The good, the bad, and the deca.

Yeah I know its a little early, but I quite frankly darn near had a stroke last bight over snap jack being cheap, enough's enough for me.(Even once the deca is over, I'll be back on THAT game)

I'm going to give each game in IMO a fair evaluation., and see what everyone else thinks.

Cheeky mouse:

3/10

Game concept is very solid and fun, but the fact of the matter is, there is no way to play as intended due to the mice "crowding" issue. This frankly takes the game from potentially one of THE funnest games I've ever played into an impossible to play piece of crap. As a business owner, eps since the joystick would distracting to other players, AND need replaced constantly, it would in the trash bin, then and now.

I wouldn't mind seeing a "hacked" version that fixes this, and it would seriously change my overall opinion of the game. But seriously, Universal, BETA TEST.


Nova 2001

8/10

This game is excellent , and probably ahead of its time. It has a couple fatal flaws, but nothing stands out as too hard to deal with to me except one, esp on an arcade machine.

The problem that keeps this game down from a 10/10 is the mother ship speed up timer.

There is NO reason for it. you cannot leech of off it, there's no reason to stall, and its hard enough to destroy and navigate around as it is, so once it speeds up you die, unless you're already about destroyed it and you happen to be at the other end of the screen. Now maybe on marathonable settings this might not be so bad, but under TGTS. its a big negative.

I'd definitely imagine people would keep pumping quarters into the thing, so it would stay.


Jumping jack 8/10

I suck at this game, I HATE this game, but in all hoensty, its not that bad a game. the only real problem I have with it is the "future vision" problem. In level 2 esp, they requires you know the pattern of the monkeys well enough to where you don't killed coming off the second Rhino, but that's almost 5 seconds and 3 monkey's ahead of that spot, much less the normal 2-3 second planning that you have to constantly engage in just play this game. TOO much for most players to deal with, esp for an ARCADE game that isn't played for hours on end at home.

this game would depend on its performance, but I'd probably sell it rather then trash it, someone would want it.

Snap Jack: 5/10

I love this game to pieces, BUT it doesn't change the fact is not a really a good game, esp for its time.

Most importantly, this is NO REASON by 1982(probably hit more like 83-84) to have any game that doesn't have something for both hands to do.

Secondly the collision detection SUCKS. HARD. and finally, the extra letters are among the hardest in Univeral's library to get. All in all this game would have been a a Cherished classic if it had been released in 78 or 9, but is a unimaginative, low budget, craze inflation offering in 82.

If it were in my arcade, it would by request only, since it isn't a terrible game, but I don't see it drawing traffic.

space panic

1/10

Same problems as cheeky mouse. concept excellence, controls responsive, game fun.....Game impossible to play.

This isn't a bug, or a lack of skill on the part of the gaming community, this game simply was poorly designed, and poorly executed, and poorly tested. its not a game people want to continue to pump quarters into, and If I owned the cabinet as an arcade owner in 80's it would hit the trash can, and if I owned it Now it would be locked in storage unless someone specifically requested it. Only because probably everyone else that ever had it destroyed it already.

Space raider.

5/10

Again another game I like, but its really a bad business investment, its not particularly fun, unless you leech, then its not particularly profitable. Nothing wrong with it, but it would be run by request only. I personally think this made a great Deca entry, but as a market entry its kinda blah.

Mr. Do's wild ride

7/10

This game is a GREAT attraction game, it LOOKS easy, its simple to play, and its addictive. However once the player gets over this, they will say goodbye to it, and go Play Mr. Do's Castle instead. good game to keep around though if there are lots of kids around. It also pumped up the deca pretty good.

Cosmic alien

5/10

Another dud or COOL, depending on your market. If you have HARD CORE Galaxain/Galaga fan base here, and they are getting sick of those game, this would be a great idea. if you have a lot of kids and casuals, this will end up in the trash. the game is unresponsive, hard to play, and won't encourage quarters in a more freindly environment. Galaga, Galaga 3, Even space invaders will draw more casuals then this will. For a contest with unlimited attempts and such, it really wasn't a bad game, but not the crowd pleaser by along shot because it required too much play time.

