Article Critical of Recent MAMEDevelopments

[mahlemiut]

Not terribly many arcades nearby here either... The one I liked to go in town closed 11 years ago. One other I'd been to was a ripoff (60c for a game of SF2 was a bit much)

Also the only console I've ever owned was a 2600 way back in the mists of time. Now I'm pretty much a PC user, so I miss out on most arcade ports as it is. And my PC version of SSF2T is rather useless as it will only run under DOS, and the digital sound won't work either on the old PC.

I'd certainly take an actual arcade cabinet over an arcade game emulated on a PC anyday. Unfortunately, that's quite impractical for me to get one, lacking space and money for anything of the sort.

*wants a PC port of ESP Rade now*

[Malibu]

I've always wanted one of those 3-monitor Ninja Warriors/Darius cabs myself, but I'd have no room for it.

Sixty cents a game of SFII? That is a bit much. One arcade in a mall near me was charging $1.00 US for Super Street Fighter II. While the game took two tokens, the tokens were priced at 50 cents apiece. Now they did give 3 tokens per whole dollar you bought, but still it was a rip.

I used to have that PC version of Super Turbo also- it was nearly dead on except for a reduced 320-wide play area. You had a little less time to jump over the projectiles. I thought it was better than the 3DO one since it kept the (however ruthless it may be) arcade AI. The 3DO version had CPU opponents that were too easy.

[mahlemiut]

Most arcades charged 40c for SF2 (2 coins/1 credit) But prices for newer games kept going up. $1 for SSF2T not long after its initial release (around April or May '94, from memory) Any pinball with a dot matrix display was $1. I even remember seeing a Daytona USA cabinet set to $2/credit.

50c for SSF2 on a nice 50" cabinet was fine with me

[Malibu]

Most arcades charged 40c for SF2 (2 coins/1 credit) But prices for newer games kept going up. $1 for SSF2T not long after its initial release (around April or May '94, from memory) Any pinball with a dot matrix display was $1. I even remember seeing a Daytona USA cabinet set to $2/credit.

50c for SSF2 on a nice 50" cabinet was fine with me

It was fine with me as well especially considering SSF2 was a 50c game here in a standard SFIICE cab.

One of the Putt-Putt locations would often put the newest arrivals on Quarters Only- an annoyance when you've already laid out cash for tokens. However, I guess that's a way to ensure no discounts on the newest games while they're still hot- especially when their Saver's Club card gave 6 tokens for $1. A 50c game would then be like a 3 token game in that regard.

Their Super Saturday promo used to offer unlimited gameplay for a few bucks. When they got Gauntlet II and Quartet- those had the dreaded "Quarters Only- One Quarter Required" sign. I wasn't surprised considering the original Gauntlet got stuffed full of tokens- there were other people playing with 20K health and going on for hours. Pretty soon after, the SS was changed to 60 tokens in place of unlimited gameplay.

I did find and beat one of Gauntlet II's secret rooms at one time and had quite a few people looking on. Unfortunately this happened long after the contest deadline.

Thankfully the Quarters Only thing didn't last forever- around 1993 they ended that, with Mortal Kombat 1 being one of their last cash-only games.

I've seen Sega's Harley Davidson game go for $1.25-$1.50 a credit. Sega Strike Fighter (the new Naomi one from 2000) was the first I've seen going for $2.00 a play, but this is at that way overpriced GameWorks place.

[mahlemiut]

Everywhere I went used coins. Either the standard 20c slot, or ones that would accept various coins (always found on Neo Geo cabinets, and a few generic ones too - nice to have 40c for a game or $2 for 6).

[TRB_MetroidTeam]

I think the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox would be a bigger rival to the present-day arcades than MAME.

Yes... in this phrase you said ALL.

I used to have that PC version of Super Turbo also- it was nearly dead on except for a reduced 320-wide play area. You had a little less time to jump over the projectiles. I thought it was better than the 3DO one since it kept the (however ruthless it may be) arcade AI. The 3DO version had CPU opponents that were too easy.

The Saturn version is very easy too, with stupid CPU AI.
I recently bought the Dreamcast version (SSF2X:For Matching Service), played a bit, and the difficulty here is harder... maybe like the original arcade!

$1 for SSF2T not long after its initial release (around April or May '94, from memory)

I remember in that years, no more than ONE WEEK after the US release (or was the World release?!?! not sure), the CPS2 machines arrived to my old small ville... this was the GOLDEN ERA to me!
The price was equal to US$ 0.25 for 2 credits! CHEAP ERA too!
Currently, the arcades are only in the bigger cities... mainly Racing, Dancing and Fighting games. The price is around US$ 0.20 / credit (except for Dancing games). Well... thinking better... the life is not so bad here in Brazil

[Malibu]

I think the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox would be a bigger rival to the present-day arcades than MAME.

Yes... in this phrase you said ALL.

The Saturn version is very easy too, with stupid CPU AI.
I recently bought the Dreamcast version (SSF2X:For Matching Service), played a bit, and the difficulty here is harder... maybe like the original arcade!

Hyper Street Fighter II on PS2 definitely has the arcade Super Turbo AI. It's what I'd call a 120% conversion of SSF2T- you get to select the original Super characters without codes, and also the WW/CE/HF versions that weren't in the arcade SSF2T. IIRC a CPSII version of Hyper has been put out in arcades as well.

[mahlemiut]

Hyper Street Fighter II on PS2 definitely has the arcade Super Turbo AI. It's what I'd call a 120% conversion of SSF2T- you get to select the original Super characters without codes, and also the WW/CE/HF versions that weren't in the arcade SSF2T. IIRC a CPSII version of Hyper has been put out in arcades as well.

Yes, as far as I am aware, Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition is the most recent CPS-2 game released in early 2004.

[TRB_MetroidTeam]

Yes, as far as I am aware, Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition is the most recent CPS-2 game released in early 2004.

Is it only for home consoles? This "special" version was not released to Arcade... is it?

[Malibu]

Yes, as far as I am aware, Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition is the most recent CPS-2 game released in early 2004.

Is it only for home consoles? This "special" version was not released to Arcade... is it?

I think the arcade version may have had a limited release. The Japanese one is dated "031222" (2003 Dec 22) and the Asia one is "040202" (2004 Feb 2). I'm unsure if an arcade version was released for the US though.

In the US, HSFII was put on the "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection" for PS2 and Xbox. This collection also includes Street Fighter III 3rd Strike.

[TRB_MetroidTeam]

I think the arcade version may have had a limited release.

Well... so exists an ARCADE version. Good! Thank you!

[lippsman]

Back on topic here. It's free so it is what it is. But the article in question is right on. And very valid.

[Weehawk]

Meanwhile, everything is peace and tranquility in the MAME ranks.

http://tinyurl.com/8g7m9

[lippsman]

But yet, another never ending story.