The first Worth a Look of the year and it's all about arcade nostalgia, some of which comes in an unusual form.
Capcom's Arcade Cabinet
Developer:
Capcom
Publisher:
Capcom
Platforms:
XBLA, PSN
Price:
400MSP/£3.99 per pack
Demo available:
Yes
I saw the logo for Capcom's Arcade Cabinet about a month ago and guessed what it would be. When the first videos appeared it looked like the classic arcade manufacturer was trying to do single-handedly what Atari, Konami, Intellivision, Krome and of course Microsoft, failed to do as a joint venture with the ill-fated retro gaming service Game Room, but it's actually something more akin to the Vintage Collections Sega have been putting out recently. Basically, if you loved old Capcom arcade games like 1942, Black Tiger,Side Arms and many, many more, then Arcade Cabinet gives you access to them either individually or in packs of three. They are promising to release new packs on a regular basis and the first few offerings are probably better than most of what was on Game Room anyway. The interface is elegant and and emulation seems spot on. If legal emulation is your thing (and it ought to be), then check it out on your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
Arcadecraft
Developer:
FireBase
Publisher:
Microsoft
Platforms:
XBox Live Indie Games
Price:
240MSP
Demo available:
Yes
One of my many fantasies as a kid was owning my own arcade, along with being the lead singer of a heavy metal band, being a movie star, being a pro wrestler and being a ninja. Now, thanks to FireBase, we can all live out that fantasy in Arcadecraft. If you've every played Theme Park or Railroad Tycoon, you'll have a pretty good idea of what this game is about. Buy machines, lay out your arcade, alter settings for price, difficulty, etc and make your business a success. Sadly, although FireBase went to the effort of dreaming up fake manufacturer's and machines, you cannot actually play any of them, just profit from them. It's still fun, but I feel that extra step could have made this amazing.
Super House of Dead Ninjas
Developer:
Megadev
Publisher:
Adult Swim Games
Platforms:
PC (Steam)
Price:
£4.99
Demo available:
No
Based on a Flash game of the same name, Super House of Dead Ninja fast-paced 2D platform beat 'em up that begs you to have another go when it inevitably beats you. You play the part of the Crimson Ninja, who must make her way down through the randomly generated floors before the time (30 seconds per check point) runs out. It's a combination that would have made it a very successful arcade machine. It's also one of many indie games out there that strives to look retro, whilst ultimately doing things that could not have been done in the implied era. It's brisk, challenging, graceful, gory and would not have looked out of place in an arcade 25 years ago. Although there is technically no demo on Steam, you can still play the Flash version here.
If you own an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, then as of next Wednesday you'll be about to buy Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic Fighters (which I'd not actually heard of before) and challenge other Sega fighting fans online. These are all Model 2-based machines and the basic polygon graphics have not aged well at all, much like some early sprite-based games. Anyway, they each cost 800MSP on Xbox or £6.99 on PS3 and demos are available if you don't already know you want them.
So until Wednesday, let's have a quick look at the games themselves, all courtesy of YouTube user Ninjasweetheart:
Capcom's most famous beat 'em up is obviously Street Fighter, but after that my favourite is the ghoulish Darkstalkers. Ostensibly, the game plays like Street Fighter, just with vampires, demons, Frankenstein monsters and lots of other camp horror monsters, but everything so was over the top and... well, camp, that it had a charm all of its own. One thing I've always found interesting is that there are people who know of the succubus, Morrigan, but not the game that introduced her (and her cleavage) to the world. Anyway, it's been far too long coming (especially considering how many ports, remakes and sequels of Street Fighter games there have been this generation), but Capcom are finally porting Darkstalkers to home consoles. Actually, not Darkstalkers itself, but the sequel, Night Warrior: Darksider's Revenge, and Darkstalkers 3 in one downloadable bundle.
As usual for these sort of ports, Capcom are adding online multiplayer, tutorials and graphics filters to overcome the fact modern TV have twice the resolution of the original arcade machine. So until next year, here's a nice little teaser trailer from IGN:
World War II fighter planes firing lasers, magic and giant ninja swords that are also capable of turning into enormous ghosts of dead teenagers? Sounds like a typical Japanese shoot 'em up to me.
