Sjukob
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2015
- Messages
- 2,060
This is post is a guide to the topic, reviews will come as separate messages but I will post links to them in this post.
I've been playing some arcade games recently and uploading my progress in screenshot thread. I create this topic to avoid disturbing the thread for pictures with my walls of text and also to get people to know and talk about cool games for arcade machines. I stocked up on games for now but I haven't yet played most of them, so reviews will be written as the time goes on. I will also post screenshots (made by me), gameplay videos (done by other hardcore players) and may be some articles that do better job at reviewing said games than me. Lastly I will make a TLDR guide for emulation and upload roms of games if you want me to do it.
Games I finished:
Streets of Rage Remake 2011 (download link, also includes optional save file that will unlock everything in the game)
Arcades:
Fighting
Aliens vs Predator 1994 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EU version)
Battletoads 1994 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom)
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World (930201) version)
Denjin Makai 1994 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom - UPDATED LINKS, now it's a full game with dialogues, endings and bonus stages, MAME is now of a higher version with more features and better UI)
Double Dragon 1987 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom Japanese version)
Final Fight 1989 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World version set 1)
Gaiapolis 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EAF version)
Guardians/Denjin Makai 2 1995 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom)
Kung-Fu Master 1984 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom)
Metamorphic Force 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EAA version + JAA version, please use japanese version, it's better, you however need both EAA and JAA to play it)
Ninja Baseball Batman 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom US version)
Renegade/Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun 1986 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom US version) <- Update, I finished the game, updated review and found a much better combination of emulator and game rom.
Splatterhouse 1988 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World version)
The Punisher 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World (930422) version)
Shooting
Shock Troopers 1997 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.42 (warning, one verision lower than usual), game rom)
R-Type series 1987-1993 (R-Type, R-Type 2, R-Type 3 (is for SNES, but whatever), Cosmic Cop, R-Type Leo) (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, bsnes for R-Type 3 (it's so easy I believe you'll figure it out without instructions), game roms: R-Type, R-Type 2, R-Type 3, Cosmic Cop, R-Type Leo)
OpenBOR: (download it here)
Double Dragon Gold (download link) Update, I finished the game and wrote a proper review. Updated download link, so it now directs to author's page instead of some random site.
Quick emulation guide:
Arcade games can be annoying to launch because of how they work - you need matching versions of the game rom and emulator, and emulator version. So some versions of game might work on certain emulator and not on the other or they can work on one version of emulator and not work on the other version of the same emulator. I personaly prefer fbalpha emulator though it doesn't support all the games I've planned to play. I am going to post links to emulators that I used to launch my games and game roms in the above section. Make sure to dowload exact versions of emulators and roms I gave links to, otherwise it's not going to work, also do not rename archives that contain game files or emulators will not be able to recognize them.
If you decide to go on adventure and try emulation by yourself then you are going to have to try and match game roms and various emulators through trial and error, developers usually make a list for supported games and their versions (like US, EU or Japan releases), fbalpha has one for example, and sites that host game roms are mostly kind enough to tell you which version of emulator you have to have to run downloaded rom. You can try poking aweigh if you really need help with something.
How to use fbalpha:
1) Download archive and unpack it into dedicated folder
2) Run fba.exe so it can unpack emulator's files
3) Click through greeting message and license agreement, let the emulator load
4) Now fba.exe launches your emulator
5) Place game roms (archives, do not unpack them) into dedicated folder (fbalpha automatically creates empty folder called "roms" when it unpacks, so might use that one)
6) Launch fbalpha, click "Game>Load game", flag "Show available" line, also make sure that the entire "Hardware" section in the window to the right is flagged too.
7) Click "Scan ROMs" and select folder where you placed your roms, if you decide to change it - click "ROMs Dirs"
8) Click "Scan ROMs" and let emulator finish scanning, you will now see available games in central window
9) Highlight the game you want to play and click "Play" button
10) Video, audio, input and other settings are available in their tabs at the top of the emulator window
Also, fbalpha features the so called "master roms" it means that you need a specific game rom even if you want to play other version. Example - you wan't to play japanese version of Punisher, but master rom for this is game is world version, so you need both world and japanese versions to play Punisher and both of them have to match the emulator.
How to use MAME:
It's pretty much the same as fbalpha. Download and unpack it, place game roms in "roms" folder. It detects game automatically, you don't need to scan for them this time, just select "available" tab after launching MAME. ROMs directory can be changed in settings "Configure options>Configure directories". Ingame settings can be accessed by pressign tab button, note that almost every button (including system related) for MAME can be changed, so feel free to go wild.
How to use OpenBOR:
Very simple actually, you don't have to worry about matching emulator and rom versions, so just go over here, grab the latest release and unpack the corresponding version (I assume you are going to use windows) into the folder. Download the game and unpack the archive into "Paks" folder, then launch OpenBOR.exe and you are good to go. All settings are available in the game itself, the games also save automatically when you quit, though if you do it in the middle of the stage you will have to replay it from the beggining.
