MAME STRATEGY GUIDE Compiled by Phanatik VERY IMPORTANT: Please read the comments and the credits at the bottom of this document.
Table of contents:
10 YARD FIGHT * 1942 * 1943 * AMIDAR * ARKANOID * ASTEROIDS * ASTEROIDS DELUXE * ASTRO BLASTER * BERZERK * BOMB JACK * BOSCONIAN * BUBBLE BOBBLE * BUMP N'JUMP * BURGER TIME * CARNIVAL * CENTIPEDE / MILLIPEDE * CIRCUS CHARLIE * CLOAK AND DAGGER * COMMANDO * CRAZY CLIMBER * CRYSTAL CASTLES * DEFENDER * DIG DUG * DONKEY KONG * DONKEY KONG JR. * ELEVATOR ACTION * FROGGER * GALAGA * GALAXIAN * GAUNTLET * GAUNTLET 2 * GHOSTS 'N GOBLINS * GOLDEN AXE * GORF * GRAVITAR * GREEN BERET * GUNSMOKE * HYPER SPORTS * JOUST * KANGAROO * KRULL * KUNG-FU MASTER * LEGENDARY WINGS * MAPPY * MAT MANIA * MIKIE * MISSILE COMMAND * MOON PATROL * MR.DO * MR DO'S WILD RIDE * MR.DO! RUN RUN * MS. PAC MAN * OMEGA RACE * PAC MAN * PEPPER II * PHOENIX * PLEIADS * Q*BERT * QIX * ROBOTRON * TIME PILOT * SINISTAR * SPACE DUEL * SPACE INVADERS * STAR FORCE * STARGATE * STAR WARS * SUPER BASKETBALL * TAC/SCAN * TEMPEST * TIME PILOT * TIME PILOT '84 * TRACK & FIELD * TRON * VANGUARD * WARLORDS * WIZARD OF WOR * XEVIOUS * ZAXXON * ZOO KEEPER * THE SOURCES: *
10 YARD FIGHT (ROGER:)Don't pass if the line of the pass will take the ball anywhere near a free-running defender. At the kickoff, you should aim to get to at least the opponents' 40 yard line, if not further. Use your rear defenders on the run up the field! When making a play, look carefully at the your opponent's deployment. Are they all over the right hand side? Then wait till your runner is over the left, get the ball back to the quarterback and pass straight to the running back. Then leg it straight up the left-hand side. When doing this, on either side, keep as close to the edge of the pitch as possible. If you're going to get tackled, quickly dodge off the field to end the play. You can also send the running back up the field, and run around with the quarterback until there's a pass available. In the arcade, I used to send the running back way up the right to the very top of the screen, and then run back and left with the quarterback as quickly as possible, doing a huge crossfield throw at the last second. The opponents would get sort of "caught in the scroll" as the ball when diagonally across and most times the running back would be away with no one anywhere near him. You can also run the quarterback straight through the pack - this is only sensible when you're at the 5-yard line or so.
1942 (ROGER:): On certain levels, a V-formation of red planes will come straight down from the top. If you kill all 5 of them, and it turns into a Black/Red POW, pick it up - it's a free airplane!
On levels where you pick up the extra two airplanes next to you: Use them to kill off the bigger planes. You will get a second chance to get them back later on. On the challenge levels, you can get large bonuses based upon shot accuracy: Percent Bonus ---------------- 90%-94% 10,000 95%-99% 20,000 100% 10,000 On the levels with the huge boss plane, save all your loops! Shoot at it quickly, loop down to avoid the shots, and shoot at it again, and then loop. You should be able to kill it this way. Most of the time it is easier to keep only one wingman rather than both; that way it's easier to maneuver around enemies. If you miss the red airplanes that give you the wingman, kill off your man (assuming you have more) and the game will place you back before them. At times, a slow airplane will come out of the left or right hand side of the screen. Shoot it, and it will turn into a special figure. If you fly over the figure you will get 5,000 points! Screen Shot Here's an interesting bug in 1942: If you win an extra man by crossing the xxx points mark when killing the "boss" bomber, no extra planes will be awarded on the basis of points! Extra planes can still be obtained by getting the black- and-red POW, but no point-based bonuses will be awarded for the rest of the game. It is possible to finish the game. When completed, a screen appears with a message saying "We give up!" and a 10,000,000 point bonus is awarded.
1943 (KROOL:) To get an energy tank you can shoot POW's through their cycle (shotgun, 3-way, auto, shell) 3 to 4 times and it will eventually turn to a fuel tank. Can be seen in replay game a bit. In a 2 player game, you can equally balance out fuel by flying over each other for a few seconds. Handy if someone's dying and the other isn't. There are hidden bonus point objects in clouds and water, some are on ships. they consist of the standard capcom bonus sprites : the cow (cash cow usually!), skin of water(?), strawberry and the Colloseum. No elephant though...or that other green thing...There are hidden bonuses if you kill a boss quickly, it will fly out of the final big explosion, just shoot it. It looks like old capcom sprites. The same as the psx street fighter collection save sprite on your memory card. another one is a drone from exed exes. Are there more? There is a laser weapon that pops up every 10 or so games at random stages. It moves to random points over the screen and stays in that position for about 1-2 seconds. it does this for about 30 seconds so be quick. It's worth it. (ROBERT SCHMITZ):On most every board, holding down combinations of joystick/Button A/Button B before the board starts will give you a weapon. (On a few boards this gives you a 'laser' which is a fantastic weapon After level one, when the game is adding you bonuses on, if you hold down fire and a) have the shot gun, your weapon will be made into the most powerful shot gun with 90 seconds remaining b) don't have the shot gun, you either will or won't get the same as the above (we never managed to work out the criteria for getting it before the arcade got rid of the game).
Also if one player gets the laser and has full energy, player 2 can line his pane up with the player with the laser (as if to borrow energy) and he will get the laser as well. This is VERY useful if you are lucky enough to get the laser before the very last ship (which is hard indeed). (ROGER:) The following codes should be used when you begin the stage. You should use the code when your tank is filling up. To make sure the code works, use it before filling up the tank or before you get the bonus (when you see "Round 1 Clear! Bonus 5000...."). Also, hold the buttons and the direction together until the plane flies again. There is still no guarantee that you can get a weapon, but this should be almost perfect. Number - Direction. Check keypad on keyboard as reference. A - Fire button B - Flash button
Stage 1 Player 2 Player Weapon 1 2 A Small Shot Gun 2 A B Big Shot Gun 3 9AB 2B Laser 4 1B 7 Big Shot Gun 5 A 8 Auto/3-Way(?) 6 4 6B Auto 7 7 2 3-Way 8 4AB AB Auto 9 3AB 3AB Laser 10 9B 3 Shell 11 7 6A Auto 12 6AB 9AB Auto 13 8 2 Auto 14 7AB 6AB Laser (*) 15 3A 2A Auto 16 6A 9A Auto (*) means only one player can get the laser. It means one code is wrong. Do it first to see which player is right. Then check the wrong one with all directions plus AB buttons. (Yes! It takes a looooong time!) After level one, when the game is adding your bonuses on, if you hold down fire and: a) have the shot gun, your weapon will be made into the most powerful shot gun with 90 seconds remaining, or b) don't have the shot gun, you either will or won't get the same as the above (we never managed to work out the criteria for getting it before the arcade got rid of the game). Also, if one player gets the laser and has full energy, player 2 can line his plane up with the player with the laser (as if to borrow energy) and he will get the laser as well. This is VERY useful if you are lucky enough to get the laser before the very last ship (which is hard indeed). The '100% accuracy' bonus refers NOT to how many planes you down during the round, but rather how many of the guns on the enemy aircraft carriers you get. For this reason, it's best to ignore the planes and concentrate on the ships - that's where the big points are. It's possible to shoot one of the ships just before your plane dives in to battle the fleet, and that you can capture the flames that erupt from it. Does anyone know what purpose this serves? At some points in the background there are "shootable" patches which will yield a bonus when shot enough. They can be recognized by the sparks which will occur when your bullets hit them. One such bonus is on level one: it is on the lowest part of the second cloud bank to the left after the last large plane of the level appears. It appears as a cow. The cow bonus is worth 20,000 points, and on the first level, it's followed by a strange object that looks like a dragonfly moving right to left across the screen. Shooting the dragonfly yields an additional 10,000 point bonus. The cow and dragonfly bonuses also appear on other rounds; the cow can sometimes be seen on the deck of a carrier!
There's a bonus shaped like a spinning cat (!). When collected, it upgrades your weapon to a laser. The "star" bonus gives you 5,000 points when caught. It may also increase the capacity of your fuel gauge by eight units (mine went from 64 to 72 units), but I haven't confirmed whether or not this bonus is actually what causes the increase. It's possible to shoot one of the ships just before your plane dives in to battle the fleet, and that you can capture the flames that erupt from it. This reportedly gives a points bonus as well (does anyone know how many?) This has been reported on level 2, but may exist on other levels as well: Sometimes an astronaut will emerge from the side of the final (boss) ship and walk off the screen. Shoot it for 100,000 points! If you get the "propeller" power-up (it looks like a propeller over a circle), your energy level will be fully replenished. There is also another shootable area which appears after the first ship in the first level, in the water above it. Still another bonus is shaped like an pine cone or acorn. When you fly over a certain spot, the pine cone shows up and is worth 2,000 points. When the boss ship explodes, the control center breaks into 4 pieces. The pieces are worth 10,000 points each if shot. AMIDAR (KAPTAIN:) To find out the path to take for the bonus, just PAUSE the game and work out the route :)
ARKANOID (DEFINITIVE:)This one applies to the super arkanoid. On the level that looks like - - - - ----------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Level 8, I recall. -JTR] don't kill too many blocks! Wait for the N pill. Get the balls to the top of the screen. Every time they hit one of the balls, 100 easy points. They hit the balls very often. If any one or two of the balls get out, don't hit them back in, since the one(s) up top will split...
ASTEROIDS (ROGER:)The classic strategy for Asteroids high scores involves saving one or two slow-moving (and highly vertical) rocks, and then waiting in a corner of the screen while killing the 1000-point small saucers with wrap-around shots. To employ this strategy: sit about one inch from the left (or right) edge of the screen, and about three inches from the top (or bottom). If the saucer appears close to you, quickly turn and hit it with a quick burst before it can move. If you can't get it, QUICKLY move to the opposite side of the screen, aim toward the screen's edge, and kill it with the wrap-around shots. This becomes quite easy with practice. ALWAYS stay on the opposite edge of the screen from the little saucer after it starts firing! This strategy depends on the fact that the little saucer in Asteroids is incapable of aiming and firing wrap-around shots at the player. This is NOT! true, however, in Asteroids Deluxe... The Winner's Book of Video Games reported that some players had good success hunting small saucers by moving to the middle of the screen and thrusting upwards at full speed. Supposedly the saucers can't track a ship moving at full speed, and can be easily killed this way. I've never spoken to anyone who's actually tried this, however - it sounds harder than the above method.
Asteroids keeps track of up to 255 extra men. If you have too many, the game may slow down, probably due to the processor having to draw all the extra men on the screen. However, on an emulator on a fast computer (Pentium 166 etc.) this may not be a problem. On some ROM versions, it may be possible to "hide" behind the high-score display. In a monumental display of overconfidence on the part of the Atari programmers, Asteroids rolls over at only 99,999 points. Several players, during days-long marathon games, have scored over 100,000,000... (PEER BLUMENSCHEIN:)If you use the thrusting upwards strategy, make sure of two things: First, when the UFO shows up, let go the thrust button, point the ship towards the UFO and fire. Second, teach yourself only to fire 3 shots at a time, or else, so you've got one spare, if you should approach the last asteroid piece. (PHANATIK:) You could also try flying in a horizontal line, so you see your ship for some longer time.
ASTEROIDS DELUXE (ROGER:) When the Killsat ("snowflake") ship comes out near the end of the level, DO NOT attack it head-on. Shoot at it, turn around, get further away, and then turn back towards it and keep firing. This way you are moving backwards, but you keep firing at it. Your shields have a maximum life expectancy of 17 seconds. Each collision with a rock takes away about six seconds of shield time. Once your shield runs down, it can not be recharged. In other words: use your shields as little as possible. In the original Asteroids game, the large UFO shot in a random direction. In Deluxe, it shoots at rocks 75 percent of the time and in the general direction of your ship 25 percent of the time. If no rocks are nearby, all shots go towards your ship. This renders the "save and hunt" strategy from original Asteroids useless. Also, the small UFO can now shoot aimed wrap-around shots, and at the 60,000 point mark, both UFOs shoot with greatly improved accuracy. Some advanced players hunt Killsats in Asteroids Deluxe as they hunted small UFOs in the original Asteroids. (PEER BLUMENSCHEIN:) You have the option of autofire (hold button and fire 4 shots in a burst).
ASTRO BLASTER (DEFINITIVE:) This is a list of just a few of the secret ways to get bonus points in the vertical space shoot-em-up Astro Blaster. 1000 Points for shooting without missing a shot during "Fuel status Marginal". 700 Points for killing everything in the horizontal attack force before they reach the other side of the screen. 600 Points for getting through an entire sector without hitting "Critical" on laser temperature. 400 Points for not losing a ship through an entire sector. 400 to 1500 Points for docking perfectly WITHOUT using the direction buttons. ??? Points for "scraping" the docking claws duging dock.
BERZERK (ROGER:) Always exit the mazes on the sides. If you exit the top or bottom, you will often start in a long corridor with many robots on both sides of you. During the fast rounds (past 8000 points), you will not have a chance. The robots will always move toward you. Use this to your benefit when two (or more) robots are close to each other by moving your man back and forth, thus causing the robots to collide and annihilate each other.
When separated from the robots by a vertical wall, move up and down to place the robots on the same horizontal plane, where they will kill each other with shots aimed in your direction. The robots always walk toward you unless you're in their line of fire; then they will pause to shoot. There are eight directions you and they can shoot. The only way to survive the higher levels (10,000 points +) is to learn the blind spots of the robots. If you are in a robot's blind spot he poses no threat, and you can concentrate on blasting the others. The angle shots are almost never necessary. It is very difficult to hit a robot with an angle shot. When you shoot, your man stops moving, when you can't move, you are vulnerable. Make your shots count and don't bother wasting your time with angles unless you are on an early level and need the practice. Because the robots are shorter than you, try to avoid robots at the bottom edge of the screen. By the time you move low enough to get a shot they will have already fired. In contrast, if you come "up" on robots from the bottom, you can shoot their feet and duck back down before their shot reaches you. Because your man is a lot taller than he is wide, it is very easy to avoid shots from above and below. Take out the robots to the sides of you first. If you poke your head above a wall just far enough to shoot above it, the robots on the other side of it can't shoot you. They will only hit the wall. ALWAYS use this tactic to kill most of the robots in a maze. When you are in the right position, just hold down the fire button. This will make your player stand still. You can inch your way very close to the deadly walls without fear of running into them. When shooting up or down, that trick doesn't work. If there is a wall between you and a robot above you, run to the right and start shooting up just past the wall. If you are lucky, the robot will walk into your fire before he gets a shot off. By design, if a robot is above you, he will lock into position directly in- line with your shots, and you will shoot each other's bullets. In early rounds you can overpower a robot and outgun him, but later the robots can keep up with you and you will be in a deadlock. To defeat him, shoot up and immediately walk to the right and he will walk into your bullet. Because the robots are attracted to you "as the crow flies", they will tend to clump together and smash into each other. The best way to kill robots is to stand safely behind a wall and let them shoot and smash each other. The ball (Evil Otto) will also kill them. You can ignore some robots in the maze and let Otto kill them for you. Otto follows your position like the robots, so as he comes across the screen, lead him up and down into any remaining robots before you exit. The robots are programmed to avoid colliding into the sides of the deadly walls, but they can't detect the start or end of a wall. If a robot is below the end of a wall, you can move up and direct him into the wall end. In later rounds, all or the real action takes place in the first two or three seconds of a round. If you survive the initial shots from the robots, you are as good as done with the maze. When a new maze comes on screen, you are very vulnerable. Often you are in the line of fire of five robots. As the new maze slides on-screen, you can see it before the robots appear. Use this time to decide which way to run. Assume that there will be a robot in each "room" or "nook". Shoot the robot right in front of you first, and then run toward his position. By running ahead, you will exit the line of fire of any robots above/below you and also the dreaded angle shots. Once you are out of their line of fire, you can re-enter their line of fire selectively and shoot them. Get to a safe barrier as soon as possible and wait for the robots to move into easy positions.
The more robots that are in a maze(up to 11), the more time you have until Otto comes out. If the maze has only 1-3 robots, don't waste time shooting them unless they stand between you and the exit. Here is how the rounds progress: Points Robot Color Shots fired 0-260 pts. Yellow 0 260-1200 Red 1 1200-3000 Light Blue 2 3000-4500 Yellow / Green 3 4500-6000 Purple 4 6000-8000 Yellow 5 8000-10000 White One fast shot (2x speed) 10000-12000 Light Blue Two fast shots This color system now repeats. At around 20,000 points, the robots stay light blue. Starting at about 10,000 pts. Berzerk becomes largely a game of luck. If you get an open maze with a lot of robots, there is not much you can do. An interesting quirk: The space between your man's head and body is not technically part of your man, so that shots that pass through this area (your "neck") will not kill you. (KAPTAIN:) Since the robots' shots cannot penetrate the maze walls, use this to your advantage. Hide behind walls to dodge laser fire, then leap out when it is safe to aim and shoot at robots. Position robot(s) between your man and Evil Otto. This strategy should cause Evil Otto to destroy the robot(s) first (thereby scoring points for you) and you will have more time to escape. Evil Otto moves more slowly when there are robots on the screen. But once all the robots are gone, the evil fellow bounds toward you with amazing speed! Remember this so you can position your man near an exit as you finish off the robots, then make a swift escape. Keep your finger on the fire button as you move from one maze to another. It takes the robots a few seconds to start their attack and you can often blindly zap them when you enter shooting. Since robots are programmed to follow you, you can influence them by your movement, causing them to shoot at and collide with each other or run into walls. Evil Otto always enters where the man enters. Try to get away from this danger zone and near an exit as soon as it is safe. Keep your distance from robot gangs because you can cover yourself in only one direction at a time. When you find yourself surrounded by a gang, shoot your way out and put some space between you and them. It's much easier to see and avoid distant robot fire than close range fire. When robots shoot on the vertical it is from the left side. You can position your man above or below them on the right side where they can't hit you, but you can blast them. There is a special horizontal laser beam wraparound feature that will help you destroy robots. In mazes that have a right and left exit, you can stand just inside the right exit and shoot through it. Your laser beams will then "wrap around" the screen and re-enter on the left side through that opening. Any robots standing in your line of fire will be struck. In difficult levels where there are a lot of fast-moving, fast-shooting robots, head for the cover of a maze wall immediately. Allow the robots to collide with each other and to shoot one another or to walk into your firing range. But don't wait too long or you'll be trapped!
