MAME ROW #41 - Super Tank

[obsidianspider]

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #41

The three random numbers for this week are: 1864, 1215 833, 84

1215 is Mahjong Nerae! Top Star and has been removed from consideration since it is a Mahjong game.

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #41?

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

1864
Game Name: Super Tank
Company: Video Games GmbH
Year: 1981
ROM file name: supertnk.zip

833
Game Name: Joyful Road (Japan)
Company: SNK
Year: 1983
ROM file name: joyfulr.zip

84
Game Name: Avalanche
Company: Atari
Year: 1978
ROM file name: avalnche.zip

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!

Notes:

1. We usually post hi-scores screenshots after playing with only one credit. If you used more than one credit, please mention it on your post.

2. 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 > MAME Random Of the Week" forum section with the 3 random games to be voted. And on Wednesday we check the result.

These "rules" are constantly being improved!

Previous Rounds

[lilbud]

@obsidianspider
Avalanche looks a lot like Kaboom on the 2600.

It also requires spinners/paddles.

[cyperghost]

@obsidianspider
Does the randomizer really works?
Last two rows were overwhelmed by space/air shooters ;)
No we've got a collection of games like VCS systems.
I'm excited which game wins - I really haven't any favourite now.

[dankcushions]

super tank answers the question "what would pacman be like with invisible walls and the ability to shoot?" with "not very good"

"joyful road"? "hateful road", more like! the hands seemed to not work for me. don't get it!

avalanche - i love how the rumble gets louder and louder. mame2003 also lets you play with the analogue! if you have a steady hand... it's probably easier with a mouse/spinner.

avalanche gets my vote, for now!

[A Former User]

Voted for tank out of sentiment, but was thinking about other similar looking game.

Should've gone for the Joyful, looks proper Nippon-mad.

[obsidianspider]

@cyperghost I use random.org to select the numbers. With thousands of games to choose from they can't be amazing every week. ;)

[UDb23]

@lilbud said in MAME ROW #41:

It also requires spinners/paddles.

You can always build one by yourself: how to here ;-)

[lilbud]

@UDb23 Do you know of a way to use Atari Paddle controllers on the pi? I have a few.

[UDb23]

@lilbud Adapters exist afaik: like this.
Have no info if that is working well unfortunately.

[GtBFilms]

I had a look at spinners here:

https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/SpinTrak-Arcade-Spinner.html

But at £50 for the spinner and another £20 for a knob and flywheel, it doesn't work out cheap!

Especially when you consider the relatively small number of games which would make use of it.

I came to the same conclusion about an Ikari Warriors style twistable joystick!

[meleu]

@cyperghost said in MAME ROW #41:

Does the randomizer really works?

I think random.org has its own preferences. One I already realized is that it loves shoot'em ups. And recently I'm noticing that it is making thematic MAME ROW selections. :-)

[lilbud]

@meleu I wish random.org's preferences would change to puzzle games.

Japanese Puzzle Games...Made by Taito...On the Neo Geo

You get my point

[meleu]

@lilbud It gave puzzle a try in MAME ROW #9. But then came back to shooters...

[obsidianspider]

This week's winner is Super Tank

…and it has what is quite possibly the best arcade flyer of MAME ROW to date:

[GtBFilms]

I didn't vote in this one, as SuperTank was the only one I got the chance to play.

I liked it more than I thought I would - it runs at a decent pace, but not being able to immediately double-back on yourself, aka Pacman, takes some getting used to.

It also took me a while to realise the red things weren't landmines, but power pills!

My high score so far - 14440

[UDb23]

@obsidianspider said in MAME ROW #41:

and it has what is quite possibly the best arcade flyer of MAME ROW

That flyer is sooo baad...
Caesar looking tank with nose shooting water ??!! And flowers on the side ?!??#@!!
please don't even think of asking for an overlay...

[meleu]

@UDb23 maybe if @obsidianspider was posting in --verbose mode we were able to see the logs saying SARCASTIC_MODE=1.

[A Former User]

So how do I set this up? MAME has always been confusing as algebra.

[A Former User]

@itsnitro https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/

In short: you need to match the romset version with the one which the emulator of your choice uses. It's not actually that complex but if you really can not stomach clrmamepro et al you can always just try and download that particular romset version.

[UDb23]

@meleu said in MAME ROW #41:

we were able to see the logs saying SARCASTIC_MODE=1.

Absolutely right :-D