The Mame Club! - The Week's Game is Mighty! Pang

[zektor]

This week's game was chosen by Stark. The next person on the MAME Club list will get to choose their game the coming week and must PM me with the chosen title by Friday night at the very latest.



When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. It would also be nice to let us know other aspects of the emulation. Here are some things that would be good to know:

Did you like/dislike the game? Why?
What type of machine are you running it on? Specs?
What version of Mame?
How long did it take you to beat it? Score?

Again, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

A download for this game will be posted shortly!

Club Members

Gamereviewgod
Wisesalesman
scooterb23
ddockery
AlanD
digitalpress
IntvGene
NE146
jonjandran
Flack
IGotTheDot
zektor (me!)
buttasuperb
chadtower
Sotenga
*Stark
ECWSandmanECW
christianscott27
TripppsK
vespertillio
ghsqb
TheSmirk
anotherfluke
BHvrd
ManekiNeko
MarioAllStar2600
Ze_ro
slip81
Qbert
k8track
Hamsnibit
Lady Jaye
Sofa King Gud
jgenotte
Schenley
Kaine23

* this week's entry was chosen by this member, the next to choose is the one below!

[IntvGene]

Umm... is anyone else playing this game?

I think it's really kinda fun. I like the action/puzzle games and this fits as a nice mix of the two. It feels so much like a console game, especially with the tour, endless and expert modes, and something you don't see in an arcade game everyday. Anyway, I've never really played the series much, but I do enjoy this one. It gets really hard, but I do like how they reward you for continuing your game.

Has anyone had any troubles getting this game to work on MAME? I'm using MAME32, and the Japanese ROM works well for me. I got it HERE (http://pangarcade.com/item.php?name=coinop-mightypang) in case anyone needs it.

I'll post some more of my impressions later.

[Ze_ro]

"Join Me!" LOL

This game is okay... but frankly, this franchise really hasn't evolved much over the years. All this game adds to it is the Panic mode (which I actually kind of like, although it seems a little monotonous), selectable characters (which really just lets you choose a powerup to start with), and some nicer graphics.

I'm disappointed that the Buster Bros. aren't in this... instead you get a hodge-podge of weird, Mexican characters (where did they get the idea that Mexican characters fit this game's theme? Seems arbitrary to me). I like the Pink Leopard one the best, since he's the only one that seems to have an attribute that you can't gain from powerups (I may be wrong on this though). I also don't much care for the pre-rendered look of the characters, since it really doesn't seem to mesh well with the rest of the graphics, which aren't pre-rendered.

I also hoped they would add more powerups, but I didn't notice any new ones. In fact, the only new stuff I really saw where the giant bombs, star bubbles, and animals that would show up from time to time (and it's been a while since I played the first two games in this series, so these might not even be new). I haven't played through the entire game yet though, so maybe there's some stuff I haven't seen yet.

However, the "art gallery" mode is a change over the "world tour" thing that the previous games did. I like it better personally. The continuous Panic mode is a good addition too, but like I said, it seems monotonous (The least they could have done is add some different colored bubbles here).

Overall, it's a fun game... but it really isn't that much of an improvement over the other two games, especially considering it's running on the CPS2 hardware.

By the way, "Mighty Pang" is the Japanese version... the North American and European versions are called "Pang 3".

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

C'mon people, play this game! There have been over 50 views of this topic, and only two of us have played it enough to comment? You don't have to be a listed MAME Club member to comment y'know... the whole point of this is to experience new (and potentially exciting) games, so give this one a shot, you might really enjoy it!

Has anyone managed to get a full art gallery yet? I've had to work the last couple of days, so I haven't gotten around to it, but I'll likely give it a go on thursday.

How far have you gotten in Panic mode? I noticed the background changes eventually (every 5 levels?), does anything else change?

--Zero

[Sofa King Gud]

I haven't had time to play too much of it, but from what I have played, it seems like a cute and addictive game. The graphics fit the game nicely, and the levels are near as well. There's nothing bad I can say about this game, until I really give it a long enough test.

Question... Are there any or many differences between Mighty Pang and Pang 3? Besides language of course... LOL

[Ze_ro]

Question... Are there any or many differences between Mighty Pang and Pang 3? Besides language of course... LOL

It's just the translation. "pang3" in MAME is actually the Euro version. I think it's weird that they called it Pang 3 in North America, since all the previous games were Buster Bros...

--Zero

[Sofa King Gud]

Well, there's next to no text or words in Japanese, so the Jap rom does just fine...

After playing deeper in the game, I've found that it has great music, awesome hectic gameplay, and I just really like it!
It's creative, yet it is hard to explain how it is fun...

