Action Max
ActionMax is a home video game console using VHS tapes to play a set of lightgun games. It was manufactured in 1987 by Worlds of Wonder.
There were five games released: .38 Ambush Alley, Blue Thunder, Hydrosub: 2021, The Rescue of Pops Ghostly, and Sonic Fury
You can watch this YouTube video providing insight into the original system.
Retropie Details
ActionMax was ported to Singe, but up until now, it was unplayable on 32-bit Retropie. DirtBagXon (of Hypseus Singe fame) has put together a Singe implementation that runs ActionMax on the 32-bit Retropie allowing all five games to be played.
Video Setup Guide
This video guide was created by Wiggy808
Installation
Installation files and steps for the ActionMax Pi emulator can be found in GitHub.
Note that if you are using Barebones 9 then ActionMax is already preinstalled and configured.
Post-installation
Rom Location
Place your ROMs in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/daphne
.Commands Files
In order to get the games working with your Sinden lightgun, you will need to create a [GAMENAME].commands file for each of the five games and place them in the roms/daphne/actionmax folder
the -border argument value can be adjusted to either thin or thicken the borders (accepted values are 1-10). the -manymouse argument enables ABS mouse input for lightgun usage and is automatically enabled when enabling -border If you are not getting a fullscreen display, you can try adding -ignore_aspect_ratio to the .commands files.
General guidance for creating .commands files:
Use the below command to create all 5 .commands files with the -border 5 argument and value (this enables Sinden borders with a thickness of 5, which you can adjust to your liking):
cd $HOME/RetroPie/roms/daphne/actionmax ; for x in 38ambushalley bluethunder hydrosub2021 popsghostly sonicfury ; do echo "-border 5" > $x.commands ; done
Fullscreen Issues
If you are having issues getting the games to appear in fullscreen you can create .commands files with the -ignore_aspect_ratio argument via the following command:
cd $HOME/RetroPie/roms/daphne/actionmax ; for x in 38ambushalley bluethunder hydrosub2021 popsghostly sonicfury ; do echo "-border 5 -ignore_aspect_ratio" > $x.commands ; done
Startup
When launching a game from Emulation Station (via the Daphne system), press a button to enter the runcommand menu (blue menu). Choose emulator for ROM - actionmax
Additional guidance
Exit Keys
ESC on a keyboard exits an ActionMax game
You may want to map a way to exit the game via a gamepad by adjusting the 3rd value of KEY_QUIT in /opt/retropie/emulators/actionmax/singeinput.ini
example: for an 8bitdo SN30 wired, the following line would allow the left shoulder button to exit the game: KEY_QUIT = 27 0 5
There is also a hotkey combo, holding select/coin1 and pressing start. These buttons will also need to be assigned in the singeinput.ini.
Crosshairs
Crosshairs are on by default. It is not possible to remove these in-game, but you can replace sprite_crosshair.png in the /roms/daphne/actionmax directory with a transparent .png of the same resolution (11x11 pixels).
Gamepad Use
For those who prefer to play with a gamepad, you can also map the trigger by changing the 3rd value of KEY_BUTTON3 in /opt/retropie/emulators/actionmax/singeinput.ini
example: for an 8bitdo SN30 wired, the following line would allow the left trigger button to start the game and shoot: KEY_BUTTON3 = 32 0 7