#dos emulation

Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Day 27 of the daily blog challenge.  So once again we are looking at emulators that are not MAME.  Now I realised when I examined System 16, I mentioned M72 but had not looked at it.

I had intended it to be the first emulator I looked at but for some reason I seem to have been side tracked. I even started a write up but somehow I must have forgotten to put it up.

Oh well here we are better late than never I guess. Ironic...

M72 is an emulator written by Li Jih Hwa or Nao as he was better known at the time.  As the name of the emulator suggest is plays games that use the Irem M72 arcade boards.

Nao stopped working on the M72 emulator because he joined the MAME team so he could work on further arcade emulation.  Although MAME can play the M72 games it seems the M72 emulation seems to run the game faster than MAME.

The M72 emulator plays 12 games.  I have a virtual full collection of ROMs the only one I could not find was the R-Type (Japan) ROM.

So here is some of the games that are worth playing.

1. Hammering Harry

This is a platform game where you fight your enemies using a large mallet.

The game is rather challenging as most enemies will wipe you out with one shot so you really need to make sure you get rid of the enemies pretty quickly.

The game did apparently lead to an anime called Ikuse! Gen San.

2. Dragon Breed

Dragon Breed was released into arcades in 1989.

The player controls King Kayus, who rides a large dragon named Bahamoot. Bahamoot is immune to enemy attacks, capable of blocking most projectiles and damaging enemies on contact.

Kayus, however, is not, but is armed with a forward-firing crossbow.

Bahamoot's body is flexible and responds to Kayus' movement, enabling Kayus to use Bahamoot as a mobile shield or as a whip-like weapon. The player can also circle the tail around a group of enemies to kill them. The tail of the yellow or blue dragon can be coiled around the player to offer almost complete invulnerability for a limited time.

Bahamoot can also spit fireballs. By holding the fire button down, the dragon will build up fire in its mouth; the longer the button is held down, the more powerful the fireball will be. There are four levels of fireball power; at its strongest, the fireball resembles a dragon's head.

The game also contains some platforming elements - the human is able to dismount on horizontal platforms.

Power-ups comes in the form of orbs acquired by shooting small green dragons that appear intermittently throughout stages, or they can be collected from the ground on foot.

There are four different types of orbs, each of will change Bahamoot to a different colour and grant him a new attack power. The red orb enables the dragon to breathe a flame. Gold enables Bahamoot's body to fire crescents in all directions. Silver enables the dragon to produce up to four miniature dragons, which home in on enemies. Blue enables Bahamoot to fire downward bolts of electricity from its underside.

The player can further enhance Bahamoot's powers by picking up the same type of orb up to three times.

3. Legend of Hero Tonma

LOHT was released on arcades in 1989, it is a side scrolling platform game.

The story is very simple.   The player controls a caped hero named Tommy in his quest to rescue a princess. Tommy can cast fireballs which can be upgraded in power to dispatch enemies, and jump on their heads to temporarily stun them.

For all the story is simple, the game is quite challenging.

2. Ninja Spirit

Ninja Spirit is a platform arcade released in 1988.

You play the lead character Tsukikage.

His journey takes him through seven stages, varying from woodlands, wastelands, swamps, temples, and cliffs. Each stage begins with the player slashing his way to the end until he confronts a level boss.

The ninja is always armed with the katana, Righteous Cloud, which can be fluidly used to attack in all directions. Extra weapons include the Swirling Leaf (shurikens), the Bamboo Thunder (bombs), and the Rising Dragon/Shouryu (kusarigama).

There are also several power-up items, such as one unleashing multiple ninja ghosts to assist the player.

This is yet another challenging game where one hit can end your life.

1. R-Type II

Yes as I have said before, this is my favourite arcade game.

R-Type II was released in the arcades in 1989 and is the second in the series.  Once again you are taking on the Bydo Empire.

The player controls a ship called the R-9C, which is an improved version of its predecessor game's ship, the R-9. The ship's design was changed slightly, and the wave cannon was given a new charge level.

Two new types of weapons (the Search Laser and Shotgun Laser) were added, bringing the total number of weapon types up to five. A new anti-ground unit bomb was added to the missile inventory.

Though the number of levels was decreased from the previous game, the number of enemies, their durability, and the number of bullets they shoot were greatly increased.

Enemy movements and terrain were also made trickier, bringing the game's difficulty up considerably.

The same revival system is used as in R-Type, where the player is brought back to a checkpoint whenever their ship is destroyed.

The game consists of six levels.