http://www.pspminis.com/forums/forum/upcoming-psp-minis No. 1 Site for PSP Minis News & Reviews en-US Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:38:45 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.pspminis.com/forums/search.php http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19305 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:02:23 +0000 onmode-ky 19305@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Atariboy, in case you don\'t check the main blog, <a href="http://www.pspminis.com/8329/bermuda-triangle-review-more-a-shemp-than-a-shmup/">JeremyR\'s review of <em>Bermuda Triangle</em></a> is up now. I\'ve made some minor edits and added a comment.</p> <p>I just watched part of that YouTube video of <em>Sky Soldiers</em> gameplay. I don\'t get that guy\'s playing style. Why does he keep ceasing fire? He\'d get a lot more kills, as well as far fewer enemy bullets on screen to avoid, if he would simply continuously fire. The way he was playing, enemies were appearing, spreading out, and throwing lots of bullets at him before he got them, <em>if</em> he got them. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/i-kill-zombies#post-19175 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:51:50 +0000 raing3 19175@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Congrats on getting past Sony QA. You seem to have changed how you have been promoting I Kill Zombies, I remember before Ninjamurai and Revoltin\' Youth were released you kept assuring us that they would be more bug free than your previous games though arguably it has gone the other way. :P</p> <p>Either way, none of the bugs have ever effected me and being a smaller developer you obviously don\'t have the same resources to devote to testing as bigger developers do.</p> <p>Hopefully PEGI will give you your rating so we can get an EU release date. :) </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/i-kill-zombies#post-19173 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:03:39 +0000 OpenEmotion 19173@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>So I Kill Zombies should have its ESRB rating later today and we are still waiting to hear back from PEGI in Europe. It\'s passed Sony\'s QA which means it could/should drop on PSN in Europe very soon and then in the US about 3 weeks after as per usual.. U gonna get it? :P </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19118 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:50:38 +0000 onmode-ky 19118@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Well, I got that far with the starting lives count set to 5. I\'d assumed the progress you were talking about was with the initial game settings--which I haven\'t actually tried, Easy and 3 lives. I\'ve done Normal and 3 for \"tournament play\" (i.e., for the High Scores topic), and I\'ve done Easy and 5 for just trying to get as far as possible.</p> <p>I hate the end of Stage 3\'s backward scrolling. It seems like there\'s no way to avoid getting shot by that stupid fortress thing waiting at the bottom of the screen, and then by his buddy who later comes in from the top of the screen. This was where my best run at Normal and 3 lives ended. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19116 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:56:18 +0000 Atariboy 19116@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I suspected you would surpass my performance pretty quick. :)</p> <p>I wonder what the deal is with Safari Rally. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19098 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:18:14 +0000 onmode-ky 19098@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I wonder if G1M2 not rescaling the image for original aspect ratio was a design choice or an oversight. Since the game can be played rescaled to fit into the confines of the PSP screen (and unfortunately maintaining square-pixel aspect ratio), I\'d guess the latter, rather than some performance impact consideration. :(</p> <p>I went back and retried <em>Bermuda Triangle</em> on my PS3 (Easy/5 lives), putting a save state at the start of the second stage boss fight. After repeatedly dying and reloading, I eventually figured out that if you\'re moving away from the boss as the spread bombs approach, they won\'t actually hit you. Instead, they\'ll stop where you <em>were</em>, wait for a half second or so, and then detonate with a small radius of splash damage. So, it seems that the key here is to move toward and away from the boss in rhythm with the launching of these bombs.</p> <p>Continuing with the save state stuff, I managed to reach the fifth stage before I simply couldn\'t go any further. The Stage 3 and 4 bosses are both easier to deal with than the Stage 2 boss, strangely enough. After that Game Over, I played through again without using the save state, and lo and behold, I made it to the start of Stage 4 (and a score just over 150,000) before losing my last life. Kind of anticlimactic that my last ship died from little bullets shot by tiny little WW2 fighter planes, though.</p> <p>Incidentally, the latest NA PS Blog post for PS+, discussing February\'s perks, says <em>Gold Medalist</em> will be free for PS+ alongside Laughing Jackal\'s <em>Hungry Giraffe</em> on February 7th. Then, <em>S.A.R - Search and Rescue</em> will be coming, with a 20%-off PS+ discount, on February 21st. Looks like <em>Safari Rally</em> is still MIA. