R-Type - Mame Compo Round 4

hamster

Compo for the next two weeks is R-Type.



Use any version of Mame (current is u.117xx)
* Use R-Type (World) version - filename rtype


* Starts Sunday 29th of July and ends on Sunday 12th August.
* The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible.
* Post screenshots (not too big, suggest 320x200).
* Scores will be tracked here.
* Don't cheat - what's the point anyway!

Current Standings:


The Blurb:
A legendary game that revolutionized the genre and completely changed the way players viewed the humble shoot'em up. R-Type is an incredibly difficult game but, due to the superb graphics, breath-taking level design and never-before-seen gameplay, the game was a huge success, and is still regarded as being the finest of its genre.

R-type's real stroke of genius was in the innovative weapon system the game introduced. The first is the beam weapon : when the player presses and holds the fire button, a beam 'power meter' starts to charge up, once the meter was full, releasing the fire button unleashed a very powerful 'plasma burst', capable of destroying most of R-type's enemy ships. The trade-off was that charging the weapon took up valuable seconds, giving the Bydo ships time to attack.

The second and perhaps most significant innovation was R-type's now-legendary 'Force Pod'. This takes the form of an invincible, detachable laser-firing pod that can be attached to either the front or rear of the player's ship, or can be detached completely and sent forth into the enemy ships. The pod laser was a stroke of true genius and, coupled with the superb level design, gave the world its first 'strategic' shoot'em up.

hamster

This is an addictive game - the shmup starts off easy enough but I got to stage 2 I doing fine til I reached the Boss and I lost all my lives to big snakes.


69,300 pts for my first attempt.

Duggy747

Nice, I love this game! I'm definitely going in this time.

Retr0gamer

Sorry lads but you all better prepare for another ass kicking for this competition.

Duggy747

Retr0gamer wrote:

Sorry lads but you all better prepare for another ass kicking for this competition.

Yawn, sorry what? I keep falling asleep when trying to read whatever drab you wrote!

*Game on, bitch*

Retr0gamer

Well I'm laying down the gauntlet now:



Sorry about the resolution, don't know how to change it and I'm without any photo editting tools.

Got to Level 4 but kept dying before the boss. I'm off home now to get my joypad. Watch out!

Honestly I probably won't do better than that. The level 4 boss is a right ballox and gets me every time. I have managed to get to level 6 on 1 credit but only managed that once. There'll be no getting past level 6 since you really need to know the level off by heart to get anywhere. But even that can't match the sheer horror of level 7. Level 8 is tame in comparison other than the last boss who I never managed to beat.

hamster

Duggy747 wrote:

Yawn, sorry what? I keep falling asleep when trying to read whatever drab you wrote!

*Game on, bitch*

We're all in trouble now... Retr0Gamer is going to use his joypad

I'm enjoying this game but I need to practise it a fair bit first to be honest to get anywhere. Although getting a good bit into stage 2 now Enjoyable Romp.

Hey Retr0Gamer - can we control what powerups we get like in Armalyte for example? The 45 degree lasers save my butt so many times!

55,400pts

Retr0gamer

The third level is when it gets really difficult. Level 3 needs to be experienced. It's the iconic Mothership level, absolutely amazing piece of level design, it's like a puzzle and requires good force placement.

The power up you get is decided by the colour of the power up you pick up. Blue gives you everybodies favourite three way laser, red gives you my favourite the ripple laser, and yellow gives you the ground hugging laser. Remember that the first power up only gives you a force pod, the next one gives you the extra weapon while the third one gives you a powered up weapon.

Have to say R-type is probably the best designed game ever. The level design is just perfect. Love all the R-type games, except R-type Final, I don't know what went wrong there.

Retr0gamer

Next attempt with a joypad this time. Did really well. 4th level boss only got me once. The first one was because I was doing so well I collected too many speed ups and became uncontrollable Lost the rest in level 5, even got to the boss and almost beat him. Last life was lost because my dad came up the stairs to give out to me for swearing profusely



Don't think it will beat unless there is an R-type god on boards willing to take up the gauntlet. Have to win something else before I make a show of myself at Rainbow Islands.

ShowUsYourXbox

Can someone pm me, i'm having some trouble getting the game to work.

Many thanks!

TechnoFreek

I was going to give this compo a go until I fired Mame and R-Type last night and realised how fooking hard the game is.

