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Thread: MAME Club [4/05/04] - Rampart!

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    Flawless Rawkality Flack's Avatar
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    Default MAME Club [4/05/04] - Rampart!

    Greetings and salutations fellow MAME'ers!

    This week's ROM selection by Vespertillio contains a combination of Tetris-like construction, a whole lotta strategy, and some good old fashioned destruction. That can only mean one thing ...

    RAMPART is the MAME Club pick of the week!
    Link to rom will be posted shortly.




    Note: There are three versions of this ROM -- English/Trackball, Japanese/Joystick, and English/Joystick. Download accordingly!

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

    ghsqb is next, followed by TheSmirk. Now quit reading this, load up Rampart, and ...

    MAME On!

  2. #2
    Pac-Man (Level 10) Arqueologia_Digital's Avatar
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    I don´t like this game, the arcade version is better than the SMS, but i found it very boring...

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    For me, Rampart isn't that much fun as a one player game -- it's when you start blasting the crap out of a FRIEND'S castle that the fun really begins!

    In Rampart, players start out with a castle surrounded by walls. Gameplay is divided up into two parts: building (or REbuilding), and combat. In one player mode, you will be trying to shoot ships on the ocean which are firing at your castle walls. In two player mode, you'll be firing at your pal's castle walls while he's firing at yours.

    After combat ends, rebuilding begins. You have a limited amount of time to rebuild your castle. You are presented with random wall shapes (not unlike Tetris pieces). Each piece can be rotated. Depending on how good of a shot your enemy is, rebuilding can be particularly maddening. For example, if a castle wall is right up against the edge of a screen and they only shoot out a 1x1 section of wall, you'll have to wait for a 1x1 block to fill that hole.

    If you've got enough time left after your done with repairs you can extend your castle's walls to encompass other castles. Capture another castle and you'll receive more cannons. More cannons mean more shots during combat, but it also means you'll have more walls to repair after the dust settles. If your castle doesn't have a complete wall around it when the rebuilding round is over, you lose those cannons. If none of your castles have complete walls around them, your game is over.

    I personally think Rampart is much easier to play with a trackball. Aiming your cannons is much easier, as you can guide the trackball much quicker and more accurately along your enemy's castle walls. It's okay with a joystick, but not quite the same.

    If you want to try Rampart out on different systems, it's also available for the C64, the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Genesis, Lynx, SMS, NES, and SNES.

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    To be honest, I was never able to get into this game... possibly because I really, really, really suck at it. Every time I play, I always get the feeling that the only reason I get anywhere in the game is because I got lucky. Can anyone provide some hints, so that maybe I can actually become somewhat successful at this?

    --Zero

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    If you are playing against another person, don't try and destroy large parts of their castle walls. Instead, move along their walls at a constant speed and don't press fire as fast as you can, instead fire at a medium, steady rate. What this will do is instead of destroying large sections of their wall, it will leave 1x1 and 1x2 holes in their wall which are a pain in the ass to fix.

    Once you get your castle fixed, use the remaining build time to add stuff on to your castle. Remember, only the castle parts that are connected to your castle stay after the end of the round, so just start stacking random pieces on to your wall in the direction of the nearest castle. Also, you have a very limited amount of time to fix your damage. If you can't use a piece, stick it somewhere and move on!

    In the one player version, make sure you fire slightly in front of the battleships so they will run into your cannonfire. Don't fire all of your cannons at one ship. Instead, fire once or twice and move to the next one. That's the quickest way to eliminate them. As long as they're around, they'll be shooting at you.

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    Pear (Level 6)
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    This was a great late-release for Atari in the arcades. Maybe their last best arcade game? (ok, Steel Talons was pretty decent)...

    Anyway, it is an awesome multiplayer game, especially three players. It's a great mix of action, and has a unique puzzle element too. One of the first games that I remembered that mixed the two so well. It takes some skill and strategy, not just a button masher, although it appears to be one. I also liked how the winner could decide whether to guillotine their friends or spare them.. heh.. any last words?

    On MAME... it's definitely nowhere near as good. The trackball effect is gone, and it's harder to play for most people. It's also tougher to play multiplayer too. The monitor in the arcade was huge, as was the 3-player cabinet, and it's nowhere near the same on my monitor.

    For home versions, the Lynx one is great, with some added visuals. Also, there was a great PC port around in the day too. I remember it well because it fit on a single 3 1/2 disk, and was a great game that you could install on anyone's computer. Ready... Aim... Fire!

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Hello all, what the other posters above have said is true. I found this game in MAME years ago. I never had a chance to play it in the arcade. While the one player games are fun for practice; it's the two and three player games that make this game stand out. I actually had problems with the ROMS frekaing out on my verison of MAME when I first played this game. After about 3 levels it would kind of lock up in multiplayer games. It pissed me off enough to track down a dedicated 3 player cab with the trackballs.

    As far as strategy goes here are some tips: (this is for a multiplayer game)
    1. Pick your 1st castle carefully. Do not pick one that is close to the outer walls or by the shoreline. You are setting yourself up for disaster. It may seem tempting to as you can build outer walls to reach more castles easilly. Don't do it.