BOMB JACK (ROGER:) An important piece of information to remember is that you can pick up the bombs in a certain order to get the maximum points. If you pick up most of the bombs while their fuses are lit, you get the following bonuses: Bombs Bonuses -------------------- 20 10,000 21 20,000 22 30,000 23 50,000 So of course, you'll want to try to get 23 each time. (This is of course, VERY difficult!) The P (Power) coin appears after every ninth bomb is collected. The points value of the P coin ranges from 100 (Blue) to 2000 (Silver). Since the color changes each time BJ jumps, you can control the bonus level by making small jumps until the coin turns silver. The B (Bonus) coin appears every 5,000 points, and advances the bonus multiplier by 1. There is a maximum of 5 B coins per level. Picking up the S (Special) coin awards one free credit. It will also take you to the next level automatically. You can control where the mechanical bird appears by holding the joystick in the opposite direction. Example: Hold the joystick to the right as soon as the round starts and the mechanical bird appears on the left of the screen. If the stick is held diagonally, the bird appears in the opposite corner.
(KAPTAIN:) The fizzling bombs always appear in the same order. In other words, when you start a level and get your first bomb, the fizzling bomb will always be the one which is "next in line." It is helpful to learn the order in which bombs will fizzle so that you can easily get all 23. Usually, bombs placed next to each other in a line will fizzle in a left-to- right order or a top-to-bottom order. If you hit the leftmost bomb in a horizontal line, the bombs to the right will fizzle. if you hit the rightmost bomb, then the next fizzler will be in a different group. Same for vertical lines. In the first board for example, falling down the left side of the screen will get you all the lit bombs, but jumping up through the line of bombs will not get you any fizzlers.
BOSCONIAN (KESTEP:) The game is a space shoot'em'up played on a starfield with an inset map. The map shows the location of enemy bases and enemy formation attacks in relation to the player's ship. The player's ship fires from both the front and back making it doubly effective at taking out pursuing formations of ships. All that firepower is necessary, as you must take out asteroids, mines, various enemy fighters, and of course, the enemy Bosconian bases. The Bosconian bases fire at you from six turrets that surround their central core. Interestingly, none of the other enemy ships fire at your ship! They simply try to out fly and collide with your ship. Unlike other games, the enemies are susceptible to the same dangers that you are. Fly your ship into an asteroid and you are quite dead. If an enemy flies into an asteroid, he also meets his maker! Asteroids and mines are scattered throughout the Bosconian galaxy. Use these to your advantage! If an enemy formation is closing on you, fly to the far side of a group of asteroids or mines and wait! When the formation arrives, the will often fly into the obstacles blindly!
(ROGER:) Just as in Time Pilot, there is a way you can stay on a level for as long as you want. (This works best on level 2). Finish off the first level, and go to the second. Now, stay away from all the bases, and fly horizontally from left to right. Just fire continously at all the formations that come at you. The other ships will never be able to come after you. There is no time limit in the game, and it never gets any harder. You can stay on this level for as long as you want. It takes a VERY LONG TIME, though, to get a large score.
BUBBLE BOBBLE (UNKNOWN:) Classic Moves "Get the Water Stuck!!" On level 97, it is possible to get the game stuck in a state where you have no way to die and no way out of the level. This is the only level in the game where you always have infinite time to complete it, and Baron von Blubba never comes to get you. This makes it a great place to take a breather as it can take an hour or more to get this far. However, with some fairly tricky moves it is possible to pop a water bubble inside an area with no outlet and a monster inside. The water sloshes back and forth for eternity, and the level never ends because there is infinite time and the last monster never leaves it. Once the other monsters are killed, there is no way to die, so the only way out is to switch the machine off! This Move could be used by unscrupulous players to gain a free credit in an arcade by claiming the machine had crashed :-) Another interesting feature of the previous screenshot is the ownerless paddle bouncing back and forth at the bottom. This can happen if you kill a monster at just the right time. It is still just as deadly, so in fact in this particular case there is a way to end the game. Lining up your score: when the last monster is killed on a level, all the bubbles on the screen will turn into bonuses if at least one player has the second-last and third-last digits of their score the same. It also happens automatically every 5th level up to level 50 and on a few of the lower levels. If there is only one player, you have to work out how much score you will get for popping the last bunch of bubbles, but if there are two players and just a little cooperation, one player can line their score up while the other pops the bubbles. It's then every Brontosaurus for themselves to grab the bonus!
Saving Your Friend: "Baron von Blubba", as he is called in some versions of the game, comes to kill you when you take too long on a level, and cannot be destroyed with bubbles. However, if one player has just come back to life after dying, they can destroy the other player's ghost without dying by running into it while they are still flashing. That's what friends are for. Another way to rescue your friend if they have just died is to get the last letter to spell EXTEND while they are still spinning around in agony. They will not lose a life if you jump to the EXTEND screen in time!
Flickback: an essential manoevre for the Bubble Bobble master. Get right up close to the monster so you are just about touching it, blow a bubble and turn to face the other way at the same time. Your fins pop the bubble and kill the monster. This is how to take care of monsters that jump out of the bubble almost immediately. You can even kill monsters backwards just by bubbling while your fins are touching them. This is a great Move to pull on level 80 where you can just jump down and sit next to the monsters facing the other way and kill them all before they start moving, since they're all sitting on the same spot! You have to be quick and accurate, though.
Rare and Mysterious Items I list here only the more rare/interesting items. Armour - Well, it looks like a little suit of armour, anyway. After picking this up, a warning red flash and bell sound at the beginning of a level indicates that a special destructive magic item will appear somewhere on that level. Flashing Bubble - Extremely rare; a good omen! A red, pulsating bubble which floats up from the bottom of the level. Popping it is worth 100,000 points and gives fireballs to the player that pops it for the next 5 levels! Treasure Box - Behaves like a candy stick, ie after the last bubble is popped, all the bubbles turn to bonuses and a large bonus drops into the middle. However, with the Treasure Box, the bonuses are diamonds, and the large bonus is worth 50,000 - 80,000 points! Bracelet - Causes stars to rain down, killing all monsters in their path, and giving lots of points to the person that picked it up. There are other similar items, such as the pitchfork. Clock - Behaves differently on different Bubble Bobble implementations. On some, it freezes all monsters in place, while you can move around and bubble them. On others it gives you infinite time on that level (Baron von Blubba never comes to get you).
Skull - Not a good thing to pick up. Probably the only bad item in the game! All it does is cause the "Hurry Up" message to come straight away, and the monsters go red and speed up. Potion - The monsters disappear, and bonus fills the room. Get it all and an extra 100,000 points is yours. Great fun in two-player mode, as the extra bonus is only 50,000 for the player who picked up the least. Both players can get 100,000 if they cooperate and get the same number of bonuses, but that is not always possible.
(ROGER:) When the game is displaying the "BUBBLE BOBBLE" screen in attract mode, try the following sequence of joystick/button commands: Left, Jump, Left, 1P, Left, Fire, Left, 1P. It'll say "POWER UP!" at the bottom of the screen. The next game you play, you'll have all the useful powers (speed, fast bubbles, multiple bubbles). Screen Shot Then there's the ORIGINAL GAME cheat mode. This one gives you all the magic doors (even if you die. You will *not* get them if you die on non-OG mode): Fire, Jump, Fire, Jump, Fire, Jump, Right, 1P. Both cheats can be done during the one game. In fact, you don't even have to use these secret control sequences on the same title screen. After getting a high score, enter your initials as S.E.X. Start the next game as normal. The second item on the first level will be a pitchfork. Getting this item without bubbling the bad guys will get you mucho points. Make it to level 20 without dying, and a door appears-- it leads to a 'secret tomb,' a level full of diamonds. There are secret tombs at levels 20 and 30, also. Make it to level 50 without dying, and a strange, bee-hive-shaped door appears; enter it and you warp to level 70. DON'T kill the drunks on level 50, or the door disappears; bubble them and wait! Btw, with two players, only one of the players must survive unharmed to get the secret door.
Special item: the bell. If taken, a flash and a 'bell' sound will go off at the beginning of any level that will have some sort of destructive magic. "Paffing a Skel" : Skel is that nasty white monster that comes after you when you've taken too long; with two players, two Skels will appear. If one player is killed by 'his' Skel, then he can collide with his partner's Skel *WHILE HE IS STILL FLICKERING.* If the player's icon is still flickering, the other player's Skel will disappear (poof!), with no harm to the once-slain character. *The Trick* : At the end of a level, sometimes all of the bubbles on the screen will inexplicably turn into food (even if there was no candy cane on that level). If the tens and hundreds digits of either player's score match when the last monster of a level is popped, then the bubbles will turn into food! Ex: scores of 10,770 1,350,990 or 576,000 will produce 'the trick.' Usually, my partner and I kill everything in a level, and as one player moves to pop the last monster, the other player will 'get the trick' by blowing bubbles against a wall until the score is correct. Notice that you _do_ get the points for popping the last monster, so if you're by yourself, you have to work your score so that the tens and hundreds digits will match _after_ the points for the last monster are added.... *'Blowing yourself through'* : It is possible (though quite difficult) to bounce on a bubble at the top of the screen and ride it 'through' the top, so that you emerge at the bottom of the screen.
(GHALL:) BUBBLE BOBBLE FAQ, downloaded from www.gamefaqs.com :
Bubble Bobble FAQ Version 1.0 Welcome to my first attempt at a FAQ. It's on one of the best puzzle games ever written. Contact me ghall@gil.com.au if you have anything to add. (..............) Bubble Bobble gameplay --------------------- One of the great things about this game was all of the different hidden things that were discovered by playing the game. Basically you had to clear each room of all the enemy to let you advance to the next room. You did this by trapping the enemy inside you bubbles and then bursting the bubbles. Along the way you could pick up power ups and extra weapons that were only available for that room. As a rule only one food bonus and one weapon bonus per room. The basic power-ups are as follows :-Yellow bubblegum-increase bubble firing speed. Purple bubblegum- make the bubble travel further. Blue bubblegum-increase the bubble speed across screen. Red shoe-faster moving Bub and Bob. Other special power-ups are :- Candy canes-when the last enemy is killed all remaining bubbles turn into fruit as well as a large bonus from 10,000 to 70,000 pts. Treasure chest-similar effect to candy canes except diamonds fall. Clock/Watch-stops level timer and changes screen color. Red trophy- give you all the basic power-ups. Purple trophy-smart bomb, kills all enemy and turns them into diamonds. Blue trophy-gives you extra points when you run along the ground. Purple bomb-kills all enemy and turns them into diamonds. Blue cross-fills the screen with water and turns enemy into diamonds. Red cross-lets you shoot fireballs and turn the enemy into diamonds. Yellow cross-causes lightning to come down the screen and turns enemy into diamonds. Bomb-kills all enemy on screen. Blue umbrella-advance three rooms.
Yellow umbrella-advance five rooms. Purple umbrella-advance seven rooms. Diamond necklace-releases a ball that flies around the screen and turns enemy into diamonds. Red Ring-gives you 100 pts for every bubble blown. Silver Ring-creates a stream of stars that kill all enemy. Blue Ring-gets points while running around. Purple Ring-gives you 500 pts every time you jump. Bible/Book-smart bomb kills all enemy and turns into diamonds. Glowing love heart-enemy freeze and you can run into them. Potions-fill the screen with various items, collect all of these for a 100,000 pt bonus usually you share them if there is an equal number (grin) Doorways-These appear if you can get to level 20, 30, and 40 without losing a man. Puts you in a bonus room full of diamonds. Getting to level 50 without dying advances you to level 70. Fireball bubble-A very rare occurrence, gives you fireballs instead of bubbles for five rooms. Fire Bubble- hop on this to make fire fall to the ground and kill enemy. Lightning Bubble- Fires lightning across the screen opposite to the way you are facing. Bell- Activates alarm that will warn the player that a secret weapon is about to appear (good for all subsequent levels and the rest of the game, regardless if the player dies). Skull-Turns the enemies fast and nasty. How to make the letters appear ------------------------------ 1. EXTEND-bubbles appear only on "open levels" (levels where bubbles fly in from a "hole" in the ceiling or the bottom) 2. EXTEND-bubbles appear only when you've popped in the previous non-open-stages more than 2 (or 3) enemy-trapped-bubbles at once. The more enemies popped at once, the more DIFFERENT EXTEND-bubbles will come. (I'm sure this is valid for ALL previous stages up to an "open-level"; I hope I've described that well!) It goes something like this: Enemies popped at a time Different EXTEND-bubbles to come 2 none 3 1 4 2 5 3 6 4 7 5 8 ALL! (6)
3. When you're on an "open stage" you may want to try to pop more than 3 enemies at a time because the upper table applies to the CURRENT stage, too (if it is an "open stage" that is). Secrets and hidden stuff ------------------------
These codes must be entered on the title screen showing Bubble Bobble written inside a cloud: LEFT JUMP LEFT 1P LEFT BUBBLE LEFT 1P- it will say power up at the bottom of the screen and you will have fast feet, fast bubbles, etc. BUBBLE JUMP BUBBLE JUMP BUBBLE JUMP RIGHT 1P-the screen will say original game mode and you will get the bonus doors whether you die or not. 1P JUMP BUBBLE LEFT RIGHT JUMP 1P RIGHT-this give you super on the title screen. You play the game with the monsters from the first 50 screens in the last 50 and visa-versa. High score table tricks ----------------------- When you enter your name in the high score table put in SEX and a sound will be made and the word SEX will change to H.! . On the following game a pitchfork will appear as the second item on the first level, get this and fruit will fall from the sky and kill the enemy. Make sure you don't bubble them up so they can be hit by the falling fruit, also the bell sound will happen more often throughout the game. Entering MTJ as your initials will bring up a coke can as the second item , this will make flowers fall out of the sky and change the enemy into diamonds worth 6,000 pts. Other initials to try are NSO KIM YSH KTU SAK TOP HED RYO SKE SAN PAN OTO, these are all initials of the people whose names come up when you finish the game.
Other tricks and tips --------------------- This is one of the coolest cheats in Bubble Bobble. You get this if you lose your last dino in a treasure room. Normally, you only get treasure rooms if you have reached levels 20, 30 and 40 without dying, and you exit a treasure room if you die once, so the only way to do this is if you are using the "original game" cheat that gives you treasure rooms anyway. When you lose your last dino in a treasure room, your level is recorded as 102, and then all the demo screens turn to treasure rooms and the next game you play you get a treasure room on level 1! This tip cones from Star Tech Journal 12/93. Each of the three Diamond Rooms contains an encrypted message which is a hint towards properly finishing the game ("Having a TRUE and HAPPY Ending"). The message can be decrypted by copying down both the message and the larger block of symbols. The larger block of symbols is the alphabet, starting with A, B, C, D... The gateway on level 50 takes you directly to level 80. The code is Bubble, Jump, Bubble, Jump, Bubble, Jump, Right, 1 Player. When done correctly the game momentarily will display the words "Original Game" in blue in the bottom left hand of the screen. Super Bubble Bobble Trick - This will make the game start on the second 100 rounds. The second 100 rounds (which must be played as a separate game) are basically the layouts of the first 100 rounds, with the bad guys from the second 50 rounds on the first 50 rounds, and visa-versa. You must play these second 100 rounds in order to have a "True and Happy Ending". The code is 1 Player, Jump, Bubble, Left, Right, Jump, 1 Player, Right. When done correctly, the game will now display and additional graphic, which says "SUPER" on the top left portion of the graphic that is the "Bubble Bobble Screen". It will continue to do this every time this screen comes up in attract mode until someone inserts a coin and plays the game. Also, the fruit bonus is *not* random. If the hundreds and tens digits are the same when you kill the last enemy, all bubbles on the screen turn into fruit (the higher the level the higher fruit value). A nice trick here: Have one player ready to pop the last enemies, and have the other player shoot bubbles into a wall until the digits match... THEN have the first player kill them. You see, the game doesn't care WHOSE digits match - could be either. Bonus fruit on every round! >:) Let yourself die on your last man in the treasure room (wait and a guy will come out to kill you -- one of the strangest looking creatures in the whole game!). To do this, you'll need to use the ORIGINAL GAME option of course. Now, the following will happen: -- The demo screens will be treasure rooms. The spooky treasure room music will play during demo sessions. -- The "highest level attained during the day" demo screen will be off the scale at 102! -- Next game played will give you a treasure room on level 1. When time runs out, and the skels come out to get you, if you die, when you're brought back to life, and STILL FLASHING (vital!), run over and touch your friend's skel. POOF! No more skel.
