Just bought Ikari Warriors..

[Armonigann]

Hello everyone, I just bought Ikari Warriors (no box or man.) on ebay tonight and damn Im excited!! I've played it on my emu but that shit does no justice considering I have to use the keyboard. I love it for the NES and am hoping I will love it just as much for the 7800..So tell me, what do you guys think of Ikari Warriors..Is it just as good as the NES version?? Hopefully some of you guys will send me some great info (good and bad) before I receive the game..Either way I'll find out one way or the other..Thanks guys.

[+Propane13]

I like it.

 

I like it so much, that I made a map for it:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=147879

 

-John

[the.golden.ax]

The $29.99 + $4 s&h from Zach? Fairly good price as they go. It's one of the top five must haves for the system... you will enjoy... would reccomend a d-pad to play it. I hate the stick for this, commando, or any shooter.

 

AX

[Armonigann]

Yep, thats the one...Thanks for the info.

[MaximRecoil]

I like the game well enough to own an original dedicated Ikari Warriors coin-op arcade machine. Ikari Warriors is one of those games where something very important gets lost in the translation when ported to a home console. The game needs rotary joysticks.

 

In '87 my friend Corey and I played the arcade machine quite often at the local laundromat. Later, one of our friends got the game for the Atari 7800; but without the rotary joysticks, the game might as well be Commando; which I don't like at all. I don't like having to walk in the direction that you want to shoot. Games where the direction you are walking in and the direction you are aiming/firing in are controlled independently are much more fun IMO, such as the arcade versions of Robotron, Smash TV, Heavy Barrel, Ikari Warriors (of course), and many others.

 

The best way to play Ikari Warriors without buying the original arcade machine is through MAME with a rotary arcade joystick interfaced to the PC through one of the adapters that are made specifically for the purpose. Ikari Warriors came with SNK LS-30 joysticks manufactured by Seimitsu, but those are getting hard to find now (fortunately my machine has a new one for player 1, and a used one in decent shape for player 2). Happ mechanical rotary joysticks also work, and are still available new.

Edited August 16, 2009 by MaximRecoil

[gdement]

I don't like having to walk in the direction that you want to shoot. Games where the direction you are walking in and the direction you are aiming/firing in are controlled independently are much more fun IMO, such as the arcade versions of Robotron, Smash TV, Heavy Barrel, Ikari Warriors (of course), and many others.

 

The controls definitely aren't as good as the arcade, but it does at least let you strafe if you hold the fire button down. This is something the 7800 version does better than the NES version. (The other advantage is flicker)

 

Might be interesting to see a modded version using the 2nd joystick to change the aiming direction or even using Robotron style controls. That would obviously be a 1 player only mode.

With a little trickery, I believe it's also possible to read all 3 buttons from a Genesis controller. Perhaps one button could be held while pushing the D-pad left/right to change angles. That's still less than ideal though. You'd have to stop moving to change your aim.

Edited August 16, 2009 by gdement

[MaximRecoil]

Robotron-style controls would be great in a console version of Ikari Warriors, except that you have two buttons to worry about as well. In Robotron the second joystick both aims and fires the gun in full-auto mode, and you never run out of bullets. In Ikari, you don't want to have the gun automatically fire whenever you aim like in Robotron, because you have a limited supply of rounds. Plus you have a button for grenades. It is hard to use two joysticks and operate buttons as well. However, a pair of trigger sticks or top-fire sticks could work quite well, assuming the game could be hacked to support such a setup.

 

Something like this:

 

[Dino]

I LOVE the C64 version of Ikari Warriors, by far the best port IMHO. It does suffer (obviously) from the lack of rotating joystick, but other than that i prefer it to the arcade version in many ways (esp. the music).

Edited September 4, 2009 by Dino

[MaximRecoil]

I LOVE the C64 version of Ikari Warriors, by far the best port IMHO. It does suffer (obviously) from the lack of rotating joystick, but other than that i prefer it to the arcade version in many ways (esp. the music).

