Monday MAME Club [04/25/05] - Gyruss

[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: Gyruss (available HERE (http://www.robohara.com/mameclub/gyruss.zip)!)
KLOV Link for the game: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=8060]HERE

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/G/wGyruss.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 (Berzerk)
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 (Elevator Action Returns)
!!! kevates (Gryuss) !!!
Lothars
SuperGunGuru
€ÜRØTRŧH
-----
(Next Round) Cryomancer
(Note: I've locked the list this time around. Future members of the club will be added next round!)

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!

[Gapporin]

Gyruss is a great arcade game. The unusual style of gameplay almost reminds me of Tempest in a way (and Galaga, too, now that I think about it). The thing that really shines in this game, I think, is the usage of classical music. It seems to fit so perfectly in the game. You wouldn't think Bach would get you pumped up to destroy alien invaders, but, it does! :)

[Graham Mitchell]

When I first played Gyruss in the arcades (in '88 or something) the first thing that captivated me was the Bach-composed music. It's odd, and a bit intense and frightening, actually--it pulls you in.

However, if the game wasn't great, I wouldn't have kept playing. It's a true classic. It's essentially Galaga in 3-D, but it's very well done. The NES port is actually a little better than the arcade version, in my opinion--it's got a few extras, and boss levels.

Most people tend not to remember Gyruss when they think of Konami, which is sad because it's one of their first really solid games. I guess the guy that developed Gyruss also developed Time Pilot. He got very disgruntled with Konami's policies regarding their employees and quit. He went on to work for Capcom, making their fleet of early arcade classics like 1942, Ghosts 'N' Goblins, and I'll bet Trojan and Section Z as well. So, Gyruss is really part of that lineage of games. Neat, huh? :D

[Cryomancer]

For some reason I've know the NAME Gyruss for years but never made a connection with a game, I don't think I've played it before. The music was indeed interesting, but the sound effects seemed to take me in more, since they were coming out of these speakers surprisingly well. Was this game originally played with a spinner? I was using a saturn controller, and the controls felt a little funky.

I honestly didn't do too well on this one. Everytime the little formation of guys curved out up top i'd end up trying to shoot them all and getting blasted. I got to Neptune OK but not much farther. I ended up with like 26000 on my first try. However, the girlfriend liked it, and ended up getting a few stages past me, ending around 40000 on her first try. Fun game, but I kinda suck at it. If I had a spinner I'd probably be better at it, or at least enjoy it enough to play it more. I do enjoy tempest, so I can appreciate the influence here. I think my controls kinda ruined it for me though. I'll give this game another shot when I have spinner gear.

[I Am Humanoid]

Check out this clip from the *i aM HuMaNoiD CD.


Storm Clouds Over Gyruss (http://digitalpress.5u.com/dpsoundz/mp3/tony_fox_stormclouds_over_gyruss_sample.mp3)

:)

[Lady Jaye]

I love Gyruss. As it was mentioned, it's basically a Tempest-meets-Galaga game, which can only mean love from me. :D

IMO, the gameplay owes more to Tempest than Galaga. And the music, well, only enhances the whole experience.

Sadly, I've never played Gyruss in an arcade. That must have been something too! (I suppose that the original control was a dial? It'd certainly explain why it's not easy to play Gyruss with an ordinary d-pad)

[TripppsK]

Very nice pick, thanx for bringing this game back to my memory.

[SoulBlazer]

One of my ALL TIME favorite arcade games, hands down! I always played this game in the aracades. Yes, the original machine does have a stick. The music is so great, and it does pull you into the game. It's quite hard.

The same guy who made this game and Time Pilot (another of my all time favorites), made a number of games for Capcom after quitting Konami -- and I want to say he helped make the Street Fighter series! Check out Kent's History of Video Games for more on this.

For years I hungered for a GOOD home version. The NES game is fun, but it's a little different then arcade Gyruss. Finally Konami released Konami Arcade Classics for the PS1 and the port of Gyruss included was almost perfect, being able to use the stick.

The version I play all the time now, though, is the GBA version of Konami Arcade Advanced. It handles well enough with the pad and you can use a stick if you play it on a Game Boy Player, plus you have it on the go.

