MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat

>I am wondering if anyone here happened to download the free beta several years back. One,
>because its been scrubbed from the internet and someday many appropriate years from now,
>Mame will include it. The beta will be desirable for archiving.

That's a bummer, but sometimes stuff like that slips by. Maybe it was examined in the past and determined that it was not possible to run the beta copy in case it required some 'connection' to the company web site in order to run beta copy? I'd like to believe someone had already examined the beta copy to see if it could be run within MAME.

>If you haven’t played Cosmotrons at the local arcade show or the few bars around the
>country that have one, It is well worth seeking out with a few friends.
>Combining ideas from many vector graphics titles such as Gravitar, Space Duel, Space
> Wars, Eliminator, etc...

If it has option to also play against computer/machine opponent(s) as well, it might be worth trying out in case I see that in person because I liked Space Duel myself. If they thought of a continued time coin credit feature for the game, good move because maybe some players might be willing to stick around and insert more coin credit in order to play the game or complete the game if possible. Or better yet, and if developers thought this out....allow business operator have settings to be changed to 'redemption tickets' option so players could play the game more while building up score in order to win more prizes at some entertainment establishment such as amusement park or eatery like Dave and Busters etc.

To be successful in 21st century videogame coinop market, the video game development process has to be creative and be able to blend both a ticket redemption settings, but also be flexible and allow business operators to change game settings to a 20th century settings that does not include ticket redemption feature. Tougher video game coinop world these days compared to 1980s/1990s market environment. The game design operations settings would have to be so flexible that cab operators can accomodate both 20th century players and 21st century players' tastes. Ticket redemption or no ticket redemption just for starters along with other multiple option/configuration settings.

For a 4 person (multiple player) coinop type game, I wish there was something similar to Broderbund's Ancient Art of War. The control panel hardware inputs would likely require a combination of buttons/joystick/trackball setup in order to really get something usable to really play Ancient Art of War. It was a great home computer game in its day, but probably be considered a crappy video game coinop game by younger generations.

The negative side besides all the manufacturing costs would be business operators with words of: "...like hell if we are going to let 4 players sit around some coinop game 5 hours straight trying to play a single game even if there is a timed settings feature requiring players to insert credits every 5 minutes. This is a coinop game....not a home computer game."

>Hard to believe there has been no mention of this awesome game on the forum.

If restaurants (including fast food businesses) still had vendors supplying coinop games at establishments in the past such as 1970s and 1980s, it might have been mentioned by now, but many of the eatery places stopped doing that stuff. To me, seeing a coinop type videogame cab is almost like coming across a public coinoperated telephone because they seem to be very rare these days.

Edited by gregf (02/11/20 11:41 AM)