 

You prefer the music of the C64 port of Ikari Warriors to the arcade's? That's odd. The C64's music for that game is tinny and simplistic. The arcade's is much more complex; sounds like real music rather than something generated on a device with limited capabilities:

 

Arcade version

[Atarifever]

I LOVE the C64 version of Ikari Warriors, by far the best port IMHO. It does suffer (obviously) from the lack of rotating joystick, but other than that i prefer it to the arcade version in many ways (esp. the music).

 

You prefer the music of the C64 port of Ikari Warriors to the arcade's? That's odd. The C64's music for that game is tinny and simplistic. The arcade's is much more complex; sounds like real music rather than something generated on a device with limited capabilities:

 

Arcade version

And I prefer the Master System music from Space Harrier. More simplistic can be better.

[WERY]

I will buy this game one day for the 7800 system and hope to enjoy it. Will do comparisons with other versions then and have fun trying to play it through

[ZIMM]

I need this game.

[WERY]

It is a bit expensive if you want it complete

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

It is a bit expensive if you want it complete

 

I agree with that!

 

I have a cart only Ikari Warriors on the way from King_Salamon and I did find an instruction booklet on ebay just the other day to go with it. It wasn't a bad price for the booklet and I just received it yesterday in nice shape. You will probably see why it went so cheap if you take a look they title. At least I think this was a good deal, maybe not, I don't know.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 350306915298

 

[Havok69]

Robotron-style controls would be great in a console version of Ikari Warriors, except that you have two buttons to worry about as well. In Robotron the second joystick both aims and fires the gun in full-auto mode, and you never run out of bullets. In Ikari, you don't want to have the gun automatically fire whenever you aim like in Robotron, because you have a limited supply of rounds. Plus you have a button for grenades. It is hard to use two joysticks and operate buttons as well. However, a pair of trigger sticks or top-fire sticks could work quite well, assuming the game could be hacked to support such a setup.

 

Something like this:

 

 

Those Happ trigger sticks suck in general. If you are going that route it's not even as much effort to use the SNK LS-30 joysticks. I have one with a rotary interface on my Mame cabinet, and it really is the only way to play the game properly.

[+remowilliams]

I have one with a rotary interface on my Mame cabinet, and it really is the only way to play the game properly.

 

Rotaries are definitely the only way to play properly. I changed out my regular sticks for Happ 5618s. Not just for Ikari though, also for other favorites like Heavy Barrel.

[Dino]

I LOVE the C64 version of Ikari Warriors, by far the best port IMHO. It does suffer (obviously) from the lack of rotating joystick, but other than that i prefer it to the arcade version in many ways (esp. the music).

 

You prefer the music of the C64 port of Ikari Warriors to the arcade's? That's odd. The C64's music for that game is tinny and simplistic. The arcade's is much more complex; sounds like real music rather than something generated on a device with limited capabilities:

 

Arcade version

Yeah, even though its more simplistic, I still prefer it for some reason ...

[MaximRecoil]

Those Happ trigger sticks suck in general. If you are going that route it's not even as much effort to use the SNK LS-30 joysticks. I have one with a rotary interface on my Mame cabinet, and it really is the only way to play the game properly.

 

I already said as much:

 

The best way to play Ikari Warriors without buying the original arcade machine is through MAME with a rotary arcade joystick interfaced to the PC through one of the adapters that are made specifically for the purpose.

 

I have an Ikari Warriors machine and know how to play the game properly. I can also beat the game on one quarter, on TG settings, with a score that beats the TG record by over 100,000 points.

 

My post about the top-fire joysticks had a specific context; i.e., hypothesizing about what could improve the controls of Ikari Warriors on a console. Getting an LS-30's rotary function to work with the Atari 7800 and the 7800 port of Ikari Warriors would be next to impossible. And it doesn't matter if the Happ top-fire joysticks suck, as I never even mentioned them specifically. I said:

 

However, a pair of trigger sticks or top-fire sticks could work quite well, assuming the game could be hacked to support such a setup.

 

BTW, LS-30s are nothing to write home about either. Their rotary function works great, but their 8-way joystick function, and general ergonomics of the handle, leave much to be desired.