Monday MAME Club [04/04/05] - Prehistoric Isle in 1930

[Flack]

http://members.cox.net/flack/mameclub1.jpg

Welcome to this week's Monday Morning MAME Club Posting. Every Monday, a member of the MAME club will pick a new game for you to play in MAME! All you have to do to participate is install MAME, download the ROM of the week from this message, and then post your thoughts about the game! You can post a full review of the game or simply tell us what you liked/didn't like about the game. Have you played this game before? Have you played it in an actual arcade? 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! Just remember, if you want people to respond during YOUR week, you should play along on OTHER weeks!

The ROM of the week is: Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (available HERE (http://www.robohara.com/mameclub/prehisle.zip)!)
KLOV Link for the game: HERE (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9120)

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/P/vPrehistoric_Isle_In_1930.png http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/P/zPrehistoric_Isle_In_1930.png

Club Members:

digitalpress (Battle Bakraid)
Gamereviewgod (ESP Ra.De.)
Wisesalesman (Waku Waku 7)
scooterb23 (I'm Sorry)
ddockery (Penguin-Kun Wars)
AlanD (Dr. Micro)
IntvGene (Strike Force)
NE146 (Portman)
jonjandran (Bronze Adventure)
Flack (Rollergames, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Liquid Kids, Ninja Clowns, Great 1000 Mile Rally)
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!)
<s>ghsqb</s>
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)
<s>Hamsnibit</s>
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 (Withdrew)
-hellvin- (Splatterhouse)
Acidic_Pain (Armed Police Batrider)
Gamemaster_ca_2003 (Block Out)
Vigilante (Pu-Li-Ru-La)
Hovoc (D&D: Shadow Over Mystara)
<s>Mr.FoodMonster</s>
sniperCCJVQ (WWF Superstars)
A Boy (Satan's Hollow)
JibbaJaba (Solomon's Key)
Cauterize (The Simpsons)
youruglyclone (Vendetta)
Ed Oscuro (Alligator Hunt)
Gapporin (Daisu-Kiss)
Graham Mitchell (Ataxx)
RockyRaccoon (19xx: The War Against Destiny)
XxMe2NiKxX (Raiden II)
<s>brykasch</s>
Xtasy (Metal Slug 2)
DJ_DEEM (G.I. Joe)
The_EniGma (The Punisher)
DaBargainHunta (Combatribes)
cr0n0 (Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters)
Promophile (Pang)
Cirrus (Dynasty Wars)
Stargate (Rastan)
!!! phantomfriar (Prehistoric Isle in 1930) !!!
GobopopRevisited
kevates
Lothars
SuperGunGuru
€ÜRØTRŧH

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!

The current MAME Club Pick of the Week can be found Monday mornings stickied at the top of the main forum, and after that stickied at the top of the Arcade Alley forum.

MAME ON!

[Flack]

Here is this week's member's review.

"I've always been a sucker for side-scrolling shooters '80s style, plus SNK's colorful graphics of the era (i.e. Ikari Warriors) AND any games with dinosaurs.

When I saw the title of this one years back playing MAME I knew I had to check it out, and I wasn't disappointed (I had never seen it in any local arcades during the era). It's a fun, standard but nicely designed shooter filled with dinosaurs, cavemen, big bosses and trigger-finger happy game play. Nothing out of the ordinary aside from the setting, really, but I played it for a while and loved every second of it. Plus, it's easy to feed another quarter in there and keep it going from where your plane last perished! (which understandably happens often). The story is simple: you pilot a bi-plane through a tropical island teeming with all the wonders of prehistoric life, nearly all of which (dinos, cavemen, etc.) attempt to destroy the "mechanical modern marvel" that your plane represents.

With all of the arcade conversions that were handled on the NES and elsewhere in the late '80s and early '90s, I'm surprised this never made the leap to a home console somewhere...maybe the 1930 element turned off younger players? (or the-powers-at-be felt that it would?).

