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Giant Robot arcade game?


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I am looking for a giant robot arcade game from a couple decades ago. This was a vertical scrolling game with a top down isometric view (over the shoulder-style) of the robot as it walked "up the screen" shooting stuff as it went.

I don't know the name, but I can sing the tune. I never forgot the tune - but the name escapes me.

 

I would like to find the game if I can.

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lol @Rat.

 

Ken, more info might help. Colours of everything? Company that made the game? Describe the cab it was in - what style & colour, what controls, how many buttons, etc? What did the controls do? Anything else you remember? I doubt it's something I can answer anyway, but someone might be able to help.

 

And welcome to AA :)

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okay - I don't know all the industry lingo, but here goes.

it was an upright cabinet with standard eight-way joystick on the left and a two button

one button for shooting and (guessing) the other for missiles - or battle options perhaps

joystick for moving

If I mention any colouring I think I might remember then it will probably be wrong @Rat I am working on the music part - give me a day to put up somewhere

 

fwiw I played this at Timezone Brisbane CBD up near Hungry Jacks - not where it is now. I am going to say probably the golden age of arcade circa late 80's?

 

Is there a library of cabinet shots that I can browse?

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There is a database here you can browse via year or category that might help http://www.mamedb.com/ but I still want to hear you singing :D If you click on Shooter and then Year you will be able to filter like this http://www.mamedb.com/year/1985

 

There are other resources such as http://www.arcade-museum.com/ but you really need to know the name of what you are looking for there.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

If you do find a screen shot of a game that you think might be the right one then go to YouTube and type the name of the game followed by mame into search to see some gameplay.

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@ 80sOgre - no not Virtual On. @ doomsdave not mazinger z.

But but but the street scene in the first screen shot for Mz looks familiar. Except YOU are the giant robot and walk bottom-up as the screen scrolls downward. I kind of remember fists firing or shooting out from hands.

 

wow you guys are awesome with the screenshots.

 

maybe there is an app that I can sing the music into and it will find the song?

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@DoomsDave I know - but the music is wrong and the gameplay seems weird. It seems a bit too modern for what I remember.

 

I remember a bigger robot - your viewing angle is behind and over the head so you see the back of the shoulders, back of the neck and the two arms out in front - facing UP the screen)

It seems you are walking up through a screen-wide corridor of buildings on each side. Sort of forced isometric perspective.

 

I must have looked at 832 mame shooters from the 90's. Still nothing.

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I found it. I accidentally went through the entire list and found another game that was a clone, and this game was a clone of Equites. And then I thought "Equites - that rings a bell".

So I pulled up a demo of it on youtube. Unfortunately the MAME sound is broken and not a good copy of the original, and the playthrough is severely limited - it is like the game is limited to one looping section.

 

So the game is Equites. And now I need to find an original cabinet :(

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Emulation and sounds seem good enough to me in that video ? from a quick google it looks like you will need to download some "unofficial" sound samples to put in your samples folder, let me know if you have any trouble with that. I do understand the quest for perfect emulation of favourite games and have a couple of original cabs myself for that reason. I suggest if mame is not good enough for you that your only real option (unless you have unlimited funds to import a cab) would be to find a working board in America and get it posted here and build a cab to put it in, unsure how you would go sourcing artwork for the cab and control panel though?

 

This is the best page I found for info about it, says the latest bug fixes are in mame 0.168 so make sure you are at least that up to date, sound samples are still imperfect and might never be improved. Sounds OK to me though and IMO it could be argued the original composers didn't strive too hard for perfection in the first place ;) http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/dettaglio_mame.php?game_name=equites&back_games=equites;&search_id=&lang=en

 

 

Looks like a cool game, might give it a try myself :)

 

I think you should still upload a clip of you singing the music track to youtube or soundcloud as reward to all those who helped here :) start practicing :)

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Congrats on finding it. I was kind of close with Mazinger. I've never heard of it before and it looks fun so I'll give it a run when I get a chance.

 

I agree that you should still youtube or soundcloud yourself humming that theme haha.

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@DoomsDave you were good with MazingerZ. points to you. @DoomsDave I will hum it. Where do you want it? @Dreamcazman this was a significant moment for me @Rat you are right but there is more...

 

I used to play Slapfight (Alcon) which is my all time favourite game, but not because of the arcade in Brisbane. I was never really super good - I was better than most but not amazing. The game was forgotten, and the machine replaced. I never saw it again in an arcade. Until...

I located to Tokyo for six months, and in the beginning I would always walk past a doorway that led up to another level. I didn't know what it was - all the doorways looked the same - no signs, no lights, just the sound of "arcadey shooting" coming from upstairs. And the doorway was the front of a different shop so I felt like people would think "what is he doing here?" I was scared to go up, in case people up there would tell me to leave.