In the 80s and early 90s, Toaplan made some brilliant arcade shoot 'em ups. Tiger Heli, Hellfire, Slap Fight, Batsugun and perhaps most famously Truxton I and II (which I discussed in last January's Classic of the Month) can all claim to be classics in their own right. Sadly, in 1994, shortly after the release of Snow Bros II, Toaplan filed for bankruptcy.
Thankfully, from the ashes of Toaplan rose Computer Audio-Visual Entertainment Interactive, or CAVE for short. Over the past 17 years, CAVE have been been making a variety of games for arcades, home consoles and smartphones, but they're most famous for their series of bullet hell shoot 'em ups, including Guwange, Espgaluda, Deathsmiles, my son's favourite shmup, Progear No Arashi, and the jewel in their crown, the Donpachi series. In 2010 they released Akai Katana Shin in the arcade, which looks and plays like its the spiritual successor to 2001's Progear (although nowhere do they say that). Now, with the help of publishers Rising Star Games, CAVE have brought Akai Katana to Xbox 360 (minus the Shin for the UK).
Like all CAVE's shoot 'em ups, Akai Katana has a complex back story, but with the exception of a few cutscenes during boss encounters (which are in Japanese with no subtitles) the game does not waste the player's time explaining it, so I won't either. Just know there's a bad guy, he's in control of a fleet of World War II era planes, helicopters, tanks and submarines, which all fire lasers and magic rather than lead and explosives. At the start of the game you get to chose one of three pilot and phantom teams, each with their own plane. Tsubaki and Sumire fly the Marigold, which fires in straight lines; Botan and Kikyou fly the Orchid, which has homing lasers; and finally Shion and Suzuran fly the Sakura, which fires in a spread patten. Like other CAVE games, there are no weakest links in the choice of fighters, which means it's all down to play style.
There are three modes in this Xbox version: Origin, which is the original arcade version, Climax, which is a harder, widescreen update of the Arcade version, and Slash mode, which is new for the Xbox and by far the best version of the game. Visually the game has a far higher resolution than CAVE's previous offerings, whilst still being clearly sprite-based. It almost looks like a HD Neo Geo game — which is no bad thing in my book. However, as I've already said it looks like Progear, as well as a host of other World War II-themed games, like Psikyo's Strikers 1945 series or even Metal Slug (which is probably I think it looks like a HD Neo Geo game). Conversely, the music and the front menus actually make it look and sound like a Guilty Gear game, so much so that when my wife saw me start it up for the first time, she remarked, "All these games look the same. Like Street Fighter and Soul Calibur?" So Akai Katana is the Megan Fox of arcade shoot 'em ups: it's very pretty, but it doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
So on to the game play. If you've never played Akai Katan before, what you think of its game play could be affected by which mode you play first. If you decide you want that authentic arcade experience and choose Origin mode, you may think it's game play is as run of the mill as its artstyle; if you play Climax mode you may think the same, plus it's frenetic and hard; if you play Slash mode, you may be left dumbfounded by what's going on at all, because Slash mode is a very different beast to the other two modes. The arcade original was good, but no better than anything else CAVE has offered. If you're a shmup fan you'll still enjoy it, but it may not leave a lasting impression. If you chose Slash mode, take the time to watch the lengthy tutorial video and maybe read the user guide — yes, for a shoot 'em up — you'll find that by tweaking the game's rules, CAVE have made Akai Katana into something very rewarding indeed. You see, in Origin and Climax modes, you fly around, collect energy from fallen foes and use it to switch to phantom mode, which allows you to deflect bullets and provides more fire power, but that seems to be all there is to it. In Slash mode, you have to collect energy to charge up your phantom, but also steel to arm it. You control how you collect these two resources by switching between defence and attack mode. Thankfully, that's all done with one button (although a second can be used if you want). Tapping the shot button fires your general weapon; holding down the shot fires a more powerful weapon, but at the cost of your speed. It's a mechanic that CAVE have employed for years, but here it has more application than previously. As you collect steel red orbs appear around your fighter. When you switch to phantom mode the steel orbs turn into katanas, which float around the phantom and will be unleashed when you switch back to fighter mode. This is key to both destroying mid-bosses and end of level bosses, as well as netting high scores. It means that you can conjure the most powerful attacks in the game when you want, rather than when the game decides to give you a power up. However, that is only part of the Slash's mechanics — there's much more to it than that, but I'm still learning the rest of the game's subtleties and nuances. How many shoot 'em ups can say that?
