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Author Topic: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084  (Read 22787 times)

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Ummon

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #40 on: October 23, 2008, 11:37:02 pm »
Well, not much better. This was on Mame32 .104 .  Recorded this one, too, but it doesn't play right. Hmmmm.


I think those who are going to play non-default settings should be considered a branch-off - I just did mine to test out - it which case it would be best to start a thread on that kind of thing rather than it be part of the comp.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2008, 11:41:47 pm by Ummon »
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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #41 on: October 24, 2008, 08:03:55 am »
You should try a tank wave on level 10. They can eat up your men in no time if you screw up.

I tried level 10 today for the first time, and the game is much more intense. I was getting 150,000 most of the time and I finally got one good game in. I don't know if I can challenge your million score, but I plan on keeping level 10 as my default. It's actually more fun because the games are shorter now. :)

When you compare playing on level 10 vs factory settings, it's like going to work vs a stroll in the park. Put it this way, if you persist at level 10 and improve and then fall back to level 3 or 5, you should be rolling the game in no time. When you can roll the game on level 10/30,000 per free man you're there. Where there is, I'm not quite sure.  ;)

After that, there's always playing one hand each with a buddy. It's a whole new experience. Be the mover, it's more fun. With a good partner on level 5, you can roll the game too.
This plan is so perfect, it's retarded. -- Peter Family Guy

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #42 on: October 24, 2008, 11:02:37 am »
Do most people play with the left stick moving and right stick firing (default, I think)? I'm just curious if there is a trend with the better players.

Either way, I suck.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #43 on: October 24, 2008, 11:19:15 am »

Put it this way, if you persist at level 10 and improve and then fall back to level 3 or 5, you should be rolling the game in no time.


I was able to roll the score over 10 million back in the 80's at the miniature golf that had a Robotron. That game let the high scorer put up a 20 character message and I had a rivalry with a friend putting up messages. If you're out there Aaron - "LUDTKE SUCKS"  ;D  After 25+ years my skills have deteriorated and now my scores are only in the 2-3 million range on MAME.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #44 on: October 24, 2008, 12:45:50 pm »
This seems like an appropriate time to bow down and post some old interviews of Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar (creators of Robotron).  :notworthy:





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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #45 on: October 24, 2008, 02:44:48 pm »
You should try a tank wave on level 10. They can eat up your men in no time if you screw up.


When you compare playing on level 10 vs factory settings, it's like going to work vs a stroll in the park. Put it this way, if you persist at level 10 and improve and then fall back to level 3 or 5, you should be rolling the game in no time. When you can roll the game on level 10/30,000 per free man you're there. Where there is, I'm not quite sure.  ;)

After that, there's always playing one hand each with a buddy. It's a whole new experience. Be the mover, it's more fun. With a good partner on level 5, you can roll the game too.


Playing at a higher level is a good way to get better, but you will end up at level 10 eventually anyhow if you get good enough.  I believe the game increases the difficulty level by one at every tank wave, so once you hit that seventh one you should be at level 10 regardless.

Dave

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #46 on: October 24, 2008, 03:38:55 pm »
Anyone try the Brain tip he talks about in video 2?
NO MORE!!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #47 on: October 24, 2008, 06:34:30 pm »
Yeah I do it all the time -- ever since I first saw that video.  It's pretty hard to get all the mommies without dying or ending the level too early though.  It's also sometimes difficult to spot the one mikey.  If done right, you should have over 100K at that point.  You can also do that trick on the next brain level (daddies).  It's harder to spot the one daddy that the brains are headed for, but sometimes you can guess and keep him alive and they won't program any others!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #48 on: October 24, 2008, 10:52:23 pm »
Those videos are great!  We actually figured the Mikey trick out back in the day by accident because we always played by the rule that letting Mikey get killed got you a punch in the arm.  When someone was feeling cocky, he would just circle around Mickey and we finally saw the behavior of the brains.

One thing I love about Robotron is that there are no patterns in the game to memorize.  When you get killed, you always see it coming and usually know what got you in that spot in the first place.  A couple of general tips are:

(1) With the tanks and spheroids, the farther you are away from them the faster the bullets come at you.  The general reaction in tank waves and those with lots of hatched spheres is to get away from them.  In reality, getting close to them makes them much easier to handle.  You can circle right around a group of spheroids and never get hit.  In tanks waves where you fail to kill the cubes before the tanks hatch, run right through the middle of the screen and take out as many tanks as you can before getting to a wall and picking off the remainders. 