    2. During the first battle, take out your own walls. That's right, blow out the outer walls needed to extend to your other castles. This also leaves your buddy (if he is not doing the same thing) with more walls to deal with.

    3. After the first battle, build out and try to get at least 3 castles surrounded. While doing this, extend the walls out as for as possible. By doing this you are able to gain more bonus (area covered) points.

    4. Next battle; take out the other players castle walls. Don't go for the cannons. While it is possible to take out a player cannon with about 10 shots, it's not worth it. Don't focus fire on one area. Spread shots evenly. Move-shoot, move-shoot, move-shoot. If you notice an enemy castle where the walls are bunched up, shoot right for the middle. If your aim is right, they will be hard pressed to rebuild it.

    5. After the battle, check your damage. If the other player was doing well, your castle is in shambles.2 thoughts here. If you built out your walls enough, you can rebuild from the inside. Forget about the small cracks, don't fill them. Just cover them up by building a new inside walls. If you build your walls a little more tightly, build a whole new set of walls on the outside.

    6. Usually at the very least, try to get your original home castle walls rebuild. When you do this you are ensured of getting the most cannons the next round.

    7. When you do get extra cannons, spread them out in nice clustered bunches surrounding your other castles. While it's great to bunch them up evenly, do so across your entire layout. The thinking here is that, when you are so badly damaged you can’t complete the whole rebuild of your walls, you can at least rebuild the walls around one or two of your castles and surrounding cannons. While you will only get 1 cannon for each castle you surround (that is not your home castle) you will still be alive and able to rebuild the rest after the screen cleans up excess clutter.

    8. As your layout grows (and it will) resist the urge to place cannons all the way out to your walls. You need to leave space for cleanups as the game progresses. You may notice that there is a lot of space, but as the game progresses and the shapes get weirder, you need all the space you can get to rebuild. It is perfectly ok to leave cannons unused.

    9. If you are losing pretty soundly and you feel it is a pain and chore to keep your walls built, go ahead and lose the round. THAT’S RIGHT, LOSE THE ROUND!!! "Why?" You start fresh the next round. This allows you to once again start form scratch and after the next battle build a mighty (clean) outer wall around your surrounding castles. By doing this you will also get the coveted 1000 point bonus' for surrounding large surface areas. Your buddy may be rebuilding to stay alive, but you just rebuilt as well and got a nice point bonus as well. Depending on how many castles and cannons your buddy has you may get anywhere form 3 to 8 castles to start with when you rebuild.

    10. If you do rebuild from scratch, don't feel bad because you are sorely outgunned. You have clean walls and if you built out enough, they are quite easy to fix. I can tell you right now, if you rebuild and only have 3-6 cannons, but your buddy did not, you can win a round here. You will have to shoot precisely at his weak spots. Areas of his walls that are muti-walled, so when you hit them, they are screwed as they need the coveted 1 square block for reapir. Also go for areas along the shoreline or back outer walls. Spread out your shots across separate areas of his entire realm. I have taken out mighty realms with just 3 cannons thanks to perfectly placed shots.

    11. As the game progresses, try to keep up your points with the other player. If you are losing use the technique in #9 to work up some points. Only do this two to three times though. If you do it too much, you will lose flat out as the game will deem you a pussy and declare the other player the victor.

    12. Final battle: Ok, it's come to the end. You and your buddy are pretty close points wise. This is the battle where you have to inflict as much damage as you can on the other player. Make it so there is no way he can rebuild. Here's the thing, you may be behind on points, but if he can't rebuild a darn thing, you will win. To do this, surround just 1 of your castles. Forget the big picture here, just make it so you can surround 1 castle when the battle is over. If your opponent can't do the same, you will win. If on the other hand, he can surround one castle as well. Try to get the rest of yours surrounded. From here on, it's a point's game.

    I guess that’s about it. I can post a strategy for the one player games if folks want. Just let me know. Enjoy the game.

    Fred

    - I don't really like my friends. Yeah, I don't really like your friends either. -
    Lee Harvey Oswald was not a male model... You're god damn right he wasn't, but those two lookers who capped Kennedy from the grassy knoll sure as shit were.-

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Default Rampart Strategerie

    One other thing: if you are playing a 2 player game and you're playing with the water option, shoot the other person's ships. Ships automatically shoot at the opponent's walls, and if you can remove his ships while keeping some of your own you can let your ships take care of your opponent's walls while you deal with his new ships. It's a lot easier than having to try and take care of both his castle and ships too. After a while you will have a load of ships because the game generates extra ones each turn. If you lose your ships you will only get a couple of new ones with each new turn and you'll really feel it when you start getting behind in ship count.
    - I don't really like my friends. Yeah, I don't really like your friends either. -
    Lee Harvey Oswald was not a male model... You're god damn right he wasn't, but those two lookers who capped Kennedy from the grassy knoll sure as shit were.-

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    I think I realized why I can't get into this game... somehow, it's not only frustrating for me, but also stressful. I have a hard time hitting the ships, and the time limit while rebuilding really gets to me somehow. The game ends up feeling like more of a chore than a fun diversion.

    --Zero

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    Peach (Level 3) TheSmirk's Avatar
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    This is a cool game, but mainly when you are doing the two player game. It can get crazy in later battles trying to fit the repair walls in
    feitctaj !

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