u/M0d3rnR3tr0Gam3r

Crisis Zone Arcade is finally enjoyable in MAME! (Full 4K/60 Longplay)

I've just uploaded a complete playthrough of the original arcade version of Crisis Zone, and it's amazing how much better this game has become in MAME over the last little while.

For years, Crisis Zone was one of those arcade games that technically worked, but it was hard to recommend because of performance issues and inaccurate light gun input. Thanks to recent improvements to MAME, that's no longer the case. The game now feels much closer to how it was meant to be played.

I still think Crisis Zone is one of the most interesting entries in the Time Crisis series. Instead of using the iconic foot pedal, Namco gave players a ballistic shield and a fully automatic machine gun, making it feel like its own unique experience rather than just another Time Crisis sequel.

One thing I mention in the video is that, as much as I love the arcade version, I still think the PS2 release is the definitive way to play it. Namco didn't just port the game—they expanded it with exclusive stages, bosses, and a Special Story Mode that adds a huge amount of extra content.

Huge thanks to Tovarichtch for the recent improvements to Namco Super System 23 emulation in MAME, and to the entire MAME team for continuing to improve arcade preservation.

My complete PCSX2X6 Setup Guide is now live!

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Honestly, if you told me even a couple of weeks ago that I'd be making a tutorial showing people how to play over 50 Namco System 246 and System 256 arcade games on a PC, I would've thought you were crazy. 😄

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Yet here we are.

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Over the past week, I've been testing games, troubleshooting problems, reading forum posts, learning the quirks of JVS modes and .acgame files, and trying to gather everything I've learned into one easy-to-follow guide.

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Whether you're interested in:

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🎯 Time Crisis 3

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🎯 Time Crisis 4

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🥊 Tekken 5

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⚔️ Soulcalibur II

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⚔️ Soulcalibur III

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🧛 Vampire Night

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🐍 Cobra The Arcade

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🐉 Super Dragon Ball Z

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🎮 Or dozens of other incredible Namco arcade games...

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This guide should help get you started.

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I cover:

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🔹 Installing PCSX2X6

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🔹 Portable mode

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🔹 BIOS setup

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🔹 Understanding .acgame files

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🔹 Graphics settings

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🔹 Controller setup

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🔹 Light gun setup

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🔹 JVS modes

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🔹 Test menu options

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🔹 Common problems and fixes

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🔹 And much more.

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Huge thanks to EL_Isra, Tovarichtch, compnwl, Arcadeguy781, the Emuline community, and the countless developers, testers, translators, researchers, and arcade preservation enthusiasts who made all of this possible. None of this would exist without their hard work and passion. 🙌🏻

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This really feels like one of those moments arcade fans will remember for years, much like the arrival of Model 2 Emulator, Supermodel, and TeknoParrot.

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Twenty years ago we were feeding quarters into these machines.

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Today we're discussing 4K, 8K, JVS modes, and light guns running on our PCs.

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What a time to be an arcade fan.

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🎥 Watch the guide here:

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https://youtu.be/moW49E8l-7Q

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And now I have to ask...

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Which game are you setting up first? 😄

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-MRG

I just uploaded a showcase of one of Namco's most beautiful and elusive arcade shooters running on an early test build of the new emulator.

This isn't a full playthrough. The game currently crashes during gameplay, and card reading and writing haven't been implemented yet, so completing all five stories isn't possible at the moment.

Seeing Cobra running at full speed with graphics pushed to 12× internal resolution and captured in 4K/60fps is something I honestly never thought I'd witness.

The colors are incredible, the cel-shaded visuals absolutely pop, and in some scenes the game almost looks like a modern anime.

For this showcase, I simply played through the game until the emulator eventually crashed, so you'll get to see everything up to that point. Interestingly, each attempt seemed to crash at roughly the same locations, so hopefully today's public alpha release addresses some of those issues. 🤞

It's wild thinking that this game spent decades locked away on original Namco System 246 hardware.

With card support eventually arriving and compatibility improving, we're getting closer and closer to seeing these games fully preserved.

Huge respect to the PCSX2X6 developers and the countless testers, researchers, and arcade preservation enthusiasts helping make all of this possible. ❤️

This really feels like one of those moments we'll look back on years from now.

*This video showcases a complete blind playthrough of Locked 'N Loaded, a 1994 arcade lightgun shooter developed by Data East. Released in Japan as Gunhard, it is often compared to shooters such as Lethal Enforcers, Under Fire, Maximum Force, and Target: Terror.*

*Before recording this video, I had never played Locked 'N Loaded before. Part of the fun was going in completely blind and seeing what Data East had cooked up. I've always had a soft spot for these janky B-movie arcade shooters filled with digitized actors, cheesy dialogue, over-the-top action, and questionable design decisions.*

*Locked 'N Loaded is connected to Data East's Bloody Wolf universe. The story follows veteran members of the Army Special Combat Unit ATAC who are called back into action when coordinated terrorist attacks erupt across the globe. With law enforcement overwhelmed, the former heroes of Bloody Wolf are dispatched to stop the attacks and eliminate the organization behind them.*

*Players take on six missions that include science laboratories, airports, warehouses, office buildings, smuggler hideouts, and the mansion of a powerful drug lord. Along the way you'll battle terrorists, hijackers, helicopters, attack vehicles, and heavily armed criminals.*

*Locked 'N Loaded was built using Data East's earlier Dragon Gun hardware. Arcade operators could convert existing Dragon Gun cabinets into Locked 'N Loaded machines through a ROM conversion rather than purchasing entirely new hardware.*

*The game includes multiple modes. Gun Club acts as a shooting-range practice mode, 2P Competition allows two players to battle for the highest score, and Shootout serves as the main campaign mode. Players can also choose their starting mission.*