(2) When dealing with spheroids, don't run along the outer wall.  Stay just a bit off of it instead.  The bullets will travel along the walls so you can avoid a lot of them by doing this.

(3) Grunt waves (9,19,29, etc.) are probably the hardest ones because if you die early you will most often lose several more lives quickly after.  When the wave is forming, look up and down and find your best path to the wall.  Get there at all costs as quickly as possible.  Don't worry about picking up people, just get to the wall and then go left or right, whichever way doesn't have a hulk in your way.  If you run a grunt wave, you will get plenty of people near the end to get an extra man or two.


Dave


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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #49 on: October 25, 2008, 03:16:30 pm »
Practiced, and practiced... beat my personal best: 191,000
NO MORE!!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #50 on: October 25, 2008, 07:30:47 pm »
Here is my best for tonight. I did this using a batch file to launch mame and record without mala running so I can get full speed because my arcade box only has 512 meg of ram in it. If you watch the recording you will see how fast I went down the tubes it is pretty funny but one of the brain waves I don't know how I got away without losing a guy.  For joysticks I use U360's and they are awesome. Anyway enjoy.  :cheers:

« Last Edit: October 25, 2008, 07:50:13 pm by kegger »

Ummon

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #51 on: October 25, 2008, 10:00:09 pm »
Proximity relative to speed of enemy fire: I wondered about this but I'm not that methodical in my playing so never pinned it down. I have found a good strategy in getting most of the tanks to be in a vertical line in the center and then I can just slide back and forth and dice 'em.

Proximity relative to degree of enemy fire: I just noticed this last night before reading about it here. I started charging the spheriods and really doing 'em in.

Last month, I watched that 13 million game of the top scorer over at MARP. Insane kung fu there, like watching a bird move its head.

I have to re-aquaint myself with the Mikey bug. I forget how it works.


Anyways, here's a new score for me. Not my all-time highest, but pretty good. I was actually kickin some pretty good ass up till about 800k or so.
Yo. Chocolate.


"Theoretical physics has been the most successful and cost-effective in all of science."

Stephen Hawking


People often confuse expressed observations with complaint, ridicule, or - even worse - self-pity.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #52 on: October 26, 2008, 12:04:18 am »
You should try a tank wave on level 10. They can eat up your men in no time if you screw up.


When you compare playing on level 10 vs factory settings, it's like going to work vs a stroll in the park. Put it this way, if you persist at level 10 and improve and then fall back to level 3 or 5, you should be rolling the game in no time. When you can roll the game on level 10/30,000 per free man you're there. Where there is, I'm not quite sure.  ;)

After that, there's always playing one hand each with a buddy. It's a whole new experience. Be the mover, it's more fun. With a good partner on level 5, you can roll the game too.


Playing at a higher level is a good way to get better, but you will end up at level 10 eventually anyhow if you get good enough.  I believe the game increases the difficulty level by one at every tank wave, so once you hit that seventh one you should be at level 10 regardless.
Dave


The game does get progressively tougher due to the amount of enemies you face as well as the assortment (tanks,brains,grunts,enforcers,hulks) all on the same level. But no way would level 47 (difficulty 5) be anything like even level 7 on difficulty 10.

Perform a test. Let a lot of tanks spawn on level 7 difficulty 10 and then try to fight them off. The balls come at you like rockets. Try the same on a higher level on an easier D.L. and you'll see.

Anyone try the Brain tip he talks about in video 2?

We used to refer to that as "Save Mikey". Completing that wave flawlessly (ie. Completing the wave in one man, saving all humans and saving mikey for last)
was called "A one man wave with style"

We even named a wave 24, 44, 64, 84  etc  (the wave before every Lady Brain wave except for the first one) as Jimmy's wave because every time he played it, he'd say, "I Love this wave".

Bless Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar for this game.  :notworthy:
« Last Edit: October 26, 2008, 12:18:34 am by (+_+) »
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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #53 on: October 26, 2008, 12:43:16 pm »
Does something else trigger the Brains to attack the moms? A time limit perhaps? I swear I had Mikey alive and then all of a sudden they were attacking the moms anyways...
NO MORE!!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #54 on: October 26, 2008, 04:14:03 pm »
Nice scores so far! I have only gotten around 525K as my best, but I think I can break 1 million if I just stop making stupid mistakes. I'll get on a roll, and then I lose a guy. and then I always seem to lose 3 or 4 in a row after that. I'm glad we're having this little competition, I am starting to more consistently score better. Last night I played a few games, and got 400K. Hopefully I can get really going by the deadline and see if I can at least score in the top three...

