Monday Morning MAME Club [9/13/04] - Armed Police Batrider

[Flack]

Greetings, my fellow MAMErs and MAMEttes! According to Acidic_Pain's e-mail to me, he is a big fan of both popular and not-so-popular SHMUPS, and I have to admit I'd never seen or heard of this one before. But after giving it a quick spin, I can honestly say that it looks like my shooter finger is going to get a workout this week!

Armed Police Batrider is Acidic_Pain's MAME Club pick of the week!
Download the MAME Club pick HERE (http://68.12.156.214:533/mameclub) (NOTE: ~8 MEG)

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/A/yArmed_Police_Batrider.jpg__http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/A/zArmed_Police_Batrider.jpg

Download the ROM if you don't already have it, give it a spin, and respond to this topic with your review! Have you played this game before, or is it brand new to you? Do you like the genre? How did it run on your computer? Did you beat it? If so, how long did it take? What was your high score? How far can you get? Did you have any problems emulating the game? When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. Remember, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

Club Members:

Gamereviewgod (ESP Ra.De.)
Wisesalesman (Waku Waku 7)
scooterb23 (I'm Sorry)
ddockery (Penguin-Kun Wars)
AlanD (Dr. Micro)
digitalpress (N/A)
IntvGene (Strike Force)
NE146 (Portman)
jonjandran (Bronze Adventure)
Flack (Rollergames, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Liquid Kids)
IGotTheDot (N/A)
zektor (Battle Bakraid, Haunted Castle)
buttasuperb (Blazing Star)
chadtower (Berkerk)
Sotenga (Caliber 50)
Stark (Mighty! Pang)
christianscott27 (Darius Gaiden)
ECWSandmanECW (League Bowling)
TripppsK (Lady Bug)
vespertillio (Rampart!)
ghsqb (N/A)
TheSmirk (Bomb Jack)
Flukkake (Elevator Action)
BHvrd (NARC)
ManekiNeko (Battle Circuit)
MarioAllStar2600 (City Bomber)
Ze_ro (Pandora's Palace)
slip81 (Biomechanical Toy)
Qbert (Mysterious Stones)
k8track (Go! Go! Mile Smile)
Hamsnibit (N/A)
Lady Jaye (Chuka Taisen/Cloud Master)
Sofa King Gud (Crossbow)
Schenley (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Kaine23 (Super Burgertime)
Arqueologia_Digital (Burgertime)
Jiscan (N/A)
-hellvin- (Splatterhouse)
Acidic_Pain (Armed Police Batrider)
Gamemaster_ca_2003
Vigilante
Hovoc
Mr.FoodMonster
sniperCCJVQ
A Boy
JibbaJaba
Cauterize

Remember, you don't have to be a member of the club to download the game and write up a review, but by joining you get the honor of picking a game to share with the group during your week. If you would like to join, simply send me a PM and I will add you to the list!

Remember kids, it's only a videogame -- don't go pick up a chainsaw and start splattering the house on your own. It's much safer to simply ...

... MAME ON!

[Ed Oscuro]

Ah, the 'other' APB that's about Police, but not in the way you'd expect!

It's a very fun game indeed; might as well it's one of the early shmups I MAME'd.

It's got all the speed you'd want and good graphic detail; I don't recall the music being exceptional, but it didn't bother me, either.

The game's major eccentric indulgence is in the odd sorts of vehicles you ride (hint: not bats); always fun times to shoot down enemy mecha units with an old Sopwith Camel lookalike :D

Much prefered to Giga Wing which throw about those damned medals like so many grains of Arabian sand in a windstorm. As far as gimmicks go, this title's got a much more serviceable one.

[Gamereviewgod]

One of the first games I ever played with MAME. Never heard of it, but that's the joy of the emulator anyway. I can't remember if I played it all the way through, but it is in my favorites so I must not of. There are just so many great shooters, this is one that doesn't really seperate itself in any major way, but who cares? Nothing beats blowing stuff up and this game does it well. After Esp Ra De, this is one of the best on MAME.

