MAME ROW #100 - Wonder Boy

mediamogul

I remember hearing about this one back in the 80's but I don't think I've ever actually played it.

You may have played it and just didn't know. 'Adventure Island' for the NES is actually the same game, but to avoid trademark issues with Sega, Hudson Soft decided to change the main character to the company's spokesman Takahashi Meijin, or Master Higgins outside of Japan. I've always wanted to like this game more than I actually do. On paper I should love it, but it's just never clicked for me.

I played a few stages of 'Dragon Blaze' and it's very well put together, but the bullet hell nature of the game play is a little overwhelming. The controls are really tight and allow for maneuverability between the madness if you can manage to avoid having a panic attack while doing so. It seems as though the bullets are always hot pink which allow you to adopt a sort of magic eye painting strategy to see what paths are open, but as early as the second stage, some background elements are also hot pink, so it immediately becomes somewhat more difficult. The third stage removes these background elements, but I imagine they return from stage to stage.

Although I'm not going to have a lot of time to play this week, I think I'm also going to vote for 'Wonder Boy'. It's a solid platformer and I've always wanted to discover the love for this series and its offshoots that's shared by so many retro-gamers out there. I've never given the arcade version its full day in court, so maybe this is the one that brings me into the fold.

mediamogul

@thelostsoul said in MAME ROW #100:

I wasn't sure about the performance of the shmup, as I don't have AdvancedMame installed.

Something to consider is that AdvanceMAME may not be the only option. lr-mame2003 and even lr-fbalpha might run it just fine. The compatibility lists you referenced above are unfortunately loaded with questionable entries due to many factors and should generally be avoided. That said, 'Wonder Boy' is a great choice and I'm actually hoping it wins myself.

VictimRLSH

@thelostsoul At least the DonPachi play was spot on, using techniques I saw in the video, I was able to dodge fire from the 2nd and 3rd bosses without using bombs, something I wasn't able to do before. The 3rd boss battleship is way too big to have enough bombs to kill it with one life, the video helped immensely.

In my past I've finished games on one credit others thought were impossible (Mercs, Narc, Sky Soldiers), so I know not ALL of them take cheap shots. Solar Striker on the Game Boy on the other hand...

I've been trying to train up on Giga Wing too, with that reflect ability I feel I have a good chance of learning to play it through.

obsidianspider

This week's winner is Wonder Boy

Sorry about the late reply everyone. It's been a busy week and I'm just now able to get back to forum stuff.

thelostsoul

@obsidianspider Absolutely no problem. Guess, we all had a busy week. There is still time left, so let's do some scores today. :-)

thelostsoul

Here is a quick try. Once I lost my board, i lost all lives at same place. The jump with holding run button is so slippery. It should be relatively easy to beat. The remaining time gets you a lot of points and the fruits you get through your way will fill a little up of your time.

Score: 31840

obsidianspider

51650 getting to section 3 of Level 1 - 3. This game is pretty hard.

If you can avoid the skateboard you'll have a much better go of it.

VictimRLSH

@obsidianspider Sometimes I ACCIDENTALLY get the skateboard. It and me soon find a hole to fall into...

obsidianspider

@victimrlsh It's pretty tricky to avoid it in 1-2. I find that if you carefully jump to the left of the egg on the cloud, then you can jump over the egg and you'll be ok.

obsidianspider

MAME ROW #101 is live

IanDaemon

"Dragon Blaze" and "Hit the Ice"! Two fantastic games right there.

DRAGON BLAZE with the ability to "throw your dragon forward" (and retrieve it in two different fashions) was a nice breath of fresh air in the sea of shmups. I like the added strategy. Psikyo shooters also had bullets that changed speed in mid-flight. Cave shooters had consistent bullet speeds. I love most shmups by both companies, but this is probably my favorite Psikyo shooter.

HIT THE ICE was sorta the "NBA Jam" of ice hockey. It's fun and cartoony! It's easy to pick up and play. Personally I find it more fun than NBA Jam, but that's just me.