MAME

[SQUIDMAN]

Don't Know if anyone uses MAME, but I'm pretty old school, and still get my arcade fix every once in a while. I have about every rom there is, if you really need or want one I can look to see I have it. Must know it's (roms name) name. Except for the RAIDEN series I am not sure what rom runs what game, so let me know. or just drop a line if you play

[TaoPhoenix]

The last time I used MAME was before these copyright gorillas really got up to full speed. The only game I really cared about was Ataxx, a little memory from my college days, and that program is so far into grey abandonware it is almost officially public domain.

[SQUIDMAN]

MAME itself isn't copyrighted, mostly the roms, don't know why almost no one uses them. Will look for this game, Ataxx, since it doesn't ring a bell just to see
what it is? Some how I just like playing these arcade games from the time when quarters were kings.

[TaoPhoenix]

MAME itself isn't copyrighted, mostly the roms, don't know why almost no one uses them. Will look for this game, Ataxx, since it doesn't ring a bell just to see
what it is? Some how I just like playing these arcade games from the time when quarters were kings.

-SQUIDMAN (October 06, 2012, 12:54 AM)

Well, that's sorta the problem, Mame is like "hardware", it's nice to have a framework and all, but the roms are pretty clearly copyrighted stuff, cue all the juicy new copyright laws.

Ataxx is like a game called Othello that involves turning your opponent's markers into your own, back and forth. So the field of influence changes immensely.

This is a decent intro.
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=z7x0i_4Q47M

The killer innovation at the time was that it uses a ranking system very much like the tournament chess world. And from the tiny bit of info I have, if you dig up a chessplayer with a ranking, their ataxx rating will be slightly close to the guy's chess rating.

Edit: I don't really agree with his strategy comments, so if anyone really gets hooked on this game dig me up and we can thrash around a little. The point is the opponents are rating-graded and he skipped the two easy ones at the low levels that most people practice on.

Edit: The keyboard controls on this game for MAME always bothered me. It's something like Tab to get past the data screen, 5 to add more coins, 1 to select first player to play, and left control as the key action push button. (The mouse part is a little fast but you can slow that down if you like, I am being lazy today. )

[TaoPhoenix]

This is me beating Mushman, which is about the limits of my abilities.

The basic idea is that Mushman jumps a little too much, so you can sweep behind the "loose holes" and collect points when he leaves weaknesses.

The thing about the opponents getting stronger per rating is the strategy you used on the prev opponent doesn't work on the next one up. For example, any smart play beats Colony, you have to be a little awake to beat Droolman, and by Mushman you need a few serious concepts. Prob is, Mushy is all Jumpy, while Gorgon and Cephalo take smaller moves but they do Damage Control. I might have beaten Gorgon once, but no promises, that level is about where my talents end.

[SQUIDMAN]

Thanks for the info, and picture of the game. I understand the copy right stuff, just seems that these roms aren't really being used except by old schoolers like me, or like when I take 2 UTUBE vids that aren't copyright protected and edit and put them together all the sudden multiple blah, blah, blah. Very strange stuff, doesn't look like anybody MAME's here. Was the Ataxx png from your hard drive? Don't or didn't know we could import these to our postes. 

[TaoPhoenix]

Thanks for the info, and picture of the game. I understand the copy right stuff, just seems that these roms aren't really being used except by old schoolers like me, or like when I take 2 UTUBE vids that aren't copyright protected and edit and put them together all the sudden multiple blah, blah, blah. Very strange stuff, doesn't look like anybody MAME's here. Was the Ataxx png from your hard drive? Don't or didn't know we could import these to our postes. 

-SQUIDMAN (October 07, 2012, 12:37 AM)

Obligatory mean Copyright of Borg post: "Who uses the roms is irrelevant." That's yet another reason why I'm sad at the recent push towards strict IP. You might have been right like 10 years ago under the old "Abandonware honor code" where game companies sometimes posted notices of intent not to sue if you played their old games without a particular intent to sell anything.

Heh - no, I actually have the MAME copy of Ataxx! It's my one and only MAME game : ) That was a picture of a real game I played earlier. The picture came from ... wait for it ... ScreenShot Captor! 

But yeah, you can post a picture into a post. (However, I can only seem to do it right when I modify a post, additional controls come up that weren't there before. If I get around to it on the Forum Info section, I'll ask Mouser if that can be tweaked.)

[SQUIDMAN]

This is a test to see if I can add a attachment, that will show, I think there are around 10-20
roms that have been released, no stings attached. Looked at the bottom of reply post saw this link for doing attachments.  Can't see my att. in preview, so not sure if it worked, tried a jpg file.
here's link:
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1996.0

Modified Sorry the jpg not meant to offend you or directed at you in anyway!
didn't realize I couldn't delete it, had no silly cat or cute dog pictures! Again Sorry!

[mouser]

didn't realize I couldn't delete it,

you can delete a file attached to a post; just edit the post and uncheck the checkbox for it.

[SQUIDMAN]

Thanks mouser DIDN'T mean to offend anyone
Will be more careful in future!

[Edvard]

IIRC there were a few ROMs available that the original companies had released as more or less "good will".  Atari, Namco, et al. have always been tight with their IP, including games hardly anybody plays anymore. 
Then Atari comes back with a "2600-in-a-joystick" and you know what's going on...  They're all biding their time to cash in on the "nostalgia" market.
My favorite site for ROMs was shut down bit by bit, one ROM at a time until suddenly all that was left was a handful of screenshots and cab art and a big notice that they weren't hosting ROMs anymore. Can't remember their name, but they were based in Germany, so I thought they were semi-untouchable.  Great site for info though, even after they were shut down for ROM downloads.

[Edvard]

Now I remember - it wasn't Germany, it was Denmark.  The site was Mame.dk, and was shutdown by their crap hosting company eFront.  Man, that was a great site, never got a bad ROM from them...
http://web.archive.o.../http://www.mame.dk/

[SQUIDMAN]

I will have to do more looking for the 2 other files, not named the same as game. Found PM!

Here is a web link for battle zone:
http://www.emuparadi...e_Zone_(set_2)/11685

I also have them, not sure if it will work right. All for now, one more to go!

http://www.coolrom.c...older_version%29.php says there are 2 versions here.
Same as before I believe I have both, didn't run them to see if they work yet. Let me know!