Playing the Mame Game

October 25, 2006 6:35 AM

OK, I've got MAME installed, and a (pretty much) complete (15Gb) set of ROMs. I've played my old favorites... Galaxian, Galaga, Gauntlet, Sonic, Mario... but now I'm daunted by the thousands of games I have to choose from. So what should I play next? (assume if I don't have the ROM I can get it)
posted by unSane to computers & internet (35 comments total)

Games from the Raiden series, Pengo, Metal Slug series, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Blazing Star, and Samurai Shodown III & IV.

SNK's Neo-Geo games are good too, so give those a try as well.
posted by owenkun at 6:47 AM on October 25, 2006

Ninja Kid 2 - the best video game ever created
posted by Flashman at 6:48 AM on October 25, 2006

Battletoads -- it is the hardest game ever and super fun. Beat it without cheating and you are a de facto gamer-god.
posted by jmgorman at 6:53 AM on October 25, 2006

Try some of the old Sente games. My personal favorites are:

Snaks n' Jackson and Chicken Shift.

Chicken shift in particular is awesome. Simplest interface in the world, (2 buttons), but it gets really intense in the later levels. I also highly reccomend some of the old vector stuff like Star Wars or Tempest
posted by cosmicbandito at 7:09 AM on October 25, 2006

I loved Major Havoc.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:11 AM on October 25, 2006

Discs of Tron.
Enable your mouse in the properties tab.
Flying frisbees of death...who could ask for more?

And if you like shoot-em-ups...Varth.
one of the few shooters where you don't survive
solely by remembering the patterns of planes
dropping down on you.
posted by exparrot at 7:30 AM on October 25, 2006

Ooh, yeah, Chicken Shift is great. Also, of course, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. A mindless button-basher for sure, but still a ton of fun.

I'm also fond of Chiller for some reason. Please don't hold it against me.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:33 AM on October 25, 2006

DoDonpachi (ddonpach) Esp Ra De (esprade)
posted by PowerCat at 7:36 AM on October 25, 2006

I always liked APV, in which you pay a cop in a squad car chasing down various miscreants.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 7:36 AM on October 25, 2006

pengo!
posted by paradroid at 7:41 AM on October 25, 2006

A few odd ones: PuliRula, Outfoxies, Rabio Lepus.
posted by cog_nate at 8:21 AM on October 25, 2006

Snow Bros is easily the most-played game on my MAME setup... people invariably discover it and end up sitting around playing it for hours on end. It seems to have a particular pull on girls, as none I've introduced MAME to have ever even made it below "Sn" in the games list.

Klax is an often-overlooked puzzle-style game. I've converted many a Tetris-addict to it.

Zoo Keeper is a decent game from the "classic" machine era that didn't show up in many arcades, but is worth some plays.

Personal favs and addictions of mine are Mappy, Mr. Do's Castle, Crazy Climber, Millipede and Crystal Castles -- I've never tired of any of them. The latter three play best with the "proper" controls, though.
posted by Pufferish at 8:24 AM on October 25, 2006

From the favorites you mentioned, I don't really see any particular genre or style or company or era or developer or whatnot overly represented. You've got a couple shmups in there, and some platform games, and Gauntlet.

If you check out enthusiast sites (allgame, gamerankings, gamefaqs, klov, etc.), you can get an idea of the most popular and most highly-regarded games in these genres. Start playing things--after all, most MAME games can be loaded and played in a couple minutes. You'll develop a critical vocabulary, and a fuller understanding of the history of the medium. As you begin to recognize what you like, you can use the categories built into MAME to further remove the wheat from the chaff.

Your tastes aren't the same as everybody else's--or else you'd be playing Demolition Derby, Super Qix, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Sunset Riders, Rampart, etc.
posted by box at 8:30 AM on October 25, 2006

Or, alternately, Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Street Fighter II, etc.
posted by box at 8:31 AM on October 25, 2006

Raiden - amazingly detailed vertical scrolling shooter.
Commando - you are a solderi and you must fight your way through vertically scrolling levels armed only with a gun and grenades.
Ghosts and Ghouls - don your armour and kill skeletons with your magic daggers/fire/potions. 2D platformer.
posted by pollystark at 8:34 AM on October 25, 2006

Marble Madness.
Tempest.
Street Fighter Alpha 2.
King of Fighters '98.
seconding Discs of Tron.
Majestic Twelve/Super Space Invaders '91.
If it's available/emulated playably, Radiant Silvergun.
If you like music/rhythm games, Beatmania (though the earlier ones tend to have a pretty bad soundtrack and rather strict timing).
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:35 AM on October 25, 2006

Raiden -- yes! I love that game.
posted by unSane at 9:58 AM on October 25, 2006

Your ROMs mentioned seem to imply a taste for the more classic games, but if you want a sampling of some late-90's stuff that was easily passed over or simply not available in America, try these.

For side-scrolly goodness:
Osman
Strider
Strider 2
Metal Slug 1,2,3,4,5,x

For shmup bullet hell joy:
Vasara
Vasara 2
Giga Wing
Gunlock
Raystorm
Anything by Psikyo
Progear

Puzzle goodness
Senkyu (Battle Balls)
posted by Durhey at 10:07 AM on October 25, 2006

Penguin-Kun Wars is really enjoyable. It might seem simple, but I've only beaten it once.
posted by Shecky at 10:47 AM on October 25, 2006

Ahhh Marble Madness....what a fabulous game that was.
posted by mmascolino at 10:48 AM on October 25, 2006

There's this really, really awesome Tetris knockoff called something Blocks (someone will remember in this thread, I'm sure).