Regardless, despite the original game's apparent under-the-radar aspect, they even produced a sequel to this one -- PREHISTORIC ISLE 2 -- which was released in 1999. Offering similar game play but with a contemporary setting obviously patterned after JURASSIC PARK and especially the U.S. version of GODZILLA (it's set in a metropolitan city overrun by dinos), it's more addictive fun with neatly designed levels and graphics. Well worth checking out especially if you give the original a spin." - phantomfriar

[Sotenga]

First off, I like the new logo there. :)

PI is a damn good game. I've played better shmups, granted, but a shmup is a shmup, and I like my shmups. To sum this game up, imagine WWI biplanes taking on Jurassic Park, and there's PI for ya. Damn good for a pre-Neo-Geo SNK effort. I haven't played it in a while, so I honestly don't know what else to say, except that we need more dinosaurs in shooters.

[stargate]

I have never seen this one before. I am assuming the difficulty level may have had something to do with its success in the arcades. This game is friggin hard!!

A lot of nice touches here. Lots of different creatures attacking from all directions, bright, vibrant colors, and cool level designs. On the down side, the levels are pretty short and the bosses seem pretty standard fare. But all in all, I definitely liked it. A cool take on the genre.

[DaBargainHunta]

I hate to be lazy and quote others, but these two quotes sum up my basic feelings about the game:



PI is a damn good game. I've played better shmups, granted, but a shmup is a shmup, and I like my shmups.

A lot of nice touches here. Lots of different creatures attacking from all directions, bright, vibrant colors, and cool level designs.
Not much to add to that. Definitely a unique spin on the genre. I'm surprised more people never thought to take the standard shmup out of space like this game does.

[Flack]

No more SHMUP fans in the house?

[Hep038]

I tried out this game last night. Now I never played it in the past so maybe that is why I was not very impressed. Its not that there is anything wrong with the game, its just that nothing jumps out at me to keep playing. I only played to the third boss, so maybe I need to give it more time.

[poloplayr]

Fun game, lovely colourful gfx but hard as nails! will def. spend some more time with this soon.

[Gamefaqs]

pretty good, but i die pretty quick.... sort of like einhanded

[Gamefaqs]

pretty good, but i die pretty quick.... sort of like einhanded

[Gamefaqs]

ummm.... why is it twice? i only put one message up

[GobopopRevisited]

I never really liked the game... or series. One of the worst pre-NG SNK titles IMO, the sequel was a tad better, only because you got to pilot helicopters, and helicopters are cool...

[Cirrus]

I got eaten by a brachiosaurus! That's understandable, even if it is a plant eater, but I WAS IN A PLANE! LOL

Anyway, I killed it and it exploded. Yes, fiery explosions. From within a dinosaur. So I guess it's understandable.

This game reminded me a lot of my first 16 bit console game I ever had... D-FORCE for SNES. (Click here (http://videogamearchive.com/dpsightz/adverts/snes/snes_dforce.jpg) for image.) The only reason I got that game was I was already "pushing it" to be getting an SNES, and it was the cheapest game. You flew around in a helicopter fighting dinosaurs, very similar to this.

Oh, and there are definitely a ton of worse PRE-NG SNK titles. I loved the fact that you could kill dinosaurs with bullets, and then kill some pre-modern humans. Good pick!

[TheSmirk]

Pretty good shmup, little rough in some spots, I'm glad this one was picked, as I've never played it before. The graphics are decent, sound is ok, play is moderate to tough, not to shabby!

Oh you are supposed to blast the cave-men right? :)

[cr0n0]

Glad someone chose this game, otherwise I would have never heard of it. Nice graphics. Truly reminds me of those times spent in the arcades with such type of games. I find it a tad bit too colorful, but that's expected from the SNK crop of titles. Now the difficulty is beyond words. DAMN, it's a hard game! I die at a steady rate of 60 times a second. Sheesh! At least shooting the cavemen brings the frustration down a bit. LOL


Did this game come out for the NEO GEO? Like I said, I never even heard of it.