Cynicaster

MAME ROMs sometimes change over time, which means you may experience incompatibility between the ROMs provided in this competition and the specific version of MAME you're running. All ROMs I'm adding to the threads for the various rounds are verified to run properly on MAME v0.139, so the surest way to ensure the ROMs will work is to just grab this MAME version. It can be found here: http://www.progettosnaps.net/mameui/ That link has a whole history of past versions, just scroll down and grab 0.139 and you should be all set to use the ROMs provided for this competition.

Point taken. I guess my point is, if I am going to seek out a cabinet that plays one game or some short list of games, then I want those games to have lots of replayability. For the rest, I’ll just run them on a massively multi-game, general purpose MAME cabinet.

Welcome back, Bee... long time no game. Get those scores in by next Sunday and please be sure to indicate which ones they are. There will be another redemption round after round 9. If you have game selections you want to enter into the pool (up to 5), post them in the suggestions thread.

I'm a huge Golden Axe fan but I have to say, for me it's the very definition of the "screw it, just play it in MAME" type deal. No special controls needed, MAME has emulated it well for years, and the game is damn short. Of the other games listed, I kind of consider Altered Beast and Wrestle War to be throw away games. Shinobi and GA2 are solid though.

I’d rather not, unless there is a way to verify what ROM versions and DIP settings are being used.

My experience is kind of the opposite of what you said. I grew up with the 2600 version and that game was decent but I never liked it much; it was just one of those dirt-common carts that was passed around and played from time to time. I think I have about 6 copies of it right now and I don't know why. I never even got to play the arcade version with a track ball until I built a MAME cabinet 10 years ago. The game seemed off-puttingly difficult at first, but once I started to make some progress in the game I found it pretty addictive. Whenever I visit retro arcades, it's one of the first games I look for so I can get some time in on that enormous track ball. As for the game being dull, I suppose I can see how some would say that because the concept is so dead simple. But for me, simple doesn't necessarily equate to dull, especially when it comes to golden age arcade games. I find Space Invaders very dull, but Asteroids and MC are easily top-20 games for me. I think the key is to "tune" the difficulty curve so that it presents a satisfying challenge right away, and games only last a few minutes for most mere mortals. Even with my high of 64k, that game probably took barely 5 minutes, and certainly no more than 10.

Well, this is the world we live in now, I guess. A few passing comments made during the preamble to a podcast about Atari cartridges are deemed reason enough to publicly cry foul, if those comments don't align point-for-point with how we would frame the same subject matter. Luckily, at least for this particular podcast, one or two taps of the skip-forward-15-seconds button would probably be adequate to spare you from having to endure the offending comments if the ideological dissonance becomes too much to bear.

I echo this question - what politics and agenda are we talking about here? If constantly wishing people well and profusely thanking them for their support and covering a niche nerd hobby in detail is considered an objectionable agenda for a podcast, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore. For me, the absence of the typical ranty/divisive BS that pervades all corners of the online experience these days is one of the primary reasons why I enjoy the show and others like it (e.g., Pie Factory, YDKF, Ten Pence, etc.)

A stone cold classic! I just repaired the track-ball on my MAME cabinet after months of procrastination, and spent about an hour playing some MC last night. High score so far is 64k. I think the "milotle" is a cousin of the "chipotle" but resulting in notably less toilet-trombone the following day. 🤣

Just for everybody's reference, here are the entries so far. The top one is the raw scores, and the bottom one shows the corresponding percentages. In particular, the percentages table should help players select games that have the best chance of improving their position in the standings.

