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Battle of the Arcades OZ & NZ 2019


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Hey mates

 

Save the dates!! June 15 and 16

 

Invites for Battle of the Arcades OZ & NZ 2019 have been sent out.

 

Like last year, venues will be asked to nominate two titles for the event. Then depending on the amount of arcades participating we will draw 8 to 10 titles at random for the tournament. We will be leaning on the BOTA USA format more this year and opening up the event for longer game times and more time spent working as a team.

 

As this contest will be done via honor system, we will also be asking arcades to nominate a tournament director who will be keeping in contact with myself, responsible for keeping track of scores, ensuring all games are on the correct settings and managing the games and participants. We would also love as many arcades as possible to stream their event via Twitch so we can all interact and cheer each other on.

 

Lot's more details to follow. Go see your local arcade and make sure they get involved.

 

Woop!!!

 

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Invites have been sent to:

 

QLD:

Netherworld - YES

1 Up Freeplay Arcade - YES

Pincadia - YES

 

 

NSW:

1989 Arcade Bar - YES

 

 

VIC:

Pixel Alley

Bartonica

 

 

S.A:

Gameroom Essentials

 

 

W.A:

Player 1

Palace Arcade

 

Christchurch:

Arcadia - YES

Edited by Jimmy Nails
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Fantastic news! I've been keenly anticipating this announcement. :)

 

Pixel Alley's management is undergoing a change at the moment; as I know the chap who kindly ran the event for us last year, Drue @Dungeon Master has recently stepped down. He didn't sound optimistic that they would support it this year when I heard from him last, but hopefully the likes of @Arcadinator, @Hayaeti and myself can gently encourage them in the right direction. Wouldn't want to miss this!

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WOW good to see Arcadia in Christchurch one of Battle of the Arcade :)

 

Been chatting with the owners via email this week, sounds like they are very passionate about the hobby just as all the barcade owners are here in Australia. Gonna be some fun times with the Kiwi's, NZ even has some half decent arcade players - @Barra isn't one of them :P

 

@Jimmy Nails - so when is the cut off for the other arcades to reply - and and what is the story with nominations - will they be kept secret until everyone nominates?

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Hey mates. I have an update for you on the state of play for the second annual Battle of the Arcades Oz & NZ.

 

So far confirmed entrants are:

Netherworld

Pincadia

1 Up Freeplay Arcade

1989 Arcade Bar

Arcadia Christchurch

 

I am yet to hear a word from any of the Perth, Adelaide or Melbourne venues so if you are local to one of those venues and want to get involved please make contact with them. Cut off for venue entry is going to be the end of March. I want to give everyone time but also we need to finalise the games list so we can all get cracking on practice.

 

On that note!!! Drum roll please....................

 

The games so far nominated are:

 

Netherworld

- Metal Slug 3

- Space Invaders

 

Pincadia

- Ladybug

- Amidar

 

1 Up Freeplay Arcade

- Blazing Star

- Final Fight

 

1989 Arcade Bar

- Pacman

- Ghosts & Goblins

 

Arcadia Christchurch

-

-

 

I am loving this list. The modern games likely to really level the paying field

 

Updated format below. Happy for some feedback but John and Jon and I have played around with this for a while. Most particularly we wanted to expand the Sunday group time and also expand the maximum game time for people to really showcase their skills.

 

Getting pumped mates!!!!!!

 

Format:

- the competition will be played over 8 or 10 unique arcade video games as nominated by each of the arcades

- each arcade will nominate 2 arcade games for the competition

- depending on the amount of arcades participating, 8 or 10 games will be drawn at random to decide the titles used

- at least one game must be included from each arcades nominations

- nominated games must ideally be common to all the arcades in the competition or be readily available on MAME or 'x in 1' boards.

- nominated games should be playable with a standard 2, 4 or 8 way joystick and standard buttons

- no light gun, driving simulator, or other games with special controls can be nominated unless all the arcades have that specific machine

- each game must be set to TG settings unless different settings are decided upon prior to nominations closing

- each venue must nominate a tournament director who will be responsible for inputting scores, managing queues and ensuring all games are on the agreed upon settings

 

Saturday 10am to 4pm - Internal Comp

- venues are to hold an internal comp to find their top 10 players for the Sunday Battle of the Arcades

- players may warm up prior to 10am

- each player must play all listed games

- competitors may have as many attempts at each game as he or she wishes within the timeframe, however no single attempt may last longer than 15 or 30 minutes (this is up to the discretion of each venue)

- all attempts are to be made with 1 credit only, no continues

- all game scores will be rated with the highest score on each machine awarding the player 100 points, second highest 99 points and so on

- top 10 players with the highest accumulated rated score across all titles proceed to the team event on the Sunday

 