I always knew it was hard but I think I had the rose tinted glasses on when I thought I could at least get a decent high score!! Haha!!!

hamster

ShowUsYourXbox wrote:

Can someone pm me, i'm having some trouble getting the game to work.

Many thanks!

Do you have mame32 or mame installed? In your mame dir you have your /rom dir - put your rom (should be zipped as rtype.zip). run mame32 and hit f5 to refresh your list - does it come up? Or are you using dos mame - open a dos window and run the mame executable and pass in the rom name you want to run (in this case rtype). Any issues let us know.

hamster

TechnoFreek wrote:

I was going to give this compo a go until I fired Mame and R-Type last night and realised how fooking hard the game is.

I always knew it was hard but I think I had the rose tinted glasses on when I thought I could at least get a decent high score!! Haha!!!

Give it a go TechnoFreek - You should surely do better than me - and hey its for fun. I never played rtype for very long before. Just try a little - already getting to stage 2.

Retr0gamer

Interesting fact, the second level boss is based on something that one of the developers found growing in his bathtub (I'm not making that up).

hamster

Retr0gamer wrote:

Interesting fact, the second level boss is based on something that one of the developers found growing in his bathtub (I'm not making that up).

Gross, well hopefully I'll get there tomorrow evening. Knackered today... despite being off for 2 weeks I'm working outdoors on "things that needed to be done ages ago"(tm). Once that's sorted I can concentrate on relaxing 101%.

trout

I have been playing this game for 4 hours.
My eyeballs have dried out.
My trigger fingers feel like they have been worked over with mallets.
My nerves and reflexes are all shot to sh1t.
I hate this game ... but I will defeat it, oh yes ... I will defeat it.

I now get to L5 most times,then I start dying in a big way ... and once you lose powerups on L5, you can kiss your glowing ass goodbye.:(

Best score (243900) is attached ... more shooting on earlier levels, and less time dodging, I should be able to improve on this.

Did I mention I now hate this game ?

Kingp35

I have never played R-Type before but I'm slowly getting better.

Best score so far is this.

I got to level 3 without losing a life then lost them all in quick succession. I have no doubt I'll get a better score than this.

Retr0gamer

trout wrote:

I have been playing this game for 4 hours.
My eyeballs have dried out.
My trigger fingers feel like they have been worked over with mallets.
My nerves and reflexes are all shot to sh1t.
I hate this game ... but I will defeat it, oh yes ... I will defeat it.

I now get to L5 most times,then I start dying in a big way ... and once you lose powerups on L5, you can kiss your glowing ass goodbye.:(

Best score (243900) is attached ... more shooting on earlier levels, and less time dodging, I should be able to improve on this.

Did I mention I now hate this game ?

Interesting, we have a challenger. And just when I thought I could rest on my force pod :-)

trout

Retr0gamer wrote:

Interesting, we have a challenger. And just when I thought I could rest on my force pod :-)

Rest easy ... your record is safe, for tonight at least

I need about 12 hours sleep, followed by a deep tissue massage before I try this one again.
My keyboard is fooked now as well ... that CTRL key took a beating tonight.

Will pick up a new keyboard tomorrow ... maybe even a gamepad, and try again.

Retr0gamer

Gamepad is much better, more manuverability since diagonals are easier and better reaction speeds, for me anyway. I'll have to learn to conquer level 6 to be truly safe

hamster

trout wrote:

I have been playing this game for 4 hours.
My eyeballs have dried out.
My trigger fingers feel like they have been worked over with mallets.
My nerves and reflexes are all shot to sh1t.
I hate this game ... but I will defeat it, oh yes ... I will defeat it.

I now get to L5 most times,then I start dying in a big way ... and once you lose powerups on L5, you can kiss your glowing ass goodbye.:(

Best score (243900) is attached ... more shooting on earlier levels, and less time dodging, I should be able to improve on this.

Did I mention I now hate this game ?

coo... dedication! Til now I have only allowed myself up to 3-4 games at a time. 4 hours! Ouch! Good score.

trout

New keyboard ... no gamepad. Got sidetracked by a joystick instead.

I can say hand on heart that playing this game with a joystick SUCKS :mad:
On the other hand, the new keyboard makes for a much better experience.
I still can't get past L5 yet, but I have managed to up my score to 287900.