Cosmic Avenger
3/10

I grew to like this game, I like this game a lot really, but it is NOT even in the same league as Defender. This game will not collect quarters, sits too hard to aim, its too liberal with its hit boxes, and in order to play it good you have to play SLOW AS MOLASSES. again nice Deca entry, but I'd hesitate to have it on my floor.

Lady bug:

9/10

As a deca game I wasn't amused by this, is seemed awfully overkill on the practice needed department, but as a game this thing ROCKED. There is not a single issue I have it, except the glowing system is annoying, but again, its not a bad feature, its just something I don't like, and made it IMO excessively hard to get extra lives compared to other game but Snap jack, which its about on par with.

Anyway that's my review, as for my opinion, best game of the Deca, Snap Jack, worst games, space panic, cosmic alien, and Cheeky mouse.

I agree with most of your post there. I think Snap Jack should be at 7 though. I have never played another game like it. I would give Space Raider a 7 too.

The games I know 100% that I will still be playing over the next few weeks? Nova 2001 on Marathon setting and Jumping Jack. I know I can do better that the 200k I have sent in. I just started on it full time too late to get in into the Deca Scores. And with the MARP scaore being over 1M I'm sure I can put up a better score in the future.

B

It's funny how different players can have different opinions. :)

I won't go into as much detail but this is how I would rate the DECA games from best to worst as MAME games played with a keyboard (I'd imagine my opinion might change if I played the original arcade with the intended control systems):

1. Ladybug - Awesome, kept coming back. I played this for fun when I got sick of the others.
2. Cosmic Alien - Great. Played it a lot.
3. Cheeky Mouse - Fun. I liked it! The mouse stacking bug was a problem but it could be mostly avoided.
4. Mr. Do's Wild Ride - Pretty fun. Sometimes made me jump when being knocked out when not expecting it. :shock:
5. Cosmic Avenger - Okay but controls were bad and sprite collision was all over the place.
6. Jumping Jack - Not bad but just didn't grab me.
7. Space Raider - Average. Probably a keyboard victim.
8. Space Panic - Not great. Controls were kludgy and AI was inconsistent.
9. Nova 2001 - Bad. Keyboard just could not do it justice. Trying to change the direction of the ship would send me into a missile. Mothership was nigh impossible.
10. Snap Jack - Awful, awful, awful. Bad controls, ridiculous AI, so frustrating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chrisbo

It's funny how different players can have different opinions. :)

I won't go into as much detail but this is how I would rate the DECA games from best to worst as MAME games played with a keyboard (I'd imagine my opinion might change if I played the original arcade with the intended control systems):

1. Ladybug - Awesome, kept coming back. I played this for fun when I got sick of the others.
2. Cosmic Alien - Great. Played it a lot.
3. Cheeky Mouse - Fun. I liked it! The mouse stacking bug was a problem but it could be mostly avoided.
4. Mr. Do's Wild Ride - Pretty fun. Sometimes made me jump when being knocked out when not expecting it. :shock:
5. Cosmic Avenger - Okay but controls were bad and sprite collision was all over the place.
6. Jumping Jack - Not bad but just didn't grab me.
7. Space Raider - Average. Probably a keyboard victim.
8. Space Panic - Not great. Controls were kludgy and AI was inconsistent.
9. Nova 2001 - Bad. Keyboard just could not do it justice. Trying to change the direction of the ship would send me into a missile. Mothership was nigh impossible.
10. Snap Jack - Awful, awful, awful. Bad controls, ridiculous AI, so frustrating.

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I kinda agree with you if you don't have any kind of Joystick. Nova or snap jack without some kind of controller is suicide.

Cheeky mouse, Nova 2001, Mr. Do, Jumping Jack, Snap jack, Cosmic avenger and space panic ALL benefited greatly form a joystick.

Cosmic alien, Space Raider and Lady bug, keyboard all the way.

Brandon: if it were personal preference I'd give them both an 8 or 9, but as far as overall ratings go, they just don't justify it. i LOVE Snap jack, but it really is a cash in game that didn't do to well because of what I stated.

