High Score Competition #170 : Road Fighter

[popsicle]

High Score Competition Rules and Scoreboard

------------------------------
Game Name: Road Fighter
ROM Name: roadf
------------------------------


Settings:
Older MAME default settings are different (and named differently) than newer versions.  Make sure your settings are EITHER

Old MAME       New MAME

  Number of Opponents
Easy           Few
Medium       Normal
Hard           Many
Hardest       Great Many

  Speed of Opponents
Easy            Fast
Difficult      Slow

   Fuel Consumption
Easy           Slow
Medium       Normal
Hard           Fast
Hardest       Very Fast

Controls:
    Joystick: 2-way (left, right)
    Buttons: 2 (low gear, high gear)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Fighter
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9335





Scoring Updates:

Wakimiko 316k
popsicle 216k
yamatetsu 113k
jasonbar 69k
pbj 59k
JDFan 56k





Last day: Sunday, July 26 2015 midnight Pacific
--------------------------------------------



- Quest for the Bronze Joystick! The most successful competitor of each calendar year will possess & display the BYOAC Bronze Joystick Trophy. See this thread for details:The BYOAC Bronze Joystick.
Happy Gaming!

[popsicle]

I never had seen or played this until MAME.  I'm not very good at it, but hope to get better in the next two weeks 

Default seems to be 'easy', which is still plenty tough see above.  Getting the rainbow car gets you progressive points and also a bit of fuel, which is important since out of fuel = game over.

71,050 after a couple of tries

[WakiMiko]

Can you please confirm the difficulty settings? The following are the defaults for MAME 0.163:



I have no 'easy' option for any of the settings.

The manual suggests different defaults depending on the region, with Japanese being easier. The MAME 0.163 defaults match the Japanese settings.

[pbj]

This is what it looks like on Xbox:



59,040

[Mr_Numbers]

When checking my settings they are the same as    WakiMiko.  Not sure how to get a screenshot of my settings on MAME.

[WakiMiko]

Hmmm, sucks that Coinops doesn't show the DIP switch positions. Popsicle, do they show up for your MAME version?

I propose that we use the Japanese defaults since they are the easier of the two:

     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SW2: 0 1 0 0 1 0 X X
     │ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ │ └ Sound in attract mode
     │  │  │  │  └ Table/Upright
     │  │  │  └ Normal fuel consumption
     │  │  └ Fast opponents
     │  └ Normal number of opponents
     └ No continues


Mr_Numbers: I just put MAME into windowed mode (alt+enter) and used the print screen key.

[yamatetsu]

Seems to me that the newer MAME versions are WAY harder. On MAME .149 I can barely get to stage 3, on my 360 (MAME 0.72, settings like those popsicle has) I got to stage 5 after a few tries, close to popsicle's score.

[popsicle]

Yes, my settings on my bartop cab (MAME v.100) look like Jim's (easy, easy, easy), with no DIP switch diagram.  I tried to adjust them to match what you guys are seeing (normal, fast, normal)  but the wording is different.  So I bumped up the first and last setting  (medium, easy, medium) and tried a game... definitely more difficult. 

I'm going to try to get the Japanese rom running on this old mame like Waki suggested and check the d/p settings.  It seems like "medium, easy, medium" settings on old MAME versions/xbox match up with "normal, fast, normal" settings on later MAME versions just from playing a few games on each. 

My suggestion is that we use either "easy, easy, easy" / "few, fast, slow" OR "medium, easy, medium" / "normal, fast, normal" depending on the kind of punishment we wish for. 

Of course, Waki and yama will probably find a way to roll over the score or break the game while channeling D.A.R.Y.L.   

 

[WakiMiko]

FYI I'm not using a Japanese rom. I don't even think there is a Japanese version. The manual (which I got from your KLOV link) just suggests different default DIP switch settings for English and Japanese. The rom is the same.

Here is the relevant output of mame -lx roadf for MAME 0.163. If you paste the XML for your MAME version we should be able to match the settings depending on the values, even if the names and defaults are different.