Welcome to the mid-season redemption round. PLEASE read this post before participating. I know everybody hates reading the details, but work with me here. For the next two weeks feel free to work on improving your scores on up to (6) already-played games. If you wish to submit fewer than (6) that is fine. If you're happy with your scores to date, feel free to enjoy a short break. You need not "commit" to game selections up front, but to make record-keeping more manageable, please avoid posting scores for more than (6) different games in this thread. Additionally, it would be appreciated if all submissions were "saved up" and best/final scores submitted in a single post rather than submitting a series of gradual improvements. Please ensure DIPs are set according to those listed in the original thread for the games you're playing. If you're using the same MAME/ROMs/computer as before, this should already be set correctly unless you've changed it. I'd suggest we just use this thread for ongoing conversation on what we're playing and then sometime before the deadline everybody can post an official submission with all of their best/final redemption entries summarized (with screenshots). This will make things much more manageable for your humble moderator. CALLING ALL NEW PLAYERS! If you're seeing this thread and haven't participated in this competition yet, I will allow you to submit scores for all games for the duration of this round, so you can catch up and then proceed with the pack for the remainder of the competition. As a reminder there will be an additional redemption round - with similar rules - following round 9. Redemption Round ends: Sunday 9/27, 11:59pm PST Previous Round Results: Rush'N Attack Razzie.P 246,060 100.0% Cynicaster 210,770 85.7% MAME Offender 193,820 78.8% youxia 70,200 28.5% AtariWarlord 52,650 21.4% Floyd Turbo 51,550 21.0% jblenkle 18,100 7.4% roadrunner 11,350 4.6% hero2millions 8,950 3.6% S.BAZ 0.0% Tumble Pop Razzie.P 201,300 100.0% Floyd Turbo 170,100 84.5% AtariWarlord 157,600 78.3% Cynicaster 151,400 75.2% hero2millions 108,400 53.8% MAME Offender 105,000 52.2% jblenkle 103,600 51.5% youxia 96,300 47.8% roadrunner 35,600 17.7% S.BAZ 0.0% Star Castle Cynicaster 8,070 100.0% Floyd Turbo 7,470 92.6% Razzie.P 7,290 90.3% MAME Offender 5,990 74.2% AtariWarlord 5,140 63.7% jblenkle 4,830 59.9% youxia 4,330 53.7% roadrunner 3,970 49.2% hero2millions 1,850 22.9% S.BAZ 0.0% Eyes MAME Offender 452,000 100.0% Cynicaster 253,040 56.0% AtariWarlord 248,570 55.0% roadrunner 198,860 44.0% Razzie.P 194,070 42.9% Floyd Turbo 89,180 19.7% jblenkle 75,000 16.6% youxia 56,700 12.5% hero2millions 46,120 10.2% S.BAZ 37,910 8.4% Standings to Date: 1 Razzie.P 75.92% 2 MAME Offender 54.43% 3 Cynicaster 51.16% 4 youxia 34.46% 5 AtariWarlord 32.07% 6 Floyd Turbo 29.09% 7 hero2millions 24.76% 8 roadrunner 17.20% 9 jblenkle 16.24% 10 S.BAZ 8.49%

And that wraps up our 3-week quadruple header - thanks to all who submitted scores. The thread for the mid-season redemption round will be up shortly, which will contain the rules on how it will work. CYN

Eyes 253,040 Star Castle 8,070 Tumble Pop 151,400 Rush’n Attack 210,770

I realize that, but my point remains. Talking in terms of what one personally finds "disappointing" makes more sense to me because it underscores the subjective nature of the answer. It also makes no comment up or down on how a given platform's technical specs line up with something else, because that stuff is kind of beside the point. When you start calling something "the worst" then people will want to explain why you don't have your facts straight (which is a big part of the reason this thread is 26 pages long). If people want to use the terminology "worst" that's fine; I was just clarifying what I personally meant with my picks.

The terminology "worst console" seems kind of flame-bait-y so I'd rather not use it. I'd rather talk in terms of enjoyment vs. disappointment. Easily the biggest disappointments for me were the Atari 7800 and Atari Lynx (both of which I had when they were current, by the way, so the disappointment was very real). To me, the absolute only thing that matters is having high-quality software and an assortment thereof. I don't care if there are "also" lots of crap games on a system, what I care about is whether or not there are lots of good ones. This is where the 7800 and Lynx fail(ed) for me. Both of them definitely have some gems, but nowadays, there are fewer than 10 original commercial releases on either system that I would ever want to play for more than 2 minutes, and it is not for lack of familiarity with the libraries.