[Flack]

Here are Acidic_Pain's comments:

I chose this game for a few reasons. The coin-op machines were only (legally) in Japan so few would have had the chance to play it already unless it was on MAME. Also, I am a big time Capcom shooter fan and a shooter nut in general which lead me to this game. After playing the MAME shooters that I had to death I was looking for some more shooters to download. More specificly, shooters I have never played, or even better, never heard of before.

Going through an alphabetical list of MAME roms I happened across some very interesting screenshots in the early B's. I downloaded the rom and soon was firing-up MAME to take a looksee. I noticed at the game info screen that the game was done by Raizing / Eighting, I recognized it from somewhere, but I wasn't sure from what/where. After playing for about 5 minutes it hit me, the bombs from some ships in Batrider were styled alot like the charged shot in 1944 Loop Master. Intrigued by this simulairity I loaded 1944 and there is was "Capcom supported by Raizing / Eighting". Life never ceases to surprise.

[-hellvin-]

Hmm...I've never noticed this one in my list before. One hell of a lot of fun. I really like it! I'm always up for a good shooter. This one has some great graphics, powerups and it's pretty damn difficult because there is so much going on screen at once. Good pick.

[Sotenga]

Raizing rules. These are the same guys who brought us Battle Garegga AND Battle Bakraid, among other things. This game can't be beaten for its amount of playable ships, and do I have to bring up the multitude of giant, colorful bosses? As all manic shmups go, you can expect to dodge a squidload of bullets, missles, and the occaissional gigantic laser here and there. I haven't played this one in a while, but I might have to revisit it thanks to this club! So I'll checkitout later. :)

[Flack]

Well, this game is certainly ... busy! It's almost like sensory overload when there's so much stuff on the screen.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Everytime I play this I can't help but wish it to have been released on the Dreamcast or even the recent wave of consoles. It pains me to no end to have to play a game I love so much with a effin keyboard! LOL
I usually play the Advanced game in Random mode (third selection after you choose Diff) Random Mode lets you try out a large sampling of the plethera of ships in this game. :D Thats FUN! Considering I die so much thats alot of random goodness :evil: This game would have owned me in an arcade, I'd be cashing my paycheck and requesting it all in rolls of quarters. :embarrassed: Sometimes I find myself maneuvering into projectiles just to get a new set of ships! The main appeal of shmups for me is the closer it gets to pure-concentrated chaos all the better. Frantic gameplay, high speed, a bazillion bullets flying up your nose, explosions and mass destruction. I find it a thing of beauty when a game so high in twitch-factor is thwarted by those wonderful-yet-fleeting minutes of Zen bullet-dodging. Batrider has it all (at least for me). I hope everyone enjoys her. :D

[ddockery]

Everytime I play this I can't help but wish it to have been released on the Dreamcast or even the recent wave of consoles. It pains me to no end to have to play a game I love so much with a effin keyboard! LOL

So don't! Go get a USB gamepad or even a PS/PS2 to USB adapter, it's WELL worth the investment, which shouldn't be more than $15 for a decent one!

I love the game myself, but it IS insane. I have problems even seeing the enemy bullets though with all of the crap coming from my own ship.

[Flack]

Sure enough ... I've got two in my laptop bag, should an emergency gaming situation arise.

Anyone else try this shooter out? How does this compare to other shooters? I'm not really a huge fan of the genre, so to me it kind of looks like a lot of the other ones.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I tried out ESP Ra. De. just now... I liked the game... ALOT, however it did not bump APB down from my number one slot :)
Personally I like a shooter better if it has a ton of bullets that you can actually dodge (if your extreamly lucky LOL ) rather than the type that include a shield/gathering field for when every single pixel on the screen is a bullet. It breaks up the "feeling" I endear when I play shmups. Also had the same issues with Mars Matrix. Don't take me the wrong way, those games are great! It's just one guys preferance I suppose. :D
OPTION! LOL

A post script- I went out and got one of them PS/PS2 to USB adapters... I can't get the cursed thing working. It's a SOYO Kikky Joy if anyone has heard anything about it.

The curse of the keyboard continues :angry: