MAME ROW #24 - 1941 - Counter Attack

meleu

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #24

The three random numbers for this week are: ~~603, 1444, 367, 782,~~ 3, 1264, 217.

Click here to vote which game you choose for MAME ROW #24

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

Number: 3
Game Name: 1941 - Counter Attack (World)
Company: Capcom
Year: 1990
ROM file name: 1941.zip

Number: 1264
Game Name: Pandora's Palace
Company: Konami/Interlogic
Year: 1984
ROM file name: pandoras.zip

Number: 217
Game Name: Bubbles
Company: Williams
Year: 1982
ROM file name: bubbles.zip

This week we had a record of rejecting the random.org numbers!
603 - Gals Panic S - Extra Edition (Japan): seems to be a hentai/porn game
1444 - Quiz Ghost Hunter: Japanese quiz game
367 - Capcom World 2 (Japan 920611): Japanese quiz game
782 - Mahjong Hyper Reaction 2 (Japan): Mahjong game

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!

There's no need to use RetroPie to join the MAME ROW! You can play it on any platform you want.

Every Monday we create a topic at the "General Discussion and Gaming" forum section with the 3 random games to be voted. And on Wednesday we check the result.

The current week's game thread is just where there are more people interacting/talking about the game(s). Feel free to post your hi-score (or any content about the game) anytime you want on the previous "rounds" topics (links below).

These "rules" are constantly being improved!

Links to the previous "rounds"

meleu

1941 - Counter Attack (World)

Pandora's Palace

Bubbles

obsidianspider

1941: Counter Attack is a typical vertical shooter, but it's fast, quite fun, and I really appreciate that you have a life bar, not one hit deaths.

Pandora's Palace is sort of like Donkey Kong, and I like it.

Bubbles initially got stuck for me with a screen saying "Factory Settings Restored" but then when I reset it (Select+B) it started working, and subsequent loads of the game worked. It's an OK game, but wow, that face on the bubble is weird.

chubsta

I used to own a dedicated Bubbles - great game but to play properly you need the hall-effect joystick

UDb23

Only two votes so far !?
1941 is a classic we can't miss.

Is it allowed to do electoral ads to get votes ?
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btw gals panic is just a "hot" clone of Qix. For what I see on the web in terms of images, I can image it may have been scandalous for that time. :-))

meleu

@UDb23 "If 1941 win I'll make an overlay for it" would be much more persuasive! :D

UDb23

@meleu I was pretty sure you were going to say that :-D
Already found some nice original artwork to use...

GtBFilms

Unfortunately I didn't get much time this week to try these out. I had to use my PC to give them a quick play.

For some reason my copy of Bubbles got stuck at the 'Defaulting to Factory Settings' screen and wouldn't go any further.

I enjoyed both of the other two, although Pandora's Palace was quite frustrating. It took me a couple of games to realise you could go down the green columns! It's one of these platform games that you just have to play it enough to memorise the timing/route for each level, then it's easy. But you die an awful lot to get to that point.

1941 - Counter Attack was a pleasant surprise for me. I had played 1942 before and found it a sluggish and uninspiring shooter, with predictable and weak powerups, but with 1941 they appear to have turned it up to 11, and it's a much more fun shooter.

So this week my vote goes to 1941 - Counter Attack!

obsidianspider

@GtBFilms If you reset Bubbles (Select + B) when it's stuck on that screen, then it should work. At least that's how I got it to work for me.

Lyle_JP

Of all the Capcom 19xx games, 1941 has the best music, hands down.

meleu

Here is the result:

UDb23

so now I HAVE to make the overlay. ;-)

obsidianspider

1941 suffers from the common shooter condition of "waytoomuchstuffflyingaroundallatthesametime-itis" but it's proving fun.

Also, a tip. If you hold down the fire button you'll charge up and release a barrage of missiles when you release the button.

I'm not sure how to tell how many bomb/backflip attacks you have in inventory that you use by pressing the alternate button (Y on my controller).

UDb23

controls & weapons:

obsidianspider

@UDb23 Spinning? How the heck do you do that?

UDb23

@obsidianspider flying into walls. No real damage but you can shoot around this way.

obsidianspider

213900

It's really hard to keep track of everything whizzing around.

GtBFilms

I managed 266700, but always die at roughly the same place. It's where two medium sized planes come up behind you and there's a boat in front.

I lose a lot of energy there every time, even if I remember to use my smart bomb!

Enjoying the challenge though!

UDb23

Hi guys,
here's the overlay.
Quite time consuming; it took extra time to recreate also a vector version of the game logo, but I'm really pleased with the result.

All original arcade game flyer based graphics, including instructions.

Volunteers wanted for testing and screenshot ;-)

Files available in the Overlay Repo.

obsidianspider

@UDb23 Thanks for another great overlay! It looks really nice on my TV.