MAME ROW #141 - Cyvern

[obsidianspider]

The winner is Cyvern. We'll play this through next week.

[quicksilver]

I discovered cyvern some months back and got pretty good at it. Just be aware it pushes a pi 3 to the limit. Expect a bit of slow down here and there.

[quicksilver]

Unfortunately the game doesn't record the highscore until you break 1000000 points. I have gotten a little over a third of the way there on one credit so far but I don't know if I can get that good.

Edit: scratch that, just got to 650,000 points on the first level alone. Not sure how this game calculates points...

[IanDaemon]

Here's some insight: http://www.shmups.com/reviews/cyvern/index.html

[IanDaemon]

[incorrect information was here originally]

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon I think this a description of a different game...

[IanDaemon]

@quicksilver Oops

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon this was very useful! To get a good high-score you must use the banish attack to finish off ground targets to get the extra points medals/ribbons (make sure to pick them all up otherwise their value resets). Also by not using any bombs or lives on the first level unlocks the secret green train boss which is worth a lot more points (though is considerably harder).

[IanDaemon]

@quicksilver I didn't know if outside links were OK, but the info seemed like it would be of interest.

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon with the info you provided I was able to break 1000000 points twice now. But both times I ran out of lives on the 2nd level's end boss.

[b3k]

What is everyone's preference for the dragon to use? I've mostly used the green one, but it's firing is narrow (but stronger?) until you get some powerups. I feel I need to stick to one before I can start making progress.

[quicksilver]

@b3k I'm consistently better with the blue dragon. It's standard attack and banish attack cover a wide area and hit multiple targets at the same time. The green dragon is definitely more powerful with it's concentrated fire but I have a much harder time clearing the screen of multiple enemies. The red dragon is also more powerful but it's banish attack has a limited range so I find it the least useful.

[IanDaemon]

The second level end boss is the farthest I've gotten. In four tries (with the blue dragon) I was able to get 532,670. :(

[b3k]

@IanDaemon you're doing much better than me!
This is the type of game where I think it could definitely help to have a player 2. Even if they aren't very good, they could help you tee-up some big points by grinding away at the bosses with you.

[IanDaemon]

@b3k I agree wholeheartedly with the "player two" thing.

[AndersHP]

Wanted to give Cyvern a go, but my system really suffers.. Sound is studdering and framerate very low.
I'm using FBA version 0.2.97.43.

How do you play it, any tweaks or something to get it rolling?

Edit: just switched to mame2003, and now my arcade is bricked. Well, damn...

[quicksilver]

works fine for me using mame2003. By fine I mean that it mostly plays full speed with some minor slow down when there is a ton of action on the screen. I'm using a 3 b+.

Here are my top scores so far. I'm not sure I can do too much better than this. I can't get past the second level end boss without adding a second coin (or third and fourth for that matter). The games difficulty curve really ramps up at this part of the game.

[IanDaemon]

Yeah I'm just using three lives.

[quicksilver]

@IanDaemon I can usually get through the first level without using any lives but the second level boss always mops the floor with me lol

[AndersHP]

@quicksilver Mame2003 version just dumps me back to EmulationStation. And I already have the skns.zip BIOS file in my BIOS folder...
Any tips?