Do you guys have a joystick to use for some games?

1. Ladybug - Awesome, kept coming back. I played this for fun when I got sick of the others. Not a fan of Pac-man type games, but I can see how it could be fun.
2. Cosmic Alien - Great. Played it a lot. Quite a fun game, but I did not like the "jerkiness" of the AI
3. Cheeky Mouse - Fun. I liked it! The mouse stacking bug was a problem but it could be mostly avoided. Great fun game, very frustrating too though. Wish I gave this one more time.
4. Mr. Do's Wild Ride - Pretty fun. Sometimes made me jump when being knocked out when not expecting it. :shock: Best game of tourny IMO, this one topped my playcount list in MAME out of the Deca games
5. Cosmic Avenger - Okay but controls were bad and sprite collision was all over the place. Only played this a day or two before tourny ended, started out as an awful game but got addictive after a few tries. Should have given this one more time
6. Jumping Jack - Not bad but just didn't grab me. A fun game, concentration was a must at all times, which sometimes was a problem!
7. Space Raider - Average. Probably a keyboard victim. A good game despite the leeching factor
8. Space Panic - Not great. Controls were kludgy and AI was inconsistent. Had a go at this a couple of hours before the tourny ended. Rubbish, just rubbish.
9. Nova 2001 - Bad. Keyboard just could not do it justice. Trying to change the direction of the ship would send me into a missile. Mothership was nigh impossible. I agree, a joystick would make this a lot easier. I could not get the hang of it at all
10. Snap Jack - Awful, awful, awful. Bad controls, ridiculous AI, so frustrating. Either the 2nd or 3rd worst game of tournament, SO FRUSTRATING! :twisted:

Overall I thought it was a great selection of games, and I cant wait for the next one! :)

I played all the games with keyboard only (I'll use that as the excuse for my lame scores lol), I'm going to rank them by the amount of time I spent on each title which was directly proportional to how much fun I found them to be.

1. Mr Do's Wild Ride - so much fun, I wasted a lot of time playing this to the exclusion of the other titles.
2. Snap Jack - I ranted about the impossibility of this game, but it still kept bringing me back for more.
3. Jumping Jack - once I figured out what was going on, this game was a lot of fun.
4. Nova 2001 - I enjoyed this one and probably will play it along with the first three on my list even after the Deca. Only thing I disliked was the mothership, I could never destroy it.
5. Cosmic Avenger - I was terrible at this game, but yet still enjoyed it.
6. Lady Bug - see above. Definitely a clever little twist on Pac-Man with the gates and skulls.
7. Space Raider - OK game, yet it just seemed too difficult to hit enemies.
8. Cheeky Mouse - annoying, but a fairly clever concept.
9. Cosmic Alien - not horrible, just a very poor man's Galaga.
99. Space Panic - Literally the worst game I've ever played. There is no redeeming feature to this game that I can see.

Overall, the games were pretty fun and introduced me to some games I'd never even heard of let alone played. This was my first Deca and even though I wish I had more time for it, it was still great. Thanks to the refs for their tireless work and congrats to the winners. I can't wait for the next one already!!

Michael

I've gotta agree with chrisbo on Cosmic Avenger. If there's anything I learned from watching so many inps it's that the game has darn near the wonkiest hit detection I've ever seen.

And what's worse....the forum's spellchecker isn't flagging wonkiest as a misspelling. :D

I played all of the games with ketboard only. I didn't mind the controls on Nova too much. I swithed the buttons and was always holding Ctrl and rapidly hitting Alt. This would work my left hand pretty hard after an hour or so but I would keep playing through it. I played it for 3 days of the tourny and the carpal tunnel started setting in lol. Main reason I didn't go back to it. I still enjoyed it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mewtwo879

I've gotta agree with chrisbo on Cosmic Avenger. If there's anything I learned from watching so many inps it's that the game has darn near the wonkiest hit detection I've ever seen.

And what's worse....the forum's spellchecker isn't flagging wonkiest as a misspelling. :D

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Nor is firefox.