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19087 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:47:43 +0000 Atariboy 19087@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Pasting the shot of Bermuda Triangle from that scan into MS Paint and checking coordinates and doing the math shows that screen to be 3:4 (.75) just like God and SNK intended 25 years ago.</p> <p>Doing some searches just now makes me think that onmodes theories are likely correct in regards to the pixel proportions of a PSP screen causing issues here. And emulators using pixel perfect settings (1:1) will distort a 224 x 384 arcade game since they were intended to be displayed stretched to fill a standard 4:3 arcade monitor oriented vertically. </p> <p>I have little doubt this SNK game is in the same situation. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19084 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:41:26 +0000 JeremyR 19084@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Hmmm, looking at the screenshot of the game in that magazine review, it certainly seems to be more normal looking, with a ratio of 1.4 or so. Maybe more than 3:4, but not much.</p> <p><a href="http://www.solvalou.com/subpage/arcade_reviews/23/46/bermuda_triangle_review.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.solvalou.com/subpage/arcade_reviews/23/46/bermuda_triangle_review.html</a> </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19079 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:17:23 +0000 onmode-ky 19079@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I have a new theory regarding the aspect ratio of the game. While trying to determine whether 224 x 384 were a common arcade aspect ratio, I discovered that Capcom\'s <em>1941</em> was a 224 x 384 game. However, when played \"normally,\" that game doesn\'t look 9:16, or anywhere close. Might it be possible that <em>1941</em> and <em>Bermuda Triangle</em> are both 224 x 384 games where <em>the pixels on their original raster displays are not squares</em>? Thus, <em>Bermuda Triangle</em> isn\'t supposed to look super-tall, but it does on the PSP because the PSP uses square pixels.</p> <p>Does MAME account for original pixel shape in displaying games? That is, does it rescale the screen image dimensions to fit the proper aspect ratio--come to think of it, it must, because I think it always displays full screen (with appropriate sidebars or letterboxing) even for games whose native resolution is much smaller than a PC display. I guess that\'s not part of G1M2\'s emulation engine. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19077 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:32:07 +0000 JeremyR 19077@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Well, going by the screenshots that SNK released for Bermuda Triangle, the playing field has a ratio of 1.76, which is pretty close to 9:16\'s 1.7777.</p> <p>I get stuck at that boss, too. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19076 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:30:55 +0000 Atariboy 19076@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Maybe World Wars was a European name?</p> <p>Many of the screenshots at that website are terribly off in regards to the aspect ratio. I suspect someone was playing the game in MAME in TATE mode full screen on a 16:10 monitor, giving the screenshot a 10:16 appearance when rotated 90 degrees (The screenshots at KLOV are the same way). </p> <p>The monitor is a standard 4:3 monitor rotated 90 degrees when you see pictures of the cabinet or check documentation for the game (And the KLOV entry states it is a standard vertical raster monitor). Not even sure they were building raster monitors with a different aspect ratio back then. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bermuda+Triangle+SNK&amp;oq=Bermuda+Triangle+SNK&amp;aq=f&amp;aqi=&amp;aql=&amp;gs_sm=e&amp;gs_upl=29441l35524l0l35982l26l18l1l5l5l0l503l2974l0.4.4.3.0.1l12l0">Here</a> is video of the game with its correct 3:4 AR.</p> <p>Interestingly, according to the manual, you can insert credits for more ships (Called Zigs) up to 10 credits worth (30 ships). Guess G1M2 must have selected DIP switch settings that did not allow that. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19066 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:09:48 +0000 onmode-ky 19066@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>According to <a href="http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=885">System16</a>, <em>World Wars</em> and <em>Bermuda Triangle</em> are the same game. If the former is the Japanese name, then I\'m not sure how to reconcile the fact that the <em>SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0</em> trailer wrote the title as \"Bermuda Triangle\" in katakana. Perhaps a usable ROM image of the <em>World Wars</em> version of the game could not be found, so they went with the Western version? Which, of course, only has the Western name in it.</p> <p>Also, based on the screen caps at the System16 page, the game screen aspect ratio is 224:384, which is slightly less skinny than 9:16. Man, if 224 x 384 is the actual resolution of the game, that means the emulation in Normal display mode cuts off 56 lines from each of the top and bottom of the screen to show 272 lines on the PSP, nearly 30% cut out. Rotating the screen would have let it fit entirely. :(</p> <p>I\'ll see if I can use a save state to figure out how to survive the second stage boss. Maybe I should try reassigning the turret rotation buttons, too. I do have a hard time turning that turret, as it seems like you have to hold the button down for longer than just a tap in order for it to register--but not too long, or then it turns way too much. The \"auto aim\" mode (shoots in your direction of movement) is not so helpful, too.