[🧵 2/x] The year is 1984. You're a grizzled arcade operator, having survived the blips, beeps, and boops of the Golden Age of Arcade Games. And you (for reasons only known to you) are sick and fucking tired of Donkey Kong. Maybe it's the boo-doo-dee-doo jump noise that's seared into your brain. Maybe it's the plight of DK himself, relegated to being eternally hounded by a certain plumber. Whatever the reason, you are done with Donkey Kong... but what to do?
[🧵 3/x] Well, do I have some good news for you- you purchase a conversion kit! By simply installing a new board in the cabinet, you can have an entirely new game up and running on your existing Donkey Kong machine! "No soldering or wiring required", either! Wow! Enter "Hero in the Castle of Doom". With a title that epic, this is sure to be good, right? Right??
[🧵 4/x] First off, let's look at the "flyer" (which is really more of a slip of paper). The image of our titular "Hero" is admittedly a bit underwhelming, especially since he seems petrified by the appearance of his own shadow. But look- this is "the kit that will become the one ALL OTHER KITS ARE MEASURED BY..." (note the capitalization on the flyer). At this point, I'm sold. Are you sold? You should be sold. If you're not sold, let me decide for you- you're sold. Moving on...
[🧵 5/x] Since this was a conversion kit, I assume that no cabinet was officially produced for it (more on that in a moment). I did find images of marquee/control area art that looks official-ish, which you can see below. It's a bit simplistic (and again, the "Hero" depicted seems more Mr Magoo than Indiana Jones), but at least you can finally get that Donkey Kong art covered up, out of sight and out of mind, right?
[🧵 6/x] BUT. Even with the Donkey Kong artwork covered up, you can still tell it's a Donkey Kong cabinet. And that will not do. So you do what you must. You go to True Value and purchase a cheap bucket of paint, the color resembling the sickly purple that dominates the game's marquee art. You wheel the cabinet out back, pop that can open, and you get to work. By the time you're done and you examine your handiwork, you can hardly contain your glee. You have created a monster. #RetroGaming#Arcade#DinoRetroGaming
Rewatching the TAS of "The Mask" that I posted recently, I noticed that an entire level was skipped (left gif) by using the bicycle-horn-thingy that appears in the film (gif). How is this possible??
Thankfully, someone answered it for us! According to the commenter below, apparently using the horn extends your hitbox, and the exit to the level is immediately on the other side of the level start; thus, using the horn extends your hitbox over the level exit, allowing you to complete it instantaneously!
I always love neat skips like that in speedrunning lol, especially if they're kinda silly, as in this case :)
Picture this. You're a Sonic fan. You're at the arcade. You're hungry, craving a salty, savory snack. What do you do? You play SegaSonic Popcorn Shop, that's what! It's a popcorn vending machine with an interactive component, which sees you helping Sonic and Tails prepare your popcorn while avoiding Dr Eggman's devious antics.
SegaSonic the Hedgehog is Japan-only arcade game starring Sonic, as well as two lesser-known (but fan-favorite!) characters: Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo. Everything takes place from an isometric perspective, and gameplay has a time-attack-meets-obstacle-course quality that's really visually impressive.
Unfortunately, I've never actually played SegaSonic the Hedgehog- between its Japan-only release and its (I assume) rarity, I've never actually seen a cabinet in the wild. In fact, I'm having difficulty just locating a photo of a cabinet online. I assume they came in Japanese "Candy" Cabs, although I found a photo of a (custom?) cabinet that seems more US-centric in design (photo from SEGAbits birdsite acct).
Anyway, what makes the game unusual in the Sonic franchise is that it uses trackballs to control Sonic and friends! Kinda like Marble Madness. Looking at footage of some of the later stages, I cannot imagine the strain those trackballs were put under, since you have to go FAST and have very little margin for error as the game goes on.
Street Fighter is an obscure fighting game by Capcom (I would be surprised if more than a handful on ppl on Mastodon have ever heard of "Street Fighter"). As Ryu (or Ken, as a second player), you fight your way through challengers across the world to be crowned "King Of The Hill" (per the game's ending text; yes, really).
The deluxe cabinet is unique in that it has giant pneumatic buttons which register inputs based on how hard you hit the buttons. That is- hit the button softly, and you do a weak attack; hit the button hard, and do a strong attack.
As cool as the pneumatic button concept is, I imagine they were a nightmare to maintain. Additionally, the resulting operation was a cacophony of slapping/slamming noises, as people slammed the buttons to do strong attacks. If you don't believe me, check out the linked vid. Imagine having to listen to that for hours as an arcade operator. You'd
go fucking insane.
Baraduke is a Namco run-and-gun arcade game where you descend through floor after floor of maze-like levels, fighting single-eyed blue aliens called "Octy". Your character, "Kissy", navigates by way of a jetpack and uses a gun to dispatch enemies. On first glance, the game bears more than a passing resemblance to Metroid (more on that in a bit...).
Terminator 2 is (of course) based on the film of the same name. It's a rail shooter that loosely follows the events of the film (well, the second half, at least) and features tons of digitized sprites that (surprisingly!) have actually aged pretty decently. My only complaint- so much of the dang game takes place in the movie's post-apocalyptic future (heck, I never even reached the non-apocalyptic parts of the game lol).