*Many players describe Locked 'N Loaded as Data East's answer to Lethal Enforcers. While the comparison is understandable due to the digitized actors and police-versus-terrorists theme, the game stands out with larger boss fights and absurd action-movie energy.*

*One thing that immediately stands out is the game's sense of humor. Terrorists constantly scream cheesy one-liners while civilians run around panicking and begging for help. Add in the stock cartoon-style ricochet sound effects and the entire experience feels like a direct-to-video action movie turned into an arcade cabinet.*

*This gameplay was captured using MAME. While the game is playable, it may require calibration before aiming works properly.*

*To access the calibration menu in MAME, hold 9 and press F2 simultaneously. This opens the gun calibration screen and allows aiming adjustments to be made.*

*And yes... during this playthrough I may have accidentally shot enough civilians to earn immediate paid administrative leave, mandatory retraining, several internal investigations, and a strongly worded memo from Human Resources. 😅*

*Locked 'N Loaded is a wonderfully ridiculous slice of 1990s arcade history packed with B-movie action, digitized actors, cheesy explosions, and enough charm to keep fans of obscure arcade shooters entertained from start to finish.*

This video showcases the full arcade longplay of Total Vice, Konami's 1997 lightgun shooter featuring gang wars, hostage rescues, motorbike shootouts, and massive arcade-style boss battles presented in 4K/60FPS.

🎯 About The Game 🎯

Total Vice feels like Konami's attempt to combine the cinematic police-action style of Lethal Enforcers with the faster pacing and spectacle-focused structure that later arcade shooters would become known for.

Instead of zombies or monsters, the game focuses entirely on violent criminal gangs, city-wide shootouts, armored enemies, and over-the-top action movie scenarios.

The game throws you directly into nonstop urban chaos where nearly every stage escalates into absurd arcade action.

One moment you are stopping a convenience store robbery, and the next you are fighting machine-gun-wielding smugglers, motorcycle gangs, rooftop snipers, armored enemies, and mob bosses that absorb ridiculous amounts of bullets like classic quarter-draining arcade shooters.

Compared to later Konami shooters like Silent Scope or Evil Night, Total Vice feels much more grounded visually, but still carries that unmistakable late-90s arcade energy where enemies burst through windows constantly and explosions fill the screen every few seconds.

⚡ Gameplay

The pacing is one of the stronger parts of the game.

Civilians regularly appear in the middle of firefights, enemies attack aggressively from nearly every direction, and several sequences rely heavily on memorization and reaction speed to survive efficiently.

Some sections honestly feel intentionally designed to destroy your credits in the most classic arcade way possible.

Blindside attacks, tanky bosses, and sudden enemy spawns can become overwhelming very quickly if you do not already know the encounter patterns.

🖥️ Emulation & Performance Setup

For this showcase, the game is running on MAME 0.287 with several performance and visual enhancements applied to improve both framerate stability and image quality.

Because MAME can be extremely CPU-heavy with certain arcade titles, especially older 3D games, I used Process Lasso on my Intel i9-12700K system to disable the E-cores and force the emulator to run entirely on the P-cores for improved consistency and reduced scheduling overhead.

Additional CPU adjustments were also applied directly inside MAME's slider controls, including CPU overclock tweaks and refresh-rate adjustments to help reduce overall system load while stabilizing gameplay performance.

RetroArch was used with the CRT Easymode shader to restore some of the softer CRT-style presentation these arcade games originally had in arcades.

Lossless Scaling was also used to help recover framerate performance after lowering the game refresh rate to reduce CPU load.

Combined together, these adjustments helped push gameplay performance back toward a much smoother 60FPS presentation.

I've also got a setup video coming soon. Sneak Peek here: https://youtu.be/3JMn6-23CqQ

If you’ve ever played Deadstorm Pirates and thought:

“I love this game, but I wish the dialogue sounded like it was translated by the same people who brought us:”

💀 “ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.”
💀 “WELCOME TO DIE!”
💀 “VICTOLY!!”
💀 “YOUR FISTS OF EVIL ARE ABOUT TO MEET MY STEEL WALL OF NICENESS.”

...then Skull of Shadow might actually be your dream game. 😭

I just finished recording a full playthrough of it using the RS3 Reaper and honestly... this thing ended up being WAY more entertaining than I expected. 🔫🔥

The game is basically a full-speed fantasy arcade fever dream packed with:

🎯 Haunted oceans
🎯 Giant dragons
🎯 Ghost captains
🎯 Skeleton armies
🎯 Ancient temples
🎯 Massive monster boss fights

...and some of the greatest broken-English dialogue I’ve heard in YEARS. 😂

The absolute moment that sold me was during the Whirlpool Sea stage when Aaron suddenly screams:

“WATCH OUT, IT’S COMING BACK TO LIVE!” 💀

Like what does that even mean? Is the dragon homeless or something? 😭

I mean... I guess finding housing as a three-headed sea dragon in today’s economy probably isn’t easy either. 😅

And honestly?

That line perfectly summarizes the entire experience.

The game leans SO heavily into its Deadstorm Pirates inspiration that it even recreates the golden-circle cooperative shooting mechanics and pacing style almost beat-for-beat.

But weirdly enough... it actually works REALLY well.

The enemies are definitely pretty spongey feeling at times, and the game kind of just... ends without much payoff 😅

...but honestly? I still had a really good time with it.

Underneath all the accidental comedy is a surprisingly solid arcade shooter with good pacing, cool environments, and some legitimately fun boss fights.

I also used several ReShade enhancements during capture to clean the visuals up and make the game pop more in 4K/60FPS while still preserving that strange arcade-cabinet energy. 🔥

-MRG