True ending to this game. ------------------------- I believe the true ending to this game will only be seen when a game is completed with one player never losing a life so you get all of the treasure rooms. There is a hint at the end of the game " Write 8 big words on a paper " I believe this refers to all 8 treasure rooms. In Rainbow Islands if get a diamond on all of the island you get a different ending to the normal one , so I believe Bubble Bobble to be the same. Or this, the above paragraph mentions the secret message "Write 8 big words on a paper" -- if you are referring to the message after the first 100 levels (i.e. not the Super Bubble Bobble), then this message does not refer to 8 treasure rooms -- it is referring to the code that is being displayed along with this message. You'll notice that the code is in the same "language" as the special language found in the treasure room walls. When translated, they come out to $JBLRJ$R -- which means: Start, Jump, Bubble, Left, Right, Jump, Start, Right -- which is the code for the Super Bubble Bobble game -- the message is kind of cryptic -- I guess they were telling you to expand the 8 letters into (bigger) words. Bubble Bobble or Bobble Bobble Bubble Bobble is the original version of the game and Bobble Bobble is the pirate copy, if you look at the cloud in the background you can see the bad job they did of hacking the graphics. There is also some variation in game play. On my board you can choose a Japanese version of the game that comes up with a copyright notice at the beginning or an English version of the game. There is no difference in the gameplay. On the original board you can switch between BB and Super BB. I have played a version where you could pick original on the board and on level 6 , and subsequent levels, the guys in the white robes will roll rocks at you. There seems to be many variations of this game. (........) BUMP N'JUMP (DEFINITIVE:) Don't smash any cars at all on a board, and you'll get 50,000 bonus points.
BURGER TIME (ROGER:) The levels repeat after every 6 screens. For screen shots of all the levels, visit Kaptain Koin-Op's page at http://www.virtual- pc.com/xeyed/1UP/kk/index.html Enemies can't turn around immediately, so you can follow them around temporarily. The indicator that shows how many chefs you have remaining is broken, so keep a careful count for yourself. This is probably due to a bug in the original Burger Time ROMs. The best tactic is generally to stand halfway across a piece of food, wait for enemies to appear on the food's edge, and then drop the food and enemies at once. Always lure the enemies onto the highest portion of the screen, and then drop them. This has several advantages: it clears more burger pieces, plus it means that units on lower levels may wander into the cascading pieces, killing them also. Leave LOTS of room around yourself when going up ladders - the sprites in Burger Time are somewhat bigger than the visible characters. When enemies first appear, you have 1/4 sec to go through them, if you need to.
IMPORTANT : If you die while the last piece of food is falling into place, the game will NOT deduct a man from your game! Here are some simple strategies for starting the levels: Level 1: Go directly to the top Level 2: Go directly to the top Level 3: Go directly to the left, use pepper on the egg, and kill the pickle. Then go down and to the right Level 4: Zigzag up to the top Level 5: Go straight up to the first ledge, take the ladder up, and then go to the middle portion of the board Level 6: Go to the upper left, work your way to the right side, and then go down Here are some bonus point values: Ice cream cone (on levels 1 and 4): 500 Cup of coffee (on levels 2 and 5): 1000 French Fries (on levels 3 and 6): 1500
(KAPTAIN:)Use the ladder junctions to lure the enemies along specific paths. You will notice that they normally move up, across, down/vice versa. By standing above/below a junction you can force the path that the Hot Dog/Pickle/Egg will take. This helps when you are trying to lure them onto a burger piece or just trying to get them away from somewhere. While saving peppers is a priority, I have no problems with using them to stun 2+ enemies on the top burger piece and then running over it to complete the whole burger.
CARNIVAL (KAPTAIN): Hit two pipes of the same color with two consecutive shots to get four times the pipe score value. After you clear a Gallery rack, 50 points are added to your score for each bullet remaining in your bullet supply. Each time you hit the bear, you receive 50 points. Knock out the pipes early in the game. If any pipes remain on the wheel while you are hitting the moving targets, ducks, ducks, and more ducks start coming out! The more targets you hit before hitting the letter "B" the more points you get when you spell the word.
CENTIPEDE / MILLIPEDE (KAPTAIN:) Hints: 1. Shoot away mushrooms in a straight line up the screen to create a "corridor." When the Centipede reaches this "gap," it will fall straight down the battlefield and can be easily picked off. 2. Since the flea doesn't appear until you have eliminated most of the mushrooms near you, you can set up a shield to prevent this lightning-fast pest from striking. Simply refrain from shooting away mushrooms near your magic wand. 3. Shoot Centipede heads to create new heads out of the body segment left behind. Since heads are worth 10 times the point value of body segments, you'll score lots of points. When you reach your last official extra man before 1,000,000, every time you score and have less than 6 men, you'll get an extra guy. This is a real pain, because this advances by 12,000 the amount of points you will have to get AFTER 1M to get your first guy after that point. :( Important turning points (based on score): 60K - fleas speed up. 860K - spider goes back to 12-row wipeout. This is a pain... Note that a very important factor in the game is the rate of feed of the new centipede segments when one reaches the bottom. You can manipulate this feed value, to get past the really impossible feed! First, the feed rate doesn't advance until the first time a cent. seg actually feeds in. Then it advances on a straight point basis. It seems to turn over every 300K or so. But the rate of feed increases much faster when you're scoring while centipede segments are actually feeding in. Note that on millipede, feed is even more important, and you have to be very careful tuning your feed rate according to the level you expect to reach at the time your feed reaches impossible level. The 'fast feed' machines are actually easier in this respect (for the more advanced players).
A More Advanced Cheat.. I was never good enough at Centipede myself to do it, but you can modify the Defender trick I contributed to solve the problem of no extra turns after 1,000,000 for an interval equal to the number of turns you have won. (Or you can just make sure you don't go under six turns at any time during the last extra turn period before 1M.) If I remember correctly, this modification (accounting for how many times 12,000 goes into 1M) was used successfully by an advanced Centipede player who I'd described the Defender trick to. Plus, Eric Ginner had an incredible manipulation of this game where he figured out exactly how many mushrooms it took in a certain layer of the screen to keep fleas from dropping at all. He would basically build the board up like this (@'s are mushrooms):
+---------------------------------------------------------+ there are.
The central tunnel guides the main centipede straight to you. The large empty section near the top to left and right cause the separate heads to travel a greater distance before getting to you thus allowing you plenty of time to pick them off. It's best to hit them strategically so that you can build up the mushrooms you need to keep the flee away. The exact number of mushrooms required and the scores where they increase are long forgotten, but as a rule, if the flee starts dropping when he wasn't before (even though the number of mushrooms has not changed) you just crossed a boundary. A flawless game requires great control and awareness of game logic such that the flee is *never once* allowed to drop. (Except maybe in the very beginning.) An easier strategy (considered "cheating" by really good players) is to build walls in the lower left and/or right to trap the centipede in then hunt other insects (spiders, scorpions and fleas):| | <-- The centipede enters from the top and gets trapped | @ inside. So do all heads that appear (there's a limit | @ because they eventually stop coming out). You must | @ kill off spiders coming from the other side so they | @ won't wipe out your wall or you'll have to build | @ it up again.
|
+----------------------------
INTERESTING NOTE: In test mode you can cycle through the different graphical objects used in the game (the player, a mushroom, a spider, a scorpion, a flee, and a grasshopper). Grasshopper?! Yep, the game was to originally have had grasshoppers but they were taken out. You can still see them in the test however.
(on Millipede:) Make sure you keep your eye on the millipede while you're getting rid of the other pests. The millipede can sneak up on you if you're not careful, so keep it under control.
If a millipede touches a poisonous mushroom - poisonous mushrooms are colored differently from most - watch out! The millipede will charge directly at you! When the insects swarm, you're in for big trouble if you're not alert. Only a spider can enter the garden while the mosquitoes, bees, or dragonflies are swarming. You get 100 extra points (above the normal point value) for the second swarming bug you destroy, 200 for the third, and so forth - up to 1000 extra points per bug. But beware! Swarming bugs fly fast and furious! Each insect has its own unique sound, so keep your ears open and you can anticipate what will be coming next.
(ROGER:) The following tip is for Millipede only: if "Continue Game" is turned on, you can keep continuing at a higher level each time. However, you must gain at least one extra man in each continued game to continue that game. This process stops when you reach the 300,000 point mark. At this point, no matter how high your score gets (ie. 400,000, 500,000 etc), you will NOT be able to continue your game at a higher score.
CIRCUS CHARLIE (ROGER:) This trick works on both sets of ROMs. On the first level when you are on a Lion and have to jump through burning hoops, jump backwards through a hoop and then forwards through it again. The next hoop to appear will then change into an extra life. Here's a small hidden bonus: on the first (flaming hoops) level, jump over the first flaming urn, then jump backwards over it. A bonus item should rise vertically from it; grab it and it's worth 2000 points. Ideally, you should time it so that jumping back over the urn coincides with the passage of a hoop over the urn. Note: this is for the 'level select' version. On the original version, it seems to work on the second urn.
CLOAK AND DAGGER (ROGER:) To get through the game more quickly, pull both joysticks downwards while in the lift. You'll descend far more rapidly, skipping several levels at a time.
COMMANDO (ROGER:) Here's a hot way to kill the soldiers without going anywhere near them. At the end of each area, when the enemy soldiers are pouring out of the gate from their compound, move your commando to the bottom of the screen and shoot down. Your shots will come down from the top of the screen, killing the soldiers as they come out of the gate. This will let you rack up big points and all the extra men you can: This should work on all commando games that are set on regular factory difficulty. I don't think there was a chip fix for this. On the first stage there is a cliff on the right side of the screen. The bad guys will jump off the end of this cliff and attack you. If you walk until the bad guys START jumping off and then stop you can stand there and kill them until you get sick of playing or until you reach the max extra men. If you plan on playing thru the rest of the game you should stop at the max amount of extra men. If you just sit there the enemies will get faster and faster so the rest of the game will be harder.
CRAZY CLIMBER (ROGER:) In the second building: when you arrive at the electrical sign, choose the left path. Then put yourself under the electrical wire (rightmost window of the left path) but keep both joysticks pressed. (I keep the left joystick pressed up and the right joystick pressed down, but others configurations should work). After a few seconds your climber will become red with white hair and electricity won't have effect on it.
There is a secret password in Crazy Climber. Enter the name "jordan.ltd" in the high score table and you get two free credits. This only works on the japanese and bootleg versions of the game. (Although the password code is still present in the US version, the high score table entry has been crippled to only allow 3 letters, so you can't enter the code.)
CRYSTAL CASTLES (KAPTAIN:) PAWS FOR SOME STRATEGY TIPS: If Bentley harvests the last gem in the castles, he wins extra points. Elevators make perfect escape routes. However, they only operate one at a time. Bentley is invincible while he's jumping. Bentley can temporarily stun Nasty Trees and Gem Eaters by jumping over them. But this maneuver won't work if he's wearing the magic hat, or while the Gem Eaters are swallowing gems. When floating scores appear on the scene, creatures can't move through them; nor can the creatures move through each other.
(ROGER:) There's a 'continue option' warp on the first board. It won't take you any higher than level 8, though. The first warp is behind the palace on the upper-right hand corner of the first board. Go there then jump. It'll take you to level 3. The second warp: get the hat, run to an elevator, and at the back corner of the hidden ramp, jump before the hat expires. The warp always gives you four lives (not including the one you're on) and takes you to level 5. The third warp is on the third screen of Level 5, titled "Crossroads." It is extremely easy to trigger; just move to the very upper left corner and jump. You will be transported to the first screen of Level 7, again with four lives to spare. There are no other warps. The final level is 10-1 (THE END). If you finish this level, the screen fills up with various objects and shapes. A Trick : Jump 100 times or more in the front corner of the first maze. (It's best to trap the balls inside the maze somewhere.) It doesn't matter how many lives it takes you to jump this number of times. (It usually takes two full lives of constant jumping.) Clear the maze of gems and the name "ATARI" will appear in a banner across the screen at the beginning of level two.
DEFENDER (PEER BLUMENSCHEIN:) Beginner's hints: Don't fly at top speed, watch the radar, and fire all the time. And when you fire, move up and down, that way you'll cover a greater area. (DEFINITIVE:)When you get your last official guy before 1,000,000, every time you score, you'll get an extra man. (Contributor : Tad Perry) The trick we used was to win 100+ ships between 990,000 and 1,000,000, thus fooling the game based on where score rolls over rather than where ships roll over. The version where you win 100+ ships has been tested, the version where you win 256+ ships never was because: a. For every point scored in Defender from 990,000 to 999,975 you will win one extra ship and smart bomb. b. If you suicide on something, including a shot but not including hyperspace (because dying from hyperspace awards no points), you will lose one ship, but also gain one (net effect on ships is zero) plus one smart bomb.
c. For winning n ships in Defender from 990,000 to 999,975, including suicides, you will have to wait n x 10,000 points after passing 1M before the game's accounting balances and it awards ships properly at 10,000 point intervals again. TESTED (VERIFIED TO WORK): The score returns to zero every 1 million, meaning that if you had won 100 ships the machine would have to wait 1 million points to begin awarding ships again. However, since 1 million is equivalent to zero it awards them immediately at 1,010,000.
UNTESTED (PROBABLY WORKS): d. Being an 8-bit game, 255 ships is the maximum recognized. 256 ships/smart bombs is treated as zero. If you win exactly 256 ships during this period the machine will think you have won none and thus begin awarding ships immediately at 1,010,000. In either case, you get to keep your surplus ships and bombs and can have super long turns where you bomb 2 to 3 times per wave to get out of dangerous situations. Defender Tricks : 1. There are reverse lines for swarmers and mutants. If this line is between you and the type of enemy in question, they will travel the opposite direction around the planet to get you. (I.e. they won't cross this line to get to you.) If a mutant, say, is following you and you cross the mutant reverse line (to the left of the Big Mountain) it will suddenly reverse direction and go around the other way. The same is true for the swarmer reverse line (located approximately where your ship starts each wave). This doesn't affect swarmers that you are following behind. If you're on one side of the line and a pod is on the other and you shoot it open the swarmers will fly away from you and you can get in behind them immediately. The best use of these lines is where there are lots of swarmers and/or mutants that you don't want to hassle with. You stay near the line in question and go back and forth over it to keep the enemy in question on the other side of the planet. Especially useful in space and waves that get really hairy. 2. You can freeze a Defender machine by picking up all ten humans (on any wave, but Wave 1 is your greatest chance at success), stopping all forward motion of your ship, quieting the screen down (i.e. having no enemies moving around on it) and setting all the humans straight down quickly. This seems to work better were the terrain is very close to the bottom of the screen. Every thing will freeze, but you can still move your ship up and down. Thrusting will break the spell, so to speak. If you do pick a spot with shallow terrain, some humans will go thru the bottom of the screen and appear suspended in mid-air near the top. This trick is good during marathon games when you've reached Wave 256 and need a breather.
(ROGER:) Some top players begin each round by shooting their own men, except for one, which they pick up. This keeps mutants from developing, but it also means that the world explodes if you crash. It probably goes without saying that this can be considered an -advanced- trick... Comment on d.: Being an 8-bit game, 255 ships is the maximum recognized. 256 ships/smart bombs is treated as zero. If you win exactly 256 ships during this period the machine will think you have won none and thus begin awarding ships immediately at 1,010,000. (This one has not been verified -- rb)
In either case, you get to keep your surplus ships and bombs and can have super long turns where you bomb 2 to 3 times per wave to get out of dangerous situations. Game Settings: These aren't tricks, but unlike the other Williams games, the settings are very cryptic (just numbers). The game is hard enough on just defaults! Here are the important settings to know: Function Factory Setting Description --------------------------------------- 08 10000 BONUS SHIP LEVEL (0=No Bonus Ships) 09 3 SHIPS PER GAME 10 3 COINAGE SELECT 11 1 LEFT COIN MULT 12 4 CENTER COIN MULT 13 1 RIGHT COIN MULT 14 1 COINS FOR CREDIT 15 0 COINS FOR BONUS 16 0 MINIMUM COINS 17 0 FREE PLAY (Set to 1 for Free Play) 18 0 STARTING DIFFICULTY (0=LIB; 1=MOD; 2=CONS) 19 10 PROGRESSIVE WAVE DIFFICULTY LIMIT (4-25) e.g. 5-LIB; 10=MOD; 15=CONS; 20 1 BACKGROUND SOUND (0=OFF; 1=ON) 21 5 PLANET RESTORE WAVE NUMBER
DIG DUG (KAPTAIN:)Drop rocks on monsters by digging a long tunnel beneath a rock. Keep the rock from falling on you by keeping forward pressure on your joystick; when a monster runs close behind, turn away and let the rock fall. Use your pump to temporarily stun monsters, so you can lure more than one monster behind you. When you have a line of monsters chasing you, head for the nearest rock and drop it on them--fast! Bonus vegetables only will appear after two rocks have been dislodged, and will remain for only ten seconds. For maximum points, be sure to drop at least two rocks then grab the vegetable before moving to the next round. You'll score more points by popping a Fygar from the side, so use your pump to stun the dragon while you move to his side. Then finish pumping Fygar until he explodes. Fygar's deadly fire can reach you through a thin wall of dirt -- so stay out of his way when he stops moving. At higher rounds your priority should be to get the bonus vegetables because they're worth more points than destroying meanies. The prize will not appear in a round until two boulders have fallen and there are fewer than seven meanies on the screen. The last meanie on a screen will always try to escape, thus ending the round. So, if just one meanie remains and the prize hasn't appeared, you may want to stun that meanie long enough to allow the prize to appear. Since the last meanie will always try to escape at the top left side of the screen, you can strategically position yourself above ground on the left and wait for the meanie to emerge then quickly blow him up. You can't pump through the soil, so back off if a ghost is approaching through the dirt toward your tunnel. Wait until the ghost gets indise the tunnel then quickly turn and pump it up. To crush a ghost, tunnel under a rock and wait (as long as you don't move, the rock won't fall). When a ghost covers the rock, quickly move out of the way and the ghost will be crushed. A good way to trap and squash several creatures at once is to tunnel straight up under a rock and wait for the meanies to follow. When they get close, quickly move out of the way to the right or left. They will be trapped in the path of the falling rock.
