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Author Topic: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)  (Read 9392 times)

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jasonbar

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Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« on: July 02, 2009, 02:37:21 am »
The last 21 competitions:

#1 - Shinobi - Winner: Destructor
#2 - Jungle Hunt - Winner: CrazyKongFan
#3 - Zoo Keeper - Winner: DeLuSioNal29
#4 - Q*Bert - Winner: quarterstringer
#5 - Robotron 2084 - Winner: (+_+)
#6 - Joust - Winner: Shoegazer
#7 - Elevator Action - Winner: FrontyDev
#8 - Mr Do - Winner: DeLuSioNal29
#9 - Hyper Sports - Winner: drawfull
#10 - Wonder Boy - Winner: DrFrag
#11 - Bubble Bobble - Winner: mrclean
#12 - Gun.Smoke - Winner: isucamper
#13 - Ghouls 'n Ghosts - Winner: Ginsu Victim
#14 - Ms Pac-Man (with speedup hac) - Winner: CrazyKongFan
#15 - Frogger - Winner: CrazyKong Fan, Second: Jasonbar
#16 - Grobda - Winner: Mimic, Second: Cornchip
#17 - Bank Panic - Winner: ahofle, Second: Jasonbar
#18 - Juno First - Winner: RayB, Second: Shoegazer
#19 - Rolling Thunder - Winner: DrFrag, Second: isucamper
#20 - Terra Cresta - Winner: isucamper, Second: Jasonbar
#21 - Gladiator - Winner: Jasonbar, Second: Hewskie


Another game that I remember distinctly & fondly from my youth: Alcon!  It was in the very back left corner of my local Putt-Putt mini golf.  It ate many a token of mine.  I thought the ability to choose ship upgrades really added a lot of depth to the basic vertical SHMUP concept.

I was reminded of it when DrFrag picked Terra Cresta.  I hope you all don't find Alcon to be too similar to Terra Cresta--I figured I might not have another chance to pick one of my sentimental favorites in the future, so I best do it now!   ;D


As Alcon isn't emulated in MAME, we'll play the bootleg version: Slap Fight.


Competition Rules:

- You can only use the slapfgtr.zip ROM, with default MAME settings which are: 

Lives: 3
Bonus Life: 30000 100000
Difficulty: Medium
no MAME cheats! (exploiting any in-game tricks programmed into the game itself is just fine)

- Last day is Wednesday, July 15th (11:59:59pm Pacific Daylight Time), 2009.
 
- High score wins (if tied, winner will be chosen by which player progressed further in the game).

- No savestates, savestate practices, etc during the round.

- MAME INP recordings are optional, but encouraged!

- A screenshot is required to enter a score (press F12 to save screenshot showing your final score) or take a photo of the screen if playing on a real machine.

- If you're a MARP competitor on this title, keep in mind this is just a friendly competition amongst forum members, so maybe you shouldn't enter. However, if you're a forum member and this is a game you're good at and nobody knows about it, this is your time to shine!


I will offer a prize again.  Some sort of minor video game memorabilia: perhaps an Intellivision cartridge signed by its author, a few TRON trading cards, or some other small token gift...


Have at it!!!  My quickie preliminary stab at the game just now produced 81,560.  I know I can do much better, and I'm sure many of you can too!

Note that (at least on my patched MAME .115), high score retention for slapfgtr is not supported, so remember to capture your score before quitting MAME on this game!!!

Thanks,
-Jason
« Last Edit: July 02, 2009, 01:22:42 pm by jasonbar »

Ginsu Victim

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon!
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2009, 09:43:12 am »
I know I've played it on my A-Z journey through MAME (currently on M), but I don't remember it and I'm having trouble finding a screenshot at the moment.

CrazyKongFan

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon!
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2009, 10:16:52 am »
What version did MAME start emulating this game? It shows as not working on .106 (the version used for submitting scores to Twin Galaxies...they actually use the bootleg English version of Slap Fight)

jasonbar

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon!
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2009, 10:28:18 am »
Screenshot: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/img/shots/mwsnap/slapfgtr.png

Version history below.  There are a few versions of Slap Fight, so I'm not 100% sure which bootleg is which, but it appears that only 1 minor change has been made since .104u9, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't be working in .106...