I've pretty much figured out the collision detection, weird, but exploitable.

The games I enjoyed were Ladybug, Mr. Do and Snap Jack :) That is all.

I really enjoyed this selection of games, I liked that they were so old - historic hey - and you could see much of Universal's work. Faves were Snapjack and Jumping Jack, Cosmic Alien and Cosmic Avenger. Found most of the games pretty hard though, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Thank you Kelly, Tim, & Russell for reffing this! May you always get to at least screen 7!

I suggest everyone have a play at Scramble now - after Cosmic Avenger it's weirdly easy, all of a sudden there's not a screen full of things all aiming exactly at you all the time!

Hey, it's Carnaval (long holidays) here! lol

Well, my opinion about the games, sorted by favourite:

1 - NOVA2001: This game impressed me! The TGTS is great for this one!

2 - JJACK: This game impressed me too! Cool secrets! Despite you need a lot of training (save states are excellent here), it's a very good game! It was the game with higher "Play Time". When I submitted, the top was Andrew Barrow 217k, then my 223k was verified and Daniel Larsen 225k too. In the last day, Andrew Barrow got the top with 233k. Congratulations! JJACK was the best battle of the tournament IMO!

3 - CHEEKYMS: A simple game that requires reflexes, and I liked it. Very low "Play Time" here. I would return before the deadline, but I didn't. I know I can improve it easily in the future (like NOVA2001, SRAIDER, COSMICA and CAVENGER). I played the game with a good keyboard (Sony Vaio).

4 - COSMICA: I am not a Space Invaders / Galaga / Gaplus fan, but I like the few hours I played this game. I also would return...

5 - DOWILD: In the past, I planned to play this game, and this was the time. Here was easy to imagine that 100~120k would be the top score, so let's move to other game with higher/easier possibilities of increase my percentages... A good (and addictive) game... but the bad part is the lucky factor required... it's too bad.

6 - SRAIDER: Not very good, but not a bad game. I played a few hours in the last Saturday. I remembered GYRUSS game everytime I played it, but it's just the "half-pipe" format...

7 - SNAPJACK: Despite the "almost impossible" situations, this hard game is not bad, but nothing special too. Very dynamical, if it's the correct word. Lucky factor involved too (mainly in the EXTRA bonuses).

8 - CAVENGER: Very bad hit-boxes. Short game. A hard game since the beginning. An overall "bad" game, but that challenges you to try again... I stopped when reached 1st place, but I thought someone would beat it easily. I would use the same PANIC strategy here (push down the opponents) but the time was not enough to return...

9 - PANIC: A very hard game! Like someone said, the idea was good, but the game is bad! Mainly the ridiculous control, when you need fast turn, etc. The 2nd game that I most played. Despite a bad game, my strategy was to play (well) a game that everyone would not like, and push down all the opponent percentages. And the result was excellent!

10 - LADYBUG: Like Chris Bolding said, how the opinions are different! This is not the worst game ever, but don't like Pac-Man style games. My "Play Time" in this game was 2 hours (note: I playbacked some INPs before, so I "played" less than 2 hours)! That's all!

PS.: An overall "7" to the games. Please consider this grade as "very good" considering I don't like very old games ;)

Any comments?

Thanks for the fun!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TRB

2 - JJACK: This game impressed me too! Cool secrets! Despite you need a lot of training (save states are excellent here), it's a very good game! It was the game with higher "Play Time". When I submitted, the top was Andrew Barrow 217k, then my 223k was verified and Daniel Larsen 225k too. In the last day, Andrew Barrow got the top with 233k. Congratulations! JJACK was the best battle of the tournament IMO!

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Thanks Valter. My 233k score is not great compared to the 1m+ on MARP. You talk about training, while this is true for the first 3 or so loops, it seemed to me that the difficulty (amount/pattern of monkeys) stops increasing after about the 4th loop (IIRC). In the 1m MARP INP, I watched the whole thing and noticed that after approx 300k he kept using the same pattern for specific levels. So only a limited amount of training is needed! Im also pretty sure VERTEX purposely lost his lives, so this title is probably marathonable.