If a meanie is pursuing you, try to get to a tunnel. Since you move more quickly in a tunnel than through soil, this gives you a better chance to escape. Try to group meanies behind you by stunning them and then running. (You can run right through a stunned meanie.) When several are in pursuit, lead them toward a boulder and drop it on them for high points.
(DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor : James Hague) Get either a Pooka or Fygar right on your tail, then pump him up but not so much that he explodes. Do this right near a rock--be warned that this is rather tricky. The idea is to loosen the rock when the enemy is almost fully inflated, get out of the way, then do a quick reverse and finish off the enemy at exactly the same time as he is crushed by the rock (avoiding the rock yourself, of course). This will confuse the game and all enemies on the current level will disappear leaving you to aimlessly dig tunnels through the dirt. You will not progress to the next level until you drop another rock. [This is most definitely a bug.] (Contributor: Allen Perry) If you run over a fruit and blow up a enemy at the same time or just a little after you will get the same score for both the fruit and the ememy. The best way to do this is to shoot the enemy thru the fruit and start walking toward the fruit as you are hitting pump. If you time it right you will get up to 8000 (for the pineapple) each time. This game does NOT give extra man after 900,000. The score will flip over at 1,000,000. It is very easy to get a score of 999,990 by eating dirt for ten points per section. At level 256 the game will start over at level 1 and get easy again. But you will never get another extra man.
(ROGER:) If you want to be extra greedy and get more points, eat all the dirt on the level. Leave only two enemies (because they will speed up, and three is too hard to handle). You don't need to eat every little bit of dirt (you can leave long passageways to slow down the enemies). Also leave only pookas, since the fygars can burn you through the dirt. After level 12, the screens repeat in waves of 4. There are patterns for these levels. Also, after level 36, all the enemies will speed up. You will have to use new patterns for all the other levels again.
DONKEY KONG (KEEPER:)After the opening sequence ends, your job is to climb up the ladders and jump over the barrels en route to the top of the screen. The barrels can roll down ladders, so don't get caught mid-climb when a barrel passes by overhead. Donkey Kong always throws a blue barrel out first. By level six (on the American version), you'll have to jump over it on your way up. (The Japanese version cycles through the screens in a slightly different order). A fireball also emerges from the oil can and chases you. You can grab the hammer and smash the barrels with it. That's a good way to pick up lots of points, and it's very helpful near the top of the screen. (Barrels can sneak under the hammer if you're running toward them, by the way.) I would not recommend getting the lower hammer, because you're usually better off getting as high as you can before the barrels reach you and you have to start jumping, dodging and weaving. Remember that you can't jump when you're holding the hammer. The goal on the girders screen is to climb that little ladder on the top (the one below where Mario is standing). There is a bonus in the upper right hand corner of the screen that ticks down as the seconds go by. You are awarded the bonus points that are left when you get to the top. If the timer hits zero, you lose a life. You get three lives, plus a bonus life at 10,000 points. Your score and lives remaining are in the upper left-hand corner.
The next screen you'll face (in the American version) is the rivets screen. Unlike the other three screens, the object here is not to get to the top. Instead, your goal is to run over the eight yellow rivets that hold up the beams. If you succeed, the beams will collapse and Donkey Kong will fall, allowing you to save the girl. You can also pick up bonus items like a purse, a hat and an umbrella for 300-800 points each. This is technically the last screen on each level of the game. There are five foxfires that will chase you around the screen. You can kill them with the hammer (at least temporarily). They always emerge from the side of the screen opposite Mario. They don't move too quickly the first time you see them, but on later levels, they are faster than you. They are always dangerous to jump over, because they change direction unexpectedly. My strategy is to eliminate all the rivets on the LEFT side of the screen, where Mario starts out. The foxfires start out on the right, of course. Once the foxfires have gathered on the other side of the empty rivet holes, wait until at least three of them have gotten to the top two levels. They'll head up toward Mario eventually (keep an eye on that bonus, though). Wait for a gap to open, and grab the hammer. Then smash as many foxfires as you can, while staying on the RIGHT side of the screen. When the foxfires reappear, they'll come out on the left...separated from you by the empty holes. You should be able to finish running or jumping over the remaining rivets on the right.
The next new screen you'll see (again, in the American version) is the elevator screen. This is a tough one to get used to...you have to jump on the elevator and onto the stationary girders without falling off, getting crushed in the gears, or bumping into a foxfire or an I-beam. The I-beams each bounce three times and then fall. You'll have to develop a sense of timing to get by them. Don't worry if you fail at first...this one takes a bit of practice, especially if you're a novice gameplayer. Again, you can pick up the lady's belongings for bonus points, although I don't usually bother with anything but the umbrella due to the danger. First of all, there's a shortcut, sort of. You can jump from the stationary girder where the leftmost foxfire is in the above snapshot, onto an elevator (moving down), and then onto the stationary girder at the bottom of the ladder on your immediate right. This will save you the hassle of having to avoid the I-beams twice, not to mention the other foxfire. The big thing, though, is learning to time the I-beams. Starting from where Mario is in this picture, you should wait until the I-beam bounces past you, and run left until you get to the edge of the elevator gear. (It can't hurt you up here...it's only dangerous when you're on the elevator.)Once you're here (see above), wait until the I-beam bounces above you. As it's passing you, start running right behind it, and climb the ladder before the next I-beam catches you. It's a pretty easy move to make on the first I-beam screen (the fourth overall), but on higher levels, you really need to notice the slight variations in the spots where the I-beams bounce. To get by this screen, I wait until an I-beam bounces right behind me (see this picture...notice the edge of that beam will hit the yellow top of the elevator gear), and start following it as closely as possible. You'll need every split second you can muster by the time you reach the third elevator screen. Just stop and think for a moment before you run. It's all The last of the screens you'll encounter (in the American version) is the screen with the conveyor belts and the cement tubs. The object is to get to the level that Donkey Kong is on...you don't reach the girl here. All of the girders except the bottom one and the middle one act as conveyor belts (people movers?), hauling cement tubs back and forth. You can smash them with the hammer if you have to, or just jump over them. But be careful...they change direction when the belt does, and it's very easy to bump into them by mistake. Your biggest problem on this level is the fireballs. On the seventh screen (the first conveyor belt one), there are three. The next time, there will be four. After that, it's always five. They are very hard to avoid, and hard to kill with the hammer because of the moving belts. You never know when your direction will change, and it's hard to control your jumping and running while you're gliding along a belt. The fireballs always emerge from the furnace on the side of the screen that Mario is currently on (unlike the rivets screen).My strategy is to wait until the fireballs all pop out on the left (see leftmost snapshot), and then to grab the purse and climb the ladders to the top. Hopefully, the right side of the screen will remain clear long enough for you to make it up there unaccosted. Notice that the ladders on top move up and down, too (center snapshot). You can hang out on a ladder that's currently lowered, but the fireballs will find you pretty fast. I actually think that this is the hardest level to master because everything is so hard to time, and grabbing the hammer isn't that helpful in the long run.
(ROGER:)There are a series of patterns which work for Donkey Kong and Crazy Kong. They don't work all the time, but 90% is pretty much better than nothing. The one I remember best seems to work on nearly all of the 'rivets' levels. When you start, go up the ladder immediately to the left, turn right, and remove the rivet in front of you. Cross over to the nearest ladder to the right and go up it, followed by removing the rivet immediately to the left, and go up the ladder to the left. Repeat this snakelike maneuver until you've removed all of the rivets on the left-hand side of the screen. Once you're on the top level, jump over the newly-formed gap to your right, grab the umbrella and climb down the ladder directly below you. When you're on the platform just under DK, run right and grab the hammer as soon as it's safe. Kill any fireballs in the immediate area, but the important thing to remember is that you must remove the rivet on the right. As soon as you've done that, stay on the little island on the right you've created, killing any fireballs that wander into range from any direction; you'll be relatively safe as any 'resurrected' fireballs will appear on the left-hand side of the screen. When the hammer runs out, climb up the ladder on the right-hand side and remove the rivet on the top level (immediately to DK's right). Climb down, and go after the two remaining rivets as and when it's safe; I don't believe that there's any set way of doing this, and, like I said, it doesn't always pan out. But it's close enough for government work ;)
This may be a bug or it may just be a special part of the game. If you finish ANY round with the last three numbers in the time left are at 300 ( it may have been 400 or 500, its been a LONG time since I played this game ) it will give you an extra 100,000 points. Just sit there until the timer is at the right number then finish. (NOTE: This tip is reportedly for a DK clone called "Donkey King", -not- the real DK... --RB)
On the rivet levels (where DK falls) if you make it to the top level along w/ DK himself and position yourself very near but not touching.. jumping and pushing 'away' on the joystick (depending on which side of DK you're on) while in the air will yield 100 pts each time you do it. Doesn't add up too quickly but it's fun to do.. possibly the first 'taunt' move in video games. This trick works only with the Japanese version of DK: On the "barrel" levels, you can stay on a ladder without worrying about the barrels coming down and hitting you. Just make sure that Mario's hand is touching the top of the girder (so that it looks like the barrels are rolling over his hand). As long as you're in this position, no barrel will ever come down your ladder. At advanced levels, the girder screen gets harder and harder with girders bouncing faster. A trick that will make these girder screens easier: 1) Get as close to the bouncing girder as possible. (Experiment to find the right position for Mario) 2) Notice when Mario's girlfriend says "HELP!" and count the girders going by. After *four* girders have gone by, head for the ladder. If you time it right, you will make it up the ladder.
(NOTE: This is the way I remember it from the "old days". If it's incorrect, please let me know and I'll change it. -- RB)
(KEAL:)On the round's final stage (blue girders, you go over the yellow rivets to make Kong fall), get up *right next* to Kong's foot and jump in place. You'll get 100 points for every jump :)If it's not working, you gotta go closer :) GARETH DAVIES:) On the first level climb up the first ladder and nudge ever so slightly to the right - just a touch of the key/stick. Then with one motion jump to the right off of the girder. If you've done it correctly you'll fall through the girder and on to the second level.
DONKEY KONG JR. (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor : Allen Perry)This will let you play forever. Start the game with both players. Play your f first player just like normal. Then when you die and you are on the second player you will have to move DKJr all the way to the right at far as you can go. You will be hanging off the ledge almost all the way. Then you have to wait for one of the traps to go down the rope that is above you and to the right. When the trap drops off the rope you have to time a jump to the right so you will hit the trap and the water at the same time. If you do it right you will start the number one guy without losing a man. And if you can get the move down you can play forever. Just repeat every time you lose with the first guy. There is a side effect to doing this: you will get to put your high score/name in as many times as you did the trick right. So if you did it 4 times you will get to put your name up 4 times. Kinda cool huh? Its hard to find a DKJr to play but its a cool trick nun the less.
(PHANATIK:) Check out Kaptain Koin-Op's commentaries on DK! Lots of images!
ELEVATOR ACTION (ROGER:)If you've got a man in black on the floor below as you come down in the elevator, jump towards him when you're about halfway down to his floor. You'll jump straight up against the floor above and then move forward into the bad guy as you come down, either killing him or giving you enough time to duck and shoot. (PHANATIK:) Shooting all the time can save you from a lot of trouble, especially when waiting for elevators in long corridors. In later levels men in black tend to appear from 2 sides, so fire at will!
FROGGER (ROGER:) This isn't a cheat or an easter egg - it's just an interesting quirk. Watch the Frogger demo, and when the frog gets to the last log, the player has control over him for the very last move. You can verify this by jumping backwards rather than forwards! (BLUMENSCHEIN:) A lot of beginners forget, that the you also can jump backwards. This can save you out of a lot of tight situations, and takes only a little bit extra time. To encounter the lady frog (and score the extra points), it's best to place yourself on a slow-moving log. She almost always shows up on a short log in the second row on the river, but you should only try to get her, if you are no too far away. The best way to earn points is jumping in a home with a double frog and catching a fly at the same time, this gives you 400 points.
GALAGA (ROGER:)There is a well-known cheat that causes enemy units to stop firing. It works on most (but not all) machines. Here it is: On the first stage, kill everything but the two bees in the bottom left corner. Then just wait, dodging the bees' shots, until the bee no longer drops any shots towards you. After the bees stop firing, let it pass for 5 more trips or so and then kill them. For the rest of the game, the enemies will not drop shots. It will take approximately 15 minutes for the bees to quit shooting at you, so this trick requires a lot of patience. Some people have reported that this trick also works with two bees from the RIGHT side of the screen... Note that, in a 2-player game, only one person has to do the cheat for both players to benefit. If you're playing Galaga in MAME, this trick can be sped up by turning off speed throttling. On a fast machine, the time can reportedly be cut from 15 minutes down to 2 or 3! The "Player 1" score counter in Galaga is 6 digits, but the "Player 2" counter is seven digits. Therefore, most good players start a 2-player game and play exclusively on the Player 2 side so their score won't "roll over" at 999,990. Challenging stages are easier if the high score numbers are used to refine your aim. These tips assume a 6-digit high score: On the first 2 challenging stages, aim your ships so that your left set of bullets falls between the second and third numbers in the high score list. On subsequent challenging stages, aim one set of your bullets between the first and second numbers in the high score list (if the units come from the left) or between the last and next-to-last numbers (if the units come from the right). This will allow you to hit descending enemies at the highest possible point. Here is a neat (and useless) Galaga trick: It is possible to end the game with a 200% ratio. The 200% hit-miss ratio trick can only be done with your first shot of the game. When the game starts, don't move, and fire only one shot. If you time it correctly, two enemies will be killed at once. Let your remaining ships be destroyed, and presto: a better-than-perfect result. Screen Shot If you have more than 7 extra men, the marker for the screen will only show 7 1/2 (!) men remaining. Additional extra men will still be credited, even though they won't show on the screen. Galaga "rolls over" after stage 255. After finishing the 255th level, the screen says "Stage 0" and the machine locks up. I have heard unconfirmed reports in the past that the "Stage 0" problem can be circumvented if the last two numbers in your score at the end of level 255 are (?? 80 is what I remember, but it may be something else) If anyone has any further information about this, I would appreciate hearing it... After the 1,000,000 mark, new ships are no longer awarded.
GALAXIAN (KAPTAIN:) When a Flagship is destroyed in flight in waves 1 through 14 the rest of the fleet stops firing for a few seconds of mourning. This is your big chance to get the escorts and any other warriors that you can. This may be the only time that they aren't firing at you.
Always have a strategical escape planned to avoid patterns of missile attacks. Think fast and scan the screen for methods of outsmarting the Galaxian fleet. Some members of the Galaxian fleet are incredibly difficult to destroy, but with practice you'll outsmart them! (DEFINITIVE:) Contributor : Ken Arromdee)Shoot one of the yellow (topmost) ships when it first comes down. It causes everyone to stop firing for a few moments.
(GALAXIAN HOMEPAGE:) Sometimes, when there are just a few aliens left over and they're all attacking, they'll perform loopings, giving you a better chance of hitting them. When a new wave of aliens appears, they are drawn in rows, one row at a time, from right to left in a rather slow fashion. It seems, though, that the aliens are already there... They are merely made visible in this way. Try taking potshots at the clear sky above in the lull between waves; sometimes you'll hit a (not yet visible) alien, and its row will flash briefly before the rest of the aliens appear! You can also 'transfer' flagships to the next wave! Just keep the flagships alive (maybe with some red aliens) until the end of the round, until they are the last ones and are forced to attack anyway. Just let them go by your ship... they'll pass twice and then disappear. They'll be present at the next wave. You can accumulate up to four bosses per round this way! This is not really advisable as it reduces your maximum score. If a flagship attacks with two red escorts, you don't always have to shoot both to get 800 points for the flagship... So how does this work? Easy, but the circumstances must be just right. Sometimes, the attacking group will brush along the side of the screen. You must first shoot the escort that is most to the inside of the screen. The alien on the outside of the screen might disappear like it was brushed off at the side and reenters at the top of the screen. If you shoot the flagship now you will score 800 points anyway! This bug was even correctly ported to the Nintendo NES version.
GAUNTLET (ROGER:) The only Gauntlet player I know of who can live indefinitely playing as the *Warrior*. Playing Gauntlet as the Warrior is very different; potions are almost useless. Anyway, my cheat allows you to strictly limit your health losses on *any* level to no more than about 200 health. It involves stalling the *walls*! If you remain motionless (or basically aimless) and stall off about 30 health, all the doors will open. Everybody knows this, and the game even tells you about it. The game doesn't tell you that if you stall off about 200 health, all the walls will turn into exits! The game designers had to include this because there are some levels which require you to pick up a key before you exit. If you are already filled up with keys, and the doors are all gone, then it would be *impossible* for you to exit, and you would starve to death. What they didn't anticipate, is that certain levels of the game which are really difficult, which would require you to take massive health losses to finish, become very simple if all the walls are exits. Or they can be effectively skipped altogether.
Because the game has Monty-Hall levels with lots of food on them, you can use this cheat to only play levels which are a wash or increase your health dramatically, and cut your losses to 200 on all the really pain in the butt levels. All I need to live forever as the Warrior is extra shot power! That way, I kill everything in exactly one shot. This allows you to do precision firing and gives you a level of control over your shots that no other character can achieve. The best character to play, in the *long* run, is the elf. His magic is just as good as the wizard's and his fight ability as good as Thor's. His ability to shoot through cracks in addition to all this (when he has the power potions) makes him the best (his speed factor makes him attractive for my playing style. I like to get through the levels quickly. The faster I get through em, the faster I get points...). The Valkyrie is the worst, although some people regard this as a challenge... To manipulate the point value of Death, shoot him. Death's point value takes the following progression: 1000-2000-1000-4000-1000-6000-1000-8000, and then back to start. His value keeps from the previous game. You can kill Death painlessly by teleporting on top of him. Level 8 is the level that the previous game ended on. If you got a really good sequence of boards in a game and you want to repeat them, turn the machine off and on again after you've entered your high score.