Between Xbox Live Arcade and all the CAVE ports, the Xbox 360 has a lot of great shoot 'em ups. This is where Akai Katana's £25 asking price, however cheap compared to other boxed games, seems less appealing. For that price if you wanted some classic arcade bullet hell action you could buy Treasure's classics Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, plus CAVE's other classic, Guwange. If you're open to some modern bullet hell action you could buy Sine Mora, Omega Five and Strania. If you're really open minded (and patient), you could buy about 20 Xbox Live Indie shmups for that price, such as the brilliant Platypus, Shoot 1-Up or Vorpal. This all sounds like I'm trying to talk you out of getting Akai Katana, but I'm not, I'm just trying to provide a balanced review. I guess it all comes down to how much a shmup nut you are. If you're like me, you'll probably own everything I've mentioned and are looking for something with that bit more depth. Many of the games I mentioned above also offer that, but for me, Akai Katana scratches a very particular itch and I cannot stop scratching. Err... yeah, that's not the best metaphor in the world. Let's just say I love it.
Highs
The best looking CAVE port to date and looks great on a big HD TV.
Three versions of the game in one, each with its own subtle differences.
At less than £25, this is a budget price for a new boxed release.
Switching between attack and defence to collect energy and steel respectively provides plenty of scope for tactical, rewarding gameplay.
Slash mode makes this one of CAVE's most satisfying shoot 'em up experiences to date.
Lows
At £25, it is not the cheapest slice of shoot 'em up action on the Xbox this year.
Could get lost in the crowd.
Akai Katana is available for Xbox 360 from all decent retailers for around £25.
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about Pinball Arcade developers FarSight Studios attempt to port Bally's Twilight Zone being thwarted by licencing costs. They decided to set up a Kickstarter project to fund the costs and so far things are going great. They are now a little over $12,000 off their target of $55,000 with a little under 3 weeks to go. If you have any love for this, one of the best pinball tables ever made, click the link below now!
(Update: 08/06/2012) Thanks to the support of pinball fans across the world, FarSight Studios have raised the capital needed to sign the Twilight Zone licence. In fact, they raised more than they needed, so they now have their sights on the Star Trek: The Next Generation licence -- all they need is another $43,000.
God bless Rising Star Games. Last year they brought Cave's Gothic side-scrolling shoot 'em up, Deathsmiles and the futuristic bullet hell shoot 'em up DoDonPachi Resurrection to west Xbox 360 owners. Next month they are releasing another Cave classic, a port of Akai Katana for the Xbox 360. It's never been a better time to be a shmuppet, as long as you can take the intensity of Cave's creations. Hey, Rising Star, how about Progear next?
If you love pin games then you'll want to check out The Pinball Arcade from Far Sight Studios, which effectively emulates loads of real, classic tables from Williams, Gottlieb, Bally and Stern. The game is available on XBLA, PSN (PS3 and Vita), iOS, 3DS, PC and Mac. The basic released with Tales of the Arabian Nights®, Ripley's Believe It or Not®, Theatre of Magic®, and a personal favourite Black Hole™.
Over the coming months Far Site are promising additional tables will be made available for download, including Black Knight®, Monster Bash®, Medieval Madness®, Creature from the Black Lagoon®, Funhouse®, Attack from Mars®, Space Shuttle®, Pin•Bot®, Circus Voltaire® and Big Shot®.
