or I would probably have been replacing the keyboard as well as my joystick.

I tried a few events on this one - relay and 100m, and in both my opponent sped off into the distance and narrowly qualified every time. My 'athlete', by contrast, ran like an asthmatic geriatric and was usually several seconds over the target time, being DISQUALIFIED every time.

So if this one wins, I'd suggest we set the DIP switch settings from the default Normal difficulty, to Easy - it appear to give you an extra second on the target times and would at least give a chance of getting to see more than one event.

None of this weeks entries are standout winners - they're all a bit mediocre, but that's the joy of the MAMEROW - I've never heard of any of them before.

However, because of it's tactical gameplay, and because everyone loves driving a tank, this week my vote goes to.....

Super Stingray

[mediamogul]

@gtbfilms said in MAME ROW #99:

Super Stingray... It's quite addictive.

You're not kidding. I actually had trouble putting this one down.

[GtBFilms]

@mediamogul I had another few attempts at Super Stingray last night, and actually I'm starting to really like it!

Once I discovered you are supposed to choose a weapon at the start location before making your way up the play area, things got a LOT easier. Rather than the puny default single-shot gun, I chose a multi-shot one (far left option) and had a great time blasting everything in sight. I still had to regularly return to base to have my energy replenished, but I managed to advance through the first three stages.

On the fourth stage, helicopters and larger guns seem to be less susceptible to my five-way gun, and I suppose that's where the tactics come in - knowing which weapon is the best to choose for each level.

A bit more experimentation is called for, but I was really enjoying playing this one, once I worked out some of what was happening!

[obsidianspider]

This week's winner is Super Stingray

[GtBFilms]

@obsidianspider

"Let off the enemy's front by your super Stingray"

Awesome Jenglish! This game just got even better!

[mediamogul]

@gtbfilms said in MAME ROW #99 - Super Stingray:

Once I discovered you are supposed to choose a weapon at the start location before making your way up the play area, things got a LOT easier.

Apparently you can also choose a secondary weapon on the right side as well. While they're still all offensive, they have great defensive capabilities. The far right allows you to call in an airstrike, but I couldn't get this to work more than once per round. The middle option produces a smoke cloud out the back of your vehicle that stuns enemies. That one really reminds me of 'Rally X'. The left-most option is the mines and that's what I've personally been favoring. When retreat becomes necessary, several enemies will follow, but often few will be spawned in front for long stretches. By releasing mines, you can continue scoring despite not have any targets for your primary weapon. All in all, this is a really fun game. I think it would have been fondly remembered in the west if it had been released back in the day.

[obsidianspider]

@gtbfilms I don't make the flyers, I just find em ;)

[GtBFilms]

I think I can do better, but this is my best score so far:

288400

[mediamogul]

I broke the bank with a score of 9999990. I've always wanted to max out the score of an arcade game on a single credit, so this is somewhat of a bucket list item for me. The secret is to find the opportunities to line up multiple kills with the spread shot. That, combined with the bomb items that kill all onscreen enemies, drastically increase the points per kill based on how many opponents are taken out at one time.

[GtBFilms]

@mediamogul awesome score! This was a surprisingly good one this week - I didn't initially think much of it, but it's a pretty good game.

[mediamogul]

@gtbfilms said in MAME ROW #99 - Super Stingray:

This was a surprisingly good one this week - I didn't initially think much of it, but it's a pretty good game.

I love 'Fantastic Voyage' and thought for sure that I'd vote for 'Bio Attack', but outside of the novelty of multiple stages that play a little differently, the game was pretty rigid and not a lot of fun. Your write-ups always help suss out the best options as well. Thanks as always.

[obsidianspider]

MAME ROW #100 is live