(ERIC CRABILL/DAVE HALLOCK: ) The Almost Ultimate Gauntlet I FAQ, Last Updated: 4/2/96 Authors: Eric Crabill Dave Hallock
Q: Does Gauntlet I have an ending? A: No. I have played Gauntlet I to level 999 and beyond. After level 999, the next level is level 8 (it wraps around). Q: What is stalling, and what will it do for me? A: Stalling is waiting around without any activity. This includes getting hit by monsters. If you stall for about 20 health ticks will cause all doors to open. This is really useful when you run out of keys. If you continue to stall for about 400 health ticks, all of the walls will turn into exits. On some levels, in a multi-player game, it is possible to get trapped due to transporter folly. The stalling times are not adjustable options, they are hard coded in the ROM. Note that only the final ROM revision contains the code to turn the walls into exits. Q: Who is the best character? A: Gauntlet I is so easy that is is possible to play forever with any character. They are all great, but you'll want to pick one depending on your style of play. Q: What about Death? A: Death, like taxes, is inevitable. The score you get for killing death follows the cyclic pattern 1000-2000-1000-4000-2000-6000-1000- 8000. Every time you shoot a death, the score changes to the next value in the pattern. Actually, since the pattern always starts at the same place when the game is powered up, the pattern is really 1000-4000-2000-6000-1000- 8000-1000- 2000. The pattern saves its place from game to game, however. Death can be killed by a potion, or by squashing him by transporting on top of him. If you are really clever, you can convince the Thief to do it for you!
Q: Isn't it funny that the Thief is dressed like a cop? A: Yes, indeed. The Thief is stupid but unpredictable. The Thief can only appear once on a level, and not in Treasure Rooms. Once you have put him to rest on a level, you can stop worrying about him. The worst place to be when the Thief comes is right near the start of the level, because he can pop up, grab your stuff, and disappear with little warning. Here is his modus operandi--at the beginning of the current level, the Thief calculates who is the richest player. This person is his target. Who is richest depends on each player's possessions. Extra speed is most valued, then extra armor, and so on. If no one has extra powers, the Thief will look at other things, including potions, keys, and even your lowly bonus multiplier. Once he has picked a victim, he records the victim's exact path. When he appears, he begins chasing the victim at top speed. The smart thing to do as soon as you hear his arrival is to walk in a straight line, turn around, and shoot. If there are too many monsters around, or no clear areas, you can try to kill him by moving into a position where you can shoot him before he gets to you (but you must be aware of your previous path so you can know where to expect him from). You can also squash him on a transporter. Q: How can I better control where I go on the transporters? A: First off, you always transport to the nearest transporter. There is no way around that. Other than that, it depends on which ROM version you are running. Play around and see if you can figure it out. Look at tell tale signs like your health and the white cross in the transporter. The direction you are pushing with the joystick controls which side of a transporter you will land on. Known Bugs: I am not sure if this is particular to one ROM version, but if you transport onto the exit, you will deactivate it. I saw this on that green, "compartmental" level that has a transporter in almost every compartment. In the lower left part of the level, there is an exit adjacent to a transporter. If you are playing a multiplayer game, and unfortunate (mean?) enough to transport onto the exit, the other players will have to go seek another way out. On one ROM revision (I forgot which one) when you are playing the Wizard and you pick up extra magic power, you will also get an additional regular potion. Now that I think of it, this must be ROM version 2. It is possible to stop the clock in the treasure rooms. Sometimes this takes several tries. Start with a single player game, but put a credit in another player so it can be joined-in at any time. Just let it sit idle for now. When your player enters the treasure room, quickly find the exit so you have enough time to coordinate the next step, but don't exit yet. Now enter the exit. While your player is "swirling" in the exit, join in the other player. This timing is critical; if you are too late, you will join in on the next level, and if you are too early (before the swirling) it won't work. Sometimes, the game won't let you join in and responds with an annoying buzz. You have to try again on the next treasure room. If it works correctly, the new player will have the treasure room all to himself and the clock will not be counting. This works in multi- player games, too, but you join the new player in at the time the last active player has exited.
On ROM revision 3, it is possible to use this technique to do something that I thought was not possible. There is a level with pink walls that looks like this (bottom of level):
| | | P| P = you, the player +------------------------------+ | | | | <-- closed area with food, potions | | +------------------------------+
If you stall long enough for the walls to turn into exits, and move your player into position P, you can use the "stop-treasure-room-clock" trick to join another player in, who will appear in the closed area. Have another player ready to join in. After stalling, move to position P and exit to the right or bottom. When you are swirling, join in the other player. The new player will appear in the closed area and he can pick up all the food and potions. When you get to higher levels, and you start getting "Players Can Now Go Off Screen" in the Treasure Rooms, you can go off screen while playing by yourself if you are the Elf with extra speed. The Treasure Room that lets you do this is the one what scrolls left-right perpetually (I'm sure you know which one!). Just keep running, you will go off screen and eventually come back on the other side. There are several Thief related bugs; I have seen these, but I don't know how to reproduce them. One bug deals with the Thief getting squashed on the transporters. Another is when the Thief will steal your stuff and not run away, but sit there and beat on you. No, I'm not talking about when you get in his way as he runs off, he just never runs away. There are some transporter-related bugs in ROM version 2 which were fixed in version 3. If you have version 2, try dying while you are transporting, and see what happens. The best way to play with this is to get on a level with many transporters, and have the health per coin set to 100 to make it go faster. Have two players active, and have the dying player get on the transporter when his health is 1. If you time it right, he will come out on the other side, dead. However, one of the following things can happen:
The game will reset. There will be a body at the destination (can be visible or invisible), but since you are dead, you can't move it. Monsters will beat on it, and it will scream. If you join in again, with the same player, what ever happens to the dead body will also happen to you. This includes getting hit by monsters and getting pushed by another player (try running in the same direction as you are being pushed for turbo!) Oh, but the fun doesn't stop here! I have done the following with Wizard and Warrior dead bodies. It does not seem to work with Elf or Valkyrie corpses... Do the die-on-transporter trick with the Wizard or Warrior, but make sure you have some other players active, too. Try to get the dying character's body to be transported into a location where you can push it from the left (i.e. no walls, etc. on the left side of it). With one of the remaining characters, move to the left side of the dead one and push right. If nothing happens, then you will have to try again on another level, or keep killing players and try on each new body. If it works, the dead player will die again (you will hear the death scream of that player) and one of three strange things will happen. If you get this far, you will see some bizarre shit! The first thing that can happen is the center- of-gravity scrolling will stop working. It will behave like there is a black hole in some corner and the maze will not scroll anymore. Another thing that happens is that the monsters 'freeze' and do not move anymore. Yup, they just stand still. The third thing I have seen happen after you join that player in yet again is that the players who were active are suspended (it says "Press Start") and whoever you joined in with will start the level over. After playing for several levels, the suspended players will magically re-appear.
GAUNTLET 2 (ROGER:) Once you get to the thief/mugger levels you can wait for the thief to appear and shoot him. He will appear in the same space you start the level on: shoot him and his money bag will appear. Do not pick up the money bag - it will cover his entrance onto the board, and therefore he may not appear until his entrance space is clear. I do not think this is a good tactic because of the amount of time wasted to do this. I only use this on long boards. You may also stop the thief/mugger by pushing a movable block across your own path. The thief/mugger will follow your own trail - footstep for footstep! Therefore you can run, find a movable block and circle around and cover your own trail by pushing the block to cover your trail. Note: if you re-cross your own trail, the thief/mugger will take the shortest route to catch you. If you are playing two+ player you can kill almost all dragons with one player diverting his attention, or using an indirect attack. For example: you can find shootable walls or just stand in the right spot askew from the dragon. He will try to flame instead of fire-ball. If done correctly, you will be standing a wall away from him. Then your partner can go around and shoot flame head while the dragon is flaming away. The 200 tick trick (see Gauntlet I) is now the 900 tick trick. He says that the game doesn't seem to have an ending, just like Gauntlet I. (He's gotten past level 100). Others have claimed it isn't 900 but some other number. I get the impression this number can be adjusted by the operator. In this game there are 'secret rooms'. To get to a secret room, perform a secret trick on a level. Some of the secret tricks are: * Teleporting into the exit * Pushing a movable wall into the exit * Keeping all the super shots * Not using invulnerability (this is almost always a good idea anyway) * Not touching a fake exit * Teleporting on top of Death and/or acid blobs * Not taking ANYTHING (the tick trick comes in handy here) The hints it gives to the secret room don't necessarily apply to your current level, just as on Gauntlet I. The secret trick usually doesn't work, but it is always same for any given board. You're allowed one secret trick for every 15 levels or so. You can kill the acid blobs! Just drop 2 potions in quick succession. This works regardless of your magic ability. It also puts the dragon back to sleep momentarily. (You can also kill them with a teleporter. If there's a teleporter handy, that is.) The ? foods are NOT random. Grab a ? food on health mod 20 == 7. You'll get 200 health. Couple of strategy notes: Reflective shots make the dragon easier. Invulnerability makes him very easy :) And remember that when generators aren't on the screen, they don't generate monsters.
GHOSTS 'N GOBLINS (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor: Bert Loper) There is a place in the cave scene (the short scene right after you kill the two big ogres), where you can get 100K before the time runs out and you can repeat this every life, getting 3 lives for 2 deaths (until the game stops giving extra lives at 980K). The spot is on the upper level to the right of the rock and just to the left of the second ladder. Move the joystick back and forth rapidly at the spot and fire each time you change directions. This causes a zombie to appear at the edge of the screen with each pivot you make and each shot you fire will kill a zombie. You can get 100K+ from this if you're fast enough!
It is well known that if you duck and shoot a tombstone 15 times, an angel appears and fires a bolt that turns you into a frog. Interesting bug: if you fire this bolt *just* as your time is about to run out, you'll turn into a frog INSTEAD of being killed by time over. It wraps around to negative time or something and you have virtually unlimited time. (He recommends standing two rock-lengths away from the rock, and firing the 15th shot at time 0:02. If you're just slightly late, the bolt will still 'reincarnate' you but your character will appear distorted and you will be stuck in a ducked position). Use this trick in combination with the above cave trick, and you're pretty much set. [This is classic material! -JTR] (ROGER:)If you perform the above trick but don't get the timing correct, your frog/man will be split in two and very messy in aspect. The game is much harder for a scrambled knight! Boss tricks: Dragon trick - You can pass the level four dragon by fleeing! Just walk until music changes to boss theme (if you can't hear that, the spot is where you have the last two flames on the left of the screen), then go to extreme left: if everything is okay, the music should stop and the flames freeze. Go to the door to collect the key. Demon trick - To make disappear the demon boss at end of level five, try running away from him as fast as you can! Reach the floor with the hole in it and jump through it. If you have correct timing, you will fall in the pit, avoiding the moving platforms, and eventually escape the boss. Ogre boss tricks - The ogre bosses tend to jump when you fire, even if not directly at them. This is very useful in level six, when you can avoid losing your armor by activating the ogres, then going down the ladder and firing while holding your man in the same position where he starts at the beginning of the level. Other tricks: Weapon trick - After having defeated a level boss(es),the knight can fire two or three "invisible shots"; if the man is facing the right border of the screen while doing so, the shots will reappear in the following stage. This can be exploited to kill some of the skulls at beginning of level six (soooo useful...). Fire bridge trick - If the game difficulty level is not set to hard (you can check this by the zombies' speed), the fire bridge can be traversed by simply going right without stopping.
Weird spots - In levels five and six there are spots where you can jump through the yellow rock background: usually getting blocked or killed. In level six, the floor below the bosses' has an invisible hole in it at the extreme left: this can be used to the player's advantage. Cemetery glitch - Reach the last tomb before the devil, jump it and go right two or three steps. The knight should now be in front of a tree on the background. Don't go any further - go back, instead. Climb the first ladder you'll meet, then climb down the one on the left, which shouldn't be completely on the screen if you performed the trick correctly: surprise! Warp trick - This is very odd: by a strategy similar to the one to reveal the cemetery glitch (that is, fiddling with scroll), you can activate a "level warp" in the platform section at the beginning of level four. It involves going right, then trying to have some platform carry you beyond the "scroll stops" line on the left. This should kill the knight and possibly make the next life start on the fire bridge or in level 5.
There are two 10,000 pts in the game. The first one is in the forest: jump somewhere before the last plant. To collect the second, go in the leftmost spot you can reach after you have landed on the bottom of level three; that is the place where you go to the dragon boss by simply running right. Armor: The first armor is in the cemetery, between the red devil's starting position and last money bag: jump there to catch it. In the forest, there's the infamous unreachable armor: to collect it you should reach a spot just above the money bag right after the first plant. This cannot be done by jumping. There are two armors in the ice palace. One can be gotten by walking left off the topmost platform; the other will fall right in front of the inferior plant by roaming around the other plant's location. There are two armors in the blue cave. The first one is obtained by climbing the leftmost ladder and falling off the ledge. To get the second, perform a well- placed jump (you have to cross some precise point in mid-air while falling) before the fight with the last red devil. The last armor is collected in level six by simply walking right on the first floor with hulk-like monsters on it. I'm sure the programmers thought you couldn't avoid getting hit by the ogres and so they didn't hide that armor.
GOLDEN AXE (ROGER:)If possible, go to a different level of ground than your opponent. If you are lower, you can cut up his legs and he can't hit you. If you are higher, he will jump after you and you can hit him in mid-jump. (He won't attack until he's on your level). Two Player health restoral: If a player's health is at zero (no life bar visible) when the bonus level/intermission ends, s/he will begin the next level at full health (three life bars). So if you CAREFULLY hack one another, you can restore your health. You should allow the other character to recover after each swipe, otherwise you may throw or kick and actually kill the other player.
GORF (KAPTAIN:) Astro Battles - start picking off the invaders from the edges. By destroying entire columns, the rate of descent is reduced. Laser Attack - Kamikazes and Flying Gorfs should be destroyed at maximum possible range, especially when they power dive. Space Warp - attackers are easiest to destroy when they first emerge. They are moving slower and the spiral movements is lighter. Flag Ship - create large holes in the force field arc before attempting to hit the reactor. You'll have a better line of fire.
(KESTEP:) (......................)The missions are: Astro Battles - Mission 1: this mission is a wave of Space Invaders with a twist. Instead of fixed 'shields' that are eroded away as the aliens descend and fire on you, Gorf provides an energy shield that is turned off each time you fire. This prevents you from opening gaps in the shield when you return fire. If the shield is down, i.e. you are firing, the alien shots pass right through without damaging the shield, temporarily leaving you exposed. Strategy : I tend to pick off the lowest row as the Gorfian Ship is dropping them in place. Then I move to right ahead of the columns and pick off as many complete columns as possible. Then I dodge the shots and move back to the left to pick off columns as the move back across the screen.
Laser Attack - Mission 2: two Laser Gunships and their Escorts attack your ship. The escorts start in formation, and randomly break off to engage your ship. The Laser Gunships (and their escorts that are not independently attacking) move about and randomly downward toward your ship. The beams are always fired vertically. Strategy : The escorts tend to be a bigger problem than the Laser Gunships. I try to take out one of the Gunships so I'm not trapped between two at once. Then I take out the escorts. If I get lucky or I finish off the escorts, I get the last Gunship. Special Note : This is the only mission in which it is possible to take a break and rest during long games. Carefully eliminate all escorts and leave one or both Laser Gunships. Move to the far left (or right) side of the screen. The game always moves the formation of escorts with a Laser Gunship. The program ALWAYS positions the formation as if ALL escorts are intact, even if they have already been destroyed. Due to this assumption, the Laser Gunships will never move all the way to the edge of the screen!
Galaxians - Mission 3: a wave of Galaxians attack. There are three rows (Yellow, Blue, Red) plus two Galaxian Flagships that break off and attack from the top. Each successive mission will cause more ships to simultaneously break off and attack. The biggest threat is the release of small shots that each ship will fire on its way down screen. Strategy : STAY OUT OF CORNERS. I try to pick off a few columns as they form up. Then I try to get as many of the ships that attack as possible.
Space Warp - Mission 4: enemy ships spiral out of a space warp and fire energy mines towards your ship. Some ships spiral out in a very circular pattern. Others emerge in a very erratic elliptical pattern, possibly even crashing into your ship enroute. Strategy : Constant movement. Get as close as possible to the warp. I have a rhythm that I kinda follow. I move from side to side, trying to time my movements with the circular motion of the ships. I fire repeatedly. Only break the motion to dodge the energy mines. Some ships will follow a spiral that leads directly to you ship. These ships follow an egg shaped path. Watch for them and be ready to shoot or avoid them.
Flagship - Mission 5: the shielded Gorfian Flagship fires energy mines, while you try to hit the reactor core. If you hit the ship, but miss the reactor, a piece of debris will fly off the ship. These can be shot for points, or avoided, but contact will result in destruction of your ship. Strategy : Move to the Flagship's shield immediately. Try to remove as much of the shield as possible from the middle or left side. Try to time your shots to hit the missing chunk of the ship under the reactor. It is possible to take it out with one shot. Avoid or shoot any pieces that fly away from the ship.
GRAVITAR (ROGER:) A well known gravitar cheat/bug is as follows... At a joint between two vectors (>90 degrees), position yourself below and shoot straight up. If you can align yourself just right, the shots will travel through the walls at the joint. Without moving from side to side, just thrust up and voila, you are now inside the wall. You can now move around and shoot the gun pods from behind. This is especially useful if you can get under the world!
GREEN BERET (PHANATIK:) If you have a bazooka, flamethrower, etc., shoot at ground level. This will clear both enemies and mines. And save your weapons till the stage boss, in most cases you can handle the enemies just with the knife and the "knife jump".
