Be Excellent To Each Other

Okay - MAME Challenge time

5 games to play over the next 5 weeks , to take part - play the game and post a screenshot with your score to this thread - please post your score as 'text' so I can see it without having to go into the screenshot and put a <> around your score in case Grim... can knock up a scoreboard to automatically total things up

All 5 games are playable with keys , and I've tested each one with the iMAME version that was released with Gridlee you just need to use something like Ifunbox to move the roms over to your ipad and they all work (note that Space Harrier complains that a file is incorrect but you can start it and it works fine)

Scores to be in by midnight on Sunday

High score of the week gets 10 points , next highest 9 , etc
Highest score at the end of the 5 weeks is the winner

Even if you've not taken part in any other week you can just post your score and take part in whatever the current week is

We'll go in alphabetical order

Week 1 - 24th March till 31st of March is Capcoms Aliens Vs Predator - Klov page here : http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=6858
Week 2 - 31st March till 7th April is Do! Run Run - Klov page here : http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=7596
Week 3 - 7th April till 14th April is Flicky! - Klov page here : http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=7825
Week 4 - 14th April till 21st April is Flying Shark - Klov page here : http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=7833
Week 5 - 21st April till 28th April is Space Harrier - Klov page here : http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=9660

You can download the attached Zip which has the emulator already setup plus all the roms or you can grab them yourself - the links are below and these are the ones i've tested to make sure they work

In general - download the file , unzip it , go into the BEEX folder and double click on MAME to start
You'll get a disclaimer message either press OK or left then right to get past that
Wait for the machine to 'boot' (yes some games took a long time)
Press 5 to insert a coin and press 1 to start the game
Controls by default are the arrow keys <ctrl> /<alt> / Space for extras but i'll try and mention any odd controls in the post each week , if you want to change controls press <tab> in game and follow the menu's to define your own keys
At the end of your game press F12 to take a screenshot it will be in the \snap directory
If you have problems getting things running the post in the thread and I can probably get it working for you.

Rom links in spoilers below



Grim... has put together a scoreboard but it still needs a little tweaking :

http://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/c ... me2013.php


Scores

Overall

46 - Dr Zoidberg
39 - Zaphod79
37 - MrC
36 - YOG
25 - Thevision
21 - Chinnyhill10
14 - AtrocityExhibition
14 - Kraziewookie
8 - Grim...
7 - Saturnalian
7 - Ruysan

Week 1 - AVP :

949700 - YOG
897800 - Zaphod79
839400 - Dr Zoidberg
795003 - Saturnalian
765400 - AtrocityExhibition
747600 - MrC
727000 - Grim...
711100 - Thevision
328400 - Kraziewookie

Week 2 - Do! Run Run

Dr Zoidberg - 220270
MrC - 186970
Zaphod79 - 171900
Chinnyhill10 - 76500
TheVision - 61280
Atrocity Exhibition - 47140
krazywookie - 47100
Yog - 29130
Grim... - 21800

Week 3 - Flicky

Dr Zoidberg: 337,670
zaphod79: 198,790
MrC: 193,170
YOG: 136,130
TheVision: 126,400
krazywookie: 101,390
chinnyhill10: 96,340
AtrocityExhibition: 93,780
Grim...: 64,200

Week 4 - Flying Shark

YOG: 586,700
Dr Zoidberg: 412,330
zaphod79: 143,710
MrC: 86,820
TheVision: 68,790

Week 5 - Space Harrier

chinnyhill10: 8,753,570
Dr Zoidberg: 6,970,580
MrC: 6,458,950
RuySan: 5,082,900
YOG: 4,526,890
zaphod79: 4,353,880
TheVision: 2,359,680
krazywookie: 1,583,930

Game 1 - Aliens Vs Predator





Classic Capcom beat em up



Controls - directions to move - double tapping makes you move faster for a limited time (some characters)
Button 1 main weapon (pistol)
Button 2 melee attack
Button 3 jump
Pressing buttons 1 and 2 together does a special move which will drain some of your energy

Flyer

http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=f ... 11&image=1
http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=f ... 11&image=2

A provisional wahoo from me - I don't know Flicky or Aliens vs Predator (yet), but I'm delighted that Do Run Run got in.

Do we know who's definitely taking part?

I'm in

Well that's three already (assuming Zaphod is going to take part).

There were 7 people who said yes , however i do think you'll get others who may just play for 1 week.

I shall do my best to remember to play and post, though may turn out to be crap and forgetful.

Let's start the ball rolling! <688700>

I'll attempt to show my face at some point.

<334300>

I will but not tonight as I spent ages playing Halo to rack up XP.

I can't wait to play this.

Thanks Zaphod!

I'm having a spot of bother getting screenshots - I'm using Zaphod's BeeX MAME btw. F12 doesn't seem to do anything and there's no "snaps" directory at all (I tried creating one, but it made no difference.

The only directories there are artwrk, cfg, ctrlr, docs nvram, roms and samples.

Any ideas?

You could do it old-school and use print screen?

Er, how do I do that?

Have you tried pressing 'tab' while in a game and having a look at the settings for all games? See if F12 is set as the snapshot key.

It should be by default but I'm sure Zaphod will be along to help you out soon... You could always take a photo of the screen? That would do.

I wont get the chance to check until this evening it could be permissions based (sometimes when you unzip files they all come out as write protected) but if you can make a snapshot directory then I assume you have the correct rights

One other quick thing to check is that the F12 key is set / and that your keyboard doesn't use it as something else (you can hit tab and redefine it for another key which might be worth it as a test).

** edit ** - as TheVision says you could also just point your phone at the screen and grab a picture from that but i'll go through things step by step tonight.

