MAME ROW #35 - Hellfire

[obsidianspider]

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #35

The three random numbers for this week are: 1054, 730, 1730

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #35?

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

1054
Game Name: Vs. Mighty Bomb Jack (Japan)
Company: Tecmo
Year: 1986
ROM file name: mightybj.zip

730
Game Name: Hellfire
Company: Toaplan (Taito license)
Year: 1989
ROM file name: hellfire.zip

1730
Game Name: Space Duel
Company: Atari
Year: 1980
ROM file name: spacduel.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" 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

[meleu]

Fun fact: Space Duel is having a second chance. :-)

It was present in MAME ROW #4.

[obsidianspider]

@meleu So much for my double-checking things. Oh well. It's been a few months. ;)

[meleu]

@obsidianspider IMO there's no problem if random.org brings a non-played game. The repetition to be avoided is only with the MAME ROW winner games.

;-)

[backstander]

I agree with @meleu

[obsidianspider]

@meleu @backstander I just go with what it gives me. I do try to look for duplicates, Mah Jong, Quizzes, and "inappropriate" games after that one popped up the other week.

[GtBFilms]

Well I was never a HUGE fan of the original Bombjack, thinking it was a bit overrated, but Vs. Mighty Bombjack makes it look a gaming masterpiece! Wow, it's like they took all the bits that were good in Bombjack, and replaced them!

Last time Space Duel came up it got my vote, although it didn't win, and it's still a decent game. However there is a weird sound sync thing on my cabinet with this one, all the sound is about 3 seconds after the action, which, once you notice it, is a bit annoying.

I thought Hellfire was pretty good - I like the mechanic of changing the direction of your shots, but it does make it pretty difficult. A good challenge though, so this week Hellfire gets my vote!

[obsidianspider]

Right now it's a tie, so get your votes in for this week's MAME ROW! I'll be posting the winner at Noon Eastern!

[meleu]

@obsidianspider I voted right now. Hellfire!

[obsidianspider]

Voter turnout this week was low, but we have a winner! Hellfire!

[GtBFilms]

Excellent! Well I am playing it in advmame 0.94, and managed to get 4600 but it doesn't save the score between reboots - honest!

I don't usually use advmame, but MAME2003 wouldn't let me map a button to changing the fire direction for some strange reason.

It also turns out that advmame lets me change the number of lives and difficulty setting, so for reference I'm using the default 3 lives and Normal difficulty.

It's a good game, but if you lose your power-ups it's tricky to then survive long enough to build them up again sufficiently before the end of level boss.

[mediamogul]

Is this the first horizontal shooter to be picked for MAME ROW?

[meleu]

@mediamogul We had 4-D Warriors in MAME ROW #4 and Raiga - Strato Fighter in MAME ROW #5.

EDIT: also Forgotten Worlds (#10); Mystic Riders (#16); Vanguard (#32); and Zed Blade (#25).

[mediamogul]

@meleu

Wow, some great games there too. I love that this has been going on long enough now to have it's own traceable history and trivia.

[meleu]

@mediamogul I forgot to mention one of the ones I liked playing the most: Zed Blade from MAME ROW #25 (remembered that thanks to the @ETAPRIME apology video).

[obsidianspider]

MAME ROW #36 is live!

[GtBFilms]

Better late than never, I couldn't match my earlier (unsaved) score, so here's today's effort. Good game, but annoyingly difficult.