Well, upstairs was an arcade of sorts - many cabinets, many sit-downs. I remember Rygar was kind of new, but I couldn't play it well. Also that game where the monsters would climb buildings and take people out of the windows.

One of the sit-downs had Slapfight - and I was happy to see it again. But I was never any good - it was just one the games to play.

So I played, and I played well. And I would get a bunch of extra lives, and I would go nuts and beat the final level, and then the game would clock, and the levels restart. And when I died I though people would do the "leave this guy" thing that we saw often, because in Slapfight it is really hard to come back at the advanced stage with nothing - no powerups or weapons or speed. But I was really good at it for some reason. And Japanese people do a strange thing.

They don't leave - they stick around and see how you do, and I was expecting a bunch of bad starts, wasting all my lives trying to get back again, but it didn't happen. I quickly recovered - always quickly recovered. First a speed star, then a multishot star. then a side shooter, then a missile. And I would go through the game again, and clock it. And clock it, and clock it. And the game would go for 90 minutes, with a huge crowd surrounding me and the table.

And I was God of Slapfight.

And they never left - maybe they saw me playing that game, and they came every lunch hour to see me play. I made a habit of playing the same time, and I would see the same people, and some never played anything. I realised they just came to see me play. Me. Little guy from Backwater, Australia. They didn't talk to me, and they didn't know me. But I was awesome, at a game that no one played. Gee I was quick. But it took travelling across the ocean to some little arcade in a no name building for something in my life to click together, for me to play that well.

 

This is the reason why I want Slapfight. And Equites.

Maybe this is why a lot of you do the same thing?

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I love slap fight to it was in the local pub my dad drank at and I would play for ages

it was removed but I found it on a pirate disk for my C64 so could play it on there was not the same as the arcade version though

then mame came along and I waited for it to be emulated on there but for years the rom was not working then I learned ALCON was a boot leg and worked ohh baby bring it on

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Is MAME a good reproduction? I haven't tried MAME for years, and I think I tried it on my PC, but it didn't feel right. I like the sit-down table, and the big format buttons.

Is this called a thing? Can I get this thing going somehow?

I know this is way off topic - please direct me if you know where I should be looking. I am knew to this, and I would like to build a sit-down reproduction of SlapFight if it is possible.

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Sit down cabs are called "cocktail" cabs, building one is possible there are plenty of plans available online, but I would guess it's more difficult than building an upright, if you have all the tools and are proficient at cabinet making it should be easy. Personally I would buy one already made either an old secondhand cab or new and either put an original game board in it or a PC running mame, I don't think you will find a multiboard with both those games on it so that is not an option. With either of those choices you will need to do heaps of research to ensure you buy or build right. There are a few sellers here that stock new build cocktails, including the popular Hankin remake http://www.homepin.com/hanktable.html which has a LCD and multiboard but you could put an original board or PC in it.

 

This page will give you plenty to think about http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page and check out their forum also, then you can return here and ask more specific questions once you have an idea of what you want to achieve.

 

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Cocktail_cabinets

 

 

Remember these are both vertical orientation games so you will need a vertical monitor, if you want the genuine old school look you will need a CRT, but LCDs can be run to look "like" a CRT including the scanlines.

 

I think firstly you should download the latest version of mame and the roms for these games and have a play to see if you are happy with the emulation, my opinion is the emulation of SlapFight in mame is very good. You can buy an arcade joystick to use with your PC for a more authentic feel, I use an old Playstation Namco arcade joystick if I'm going to play on my PC, which I don't do now after getting my cabs :) But this is a good first step, to see how long you stay interested and if you are happy with mame, you might find that you want a mame cab rather than just those two games. Playing on your PC also takes the urgency out of the project so you can take your time getting what you want. The first game I bought was a new three sided cocktail, I hated it, struggled to modify it to my liking then gave up and sold it. I'm much happier with two Astro City cabs for mame now, one for vert and one for horiz. I have a couple of dedicated original cabs for my favourite games also, but they can take years to find for sale in Australia and can be very expensive to import.

 

As for Cocktail Vs Upright, I prefer upright, cocktails look smaller but they actually take up more floor space than an upright, generally the controls are more cramped and the play position not as good, getting high score can be easier on an upright cab. I know you want a cocktail because of the nostalgia factor of that being what you played on, but those things are worthy of consideration. I am not totally against cocktails, I have Space Duel as a cocktail and had the choice of either, I find that one good as a cocktail as two players can play co-op from either side at the same time making it quite unique.

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