The DotEmu releases are actively bad - here’s a non-exhaustive list of examples where they’re not remotely “interchangeable” with MAME or Final Burn Alpha (the emulator used for Fightcade), and certainly not with actual MVS hardware or the ACA Neo Geo releases.
Yeah the DotEmu emulation routine isn’t good, but on the Mac at least, they aren’t bastards and they actually let you extract the ROMs to put into your emulator of choice, which makes you feel not scummy when playing them if that is an issue for you.
I understand they are supposed to have a pretty decent online layer, although I couldn’t care less (not being able to use the best joystick in the world, as mentionned by @DaveLong, is already sad, but if I can’t poke my opponent in the ribs either, this isn’t the NeoGeo I love anymore)
I’m familiar with the problems with DotEmu. Maybe it’s the particular games I’ve played through it, but I haven’t had any problems, hence the use of “interchangeable” - to me. Neo Turf Masters runs juts fine, for example. I hear the Garou port is quite bad, which I own, but haven’t gotten around to trying it.
I just think I’m not much of an emulation-accuracy hardliner. But it’s a good point to bring up nonetheless.
If you guys lived closer I’d let you come over so I could poke you in the ribs while playing Baseball Stars 2. :)
I will say this, I’m very glad my kids have the same appreciation for the Neo that I do. It gives me some built in opponents. I just have to take it easy on them to keep them playing.
When Baseball Stars 2 hits ACA for Switch, everyone NEEDS to get that. It cannot be skipped!
oh my god, baseball stars. ive totally forgotten this game and now i have to play it immediately.
I don’t think I ever played the second one. I remember a baseball game with cyborgs and chicks that was quite peculiar.
Super Baseball 2020, which is also pretty great, but not quite as good as Baseball Stars 2. BS2 is the best baseball game ever made. If you don’t agree, come at me!
Ok bro I’ll come at you. Baseball Stars is better than Baseball Stars 2.
1 was better, 2 was cooler.
Best MVS-era NeoGeo sports game was Super Sidekicks 2.
Are you talking about Baseball Stars on NES or Baseball Stars Professional on Neo Geo?
Baseball Stars for NES is a great game. There is no doubt about that. It is not the best playing (and looking) game of arcade-style baseball ever made. It does have the whole league thing going for it though which is obviously a cool unique thing.
Blessed be Dotemu (sometimes), I had Baseball Stars 2 on the Humble site. Threw the rom into a proper Mame, but there is one thing I am stumbled by: when one of my dudes ran to a base (prematurely of course, those are fly balls, guys!), how do you call them back?
The good point is obviously the presentation: this is just too gorgeous. The perspective when you bat the ball, woah! The bad point is my usual weak points at baseball games: I can’t tell obvious low balls on my 2D screen! So cheap ¬_¬
Yes, the NES version, you nerd. The one people had.
Baseball Stars 2:
No naming players
No female players
No sale
Bah… naming and girls are overrated additions to the NES games. BS2 is as pure as it gets. Power hitting team. Pitching team. Speedy team. All-around team… etc. Sure, more people played the NES game, but that doesn’t make it better. :)
You can’t once they’ve arrived at the next base. You need to call them back sooner after the ball is hit. Any fly ball that looks like it might be caught is one you’ve got full control of your base runners over so you need to decide fast what to do. It’s not unlike real baseball in that way although you could retrace your steps from past a base back to the one you left as long as you retouch exactly as you got there. The game simply doesn’t allow that.
Given the time it takes to run base to base, even with the fastest guys, if you arrived at the next base you’re already going to be out anyway with a player who can throw properly.
Just an update to say that the new GOG Neo Geo releases DO unfortunately appear to be the DotEmu ports.
Diego
Do you know if that’s the case for the console releases?
I don’t, sorry.
The console ones are not DotEmu from what I understand. Hamster is doing those ports. They’re not the same.
OK, so I bought Last Resort last night on the Switch and while I only got about an hour with it, I can confirm it’s a solid port/upgrade. The biggest issue at the moment is it seems like the online high score table is not working. You cannot register a high score in Arcade or Caravan modes.
Outside of that, it’s solid. Last Resort is brutally difficult, and on the default this is right in line with what I remember. The slowdown feels about the same as the cart I once owned and the music and sounds seem to be replicated near perfectly. I wish I still owned the (ridiculously pricey) cart to do a side by side, but bottom line is this is as good as I’ve seen Neo Geo emulation and of course it’s great that it’s portable.
I’m not a huge fan of the standard Switch button controls but my Pro Controller was dead from our recent trip so I will have to try it with that later. The analog stick has some wonky delay in it. Use the buttons that approximate the d-pad.
Cool, good info. Thanks for taking one for the team.
Turns out that the high score table works just fine. You have to reach the minimum Hamster@JP score to make the list. That score is something like 52400 in Last Resort, which if you’ve ever played it you’ll know that means you must beat the first boss and make it some ways into level two in order to get above it. That… is not easy.
I managed it after probably twenty or thirty tries this weekend. It helps that it’s a really fair game despite being hard as nails. When you die, you know exactly why. That said, you can play with continues in arcade mode so if you just want to see everything, you can do that. A 1CC of it will take you much longer.
Oh… and it was AWESOME with the Pro Controller. That is easily the preferred way to play.