Sunday 10am to 6pm - Battle of the Arcades

- players may warm up prior to 10am

- each player must play all listed games

- competitors may have as many attempts at each game as he or she wishes within the timeframe, however no single attempt may last longer than 60 minutes

- players from all teams will submit scores to a central database using the matchplay.events or another online software tool

- all game scores will be rated with the highest score on each machine awarding the player 100 points, second highest 99 points and so on

- each venue may have up to 10 competitors in their team, though only the top 'x' from each team will go toward the team qualifying score

- 'x' is equal to the team with the lowest amount of qualifiers though this number can not be lower then 6

- teams with lower then 6 competitors will still play though may be at a disadvantage score wise

- all scores must be entered live as soon as a game is completed, no sandbagging

- the end of the tournament is a hard cutoff

- players must end a current game they are in one minute before cut off. Any games still running after cut off will not be included in final scoring

- as this tournament runs on an honour system, no excessive leeching or glitch abuse please

- all attempts are to be made with 1 credit only, no continues

- the total points of each team member will be added to determine the total points of each team. The team with the highest total points shall be crowned the Australian Battle of the Arcades Champion!

Edited by Jimmy Nails
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Just an FYI regarding Amidar - we have picked it because it's a cool game and is also on the 60-1, however, the version on the 60-1 is the Stern ROM, not the Konami one. So venues wishing to use MAME instead of a 60-1 will need to make sure they have the correct ROM - we will of course clarify this when the final list is out.

 

And as for Ladybug, our 2nd submission, it does appear that that the 60-1 doesn't correctly emulate the difficulty - e.g. TG Settings are Medium difficulty, but the 60-1 does not seem to emulate medium correctly. I believe, but am not certain, that all settings for Ladybug on the 60-1 are all the same.... as in Easy on current versions of MAME - I will investigate further, in fact @Barra might have more insight about this already as we are playing it in an online competition at the moment.

 

Hopefully all venues have access to a 60-1 - they are cheap and pretty common. I know the NZ boys have one, as does NW. If we can use these, it will definitely solve scoring/settings discrepancies.

@Jimmy Nails - love the ruleset. Only one I'm not a fan of is dropping games. For golden age games, it prob won't make a big difference, but 1 Up is mainly more modern games, and them losing one of their choices would severely handicap them - even more so than they already are because of the higher number of golden age games in the competition. Having said that, at this stage there are "only" 5 arcades playing - so there may be no need to drop a game in any case.

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@Jimmy Nails - love the ruleset. Only one I'm not a fan of is dropping games. For golden age games, it prob won't make a big difference, but 1 Up is mainly more modern games, and them losing one of their choices would severely handicap them - even more so than they already are because of the higher number of golden age games in the competition. Having said that, at this stage there are "only" 5 arcades playing - so there may be no need to drop a game in any case.

 

Yeah mate I agree 100%. I only left this caveat in as if we have all of the potential arcades agree to compete we could be playing up to 20 games and asking every venue to get that many machines ready would be super tough. Plus the comp would take forever hahahaha

 

Would still love to see a couple more venues join in from the other states. I haven't had a response from Arcadia in a while if anyone is in regular contact with them a gentle nudge on noms would be awesome.

 

I have been playing Blazing Star at the bar and it's an absolute blast. Love it.

 

Thanks for your notes on MAME vs 60in1 for the above games. We definitely have a bunch of 60in1's down stairs and they are pretty cheap to pick up as you say.

 

Getting pumped mates. Trying not to spend too much time on Blazing Star as I should be practicing for BOTA USA :)

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For golden age games, it prob won't make a big difference, but 1 Up is mainly more modern games, and them losing one of their choices would severely handicap them - even more so than they already are because of the higher number of golden age games in the competition.

 

Pretty even mix so far though, 4 "Golden Age" games, 3 "Credit Munchers" and G&G sort of sits in the middle. Gonna be one awesome competition.

 

Trying not to spend too much time on Blazing Star as I should be practicing for BOTA USA :)

 

Glad I'm not the only one that's been playing heaps of Blazing Star instead of US BOTA games hahaha.

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I found Blazing Star the other night for MAME and had a few shots. Feels like a busier but just as accessible R-Type Leo with lots of high scoring opportunities. Love the cruisey funky music as you close on the end of the first stage. Interesting choice for sure!

 

I haven't managed to get to Pixel Alley yet and see what the general feeling is; hoping to do that with Nigel this friday. Fingers crossed that we can convince them of the glorious virtues of BOTA. The show must go on! New gaming traditions need to be forged! Victoria must be represented somehow; otherwise I might have to consider jumping ship to NSW! :D (nooo!) Wish me luck chaps.