GUNSMOKE (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor: Mario Moeller) When you're on level two, make sure you have a horse when you kill Roy Knife. Once he is dead, walk over his corpse and your horse will be killed. Roy raises from the dead as a sort of indestructable zombie. You can shoot him as much as you like, but he won't die. In this way you can play until you get tired of it. [Not sure whether this is a feature to be exploited or a bug to be avoided. -JTR]
HYPER SPORTS (ROGER:) Some tips for each event: SWIMMING: Don't start bashing the buttons until your character comes to the surface after the dive into the water. The BREATH sign comes on every 10 meters so you can anticipate this when you get used to playing. Also, if you finish in exactly the same time as another (human) player, a bonus is awarded. SKEET SHOOTING: If you manage to shoot all of the clays, the last one appears as a bird and bags 5000 points. This bird usually comes from the right side of the screen. Shooting it with the left barrel makes a slow-moving parrot appear. Shoot the parrot as many times as you can! Also, on level B (the level is shown in the top left corner of the screen - starts a,b,c,d for the pattern and a number for the number of times round) you can shoot the first two skeets with a single shot, giving you an extra bonus. Be sure and shoot both skeets with the left-hand button. VAULTING: Try to get as far as possible on the springboard before pressing the jump button. When on the horse, wait for the athlete to be vertical before pressing the button to make him push off - this gives him more height. A secret bonus can be obtained if you land on your head whithout doing any somersaults. You will bounce a few times on the floor and a frog will appear from the roof and give you bonus points. This is useful if you have already qualified as it is dead easy to obtain. ARCHERY: There is a 5,000 point bonus for getting all "nices" (600 pts), giving a total of over 9,000 points. WEIGHTLIFTING: When you have successfully lifted the weight and the athlete drops the bar to the floor, if you press both left and right buttons at the same time as it hits the floor, cheerleaders will appear and give you a bonus. This is quite tricky to perform as your timing has to be extremely accurate. POLE VAULT: To gain extra height when you have let go of the pole press the left and right buttons quicky to gain height and press the jump button to move to the right faster. If you put your pole directly into the hole without losing any speed and your vault is successful, a mole appears from the ground to award you 1000 points. If you continue to do this in consecutive attempts, then the mole awards 2000, 4000, 8000 points etc.
JOUST (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor: Tim Shay) "The pterodactyl trick". Classic trick. Doesn't work on upgraded Joust machines, or on Joust II. Trick the last jouster on the stage to fly to the lava and get trapped by the lava troll. Then wait in the center of the middle platform. When a pterodactyl comes out, it'll fly right into your lance. The next part takes a fair amount of practice: when the pterodactyl has hit you, your character will be knocked back. Jiggle the joystick so that your mount is back in the middle of the ledge again. Keep doing this. Eventually there'll be a steady stream of pterodactyls, and you'll be killing 'em about 2 per second, for 1000 points each. When you make a mistake and get killed, the trapped jouster will escape.
On the last board in which this works (47 I think), the jouster will not escape. (From John Yeates ...)To check if you machine has the right ROM (the OLD rom) for this trick, on the right-hand side of the screen are two platforms like this: _____________
\___________/____________
\__________/
Come in from the right, and land on the lower platform so that your legs can't come down; you'll bounce along the platform. On old ROM machines, you will then fall down through the gap between the platforms; on the new ROM, you'll bounce off. You can screw up Joust by killing a Pterodactyl right inside the screen border as it moves from right to left. (Very hard to do - plus it's worthless, but it is of interest as it sometimes shows internal info on the screen if done at the right vertical height from top. different locations apparently cause different screw-ups.) The key to handling Shadow Lords (blue guys) is learning how to time their bounces at the top of the screen. Also, a good spot to be at the beginning of a wave is immediately to the left or right of a ledge and above. Shadow Lords will then appear and fly right up into you. (ROGER:) To get an extra 1000 points on every screen, leave an egg on the middle left or right platform. Wait until the pterodactyl comes out. Let it fly up to the middle level. As soon as it is high enough, grab the egg. The pterodactyl will try to exit the screen, you should be able to run towards it, and kill it just as it goes off the to the side. More tips on hunting pterodactyls: On levels without a middle platform, The safest place to kill them is on the left hand side of the bottom platform. Position yourself over Player 1's 100,000 number. On levels with a middle platform: Wait on the right hand side, near the edge.
More tips on defeating Shadow Lords (blue enemies): If there is a middle platform on the screen, always stay under it! Shadow Lords that approach from the right-hand side will start "bouncing" off the platform and give you time to wait for them. As they hit the bottom, flap up a little and they will fly into you. If they approach from the left, they won't bounce but you can still use the same method to kill them.
For lots of extra points: During the egg waves, don't pick up the eggs - let them all hatch. But kill them quickly, or else the pterodactyl will come out sooner. The wave counter stops at 99, and then goes to 0. Then it begins over at level 1. However, the game never gets easier. Around level 60 or so, all the enemies are Shadow Lords (Blue).
KANGAROO (KAPTAIN:)When a monkey moves toward you, ready to throw an apple, watch the direction of it's throwing arm. If it winds back underhand, the apple will be thrown low like a bowling ball, so jump over it. If it winds up overhand, the apple will be thrown high, so duck under it. As you progress to higher levels, apples will be thrown mid-level, so you can either punch them or jump over them. Time your ladder climbing carefully so you can be out of the firing range of falling apples. Monkeys are usually the most dangerous when you are moving away from them. Try moving toward them so you can punch them before they can throw apples.
Time your jumps carefully. Mother Kangaroo can leap from the edge of a branch or a log, but she must land flat on her feet. When preparing for a Super Leap, make Mother Kangaroo walk to the end of a log with her toes hanging over the edge. Then pull your joystick back and immediately push up in the direction of her leap. For a high score, climb up and down every screen until all the fruit is picked. To score high points on the third screen, punch out all the monkeys in the column; each monkey is worth 400 points.
KRULL (DEFINITIVE:) Hunting strategy by hiding in cave when battling the "Big Guy" and hunting his shots. (combined effort)
KUNG-FU MASTER (KAPTAIN:) Don't punch or kick without a reason. A true Kung-Fu Master strikes quickly and carefully. Find your enemy's weak spot. Learn what kind of blows hurts each for the most. Don't battle snakes or spinning bombs. The best you can do is stay out of their way. No single enemy blow can kill you. (You are a Master after all.) Each blow, however, does deplete your energy and makes you weak. The right blow at the wrong time CAN kill you. Watch your timer. When it runs out one life is lost. (ROGER:)Time your punches properly. They give you double score compared with the kicks, but they're much more risky, as you can fall short with your punch and get grabbed. If you feel like you don't want to fight, when a knife thrower appears behind you, evade his first knives, clean the screen and start to advance non-stop, cleaning the henchmen in your way. There won't be any new badasses appearing from your back, and it's a lot quicker and easier. Perhaps it's a bit tricky to avoid the knives at your back while you are cleaning your path ahead, but you are a kung fu master, aren't you? FIRST BOSS: Easy. Wait to his first pole swing from a safe distance and then quickly get close (stuck) to him. From now on, his attacks won't hit you. Walk forward (making him walk back) until you reach the staircases and then start punching him in the belly. SECOND BOSS: First, clean your back of henchmen. Then, wait for the boomerang dude to throw his first boomerang , avoid it and this is the time! You have to hit him like hell while he's waiting to recover his boomerang. Punches hurt double. If you're quick enough punching, he won't recover his first boomerang. THIRD BOSS: My favorite one. Just make a jumping moving kick, hit him in the chest, and as soon you touch the floor (falling down from the jumping kick) start punching fast as hell! With any luck he won't touch you anyway. Be sure to have spare energy to perform this movement just in case he has time to give you a kick (1/4 of the bar would be enough). FOURTH BOSS: Watch out, this one is tricky. First, take him to the limits where he can walk (He suddenly stops as he can't get closer to you). Then come closer to him and duck, avoiding his projectiles. Then, a copy of him will appear at your back. Stand up and start walking (avoiding projectiles again) just as you did with the first boss. As soon as you arrive at the stairs, duck and start punching. He will appear and disappear, but JUST in front of you. Six punches and he's history.
FIFTH BOSS: Mainly keep him defending himself with high kicks (tapping very fast!) and then suddenly change to low kicks. I usually start with a jumping moving kick in the chest (just like the third boss) and then start the high/low kicks patterns. I've played so much that I can add some low punches to the mix, but if you want to survive, stick to the pattern.
LEGENDARY WINGS (ROGER:)On each level, a trio of statues arranged in a triangular pattern will appear about three-quarters of the way through. Bomb them until one of them reveals a passageway (you'll have to bomb them all; it's not the same one every time), and fly into it. You'll now be in a cave, free to fly along and collect treasure chests worth 200 points apiece. When you're in the cave, though, don't shoot - if you fire and hit a treasure chest it's destroyed, and some of the cavern walls release enemies when shot.
MAPPY (THE MAPPY UNOFFICIAL HOMEPAGE / excerpt from MAPPY FAQ:)
1.) Get greedy, especially in the first 6 rounds! Get the less valuable items first and pick them up in pairs. Your first pair is valued at 2X. The best order is Radio (100 points), Television (200 points), Computer (300 points), Mona Lisa (Painting) (400 points) and Safe (500 points). If you collect all the items in order up to the Safe, the final Safe will be 500 X 6 = 3,000 points! A perfect score for items each round would be: 100+100X2+200+200X3+300+300X4+400+400X5+500+500X6 = 8,500 points! Wow! 2.) Always try to get the Boss cat in the microwaves! Simply put, it will more than double your score. The following table shows the number of cats caught in a microwave and the score derived from it: Cats Score: 1 200 2 400 3 800 4 1200 5 1600 6 2000 7 3000 8 4000 9 5000
10 6000 (Example: Get 6 cats, you get (200+200+400+400+400+400)= 2000 points. If also catch the Boss cat with the 'wave, you will net 2000+1000 Times 2! =3000 X 2 = 6000 points. Not a bad chunk of points... NOTE: 6000 X 2 = 12,000 is the maximum you can get with a single microwave door, as there are never more than 10 cats on the Round at one time. You can only get this if you reach Round 16! (on the standard game). If the difficulty is juiced up, you can get that many cats as early as Round 8!
3.) Lose those cats! If you are bouncing up off a trampoline and a cat is right under you, most of the time, you can land on a level and the cat will not get time to react and will land on the level above yours. This is a very important technique to learn to help you lose a cat and be able to cross a level untouched. Be careful about cats that are bouncing and are RIGHT ON YOU... try to mix it up. Personal observation suggests they like to jump more often to the left off the trampoline. They also like to bail out more often on levels connected to the trampolines. 4.) Keep a count on those cats! If you KNOW there are only 4 cats on the Round and they are all on your screen, that allows you to reach the other side of the screen with confidence. This also allows for proper microwave door management :)
5.) Use all doors to your advantage! Doors are VERY powerful weapons. It can be used to both whack down a cat, it can also be used to 'propel' you along. Closing an open door, if closing your way, will 'throw' you. If a cat is also near the door in front of you, it will be knocked down! Also, if you have a door near a treasure and the Boss cat is behind it, you can get the 1000 points for tagging him and not have to pick up the treasure until you want to. (i.e. when flashing) :) 6.) Save the Microwave doors until ABSOLUTELY needed or HURRY bell rings! ****** This is what separates a good score from a GREAT score. ****** When HURRY comes, 2 cats are added to the fray. Just work from one microwave to the next, waiting for the cats to bunch up and ready themselves for your onslaught! The cats are much faster when HURRY shows which makes collecting treasures in pairs a bit harder. The SUPERCAT (looks like a coin) will visit after HURRY has been going on for a bit. You cannot kill it. If memory serves, you can stun it with a trap door, but it is of little help in the long run. It will kill you, even on the trampolines. If you hear his bell ringing, dart for your last treasures and hope-n-pray! 7.) Uses the house edges! You can bunch a lot of cats together if used properly. This is also good forgetting a lot of points when dropping Bells in Rounds 8-10. Just make sure you jump off the trampoline before it breaks! PLAYING STRATEGIES Round 1-2: - These rounds are simple. A seasoned Mappy player should be able to consistently score over 20,000 points before the end of the 2nd round. - Rounds 1+2 start with 3 cats + the Boss cat. - You should be able to get most items in pairs on these rounds, possibly ending with a 6X. - Get all of your treasures except the last one (or pair) before the HURRY comes. This allows you to spend time getting points. (please refer to GREED in the general playing tips) :) Round 4-6: - A bit more difficult. A score of 60,000 points after round 6 is not uncommon. - Try your best to get the pairs of treasures. Remember: They don't HAVE to be in ORDER (100-500) to gain 6X, just in pairs. - 4 cats + Boss cat are on these rounds. - You should get a LOT of points off microwaves (at least 5-10k per round). - Remember, you can walk up in the attic. Use this to your benefit. - The Supercat comes out deceptively early on these rounds. Be cautious! It will begin moving IMMEDIATELY after its alarm rings, where on other screens, it lands on a level and gets stunned before it starts. Round 8-10: - 5 cats + Boss cat are located here. - Getting treasure in pairs is not recommended unless you are VERY GOOD :) - Use bells to bunch together cats for a nearby microwave for BIG POINTS. - Pick up treasures as quickly as possible, due to HURRY time coming quicker. - Scores of 100,000 after Round 10 is about normal. Round 11-14: - 6 cats + Boss cat at start of rounds. - HURRY occurs VERY QUICKLY, as does the coin. There is little to no time to spend on getting pairs unless you are very brave (or greedy) :)
- ON these rounds are 'TRAP DOORS'. They are flashing sections of level when you walk over them, it disappears and all the cats that follow will fall to the level below and be stunned like they were hit with a door. They have been known to stun Supercat (Coin). Also, use trap doors to 'bunch' cats together for maximum microwave points. - The Safes on these rounds are located on a dead-end. You must have a clear shot at the Safe before even attempting. The best times to get these are right after a microwave or using a TRAP DOOR. Leaving one for last also helps. - Not much time for scoring (unless you are lucky). Shoot for 150,000 before end of Round 14. Round 16: - 7 cats + Boss cat at start of round - A lot like level one, with modifications to the location of the doors. - VERY FAST cats, even before the HURRY rings (which is usually within 10-20 seconds). - Basically, do whatever you can to survive, using any/all techniques shown above. Round 17+: - Same as Round 16 except this level starts your sequence of boards again. (Level 17 = Level 1, 18=2... etc) - ABSOLUTELY NO GREED is suggested nor endorsed up here... you'll get enough points just running away :) BONUS ROUNDS Round 3: Bust the balloons and work your way to the left ASAP. You must get all the red balloons yourself. Round 7: Again, quickly bust the balloons. Breaking some trampolines will be needed to complete. Round 11: Bust all of the balloons except the one on the very top left of the screen above the Big Cat balloon. When you get the Big Cat, he will travel up and bust the last balloon for you. Round 15: Bust all of the balloons except the one on the very top, right of the Big Cat. When you get the Big Cat, he will travel the to the right, jump on the trampoline, and get the last balloon for you.
(ROGER:)Here's how to get through the first four bonus levels on Mappy with a 10,000-point bonus on each one: Each bonus level has a different pattern to it. Where you are told to 'break through the trampoline(s)', this involves holding the joystick to one side so that Mappy repeatedly bounces off of an adjacent wall, resulting in the trampoline breaking as quickly as possible. Note that this only refers to trampolines which are *not* at the bottom of the screen. 1st Bonus: sting all the balloons and break through all trampolines. 2nd Bonus: sting all but the last balloon on the left, and break through to release Goro. He'll pop it. 3rd Bonus: sting all but the leftmost balloon at the top then break through to release Goro. He'll pop the remaining balloon. 4th Bonus: sting all the balloons to the *left*, but leave the one immediately above where you start unpopped. Release Goro, and he'll bounce over to it, destroying it. Information about Mappy levels: The mapping of the level counters in Mappy is a little strange; after level 49, the level symbols in the bottom right corner temporarily stop updating, but the numerical level counter and the high score display both record the proper level. The level symbols then start displaying correctly again at level 100, and continues to display correctly until level 254. Level 255 morphs into Level 0. Then the game starts over again, and becomes easy again for level 1.
MAT MANIA (ROGER:) First do the usual things in the game (a few punches and body slams) until you can get a pile driver on your opponent. Once you get that first pile driver, simply pick up your opponent and throw him into the ropes. Allow him to just ram into you - you will both go down. Now just pick him up and give him another pile driver and then throw him again into the ropes and allow him to ram into you. Just keep alternating between pile-drivers and throwing into the ropes and ramming you until you feel like pinning him. Using this technique I got up to match 39 on a quarter, playing for over 1 1/2 hours.
