MAME ROW #141 - Cyvern

[IanDaemon]

Cyvern for me. I agree that we have to think of what's a good choice for RoW. R.C. Pro-Am is cool and brings back fond arcade memories, but without a steering wheel or a spinner it just doesn't play well.

[b3k]

@IanDaemon, I think you are having a false memory. RC Pro-Am is a PlayChoice 10 title. I've never seen one of those machines with a steering wheel. Maybe that's how you played it at home on the NES?

[IanDaemon]

@b3k No, my arcade cabinet doesn't have a steering wheel nor a spinner and none of these kinds of driving games work well without a rotating input device of some sort. RC Prom-Am does not play well without a steering wheel, IMO. I never said anything about PlayChoice titles. I said for RoW, it's not a good choice.

[Thorr69]

The only reason RC Pro-AM isn't a really good random is that it's a PC10 title. Since you basically pay for time on PC10, not a single game, the results amongst players would largely end up the same. Anyone who is similar to myself will run out of time on the machine before failing out of a race and the scores would end up all being very similar.

[b3k]

@IanDaemon I think we are missing each others points.

I believe your larger point is some games don't play well (or at all) without the right peripheral (wheel, spinner, light gun). I agree.

My point was RC Pro-Am didn't have a wheel in the PC10 arcade cabinet. If you prefer a wheel that's cool, but it's by no means necessary. A purist may even say you should only play it with an arcade stick as the game/hardware designers intended, but I'm not a purist.

[gomisensei]

Mat Mania all the way.

[obsidianspider]

The winner is Cyvern. We'll play this through next week.

[quicksilver]

I discovered cyvern some months back and got pretty good at it. Just be aware it pushes a pi 3 to the limit. Expect a bit of slow down here and there.

[quicksilver]

Unfortunately the game doesn't record the highscore until you break 1000000 points. I have gotten a little over a third of the way there on one credit so far but I don't know if I can get that good.

Edit: scratch that, just got to 650,000 points on the first level alone. Not sure how this game calculates points...

[IanDaemon]

Here's some insight: http://www.shmups.com/reviews/cyvern/index.html

[IanDaemon]

[incorrect information was here originally]

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon I think this a description of a different game...

[IanDaemon]

@quicksilver Oops

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon this was very useful! To get a good high-score you must use the banish attack to finish off ground targets to get the extra points medals/ribbons (make sure to pick them all up otherwise their value resets). Also by not using any bombs or lives on the first level unlocks the secret green train boss which is worth a lot more points (though is considerably harder).

[IanDaemon]

@quicksilver I didn't know if outside links were OK, but the info seemed like it would be of interest.

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon with the info you provided I was able to break 1000000 points twice now. But both times I ran out of lives on the 2nd level's end boss.

[b3k]

What is everyone's preference for the dragon to use? I've mostly used the green one, but it's firing is narrow (but stronger?) until you get some powerups. I feel I need to stick to one before I can start making progress.

[quicksilver]

@b3k I'm consistently better with the blue dragon. It's standard attack and banish attack cover a wide area and hit multiple targets at the same time. The green dragon is definitely more powerful with it's concentrated fire but I have a much harder time clearing the screen of multiple enemies. The red dragon is also more powerful but it's banish attack has a limited range so I find it the least useful.

[IanDaemon]

The second level end boss is the farthest I've gotten. In four tries (with the blue dragon) I was able to get 532,670. :(

[b3k]

@IanDaemon you're doing much better than me!
This is the type of game where I think it could definitely help to have a player 2. Even if they aren't very good, they could help you tee-up some big points by grinding away at the bosses with you.