Robotron: original vs multiwilliams

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Hi,

I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
have this problem ?

Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.

Marcel

 

[Troy]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

original dedicated versions are always better, IMO.


Troy,


<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1118425037.622607.201920@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?
>
> Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
> life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

On 10 Jun 2005 10:37:17 -0700, dragonbreed@aol.com wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
>What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
>and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
>levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
>have this problem ?
>
>Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
>life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
>Marcel

Don't mean to sidetrack the discussion, but does the Multiwilliams run
on original Robotron hardware, or is it faster?

There is an issue with Robotron being harder in MAME because the
original hardware used to get slowed down processing all of the video
data. When you run it on a modern PC, that slowdown doesn't happen.
This makes the emulated Robotron harder than the real one. It's a
subtle thing. When I played Robotron in MAME and did horribly, I just
figured it was because I was old. I got the chance to play an original
machine and killed my typical emulation score.

Tim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1118425037.622607.201920@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?

Yes, my Williams Multigame slows down just like the original Robotron
boardset does (it's really the same hardware-- nothing done to the code or
system that affects the amount of CPU and/or blitter time for the game).

It's most noticeable to me on the tank waves when you get a lot of tanks
spawning, firing, and explosions all going on at once. Defender and the
other Williams games did the same thing-- Smartbomb a bunch of pods/swarmers
in Defender for example and you can really see the screen 'chug' under the
load... You might even be able to notice in Joust when there's a lot of
enemies flying around on the higher levels.

-Clay

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

The 'problems' i noticed with the multi-williams to the origanals i
slight but noticeable.
The Sinistar play is different. i havent put my finger on it but I
think its the stars.
The overall sounds also. Understandably its hard to reproduce all the
origanal sounds 100% but to a trained ear you can har the difference.
Overall I personally think the multiwilliams is the best thing on
earth since sliced bread. Its a more reliable platform than any of the
origanal game boards and using a switching PS increase longevity. We
know the MW seems to be a form MAME but we look the other way.


my 2¢
Don
aracadeguy.com

 

[Rich]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I can tell you that the jamma 8 in 1 kicks butt, plus you don't have to
worry about that 1980's electronics failing.
Rich
<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1118425037.622607.201920@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?
>
> Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
> life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I have not been able to compare them side-by-side, but I thought that Clay's
was running the original ROMs on original hardware. Or are you talking
about the jamma one...

Dane.

<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1118425037.622607.201920@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?
>
> Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
> life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

In my opinion its 95% origanal.
The multiwilliams is worth the invetment in comarison to getting the
old board serviced.
We are reading this NG to perserve games though?

>>
From: "Herb T." <kee...@home.com>
Can anyone confirm whether the multiwilliams jamma is identical
gameplay
to the original? Mame is supposed to be identical, but it ain't....

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Tim O wrote:

> On 10 Jun 2005 10:37:17 -0700, dragonbreed@aol.com wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
>>What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
>>and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
>>levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
>>have this problem ?
>>
>>Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
>>life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>>
>>Marcel
>
>
> Don't mean to sidetrack the discussion, but does the Multiwilliams run
> on original Robotron hardware, or is it faster?
>
> There is an issue with Robotron being harder in MAME because the
> original hardware used to get slowed down processing all of the video
> data. When you run it on a modern PC, that slowdown doesn't happen.
> This makes the emulated Robotron harder than the real one. It's a
> subtle thing. When I played Robotron in MAME and did horribly, I just
> figured it was because I was old. I got the chance to play an original
> machine and killed my typical emulation score.
>
> Tim
>

How does Arcadeshop's Multi-Williams kit compare to the original?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

which multiwillams are you talking about? Clays Williams HW based kit or
Clays Arcadeshop Jamma board?

<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1118425037.622607.201920@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?
>
> Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
> life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Thats a question I think only Clay can answer

Don

>>
From: "Herb T." <kee...@home.com>
do you think the multiwilliams plays closer to the original than Mame?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

How does the multiwilliams compare to Mame? I have a Robotron machine
and I can't figure out why, but Mame is different, much harder.....I
think it may have something to do with the diagonals...It seems harder to
get them in mame....My robo machine has not worked for years..I have had
the boards serviced several times to no avail....The jamma multiwilliams
is intriguing as I have a jamma mame machine I could throw it in...

Can anyone confirm whether the multiwilliams jamma is identical gameplay
to the original? Mame is supposed to be identical, but it ain't....

