Favourite retro arcade game(s)?

[PotatoFur]

Wow! From what I'm seeing online, Dragon's Lair does look revolutionary for its time!  I think I might recognize it as well, it feels vaguely familiar...

There's got to be some kind of trick I'm missing...

You could just look up a guide online. Just keep on trying! Maybe try taking physical notes on what does and doesn't work. That's actually helped me with some video game before. 

By the way, I've just realized that the word "arcade" is miss spelled and now I feel dumb...

[ZaraRa]

Oh, it was absolutely ground-breaking; and doesn't it just look fantastic!? It was so wonderful to find an original cabbie in person for that bad boy! It was tucked in the far corner of the top floor, as well - presumably to keep it further from the kids that would wander through and smack up the poor Simpsons cabinet 
I was like -- OH, I KNOW YOU GUYS KNOW THIS IS AWESOME TO HAVE, AND THAT'S WHY IT'S TUCKED IN THE BACK!
It's quite a trek for us, as it's rather far away from where we are - but Arcade Club Bury has a copy of Dragon's Lair, and well, I have to have a go every time we end up in the area! 

You could just look up a guide online.[/s] Just keep on trying! Maybe try taking physical notes on what does and doesn't work. That's actually helped me with some video game before. 

Unfortunately, it's not that kind of game! Or, moreso... I know exactly what has to be done, but executing that is ...  My partner and I have been calling it 'the ultimate timing check' every time we've attempted it  Well... To explain what I mean a little more.. Take a look at this bad boy!
https://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/related/walkthru/lair/easy.asp

YUUUP - that walkthrough has specific frames! That's how quickly you have to act! It's one tough customer. But it seems so simple!  ONE DAY! One day, I will beat you, Dragon's Lair!

By the way, I've just realized that the word "arcade" is miss spelled and now I feel dumb...

I hadn't even realised! -shock- well, it's no biggie; plus, I think you can edit it if you edit the original post, perhaps? 

[PotatoFur]

Whoa, that does seem difficult. Even at (30?) FPS, that many frame perfects is difficult and straining to attempt. It's definitely peeking my curiosity though, so I'll have to try and find a cabinet of it or at the very least play it on an emulator. Hopefully that guide you listed will help me out.

  ONE DAY! One day, I will beat you, Dragon's Lair!

That's the spirit! You guys WILL beat it one day whenever you have the time to just grind it a bunch. I know from experience with those sorts of games.

I hadn't even realised! -shock- well, it's no biggie; plus, I think you can edit it if you edit the original post, perhaps? 

True, and that's a good idea! Unfortunately, I don't really know how to do that!  

[ZaraRa]

I believe there's been a few PC ports of Dragon's Lair! Perhaps I ought to practice with those? It's probably a lot different when you've got your hands on the joystick, though  a completely different tactile experience! Like when you play a recent port of a NES game, and suddenly you have SO.. MANY... BUTTONS...... Instead of A, B, start, select, and directionals  THE SWITCH HAS, LIKE, AT LEAST 8 EXTRA BUTTONS! Mercy, have mercy!

Humm, maybe if you go to the first post, and select 'modify', you'll get it?

[PotatoFur]

I believe there's been a few PC ports of Dragon's Lair! Perhaps I ought to practice with those?

If it gives you more time to play, then you should if you ask me! The only thing you have to focus on is the game, while in an arcade you have to deal with all the noise and people in the room. It's better for practicing games in my humble opinion. 

 SO.. MANY... BUTTONS...... Instead of A, B, start, select, and directionals  THE SWITCH HAS, LIKE, AT LEAST 8 EXTRA BUTTONS! Mercy, have mercy!

Makes sense. On keyboards though, I haven't actually encountered that issue. But then again, playing on a keyboard has a different feel than with the actual intended controls, so maybe it's not the best way to play retro games (from a control stand point). 