Code: [Select]

<dipswitch name="Allow Continue" tag="DSW2" mask="1">
        <dipvalue name="No" value="1" default="yes"/>
        <dipvalue name="Yes" value="0"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Number of Opponents" tag="DSW2" mask="6">
        <dipvalue name="Few" value="6"/>
        <dipvalue name="Normal" value="4" default="yes"/>
        <dipvalue name="Many" value="2"/>
        <dipvalue name="Great Many" value="0"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Speed of Opponents" tag="DSW2" mask="8">
        <dipvalue name="Fast" value="8" default="yes"/>
        <dipvalue name="Slow" value="0"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Fuel Consumption" tag="DSW2" mask="48">
        <dipvalue name="Slow" value="48"/>
        <dipvalue name="Normal" value="32" default="yes"/>
        <dipvalue name="Fast" value="16"/>
        <dipvalue name="Very Fast" value="0"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Cabinet" tag="DSW2" mask="64">
        <dipvalue name="Upright" value="0" default="yes"/>
        <dipvalue name="Cocktail" value="64"/>
</dipswitch>
<dipswitch name="Demo Sounds" tag="DSW2" mask="128">
        <dipvalue name="Off" value="128"/>
        <dipvalue name="On" value="0" default="yes"/>
</dipswitch>

[popsicle]

Oh, ok I dig.  I thought maybe you were referring to the second set but I now understand what you meant about suggested settings based on location.  Which, by the way, really Konami?! Which region was punished by very fast fuel drainage and ---steaming pile of meadow muffin----ton of enemies?

[popsicle]

Here's what I get from the old MAME xml

dipswitch name="Allow Continue">
         <dipvalue name="No"/>
         <dipvalue name="Yes" default="yes"/>
      </dipswitch>
      <dipswitch name="Number of Opponents">
         <dipvalue name="Easy" default="yes"/>
         <dipvalue name="Medium"/>
         <dipvalue name="Hard"/>
         <dipvalue name="Hardest"/>
      </dipswitch>
      <dipswitch name="Speed of Opponents">
         <dipvalue name="Easy" default="yes"/>
         <dipvalue name="Difficult"/>
      </dipswitch>
      <dipswitch name="Fuel Consumption">
         <dipvalue name="Easy" default="yes"/>
         <dipvalue name="Medium"/>
         <dipvalue name="Hard"/>
         <dipvalue name="Hardest"/>

[WakiMiko]

Damnit, the old MAME version doesn't show numeric values. But when looking a the possible options I think your assumption is correct. Defaults in bold.


Old MAME       New MAME

  Number of Opponents
Easy           Few
Medium         Normal
Hard           Many
Hardest        Great Many

  Speed of Opponents
Easy           Fast
Difficult      Slow

   Fuel Consumption
Easy           Slow
Medium         Normal
Hard           Fast
Hardest        Very Fast

 
I vote for "medium, easy, medium" / "normal, fast, normal"

[yamatetsu]

I've used these settings on MAME .149. Those should be the easiest you can get, but it's still way harder than the .72 ROM. I don't think that you can compare those two at all.

[popsicle]

I'm ok with that.  I'll change it in the top post with a little note on the mame version wording and defaults.

Here is my new personal best (now playing medium, easy, medium)

Grabbing the rainbow cars without missing any is the key to big points.  That, and not crashing.

[popsicle]

I've used these settings on MAME .149. Those should be the easiest you can get, but it's still way harder than the .72 ROM. I don't think that you can compare those two at all.

'Fast' enemy speed is actually easier according to the docs and switch setup.

[yamatetsu]

I'm ok with that.  I'll change it in the top post with a little note on the mame version wording and defaults.

It may be ok for you ... You are playing the easier version. Good luck to anyone on the newer MAMEs.

[popsicle]

I'm ok with that.  I'll change it in the top post with a little note on the mame version wording and defaults.

It may be ok for you ... You are playing the easier version. Good luck to anyone on the newer MAMEs.

So, you're saying even if I bump up my old MAME settings from easy/easy/easy to medium/easy/medium it still doesn't compare to the difficulty of the newer MAME default normal/fast/normal? 

[WakiMiko]

It may be ok for you ... You are playing the easier version. Good luck to anyone on the newer MAMEs.

Why would there be a difference?

Here is the mameinfo entry for roadf:

- 0.153: Road Fighter has no VLM5030 speech on his board [MASH]. Removed VLM5030 speech.

- 0.140u2: Atari Ace take some driver_device classes of hyperspt/sbasketb/trackfld/yiear (common code in audio\trackfld.c and audio\hyprolyb.c) that cover multiple drivers and split them so that each driver gets their own driver_device class. In most cases, these drivers got entangled because of audio/mcu code that was shared between multiple drivers. Added 'Track And Field Audio' sound.

- 0.135u3: Fabio Priuli added driver data struct and save states to the HyperSports driver.

- 0.131u1: MooglyGuy merged memory maps in the HyperSports driver.