Regards,

Herb


dragonbreed@aol.com wrote in news:1118425037.622607.201920
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Hi,
>
> I've been playing the multiwilliams' Robotron game, which is great.
> What are the differences versus the original? I noticed some slowdown
> and glitches (missing "explosions") on the "invisible outer walls"
> levels and maybe others with heavy action. Did the original boardset
> have this problem ?
>
> Also how the hell do you get beyond 350,000 points ??? I can't for the
> life of me, no matter how zoned I'm in.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

"arcadeguy" <arcadeguy@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1118456063.352611.6690
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> In my opinion its 95% origanal.
> The multiwilliams is worth the invetment in comarison to getting the
> old board serviced.
> We are reading this NG to perserve games though?

well, truth be told, I like to play the games....though since my Robo has
been sick, I have not been playing the others too often.....

do you think the multiwilliams plays closer to the original than Mame?

Regards......

>
>>>
> From: "Herb T." <kee...@home.com>
> Can anyone confirm whether the multiwilliams jamma is identical
> gameplay
> to the original? Mame is supposed to be identical, but it ain't....
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I'd just buy a spare boardset so when one freaks you can just swap it
out and send the other off for CPR.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

"arcadeguy" <arcadeguy@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1118459940.088242.59980
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Thats a question I think only Clay can answer
>

I am hoping some Robo aficionado can provide real world
experience....Mame is supposed to be quite accurate but my real world
experience (for what it's worth) suggests that something is still not
quite right....I do not really want to spend $400 for something that is
not bang on in gameplay....really wish i could get my own dedicated
Robotron fixed....

> Don
>
>>>
> From: "Herb T." <kee...@home.com>
> do you think the multiwilliams plays closer to the original than Mame?
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Here's my experience.

#1. Dedicated Robotron... I can KILL the game.
#2. MAME.. KILLS me... I think we've covered the reason here.
#3. Ultracade... Again, KILLS me! More PC stuff maybe?
#4. Clay's Multi-WMS on WMS hardware. See #1.
#5. Arcadeshop's Multi-WMS. See #4 and #1.

I think the JAMMA board is awesome! As you can see I've played quite a few
different configurations of Robotron and only the dedicated unit, Clay's
Multi-WMS on WMS hardware and the JAMMA Multi-WMS play worth a S***. For
whatever reason the MAME and Ultracade flavors of Robotron are just too damn
hard. On a dedicated machine on factory settings I can play until the power
goes off. On either of the PC configs I get my ass handed to me.

I'm going to build a Multi-WMS with an Arcadeshop board in it as soon as we
get moved and I build my arcade! I cant wait!!!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

This was recently amended by Aaron in Mame w /a blitter rewrite

"Tim O" <timo56@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> There is an issue with Robotron being harder in MAME because the
> original hardware used to get slowed down processing all of the video
> data. When you run it on a modern PC, that slowdown doesn't happen.
> This makes the emulated Robotron harder than the real one. It's a
> subtle thing. When I played Robotron in MAME and did horribly, I just
> figured it was because I was old. I got the chance to play an original
> machine and killed my typical emulation score.
>
> Tim
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

"Matt Mac Donagh" <gamefixer@gmail.com> wrote in
news:SaSdnRsswpd4ADbfRVn-sw@starstream.net:

> Here's my experience.
>
> #1. Dedicated Robotron... I can KILL the game.
> #2. MAME.. KILLS me... I think we've covered the reason here.
> #3. Ultracade... Again, KILLS me! More PC stuff maybe?
> #4. Clay's Multi-WMS on WMS hardware. See #1.
> #5. Arcadeshop's Multi-WMS. See #4 and #1.
>
> I think the JAMMA board is awesome! As you can see I've played quite a
> few different configurations of Robotron and only the dedicated unit,
> Clay's Multi-WMS on WMS hardware and the JAMMA Multi-WMS play worth a
> S***. For whatever reason the MAME and Ultracade flavors of Robotron
> are just too damn hard. On a dedicated machine on factory settings I
> can play until the power goes off. On either of the PC configs I get
> my ass handed to me.
>
> I'm going to build a Multi-WMS with an Arcadeshop board in it as soon
> as we get moved and I build my arcade! I cant wait!!!
>
>
>

Thanks for the advice, that was exactly what I was looking to know...