If I can make it past the L5 boss, and into L6, I believe I can break 30000.

hamster

I had another few goes and thought I was going no where - stuck at level 2. Then I decided to give it one more go... and got to level 3. Hey! Level 3 is pretty cool. I love the idea of shooting that big ship to pieces bit by bit - nice! Hmmm... pity it crushed me when I guess I had it 85% whipped.

Oh well, I'm definitely coming back to level 3 to kick some more ass. Have to start kicking ass somewhere.

137,000 pts this time.


Updated the score table btw... Trout is doing well. Hope you are well rested Trout, that game nearly killed you and keyboard. This cheap dell keyboard I have is buckling under the pressure.

Retr0gamer

That looks like level 6 not level 5. Level 5 is the organicy level with the boss made out of green blobs and the eyeball underneath. Level 6 is a right bastard, you need to know it off by heart.

On another note, thanks for ruining my weekend. Was hoping to finish loads of games but now have to perfect my R-type skills.

Giblet

Hehehe. If you beat the game, you get to go again and the score remains, does that count?

Retr0gamer

You have never seen the horrors of level 6, 7 and the last boss. The mind boggles how someone can 1 credit this game.

Giblet

I got through the game and started again. OK SO I DIPSWITCHED INVULNERABILITY OK, STOP STARING!

Retr0gamer

Heathen! How dare you use the black arts of cheating!

trout

Retr0gamer wrote:

That looks like level 6 not level 5. Level 5 is the organicy level with the boss made out of green blobs and the eyeball underneath. Level 6 is a right bastard, you need to know it off by heart.

On another note, thanks for ruining my weekend. Was hoping to finish loads of games but now have to perfect my R-type skills.

You're right ... it is L6, my mistake. This game has taken away my ability to count.

I can get through the first 5 levels without losing a life most times. The L5 boss is tough

No matter what I do on L6, I keep dying in the very same place. 5 or 6 lives in a row
I'm sure there is a pattern ... but I just can't see it.

I don't want to turn on cheats though, even to get the pattern locked down.
That would just ruin the game and negate all the effort I've put in.

Any advice or wisdom for how to get through L6 ?
Is there a technique, or have I just reached the limit of my reflexes

Retr0gamer

In all honesty Level 6 always has me stumped as well. You just have to know the pattern off by heart to beat it, there's very little reflexes involved in that level. I beat it once on the PS1 R-types compilation but that was after using the equivalent of Luxemburgs annual takings of tax in credits and the handy save function on the PS1 version since I had to attempt it a few times. You could look at some youtube videos to see how to do it. Wouldn't really be cheating, like looking at the bigger boys beating the game in the arcade

Wait until you see level 7. That level is just all reflexes. The section before the boss is shmup hell.

hamster

If I beat level 3 - never mind level 6 - I will feel good. Level 7 sounds like it will give me a heart attack - reflexes - what reflexes? I would end up a jeepering wreck.

Retr0gamer

I think I'm getting worse at this game. Level 5 is just giving me fierce trouble when it really shouldn't.

jay80

I can get to that ship on level 3 without losing a life but it keeps kicking my ass

hamster

jay80 wrote:

I can get to that ship on level 3 without losing a life but it keeps kicking my ass

Great, I'm not alone - I was crushed like a bug yesterday - will try again tomorrow. I'm being sucked in by the Amiga today with Whdload. Even paid the €20 to register. Horrendously off topic I know. Must post another thread on that little item.

Retr0gamer

It's just practice again. He tries to crush you halfway through but it's easily avoided and then it's just a case of maneuvering the force pod on to your arse and taking care of the rest of the defenses. Watch the cannons that fire the orange flamy bullets since they can go through the force pod.

hamster

Retr0gamer wrote:

It's just practice again. He tries to crush you halfway through but it's easily avoided and then it's just a case of maneuvering the force pod on to your arse and taking care of the rest of the defenses. Watch the cannons that fire the orange flamy bullets since they can go through the force pod.

Yes Sir! Sure I or Jay will whip his ass by sun down tomorrow or bust. Har har!

jay80

Changed controls to wasd for movement and number keypad for shooting this morning. Feels much better, that level3 guys days are numbered

ShowUsYourXbox wrote:

Can someone pm me, i'm having some trouble getting the game to work.

Many thanks!

It wouldn't work on the new versions of Mame for me, downloading a old version (0.69) from mame.net did the trick.

trout

Very little progress since my last post.

