A Newbies totally surprising game pick!

[TOK]

There have been a number of times where I've had someone over that knows nothing about MAME, and I ask them to pick a game they used to play to try. Among probably 10 or so people I've tried that with, the choices have been Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Asteroids and Space Invaders. Those are all epic games in the grand scheme of things, but I'm always secretly hoping someone will pick something like Robotron or even something a bit more obscure to show me they were really into it back then.

I finally had it happen. Friend of a friend was over and I had him pick a game. He couldn't remember the name, but described it as similar to Asteroids, but you were attacking a ship inside of a base made of rings. Had I not had my butt kicked by the original game way back in the day, I probably wouldn't even have recalled the game based on the description, but the game he picked was Star Castle. Hard ass game, and a vector to boot.

I can't tell you how blown away he was that I had it. He lit up when I actually recalled the name of the game based on his description. I'm pretty sure this dude is gonna wind up building a MAME cab. 

[Dexter]

Star Castle was one of my favourites when I was a kid. Plays well in Mame, ther overlay is cool as well.

[RoomTenONine]

Very cool.  I had a similar experience as the newb.  A friend was building a cab about 5 years ago and I told him unless it played Major Havoc I didn't want to see it (joking of course).  Sure enough it did play it and he was most impressed with my 1st choice of game.

[leapinlew]

I liked star castle. It should've used a spinner as a controller.

[Blanka]

Awful! Disgusting! Boo! The worst game ever made!
Never liked asteroids for its controls, but this is almost Computer Space Non-playability.
My hidden gem: Katamari Damacy. True authentic fresh game-play.

[TOK]

Awful! Disgusting! Boo! The worst game ever made!
Never liked asteroids for its controls, but this is almost Computer Space Non-playability.
My hidden gem: Katamari Damacy. True authentic fresh game-play.

Anyone asking to play that on an arcade cab deserves a mighty kick in the junk, then thrown out into the street. 

[saint]

Jump Bug. All time favorite when I was young.

[RayB]

I would totally mess you up by asking to play Danger Zone.

[TheShanMan]

Jump Bug. All time favorite when I was young.

I forgot about that game! I don't think I played it much, but I'm going to have to show it to my 6 year old. He loves "herbie cars" so he'll probably like this.

[crashwg]

I would totally mess you up by asking to play Danger Zone.

I'd be right there with you on that one.  Danger Zone or Viper are definites for when I have room for some machines!  Talk about original gameplay!

Here's a link for VIPER BTW...

[TOK]

I would totally mess you up by asking to play Danger Zone.

I'd be right there with you on that one.  Danger Zone or Viper are definites for when I have room for some machines!  Talk about original gameplay!

Here's a link for VIPER BTW...

You two aren't newbies, you're trouble makers! 

I've been anticipating the time when someone asks for Dragons Lair. I have the emulator and vid's, but since I never liked any laser disc games except for MACH 3 I never set it up.

[Ginsu Victim]

I used to request Rastan first. Still love it.

[boogieman]

I would love Katamari on an arcade cabinet!  Dang, two analog sticks and off I would roll!

Of course it wasn't an arcade game, but I think it could be a good one if we still had decent arcades here in the U.S.

[SavannahLion]

I would love Katamari on an arcade cabinet!  Dang, two analog sticks and off I would roll!

I would probably rip the sticks out trying to do 360's when my ball is out of control down one of the steep slopes. My poor PS2 controller has painful wear and tear from that game.

[NIVO]

Pooyan.....a classic begging to be played; forgotten by many.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Jump Bug. All time favorite when I was young.

I try not to admit addiction to that one.

Others on the list are:
Circus Charlie
Sky Skipper

[Blanka]

I would probably rip the sticks out trying to do 360's when my ball is out of control down one of the steep slopes. My poor PS2 controller has painful wear and tear from that game.

Nice test setup to prove Andy's Ultrastik 360 built quality 

[Ummon]

@RoomTenONine: off-topic here, I prefered the 'ripped bones' graphic.

I liked star castle. It should've used a spinner as a controller.

Ahem. Why is this response not a surprise?

Pooyan.....a classic begging to be played; forgotten by many.

Never forgotten. I remember one of the first times I saw this game. (A little higher quality than, but in the same vein as, Kangaroo.) And it was one I very early in Mame experience looked for or found. Killer graphics, neat game play. I have some decent scores on this.

[Loafmeister]

Danger Zone and Viper: Never tried these, very addictive and lots of fun, plays pretty good with the trackball.  I assume the arcade cab used some kind of analogue star wars type of yoke?

  I love these threads .

[TOK]

There was a working Danger Zone near me a couple days ago for $300. Funny timing since it was just mentioned in the thread and I'd never seen one before. That was probably supposed to be my signal to pick it up, but I have 3 projects stockpiled already. 

[RayB]

Danger Zone and Viper: Never tried these, very addictive and lots of fun, plays pretty good with the trackball.  I assume the arcade cab used some kind of analogue star wars type of yoke?

  I love these threads .

Look at the picture I linked to. The entire top, including the monitor swivelled around (left right, up down) to aim.

[TimmyB]

I just finished my conversion last week, first games my wife wanted to play were Qix and Bubble Bobble.  Then Street Fighter 

[TOK]

Qix is an unusual pick for a girl! No cute factor at all and very difficult!

[jfunk]

When I first finished my control panel (w/o a spinner), one of my wife's friends was over and was asking me questions about it.  I went on about it could play tons of games and pretty much any she could think of (knowing, if she was like my wife, she'd ask about DK and Ms. Pac and etc, etc).  She shocked me by asking "But how do you play Tempest on it?"

[Luigi]

I was given a table with Bosconian inside when I was picking up a generic cab. It had little monitor issues so it was free   Well, picture only had to be adjusted and has little yellow instead of white (how do you call that when all the colors have a little too much yellow??).

Never played it before but I like it very much........ it's kicking ass 

 

[Barry Barcrest]

First game i played wanted to play emulated was starwars closely folled by Green Beret "rush'n'attack for you americans". However when i got into emulation those were not possible... As soon as they were though i loved them. Another milestone was when Gauntlet II was emulated in that standalone Gauntlet emulator. Those early days of emulation were great using sparcade, raine and individual game emus.

[Ginsu Victim]

However when i got into emulation those were not possible...

I hear ya. I remember waiting for Rastan to be supported in MAME. It was a great day when I read Retrogames news section and saw that it was finally working.

I've been following MAME since the first release, so I've watched it change and grow. It used to be a fun game of "What's supported this time?!?" with each update.

[miles2912]

I love these threads.  Totally forgot about rastan.  Just went out to the cab and added it in!  Good times ....

[Ummon]

She shocked me by asking "But how do you play Tempest on it?"

Nice. I was talking with an old girlfriend recently and mentioned being into retro-gaming (which I thought I'd talked about before, but she didn't recall), and she asked 'Do you have Robotron?'. I said yeah but was dumbfounded. She said that was the only game she liked. She said she liked the dual-stick game-play. (Um, yeah yuck it up, but no she wasn't inclined that way when I found her.) She was in college at the time and a mensa member so maybe that had something to do with it?