- 0.130u3: Fabio Priuli removed Road Fighter COIN4 (neither used by the game nor present in service mode). Removed 3rd coin slot.

- 0.130u2: Tafoid verified dipswitches and added DIP locations for Road Fighter. Adjusted defaults to match the manual.

- 0.123u1: Fixed gfx1/2 rom loading. Changed palettesize to 512 colors.

- 0.122u5: Changed M6809 CPU1 clock speed to 1536000 Hz and VLM5030 to 3579545 Hz.

- 0.72u1: Changed aspect ratio to 3:4.

- 0.71: Changed aspect ratio to 4:3.

- 0.35b1: Howie Cohen added high score saving to Road Fighter.

- 0.34b7: Nicola Salmoria added clone Road Fighter (set 2). Changed parent description to 'Road Fighter (set 1)'.

- 0.34b1: Added color proms ($0, 20, 120).

- 0.33b7: Paul Swan added accurate colors to Road Fighter. Fixed gfx1 rom loading.

- 0.31: Nicola Salmoria added Road Fighter (Konami 1984).

- 14th October 1997: Dumped Road Fighter (set 1).

[yamatetsu]

So, you're saying even if I bump up my old MAME settings from easy/easy/easy to medium/easy/medium it still doesn't compare to the difficulty of the newer MAME default normal/fast/normal? 

I've played two games on those settings on the 360, got to 3/4 of the 3rd stage. Two games on the newer MAME had me die on lack of fuel in stage 2. It may be a subjective thing, but I think the old version is easier 

[popsicle]

Here's 86,360 on the newer MAME on my desktop using keyboard controls with default normal/fast/normal settings.  I'm convinced they are the same as the older MAME's medium/easy/medium.  The rom is the same, as are the number of switch settings in each category.

[WakiMiko]

111,720



Completing a section without touching any other cars gives you a 10k perfect bonus. I've only managed that once though.

[yamatetsu]

Here's 86,360 on the newer MAME on my desktop using keyboard controls with default normal/fast/normal settings.  I'm convinced they are the same as the older MAME's medium/easy/medium.  The rom is the same, as are the number of switch settings in each category.

Ok, perhaps playing on a 50" TV makes the difference, I don't know. I'll stick to the 360 then, not that that will help me much. I seem to be really good at missing the rainbow cars and hitting the other cars in stage 2.

[WakiMiko]

185,580

[popsicle]

158,130

Getting the rainbow cars in succession without missing one or crashing keeps upping the bonus, even between boards.

[WakiMiko]

It maxes out at 10k per car and it's hard as ---fudgesicle--- to keep the chain going.

BTW, StrategyWiki has an article for this game: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Road_Fighter

Edit: Does anyone know what makes this 3000 guy appear?

[yamatetsu]

75,960. This game is not made for me.

[yamatetsu]

Does anyone know what makes this 3000 guy appear?

I *think* it's a bonus for collecting all 4 rainbow cars in one stage.

[JDFan]

56,540

Just can't myself to collect the gas cars after trying to avoid all of the rest of the cars !!

[yamatetsu]

Does anyone know what makes this 3000 guy appear?

Latest theory : You have to have a chain of at least 3 fuel cars while crossing the finish line to get the guy.

[yamatetsu]

83,410

[yamatetsu]

113,720

[WakiMiko]

316,010



Beat the first loop (9th place):

[popsicle]

162,580

I got the 10k perfect bonus on the first board and was cruising along until the 4th board, when all went to hell.

[WakiMiko]

Yeah, this is a fun game but kinda reset-heavy. If you don't get all 4 rainbow cars in the first stage, you might as well start over.

[yamatetsu]

130,140

[jasonbar]

I didn't want to post until I'd beaten pbj's score, but I'm pretty busy & might not get another session in on this one.

39,700 after about 4 games.

-Jason

[popsicle]

175,530

Getting to the last couple legs, but can't seem to close the deal 

[popsicle]

In case some of you didn't read or watch the instructions, you can steer your car INTO the direction you are spinning out to regain control.  This saves me from crashing 50% of the time and you can still keep the gas on assuming there is room in the lane to do so.  Sometimes you just have to slow down or you'll keep spinning and heading toward the wall (looking at you, oil slick).

[jasonbar]

Leapfrogged into 4th. My secret: keep wiggling the car left & right all the darn time. That way, when I get into a skid after bumping a car, I usually break out of it right away. Brilliant.

69,640.

Thanks,
-Jason

[popsicle]

More of the same.  Can't quite finish the last lap 

I submit.  Nice round, Waki! 

217,680