</p> <p>I started a topic for this title in the High Scores subforum, by the way. If you\'ve reached the third boss, I\'m sure your top score beats my current high. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19060 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:31:50 +0000 Atariboy 19060@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Bermuda Triangle is a vertically oriented game which means it should be 3:4.</p> <p>Anyways, so I fired up World Wars again in MAME last night only to discover it was the same game as Bermuda Triangle. Perhaps it was the Japanese name for the game? Taking a close look at the screenshots I posted earlier clearly shows that they also belong to Bermuda Triangle. I wonder what game I loaded up by mistake apparantly in MAME a while back then since I was having fun with it.</p> <p>I assume this release allows you to put more credits in since there is no reason not to let you. Even games that did not let you continue where you left off typically would recognize that you inserted another quarter giving you another credit so you can just hit the start button when your current game ends. No reason to disable that function of the game just because you cannot start off where your last game ended. Remember that this is a emulation of arcade code.</p> <p>I believe my best run was up to the 3rd boss, which I believe would be my 9th trip through (You go through the level three times to reach the boss as I recall). Have never been particularly great at vertical or horizontal shooters even though I love them (Although I can finish River Raid on the 2600, but usually my skills are mediocre which is one reason I never got into most modern efforts in todays bullet hell era of shooters). I suspect you should be able to surpass that with a bit more time with it.</p> <p>Kind of disappointed you did not like it more since I played it up a bit earlier in this thread. Hope it grows on you some. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19039 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:04:25 +0000 Freelance 19039@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I just tested it and you\'re right. What\'s the point of letting you add more credits then? </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19036 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:41:32 +0000 onmode-ky 19036@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p><blockquote>Yes the game is weird but you can \'add\' credits the same way like in Prehistoric isle and get more lives.</blockquote></p> <p>I\'m not sure what you mean. When I played the game last night, putting in more virtual coins did not result in a continued game with a fresh set of lives, just a new game starting from the beginning. Is that not what you\'re talking about?</p> <p>I tried the game again on the PS3, Easy difficulty, 5 lives at start--and got to the second stage boss but couldn\'t kill him. I don\'t know how you\'re supposed to avoid those spreads of bombs he shoots out. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19030 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:43:51 +0000 Freelance 19030@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Yes the game is weird but you can \'add\' credits the same way like in Prehistoric isle and get more lives. Maybe that\'s why I did so poorly in the game with lots of screen chunks being taken out. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-19025 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:00:34 +0000 onmode-ky 19025@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p><em>Bermuda Triangle</em> sure is a weird game. The weirdest thing is probably the scrolling forward, then backward, then forward again thing; seems like an obvious cost-saving method to lengthen the game without having to spend more resources on art assets.</p> <p>Also, like <em>Prehistoric Isle in 1930</em>, it runs noticeably faster on the PS3 versus on the PSP (in this case, not quite as much of a difference, but if you start both games simultaneously, you can easily see the PS3 runs the game more quickly). I\'m a little surprised that the PSP actually has a bit of a hard time running these 80s arcade games. Are their chips/code really that CPU-intensive to emulate?</p> <p>Another reason <em>Bermuda Triangle</em> is more properly played on a PS3 rather than a PSP: the screen\'s aspect ratio is extremely tall. I didn\'t really look that closely, but it might be a rotated standard widescreen, i.e., 9:16, but maybe even skinnier. You almost <em>have</em> to play the game with the screen in \"stretched\" mode (to fit the whole screen onto the PSP screen), because the normal, pixel-to-pixel match mode cuts huge chunks off the top and bottom of the playfield. This is definitely a game that would have benefited from being able to be played with the PSP held vertically, game screen rotated 90 degrees. However, scrunching the playfield to fit into the top and bottom of the PSP screen is the only option you get here, and it results in really tiny graphics. The effect is somewhat mitigated if you use a PS3 and a TV, though it\'s still distorted due to being an upscale of already scrunched graphics.</p> <p>Anyway, kind of fun, but I can\'t get very far into the game; losing your last life ends the game with no Continue option. Sure, there is save-state capability in this emulation, but with the amount of damage you\'re constantly taking as the game progresses, it kind of doesn\'t help a whole lot. Atariboy, how well do you do in this game? You said it was your favorite of the <em>SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0</em> shooters. On Normal difficulty with 3 lives, my best run got to just before the second stage boss.