MIKIE (KEEPER:) Mikie gameplay and strategies: You are Mikie. He's a pompadoured high-school boy whose hormones seem to be way out of control, as he is intent on gathering all of the love notes that his girlfriend has left for him regardless of how badly it disrupts school. The game opens with Mikie sitting at his desk, looking back and forth while his science teacher draws on the blackboard. As soon as Mikie gets up from his desk, the teacher will notice the disturbance and start chasing Mikie around the room. Note the empty desk in the picture above. That's where Mikie starts from. The joystick moves Mikie in four directions only. There are also two buttons. One causes Mikie to head butt whatever is in front of him, while the other is used for opening doors and picking up certain objects on later screens to throw at his pursuers. On the first screen, the object is to kick all of the students out of the desks that have hearts underneath them, and gather the hearts before leaving the room. Mikie will automatically kick a seated student whenever he walks into him/her with the joystick. (See snapshot at above left). It takes three or four kicks to dislodge a student from his or her seat. Once Mikie kicks a student out of the chair, he may walk between the desk and the chair to pick up the heart underneath. You don't need to push a button for this...just walk over the heart. There are five hearts that must be gathered on this screen. Your science teacher is the only one trying to stop you. You can run away from him, or head butt him as he approaches you. It takes a little while to get used to head butting...the aim and timing are pretty precise, and if you miss, the teacher will catch you. You do get points for a successful head butt. Normally, a heart is worth 200 points. However, if you pick up the heart while the heart-shaped halo surrounds it, you get 1000. (See above.) The halo cycles among the five desks where your girlfriend's hearts were originally hidden. As you improve, you will learn to time your head butting of the teacher so that you can pick up the hearts when the halo surrounds them. Note that you should pick up an available heart before kicking another student out of his/her seat because displaced students always sit at the lone empty desk. If you get tired of being chased around, and need to rest for a moment, you can always sit down at the empty desk. The science teacher will pat himself on the back for a job well done and return to the chalkboard in the front of the room. As soon as you get up, though, it's back to the chase. There is no time limit in Mikie, but the teacher starts moving faster as the minutes pass. He also gets tired sometimes and starts huffing and puffing for a few seconds, allowing you to briefly get away. Once you gather all the hearts, the "Out" sign appears above the door on the left. To leave, you must walk up to it and push the non-head butt button as you exit. If you have picked up all five hearts while the halo is around them, you get a ton of extra points at the end of the screen. (See above.) FYI, the effects of a head butt on its victim last about four seconds...note how far away from the science teacher Mikie is in this picture. And that's after picking up the heart under the chair in the upper right-hand corner!
When you finally make it out of the classroom for the first time, you'll find yourself in this hallway, right where your science teacher is standing in this screenshot. You need to walk over to the "In" door on the right and enter the room (don't forget to push the button). The janitor and the teacher will try to stop you. You can head butt them if you want to. There are also prizes in the hallways worth 1000 each. I usually get them, because the hallway screens aren't that hard once you get used to Mikie. After each screen, you find yourself back in the hallway once you exit the room. This is where you end up after the second screen...you have to go down the stairs and into the door marked "In" on the second floor. (I know I haven't talked about the second screen yet...that's coming up next.) If you look closely, you'll notice that this screen is simply a continuation of the screen pictured above left. I purposely placed these two photos closer together to illustrate that point. After screen three, you have to go down to the first floor. The last two screens are down here. (The final "In" door is at the very end of the hall.) If at any point, you take longer than a few seconds to enter the next room, you'll notice someone slip a water bucket in front of the door you're supposed to go into. Don't touch it, and don't stand next to it on the right or left. It will slide across the screen and down the hall after a few seconds, and you can safely enter the room once it passes by. Once Mikie goes into the first "In" door, he finds himself in the basketball team's locker room. Already present are the janitor and the school's chef. Needless to say, they're not inclined to help you gather more hearts. After a few seconds, your science teacher shows up and joins the party. You'll notice that the hearts are all in jars on this level. You have to head butt the jars three times each to get the hearts out of their glass containers. The 1000 point halo is still available, too. There are three bins filled with basketballs in the locker room. Along with being able to head butt your pursuers, you can pick up a basketball by pushing the other button while you're next to one of the bins. Push the button again, and Mikie throws the basketball straight ahead. If one of the goons catches it, he'll dribble it for a few seconds, allowing you to pass right by him unhampered. (See above.) This is a useful tactic to employ, because many times you won't have an opportunity to head butt everyone before you get caught. Sometimes it's a good idea to run behind the bench on the bottom of the screen to straighten out the paths of your pursuers so you can head butt them. This level is pretty difficult, and it takes practice to learn a good head butting motion with three guys chasing you. I have found that using the basketballs is very helpful. Once you gather all the hearts, you can leave the room via the door on the left. The "Out" sign does not appear until you've finished your business.
Once he gets down to the second floor, Mikie enters the school cafeteria. Here, there are three angry chefs looking to make an example of this incorrigible punk. Of course, Mr. Science Teacher shows up, too. The hearts are scattered about the floor, for the most part, and are easy to pick up. There is one heart in a jar on the table in the center. You have to stand to the left of it and head butt it three times, much like the locker room. Again, the bench on the bottom can come in handy when avoiding multiple pursuers. The chef standing in the front of the room does not chase you, although you can give him a nice massage with your forehead just like everyone else. Instead, he occasionally flings a turkey at you, which will prove fatal if it makes contact. There are three pans with turkeys in them on the tables in the cafe. You can grab drumsticks from those pans and fling them at your pursuers, who will pause to munch on the snack for a few valuable seconds. When you get all the hearts and exit this room, the "Out" door is on the right. The next room is the first floor dance studio. There's only the dance instructor and the science teacher chasing you in here, and you can head butt them. The hearts are nice and easy to pick up, too. The problem is, the girls in the class dance around in circles, and if you bump into them, you become disoriented for a few seconds. I've seen the science teacher get bumped too, but he's adept at quick recoveries. It's tough to get your wits again once you run into one of the dance students. The dance instructor stays in the front of the room. She doesn't pursue with much tenacity, but don't let her catch you on your way out!
The last screen is the garden screen. There are football players guarding your girlfriend, who is waiting under the archway with a heart hovering over her head. It's all very touching and stuff. You need to pick up all of the hearts and avoid the jocks, who move pretty fast, actually. At least the science teacher doesn't show up here...maybe he got lucky with that dance instructor. (You'd hope it isn't one of the girls in the class!)You can head butt the football players, which is your only defense on this screen. There doesn't seem to be anything to pick up and throw. I've tried the flowers, but there's nothing to grab in there. Once you get all of the hearts, you will hear that "you can go now" sound, and a red sports car will pull up in the background. That's your cue to run to your girlfriend...once you reach her, the jocks all disappear. Now you've saved the day, and finished the level. Your lovely girlfriend is very grateful...after all, you've risked permanent expulsion with all of your hi-jinks to save her bacon! Or maybe she just wanted you to ditch school with her, like in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." You get a kiss, and then the two of you speed off in the red car. The next thing you know, you're back in the locker room being chased by the chef, the janitor, and the science teacher again. I guess that's level two.
MISSILE COMMAND (PEER BLUMENSCHEIN:) Beginner's advice: The missile paths often cross each other, so keep an eye where they are going to meet, and fire one single rocket against this spot. And in the later levels, the attacks are so heavy, that you can't defend all cities. Choose which cities you are going to defend, and give up the others (no rockets for them). Choose the ones closest to the rocket battery.
MOON PATROL (KAPTAIN:) As you travel along the course, you'll see areas where a rock is placed just behind a land mine or crater. When this happens, time your shot very carefully. Another trick: Try taking one long jump over two closely positioned obstacles. Watch out for UFOs that look like this: ~ They drop missiles which create huge craters directly in front of your Moon Buggy. The best way to handle these pests is to destroy them before they can drop missiles. To protect yourself, shoot at UFO missiles while they're in the air. Start your jumps well in front of a hole to land just on the other side, giving you more time and space to begin a second jump. Scoring points for destroying the enemy car is random, so just shoot as soon as you can.
(ROGER:) When alien ships fly over, keep adjusting your speed or they will eventually hit you with a bomb. Draw their bombs to one end of the screen, then shift to the other. The big key to this game is memorization. After the beginner course, you go on to the champion course, which never changes no matter how many times you pass it. Memorize the two courses, and you will almost never lose a life.
MR.DO (ROGER:)It's possible to win 255 lives on the first screen, but only if an apple appears in the top two rows of the playfield. Begin by digging a tunnel directly from the bottom of the screen to just below the apple, but leave enough dirt under it that it doesn't fall. Next, kill all of the enemies but one, then lose all of your extra lives. As soon as you're on your last life, go right under the apple and wait. Eventually, the remaining enemy will come after you. Allow the apple to drop, but, in the interval before you're squashed, kill the enemy with the powerball. If all has gone well, you'll be carried to the bottom of the screen, the music will go haywire for a moment, and you'll be awarded 255 extra lives.
Note that you should always lose a life before spelling 'EXTRA', or you'll roll back to zero lives, so, to be safe, immediately kill yourself at the start of level two. IMPORTANT: Steven Zahler reports that, on MAME, this trick will only work with the Taito version of Mr. Do! (KAPTAIN:) Unlimited lives(ish) trick: On your last life, wait until the last monster is alive, and dig a tunnel from the bottom of the screen upwards to an apple. The idea is that the apple must be able to fall all the way to the bottom of the screen. Push Mr. Do upwards so that the apple does not fall, and wait for the monster to follow Mr. Do up the tunnel. Turn round so that you can shoot the monster and let the apple fall, catching Mr. Do and sending him to the bottom of the screen. Mr. Do will die, but the stage will clear. Using Binary math, the state of Mr. Do's live counter is 00000000, once a live is taken away, and the next level starts, the binary count is 11111111 (255). Sometimes you have to try this trick a few times before it works. Note though, once the trick has worked, don't get an extra live until you have lost at least one life, as the binary counter has one added to it and is returned to 0 !
MR DO'S WILD RIDE (INSERT COIN:) Walk straight on to first circle, Travel round to highest platform available, step off and go up ladder, avoid cars and return to moving platform on right. Don`t go on first moving platform, wait for second, go on it, get off on track and go up ladder. Wait for car, go up track to top/last ladder. Wait for car below and walk after onto 4 circle. Pause before going onto last circle to collect feature.
MR.DO! RUN RUN (INSERT COIN:) Every 10,000 points, an alpha-monster leaves the lair...alone. If you're missing one or two letters, keep a close eye on the score and try and time breaking the point plateau with those last letters you need. If you're real good at it, one can get an extra Mr. Do every THREE (and sometimes even in TWO) scenes!!! :) EXTRA LIFE: Completing E-X-T-R-A = 1 extra life, automatically ends that scene, and 5,000 bonus points. Make this the HIGHEST priority in the game. Big points will come eventually, but getting extra lives has nothing to do with points... just timing and skill! DIAMONDS: Find the diamond the same way you find circled letters... box it in! Diamond = 1 bonus credit. MAME users will agree that this is the most redundant thing about the game and some will be tempted to turn off the bit in the dip switch menu because of its uselessness. I'd leave it on for 3 reasons: 1. Bonus 10,000 points 2. Ends the scene automatically (i.e. could get you out of a tough spot) 3. Just the sheer thrill of finding one of those suckers!!!
FINAL TIPS: 1. Monsters strength is only in numbers. They're just as dim-witted as in the first Mr. Do game. Let the log go and monsters will make virtually no attempt to move out of the way until the log just crushes them! They just move back and forth right in the log's downward path. 2. You can normally get up to three alpha-monsters per scene. 2 loners and 1 Alpha-team. Don't forget the 10,000 point rule!
3. Points: Dots = 10, Cherries = 20, Oranges = 40, Lemons = 80, Grapes = 160. Boxing in fruits over and over till grapes appear is a good way to get a few extra points in, but don't make it a high priority. When one monster is left, it speeds up more and more till it can overtake you, and usually there aren't enough dots and fruits left to change into grapes at the end to make a difference in scoring! Play it safe and end the @!#$% scene! Fruits are best used in quick powerball recharging, not points. 4. Points (part 2): Don't forget the ball-trap and fireball trapping tricks for some easy and big points! But be warned, once it's used you are vulnerable till you eat enough dots and fruits for a full recharge. The powerball is best used defensively to get you out of a pinch when you need it most! 5. Save one log for the Alpha-team, and the other for a particular group of nasties bearing down on you, then pick off the rest with powerballs. Monsters are very stupid and tend to wander off by themselves till you get close enough for them to start following you. While you have a breather, make some medium sized boxes of lemons and grapes for that quick powerball recharge need. 6. Know when you are in danger of being fireballed. When snakes are lined up with you, be ready to sidestep them when they transform into fireballs. Fireballs can travel on downhill, but never uphill. They stop at the upslope and change back into Blue-snakes. 7. When monsters begin to move faster and begin to close in on you, use the hills to slow them down. Monsters will pause (just briefly) before they move from one tier to another, perhaps giving you that needed extra step. End the scene when you can. 8. There are 10 different scenes, just as in the first Mr. Do. Scene 11 repeats Scene 1 but with more monsters. Good luck and see you in the millions!! Powerballs: Mr. Do's powerball should only be used for defensive strikes... hit 'em if they get in your way of making boxes. It takes 12 dots to fully recharge a powerball. When dots are boxed in to become cherries, only 10 are needed. 8 for oranges, 6 for lemons, and 4 for grapes. Capturing the hidden circled letter instantly recharges the powerball, too. A direct hit on a monster is 500 points. Ricocheting the powerball before it strikes the monster is an extra 500 points per bounce, up to 3,000 total points. Two good ways to sneak some max points with a powerball: 1) lead a monster to an area between the edge and an upslope (a valley) where it is very narrow (say no more than 4 spaces wide) but keep some distance. The idea is to throw the ball and move out of the way so that it repeatedly bounces back and forth between you and the monster. As it approaches the ball-trap, the monster may move backwards a bit but will usually continue on to the trap. BAM!! 3000 points...usually if enough time and bounces are involved. Obviously, the narrower the valley you use, the more likely the monster will get hit. If you can pull it off at a 2 spacer, it's a guarantee the monster won't get through. 2) This trick involves only blue-snakes. Head for a corner. Try and get a blue- snake to turn into a fireball. Fireballs happen when the blue-snake gets a direct line-of-sight of Mr. Do (usually at a great distance away), changes into a ball of fire and hurls itself right at you. The fireball doesn't deviate its course but it can't be killed with a powerball. The trick is to head off (but just a bit) at a right angle along the edge, turn around, and wait until the fireball almost hits the corner. Time your shot so that the fireball sandwiches the powerball and gets trapped. BAM!! 3000 more points!
Logs: Logs are Mr. Do's ultimate weapon and should be used sparingly. Logs can set off 3 ways: 1) Run under the log to knock off its strut. 2) Push it from the top tier. 3) Lure a fireball to strike it. Since only two are available per scene, there are best used when large groups of monsters are bearing on you or when Alpha-teams (Alphamonster plus the 3 blue-groupies) are chasing you. Best way is lead the Alpha-team up the path of a rolling a log, let the log go. First monster killed is 1000 pts, then 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000 each. Alpha-Monsters: There are five, for each letter in the word "EXTRA". As the game goes on, a cursor at the Alpha-monsters' lair moves to the left and right over each letter. E -> X -> T -> R -> A, then E <- X <- T <- R <- A. Killing an Alpha-monster highlights the letter of the monster just killed. The cursor will stay about 6 or 7 seconds on an unused letter, but stays only about a second on completed letters. Good to know when you are trying to collect letters and want to time it just right when you go over a circled letter. There's one circled letter hidden in every scene, and to make it appear Mr. Do must box in where it's located. The goal should to be make as large a box as possible at the beginning of the scene to uncover the letter. But don't get too greedy in latter scenes where the screen is jammed packed with Greenies and Blue-Snakes. Once you get the circled letter, the Alpha-team leaves the lair: 3 Blue Groupies and the Alpha-monster in a single file march heading straight for you. Logs are best used to kill them off quickly, but if you are unfortunately without a log... circle 'em off. If the Alpha-monster dies, so do all groupies and the Alpha-monster always follows at the rear. Get 'em close but not TOO close, make a sharp U-turn, and hit the Alpha-monster at the rear as the other three pass you... trying to follow your line. Another important thing to remember is the 10,000 point rule.
MS. PAC MAN (UNKNOWN:) CHEAT: In Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, and Jr. Pac Man, if you hold down the button, you get a nice little speed boost. Nice way to help you get that top score... (ROGER:)I was playing the first screen and the aqua ghost was heading up at the top of the screen. Instead of turning and following along the top of the screen he continued up and off the top and reappeared from below. It's hard to repeat consistently, but this happens when you turn him blue while he's still inside the center box and then eat him right at the door. You can turn him blue again even though he's not following the maze, eat him, and have his eyes get lost because they don't know how to get back to the box. MORE COMPLETELY USELESS FUN!!! After the 255th level (?), the maze (including dots) disappears. The game becomes unplayable, since there are no more dots to eat.
OMEGA RACE (KAPTAIN:) Learn to use your Booster-Grop to control your direction as you ricochet off the walls of the arena. Mastering this technique will almost always enable you to maintain a good position for destroying both Command Ships and Death Ships.
Use your thrust sparingly to "float" back and forth or up and down. You'll be able to fire without worrying about navigating. To rack up really high scores, go for the more valuable ships first. Since they're always replaced, you'll be able to get more points for the same quantity of ships destroyed.
PAC MAN (PHANATIK:) Check out The Pac Man Player's Guide it's simply too muthafreakin' big to be included here! And while you're at it, have a look at Roger's Pac Man patterns! Might even be better. (UNKNOWN:)CHEAT: In Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, and Jr. Pac Man, if you hold down the button, you get a nice little speed boost. Nice way to help you get that top score...
(DEFINITIVE:) Idle trick: Need a breather? Just park yourself in the spot immediately and to the right of where you start, and make sure that no monsters are "looking" at you when you do it. The monsters will run all over the maze, but they'll never find you. Go to the bathroom in peace. 9th Key pattern for Pac-Man: (Provided by Ken Arromdee) ------------------------------------- |A------B ------C| |D------E ------F| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------ ------ --- ------ ------ | |G------H --I-----------J--K ------L| | | | || |___ ___| || | | | | | | ||____ | | ____|| | | | |M------N | ___| |_| |___ |Q ------R| |------- || ___O___P___ || -------| | | || | | || | | |------- -- | | -- -------| |-------S --T| |U--V -------| | | || ----------- || | | |------- ||W-----------X|| -------| |Y______ -- |___ ___| -- ______Z| | |___ |a __b___ | | ___c__d | ___| | |____ || |____| |_| |____| || ____| | | ||e __f___g___h___i__j || | | |___| || || |___ ___| || || |___| |k __l__m_||____ | | ____||n___o__p | | |___________| |_| |___________| | |_______________q___r_______________|
Move to the points in this order: hjnprqfgbaSTOIJPUX (fruit munch) WTSVQKHmkqrijdVQRLKEDCBHIOPUX (fruit munch) WSTVZonjihcdVSYlmeaSNMGABHGMNHIJKEFLKQVSaef.