I've tried the demo on XBLA and it's pretty good. While the interface lacks some of the bells and whistles of say Pinball FX (AKA Zen Pinball on PS3), there's just something about the tables that's better than the vast majority of video pin games. The models look authentic and hearing the sounds of these classic tables is enough to send any pinball wizard into a day dream. I particularly like the camera modes. There's only three (high, medium and low angles), but each one can be set to follow the ball or stay locked with the flippers, which is a welcome features, because I find losing track of the flippers can make the difference between getting the shot you want and just bouncing the ball around the table.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Atari released a lot of vector graphics games, including Asteroids, Lunar Lander, Tempest, Space Duel, Centipede, Millipede, Gravitar, Missile Command, Black Window, Red Baron, Star Wars and this month's classic, Battlezone. This is as pure a game as you can get. You take the controls of a lone tank, battling wave after wave of other tanks on a stark, vector wasteland. You trundled along, waiting for the next enemy tank to appear on your radar, hoping all the time that you spot them, before they spot you. If you were off target when you fired, there was a moment of panic while you waited for your canon to reload before the enemy got a shot in. If they fired off a direct hit, the chances were you wouldn't get out of the way before it cracked the screen and took a life. For an arcade game, the pace was slow and deliberate (although not as slow as Lunar Lander), but that only added to the tension. And it was a level playing field, with never more than one enemy and never anything with more firepower or armour than you, so it wasn't so much cat and mouse as spy vs spy.
Graphics and sound in video games has come along way in the past 40 years, but their ability to capture our imagination and provide an immerse experience has always been there. I've been playing a lot of The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim, which is a wonderful, vast, rich world, full of interesting characters and impressive scenery; it's easy to see why people get lost in such a world. It's also easy to say that in comparison Battlezone is primitive, linear and rather dull little game. How could a load of green lines on a screen ever be immersive, but in its day Battlezone was just that. And somehow, it still holds up today, a fact that was proved to me when my 5 year-old boy started playing the Xbox Live Arcade version and (crucially) came back for another go a few days later.
There are actually two versions of Battlezone on the Xbox 360, the aforementioned XBLA port and the Game Room emulated version. Purists will want to check out the Game Room version, available in game pack 3. As with any of Game Room's more playable titles, Battlezone benefits hugely from the service's challenge mode, where you can set your online friends tailor made challenges, such as shoot 10 tanks without missing a shot or dying. If however, you would like to play it with a few modern trappings, check out the "Evolved Mode" of the Xbox Live Arcade version. It maintains the same aesthetics, but bumps up the resolution, adds some subtle shading and tops it all off with some nice particle effects, none of which have spoilt the game's eerie atmosphere. What's particularly nice about the Live Arcade version is as well as provide classic and evolved versions of the game, you can set the controls so each the left analogue stick controls the left tracks and the right analogue stick control the right tracks, with the triggers for firing, just like the arcade.
Sega's Daytona USA hit the arcades in 1993 and at the time it was a technical marvel, as it was one of the first games to use textured polygonal graphics. If you have any fondness for the clunky, but nonetheless historically significant racer then you can now play it on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Unlike Sega's ports of After Burner, Outrun 2 and Sega Rally, Daytona USA has not been given a makeover, beyond upping the resolution. To be honest, taken out of its arcade environment and placed on a platform that has a lot of its equally nostalgic, but significantly updated brethren, some people may be put off of Daytona's dated looks. However, it's still a fast-paced and thrilling game, plus there's a demo (at least there is on the Xbox), so it's worth checking it out, if only to marvel at how far 3D graphics have come and to sing along to the title music.
Back in March 2008, Japanese Xbox 360 gamers were treated to a compilation of Seibu Kaihatsu's sublime shmup series, RaidenFighters. The compilation was called Raiden Fighters Aces and contained ports of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive and Raiden Fighters Jet, which were released in arcades between 1996 and 2000.
The compilation came to America in 2009, but I had given up hope of it coming to Europe. However, several online stores here in the UK are saying it's out in July and priced between £14 and £20, which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned. And talking of concerned, if you're worried these are shoddy ports, just check out the American reviews. Other than the short length of the games, the lack of online multiplayer and the fact the gamees look there age, nobody can fault Gulti's conversions.
So until July, here's a video to whet your appetites.
UPDMTWE (02/07/2011): Looks like the release date has slipped. Most online stores are now saying September, but the actual date varies, which makes me think it won't be out that month either. Oh well.
