MAME ROW #173 - Asteroids

obsidianspider

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #173

The five random numbers for this week are: 792 2091 72 291 277

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #173?

792
Game Name: Ikari Warriors (US)
Company: SNK
Year: 1986
ROM file name: ikari.zip

2091
Game Name: Vulcan Venture
Company: Konami
Year: 1988
ROM file name: vulcan.zip

72
Game Name: Asteroids (rev 2)
Company: Atari
Year: 1979
ROM file name: asteroid.zip

291
Game Name: Crazy Kong (set 1)
Company: Falcon
Year: 1981
ROM file name: ckong.zip

277
Game Name: China Gate (US)
Company: [Technos] (Taito Romstar license)
Year: 1988
ROM file name: chinagat.zip

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

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!

We will play the winner all next week.

Previous Rounds

Impman66

Went for Asteroids, purely for the nostalgia point of view, such an annoying an addictive game, where you couldn't take your eyes off the screen for a second. If you did you had one of the smallest asteroids up the jacksie and wipe you out. Mind you you had that even if you were constantly looking at the screen.
It is a MUST have for any Retro gaming fan, the others are more clones;
Ikari Warriers - Commando
Vulcan Venture - R-Type
Crazy Kong - Blatant most obvious Donkey Kong rip off ever
China Gate - a few platformers.

However, Asteroids was so original, so gets the vote.

mitu

@Impman66 said in MAME ROW #173:

Vulcan Venture - R-Type

You mean Gradius ?

YFZdude

"Gradius II[a] (also known as Vulcan Venture in arcades outside Japan) is a horizontally-scrolling shooter. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradius_II

Yes it is not only Gradius rather than R-Type, but it is also a sequel and not a clone.

Impman66

@YFZdude said in MAME ROW #173:

"Gradius II[a] (also known as Vulcan Venture in arcades outside Japan) is a horizontally-scrolling shooter. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradius_II

Yes it is not only Gradius rather than R-Type, but it is also a sequel and not a clone.

Ah yes apologies on that one, got so many I mix them up. But I stand by my original post of Asteroids being the original.

AdamBeGood

Asteroids keeps pausing and then I have to restart. I can only play for about 5 seconds or so, I can't work out why....

Edit: So currently, I'll vote for Gradius II.

Further Edit: If I use lr-fbneo then this is fine, I was using lr-mame2016 and that is where I saw the problem. I'll stick with Gradius II for the moment, but I'll give Asteroids some decent play time.

obsidianspider

This week's winner is Asteroids

Screen Shot 2020-10-14 at 12.32.42 PM.png

IanDaemon

Dang it; I forgot to vote this week. In related news, the only R-Type game I ever beat was R-Type Leo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-Type_Leo

IanDaemon

I don't have "Asteroids" (1979), but I have "Asteroids Deluxe" (1980). I played that. (1) I know it doesn't/shouldn't count and (2) the main difference is the shield in "Deluxe". I think the original had a "warp" instead of the shield, but I don't have the original.

IanDaemon

I was obviously distracted when I was playing, but here are my scores:

obsidianspider

MAME ROW #174 is now live!

IanDaemon

I found some quick info online about Asteroids versus Asteroids Deluxe: "...The biggest gameplay difference is the fact that you can hold down the fire button for "auto-fire" (albeit semi-slowly) for *Asteroids Deluxe*. That ability changes my tactics quite a bit from *Asteroids*.

The killer satellite [enemy] (of course) is the other big difference. Aside from those two, the game is similar. The asteroids in AD "tumble" through space rather than just gliding... giving a bit of an appearance upgrade. I much prefer the "shield" as my "oh crap" button rather than hyperspace/warp as well...."

IanDaemon

The version of Asteroids that's included in the 3-in-1 GameboyAdvance cartridge is nice. You seem to have unlimited warps although I can't figure out if you can control them or not. (Was the original like this? I know in "Deluxe" you had three shields.) You can select between two or three backgrounds during the game which is nice.

The game seems MUCH easier on the GBA , but considering this was a "kid's console" I guess it shouldn't be surprising. I quite like this version. Initially all I played on this cart was Yar's Revenge (not Pong or Asteroids), but now this is another classic arcade game to add to my list.