Monday Morning MAME Club [5/10/04] - City Bomber

[Flack]

It must've rained a lot last month, because April showers have brought May MAME CLUBBING! This week's pick comes to us from MarioAllStar2600. This game has it all. There's driving, there's crashing, there's criminal catching. All of this mayhem can only mean one thing ...

CITY BOMBER by Konami is MarioAllStar2600's MAME Club pick of the week!
Download: CITYBOMB.ZIP (~600k)



This week's contest: Let's get a high score contest going again!

Download the ROM if you don't already have it, give it a spin, and respond to this topic with your review! Have you played this game before, or is it brand new to you? Do you like the genre? How did it run on your computer? Did you beat it? If so, how long did it take? What was your high score? How far can you get? Did you have any problems emulating the game? When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. Remember, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

Club Members:

Gamereviewgod (ESP Ra.De.)
Wisesalesman (Waku Waku 7)
scooterb23 (I'm Sorry)
ddockery (Penguin-Kun Wars)
AlanD (Dr. Micro)
digitalpress (N/A)
IntvGene (Strike Force)
NE146 (Portman)
jonjandran (Bronze Adventure)
Flack (Rollergames, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu)
IGotTheDot (N/A)
zektor (Battle Bakraid, Haunted Castle)
buttasuperb (Blazing Star)
chadtower (Berkerk)
Sotenga (Caliber 50)
Stark (Mighty! Pang)
christianscott27 (Darius Gaiden)
ECWSandmanECW (League Bowling)
TripppsK (Lady Bug)
vespertillio (Rampart!)
ghsqb (N/A)
TheSmirk (Bomb Jack)
Flukkake (Elevator Action)
BHvrd (NARC)
ManekiNeko (Battle Circuit)
MarioAllStar2600 (City Bomber)
Ze_ro
slip81
Qbert
k8track
Hamsnibit
Lady Jaye
Sofa King Gud
jgenotte
Schenley
Kaine23
Arqueologia_Digital
Jiscan

Remember, you don't have to be a member of the club to download the game and write up a review, but by joining you get the honor of picking a game to share with the group during your week. If you would like to join, simply send me a PM and I will add you to the list!

Next week's pick will come from Ze_ro. Until then, push the pedal (or the button) to the metal and ...

... MAME On!

[Flack]

So, has anyone had a chance to check this out yet?

I am getting ready to load it up right now. I'll let you know what I think shortly.

[Jibbajaba]

I just started playing it, so I'm not yet ready to post a high score or submit a review or anything.

[Gamereviewgod]

Hmm.....I'm sensing a Spy Hunter influence here.....but I could be wrong. :P

I'll have to dig deep later, but my first few minutes made a nice impression.

[scooterb23]

Little bit of Spy Hunter, a touch of Bump 'N Jump, and a little Road Race USA (I think that was the right game).

Fun little game, I liked the powerups...being able to fly up and take down helicopters with missles was an unexpected bonus

I made it almost to the end of the second run...the swiss cheese bridge on that level really tested me.

Fun game! Good unique pick...

[Flack]

I played about five or six rounds and never did make it past the second level. I ended up in the drink about a dozen times during that bridge portion. When I wasn't in the water, I was smashing into trees.

I agree with the Spy Hunter and Bump N' Jump comparisons.

[IntvGene]

Ya, I like this one too. I REALLY liked it... that is, until I got to the stage with the water and the lava.

Anyway, Flack wanted a high score for this one, so I'll post mine to get the ball rolling. It's 265400.

The game is very much like Spy Hunter, and Bump N Jump, but the powerups make it feel like a shooter to me. The graphics are fine, and I can't comment on the music with my current setup. The levels are interesting... I enjoyed blowing up the houses on the first stage. The second one is a little frustrating, but wait until you get to the water/lava stage for the real, joystick-chewing fun. A strange thing about this game is that I'm not sure who is my enemy and who isn't. My current strategy is to shoot first...

It's a cool game for sure... any home release at all? I couldn't find much with a quick search.

[slip81]

usually I can't get past the first level when I play these types of games, buy I got to the end of level 2 the first time I played this one. Definately reminicant of Spy Hunter. Just started playing, so the high score is only 35,185, but if I have time I will revisit it and post another high score. Fun so far

[Jibbajaba]

Has anyone actually been able to get past the water/lava level (stage 4)? That's as far as I get and I dont even come close to getting past it.

[Jibbajaba]

It's a cool game for sure... any home release at all? I couldn't find much with a quick search.

I scoured the web using Google and can find no mention of a home release. Momentarily I confused it with the city bomber made for PC Engine, but that definitely isnt it. Too bad, this would have been an awsome home release but I think maybe it was a problem of when the game came out. It's somewhere between NES and 16 bit quality. The game is too fast and has better graphics than the NES can handle, but there is no way that they could have put out a game this fast on the NES. Either the graphics would have to have been dumbed down or there would have been rampant slowdown. The graphics arent good enough in my opinion that it would have been released in the early days of the Genesis. For some reason while playing it I was thinking that it would have been a perfect SNES game.

[Jicsan]

The fourth stage is evil, I still haven’t got past it. The best strategy is to get the speed and jump power ups, and just jump off the road when the corners come. Then steering for the road again when its time to land.

My highest score is 379,820... which I got on about my 5th play. Then I just got progressively worse (lower scores) on all the later plays. That must have been from my frustration level. Did this game have a special controller? Because it seems almost impossible to take some of those turns.

[Jibbajaba]

The only way I have found to take the turns is to slow down for them (like in the water and lava stage) but then those dark blue invincible cars ram you off the road and kill you...

I hate this game but I have become terribly addicted to it...

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

hum city bomber reminds me of spy hunter only not as good as spy hunter

BTW Sign me up.

[d4s]

damn fine game.
the level after the lava stage is even more difficult, id nearly say its impossible to beat if you dont know every corner of the stage.(ive beaten it with the help of savestates.)
but this game is one of my new mame-favs, really. =)

[Icarus Moonsight]

What drew me into City immediately was the twitch factor. I'd also have to agree with the earlier comparisons posted by others. I was very impressed by how Konami took the formula of Run n Gun and upped the ante a notch.
My only issue was the control. I play on a keyboard and that didn't help matters at all. The only way I could hang with it in LVL 4 was to get the Speed upgrades and pray! I never did get past the lava though.
My high score was: ~ 276k