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ssi: MAME ROM Information.

History:

Super Space Invaders '91 (c) 1990 Taito.

The third sequel to Taito's seminal "Space Invaders", Super Space Invaders '91 leaves the classic Invaders game-play intact, but adds a slew of new alien invaders and power-ups to the mix. This, together with the vastly improved graphics that introduce colorful new backdrops - some of which scroll vertically in a similar fashion to the star-field in Namco's "Galaxian" - ensure that SSI 91 is a worthy sequel to the legendary original.

The original game's flying saucer still makes an appearance, but instead of merely awarding bonus points when shot - as in the original game - it now drops a power-up pod for the player to retrieve. Power-ups include shield, faster shots, a laser (activated with the second button) and a giant butterfly, which freezes the invaders for a limited time.

One of the game's most memorable features was the 'Cattle Mutilation' bonus screen, in which the player must protect a heard of cattle from a number of fast-moving saucers, intent on stealing the animals. If a cow is snatched; the player must shoot the relevant saucer to free it; being careful not to actually shoot the cow itself. The '91 incarnation also introduced 'bosses' to the series for the first time; giant, screen-filling aliens that required several shots to kill.

Another major difference to the previous games in the series is that if an invader reaches the bottom of the screen, the player will simply lose a ship (in the original, the game would end once an alien had landed). Also, the player's ship now comes equipped with a shield that can withstand several hits. The shield's strength is depleted every time it takes a direct hit from one of the invaders, and too many hits will result in the shield disappearing altogether. A direct hit on an un-shielded ship will result in the loss of a player life.

- TECHNICAL -

Taito F2 System hardware

Prom Stickers : C64

Main CPU : 68000 (@ 12 Mhz)

Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)

Sound Chips : YM2610 (@ 8 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical

Video resolution : 224 x 320 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 4096

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 2

- TRIVIA -

Released in November 1990

This game is known in Japan as "Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV".

This game was dedicated to Katsujiro Fujimoto.

- SERIES -

1. Space Invaders (1978)

2. Space Invaders Deluxe (1979)

3. Return of the Invaders (1985)

4. Super Space Invaders '91 (1990)

5. Space Invaders DX (1994)

6. Space Invaders '95 - The Attack of Lunar Loonies (1995)

- STAFF -

Director : Ichiro Fujisue

Game designer : Tomohiro Ohno

Software : Hideki Hashimoto, Takashi Kitabayashi, Norihito Taniyama, Masahiro Shimazaki, Takayuki Shinma

Hardware : Yasuhiro Shibuya

Character designers : Senba Takatsuna, Tomohiro Ohno, Masami Kikuchi, Tsuyoshi Satoh, Takayuki Miyazawa

Designers : Rintaro Doi, Kumi Mizobe

Sound : Yasuhisa Watanabe, Shiro Imaoka, Norihiro Furukawa, Kazuko Umino

- PORTS -

* Consoles :

Sega Master System

Sega Game Gear

Microsoft XBOX (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

Sony PlayStation 2 (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

* Computers :

Commodore C64 (1991)

Amstrad CPC (1991)

Atari ST (1991)

Commodore Amiga (1991)

Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1992)

PC [CD-ROM] (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

* Others :

Nokia N-Gage ("Taito Memories") : unreleased

- SOURCES -

Game's rom.

MAME Info:

0.33b4 [Howie Cohen]

Artwork available

Bugs:

- Graphic garbage when you get the T bonus. Iaspis (ID 01013)

WIP:

- 0.140u2: Irongiant added clone Super Space Invaders '91 (World). Changed parent description to 'Super Space Invaders '91 (World, Rev 1)'. Fixed rom names.

- 26th July 2008: Mr. Do - Another favorite of mine that was bought awhile ago finally got some love: Majestic Twelve bezel.

- 0.102u5: Nicola Salmoria fixed butterfly wings do not work properly, when you get the 'Freeze Time' bonus.

- 0.56: Fixed rom names.

- 29th June 2000: Hans de Goede fixed Super Space Invaders '91 and clone Majestic Twelve from crashing.

- 31st May 2000: Brad Oliver integrated the Super Space Invaders and Taito F2 drivers.

- 0.36b5: Added dipswitches 'Cabinet', 'Flip Screen' and 'Difficulty'.

- 0.35RC2: Changed description to 'Super Space Invaders '91 (World)' and clone to 'Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV (Japan)'.

- 19th April 1999: Marco Cassili added clone Majestic 12.

- 0.35b13: Changed description of clone 'Majestic Twelve' to 'Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV'.

- 0.35b11: Marco Cassili added clone Majestic Twelve.

- 0.34b8: Andrew Prime fixed flickering sprites in SSI.

- 0.34b6: Ernesto Corvi added sound to Super Space Invaders. Added Z80 CPU2, YM2610 sound and sound cpu rom and ADPCM samples rom.

- 0.33b7: Super Space Invaders use the dynamic palette system [Aaron Giles].

- 0.33b4: Howie Cohen added Super Space Invaders '91 (Taito 1990), preliminary.

- 19th March 1998: CaBBe dumped Super Space Invaders '91 (World).

LEVELS: 43

Other Emulators:

* FB Alpha

* Raine

* Retrocade

Recommended Games (Space Invaders):

Space Invaders

Space Invaders Part II

Return of the Invaders

Space Invaders DX

Super Space Invaders '91

Space Invaders '95 - Attack Of The Lunar Loonies

Space Invaders Anniversary

Space Invaders II

Space Stranger

Super Invader Attack

Invinco

Invinco / Deep Scan

Invinco / Head On 2

Rolling Crash / Moon Base

Space Attack

Space Attack / Head On

Space Fever

Space Fever High Splitter

Space Fighter Mark II

Space King 2

Beam Invader

Rotary Fighter

IPM Invader

Shuttle Invader

Attack Ufo

Space Intruder

Romset: 1728 kb / 5 files / 544.9 zip

MAME XML Output:

<description>Super Space Invaders '91 (World, Rev 1)</description>

<manufacturer>Taito Corporation Japan</manufacturer>