mjmjr25's Arcade game of the Week (or month): BLOOD BROS

[SpoonyBard]

Definitely a cool idea. It's a subset of gaming that I think a lot of people really look over or are just generally unfamiliar with. There are so many great arcade games that i'm familiar with that I just kind of stick to, and it's nice to get introduced to some lesser known ones. Keep it up, i'll definitely be checking out this thread whenever it gets an update!

[dunpeal2064]

So, whenever I run this game, it crashes my Mame right after the romcheck. Out of over a hundred games I have in Mame, this is the only one I've had issues with.

Mike, your curse with Mame knows no bounds!

[mjmjr25]

Aww, that sucks man. I haven't played much since the weekend...but I have a save code Which is about the coolest thing and something I had no idea could exist in arcade hardware. Very excited to get through this over the coming weekend.

[mjmjr25]

10.26.13 - BLOOD BROS:

Greetings,

The game this week is "Blood Bros", a rail shooter by TAD corporation.

It is a 1p or 2p game. 3 lives per credit. The game plays similar to Wild Guns.

The "story" is that of two brothers, a cowboy (player 1) and an Indian (player 2). Their mission is to capture / kill resident baddie Big John. That's it. I did not see a way to use the Indian on the player 1 side of the arcade stick, though of course you can simply hit "start" on player 2 side if you wanted to switch to that character.

The soundtrack, which seems to be here and there, isn't much. It is generally overpowered by the sounds of bullets, explosions, and kills.

Much of the background is destructable which is always fun in these particular games.

Here is what I like:
-The hitbox on your character is consistent.
-Different bullets travel at different speeds and sizes - but again, they are consistent - there really aren't any "cheap deaths".
-If you start your roll about 1/2 second before the bullet is on you - you are good and you can "roll" through bullets. The danger is popping up, you'll often pop up on another bullet - so while highly effective, it should be used when general dodging isn't an option.
-Stages can be beaten as determined by your skill level, meaning once you kill all the enemies, or once you destroy the avenues for enemies to attack from (ie, blowing up bridges or vehicles) the stage can end. There isn't a time limit, there isn't a endless spawning of enemies.
-There is a very simple scoring mechanic - there is a can on the ground in each stage, shoot the can and it spits out money, shoot it again before it hits the ground, more money, shoot it again more money, shoot it a 4th, 5th, etc times and the money improves, then new weapons appear - literally weapons that can blow up half the screen. The danger is, to shoot it, you have to keep shooting. If you are shooting - you aren't moving...and bullets are closing in on you. This small mechanic within the game is what makes it quite fun - playing for score.
-The game starts out quite easy - but after the first 5 or so stages, the difficulty picks up.
-Stages are all quite different in appearance and there is mild strategy to understanding the stage and what, if anything, needs to be taken out.

If I had one gripe:
-Graphically this title isn't amazing, the color palette is quite neutral and enemies are pretty bland.

Screen shots:

[JoeAwesome]

Like the thread so far. Wish I knew more about superguns, but they're too pricey for me, nevermind the pcbs. My suggestion: put links to each review posted in the original post?

Keep it up. I always love finding new games on mame worth trying like these and The Outfoxies *hint hint*.

[mjmjr25]

Keep it up. I always love finding new games on mame worth trying like these and The Outfoxies *hint hint*.

That is one I don't have yet. Shmups aside, The Outfoxies and Osman are the two titles i'm constantly looking for...

I did Blood Bros this week as I have something else for next week - something I believe to be superior to Blood Bros and even lesser known (same genre). (it is working in MAME too, so I wanted to check on that before posting it).

Thanks for the idea on posting links to each in the OP.

[ExedExes]

Blood Bros. is great. A spiritual sequel to Cabal. I like this one much better, if only because I can get farther on a credit here. Plus, a lot more to blow up. The boss stage with the huge zeppelin and the burning town in the background is an amazing snapshot. Plus, tons of bonus opportunities with the can in every stage, the animals/people walking across the screen for better guns/ammo/etc.

I can't wait to see the next one that you're describing. I think I have an idea as to what it may be, but I also could be completely wrong, for I know of another arcade static screen run-n-gun game that is similar to these 2 games. Also glad to see MAME is working for you now.

[ninjainspandex]

heh finally got mame set up and working and tried out Blood Bros, no wonder it seemed so familiar. It's just like Cabal even the victory dance haha (see my avatar)

[EllertMichael]

^ I need a .gif of Racketman doing that victory dance off into the distance and I needed it yesterday.

[mjmjr25]

Correct, a follow-up to Cabal, but straight joystick and 2 buttons.

How does Cabal work in MAME - has anyone played it there? As I recall, it was one button and a trackball?