MAME ROW #7: Air Duel

meleu

@mediamogul yep. The comrades have voted after an intense deliberation and decided to use only one credit.

pjft

@meleu Hah, thanks!

I wasn't actually suggesting I'd use autofire for ROW, as it feels off, but for longer game sessions that'd definitely come in handy. I thought we could also set something up like that in RetroArch itself, but would have to check.

I do prefer the helicopter, indeed - truth be told, even though I only played two credits, I can't see why anyone would pick the plane. It doesn't seem to have any particular advantage - similar speed, same firepower, same "defense" (i.e. one shot and it's down), but is forced to shoot only in the up direction. I played one credit each, and the helicopter was just a far better experience. Anyone with more experience in game can comment on that?

@mediamogul Congrats on the score so far. I assume you made it past the first stage then?

Cheers!

meleu

@mediamogul said in MAME ROW #7:

I'm actually part of a narco-syndicous xboxdrv commune. We take it in turn, to act as sort of an officer for the week, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs.

I smelled a rat here. Then I executed a grep with this sentence inside my head and got

Binary file british_humour.gz matches

And then no need to use more commands! When my visual input device detects the expression "british humour" automatically loads "Monty Python" into my head's RAM and BINGO! I found the reference!

mediamogul

@pjft

I assume you made it past the first stage then?

I thought I was almost to the end of the second stage, as I was approaching a large mechanical object that I thought was the boss. I played a bit more later where I got further, albeit with a lower score, and it was just some sort of twin turret that you fly right over after destroying it.

@meleu

I smelled a rat here.

No, you didn't. ...Wait, you are here for an argument, right? ;)

mediamogul

I almost forgot, I discovered a tip I thought I'd share. Believe it or not, there's a safe spot you can settle in at the level one boss and take as many normal shots as necessary without retribution. This allows you to go into stage two with more explosion shots where they are arguably more needed. It also gives you a chance to rest your fingers a bit if you like.

Edit: Don't rest your fingers to long. Safety only lasts until the wave of tanks leaves the hangar and a new top-side gun appears. This is still more than enough time to defeat the boss without wasting your bombs, but not enough time to read 'War and Peace'.

pjft

@mediamogul Oh, thanks for sharing! That sounds great!

On my first - and only - encounter with the first level boss I do have to say I didn't find it extremely difficult, as there were locations that seemed to be "safer" than others. I was still hit, though, and lost my credit there :P

That being said, I was far from imagining there would be a 100% safe spot as you describe it. Thanks! Now that you suggest there is one such location, I have an idea of where it may be located, so I'll search for it and let you know how it goes.

pjft

Ok, so I kind of gave up and ended up resorting to auto fire, so feel free not to count this score. I played some more without it first, but playing on a ps3 pad, it's just tiring to constantly hammer the shooting button :/

Playing with auto fire makes the game a lot more fun actually! It is quite impressive for the time indeed. I tried the plane some more and it just seems that it has more upgradable weapons, but other than that it's slower it seems.

With auto fire I scored twice below/around yesterday's score (29k and 36k), and then on one occasion managed to defeat the first stage boss, and scored big with the end of stage bonus. The second stage is brutal, though!

So, with auto fire I scored 62400 points. I'll upload picture during the weekend if necessary. Better than the first score from yesterday :)

One tip I find us that the bomb also acts as a shield, so if you're able to get hit, using a bomb should save you, provided that the bomb hits the enemy's shot at you.

How's everybody else doing?

mediamogul

I can now get a bit further into level two by sacrificing some potential kills for a clear path, but always at the expense of my score.

pjft

@mediamogul Yeah, that second stage is tricky - very fast, and somewhat crowded.

Here are my score tables - the 37k score was from the first day, no auto fire.

The second screenshot, with a few different scores and the 62.4k score, that's with auto fire. The game is a lot more enjoyable with auto fire, for what it's worth. I imagine that in a standup cabinet, where you're actually just pushing a big button with your entire palm/hand makes the experience different and less painful, but just thumb-mashing the X button on a PS3 pad is a recipe for long-term wrist/hand injuries :)

Have a great weekend. Might take a stab at it later today, and may perhaps play with a few more continues just to see how long I get in it. 1-shot-kills feel brutal in this day and age, so I'll see how it goes. The wikipedia page isn't too inspiring:

"Losing a life resets your power and bomb count to the amount you start with. "Air Duel" is a challenging game, and later levels can become nearly unplayable if a single life is lost."

meleu

Score: 109k
Always using the helicopter
Played on RetroPie
Controller: 8Bitdo NES30 (no autofire/turbo)
Only one credit

Game Over when reach the two big twin planes, what I imagine that is the stage 2 boss.

mediamogul

@meleu said in MAME ROW #7:

Score: 109k

Very impressive!

what I imagine that is the stage 2 boss.

Hah, I like that! I also imagine it take three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, but it's just too darn difficult to find out, so the world may never know. I'm gonna let my score stand and take a cue from @pjft by playing it a little more casually this evening to get the full effect. It's a really fun game. It's just that it was unabashedly designed to be a quarter muncher.

Score: 81100
Using the helicopter
One credit
Played on RetroPie
Controller: Logitech Rumblepad 2 (no autofire/turbo)

81100

meleu

I forgot to mention: I use the helicopter everytime.

@mediamogul You have been enriching my English vocabulary. I didn't know the term quarter muncher, now Google helped me. :-)

mediamogul

@meleu said in MAME ROW #7:

I didn't know the term quarter muncher

It's also a sex thing, so be careful where you repeat it. I was using the helicopter as well.

meleu

@mediamogul Hummm... I think I'll search this term on other sites too...

pjft

@meleu Incognito windows are your friends. :)

GtBFilms

Sorry guys I haven't been able to take part this week as I twisted my shoulder and it's all frozen up. I am therefore currently unable to enjoy any sort of quarter muncher entertainment.

:-(

pjft

@GtBFilms Sorry to hear that :| Get better soon.

meleu

Looks like wi'll have a week with no shooters/quarter muncher:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/5155/mame-row-8

:-)

VictimRLSH

Yes, those twin planes are a pain to take out, but the real death knell comes from the heavily armored boats on round 3. Your game essentially ends after your first life is lost on this round because you won't even be able to defend yourself without full firepower. One of my all-time favorite games, Darius, also suffers from this. While I have cleared the game before, I had to do it on a single life, because once you die, the game is essentially over.

The helicopter is definitely the best choice because you can 'waggle' in place and spread fire over about half the screen.