Share your hidden gems and insider tips

mediamogul

Man, that was fast! Thank you for this.

... and thank you for posting that manual page. Very fascinating. Casino's have this kind of psychological warfare down to a science. It's really interesting to see how it was approached for arcades.

Clyde

@mediamogul I always wondered how arcade developers design their games to appeal to casual gamers as well as professionals.

VictimRLSH

@clyde I think the key is to have two levels of complexity. Simple controls and straightforward play get the casual players to start playing your game. Complex story arcs and diverse choices later on will keep the hardcore gamers playing. The card game Texas Hold'Em is a great example. You can explain the rules to someone in 5 minutes and they can start playing, but understanding how to master the game is a career-level undertaking. The board game Othello is the same way.

Pac Man is a great example of how a player can make the game as simple or as complicated as they like. You can randomly run around and eat dots and dodge ghosts, or you can try complex patterns and strategies to avoid the ghosts. Either way, quarters are going to get into the bucket from both types of players.

An example of a game that only appeals to hardcore players is Williams' Stargate. You have an insane number of buttons, it's a thrust inertia game, and the difficulty is staggering. Definitely a game that scares away casual gamers.

thelostsoul

@robertvb83 You can in fact copy the list to the custom collection folder and then go with it. If you create a collection from EmulationStation, it will have same format and path. I did this list for you, so you don't need to add anything, besides if you use different folders or other differences. But then the recommended script will help you out.

robertvb83

@thelostsoul ahhh thanks now i got it. It is a premade custom collection for hidden gems... That is in fact very cool!

Clyde

@thelostsoul You have definitely too much free time on your hands, but I love you for it. 😊

thelostsoul

@cyperghost I had a brief look in the output you posted. For the megadrive games it did not found the versions with .md filetype. Those are with "(Japan)" or "(USA)" instead of "(U)" and "(J)". Maybe thats why the script couldn't find them. Some games like Comix Zone and Ooze have a number in filename. What does those mean?

And a lot of the snes not found games are actually very interesting. I know, many of them are Japanese versions or translated, but I encourage you to look further into them if you have some time left (some examples Great Battle series, Clock Tower, Umihara Kawase, Alcahest). What is the "Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (U) [!]"? The list does not contain any Bubsy game, but it found one? Various titles at "Dialog hold" are wrong, so I hope you did not include without knowing it.

You also miss out great nes recommendations, like Felix the Cat, Nightshade. And a lot of file not found arcade games are just in wrong folder mame-libretro or you really don't have them installed. Definitely check there for games like gunbird2, boomrang, cosmccop, joinem, rohga or boogwing. It was interesting to look in what your script found.

@Clyde This is true. I do more stuff like this, instead of playing. Whenever I think I am done, I find new work.

cyperghost

@thelostsoul No I posted the second run so all files named .md were renamed .bin those which are still *.md are not found in my ROMs collection. So it stands as I said ... my collections are lacking japanese titles. Also my NES collection is small ... I installed only european titles.

So trust the script ;) It's working as it should (but maybe someone can improve this with RegEx or checksum search ;)

thelostsoul

@cyperghost Ah ok, that makes sense. I should never doubt it. :D I just wondered, but now you can ignore it. Should I delete/edit the content of posting, so others don't get confused?

VictimRLSH

Latest discovery: H.E.R.O. on the Atari 2600. This is a truly great quest game, once again pushing the limits of what the pathetic specs on the 2600 could handle.

You have a helicopter backpack, a helmet with laser eye beams, and several sticks of dynamite. You have to fly down into caverns filled with traps and monsters to free the poor bastard trapped at the bottom. After you rescue each person, a new level starts that is longer and trickier than the last.

mediamogul

@victimrlsh

I agree. The game is easily one of the top five games on the 2600 in both graphics and game play. It's criminal that it's hardly ever talked about. Also, it was never really improved on when ported to other platforms.

Clyde

@mediamogul @VictimRLSH Here's another self-confessed H.E.R.O. fan. I even "finished" the C64 version back in the days by reaching the maximum score possible.

Fun fact: the score display then would turn into "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" if I remember correctly. You could send a photo of it to an address mentioned in the manual to receive some goodies.

mediamogul

@clyde said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

the score display then would turn into "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I was watching an interview with Carol Shaw earlier this evening and she said the same thing happens to the score in 'River Raid' as well. I never got any of the Activision patches myself. I was old enough at the time to hold the controller and mess around a little bit, but too young to be any good. My older brother, on the other hand, got the Activision Explorers Patch for getting 20,000 points in 'Pitfall!'. A much belated congratulations on your C64 'H.E.R.O.' score. That's quite an accomplishment.

Edit: Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen the Activision patches mentioned here. They're really interesting and they made quite a few, so I thought I'd link to the AtariAge gallery that has them all for anyone who wants to take a look.

Clyde

@mediamogul said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

A much belated congratulations on your C64 'H.E.R.O.' score. That's quite an accomplishment.

Much obliged! I'm often stunned myself what drive and stamina we gamers had back then. :)

m2306

@clyde said

Much obliged! I'm often stunned myself what drive and stamina we gamers had back then. :)

It never stops to amaze me how I was able to win many of these games as a kid. Now, even with saving mid level made possible, I have serious difficulties with most of the titles I actually was good at back then. Fun times but considering the skill, dedication and motivation needed, I feel like I could have done something more productive..

VictimRLSH

@m2306 IKR? Some of my early accomplishments I have not been able to replicate. Can I finish MERCS on one credit now? Nope. Make it into Mr. Big's building on Narc on one credit? Nope. I can't even 'cheat' Time Pilot anymore (never shoot the blimp on the first level, just keep killin' planes to play as long as you want)

pootis spencer

@thelostsoul I totally understand what you mean about the ending levels in Wardner. You really need to have the best weapon to beat it. Got to love the huge fall down to these levels though from the top of the castle. Out of the two I think Willow will probably just take the edge. Playing these games again really brings back memories.

robertvb83

not sure if really a hidden gem... i just played Bad Lands (badlands.zip, mame2003-plus) for the first time today. This is a really cool championship sprint clone! It is to be played with a steering wheel but i also like to play this with my joystick, its very sensitive but you get used to it. It is very addictive (i have a thing for racing games). Especially great as multiplayer!

not only can you collect wrenches during the races that can be used to improve the car after each round, you can also buy missiles to shoot at the opponents. Later the courses repeat in reverse direction and with more disturbing objects and shooting.

side note: again you can exchange real money coins into wrenches to improve your car further :-) (only possible to buy if you dont have collected enough wrenches to improve or after several rounds you are offered to buy more wrenches)

thelostsoul

@robertvb83 Definitive, in my terms. I just tested this for a single race (and won it ;-) ) and I must say, I like the whole setting and graphics. The game mechanic reminds me a sort of Rock'n Roll Racing and the Amiga game Super Cars 2 with the upgrades after each race, very funny. And the most important, the controls are about right. Its not stiff like some racing games of that era, there is some skill to handle in the curves. Now imagine multiplayer with a steering wheel for each!! That would rock.

Btw, I tested this on "regular" mame2003 and it seems to be working. Is there any change on the game for mame2003-plus? Or are you just using -plus, because it replaces the non plus mame on your installation?

A side note from me: I think, its not very important if the game is real hidden gem or not. For someone it is, for the other it isn't.

robertvb83

@thelostsoul yes right now i have replaced my regular mame with mame2003-plus so i was not sure if it is working in regular mame2003.

I think mame2003-plus is very much superior to mame2003 even though its in beta right now (of course you need a dedicated romset)

i need to check out Rock'n Roll Racing now :-)