 :applaud:

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #55 on: October 26, 2008, 05:45:40 pm »
We actually figured the Mikey trick out back in the day by accident because we always played by the rule that letting Mikey get killed got you a punch in the arm.  When someone was feeling cocky, he would just circle around Mickey and we finally saw the behavior of the brains.

This is beyond awesome.


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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #56 on: October 26, 2008, 10:24:14 pm »
Does something else trigger the Brains to attack the moms? A time limit perhaps? I swear I had Mikey alive and then all of a sudden they were attacking the moms anyways...


It doesn't work 100% of the time.  There will be mommy waves where a mommy gets programmed right away and all hell breaks loose whether Mikey is still around or not.  That's when you just have to grab what you can and get out of the wave like normal.

Dave

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #57 on: October 27, 2008, 12:27:14 am »
I could be wrong, but it seems that they sometimes give up on mikey if you pick up a certain mommy.  Basically just kill all the brains before picking anyone up.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #58 on: October 27, 2008, 12:58:45 pm »
I thought my score of 400K+ would have been a contender.....

of course I did it on the XBOX360's live! version of the game.
If you're replying to a troll you are part of the problem.
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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #59 on: October 27, 2008, 03:11:55 pm »
Awesome! Robotron is by far my favourite arcade game!

We've got one of those Arcade Legends stand-ups here at work, and I was able to hit the 1,312,300 mark.
The downside to these cabs is that the joysticks are just Happs Competition sticks, with oval tops.  Sometimes in a heated battle, my hand slips off the joystick because of the way I hold the oval-top (as if I were holding a ball-top joystick).






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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #60 on: October 27, 2008, 04:34:12 pm »
What kind of business do you work at?  It would be cool if my place had some games.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #61 on: October 27, 2008, 05:38:57 pm »
What kind of business do you work at?  It would be cool if my place had some games.

I'm in software development, so having an arcade machine in the kitchen for that quick 15 min break from sitting at your desk for hours on end is just great!
It really helps for that 3pm eyelid struggle..."zzzzzz, must, save family...shoot generators....zzzzz"

Ummon

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #62 on: October 27, 2008, 11:19:12 pm »
Nice scores so far! I have only gotten around 525K as my best, but I think I can break 1 million if I just stop making stupid mistakes. I'll get on a roll, and then I lose a guy. and then I always seem to lose 3 or 4 in a row after that. I'm glad we're having this little competition, I am starting to more consistently score better. Last night I played a few games, and got 400K. Hopefully I can get really going by the deadline and see if I can at least score in the top three...

 :applaud:

I'm not playing it too much because I'll burn out. Happens on anything. I just plateau and sometimes it's weeks or even months before I can rise up again.


I could be wrong, but it seems that they sometimes give up on mikey if you pick up a certain mommy.  Basically just kill all the brains before picking anyone up.

Even when I think about it at the beginning of the wave it seems like this is the case for me regardless. I'd like to see someone clear it like smiley talks of above.

....yeah, I just tried this a few times. One time there was a delay before they started firing, and then they didn't fire as much, but it wasn't not at all.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2008, 12:05:38 am by Ummon »
Yo. Chocolate.


"Theoretical physics has been the most successful and cost-effective in all of science."

Stephen Hawking


People often confuse expressed observations with complaint, ridicule, or - even worse - self-pity.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #63 on: October 28, 2008, 12:09:28 am »
Even when I think about it at the beginning of the wave it seems like this is the case for me regardless. I'd like to see someone clear it like smiley talks of above.

Are you picking up Mikey? That'll make the brains choose another target for sure.

Sometimes the brains do randomly go after a single Mommy, the key there is to try to recognize what direction they're all going towards, and try to "defend" all the Mommies in that area.  But for the most part, they go after the Mikey's first.  Just try to shoot all the Brains before they get to him, without picking him up!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #64 on: October 28, 2008, 12:13:57 am »
Here's my score so far: 536600

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #65 on: October 28, 2008, 12:20:59 am »
I don't know how you guys are doing it...

but at least I managed to top my personal best today: 278,675
NO MORE!!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #66 on: October 28, 2008, 01:32:52 pm »
It's not official until we see .inp files.  ;)
Getting closer to my old scores
After playing the last couple of days and gettin' my robotron groove back, I am now hitting 600,000 again, just stupid mistakes keep getting me killed. I'm gonna bust a big score soon, I can feel it.
will post a screengrab when I do......

