Who here plays MAME and other Emus?

[Jeff Strong]

Alpha 2 is where it’s at, eh? I’ve been playing Alpha 3, but it’s not quite as good?

I was thinking about picking up Ultra IV on Steam.

Yeah, I just have trouble with special moves with the stick, mainly because it’s easy in the heat of battle to lose a sense of where exactly the switches are and being slightly off is a no-go, whereas on a controller that’s never an issue because you always have each D-pad button to keep you directionally grounded, if that makes sense. I probably just need to practice more with a stick, but yeah I’m waaay better on a controller. One thing I do prefer about playing on a stick is the 6 button layout. It’s easier to switch up different attacks, plus it just feels cool heh.

 

[Citizen]

Well, Alpha 2 is just my preference. It has a pretty dedicated following, but Alpha 3 is much more popular overall due to the -isms and the admittedly cooler roster. Plus lots of people love A3 more due to the added modes in the home version.

But I love the superior balance and more streamlined mechanics of A2. It just has such a tight feel. Probably why I also prefer HF over ST. I always thought that A2 felt like the truest sequel to the SFII series and that it feels more like playing ST than it does like playing A3. So better? Maybe, maybe not, depending on what you value more, balance or mechanical depth. But it's certainly different. I do love both, even though I slotted A3 6th, it's still a great game.

Agreed on 6-button layouts.

The world needs more good fighting controllers.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Right on. This is the kind of veteran knowledge I was looking for. Really appreciate it. I’ll dive into Alpha 2 tonight.

Agreed. That controller is incredible. If it had a dpad it’d be perfect for me.

Maybe I should scoop one of these up eventually:

https://www.amazon.com/HORI-Fighting-Commander-Officially-Licensed-Microsoft/dp/B01MSEPQ55/

 

[francis247uk]

I got distracted by girls, parties, and skateboarding and missed out on Alpha and III.

I want to hear more about these girls and parties Jeff!!!

SFIII 3rd strike plays great on Mame, still holds up well today. SFIII 2nd Impact has amazing backgrounds and a sweet widescreen mode.
Alpha 3 is great, Mame version misses some of the characters and the world tour mode, so go with the dreamcast version for that.

 

[Jeff Strong]

haha, it’s all a bit hazy, my man

One thing I noticed about running these in MAME is that the default aspect ratio isn’t 4:3, but much wider. It’s interesting that they developed them that way when all the arcade machines were of course 4:3 (at least for the most part). They actually don’t look bad at their native ratio either, but I go ahead and force it to 4:3 just since that’s what we’re all used to.

I’ll defintiely have to check out the dreamcast version of Alpha 3. What exactly is World Tour mode? I’ve heard some other people mention it on the PSP version too I think it was. I tried downloading a couple PSP roms but couldn’t get them to work properly in Retroarch. Also tried the PS2 Anthology, but it doesn’t run at full speed. Thankfully the MAME versions are flawless.

 

[francis247uk]

Quite hard to explain world tour mode quickly, basically you fight all over the world with different parameters to win and can upgrade your characters stats- keeps you hooked for hours. Yeah PSP version has everything but also adds a couple of characters from Capcom Vs SNK that don't really fit in with the rest of the cast, makes it feel a bit like MUGEN. So for me anyway, the dreamcast version wins overall. Can be a little difficult to emulate with a stand alone emulator like Demul, might want to stick to Retroarch for simplicity.

 

[francis247uk]

Forgot to mention that Super Street Fighter 2 is my sf2 preference, because it still retains the bonus stages (car/barrels) and isn't ridiculously fast like sf2turbo or super street fighter 2 turbo, although i think I'm in the minority. Unfortunately the Mame rom seems really hard even on the easiest difficulty setting for some reason.
Quick shout out to SNK Garou Mark Of The Wolves - my favourite non Street Fighter 2D beat em up, worth a try!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Can confirm that SSF2 on MAME is tough as nails. The AI on SNES is not nearly as brutal. SSF2 Turbo on MAME is the most grueling I’ve come across. Gotta keep the kiddos pumping in those quarters heh.

 

[Citizen]

Fighting Commanders are great, I think you'd really like using one. It's good that you posted the Xbox one. It has button assignment. The Sony one sadly doesn't.

a couple of characters from Capcom Vs SNK

No Eagle in IV or V made me sad.

Quick shout out to SNK Garou Mark Of The Wolves

Seconded.

 

[francis247uk]

Hey Jeff, I got one of those Xbox pads for Sonic Mania - it's ok with emulators but I actually found the 8bitdo Snes pads the most comfortable for this sort of thing, the Hori one was a little chunky.
Hopefully someone will recreate a decent Saturn pad eventually, they look like they could be the most comfortable 6 button controller with D-pad.

 

[Citizen]

8bitdo are great. Just sucks that none are 6-button layouts.

I really want these to be good, but it's Retro-bit, so they'll most likely be trash.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Wow, those would be perfect if the quality was up to snuff.

Now I'm really intrigued about having a six button controller, so I may end up ordering a Hori. I can always return it if it's too bulky.

 

[Hinph]

If you want a good wireless six-button controller, you can always buy a six-button Sega Mega Drive controller (SJ-6000) that's in good shape and modify it with an 8bitdo DIY kit. Will be a bit pricey though, so maybe it's best to wait and see if the Retro-bit recreations end up being good... I'm personally waiting to see if 8bitdo releases a DIY kit for the Saturn controller.

 

[Jeff Strong]

That would be pretty cool.

One thing I like about the Hori Fighting Commander is that all 6 of the buttons are the same size.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

I'm a bit late to the thread but I'm another one for SFAlpha/Zero 2. With Super SF2, as my number 2. Alpha was really the first true to arcade version on consoles, with SFA and SFA2 on Saturn! (or PS1, but Saturn was better). Snes and Gen version of SF2 were ok, but limited. Also the Darkstalkers series is often overlooked but it's right around the same time a Alpha 1&2 and really fun.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Sounds like I’ll mostly be sticking to MAME except for maybe the Dreamcast version of Alpha 3.

Haven’t had a whole lot of time to play as I’ve been working on migrating everything over from an old version of MAME to Retroarch so I can just emulate everything with FB Alpha since it can do CPS3 as well as all the older stuff, which has been a bit of a pain since I’ve had to update my rom set, tweaking Attract Mode, and all that entails...but it’ll be a much better setup and I do enjoy the tinkering aspect of it.

 

[The loafer]

So much on the go, I can't seem to find the time to update the damn arcade cab. Same thing with my snes mini, retirement is something I'm looking forward to in two years just so I can catch up on the various hobbies and finally go back to astrophotography!!

cool thread though so bookmarking it so that I can review whenever I do find the time, love it when people talk about their fav classic games

 

[Jeff Strong]

Right on Loafer. Something to look forward to for sure.

D'oh: I just realized FB Alpha can't emulate Motorola 6809 CPU based titles (yet), so no classic Williams stuff like Joust or Defender. Well, there goes my dream of using just one arcade emulator...damn it.

EDIT:

Looks like I found a workaround of sorts:

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=349.0

 

[Jeff Strong]

BTW, speaking of fighting games, what do you guys think of the newer stuff? I see that both the latest Killer Instinct and Tekken have good reviews on Steam, so was thinking about picking one of them up when they go on sale. As for a modern Street Fighter, it seems like Ultra IV is the way to go, eh? Seems to be a lot of mixed reviews on V, mainly for the greedy DLC system from what I can tell.

 

[Citizen]

Ultra IV is the best for modern SF.

KoF XIII and XIV are solid games.