UPDMTWE (01/10/2011): September has come and gone and still no EU release for this compilation. I think it's vapourware and I won't bother covering it again until I have a PAL copy in my Xbox! Thank you for your time.
Last year, for just a few months, it seemed as though us arcade throwbacks had got finally got a respectful, forward thinking retro coin-op collection for our home consoles. And more than just being a load of old arcade games slapped together on a disc, Microsoft's Game Room promised to be an ever evolving service, with new games and features emerging on a weekly basis. But it was not to be. Not only did the lacklustre line-up mean Xbox and Windows gamers quickly dismissed the service, but developers Krome went bust, taking their emulator and the licences they'd acquired with them.
I must admit, I only bought four games: Battlantis, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Juno First and Yar's Revenge - and that's not even an arcade game. Nonetheless, I still like to nip in and play every now and then, send the odd challenge to my son or rearrange my arcade and a quick look at the highscore tables in ranked more shows there are many other arcade and retro enthusiasts out there who are still holding a candle for what could have been.
I heard a rumour Treasure were bringing their legendary debut shmup, Radiant Silvergun, to XBLA, but I had no idea it was ready. What's more, it'll be here tomorrow.
If you haven't played Radiant Silvergun before, it goes out of its way to give players a unique shoot 'em up experience. There are no power ups, instead you get seven modes of fire, activated by pressing different combinations of the three buttons. It also features a brilliant colour-coded point system based on the order and patterns you kill (or avoid) enemies. There's a nice overview of the mechanics on Hardcore Gaming 101 here.
The XBLA version features local and online 2-player co-op modes, both the original arcade version and Saturn version of the game (with its frankly superfluous animated cutscenes), an option to enable Ikaruga's scoring system and multiple display filters - some of which do a great job of making it look high def.
So until Wednesday, let's have another look at the trailer they released last year.
There's no denying Capcom's Street Fighter franchise is one of one my influential and popular arcade series ever created and thanks to 2009's Street Fighter IV, it help revive the fighting genre after years of neglect. However, while the various Street Fighter spin-offs and versus games enjoyed huge success, the third "proper" sequel was something of a slow burner. For many the new parrying system was too hard to execute and ignored as a failed experiment, for many more the strange and unappealing cast of fighters was just plain off-putting, with only Ryu and Ken returning from the myriad of other SF games. Thankfully, Capcom continued their trend of releasing updates to their Street Fighters and the third iteration, subtitled 3rd Strike, nailed it. Perhaps it was the improved roster that encouraged people to stick with the game and master the parrying system or perhaps it was because fighting fans had to go nearly a decade before the true king of fighters returned, but whatever the reason, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is now recognised as perhaps the greatest 2D fighting game ever made.
Today Capcom released this seminal game on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200MSP and PlayStation Network for £10.20. As well as a near-perfect emulation of the original arcade game, Capcom have included multiple display filters, from sharpening up the aging, lo resolution sprites, to applying a scanlines and curved edges, as though you're playing on a tradition arcade cabinet, rather than a HDTV. More important for all you budding Daigos out there is the inclusion of the GGPO net code, which provides the best online fighting around.
If you have any love for the genre, I cannot recommend this port enough - especially if you own an arcade stick for your next gen console. Let's take a look at the trailer, shall we?
In the lead up to its launch, Microsoft made a lot of fuss about Game Room, but almost immediately after it went live it started to run into troubles. Developer Krome were in financial difficulty and although they had the rights to emulate and distribute Atari, Konami and Intellivision games, the actual releases were all over the place. Once Krome closed its doors rumours were rife that this spelt the end for Game Room. Microsoft themselves have said very little about it either way but what is clear is Game Pack 13 will be the last one for the foreseeable future.
It's a shame, because this was the first really serious effort anyone has made to not only provide a legal emulation service, but one with unique and well thought out features that go above and beyond the remit of emulating old games machines. While I will admit it was never the best interface for actually browsing and launching games, having that little virtual arcade ka-powing and zapping away on my TV brought back loads of happy memories.