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #67 on: October 28, 2008, 01:49:51 pm »

Disclaimer: I absolutely love this game


OMG this game is kicking my  :-X.  I just don't see how you guys are doing it.  You must be making it past like 15 levels without dieing and I seem to die all of the time on any level past the 3rd.  Especially the tank levels.

*sigh*

My DK low scores
-------------------
1) 180700
2) 165000
3) 162900
4) 162600
5) 158500


W.W.P.M.D.?                                       I'm here to help ... I just don't do it. ™

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #68 on: October 28, 2008, 02:41:20 pm »
Tanks are brutal. They had to go and mix in hulks too. It's INSANE!
Brains #2 (with the daddies) screws me up too. I keep running into the blocks that say "2048". I dunno, something about them makes me want to pick them up. AAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
NO MORE!!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #69 on: October 29, 2008, 09:55:25 am »
Awesome! Robotron is by far my favourite arcade game!

We've got one of those Arcade Legends stand-ups here at work, and I was able to hit the 1,312,300 mark.
The downside to these cabs is that the joysticks are just Happs Competition sticks, with oval tops.  Sometimes in a heated battle, my hand slips off the joystick because of the way I hold the oval-top (as if I were holding a ball-top joystick).







That reminds me of the time I was watching this guy play on a much later tank wave level. The guy violently tried to maneuver away from a ball blast, slipped off the joystick (a ball joystick, I might add) and sling shotted to the floor at my feet. It was as funny as hell. If your still out there Walkman, thanks for the laugh, the skills you imparted and most of all to keep my feet squarely planted while playing.  ;D

This plan is so perfect, it's retarded. -- Peter Family Guy

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #70 on: October 29, 2008, 01:49:24 pm »

Disclaimer: I absolutely love this game


OMG this game is kicking my  :-X.  I just don't see how you guys are doing it.  You must be making it past like 15 levels without dieing and I seem to die all of the time on any level past the 3rd.  Especially the tank levels.

*sigh*




On a good day, I can get to wave 9 (what I like to call the Zombie level - the one where you're surrounded by mainly grunts) without dieing. But as a general rule of thumb, if I can get to 100,000 or over after the first Brain wave, I'm in good shape. (That means utilizing the Mikey trick)

Remember, this game is all about threat assessment.  What's the first thing you should always shoot = Generators.  As long as you can kill the generators before they spawn any baddies, you're all good.

Another tip:  Learn to master the art of Spread fire!  Wiggle the joystick back and forth from a directional quickly, and you can get a decent fast-fire spread shot. More times than not, that saved me a bunch of times from being swarmed.

Tip 3:  On the tank levels, just try to kill as many Generators as you can before they spawn. Don't worry about the family members too much. Oh, and stay away from the walls! 

Last tip:  Remember, all enemies that shoot projectiles will shoot slower shots the closer you are to them. So if you're keeping your distance, their shots will be harder to dodge. Try to stay within mid-range!

Hope this helps! 
Good luck saving the world from evil robots!

(i love this game)

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #71 on: October 29, 2008, 03:37:38 pm »

Thanks for the tips -- I'll have to give them a try.  What's the best method to avoid/destroy the lightning or whatever it's called that the brains shoot out?

My DK low scores
-------------------
1) 180700
2) 165000
3) 162900
4) 162600
5) 158500


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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #72 on: October 29, 2008, 05:19:18 pm »

This thread made me go back and give it another go after not playing for a while.  Managed a personal best, just 25 points shy of 400k (DENIED!) with my 49-ways.  Boy was I ticked  :banghead:

Gotta say I'm impressed with the scores I've been seeing here.  My game is definitely improving, but I need to learn to watch where I'm walking.  I lose way too many men walking into inanimate objects  :P


opt2not

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #73 on: October 29, 2008, 06:39:21 pm »

Thanks for the tips -- I'll have to give them a try.  What's the best method to avoid/destroy the lightning or whatever it's called that the brains shoot out?



