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Smues Plays 960 Arcade Games

Smues

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I haven't been able to play this in awhile but I promise my quest to play every single game on the machine will continue.
 

Smues

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So I've kind of gotten obsessed with this arcade shit. I'd always wanted a full size arcade machine, and was saving up for one, when I discovered bartop arcade machines, which would be a lot cheaper and take up a lot less space. I also liked the idea of building it myself, so I ordered a kit and spent the last two weekends building it.

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My plan was to put a Raspberry Pi in it, and I wired it all up for the Pi, but I just can't make the damn thing work (HyperPie). I finally gave up yesterday and re-wired it for a Pandora's Box 5, the same thing I have in my arcade pad. I'll still try to get the Pi running as it'd be cool to have console emulators too, but we'll see if that ever happens. Also, without the Pi those nifty front buttons and USB ports won't work. However, the wiring for the Pandora's Box goes through a JAMMA harness, so outside of having to figure out how to do the audio and video, it'll be ready to go when I get an actual arcade motherboard (which I may have just ordered on Ebay.)
 

Smues

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33. Game #491 - Blue Hawk,1993
blue-hawk-dooyong-1993-vintage-arcade-videogame-screen-shot-editorial-aw2w6a.jpg


Have I heard of the game before?
Nope.

Have I played the game before?
Nope.

What is it?
Another vertical scrolling plane shooter.

How much did I play?
I played it to completion, then played the first stage again because I did that awhile ago and forgot which game this was.

Thoughts?
It's perfectly servicable. There's a zillion of these games on here so they're all going to start to blur together, but this one is fine. The bullet hell is fairly reasonable and I didn't find it super cheap. Though when you get your ship really powered up you're shooting so much shit on the screen it does get hard to see enemy fire.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
Congratulation! See you again!!
 

Smues

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34. Game #826 - Don Doko Don, 1989
DonDokoDonArcTitle.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No Doko No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Gnome Bubble Bobble. With a hammer instead of bubbles.

How much did I play?
I think I played a dozen levels or so.

Thoughts?
Meh. It's fine to kill a few minutes but I have no desire to keep playing through it, and the music gets repetitive very quickly.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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35. Game #729 - Capcom Sports Club,1997
Capcom%20Sports%20Club.jpg


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A sports compilation with Tennis, Soccer, and basketball.

How much did I play?
I tried each sport.

Thoughts?
I expected this to suck but actually it's not bad. And I certainly did not expect to do the best at the soccer game. I won a tournament in soccer, won a game in basketball, and won two games but no matches in tennis. I would rank them as soccer, tennis, basketball. Basketball is 3-on-3 and wants to be NBA Jam but it certainly isn't and it sucks. Tennis is hard as fuck but I enjoyed it. Oddly enough I suck ass when I serve but can win when I'm not serving. Soccer my only real complaint is it automatically switches to the defender closest to the ball so you'll be running left towards the ball then it switches you and suddenly you're running left away from the ball.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
Not that I saw but it's a Japanese game with little English in it so it's very possibly there.
 

Smues

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36. Game #338 - Street Fighter II: Champion Edition M6, 1992
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Have I heard of the game before?
Not M6, but yes.

Have I played the game before?
Not M6, but yes.

What is it?
Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.

How much did I play?
A couple of matches. As usual E. Honda kicked my ass, but it was cheap as fuck, glitchy cheap.

Thoughts?
It sure is Street Fighter II: Champion Edition alright.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
WARNING USE IN TAIWAN ONLY. (A lot of these games start with a screen listing where they're legally allowed, but most of them it goes by quickly and lists multiple countries or just the ones it's not allowed in. This one it is the damn title screen if you've put a coin in. It doesn't even say press start it just says WARNING USE IN TAIWAN ONLY. Really, who is going to put money in the machine then see that and go oh I won't play this?
 

Smues

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37. Game #468 - Super Macross, 1992
MACROSS--Super%20Spacefortress%20Macross%20%20ChouJikuu%20Yousai%20Macross_Dec27%2012_38_16.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A vertical scrolling space shooter.

How much did I play?
I played the game to completion.

Thoughts?
At first I thought it was kind of boring but then I realized it's just that I'm actually getting better at these games and not dying so much. I got through 2 and a half stages on one quarter which is nutso for me. So I appreciate that it's not nut bustingly hard. It also gives you a good supply of powerups so dying doesn't set you way back. Probably one of my favorite of these types of games.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
Surprisingly no as there are a lot of cut scenes but there's no text with any of it, even when you beat the game.
 

Smues

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38. Game #148 - Shadow Force,1993
Shadow%20Force%20Fighter%20Section-4.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A three button side-scrolling beat'em up.

