Zoyous
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About Zoyous
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Rank
Chopper Commander
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Sometimes I think my thermostat is lying. No way it's 68 degrees in this icebox!
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I haven't seen any, but then I never really thought to look for one before! The only kits I've looked at have been based on a pinball-only design. What is the real price of the alibaba unit, including shipping, if you don't mind sharing? Turning back to building your own, or building with a kit... it seems to me the DMD is disproportionately expensive. I'd consider using a vertically-mounted screen for the backglass and have a virtual DMD display on that along with the artwork. But I haven't looked into whether that's already something that people do/the software makes possible. -
Truth be told, playing video games on a cocktail cabinet is even worse. If anything, playing them in a pinball cabinet is a step up ergonomically over a cocktail. And you would have both screen orientations available. But that image up there is just one option available via alibaba and their other options are more standard pinball form factors without the additional video game controls. I'd never really looked into the alibaba pinball machines before, but I'm assuming if they contain hundreds or thousands of games, they're unlicensed. The Toyshock table is really tempting for me, but it sounds prudent to wait a few weeks and see what might be shown at CES. I quickly priced out what I could put together starting with an $899 kit for a full size, two screen setup with a DMD and I came up with a little less than $1600 - not including the PC or the software.
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NEW MAME HSC - ROUND 3/10 - BANK PANIC / GAUNTLET
Zoyous replied to Cynicaster's topic in Arcade/MAME High Score Club
Bank Panic - 45,500 92,100. This is a fun game that I've always heard of, but had never played before. I always heard of it in the context of being a Sega Master System game that didn't come out in the U.S. It took me a couple of plays to figure out the icons on top of the screen representing how close someone is to the bank doors. Round 3 is as far as I got, as the enemy behavior quickly became more complex and you have to somehow look at more than one door at once. Update: I was able to get a bit further. I realized I should try to limit the number of active doors onscreen at once. Referring back to the Master System connection, this game does remind me of a lot of the earliest SMS games from '85 and '86 that seem quite simple at first, but have surprising depth once you get into them. Gauntlet - 30,020. This is a game that I think I enjoy looking at more than playing. Playing alone, it seems you have to be very cautious and try to control the swarms of enemies using the scenery and backing away when necessary. But at the same time, you have to charge forward and take some damage in order to get close enough to take out the spawn objects, otherwise you'll just get stuck. This game is unabashedly out to eat pocketfuls of quarters, so although my approach was cheesy, the game kind of has it coming. -
Interesting... so they're looking at including a DMD in future models. To me, this compares pretty favorably to a full size kit that starts at ~$800 and you still have to supply 1-2 monitors, speakers, and a computer.
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My Black Friday/Cyber Monday experience this year: look at everything I could buy, then decide not to buy it and keep the money instead.
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What I Learned from Playing 200 Games of Pac-Man
Zoyous replied to Mr. Brow's topic in Arcade and Pinball
As a young child, I came down with a sort of fever regarding this game. I've never been particularly good at it, though. I also had the 2600 version of this and I played quite a bit of it. I had an understanding attitude about the technical power disparity between the arcade machine and the 2600, so I wasn't upset about the port (although I did appreciate the improvements in 2600 Ms. Pac-Man) - but needless to say, the home version did nothing to improve my play on the coin-op. So, like a Rubik's cube, it's something that I enjoyed without ever really reaching a greater degree of understanding about it. I did get a book at one point that contained some strategy tips and that helped me out a bit, but for me it was just memorization and didn't really translate into an improved organic learning process. Of the entire series, the ones I've played the most have been Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man: Championship Edition... but the original is so special to me that maybe it would be worth it to try and improve my play. I have enjoyed some recent videos breaking down the ghosts' behaviors, but like you mention in your blog post, that intellectual understanding can quickly go out the window when the pace of the game starts getting fast! -
I'll keep an eye out! Personally I would be interested in seeing a small-ish bartop unit (i.e., no legs, it just rests directly on a table or countertop of your choosing), with the table monitor being maybe 24"-32" max. I have no idea if that would have any mass appeal, though... could just be my own peculiar idea.
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Looks like it's running The Pinball Arcade (Farsight). Pretty cool!
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Your favorite 2600 cover art? Mine is Night Driver.
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I'll be interested to hear people's hands on impressions with the wallcades. It looks a little cramped to me, like the screen is gonna be too close to my face. But I can understand the space-saving idea of it, too. You'd just need to really take seriously the task of anchoring it securely.
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When I was a kid, a local radio station had a call-in contest to win a Gallagher (the watermelon-smashing comedian) t-shirt. I didn't know who that was and assumed they were saying "Galaga" t-shirt. Fortunately I didn't win, because I would have been bummed.
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Galaga is 5000x better than Gallagher.
This misunderstanding reminds me of the Toyota/Toy Yoda flap from a while back.
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For some reason I can imagine this being a bit by Larry The Cable Guy....I just started hearing it in his voice, "So I called up the local radio station cuz I thought I was gonna get me a free Gallager shirt! Turns out they weren't talkin' bout the arcade game at all hyuck hyuck hyuck...Get'er done!"
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I played a lot of the 2600 version, but only a few times in the arcade. While many arcade games of that era were impossible to "win", and your goal would be to put off your inevitable defeat for as long as possible, this dynamic might be in the most stark relief with Missile Command. It's a game that gives me a physical feeling of tension just from the thought of playing it. Even as a young kid with a very simple notion of war, a game over in Missile Command would weigh a lot more heavily on me than any other game. The 80s: it wasn't all synthesizers and neon. It was also somewhat terrifying. Having said all that, Missile Command is also a great showcase for the satisfying precision of a trackball as a control interface.
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Why didn't the big plane from Combat get its own spin-off franchise?
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