I have moved on a little in Level 6, but I still can't get to the end boss, never mind beat it. Haven't improved on the score yet.

I'm off to see if I can find a game store open, will invest in a game pad and see if I can get any further.

Almost all of the fun has been taken out of this game for me ... almost.

How are the rest of you getting on ?

hamster

I find myself still stuck at level 3 with that ship. I usually get killed by the sheer number of bullets flying in all directions at the bottom part of it - either that or the 3 way crossfire coming out of the exhaust.
But I'm flying through level 1 and 2 now and enjoy it where as before I was still learning it. Still going... but yup, you make level six sound really baaad!

jay80

I finally managed to nail level3
Think the trick is to start grabbing the yellow weapon near the end of level2 so its built up nicely just before the level3 ship.

So far just crashed into stuff on level4, need more practise

Retr0gamer

Level 4 is fairly nasty alright. The boss can be a bit of a pain as well.

Damn it, I've been playing the parodius games and radiant silvergun all weekend instead of this Shouldn't have ordered that saturn scart cable to distract me.

hamster

jay80 wrote:

I finally managed to nail level3
Think the trick is to start grabbing the yellow weapon near the end of level2 so its built up nicely just before the level3 ship.

So far just crashed into stuff on level4, need more practise

Good job, I'll have another crack at it later tonight.

hamster

Oooh nearly wasted that ship - very close that time. Basically I took Retr0Gamer's advice and parked the pod behind my ship used the bouncing laser to take out the ship's defenses behind me - I was up at the top right corner hitting that penis pod or whatever it was with bouncing lasers when those bleeding laser guns reappeared on the front of the ship and I got shot down before I got a chance to re-aligned the pod back to the front of ship. That was with my 1st life. Lives 2 and 3 didn't make it that far again. Must say this is a fun level! Get there yet!

151,000 pts

Retr0gamer

You should pick up all the pod power-ups on that level. The yellow power-up is good for the start of the level and halfway through you get the red ripple laser which is great for eating through the defences when you have to place the pod on your back since it's almost as powerful as a fully charged blast. Eyeball thing you need to destroy is very easy to get to. Protect your back with the force pod and it will destroy all it's shots. After it stops shooting, nip down to were he is and when he shows his eye shoot him. One fully charged shot is enough to take him down. If you miss don't take any chances, just retreat and repeat. The red laser is also handy for level 4 since it eats through the green dots that are everywhere.

hamster

Ok got it - one big shot to the eye and he'll go down. Yep, as I said mentioned I was trying to take him out from where I was cowering up in the top right corner hoping the bouncing lasers would do the job. Time to get up close and personal...

hamster

Not again! So close, 1st attempt, 1st life in the game and I fall again at the final hurdle - when I got up close... will try again shortly...

155,900 pts

Retr0gamer

Your postioning is totally off there. Place yourself close to the ship on the right hand side above the the eyeball thing. Your force pod will block all of his blue ball attacks if it's placed behind the ship.

hamster

Another day and another go. Another defeated attempt at stage 3. Now I can smoothly reach the point on level 3 with all my lives intact until I have to manoeuvre my gun to the rear. I either leave it too late or get distracted. Next time.

173,500 pts

trout

@ hamster : If it's any consolation ... I'm not making any progress either.

Despite trying all week, and shelling out on a new keyboard and a new gamepad ... I just cannot get past level 6.

I will take an early night, and give it one more bash tomorrow. If all else fails, I might look for a speed run on youtube ... there must be some hyperactive Japanese youth with cat like reflexes who can finish this game :mad: and recorded it for posterity.

*wanders off for an early night, grumbling gently to himself*

grumble grumble harrumph fuppin R-Type grumble grunt

hamster

I had another go this morning, being a miserable wet day out and all - this time - I almost made it! Oh so close! I can deal with the front guns no bother now, just the final hurdle, to switch the pod shield back to the front before dealing with the Purple Command center.

At least the points show progress of sorts. Ha. 193,400 pts

hamster

Ok, time to offically wrap this up and move onto.... Rainbow Islands! Everyone likes this one I bet. I played this to death on the Amiga but oh so long ago.

I opened the thread for it here.

Congrats to trout and Retr0gamer on a job well done in RType.

I'll beat that ship someday! I'll post my progress here unoffically from time to time. If only real-life (tm) wasn't so pushy.