How much did I play?
A stage and a half or so and I played as all four playable characters.

Thoughts?
Do not like. I thought being a 3-button side-scroller would make this interesting with more depth than a standard 2-button beat'em up but it just makes it worse. Attacking is a chore and most enemies block a lot so it's really tedious. And damn do enemies love to walk off-screen and stay there for awhile while you just have to stand there and wait for them to come back. I'll give the game credit for having four unique playing characters that all play differently, but it's not enough.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No, but it does load up with the WINNERS DON'T USE DRUGS Williams S. Sessions screen, which may be the first time I've seen that so far. Hopefully it's not the last.
 

Smues

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39. Game #869 - June First, 1983
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Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Hard to describe, I'd say it's 1983's version of a vertical scrolling space shooter, but it's not an auto scroll you move forward and back. And I don't mean up and down you fully can control moving around the grid. The goal is to kill all the aliens in the wave.

How much did I play?
Four or five waves.

Thoughts?
For 1983 this is really good. It's of course really dated now, but for the time I think I would have loved this. Just the ability to move wherever is really nice, and you also have a power-up that lets you disappear for second if you're about to get hit.

juno-first_3.png


Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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40. Game #892 - Scramble,1981
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Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A side scrolling early 80's space shooter.

How much did I play?
I played through the first level.

Thoughts?
It's ok. I know I've played a dozen games like this, but it was easy enough to pick up and do well. You shoot the shit in front of you and drop bombs (which are a bitch to aim) at stuff on the ground and you have to hit fuel tanks along the way so you don't crash. My biggest take away is that the sound sucks and gets old very quickly, not that that was unknown in this era.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
HOW FAR CAN YOU INVADE OUR SCRAMBLE SYSTEM?
 

Smues

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41. Game #69 - Street Fighter Zero 3,1998
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Have I heard of the game before?
Not by this name, but yes.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Street Fighter Alpha 3, the Japanese version.

How much did I play?
Nine or ten matches.


Thoughts?
I was aware of the Street Fighter Alpha series but never really played them. Now having played this one, I kind of regret that. I find this to be way more accessible than the Street Fighter 2 series, and I really like how long the fights are. Hits don't seem to do nearly the damage they did in Street Fighter 2 so the matches take longer and there's more weight to each round. Though I don't know if that's a Street Fighter Alpha thing in general or specific to number 3.

One other thing I noted, presumably because this is the Japanese version, is that Vega is called Balrog which really threw me for a loop.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Master Thrasher

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Yeah the Street Fighter Alpha is called Zero in Japan for some reason. Balrog is called M. Bison in Japan because they thought Tyson would sue them if his name stayed the same in the US.

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They look kind of similar. Sagat is still Sagat in Japan, Vega is called Balrog, and M. Bison is Vega in Japan. I think the way the names are in US work better.



As for your observation about accessibility, I definitely think it's more accessible than Street Fighter 3. I really like the Alpha series.
 

Laz

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The Alpha series was the last time I really enjoyed a SF game. SFA2 was my jam until Tekken 2/3 came around.
 

The Dames

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I've been thinking of getting something like this. Does it plug into your TV via HDMI or some other connector?
 

Smues

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42. Game #689 - Mouja,1995
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Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Puzzle Fighter but with cats and coins.

How much did I play?
A couple of matches.

Thoughts?
The game is in Japanese, so I didn't fully figure this one out. Obviously you want to match similar pieces, but I was never sure when I had enough to make them disappear as sometimes it took two coins sometimes it took five, and often the coins would disappear but leave one of a different type. It's weird. Not to say it isn't fun though, as these types of games are easy to get addicted to and the music was decent. Also, cats are cute so it has that going for it.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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43. Game #216 - Double Dragon II: The Revenge,1988
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Have I heard of the game before?
Yes.

Have I played the game before?
On the NES.

What is it?
Side scrolling beat'em up.

How much did I play?
The first stage, I couldn't make myself play any more.

Thoughts?
This game sucks. I remember liking (though sucking at) the Double Dragon series on the NES but then I played Double Dragon Arcade on Xbox Live Arcade and was surprised how awful it was. The sequel is no exception (and the third one is also on this thing, I'm not looking forward to that.) Unlike most two action button beat'em ups instead of one button being one attack and one being another type, here one button attacks left and one button attacks right. It's a pain in the ass to get used to and you'll get your ass kicked a lot trying too. Even after figuring that out I just had no fun trying to slog through this game.

Oh lovely, the first one is on this thing two so I have not one but TWO more of these left to slog through. Barf.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No, but I don't know if it calls them Bimmy and Jimmy in this or just the home version.
 

