Interesting/Recommended MAME Games

[Ryuken]

just tried Rohga Armored Force and it's great, thx for the recommendation

[Diso]

Ultra 6 month revival as I have interest in updating this again. I'll try to do it weekly or something or w/e I feel like it. To celebrate. 3 Games will be done.

 

First up, Cadash

 

 

Cadash is an older game that mixes an action side-scrolling game with rpg elements.

 

 

You can select from 4 classes as seen above. As they level up I imagine they get stronger, know more spells, etc. (I played the game for a while and then got fed up by dying too much).

 

 

Basic plot of the game is to destroy a great evil and you're conveniently the hero. And like all RPG games, to do this, they only give you 100 gold and 1 medical herb to do it because forbid they spare their own troops and resources.

 

 

This is what the town looks like. You can talk to people and such and get sidequests and junk. You can also buy armor and potions and weapons but not at the moment. Plus you can see your stats and junk. Reminds me of Zelda 2.

 

 

Skeleton. What battle usually looks like. Unfortunately, I forgot to throw stuff at the skeleton so it looks more interesting. We're having a stareoff I guess.

 

 

I died. Those damn spiders killed my health. Why do they always insist on making spiders in any sort of RPG game cheap sons of bitches.

 

"Aweful" indeed.

 

 

More towns shots. What the towns actually look like rather than some castle that refuses to even sell you supplies.

 

 

Next boss monster. Yes its a kraken (Spoilers!). I died about once or twice getting to the boss. Then I died about 3-4 times killing the kraken. Apparently, touching a kraken's tentacle does 9999 damage to you. I would have stopped, but I wanted to save the girl, which I did.

 

Anyways, Cadash is a interesting game with its RPG elements because it's the first of its kind (I don't know any game like this back then). Note to yourself when playing this game, The items automatically use themselves if you're low on hp or w/e. I spent about 2-5 minutes furiously pressing the buttons and doing button combinations to figure out how to use a stupid medical herb. Sometimes the items don't work automatically if something does insane damage to you. Other than that, I thought it was pretty good for an older game for the time it was made.

 

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Shadow Force

 

 

The beat em up where you can morph into other people!! No really it's a cool idea.

 

 

Character Selection. I'm not sure what the differences are between the characters still. I just know I can't use the tengan guy for anything.

 

 

Stage Selection. This pretty much tells you where you start from, but you eventually go through the rest of them.

 

 

Combat in this game is pretty good. It behaves like a usual beat em up. There's two attack buttons(!) and jumping (). There's a stun animation that happens if you get hit about 2-3 times leaving you open to attacks (and by you I mean it applies to enemies as well). Plus there's special combinations you can do such as hadoken movements and junk like that to do special moves. Last but not least, theres that attack plus jump button that you can do to use your special/desperation attack.

 

 

Blanka anyone?

 

 

The unique part of this game is definitely the morphing aspect. You can morph into your enemy and you're shown a move that they can do. I think most enemies have 1-2 special moves. Just you have to figure out the move for it. Morphing is somewhat cheap is that it kills you enemy when you morph into them and then you can demorph into your original form so it makes for a easy way to kill people.

 

 

Beastm..er Werewolf prowling again.

 

 

Yes you can morph into a rifle man. and Yes he has infinite bullets. and Yes he has grenades. He has his drawbacks though.

 

 

The part I hate about the game and what I call a token eater aspect of an arcade game. At the end of each level, you're forced to duel whether with the cpu if you're alone or with your friend. You have to pick a morph form (You can see all the morph forms which is cool). Unfortunately, you can't DEMORPH if you hate your form (didn't work for me but I may be wrong). Plus the cpu is better than you with the character and you'll find yourself losing a lot of health at the end. You don't lose a credit when you lose but hell you start the level with the same amount of health when you ended the duel. (If you lose, NO HEALTH).

Now for picture examples

 

 

 

It was at this point I was thinking that shadow force used capcom's street fighter as an inspiration or ripped them off. Psycho crusher anyone?

 

 

I managed to win the duel but had no health left. Meaning I was dog meat to a gust of wind. flock that duel system.

 

Anyways, Shadow force is a cool game just to try its morphing feature and screw around with it. The game itself? It gets really really monotonous at one part and you'll find yourself using that morphing strategy mentioned above to ease your way through it (it's also the fastest way to kill!). Otherwise, it can be an enjoyable game.

 

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Last one, Dungeon Magic. I didn't go screenshot crazy with this one.

 

 

Dungeon Magic is a hack'n'slash typically set in a fantasy universe. The thing I liked about it was it's maze feature.

 

 

Characters you can choose from. Warrior, Mage, Archer (Elf lady), and some Katana dude. I chose the katana guy and I still can't figure out what kind of class he is. I guess he fits into that strong guy persona.

 

Storyline. Save the princess before she gets sacrificed. Get gold and glory if you do. etc etc.

 

 

Gameplay is the same as all hack n slashes. You attack and you jump around. You get your special attack when you press attack+jump. You can also hold down your attack to get a stronger attack (up to 2 levels). Whats different in this game is that you move around the environment in sort of a 2.5d environment meaning you can explore and do puzzles to get items which increase your power. Also, you can level in the game to increase your life and such. Score = exp

 

 

Heres the maze feature I was talking about. You can pick your path to the end. Opening certain doors requires tricks though. But it provides different path if you choose to when you replay the game

 

 

My katana guy doing his power attack. Or at least he's going to

 

 

Died with the katana guy. Fighting the boss with a mage with my newly found staff which increases attack power.

 

Dungeon magic is a good hack n slash. It's different and it provides a new experience (if you choose to) if you try going through the different paths to your objective. I say elf is the cheapest probably because of infinite ammo and such and fast attacks (but shes weak and the end bosses kinda kill you 10x faster than you can kill them), but the other characters are good too (I still don't know how to use that katana guy).

 

Anyways, I'll update this thread more later.

[Agozer]

These games are kickass, and well worth the time invested in them.

[Devia Eleven]

Well I've downloaded a large bundle of MAME roms to put on my Xbox, I'll check out these recommended games when I'm bored.

[Fatal Rose]

Keep it coming Diso.

[Fatal Rose]

Fighting Layer

This is a hidden gem. Near perfect blend of 2D and 3D game play.

Think of a mix between Tekken and Street Fighter

The characters are interesting for the most part, some are pretty weird though.

This is where the game shines, the combat. Very fun with decent amount of depth, if only it ran better in MAME.

It's like a mix of realistic martial arts with a blend of the fantasy like fighting found in street fighter.

Check out this throw, very detailed!

Grabs his opponents arm and delivers a roundhouse kick to the back of his head.

He then steps over

then follows through with an armbar.

Pretty damn awesome!

Bonus stage bout.

Thats not all, more bonus stages and a lot more fun. Sadly the game freezes near the end. It's not fully emulated yet. It also runs a little slow and the sound skips.

Hope it someday improves.

If you enjoy fighting games you owe it to yourself to play this game.