Thanks,
-Jason


info 0.33b2 [Keith Wilkins]

TODO:

Dump 68705 MCU. Only the bootlegs are working.
WIP:

0.123u1: Corrado Tomaselli corrected the clocks in Slap Fight. Changed Z80 CPU2 clock speed to 3MHz.
0.104u9: David Haywood added clone Slap Fight (set 2) - dump labeled Alcon, but GFX in tile roms clearly read Slap Fight.
0.104u8: David Haywood added clone Slap Fight (bootleg).
24th March 2006: f205v dumped Slap Fight (bootleg).
12th September 2005: Guru - Slap Fight with a 68705 MCU arrived. Thanks to Tingoes.
16th April 2005: Guru - Alcon (with 68705P5, unfortunatley it's protected!) arrived. Thanks to the good boys at the Italian MAME Forum.
14th March 2005: Corrado Tomaselli dumped Slap Fight (set 2).
0.35RC1: Marco Cassili added clone Alcon. Not working due to protection.
0.34b4: Sebastien Chevalier improved music tempo in Slap Fight.
0.34b1: Christoff Feldtmann improved gfx in Slap Fight.
0.33b7: Keith Wilkins accurated colors in Slap Fight. Renamed (slapboot) to (slapbtjp) and (slpboota) to (slapbtuk).
0.33b2: Keith Wilkins added Slap Fight (Taito 1986) (preliminary) and clones (Japanese Bootleg) and (English Bootleg). Due to protection, the original version doesn't work. Scrolling is jerky. Music tempo is too slow. Use one of the bootlegs instead. The three games are identical, only the 1st CPU EPROM is different which shows up in the boot message, one if Japanese domestic and the other is English. The proms which MAY be the original slapfight ones currently give a hardware error and fail to boot. 

CrazyKongFan

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon!
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2009, 11:08:53 am »
OK, reading your original post closer, it does appear you are using one of the bootlegs, as the original has an unemulated MCU (as does Alcon). I'd just assumed the parent set was being used, but the parent set doesn't work.

Bender

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon!
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2009, 12:55:56 pm »
this game has some secrets that aren't technically cheats as they work on the actual machine (is it OK to exploit those)

jasonbar

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2009, 01:13:15 pm »
Updated top post to include slapfgtr ROM name & to say that no MAME cheats are allowed, but exploiting any original game programming bugs/secrets is A-OK.

Thanks,
-Jason

Bender

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2009, 01:19:06 pm »
Sweet!

I'm #1 for a few minutes YEAH! ;D

DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2009, 02:12:53 am »
Heh, no one's saying it but we're all thinking it.  ;D

If you get hit by the first bullet, your second life has full powerups.

IMO this is only of benefit to beginning players, because it's easy enough for a good player to build up to that level while keeping your first life.

DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2009, 02:29:58 am »
Okay, first attempt.

166,850 Area 50.

Kind of sucky, as I lost a life and never properly regained my powerups.

If I play properly I can reach the end boss in one life.  And then lose all my lives because I've never been able to beat him.  :dizzy:

Now I'm gonna play Left 4 Dead while I wait for you guys to catch up.  ;D

Bender

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2009, 04:30:40 pm »
^^

- achhhemmm - cough- cough-

190,070

you got some catchin' up to do first ;D

although slaughtering zombies IS extremely satisfying!
« Last Edit: July 04, 2009, 02:03:46 pm by Bender »

Ummon

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2009, 11:49:45 pm »
I don't like this game. That 'fast' deal is more hurt than help. Seems almost like it's an analog control game with the setting on a hundred at least.
Yo. Chocolate.


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Lilwolf

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2009, 07:08:22 am »
yup, don't grab all the speeds for sure!

There is a strat to what powerups to use once your filled up... But hopefully I get some time today to play. 

Back when it was in the arcade, I used to be able to go all the way through, and about 1/2 way the second... But I haven't in mame...  (I keep blaming non-perfect emulation, and not my age / reaction time / eyesight loss :) )

DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2009, 11:21:20 am »
- achhhemmm - cough- cough-

190,0070

you got some catchin' up to do first ;D
Excellent, a worthy opponent! (I'll assume the extra 0 is a typo until you post a screenshot)

222,430 area 63.

Bender

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2009, 02:06:20 pm »
Hey DrFrag,

yeah typo there

looks like you took a break from brain-eater mashing

area 63 :o nice! :applaud:

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2009, 08:05:50 pm »
this game is crazy hard... 39,400 area 20 best I have done so far... never played this game before now... I like it

jasonbar

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #16 on: July 05, 2009, 02:15:57 am »
never played this game before now... I like it


Great--I was hoping to expose people to less popular favorites of mine.  Mission accomplished!