 

Edit:

Not looking good unfortunately. Sadly, the new bar manager didn't realise that invitations had already been sent out. Their main concern is understandable; they're worried about not making enough money on the Sunday to cover costs. I politely explained that this year has the opportunity to advertise much earlier and that a smart approach should make it much more accessible to more people/ more potential competitors.

 

I asked if I could contact the actual owner (Tom) to speak to him but the manager mentioned that he was extremely busy. Perhaps a well timed call or FB post by someone like Jimmy could have a little more sway and influence than myself. I think I've done as much as I can to express how great the event could be for Pixel Alley at this point. :unsure

Edited by Pessimeister
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I found Blazing Star the other night for MAME and had a few shots. Feels like a busier but just as accessible R-Type Leo with lots of high scoring opportunities. Love the cruisey funky music as you close on the end of the first stage. Interesting choice for sure!

 

I haven't managed to get to Pixel Alley yet and see what the general feeling is; hoping to do that with Nigel this friday. Fingers crossed that we can convince them of the glorious virtues of BOTA. The show must go on! New gaming traditions need to be forged! Victoria must be represented somehow; otherwise I might have to consider jumping ship to NSW! :D (nooo!) Wish me luck chaps.

 

Edit:

Not looking good unfortunately. Sadly, the new bar manager didn't realise that invitations had already been sent out. Their main concern is understandable; they're worried about not making enough money on the Sunday to cover costs. I politely explained that this year has the opportunity to advertise much earlier and that a smart approach should make it much more accessible to more people/ more potential competitors.

 

I asked if I could contact the actual owner (Tom) to speak to him but the manager mentioned that he was extremely busy. Perhaps a well timed call or FB post by someone like Jimmy could have a little more sway and influence than myself. I think I've done as much as I can to express how great the event could be for Pixel Alley at this point. :unsure

 

Mate that's a bummer. I'll send all the arcades that are yet to reply another nudge through this week. Fingers crossed

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  • 1 month later...

Have just sent all the Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and NZ arcades a final nudge to join the event. Fingers crossed mates.

 

Have given them until the 14th of this month. If no one comes back with nom's we will be sticking with the 8 games already nominated.

 

New arcades can still join after this date but the chance to nominate games will be over

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@Jimmy Nails - are Gameroom in Adelaide definitely in? Saw a post from them on FB yesterday discussing game selection - hope they play this year. Rob Mc is a beast.

 

They are looking likely. They have until Sunday to nominate games

 

Heard from Arcadia in NZ too. They just double checking dates. Fingers crossed!!!

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Whey! If Gameroom Essentials are playing, this might give some Victorians a conceivably closer alternative than Sydney.

 

So...where's the nearest bar of choice from the venue? Any South Australian arcaders have any insight? :)

 

I sent one last email to Pixel Alley last week; linked them to this thread and made my final plea basically. We shall see.

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Whey! If Gameroom Essentials are playing, this might give some Victorians a conceivably closer alternative than Sydney.

 

So...where's the nearest bar of choice from the venue? Any South Australian arcaders have any insight? :)

 

 

I'm not overly familiar with the area as I live on the other side of town but google earth shows the Midway Tavern about 1.5 Km away and a football club about 500m away in the same direction. No idea about what either of those are like. Alternatively there's a BWS at the other end of the row of shops Gameroom's located in but I'm unsure about drinking on site. Probably not an option

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@Jimmy Nails - Some ROMSet info below

 

For those arcades that will need to use MAME for some games, I'll see if I can put together a complete MAME .185 with applicable ROMs if needed when the list of games is confirmed.

 

The game list to date, I thought I'd post some MAME info for those who are in early training - hopefully others can check my work:

 

Metal Slug 3

 

ROMSet: MSlug3

Hero: 3

Continue: Off

Difficulty: Level 4

Play Time: 60

Play Manual: ON

Credit/Level: ON/ON

Language: English

Blood: ON or Off

Country: USA

Special Rules: This is a Single Player ONLY Variation! You may freely choose from any available character. Continues are NOT allowed!

 

Space Invaders

 

On the 60-1 boards. Emulates correctly. Lives need to be set to those as per MAME:

 

ROMSet: Invaders

Lives: 3

Bonus Life: 1500

cabinet: Upright

Special Rules: None

 

Ladybug

 

On the 60-1 boards. Seems to be issues with difficulties, so as previously mentioned, would need to be played on Easy settings

which are not currently tracked by Twin Galaxies

 

ROMSet: LadyBug

Difficulty: Easy

Rack Test [Cheat]: Off

Freeze: Off

Cabinet: Upright

Free Play: No

Lives: 3

Special Rules: Extra Lives can be obtained by spelling Extra.

 

 

Amidar

 

On the 60-1 boards. Amidar uses the Stern ROMSet on 60-1, so for those not using 60-1, but MAME instead, they will need to make sure they are using the correct ROM.