And there's a 'new' stage -- enter the Koanmi code on the main menu of the game and you start in a three wave 'black hole' stage that is DAMN HARD. You also get two extra ships to help you in the game. The plus side of going through the black hole stage is that you ALWAYS have double blasters during the rest of the game. It seems like this really helps make the game easier -- it finally allowed me to get to Earth after all these years. :D

[Flack]

Boy are you guys making me feel old. No one played this in the arcade? The arcade version used a regular old 8-way joystick. Here is a picture (http://www.beercade.com/video/gyruss/polishedstick.jpg) of the control panel with the original joystick. I think using a actual 8-way joystick makes this game a little easier to control.

Here are the three things I always try and remember while playing.

1 - like Tempest, keep moving
2 - shoot the mine as quickly as possible for double shots.
3 - you can shoot the enemies even when they're in their little circle in the middle.

Just keep firing and everything'll work out. ;)

[I Am Humanoid]

No one played this in the arcade?

I remember playing Gyruss when it first came out at a local candy store on 86th Street and 20th Avenue in Brooklyn, on the opposite side of the street from where Lenny's Pizza is. That was one one of the places where they filmed Saturday Night Fever. 86th Street was a real hot-spot for years after that movie came out and I always played Gyruss in the back of that candy store on 20th Avenue. Memories...

[Sotenga]

Define "classic". To do that, go to a video game dictionary (I bet such a thing exists out there somewhere), find it, and you may incidentally catch a glimpse of a diagram of Gyruss next to the definition. This game could be considered one of the great shoot-em-ups of the early eighties. The simple formula (shoot EVERYTHING) is addicting, the booming music is attracting, and the unique perspective is what gives Gyruss its individuality. I'm very glad that it is on Konami Arcade Classics for the PSX, as well as Arcade Advance for the GBA.

I also remember this one arcade that had, among many other great titles, a top-down Gyruss cabinet, and if my memory serves me correctly, I sucked at it. I have much improved since then. :D

Actually, I still kinda suck at it... though, one time, I did actually get all the way to the Sun. That was on Arcade Advance, so things could be easier there than the arcade original.

[kainemaxwell]

What a great pic! One my favorite old arcade and NES titles! What is the name of the clasical pace played for the bg music?

[Lady Jaye]

Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor by Bach.

[slip81]

Never played this one before today, but it's a cool game. I like this style of shooters where you can move around the whole screen better than vertical ones.

Very nice background music as well.

After my first attempt my high score was 25,750

[Graham Mitchell]

The version I play all the time now, though, is the GBA version of Konami Arcade Advanced. It handles well enough with the pad and you can use a stick if you play it on a Game Boy Player, plus you have it on the go.

And there's a 'new' stage -- enter the Koanmi code on the main menu of the game and you start in a three wave 'black hole' stage that is DAMN HARD. You also get two extra ships to help you in the game. The plus side of going through the black hole stage is that you ALWAYS have double blasters during the rest of the game. It seems like this really helps make the game easier -- it finally allowed me to get to Earth after all these years.


Hey, thanks, Soulblazer; I never even thought to enter the Konami code. Incidentally, it works on all the games in that cart (though I have no clue what it does in Yi-Ar Kung Fu or Time Pilot). I have renewed interest in that cart now!

I played it today and I still bite ass at it (I was really good at the NES version...not at the real thing, though). It looks really swell on the DS, though! 8-)

[Retsudo]

The first time I played this game was on the NES. A great game.

[SoulBlazer]

Well, for more info on Konami Arcade Advanced for the GBA, please see my FAQ on GameFAQ's. :D

[stargate]

Great game, really draws you in. I played this one a lot back in the day. One thing though about the controller. I realize KLOV has it listed as a standard 8 way stick, but I seem to remember the joystick only going left and right on the actual arcade game and your ship would basically circle around to the left or right. This also appears consistent with the arrow markings on the control panel Flak posted. I could be wrong though.

[Graham Mitchell]

Great game, really draws you in. I played this one a lot back in the day. One thing though about the controller. I realize KLOV has it listed as a standard 8 way stick, but I seem to remember the joystick only going left and right on the actual arcade game and your ship would basically circle around to the left or right. This also appears consistent with the arrow markings on the control panel Flak posted. I could be wrong though.

I seem to remember that, too, but I'm not positive; honestly, I played that game in the arcade when I was about 9 years old, so it's hazy.