Press the Print screen (or PRN SCN) button on the keyboard (usually at the top near scroll lock and pause) which would copy it into the clipboard and then you open up paint and select paste to drop it in - however MAME does have its own system so its better to use that - i'll check tonight on the machine I created the files.

Thanks chaps - I'll give that a go and if all else fails resort to taking a photo.

(nothing was lost by the way - all the scores were in the comedy-low region)

OK, tried a few of those ideas...

F12 is definitely set as snapshot.

I tried another version of MAME which does have a "snap" folder, still nothing happening (F12 was set as snapshot there, too).

Checked, and my F12 key isn't knackered (it brings up the print window).

Okay , so the fact that it doesnt work in another version of mame makes me think its the keybinding thats wrong - go into the settings <tab> - and re-define it as something else (just pick an unused key something like + or #) does that take a screenshot ?

BTW is this a desktop or a laptop ? and it isnt a mac running bootcamp is it (if so you need fn F12)

Yep, that worked.....no idea why and I wouldn't understand if you tried to explain, but excellent work Sir, cheers!

AvP makes no sense to me at all - it feels like a totally random mess.

Its a very typical Final Fight clone with a few bolt ons - what parts are you getting stuck at ?

You have a gun but typically your going to want to punch everything you meet - also smash any items in the playfield for either power ups / health ups or point ups.

Once you get used to the range of your normal attack you want to get to the stage where your stepping close to a group of enemies and hammering the melee button to knock them back , then step back out of range for their follow up.

You want to avoid getting enemies coming at you on both sides at the same time (since its much harder for you to switch your attacks from left to right) , for some of the bigger enemies or ones with added range you'll want to use your gun.

If i get the chance I'll record a quick game of it tonight and post it for you to get some ideas.

BTW - hint for everyone - if you start the machine up and dont insert coins but wait the intro will play and it will give you instructions on the special moves that are available to each character

It's just me - I never did get beat-em-ups in general and this one is so cluttered I can't see what I'm doing, so I'll post a crap score and hope not too many people take part in week one...

<76200> Screenshot in previous post

Another one from MrC's Cabinet Of Stupid Questions.....are we only allowed to post one score each week or can we post a better one later in the week?

You can post as many as you like so keep on trying!

In related news.. I've got this working on my GP2X Wiz now which means I'll be able to play it on my lunch breaks at work! Brilliant.

I'm now seeing AvP as less of a game and more of an edutainment thing - it's already taught me a few new words to use like "gnfrggghhhhh", "yein-neighhh" and "scraaaagh". I'm swearing a lot more than I used to as well. I've tried a few tactics such as button mashing and closing my eyes while playing but the score is always 60-70000.

Also, the game itself seems to keep saying "orange" when the gun overheats.

*EDIT* lets try this again with the correct screenshot. Not sure what went wrong there. <720600>
It helps that I've played a lot of these kind of games (though oddly not this one) so it's all very familiar and doesn't work too badly with a wired 360 controller.

I will be doing this but probably not going to get a score in until Friday, I find MAME games are a nice way to unwind with a few drinks at the end of the working week.

Actually, it's the MEGA LONG BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND coming up isn't it - Thursday night then



All these CAPCOM games are pretty much of a muchness, I swear that for a lot of them they just changed the graphics and the game stayed the same behind the scenes.

Once you get into the groove with them there is actually room for skill and tactics.

This isn't one I ever really spent any time with though, so not sure how I'll fare

Yep, if you pick Major Schaeffer, a lot of the moves are identical to Haggar in Final Fight.

<714800>

3 players going through the game (in multiple parts)

Thanks for the video, Zaphod.

Managed to scrape past Grim... by using the female character for the first time.

<337400>

I couldn't get anywhere with the woman, which has an awfully familiar ring to it.

I always found her the easiest to play as , and her jumpkick / sword swipe moves are very powerful , her basic attack is (although not powerful) very fast which is good if you can clump enemies together

I found the gun to be very inconvenient. With the other three characters you can fire off the occasional shot and wait for it to cool down. With hers you get four or five shots then it needs to be reloaded, forcing a very annoying pause that lets you get the shit kicked out of you every time.

My best results were with the bloke, marginally ahead of the stronger predator.

That's odd - for me it felt like her gun took less time to reload than the other characters'. It was pretty much only the gun that got me that far in the first place (that was the only time I got to level 2).

<345700>

I noticed there's a multiplier next to the score, but it always says "x0". Does anyone know how to increase it?

That's your extra lives, not a multiplier.

Did a bit better with <743400>.
Should have been more but I lost a life at a relatively easy point then defeated the Razor Claw boss without dying.

There we go, I'm using the all american man for that and seem to be doing better than with predator. may try some others later. Razorclaws is a complete dick.
<328400>
have to discount the top score as I accidentally used another credit

This is amazing. Christ, the memories are coming flooding back of days in a smokey arcade.

Thanks for sorting out the mamey-thing Zaphod. Even a spaz like me can press return and start playing!

(Any chance of sticking Aliens in it? Then my Easter is complete!)

Also AvP, is freaking hard. FYI, you can slide by pressing down and jump. Seemed quite handy for tacking an aliens shins. This is glorious.

<668700>

I was robbed by the head butting green un's,

Sorry, will be playing but this week has gone to shit!

Hah! I totally worked it out! Screw you doubters.

Internet, I'm coming for you.

Sorry, carry on, I'm distracting myself with mah skillz...

<711100> but I reckon I can do better... I'm loving this game, good choice whoever picked it.

It certainly grows on you. Normally this is the sort of MAME game that I'd have looked at for five minutes and then switched off. It's only because it's in the challenge that I've stuck with it, but it's turning out to be quite fun, and unlike my first thoughts suggested it's not just a random button masher.