Retro Arena: Sprite Scaling Cop Games

[DeathAdder]

Darn. Thanks

[QualityChimp]

at the incredibly specific requirements, but you've still come up with a good selection, Leon!

I love AB Cop. Such a cool cab and the revving handlebar made those moments of smashing the escaping perps in midair feel awesome.
It wasn't too hard at first and felt you got your money's worth, unlike something like Space Harrier, which could be punishing.
Those exhaust hoops always looked cool flying towards the screen, but I'd say emulation is lacking something without the impressive titular Air Bike to ride on in the arcade.



However, I'm not choosing that as my two!

First up is Lucky & Wild!
What a great game! There's some ancient arcade game that features a gun and steering wheel, but can't remember the name of it.
You drive across the surface of the moon or a planet until you get to the enemy base.
I digress, L&W is an almost unique arcade experience, but it has so much character.
I love how you can see the reactions of the two cops in the rearview mirrors and their screams of horror as you ram into something.
It let you and a pal live out your fave buddy cop movies.


As much as I love S.C.I., I'm going to choose Chase H.Q. as my other choice for loads of reasons.

" This is Nancy at Chase H.Q. - We have pulled over the red Italian Sportscar, over!"

Firstly, it still plays well today and gives you a bit more to do than OutRun.
Secondly, there are some great ports of it, that also play well.
The cabinet was amazing! Not Space Harrier or G-Loc amazing, but that little black Porsche cab was brilliant with it's flashing light.


Finally, there was some brilliant artwork that accompanied the game. From the SD boxart for the SNES/PC Engine version, to the so-80s-it-hurts arcade posters, to the Game Boy with its borderline racist art or the Western version chasing a Testarossa, to the home versions with the bright yellow Lambo bursting out of it, it all looked ace.

[CMcK]

The PC brigade would have field day with the Japanese GB artwork! And why is Lionel Ritchie in the cab advert?

[QualityChimp]

The PC brigade would have field day with the Japanese GB artwork! And why is Lionel Ritchie in the cab advert?

It's nuts, isn't it?!

At first glance I was thinking "The car looks cute, nice moustache, WOAH! Them lips ain't PC!"

I was never really sure about those enemies in Wonder Boy either.

[Leon Retro]

Hot Chase? Never heard of that one before.

The car has a bomb attached to it that explodes if you run out of time.

Night Stiker - Such a cool looking game with some ace music and played very much like Space Harrier , but with a car

Yeah, such a great looking game with excellent music. Always a joy to come back to.

at the incredibly specific requirements, but you've still come up with a good selection, Leon!

I just about delivered 6 games that fit the bill. Had to rack my brains a bit.

The PC brigade would have field day with the Japanese GB artwork! And why is Lionel Ritchie in the cab advert?

Stereotypes were common back then, but that's just too extreme. Send it to Anita Sarkeesian. She'd probably create a campaign against retro gaming.

Lionel Richie was arrested for creating soppy love songs.

[ZipZap]

Chase HQ and SCI were both such a big part of my early-teens. I absolutely loved them both. It was also around the time I started hanging round in arcades with my friends, as opposed to visiting them when at the seaside with my parents, so there was a bit of a social thing chatting with people about the game and watching each other play.

These days I play it every now and again at Arcade Club, but I do think Outrun stood the test of time a little better.

That said, it would be great to get an M2-style port of them both on a modern system, but we don't see much of that kind of thing from Taito, so it seems unlikely (I'd love Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands as well).

I remember seeing Hot Chase in an arcade when I was a kid and thinking it looked really good, but I didn't have enough money to play it. When it appeared in Mame I finally got to have a go and it turns out it's pretty slow and unexciting!

Another game worth mentioning is Round Up 5. Whilst it wasn't as good as Taito's efforts, I still found it reasonably fun at the time and it had one of those 3 screen cabs like Buggy Boy and TX1, which still looked impressive in the late 80s.

[Leon Retro]

That said, it would be great to get an M2-style port of them both on a modern system, but we don't see much of that kind of thing from Taito, so it seems unlikely (I'd love Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands as well).

Yeah, it would be nice to see M2 gets their hands on loads more retro classics. Fingers crossed.

Another game worth mentioning is Round Up 5. Whilst it wasn't as good as Taito's efforts,

I hadn't heard of it, but it looks pretty ropy in Mame videos.

[Asura]

One of the images in [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION]'s post reminds me of how much I hated stand-up driving game cabinets as a kid.

[ZipZap]

Yeah, it would be nice to see M2 gets their hands on loads more retro classics. Fingers crossed.

After saying M2 never work with Taito, I suddenly remembered the Darius Collection on the Switch, so here's hoping!

I hadn't heard of it, but it looks pretty ropy in Mame videos.

There are a lot of graphics bugs in Mame. It's definitely inferior to the Chase HQ/SCI, but at the time it wasn't bad. Also, it was often a bit cheaper per play than other driving games and it was pretty easy to complete at least a couple of stages, so it was good value as a school kid with limited funds!

The target car only really requires a few hits, it's more about taking out their biker gangs. Each colour of biker has a different attack (some ram you, some jump on your car etc) which require different defences. They attack in waves and seeing them off quickly is the key.

[Arashikage]

Plus the deluxe cab had 3 screens!

[J0e Musashi]

Chase H.Q. for me. It was just so cool at the time. The hydraulic “Full Throttle/Top Speed” cabinet made it even better to play, but wasn’t too common to find; and was an eye-watering £1 per credit.

Lucky & Wild was badass too, but you really need two players to get the most out of it.

Other than S.C.I., I don’t think I’ve played any of the other games. Night Striker on PS1 I suppose, but I’ve never even heard of A.B. Cop until now.

[Leon Retro]

One of the images in @QualityChimp's post reminds me of how much I hated stand-up driving game cabinets as a kid.

Yeah, the sit-down cabs were best. I didn't play many racing games standing up, except Super Sprint.

Chase H.Q. for me. It was just so cool at the time. The hydraulic “Full Throttle/Top Speed” cabinet made it even better to play, but wasn’t too common to find; and was an eye-watering £1 per credit.

Yeah, I remember it feeling like a really cool game. It was a perfect alternative to OutRun, which also felt like a cool experience.



I've never played Chaser HQ 2 from 2007.

[ZipZap]

I've never played Chaser HQ 2 from 2007.

You aren't really missing out.

It has a mechanic a bit like Hydrothunder where you keep collecting boosts, but it feels quite slow, doesn't handle very well and is just not a great deal of fun. On one particularly boring level you chase a criminal around a NASCAR track, going round...and round...and round.

What a terrible flyer as well.

[Leon Retro]

You aren't really missing out.

It has a mechanic a bit like Hydrothunder where you keep collecting boosts, but it feels quite slow, doesn't handle very well and is just not a great deal of fun. On one particularly boring level you chase a criminal around a NASCAR track, going round...and round...and round.

Yeah, sounds like it wasn't very good. Such a shame, because a modern Chase HQ could be fun.

What a terrible flyer as well.

Yeah, it's very bland. There's no creative flair at all, it just looks tacky.

[Asura]

Yeah, it's very bland. There's no creative flair at all, it just looks tacky.

It looks like something we started to see the back of by ~2004; those hideous 90s videogame ads.