So for reference, here are all the Atari and Konami arcade games that are available in Game Room, along with their Game Pack number:
Name
Manuf.
Pack #
Name
Manuf.
Pack #
Amidar
Konami
Game Pack 12
M.I.A.
Konami
Game Pack 12
Asteroids
Atari
Game Pack 4
Major Havoc
Atari
Game Pack 6
Asteroids Deluxe
Atari
Game Pack 1
Mega Zone
Konami
Game Pack 3
Battlantis
Konami
Game Pack 1
Millipede
Atari
Game Pack 4
Battlezone
Atari
Game Pack 3
Missile Command
Atari
Game Pack 5
Black Widow
Atari
Game Pack 6
Mr. Goemon
Konami
Game Pack 5
Blades of Steel
Konami
Game Pack 12
Ping Pong
Konami
Game Pack 5
Centipede
Atari
Game Pack 2
Pooyan
Konami
Game Pack 12
City Bomber
Konami
Game Pack 9
Rack 'Em Up
Konami
Game Pack 3
Crystal Castles
Atari
Game Pack 1
Red Baron
Atari
Game Pack 1
Detana!! TwinBee
Konami
Game Pack 12
Road Fighter
Konami
Game Pack 2
Devastators
Konami
Game Pack 13
Scooter Shooter
Konami
Game Pack 6
Finalizer
Konami
Game Pack 1
Scramble
Konami
Game Pack 1
Flak Attack
Konami
Game Pack 9
Shao-Lin's Road
Konami
Game Pack 2
Food Fight
Atari
Game Pack 12
Space Duel
Atari
Game Pack 4
Galactic Warriors
Konami
Game Pack 10
Strategy X
Konami
Game Pack 4
Gravitar
Atari
Game Pack 2
Super Basketball
Konami
Game Pack 9
Gyruss
Konami
Game Pack 7
Super Breakout
Atari
Game Pack 3
Hyper Crash
Konami
Game Pack 10
Super Cobra
Konami
Game Pack 2
Iron Horse
Konami
Game Pack 13
Tempest
Atari
Game Pack 2
Jackal
Konami
Game Pack 11
The Main Event
Konami
Game Pack 13
Jail Break
Konami
Game Pack 7
Time Pilot
Konami
Game Pack 4
Jungler
Konami
Game Pack 2
Trick Trap
Konami
Game Pack 12
Juno First
Konami
Game Pack 6
Tutankham
Konami
Game Pack 1
Kitten Kaboodle
Konami
Game Pack 9
TwinBee
Konami
Game Pack 12
Konami GT
Konami
Game Pack 10
Video Hustler
Konami
Game Pack 5
Liberator
Atari
Game Pack 5
Warlords
Atari
Game Pack 6
Lunar Lander
Atari
Game Pack 1
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
Konami
Game Pack 7
UPDMTWE (20/02/2011): On the 17th February, after four months of silence, a new message appeared on the Game Room Facebook page talking about technical problems people are having with the service. This was followed on the 18th with two posts, one saying they can't recreate the technical problem and another saying this:
"..re GR plan. We are wholly focused on the mobile extension right now. We r also sorting through the bigger plan for GR, but expect us to be dark on that topic for a while because we have a lot to work through. I wish there was more to say at this time, but this is the situation as it stands for now. I cannot emphasize enough how much we appreciate your support. Thank you."
While that doesn't answer any questions, it is evidence that Game Room may not be dead after all.
Arcade legends Irem, in association with DotEmu, have brought out a collection of 18 classic coin-op games called IREM Arcade Hits. The full list of games is as follows:
Ninja Spirit
Gun Force
Gun Force II
Superior Soldier
Undercover Cops
In The Hunt
Blade Master
Battle Chopper
Legend of Hero: Tonma
R-Type Leo
Image Fight
Mystic Riders
Hammerin' Harry
Cosmic Cop
Kung-Fu Master
Dragon Breed
Vigilante
Air Duel
They've even produced a nice little video to highlight what you get for your money:
To MAME or not to MAME, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of legal persecution or to take arms against a sea of pirates, and by opposing end my arcade gaming, to die having never played Go Go Mr Yamaguchi. Erm... anyway, emulators have been around for ages and for some, it's only way they've experienced certain classics. But what is emulation all about and is it legal? Let's dig a little deeper and find out.