Smues

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44. Game #827 - The Berlin Wall,1991
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Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A puzzle platformer where you dig holes to trap monsters in then kill them. You can also fill holes in as needed.

How much did I play?
Six or seven stages before my pizza showed up and I died.

Thoughts?
Hmm. Well, it's not terrible or anything. If anything it's a pretty standard puzzle platformer. But man is it loud. To adjust the volume I have to take the marquee off so I try not to have to but this one was REALLY loud compared to other games I've been playing. I'm really glad now I didn't turn it up for Double Dragon II since that one was fairly quiet. It's also bizarre because the backgrounds are just stock images of Berlin(I'm guessing) and the wall and ...random people? Possibly celebrating the wall's destruction or protesting the wall, but they really could just be images of random people that have nothing to do with the wall.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
Scattered stars from beater opponents can be used to beat another monster.
 

Kahran Ramsus

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No, but I don't know if it calls them Bimmy and Jimmy in this or just the home version.

That was Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones on NES. AKA the bad Double Dragon game, so seeing what you think of I & II, I'm sure you would love that one.
 

Smues

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45. Game #951 - Knights of Valour 2,2000
kov2p204.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No, but there are several of these on the machine so I'll learn quickly.

What is it?
A side-scrolling beat'em up. It uses four buttons, which is fairly unique for one of these, and there are a lot of items and powers to pick up and use.

How much did I play?
Four or five levels and played as most of the selectable knights. I hit level 10, if that means anything.

Thoughts?
Not bad at all, especially after Double Dragon. I would totally waste half an hour playing this at a pizza place. Hopefully the other ones are as good as this one. I would have played it to completion but I'm trying to plow through a bunch of games today. The difficulty is just right too as I didn't have to hit the quarter button very many times to get pretty far.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No, it's in Chinese I think.
 

Smues

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46. Game #439 - Hyper Duel,1993
hypr-sat1.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
A side scrolling space shooter.

How much did I play?
I played it through to completion.

Thoughts?
So I'm only on game 46 huh? Oh boy. This is fine, it's like every other side scrolling shooter, the only difference is your other button instead of being a kill them all button you get one or two of, you get a power meter and it...shoots a bunch more shit. I don't know, I was zoning out SO hard while playing this. I probably wouldn't have finished it but the new Best of the Worst was fairly long and I zoned out playing this while focusing on that. 3 out of 5 stars: It's a space shooter.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
Instead of saying pilot data it says p lot data. And the ending credits had some interest credits like Fake Dwarf Giva.



(lots of space)



AND YOU
 

Smues

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47. Game #579 - Neo Geo Cup 98: The Road to Victory,1998
neocup98.png


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Soccer. Oh joy.

How much did I play?
Four games, winning three and making the semi-finals.

Thoughts?
It sure is soccer. Which is not my game. Whereas the other soccer games I've played on this arcaded them up so the field was small and you could have some fun, in this one it's a full size field so it takes forever to go from one side to the other. I also didn't particularly know what I was doing. But I did enjoy slide tackling the fuck out of people. Picked up a few yellow cards but most of the time there was no penalty and it was great to knock down two or three people in a row and have their bodies laying on the ground while I grab the ball and take off.....slowly kick my way towards the goal.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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48. Game #68 - Street Fighter Zero 2,1996
street-fighter-alpha-2_3.png


Have I heard of the game before?
Yes, as Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Street Fighter Alpha 2.

How much did I play?
Half a dozen matches or so. Fuck you Ken.

Thoughts?
Just paste what I said about Street Fighter Zero 3 here, as it all pretty much applies. And just like that one it was Ken I couldn't get past, that fucker. But I really enjoyed this one as well. I suspect I'll be playing these Street Fighter Alpha games a lot when I'm not playing through the list.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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Smues said:
Update on Golden Par Golf: I played it today for the first time in a few weeks and managed to go +4 on both games, and not only did I get two eagles in the first game, I got a hole-in-one on a par 4 in my second game. Someday I'll hit par, someday. Also, I think the laughing at you on double bogey putts happens when you're at or under par, as I heard it three or four times while I was under par.

Played 36 holes last night while intoxicated. I think I was +6 on the first course, but finished -4 on the second course. WOOT WOOT WOOTIN PALLY.
 