I've been playing some arcade games recently and uploading my progress in screenshot thread. I create this topic to avoid disturbing the thread for pictures with my walls of text and also to get people to know and talk about cool games for arcade machines. I stocked up on games for now but I haven't yet played most of them, so reviews will be written as the time goes on. I will also post screenshots (made by me), gameplay videos (done by other hardcore players) and may be some articles that do better job at reviewing said games than me. Lastly I will make a TLDR guide for emulation and upload roms of games if you want me to do it.
Games I finished:
Arcades:
Fighting
Aliens vs Predator 1994 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EU version)
Battletoads 1994 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom)
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World (930201) version)
Denjin Makai 1994 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom - UPDATED LINKS, now it's a full game with dialogues, endings and bonus stages, MAME is now of a higher version with more features and better UI)
Double Dragon 1987 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom Japanese version)
Final Fight 1989 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World version set 1)
Gaiapolis 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EAF version)
Guardians/Denjin Makai 2 1995 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom)
Kung-Fu Master 1984 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom)
Metamorphic Force 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom EAA version + JAA version, please use japanese version, it's better, you however need both EAA and JAA to play it)
Ninja Baseball Batman 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom US version)
Renegade/Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun 1986 (emulator - MAME 0.186 version, game rom US version) <- Update, I finished the game, updated review and found a much better combination of emulator and game rom.
Splatterhouse 1988 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World version)
The Punisher 1993 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, game rom World (930422) version)
Shooting
Shock Troopers 1997 (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.42 (warning, one verision lower than usual), game rom)
R-Type series 1987-1993 (R-Type, R-Type 2, R-Type 3 (is for SNES, but whatever), Cosmic Cop, R-Type Leo) (emulator - fbalpha 0.2.97.43 version, bsnes for R-Type 3 (it's so easy I believe you'll figure it out without instructions), game roms: R-Type, R-Type 2, R-Type 3, Cosmic Cop, R-Type Leo)
OpenBOR: (download it here)
Double Dragon Gold (download link) Update, I finished the game and wrote a proper review. Updated download link, so it now directs to author's page instead of some random site.
Quick emulation guide:
Arcade games can be annoying to launch because of how they work - you need matching versions of the game rom and emulator, and emulator version. So some versions of game might work on certain emulator and not on the other or they can work on one version of emulator and not work on the other version of the same emulator. I personaly prefer fbalpha emulator though it doesn't support all the games I've planned to play. I am going to post links to emulators that I used to launch my games and game roms in the above section. Make sure to dowload exact versions of emulators and roms I gave links to, otherwise it's not going to work, also do not rename archives that contain game files or emulators will not be able to recognize them.
If you decide to go on adventure and try emulation by yourself then you are going to have to try and match game roms and various emulators through trial and error, developers usually make a list for supported games and their versions (like US, EU or Japan releases), fbalpha has one for example, and sites that host game roms are mostly kind enough to tell you which version of emulator you have to have to run downloaded rom. You can try poking aweigh if you really need help with something.
How to use fbalpha:
1) Download archive and unpack it into dedicated folder
2) Run fba.exe so it can unpack emulator's files
3) Click through greeting message and license agreement, let the emulator load
4) Now fba.exe launches your emulator
5) Place game roms (archives, do not unpack them) into dedicated folder (fbalpha automatically creates empty folder called "roms" when it unpacks, so might use that one)
6) Launch fbalpha, click "Game>Load game", flag "Show available" line, also make sure that the entire "Hardware" section in the window to the right is flagged too.
7) Click "Scan ROMs" and select folder where you placed your roms, if you decide to change it - click "ROMs Dirs"
8) Click "Scan ROMs" and let emulator finish scanning, you will now see available games in central window
9) Highlight the game you want to play and click "Play" button
10) Video, audio, input and other settings are available in their tabs at the top of the emulator window
Also, fbalpha features the so called "master roms" it means that you need a specific game rom even if you want to play other version. Example - you wan't to play japanese version of Punisher, but master rom for this is game is world version, so you need both world and japanese versions to play Punisher and both of them have to match the emulator.
How to use MAME:
It's pretty much the same as fbalpha. Download and unpack it, place game roms in "roms" folder. It detects game automatically, you don't need to scan for them this time, just select "available" tab after launching MAME. ROMs directory can be changed in settings "Configure options>Configure directories". Ingame settings can be accessed by pressign tab button, note that almost every button (including system related) for MAME can be changed, so feel free to go wild.
How to use OpenBOR:
Very simple actually, you don't have to worry about matching emulator and rom versions, so just go over here, grab the latest release and unpack the corresponding version (I assume you are going to use windows) into the folder. Download the game and unpack the archive into "Paks" folder, then launch OpenBOR.exe and you are good to go. All settings are available in the game itself, the games also save automatically when you quit, though if you do it in the middle of the stage you will have to replay it from the beggining.
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