The difference is that it's faux-3D, and you're looking at the board from above. The pieces you place are three dimensional, so you have to think about how tall one section of your block is and fit it into the pieces below.

It's exceptional. Tips on remembering the name: It includes a wireframe Max-Headroom style face that laughs at you while you play.
posted by odinsdream at 11:03 AM on October 25, 2006

NARC!
posted by zerokey at 11:43 AM on October 25, 2006

Puzzle Bobble or Puzzle Bobble II are insanely fun if you have a 2nd player around.
posted by blahtsk at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2006

I enjoyed playing arcade games in MAME with a distinct beginning and end (that I never could stockpile enough quarters to finish in the arcades). The Simpsons and Total Carnage come to mind.

Also, are you using catlist with your front end? If you find yourself enamored with a certain genre of game, you can sort on that genre and find other games in the same vein that you might have otherwise overlooked.

If you really get desperate, you could always try to tackle learning Mahjong, thereby opening up thousands of pornographic game opportunities.
posted by Otis at 12:39 PM on October 25, 2006

Slapfight/Alcon for SHMUP
Caddilacs & Dinosaurs for beat 'em up
If you've got an analog controller, give Road Runner a try.
I find my self playing a game of Elevator Action every time I fire up MAME.
posted by Four Flavors at 1:02 PM on October 25, 2006

Our house plays Robotron: 2084 constantly, all the time. The graphics and sound are primitive (it's quite an old game) but the gameplay is terribly addictive.

In short, robots have taken over the world and you have to gun them down as you run around the screen, picking up surviving members of humanity for extra points. Robotron uses two joysticks, one to move and the other to fire. This takes some getting used to at first but it's really a brilliant interface for the game.

Actually, if your setup lacks two physical joysticks, you may not enjoy the game nearly as much.

I also recommend a side-scroller called Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper-Weapon. If you're in the mood for inexplicable weirdness, try a Pac-man type game called I'm Sorry!
posted by BaronEarth at 1:25 PM on October 25, 2006

Ah the heady dot com days when I had a neo geo cabinet at work!

For fighters the game Last Blade 2 is great. Best for two players.

Strikers 1945+ is a good shoot-em-up

My favorite puzzle game (and I love puzzle games) ever is Money Puzzle Exchanger. Magical Drop 3 is similar and more popular, but I prefer Money Puzzle Exchanger. Money Puzzle Exchanger is also great for two players.
posted by aubilenon at 1:36 PM on October 25, 2006

I second Robotron 2084, and would also suggest Smash TV.
posted by Cog at 1:41 PM on October 25, 2006

Shinobi. I put ridiculous amounts of money in that machine as a kid, and it's the game I always fire up with MAME.
posted by markr at 2:18 PM on October 25, 2006

And +1 for Smash TV, provided you have a controller with dual analog sticks on your MAME box.
posted by markr at 2:20 PM on October 25, 2006

Perhaps I'm old, but if it ain't Moon Cresta, it ain't shit as far as I'm concerned.
posted by genghis at 3:28 PM on October 25, 2006

Moon Patrol. As a kid my parents favorite Chinese restaurant had it in the lobby area. I'd play while waiting for a table and play again once dinner had ended and my parents just wanted to sit around and talk.

Never got past stage L ...
posted by Cog at 3:32 PM on October 25, 2006

Some good suggestions in this thread- my favorite games are mostly from the later years of arcade gaming, so yeah, you can probably pretty much skip this post if the classic period is more your thing.

For shmups, I'd second the Vasara and Giga Wing games, and I'd recommend pretty much everything by Raizing(standouts include Armed Police Batrider, Battle Bakraid, and Dimahoo) and Cave(the already mentioned Dodonpachi and Progear, Guwange, and ESP Ra.De). There's a bunch of reviews of arcade games in this genre here.

For side scrolling beat-em-ups, I'd recommend Warriors of Fate/Tenchi wo Kurau 2 (which may seem a bit familiar if you've ever played Dynasty Warriors), the two Dungeons and Dragons games(Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara), Alien vs. Predator, and Battle Circuit, which gets points just for being amusingly bizarre. (One of the characters you can play is a giant carnivorous plant, and the second boss is an Elvis impersonator who turns into Fat Elvis when you beat him.)

For fighting games, I second the Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters series. I prefer KOF '97 to '98 for some reason, but when it comes to fighting games, you can't really go wrong with either. Then there's Waku Waku 7, another amusingly bizarre one.

Some others I've enjoyed which are less easy to pigeonhole into a specific genre are the Bubble Bobble series(Bubble Symphony is my favorite, but they're all good), Saboten Bombers(a surreal Bubble Bobble-like game in which you play as a bomb throwing cactus), Shock Troopers(think a more advanced Commando, or Metal Slug with an overhead view) and Kyukyoku Sentai Dadandarn(sort of a fighting game that turns into a beat-em-up once you reach a certain point). And I'd enthusiastically second the Metal Slug series, and would like to note that there's going to be a Metal Slug Anthology for the Nintendo Wii that will contain the entire series of arcade games.

I probably could go on, but I think that's a pretty good selection. I spend way too much time playing obscure arcade games...
posted by a louis wain cat at 4:42 PM on October 25, 2006

oh, and I missed it in my first post, but I just noticed someone mentioned Pulirula and I have to second that recommendation. The gameplay is decent enough, but it's not the standout feature- it's the artistic style, which is something like a manga/children's storybook having a head-on collision with Salvador Dali. The start of the third level is easily the most surreal thing I've ever seen in a game.
posted by a louis wain cat at 5:06 PM on October 25, 2006

In the Hunt is great fun if you enjoy mayhem.
posted by pokermonk at 8:28 PM on October 25, 2006