It's probably a lot different when you've got your hands on the joystick, though 

That's a good point actually. Physical arcade buttons do not press or retract as fast as mouse or mechanical keyboard buttons do, so fast inputs are much harder or even impossible to preform in some cases. 

Humm, maybe if you go to the first post, and select 'modify', you'll get it?

That worked! Thanks. 

[ZaraRa]

If it gives you more time to play, then you should if you ask me! The only thing you have to focus on is the game, while in an arcade you have to deal with all the noise and people in the room. It's better for practicing games in my humble opinion. 

True! But then my mind asks - "why not just go to the Arcade and practice with the cabbie itself?" -- and then I get locked in a tussle between "The point of playing the game isn't to win, it's to play the game!" and "But if you can't progress without doing the easier method, how will you learn the rest of it!?" -- I accidentally gave my partner a complex about using QoL measures in newer ports of older games, because I didn't personally like using them - and they go "well, now I feel like I need to match your power!" -- I joke about it being a complex, we're joyfully co-operatively competitive when it comes to this kind of thing  "You push me, I'll push you! We'll both get better!" 

Makes sense. On keyboards though, I haven't actually encountered that issue. But then again, playing on a keyboard has a different feel than with the actual intended controls, so maybe it's not the best way to play retro games (from a control stand point). 

The only problem I have, is that they keep trying to tie extra 'helpful' buttons into more recent ports, that you can't turn off  'This one rewinds! This one pauses! This one opens a sub-menu! This one speeds it up!' -- For some reason, I'm having this problem playing the MegaMan Legacy Collection - I keep pausing MegaMan 5 at integral moments...  Plz, sir, am trying to dish it to Star Man's bishie face! Though it seems to be a CAPCOM oddity mostly; I had no problems with any of the ports of my other favourites, like the Mother trilogy on the NSO service (or the prior ports on the WiiU and 3DS)

That's a good point actually. Physical arcade buttons do not press or retract as fast as mouse or mechanical keyboard buttons do, so fast inputs are much harder or even impossible to preform in some cases. 

Not to mention input lag, refresh rate, messing with Vsync, so on...  Sometimes just setting up MAME is a headache in of itself if you know exactly what you want. You can get a crash-course in the easier version of this by talking to any Smash Bros. Melee fans; it's not got exactly all of the same bells and whistles as emu'ing an arcade game, but you'll learn a lot of the jargon verrry quickly. Oh yeah, we're serious nerdarinos 
Of course, a lot of ports will take that in their own hands, but...    For better or for worse, sometimes.

[PotatoFur]

I accidentally gave my partner a complex about using QoL measures in newer ports of older games, because I didn't personally like using them - and they go "well, now I feel like I need to match your power!" -- I joke about it being a complex, we're joyfully co-operatively competitive when it comes to this kind of thing  "You push me, I'll push you! We'll both get better!" 

I don't know what a QoL measure is, but the whole "joyfully co-operativley competitive" thing sounds adorable! 

The only problem I have, is that they keep trying to tie extra 'helpful' buttons into more recent ports, that you can't turn off 

I understand them adding quality of life features to those older games, but not allowing them to be turned off kinda ruins the point. They're supposed to help you play the game, not hinder you because your hand slips a few centimeters off one of the buttons and onto another. 

Not to mention input lag, refresh rate, messing with Vsync, so on...  Sometimes just setting up MAME is a headache in of itself if you know exactly what you want. You can get a crash-course in the easier version of this by talking to any Smash Bros. Melee fans; it's not got exactly all of the same bells and whistles as emu'ing an arcade game, but you'll learn a lot of the jargon verrry quickly. Oh yeah, we're serious nerdarinos 

I don't know what half that jargon means, but it sounds really cool... 

[ZaraRa]

QoL = Quality of Life, sorry  weird acronyms!

I don't know what half that jargon means, but it sounds really cool... 