BUTT

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Double Dragon 2 arcade is pretty bad. The NES version was a marked improvement over the original but in the arcade DD2 is a rehash of DD1 with the same engine, same number of stages (4 as opposed to 9 in the NES game), similar enemies, and a lot of slowdown. Major differences are the aforementioned new control scheme (which made it into the NES version) and Jimmy's cool new white outfit (which didn't). It also has what I feel is one of the saddest endings in a video game, especially if you've played the NES game (not gonna spoiler-tag a 30-year-old game, sorry): In the arcade version the game ends after you fight a ghost version of Billy (and Jimmy in 2-player mode). In the NES game, this was the stage 8 boss fight ("The Double Illusion") and it set the stage for the final confrontation with the Shadow Master. In the arcade version, there is no such fight, and rather than just another challenging sub-boss, it feels like the Lee brothers are fighting their own grief and guilt over not saving Marian. In the NES game, Marian triumphantly rises from the dead after the final boss fight, but in the arcade, nope, she's gone. It ends with a photo, presumably taken shortly before her death, of Billy and Jimmy (with sick mullets) looking creepily at Marian and she blinks and a tear falls from her eye to the bottom of the screen and forms the words "The End." And she's not back in part 3 (the arcade version). As for part 3, it's very different from part 1 and 2: it features much improved graphics (but poor animation), a whole bunch of new playable characters, and a new "store" feature where you buy extra lives and power-ups for real coins. Remember that Technos also made Superstars and Wrestlefest, two similarly money-grubbing games. I said it was different, but it's not particularly better. Again, the NES version is superior, and as Kahran Ramsus mentioned it's the worst received of the series, so look forward to playing the arcade version.

Last note on Double Dragon 2: They released an "arranged" soundtrack in Japan and it included this rendition of the NES version's final boss fight which is pretty goddamn great imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaA7JTa6c-8
 

Smues

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49. Game #643 - Lode Runner,1984
lodeRunner3.png


Have I heard of the game before?
Yes.

Have I played the game before?
Not the arcade version, but yes.

What is it?
A puzzle platformer. The goal is collect all the items while avoiding bad guys. And you can dig holes for bad guys to fall in.

How much did I play?
A couple of levels. And a lot of deaths.

Thoughts?
I sure suck at this one. The bad guys in this are just relentless and very obnoxious. I remember having some version made in the 90's for PC but I couldn't remember a single thing about it so this was all new to me. If you don't suck ass at it like me I could see this getting addicting. I enjoyed the music as well.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 

Smues

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50. Game #462 - Gunbird 2,1998
maxresdefault.jpg


Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Vertical scrolling shooter.

How much did I play?
The first level which consisted of seven stages.

Thoughts?
When I was searching for an image of the title screen I saw that this game was ported to Dreamcast and that makes sense to me that this would get a home release because it's pretty good. There are five playable characters that presumably all play differently since the couple I tried did. I played through the first seven stages as Alucard. Yes, that Alucard. He shoots bats. Then there's a girl on a broom and a guy on a magic carpet that I tried as well.

The game is colorful and pleasant to look at and I never had that problem where bullets blend into the background. The problem I did have is that this game is really difficult. I've gotten a lot better at this genre and while I did make it through the first stage on one life it very quickly became a game of me having to hit the quarter button and continue. I also suspect the game is pretty long since just level 1 had seven stages. There's even a story of some kind. I didn't really know what was going on but there was a pirate lady with big boobs and one of her cronies was named Gimmick. I was gathering elements for a cure of some kind. I assumed it was a cure for his vampirism but no he's bald and it makes him grow an afro. Oh stop, my sides are splitting.

This game makes me wish I had save states on this thing, and hopefully the console version lets you save your game. Definitely a game I'll be playing more of.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
I think I saw some I just don't remember it, but there's dialog between every stage so I imagine there's gotta be some Engrish in there somewhere.
 

Smues

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51. Game #238 - SWAT Police,2001

Fuck it, I tried three different images and they all had non workable links. The game sucks anyway, so you get DOG POLICE instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0359hSerDeE

Have I heard of the game before?
No.

Have I played the game before?
No.

What is it?
Shitty.

Oh I need to expand on that? Sigh. Ok. It's a front facing shooter. That sucks.

How much did I play?
For reasons that escape me I played the game to completion, which was 10 stages.

Thoughts?
It's not that this game is THAT bad, but it's very boring and more importantly it's not fun. At all. This game is the antonym of fun. You aim in all directions but only moves left or right. Aiming at enemies and avoiding enemy fire is damn near impossible without the dodge roll button, so you spend the whole game just holding down the fire button and dodge rolling all the fucking time. I got the hang of it eventually and only died once on level 5, but as mentioned I had no fun doing so. And then there's the boss fights. Fuck boss fights in this game. There are only 3, and go figure the final one is the easiest, but the first two are a super pain in the ass. They're constantly spraying fire while moving around like crazy so you're trying to hit the boss and dodge fire and it just doesn't happen and you just want to die. Fuck this game.

Also, this is apparently from 2001 but I wonder if this is a remake or re-release because it sure doesn't look like a game from 2001.

Any Engrish? Or any memorable quotes?
No.
 
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