Emulators: Software in disguise
Emulators are not just programs that play old arcade or console games; their code mimics the functions of a piece of hardware, such as the motherboard from an arcade machine, so that programs written for the emulated hardware can be run on totally different hardware. Generally speaking, in order for an emulator to work well, the hardware it's running on has to be significantly more powerful than the original hardware. This is because it takes time (specifically memory load times and CPU clock cycles) to load and run each command in the emulator. In order to translate the functions of the original hardware to the new hardware, the faster the processor and memory, the quicker this translation can take place and the more smoothly the game will play. Emulating one processor on another is one thing, but the processor running the emulator also has to emulate the graphics chips, sound chips and I/O (input/output) board of the emulated hardware. So, the more complicated the hardware, the longer the translation takes. As such, the quality of the emulation varies. Generally speaking, 8 and 16-bit machines based on Intel 8080 and 8088 processors, the Zilog Z80 processor or Motorola 6500 or 6800 processors can be emulated pretty well. The difficulty comes with 32 and 64-bit machines based on the Motorola 68000 series or MIPS Rx000 series processors from the mid-90s onwards. The result is slow frame-rates, which no amount of power can overcome.
The most celebrated arcade emulator around is the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator or MAME for short. As the name suggests, MAME can emulate dozens of different arcade machines, but it's not the only one out there. There are a number of others that emulate just one or two arcade boards, often resulting in better emulation for those machines. Such emulators include KAWAKS, which emulates Capcom CPS1, CPS2 boards and the SNK Neo Geo and ZiNc, which emulates Sony ZN-1 and ZN-2, Namco System 11/12, and Konami GV/GQ arcade hardware.
≈
Playing from memory
In order to play games on an emulator, you also need need the data that was stored on the arcade machine's ROM chips. This information has to be "dumped" into one or more files, usually in a binary format. These collections of binary files are then collectively known as a ROM image. There can be dozens of files required for a single, simple game, all of which need to be correctly named and kept together so that the emulator can load all of the data successfully. Thankfully, modern emulators can often play ROMs as compressed Zip files, so you don't have to worry about losing track of individual binaries.
=
What good is power without control?
Whether or not the graphics and sound can be emulated effectively, games with bespoke control schemes do not translate very well. While games that only used a joystick and buttons work fine, especially if you have something like a Hori EX2 Fighting Stick, and even racing games tend to fair quite well, games with specialised controls, such as rotating joysticks (a la Xybots or Search and Rescue) or games with paddles can be almost unplayable. One such example is the legendary Tron. While the light cycles levels play fine, a typical dual-analogue controller does a terrible job of emulating the paddle needed to aim the turret on the tank battles and Tron's arm in the I/O tower or MCP Cone levels.
While it is easy to think pinball tables, with their two buttons and a plunger, would be easy to emulate, few pinball emulators do a good job of emulating the pinball table's crucial third control mechanism: nudging the table. There are degrees of both subtlety and force that skilled pinball players just cannot obtain by flicking an analogue stick.
≠
Insert piece o' eight to play
It's easy to forget that most arcade games are owned by companies that are still trading and as such they still under copyright protection. It's also easy to justify downloading and playing games through an emulator, because in many cases there is no other way to play a lot of these games. But none of this matters in the eyes of the law. Just because someone leaves a classic car in a garage and never drives it, doesn't mean you can take it and claim it's the only way you could enjoy such a vehicle. Put simply, emulation is piracy and the recent rise of the HD port, you never know when a company is going to reprise an old franchise.
So what can an old gamer do?
The games industry as a whole has reached an exciting point in its life. Never before have we had so much choice. In the last few years there's been a resurgence of interest in retro gaming and now there are loads of legal emulation services, most notably Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox and PC and the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Arcade, both of which offer games from as little as a couple of quid. Admittedly neither service has an exhaustive range of games, but by purchasing arcade classics from a legitimate source, you can play safe in the knowledge you have done the right thing.