[Sotenga]

Sorry for the lateness of this post, I haven't been motivated to post much lately... eh. Anyway, I know this game best by the moniker "Buster Buddies," as it was called in the Buster Bros. Collection on the Playstation. This game kicks the ass! The graphics are just beautiful, the sounds and music are grand, and the gameplay is considerably improved over its predecessors. Now, there are four characters to play as, each with their own attributes (Captain Hog's my fave, that Grappling Hook is just too much for those pesky bubbles!) All backgrounds are famous paintings, but that's because your mission is to steal priceless works of art. Yeah, so I think the plot is that you're raiding a museum where the security system consists of hundreds of rampaging killer bubbles. Works for me! LOL

I remember a Pang 3 machine in Playland... *sigh* :(

[Ze_ro]

I like the Pink Leopard one the best, since he's the only one that seems to have an attribute that you can't gain from powerups (I may be wrong on this though).

Well, I was wrong...

Don Tacos automatically gets the double-shot... this is handy, but since it's the most common powerup in the game, it's handiness is somewhat limited. I'd say he's the least useful character in the game. He's the only one who doesn't have any special abilities that can't be achieved from in-game powerups it seems.

Pink Leopard is not affected by ice, enemies (the dogs and helicopters and whatever else get in the way), and touching dynamite doesn't burst all the bubbles. He starts with just a single shot, but can gain powerups without losing his previously mentioned ability... very useful.

Captain Hog gets the "power wire"... this is actually a little different than the normal grappling hook powerup in that he fires two of them simultaneously. This is VERY helpful to pop bubbles that are chasing you down a hall. Aside from a handful of levels, I'd say Captain Hog is probably the best character. If you get a different powerup, and then the grappling hook again, you go back to having the power wire that you start with.

Shiela the Thief fires two lines at 45 degree angles... like Tacos, she loses this ability when she gets a different powerup, so it's not all that useful. It can be very helpful in certain levels, but in other levels it can be a liability, since you'll sometimes hit other stuff inadvertantly.

Well, I managed to finish the art gallery today... it took quite a few of credits, most of which were spent on the last level (level 50). I eventually had to cheat to beat that last level anyways... strangely enough, the ending is all screwed up. You can see some text that tries to give you some sort of epilogue, but some of it is obscured, and what's there looks like a really bad translation anyways. After that, it gives you some cheat codes (I'm guessing you can combine them, but I didn't think to try):

Level select: Hold down while choosing normal mode.

Hard move: When choosing normal mode, press both P1 and P2 buttons at once. This gives you a whole new set of 50 harder levels.

It's a fun game, but I still say it's not really much of an improvement over Super Buster Bros.

--Zero

[Sofa King Gud]

Hard Move? O_O Geez... I already find some of the levels crazily hard!
And btw, how do you choose your character? I can't seem to figure it out...

[Ze_ro]

Well, it gives you a character select screen right after you choose your game mode... are you sure you're playing the right game? :?

--Zero

[Sofa King Gud]

Yeah, I'm sure I'm playing Mighty Pang (J). As soon as I select my mode, I seem to automatically play as the guy with the blue baseball hat. Odd...

[Sofa King Gud]

I just downloaded "Pang 3", and it is completely different from Mighty! Pang, which is supposed to be the Mame Club game of the week! So I wasn't playing the wrong game, you were! But you should try Mighty! Pang, cause it's quite good as well.

[Ze_ro]

Bloody hell... you're right! I certainly feel like an idiot now x_x

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Okay, well I actually tried the real Mighty Pang now... and it's better than Pang 3, but not by much really.

The sound is MUCH better... but the graphics only marginally better. Buster Bros has never been all that graphic intensive anyways, so there's not really much you can do aside from animation and colors.

I'm still disappointed that they really didn't add anything new. I played through all of Asia, and I didn't see any new powerups at all. In fact, the only new things I saw at all were the "Accident" stage where the layout would change each time you burst a bubble, and one level where clouds and wind kept pushing things around. Some more special bubbles, more powerups, and more interactive level elements would have really pulled this franchise out of it's rut.

I guess it's safe to say that this is the best of the Buster Bros/Pang games though.

By the way, with zektor taking a break from the forum, should one of us take responsibility for the weekly MAME Club posting?

--Zero

[IntvGene]

Bloody hell... you're right! I certainly feel like an idiot now x_x

Hey... at least you tried to play the game.. I mean, a total of four of us did.. out of 35. We're getting put to shame by the NES club. :o


By the way, with zektor taking a break from the forum, should one of us take responsibility for the weekly MAME Club posting?

I got the impression that someone was being promoted to replace him soon. I'm sure that the powers that be know what's going on. Otherwise, the next person (ECWSandmanECW) could at least copy Zektor's old text and put the name of their game in it. But, in the end, I'm not getting paid to make those sorts of decisions, so don't ask me. ;)

[Flack]

I'm taking over the MAME Club, along with the forum duties. The only change I'd like to make is to post the new ones every Monday (just makes sense and a lot easier for everybody to remember, IMHO).

ECWSandmanECW is the current member, and he may have already sent his request to Zektor, but due to short notice I'm just going to a pick a new game for this week to get the ball rolling and we'll start up the rotation again next Monday with ECWSandmanECW's choice.