Question(s) on Gakken's Paint Roller

Tartfox

I had never seen video gameplay of Gakken's Paint Roller before, but one was posted on YouTube recently- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lG-RV-HSyk

Looking at the footage though, can someone tell me if the graphics are supposed to be flickering like that? I'd like to get this game at some point but want to know if the flickering is a defect on this particular model or not.

Also, the game does look fun, would this be suitable for someone looking for a decent pac-man type clone? Does this game end when scoring reaches a specific number? And are there any instructions anywhere in English? Thanks. Smile

blanka · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:09 pm Post subject:

The flickering is a camera-problem.
These VFD's have a refresh rate of about 20 frames/second, and then all rows are scanned (so one row is fired 20 times/second).
The best way to capture this is on 24fps (usually lowest framerate on a camera) and then at the longest shutter speed, usually 1/30th of a second as 1/15th would be longer than the frame rate.
This one is probably filmed at 60fps on a telephone or so with maybe 1/125 exposure time.

Tartfox · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:05 am Post subject:

That's a very detailed answer! Thanks blanka, good to know it's a camera problem and not the game itself.

I looked at some past threads and noticed you too have this game. Can you tell me if this game ends when scoring hits a specific number? And are you aware of any English instructions? And of course, do you find the game fun? Smile

Rik · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 4:05 pm Post subject:

I'll check mine, I have the Japanese and German versions... The Japanese ones usually at least have a page of English translations in the manual, and sometimes the whole manual printed twice (once in each language)...

blanka is right about the flickering, all VFDs do that unless you set up the camera right... CRT TVs do this too, it can be hard to get a perfect camera setup sometimes to eliminate this. But the game looks like any other VFD game in real life. Smile

Tartfox · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 6:54 pm Post subject:

Hey Rik, I was actually able to find a scanned manual in English thanks to this thread- http://www.handheldmuseum.com/.....int+roller

Or more specifically, this download link from the thread- http://neocomputer.org/handheld/paint_roller_manual_eng.zip

I had no idea the VFD flickering was a merely a camera issue. I had looked at numerous VFD games videos in the past and whenever I saw the flickering I assumed the game screen was genuinely like that. Embarassed

That means I was totally wrong about Tsukada's Great Escape and Rosy's Puck N Monster 3d, to name a few. Shocked

Tartfox · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:45 pm Post subject:

Picked up Paint Roller the other day, this is a really fun game! I like that it's challenging and that the game saves your high/best score until you turn the unit off. Glad I picked this up. Yessss!