I don't know what they're officially called, but I usually refer to them as missiles. Anyways, best way to defend against and onslaught of missiles is to run away from them while shooting "spread" shots (the technique I mentioned above) towards them.  Basically they'll try to "jump" around your shots when you're firing straight at them, I find the best way to hit them is to shoot a spread quickly in the diagonals as well as the straight shots towards them.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #74 on: October 29, 2008, 10:22:22 pm »
Actually, the first thing I do when the screen is loading, is look for humans, and then enemies and electrodes, and pick a direction. In earlier times, I would do sort of large arcs. Since I've been doubling back more, and sooner than I might have in earliers times, I've been able to totally fake out enforcer hordes emerging in spots behind the gang of drones.

Definitely, the 'zombie' wave is one of the hardest in this fashion because of sheer numbers, and one has to be very precise in shooting what's closest to them, while making very minor adjustments in position while moving along the wall.


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opt2not

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #75 on: October 30, 2008, 12:56:02 am »
Definitely, the 'zombie' wave is one of the hardest in this fashion because of sheer numbers, and one has to be very precise in shooting what's closest to them, while making very minor adjustments in position while moving along the wall.

You're totally right, punch out quick, circle the wall.
It's my favourite level. The best thing to do with that level is to find a line through the crowd, punch out, and get to the wall and start circling around thinning out the crowd while going for the generators. If you can use the "spread shot" you can quickly get a good amount of grunts out of the way. Love it!

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #76 on: October 30, 2008, 01:01:40 am »
Well I tried again tonight, and only scored 244,000 as the top score. I think my joysticks aren't quite "zippy" enough. Are Wico grommets supposed to be stiff when new, or more soft? I might swap em out for a new set.

I love this game.


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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #77 on: October 30, 2008, 03:39:53 pm »

On a good day, I can get to wave 9 (what I like to call the Zombie level - the one where you're surrounded by mainly grunts) without dieing.

Last tip:  Remember, all enemies that shoot projectiles will shoot slower shots the closer you are to them. So if you're keeping your distance, their shots will be harder to dodge. Try to stay within mid-range!

You should try a "9 Wave Special" some time. What you do is break out any way you want to one of the 4 edges, proceed to one of the corners and then break back through diagonally. Breaking through the grunts a second time can be really ugly sometimes, but fun when done right.

For you last tip, I'd have to agree with you on the enforcers front. The + bullets sometimes curve horendously especially on the lower difficulty levels. I had ones that I thought had gone by curve around and nail me. The tanks blast the balls right into your face no matter where you are. I wouldn't wouldn't get to close to them.

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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #78 on: October 30, 2008, 03:54:19 pm »

This thread made me go back and give it another go after not playing for a while.  Managed a personal best, just 25 points shy of 400k (DENIED!) with my 49-ways.  Boy was I ticked  :banghead:

Gotta say I'm impressed with the scores I've been seeing here.  My game is definitely improving, but I need to learn to watch where I'm walking.  I lose way too many men walking into inanimate objects  :P



Those stationary electrodes are brilliant. I've crashed into them one too many times. Better off shooting them if you can. Sometimes, I can swear I didn't see it when the going gets tough and suddenly your dead only to realize you crashed into a bloody electrode.

Have you ever noticed what I call "magnetization". It's when your really close to an enemy and suddenly you die as if you got sucked onto it. What is really happening is you were running along "thin" and suddenly became "thick". Ok let me explain. If you are running diagonally, your man appears skinnier or "thin". When you run straight up or down your running "thick". What happens when you are trying to avoid an enemy is you go from being skinny to being wider and it seems as if you were pulled, magnetized to the enemy. Hulks go from one extreme to the other often and you'll noticed this effect more when you run into them. I guess I play the game too much.   :(

And here's my latest Level 10/25,000 per free man score

« Last Edit: October 30, 2008, 10:12:42 pm by (+_+) »
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Re: Game competition #5: Mame - Robotron 2084
« Reply #79 on: October 31, 2008, 12:46:59 am »
Here is my best for tonight. I did this using a batch file to launch mame and record without mala running so I can get full speed because my arcade box only has 512 meg of ram in it. If you watch the recording you will see how fast I went down the tubes it is pretty funny but one of the brain waves I don't know how I got away without losing a guy.  For joysticks I use U360's and they are awesome. Anyway enjoy.  :cheers:


what exact version of mame is this .inp file for?
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