MAME ROW #67 - Psycho Soldier

[obsidianspider]

This is the MAME Random Of the Week #67

The three random numbers for this week are: 1415 1901 498

Click here to vote! Which game do you choose for MAME ROW #67?

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

1415
Game Name: Psycho Soldier (US)
Company: SNK
Year: 1987
ROM file name: psychos.zip

1901
Game Name: Tecmo Bowl (World?)
Company: Tecmo
Year: 1987
ROM file name: tbowl.zip

498
Game Name: Enigma 2
Company: GamePlan (Zilec Electronics license)
Year: 1981
ROM file name: enigma2.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.

3. Feel free to post your hi-score (or any content about the game) anytime you want on the previous rounds topics (link below).

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

[UDb23]

Enigma II is quite basic.

Tecmo Bowl seems to really loved by American football fans; on the dedicated site there's even a "custom" 2017 version.

Psycho Soldier, apart the terrible song as soundtrack and the (even worse) flyer artwork, looks to be an interesting game. Will vote this.

[obsidianspider]

This week's winner is Psycho Soldier

You'd better hide if you are bad. She'll get you.

[GtBFilms]

Ooops, I was too late to vote, but I was going to vote for Psycho Soldier anyway.

I thought Enigma II was kind of interesting, in that you could move your ship vertically as well as horizontally but the collision detection was a bit ropey - also for some reason I had no sound on my version.

Tecmo Bowl is probably a good game if you have even a basic grasp of the rules of American Football, which sadly I don't. In all American Football games I seem to spend the entire game moving a couple of meters back and forward in the middle of the playfield, with no idea what to do.

Probably I should spend some time to work out the rules of the game, but to be honest, I was completely confused when I attended a real-life game of baseball in New York, so I don't hold out much hope.

Psycho Soldier seems like a bit of a cross between Shinobo and Jumping Jack, with a music track that will get very annoying, very quickly. But I think it's still my favourite this week!

[caver01]

@gtbfilms I played the NES version of Tecmo Bowl in college almost every day (who wants to study anyway)! It is a great game.

Rules of American Football are really easy to pickup. To play Tecmo, you should know:

1. Team A kicks the ball to Team B to start. Team B will try to run the ball back across the field.
2. If Team B (now offense) carries the ball forward to the end of the field, they score six points (and they get a chance to kick the ball for one more).
3. If tackled by Team A, Team B now has four tries to carry the ball toward the end zone of the field.
4. If, by the fourth attempt (each try is called a DOWN), they have not moved the ball forward a net total of >10 yards, they must either punt the ball to Team A (restart at number 1 above, reverse teams) or if they got close enough to the end, they can try to kick the ball through the goal posts for 3 points.
5. If Team B DOES move forward 10 yards, restart on step 3 with FIRST DOWN.
6. Each DOWN begins with the offense 'hiking' the ball to the quarterback--basically, the ball is handed through the legs of the center lineman to a guy standing behind him. This guy can decide what to do with the ball. His choice is called a 'play' and he can try to run forward himself, hand it to a teammate, or throw it to a teammate. Forward motion is the point, so while the play is in motion, the DEFENSE is trying to get the ball or tackle whomever has it. If the ball is dropped, anyone can pick it up and run! A thrown ball can be intercepted, but if nobody catches it, the DOWN is over and position reset.

There is a time limit with the game divided into quarters, and a bunch of rules designed to enforce fair and safe gameplay, but that is basically it. In Tecmo, If you are receiving, first try to return the kickoff. Then, try to use your 4 downs to get at least 10 yards and a First Down. Eventually, get to the end of the field. The fun part is picking which play you want to execute, be it a running play or a throwing (passing) play. Passing results in longer distances, but also carries the risk of interception. As offense, you can press a button to switch where you are aiming a pass, but be cautious of coverage. As defense, your goal is to randomly pick the best defensive play to overwhelm your opponent. Before the play begins, you can select which man you will directly control. If you recover the ball, you will automatically control the ball carrier, and as defense, you can switch to controlling a player closer to the ball and make diving tackles.

[GtBFilms]

@caver01 Awesome, thanks for that. I'm going to try it again now. All that 'DOWN' stuff was what was confusing me!

[caver01]

@gtbfilms Yes and I should mention something about the word DOWN. It has two meanings in the game. First, a DOWN refers to the four tries you get as offense to move ten yards. By fourth down, you normally have to Punt the ball to your opponent like a kickoff, or try for a 3 point field goal. If you decide to run another regular play on 4th Down (you are "going for it") and fail to get the first down, your opponent gets the ball as offense at the current location.

The second meaning of DOWN in the game refers to tackling someone. A play ends when the ball is thrown and not caught, goes out of bounds, or the person carrying the ball is tackled. The tackling part is the act of pushing the player off their feet, DOWN to the ground. When their knee touches the grass, they are DOWN, and the play is over. So, in this case, DOWN means tackled. You get people looking at instant replays, "was he down?" or, "where was he down?". It is important to recognize that during a play, the ball actually has to move back from the starting line (called the line of scrimmage) in order for the quarterback to do something with it. He can pass, hand-off, run, etc. but in the process, if the ball carrier gets tackled, wherever they go DOWN, that is the new line of scrimmage. It is possible to make negative yardage which is obviously bad when you are trying to move forward 10. If the quarterback gets tackled behind the line of scrimmage it is called a sack, and is one of the statistics often tracked. Oh, and a player is not technically DOWN just because they touched the ground with their knee. An opponent has to be touching them. This way, it is possible to be running, fall down, and get back up and continue, so long as you were not touched by the other team while on the ground.

[obsidianspider]

MAME ROW #68 is live!