-Chanting- ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! -- It's mostly to do with the speed of displaying your video that the monitor it was geared to run on, VS the speed your current monitor can do it.. A.K.A Refresh rate, the speed in which the screen displays new images. Believe it or not - CRT monitors (which a lot of - but not all - arcade games ran on) typically trounce LCD monitors on refresh rate. So you need to adjust your settings -- that's before getting into PAL and NTSC... Which I admit, all of this, I have a passing knowledge of explaining - I realise now that explaining it is a lot different from doing it 


Also; speaking of CRT made me remember.. Pop'n Music! One of my favourites! Not 'retro' by any means - but oh, what a fantastic rhythm game with a gorgeous style! I love that game so very much. My E-Amusement pass might be worth it for this game alone~ 

[PotatoFur]

that's before getting into PAL and NTSC... Which I admit, all of this, I have a passing knowledge of explaining - I realise now that explaining it is a lot different from doing it 

Is PAL and NTSC the different versions of games developed for areas with different outlet power standards or something like that? Also, don't worry about it! I couldn't explain a single thing about math, for example, even though I'm in a grade 12 math course lol. But yeah, doing and explaining are completely separate skills. 

Pop'n Music! One of my favourites! Not 'retro' by any means - but oh, what a fantastic rhythm game with a gorgeous style! I love that game so very much. My E-Amusement pass might be worth it for this game alone~ 

1998 is close enough to retro from my perspective lol. It looks fun! It seems to have a neat art style from what I'm seeing online. 

[ZaraRa]

Is PAL and NTSC the different versions of games developed for areas with different outlet power standards or something like that?

More-or-less! It harks back to analog television; different countries would have different colour standards. PAL (Phase Alternating Line) runs at 25 frames per second and runs on a 50hz current; whereas NTSC (National Television System Committee) runs at 29.97 frames per second, and runs on a 60hz current. You can get adaptors for this kind of thing, but it's an absolute nightmare sometimes (not to mention cables; you try putting a RGB SCART plug in an American Telly! They tend to use composite A/V cables!) -- it's a whole thing in of itself.

1998 is close enough to retro from my perspective lol. It looks fun! It seems to have a neat art style from what I'm seeing online. 

Wha-- Hey! That means that I'm close enough to retro, too!

[PotatoFur]

it's an absolute nightmare sometimes (not to mention cables; you try putting a RGB SCART plug in an American Telly! They tend to use composite A/V cables!) -- it's a whole thing in of itself.

What does a SCART and "composite A/V cable" do? 

Wha-- Hey! That means that I'm close enough to retro, too!

And that's not a bad thing! Just means you're wiser than me. Probably...

[ZaraRa]

What does a SCART and "composite A/V cable" do? 

Oh! Well, a SCART cable is a 21-pin cable which does both composite and RGB video, stereo audio, and digital signalling - and composite A/V is your RCA/Coaxial, the red/white/yellow - with Yellow being Composite video, and your White/Red being stereo. You can get both SCART to RCA and RCA to SCART, but typically, RCA is used in America, and SCART is used in Europe - the rest of the world I couldn't tell you, because I'm from Europe and I've only bought consoles and other hardware from the USA  and even then, I'm speaking off of the top of my head - so take it with a pinch of salt!

but most things tend to just use HDMI these days.

And that's not a bad thing! Just means you're wiser than me. Probably...

'Probably' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentance, methinks  All of the stuff I'm wise about ain't no use no more!

[PotatoFur]

'Probably' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentance, methinks  All of the stuff I'm wise about ain't no use no more!

I don't mean anything bad by it, I promise! Also, that's not true! That stuff could still be useful if you ever wanted to use older tech. People do that all the time for retro gaming, learning how stuff works, etc!

[ZaraRa]

True that~ don't worry, I was only joshing! 

Hmm, the only gripe I have is that half of this was used on consoles as recent as the WiiU!    Oh, but I'd suppose it's already outdated; every console uses HDMI now, doesn't it?

Ah well - we'll run the arcade off of the cables that I know where to put in which plug!