[k8track]

I realize KLOV has it listed as a standard 8 way stick, but I seem to remember the joystick only going left and right on the actual arcade game and your ship would basically circle around to the left or right. This also appears consistent with the arrow markings on the control panel Flak posted. I could be wrong though.

No, you move the joystick around in a circular fashion, and the ship's movement matches yours. I always thought that this game could really use a Tempest paddle controller!


For years I hungered for a GOOD home version. The NES game is fun, but it's a little different then arcade Gyruss. Finally Konami released Konami Arcade Classics for the PS1 and the port of Gyruss included was almost perfect, being able to use the stick.

The version that I cut my teeth on and that I still think is superior is the Commodore 64 version. One of the best C64 games ever; I remember it blowing me away as a kid. I was also very impressed with the 2600 version at the time; I was amazed that they could cram all that in a 2600 game. I played the heck out of that as well. I also remember being impressed that Parker Brothers gave Bach his proper credit in the instruction manual--I'd never seen that before.

I've always considered this game to be one of the essential arcade games of its era. I think I might have seen an arcade version of it way back when, but didn't play it. This is a game I revisit time and again on MAME and the PS1 collection. A wonderful classic.

[Flack]

Oh man, I played the crap out of the Commodore 64 version as well!

I just got done playing a few rounds on my MAME Cabinet and all I can say is it is SO much easier with a real joystick. I've been playing Gyruss off and on all week on my laptop both with the keyboard and with a psx-like controller and my highest score of the week has been 35,000. I just went and played 3 or 4 rounds on my MAME Cab and hit 48,000. It's just so much easier with a real joystick.

[Graham Mitchell]

I just remembered something: Gyruss appears in Appalooza's crapfest Contra: Legacy of War. There's a jungle level where you can invade a hut or a bar or something and there's an arcade machine there. If you walk up to it, you can play Gyruss! It's kind of modeled after the NES version if I remember correctly, and it's somewhat lackluster because there's no music for it, but it's there.

[petewhitley]

Oh man, I played the crap out of the Commodore 64 version as well!

Ditto. That was an absolutely killer port at the time.

[TheSmirk]

Great game! I used to play it in the arcade as well (bowling alley actually in this case) they had the stick and then rotor after a bit,(stick got busted, rotor put in)

Anytime I come across a machine I have to play a game or three....as others have mentioned, definitely tips its hat to tempest (and also to GORF), not as speedy as tempest but the galaga-ish behavior of the enemy makes it a fun game.Music, as was said, great!

And like a dipshit, I still chuckle to myself when I've reached "URANUS" LOL

[FooFighter]

I love Gyruss and play it often as it brings back memories.

It is a great twist on the Galaxian/ Galaga game type. I love the fact that you have goals to reach in the form of travelling to the planets. I think that was what made me become addicted to it. I wanted to see all of them.

When I was 14 or 15 my parents took me to Hawaii and the first island we went to was Kauai and it rained all of the time. The hotel had a Gyruss machine in an outdoor covered cafe and I played it non stop with the Hawaiian rain falling all around me untill we finally went to Maui.

Hmmmm I may just have to join this Mame club thing :)

[Flack]

I went to an arcade auction today. Several of the games for sale were MAME Cabinets. By coincidence, a couple of guys started trying it out and happened to pick Gyruss. I'd say on a normal day I'm so/so at Gyruss but of course thanks to the MAME Club I've been playing it all week. So after those guys get done playing they go, "you wanna try it?" so I step up and I'm like, "well I'm a little rusty" and then I proceeded to kick their asses at it! I was on like level 6 when the auction began so I just ended up having to walk away from it. I think those guys were a little shocked.

It'll just be our secret. ;)

[Graham Mitchell]

I went to an arcade auction today. Several of the games for sale were MAME Cabinets. By coincidence, a couple of guys started trying it out and happened to pick Gyruss. I'd say on a normal day I'm so/so at Gyruss but of course thanks to the MAME Club I've been playing it all week. So after those guys get done playing they go, "you wanna try it?" so I step up and I'm like, "well I'm a little rusty" and then I proceeded to kick their asses at it! I was on like level 6 when the auction began so I just ended up having to walk away from it. I think those guys were a little shocked.

It'll just be our secret. ;)

LOL LOL ! See, the MAME club can be useful!