</p> <p>Oh, fun bit of trivia: the little \"shield\" planes you assemble around your ship are SYD fighters, presumably the same craft as the player ship in SNK\'s earlier vertically scrolling shooter <em>Alpha Mission</em>/<em>A.S.O.</em> (also a Mini). </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18911 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:12:24 +0000 Ofaliss 18911@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Is I Kill Zombies coming up in the rotation anytime soon, P Daddy? There\'s a serious lack of eye catching content in the minis scene lately. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/snk-minis-coming-soon/page/4#post-18832 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:38:04 +0000 raing3 18832@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Just realized the ones which were previously unavailable on the Australian store are now there. I guess my feedback was heard, great work G1M2!</p> <p>EDIT: Athena, HAL 21, Marvin\'s Maze, Vanguard, Sasuke vs Commander are now available which is great. Ozma Wars and Ikari Warriors are still missing though which have been released in other EU region stores, maybe they can also be released on the Australian/other missed EU stores? </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18789 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:22:05 +0000 thumbbandit 18789@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Check <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo">THIS</a> out. ;)</p> <p>There should be something on the front page about <a href="http://www.openemotionstudios.com/i-kill-zombies-new-info-and-screens/">this</a>.<br /> ;) </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18781 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:35:40 +0000 lj_ross 18781@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Great logo :) Good to see you guys will still be around in the Minis scene. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18763 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:59:33 +0000 Balrog 18763@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Is it rabid? Great name and logo. :) </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18760 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:53:25 +0000 Ofaliss 18760@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I had not TB, but I thank you for introducing it to me. I\'ll be using it from now on! </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18750 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:16:17 +0000 OpenEmotion 18750@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Cheers Thumb :)</p> <p>Thanks O! And yep, the idea was \"Ren and Stimpy-esque!\" and I think it was achieved.</p> <p>@Chaos_Random - Shes great now dude, shes such a funny little baby. Loves her dad though :) Get awesome big smiles when I get home in the evening/night. How are your lads? </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18749 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000 thumbbandit 18749@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>It\'s great to see an Irish game developer shine in the dark economic climate we find ourselves in (thanks to all them \"F***kin W*nkin Bankers\" LOL). :D</p> <p>Hey P-daddy,<br /> Any news on the updates for your awesome games?</p> <p>@ O-man<br /> Ever heard the phrase \"Pug Ugly\". ;) </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18741 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:23:55 +0000 chapnis 18741@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Cool beans... </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18736 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:58:40 +0000 Ofaliss 18736@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Revoltin\' Youth: Beautiful Paradise, sweet!</p> <p>Good to hear the PSP will still be getting some love. But that is one ugly dog! </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18731 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:37:48 +0000 OpenEmotion 18731@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>Nice lil Interview with myself over on Games Shrine - Interestingly enough reference to our Revoltin\' Youth Sequel went quite unnoticed XD</p> <p><a href="http://www.games-shrine.blogspot.com/2012/01/indie-developer-interview-number-2-open.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.games-shrine.blogspot.com/2012/01/indie-developer-interview-number-2-open.html</a> </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18730 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:16:26 +0000 CRyan1997 18730@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>You guys really have hit the big time, good for you. </p> http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/new-brand-specifically-for-minis-development#post-18729 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:35:35 +0000 OpenEmotion 18729@http://www.pspminis.com/forums/ <p>I will be overseeing them to ensure they dont run into the same Problems IKZ did and probably approving level design and game design decisions but most of my time will be taken up with the big game we are releasing in 2013 - I will endeavor though to make sure that \"TCP\" games meet the \"OES\" standard :)</p> <p>Thanks again y\'all,</p> <p>@Onmode - He\'s only a junkie... for Custard :P</p> <p>Paddy M. </p>