 

ROMSet: amidaru

Stern ROMSet (Harder)

 

Lives: 3

Bonus Life: 50000 80000

Unknown: On [both]

Special Rules: None

 

Blazing Star

 

Romset: BlazStar

Player: 3

Continue: WITH OUT

Demo Sound: WITH

How To Play: WITH

Difficulty: LEVEL 4

Credit Indi.: WITH

Level Indi.: WITH OUT

Special Rules: This is a Single Player ONLY Variation! You may freely choose your ship type. Continues are NOT allowed!

 

Final Fight

 

This is the Final Fight [World] ROM information <--- best to check with 1 Up if this is in fact the version they are running in their original machine

 

ROMSet: FFight

Service Mode: Off

Unused: Off [All]

Difficulty Level 1: Normal

Difficulty Level 2: Normal

Bonus Life: 100k

Lives: 2

Free Play: Off

Freeze: Off

Flip Screen: Off

Allow Continue: No

Game Mode: Game

Special Rules: This is a Single Player ONLY Variation! You may freely choose from any available character. Continues are NOT allowed!

 

Pacman

 

On the 60-1 boards. Emulates correctly. Settings need to be those as per MAME/Arcade Twin Galaxies.

 

ROMSet: Either the 'puckman' or 'pacman' ROM is acceptable; no other ROM is allowed.

Rack Test [Cheat]: Off

Service Mode: Off

Cabinet: Upright

Lives: 5

Bonus Life: 10000

Difficulty: Normal

Ghost Names: Normal

2x Speed Cheat: Disabled

Special Rules: None

 

Special Note: The Maximum score possible is 3,333,360.

 

Ghosts & Goblins

 

ROMSet: GNG

Service Mode: Off

Flip Screen: Off

Lives: 3

Cabinet: Upright

Bonus Life: 20000 70000 70000

Difficulty: Normal

Unknown: Off

Special Rules: Excessive leeching in the cave scene is disallowed! Continues are NOT allowed!

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Midway Tavern

 

With a name like Midway - it sounds like it must be a good omen for arcade players.

 

 

but I'm unsure about drinking on site. Probably not an option

 

You guys could always talk to Danny - doubt they have a BYO licence - but you never know, they do host kids parties and that often means parents who have to wait around for their kids....

 

I've been known to leave a car somewhere, just put an esky in the back with ice and some cans of coke and do the sly drink half the can, fill up with spirits, then drink it while walking to a venue - not that I condone that sort of thing :) Think the timing for the competitions means we'll be finished early enough, especially on qualifying Saturday, that you can go to your local anyway and get on the turps.

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@John73 @Jimmy Nails

 

A few notes on some of those games too, as is common with 90's "credit muncher" games, unless you get the high score the p1 score will disappear immediately when all lives are lost. For these games, the only way to note the score is to continue but not play on so the score comes back. Most of these games will use the last digit to indicate how many continues have been used. So if a player selects continue with a score of 250,000 it will reappear as 250,001. I would suggest in these cases, it would be best for venues to have a sort of ref system, where when a player's game ends, the ref must witness continue be selected and note the score (ignoring the 1 at the end) to ensure gameplay does not resume.

 

Of the games so far, this only applies to Metal Slug 3 and Final Fight, Blazing Star keeps the score up until the end of the game over countdown.

I have tried to have Player 2 active on screen when Player 1 dies to circumvent this but it does not work, the player 1 score will still be gone.

 

Also regarding Ghosts n Goblins, would it not be wiser to use the TG Tournament settings instead of marathon settings? It seems TG no longer accepts marathon setting scores for the arcade track.

The TGTS rules are extra lives at 20,000 and 80,000 only for a maximum total of 5 lives. Avoids the problem of excessive point leeching in the cave.

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Going to allow leeching in time pilot? Refer to previous MGL thread we played tp for info

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

 

MGL 14 game 1 to be exact. My first game in my first MGL. Things did get a bit out of hand between me and Spartan

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Ah yes, seems like only yesterday. The MGL round that killed my regular playing of Time Pilot. So how many points can you get in 30 minutes just flying around shooting planes and not finishing the level? Just throw a ball park figure out there

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

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For what it's worth my initial submissions were played straight up. I had around 300K from memory. Then Spartan went on a leech fest and it was a case of "Red Rag meet Mr Bull."

 

To be honest I haven't thought about a 30 minute leeching score. Possibly about the same as I got back then but I'd need to check. I'd much rather play it the way the designer intended.

 

Edit: You actually just collect the guys on parachutes and avoid shooting planes unless unavoidable. Round 2 is the best place to do it. There's a 1500 point bonus plane on that round as well that doesn't count towards planes shot so that one's fair game as well

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