-Jason

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #17 on: July 05, 2009, 08:48:11 am »
Yeah, I'm glad you pointed this game out to me to, I generally am not too keen on vertical scrolling shooters, but this game is really cool!

Now, I'm gonna go back to my cab to score more than 50k points...
My Galaga/Pacman-style cab built from scratch:

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #18 on: July 07, 2009, 03:59:27 pm »
This is a cool game... I originally dismissed this from my vert cab for some reason, it probably just pissed me off while play testing it because it's initially pretty unforgiving with the sluggish ship movement.

I'm nowhere close to a competitive score, but I'm going to keep playing. Nice choice on this one!

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #19 on: July 07, 2009, 10:11:22 pm »
side note.. I requested that theme for Hyperspin a long time ago.. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111&highlight=slap+fight&page=12

12-20-2008
2,370,650 Gun.Smoke

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #20 on: July 08, 2009, 06:29:16 pm »
Hi guys, having finally got my first cab playable I am able to join in on this competition at last (and in last place). I have never come across this game before and thinks its great (but pretty tough). I have only managed a few games today and hit a miserable 54,000 which would have seemed a respectable score if I hadn't read the earlier posts  :cry:

Anyway, great to be able to join in the fun at last and hope to be able to post a reasonable scores somewhere down the line.

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #21 on: July 09, 2009, 03:30:46 am »
Okay, not holding back any scores until the last day.  ;D

291,550 area 75.

I finally got past what I thought was the end boss (the game stops scrolling), but then it kept going.

MAME 0.129 INP available.

DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #22 on: July 09, 2009, 08:41:15 am »
371,550 area 78.

You get more points with the homing missiles if you wait until your target is on the screen, rather than firing in all directions.

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #23 on: July 10, 2009, 01:10:06 am »
I'm no where near beating anyones score, but i'd like to say...

I've never heard of this game before this post.

And I'm addicted to it now.

Thanks for posting up this challenge!

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2009, 08:34:40 am »
^^

- achhhemmm - cough- cough-

190,070

you got some catchin' up to do first ;D

although slaughtering zombies IS extremely satisfying!
WOOOAH HA HA HA HA!  :laugh2:

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #25 on: July 11, 2009, 12:50:01 am »
 :'(

yeah, i got to 226,000 but some how I knew it wouldn't be enough to catch DrFrag

but 371,550 DAMNNNNNN!!!!!

glad I got my score in when I did so I could have the briefest taste of victory


DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #26 on: July 13, 2009, 08:43:12 am »
Try my homing missile tip mentioned above.  I only got 3 areas further, but netted 80,000 more points.

Edit: if I win, no prizes for me as I'm in Australia.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2009, 08:56:09 am by DrFrag »

DrFrag

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #27 on: July 13, 2009, 06:00:33 pm »
392,310 area 81.

No more for me until my eyeballs stop bleeding.  :dizzy:

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #28 on: July 16, 2009, 03:38:00 am »
The competition is over by my calculations.

The next game is Galaga.

jasonbar

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #29 on: July 16, 2009, 11:30:06 am »
Congratulations, DrFrag.  You've whupped us yet again (my unreported hightest attempt was about 185k, using no tricks).

Thank you to everybody who partcipated.  Spread the Alcon love!

-Jason

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #30 on: July 16, 2009, 11:48:18 am »
jason nice pick loved the game!

Yeah, second place yippie! I'm on the board

so sad I take so much joy in second place, but you gotta take what you can get

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #31 on: July 16, 2009, 12:07:06 pm »
Thanks for all the comments from folks who "discovered" & enjoyed this game through my competition selection.  Brings me joy.

Unfortunately, work & life jumped on me really hard lately, so I couldn't play the game more than 2-3x.  I was really hoping to use this competition opportunity to get reacquainted with an old flame & explore it in some detail.   :'(

Thanks,
-Jason

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Re: Hi Score Competition #22: Alcon! (ROM slapfgtr)
« Reply #32 on: July 28, 2009, 03:01:01 am »
240, 720!  Got to the giant skull where the scrolling stops.   :cheers:

Huh, what?  Oh, I'm not very good at Galaga, so I'm mired in the past...   ???

Plus, I finally have some time to play this...darn you & your prompt 2nd-place official timely score, Bender!!!   :P

-Jason