(Contributor : Tad Perry) Two 9-th key patterns of interest are: the fastest, reliable 9-th key pattern in existence (43 seconds per board--awesome for time-limit tournaments of that era) and the most exciting (my very own!) where you will go through two monsters and be nearly eaten several times before you're through. Both were printed in Joystik Magazine.
PEPPER II (ROGER:) The highest point values in this game are for grabbing bonus items and finishing mazes. Go for bonus items as quickly as possible, because they vanish if not collected within a certain amount of time. If threatened, don't hesitate to leave whatever maze you're working on and start another one. One of the nice things about this game is that you're working on four mazes at once, and they can be finished in any order. Don't feel obligated to finish one before starting another. If the thing that unzips your trail enters the maze, it is generally best to leave and come back later, though taking a pitchfork will freeze him for a while.
PHOENIX (ROGER:) During the game three birds will attack all in a line. Let those birds fly all the way to the bottom and start to fly back up. As they are flying up, shoot all three in a row real quick (2 or 3 seconds) and you will get 200,000 points instead of 200.
(KAPTAIN:) Overcome the temptation to fire away the first time the small birds appear. Instead, take a few moments to study their patterns. Observe what happens when you are positioned directly beneath the birds, and when you are not. Study the attack patterns of the lower birds. Learn how to move your laser cannon between the bombs without getting blown apart. Don't waste lives trying to accumulate a lot of points in the early waves. Play it safe. Save your stamina for the large birds and for the spaceship, where the real big points are scored. For the first two times you encounter the alien spaceship, you can chip away the blue layer of the spaceship without getting bombed if you fire close to the edges furthest from the cockpit. Starting with the third encounter with the spaceship, however, bombs will fall from those edges and the alien's shots will be faster-paced and more accurate - just to make things more challenging for advanced players! At all times, you need two shots at the same point to create a hole in the blue layer. Use your force field sparingly and as a strategic device in emergency situations. If a bird brushes up against your force field, it will be disintegrated; but if a bird crashes into your unprotected laser cannon, you're both "dead ducks." The moral: Keep a watchful eye for low flying birds! During the game three birds will attack all in a line. Let those birds fly all the way to the bottom they will start to fly back up. As they are flying up shoot all three in a row real quick (2 or 3 seconds) and you will get 200,000 points instead of 200.
PLEIADS (ROGER:) In the third round (the one with the nonmoving ship in the middle of the screen), shoot the "engine flare" out as its door opens to advance the bonus multiplier. Each extinguished flare doubles the bonus. It's hard to shoot out all five, as the last door is only open for a split second. Make sure you don't kill all fliers until all possible flares have been extinguished! In the later rounds, this bonus can give you 9600+ points if fully used. (It seems like it went up to 12000 points or so in the later rounds, but it's been a long time, and I'm not that good again yet :})
Q*BERT (ROGER:) Good results can be obtained by working your way down one end of the level at the start, moving across the bottom to the other side, catching a disk to the top, and then filling in the middle squares. A big part of the game is waiting to see where creatures are going to jump. You need to make sure you always time a jump at the same time the creatures jump to you can always have a clear path to a new square. After level 9, the levels repeat themselves.
(KAPTAIN:) Reaching the destination color: The following describes Q*bert's coloring pattern in the nine game levels. S = Starting color, I = Intermediate color, D = Destination color. Level 1: when Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D. Level 2: when Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I . When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D.
Level 3: when Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert's got to start again. Level 4: when Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to 1. Q*bert's got to start again. Level 5: when Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert's got to start again. Levels 6-9: the destination color is reached in the same manner as in Level 5. Play becomes more and more difficult as characters and objects appear with increasing speed.
QIX (KAPTAIN:) Strategy and patience are the keys to winning at QIX. A good rule of thumb: Use fast draw to set up a pattern; use slow draw to complete the pattern. Slow draw scores twice the point value as fast draw. Another theory: Never draw yourself into a corner. Always avoid drawing a spiral, or you'll wind up in a spiral deathtrap. You cannot go in reverse, so you will have to stop and wait for the fuse to zap you. See Figure 9 for an example of a spiral deathtrap. Listed below are several different strategies to help you win at Qix. TREE-BRANCH STRATEGY: 1. Carefully erect a trunk up the center of the screen. It may take six or seven moves. 2. Draw as many branches as you can from the trunk of the tree and from the sides of the screen. Your primary aim is to leave small spaces that are big enough for QIX to enter, but small enough to seal off quickly. 3. When QIX enters one of these spaces, move toward it and use a slow draw to seal off the space. Thus, you trap QIX and capture the majority of the screen. TRIPLE-ARENA STRATEGY: 1. Use the fast draw to build two columns, one from the top, and one from the bottom. This splits the screen into three vertical rectangles. 2. QIX can move into only one of these areas. Using slow draw, begin blocking off the area that QIX is not in. 3. When only one rectangle remains, move toward QIX and block it into a small space. QUADRANT STRATEGY: Use the same method of dividing the screen as in the Triple- Arena Strategy, but divide the screen into four parts. TWIN QIX STRATEGY: 1. Start at the bottom of the screen, and build horizontal columns. Try to force both QIX to the top of the screen. 2. Use the slow draw to claim the bottom portion of the screen as you continue up. 3. After you capture about 1% less than the game threshold, split the QIX with a fast draw up the center of the screen. Thus, you split the two QIX and can claim most of the screen for a high score.
ROBOTRON (KEEPER:) On the first brains screen, you'll notice that there are a ton of humans wandering around, waiting to be either rescued or assimilated. Most of them are mommy humans in pink dresses. However, there is one "Mikey." As long as Mikey is alive, the brains will not seek to reprogram the mommies into progs (although a few mommies may stray into a brain's path). They will chase Mikey instead. You can use this to your advantage...just protect Mikey as long as possible while shooting all the brains you can, as well as that spheroid. Leave a few grunts hanging around. Even if it costs you a life, it's probably worth saving Mikey from the brains. You'll find that, if you've played your cards right, you'll be able to wander around at the end of the level with one or two grunts chasing you, picking up lots and lots of mommies for 5000 points each. As soon as Mikey dies, or is rescued by the hero, any remaining brains will begin chasing and reprogramming the mommies. It doesn't take them too long to get the job done, either.
(DEFINITIVE:) Robotron Name Trick : fire up while moving right and press Player 1 button, fire down while moving up and press Player 2 button, move down while firing up. Trick must be done during game play. The designer's names will appear and stay on the screen until the right joystick is released from the up position. Your game is over(!) once you've done this trick. (Contributor: Allen Perry) Get points and extra men : this will get you lots of points and extra men but at a VERY slow pace. This is good if you are going for that 200 million game and want to let someone hold the game for you while you take a break or a nap. On any 5th stage ( the ones with the brain guys ) shoot everything but 1 or 2 brains. Try and get them to follow you to the top right side of the screen. While touching the right side of the screen move all the way to the bottom. Keep shooting up. The Brains can't move all the way to the right so you can't hit them but there snake shot will move to the right and you will hit that. The brains will just sit there and walk right not down. So you can stay there for ever and shoot the snake shots. But you only get 25 points (I think) per shot. This is also good if you want to get a 9,999,975 score, if you are close just get to that screen and reach the top. Watch out for the stray shot that goes to the left, you may have to move left quick to kill it.
(WALTON C. GIBSON:) General Strategy Guide: As you play more and more Robotron, there are some subtle strategies that will allow you to progress father and die less often with some degree of consistency. The following are a list of hints I have come up with that should help you out with each wave. They are organized in a list of decreasing priority, so the ones higher on the list I believe you should try and accomplish first off. 1. When the wave begins, you'll notice that you have about two seconds to "take in" your surroundings before all the baddies start to move. This allows you some time to formulate your plan of attack before you go at it. Typically you should use this time to figure out a way to get into an open space, away from mass quantities of grunt Robotrons. This is easier than it sounds, by the way. Electrodes play a big role in determining your path. There might not be any grunts in one direction, but a wall of electrodes instead. It is often more to your advantage to steer through a crowd of grunts since they'll come after you fairly quickly whereas the 'trodes just sit there. 2. On levels containing quarks, you should make it a point to kill them quickly. Ignore the humans completely unless they are right in your path. Quarks manufacture lots and lots of those tanks, and if more than five or six of them get on the screen at once you're going to have a hard time finding a way to get out of dying. The tanks fire rebounding shots which will bounce off the walls at you, and this is a major pain. 3. Make it a point to kill the sphereoids first. Though there may only be two or three on the screen (more appear as the waves progress), they create lots of those enforcer bots that, just like the tanks, will kill you in fairly short order. Note that the Sphereoids tend to stagger in their trajectory kind of randomly, so don't get too close. They might fly right into you and that's -1 life right there.
Note: You may have to chew your way through a wall or two of grunts just to dispose of all the sphereoids, but don't make killing grunts your purpose. Just kill them ugly sphereoids! 4. Once you kill either the sphereoids or quarks, work on the grunts. You can take this time to pick up the remaining humans as well. 5. (Brain Levels) These are a completely different scene altogether. The brains appear and make it their point to go after the humans and kill them off pretty quick. There are, respectively, LOTS of humans on the screen during those waves. My main focus during these waves is to try and gather as many humans as I can at once and avoid death. You can get so many of them that you will more than likely get a lot of 5000 point bonuses right after one another, and they add up to 25000 point free men fairly quick. You can get 2-3 free men on a brain wave if you play it right. When the wave begins and has the "pause" phase, immediately do the following: A. Figure out where the greatest number of people are. B. Determine where the brains are. C. GO AFTER AS MANY HUMANS AS POSSIBLE! Kill as many brains as you can during the process. D. Be careful! Those brains are going to be firing those cruise missiles at you, and once a fair amount of those get on the screen you're pretty much going to die unless you can find a way to shoot all of them down.
Randy, plumage@hooked.net, wrote with some comments and some Brain Wave strategies: simply, the brains (and this is a bug) all go after mikey first. once he's progged they take off after everyone else. use those couple of seconds of breathing space to locate mikey then expend all your effort killing brains heading towards him and you (they'll just be on the way to mikey). contrary to what is on your site you can grab other guys while defending mikey. keep him alive and eliminate the baddies and you'll have a room full of humans. yum! ps- i think there are some brain levels that are all mikeys. in this case you're screwed and should revert to any means necessary to get mass humans. Author's Note: This guys idea really does work, by the way. Use the fact that they chase after Mikey to your benefit, though you had still better watch out for the evil cruise missiles.
John Thornton, JThorn1934@aol.com, wrote with some nice comments and the following strategies, which I'm gonna have to try: Brain screen - Yes, the Mikey trick on wave 5 does work. Also, the Brain screens are sequential, based on groups of 20 (actually all board combos are based on 20): 5, 25, 45 etc. - Mommy screen (brains go for Mikey.) 10, 30, 50 etc. - Daddy screen (brains go for Daddy) 15, 35, 55 etc. - Mikey screen - the hardest IMHO (Looking for Mikey, again.) 20, 40, 60 etc. - Family screen - (not too sure, but I think its Daddy.) At the start of ALL brain waves (not just wave 5), the brains search for one particular human. When that one is changed to a prog, then the brains are released to kill at hearts content. When the wave starts, all the brains will turn and move towards the one that they have to get first, so if you can zero in on it; keep it alive and unrescued for as long as possible.
Other 20 wave groupings: Tanks in regular screens: waves 27-40, 47-60, 67-80, etc... Tanks and Spheroids exclusively: 24, 44, 64, etc... Tank waves: One trick that was not mentioned in your page is the 20 shot tank limit. If the tanks shoot 20 shots in a row, without you killing a single one (shot, not tank) they will not shoot anymore. Of course, once you fire and hit a tank "bullet" it resets back to 0 shots fired and starts all over again. I think the limit was put in the original to save computing power (too many things on the screen) and it was faithfully transferred to Williams Arcade Classics; which I also bought at Wal-Mart. Don't worry about humanity on these waves, just save your own butt. Another tip: the closer you are to a shooting tank, the slower the shot moves. This sets up an interesting strategy where it is sometimes better to move in the middle to slow the shots, and then break for the outside, shooting in. Fast angle tank shots are the supreme killer on this wave, as you well know. Keep out of the corners!
Spheroids: These suckers aim at you in the beginning of many waves - I've seen a number do 90 degree turns just to run into me. If you destroy a spheroid and ALL the enforcers that it has released, that spheroid will not (usually) reappear if you die. This hint works most of the time and is a good general rule. Quarks, which generate tanks, stay dead. Limits: Due to the 8 bit processor, the machine could only count up to 255. Once it hit 256, it "rolled over" to 0. This causes some interesting and frustrating things to happen: 1. Once you hit wave 256, you started again on wave 1. 2. If you get 255 extra men, and you reach that 256th extra man, the machine will roll over and give you 0 extra men. You still have the man you're playing. I lost two 25,000,000 point (6 hours each) games this way. Both times I was going for the record of, at that time, 100,000,000 points. I was quite pissed. I later rationalized it as giving the machine such a butt-whupping, that it quit. Rolling over your men is as close to beating Robotron as you can get.
TIME PILOT (UNKNOWN:) Stay alive by dodging shots and bombs dropped from above. In later missions, avoid and destroy missiles. Flying toward upper corners seems to give you maximum time to collect parachutists and take out complete squadrons for maximum points.
SINISTAR (DEFINITIVE:) Get down to 0 extra men. Fire a killing shot at the Sinistar and die just before he does. You'll get 255 men. Should help...
SPACE DUEL (ROGER:) When in non-linked mode, it is possible to get a full shield during the bonus round. The way is to run the shield down to nothing (speaker makes no shield sound), then bounce off white walls for > 5 times with the shield button down. Suddenly the shield will be at full strength again. Anyone who has played in this non-linked mode knows the edge that a full shield gives.
SPACE INVADERS (ROGER:) Space Invaders has a hidden message. To see it, wait until the demo starts and then press at the same time the keys left, right, fire, 1player start and 2player start. Press them repeatedly as fast as you can. After a few seconds a message appears under the high score. This trick works in the original Space Invaders machine and Space Invaders Deluxe. (Can anyone verify this? --Roger)
Here's a tip for Space Invaders Deluxe: On any wave, make sure that the last alien you kill is in the bottom two rows, and you'll get a special "fireworks" display and a 500-point bonus. If the bottom leftmost invader is the last killed, the bonus increases to 1,000 points! To achieve higher scores, count the number of shots fired from your base. Begin counting shots as soon as each level begins. Fire 22 shots and then wait for the UFO to cross the screen. Use shot number 23 to hit the UFO and you will receive 300 points. After hitting the UFO, start counting your shots again. This time, count to 14 and use the 15th shot to hit the UFO. Once again you will receive 300 points. Repeat counting using the 14 shot method until the screen is cleared of enemies. When the next level starts, repeat the procedure using 22 shots, 14 shots, 14 shots, etc. Make sure you count every shot, regardless of what it hits. If your base happens to be destroyed, continue counting where you left off. The UFO will not come out if there are less than 8 space invaders left. When the invaders are on the EXTREME lowest row (directly above your base), their fire will not destroy the base. Expert players take advantage of this fact by opening a "window", like so:
w wwwwww wwwwww <-- Invaders wwwwww
^ <-- base The lone invader on the right side leaves a "window" so that the player can safely hunt 300-point ships as described above. As each invader on the right side descends to the bottommost row, the player can duck under the stack and knock off that row with relative impunity. The hardest part is hitting the leftmost invader as it races by at the end!
STAR FORCE (ROGER:) You can determine which direction the end of level boss will move before it even appears by looking at your score. If the hundreds digit is odd, the boss will move to the left. If it is even, it'll move right (the tens and units digits are always zero). At some points in the game you will see two columns of green arrows down the center of the screen. Concentrate on either the left or right column of these arrows, and try to shoot 16 in a row. You will be awarded an 80,000 bonus for doing this. The first time these appear, it is possible to get two such bonuses in a row (if there are not many enemies around!), and sometimes more if the level ends before the column has finished appearing. Later on there is a short column of only 16, so only one bonus is possible here. On the violet continent, if you see a coelacanth fossil on the left side, go to the -right- side and shoot. Cleopatra appears - shoot her and you'll get a million-point bonus. The coelacanth may only appear on the third violet continent. To get a 50,000 point bonus: you've seen a big enemy that combines into parts. When you hear the tune it is about to appear, STOP SHOOTING. (You don't actually have to stop shooting altogether, but if you hit part of the enemy before the center part flashes white the bonus will not work). Position your ship so that you are just underneath the center part of the enemy and wait for it to flash white. Once this has happened, shoot the center part several times: the enemy will be destroyed and you will be awarded the 50,000 point special bonus.
STARGATE An undocumented feature: you need to have killed everything off in the wave except for one lander. There must be at least one humanoid on the ground. Wait for the lander to pick up the humanoid. Shoot the lander and catch the humanoid *just* before it hits the ground. The screen'll flash like mad and you will be awarded 2000, presumably for catching the humanoid and depositing it on the ground in the tiny interval before the wave ends. If you go in to the warp gate and press reverse and warp at the same time you will make the screen mess up. It will look like you are going super fast from left to right, kinda like a cardiograph at high speed. This will kill the game that you are playing.
STAR WARS (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor: Mario Moeller): if on the tie-fighter dogfight stage, Darth Vader's ship is shot more than 30 times the player is given 27 extra shields. [*gasp!* - JTR]. If you're really lucky you'll get 255 extra shields, but this is quite rare. [ Note : this is reported to be near impossible to do ... - JND ] On the Death Star run, use the force to increase scores tremendously. Don't start shooting until the message "USE THE FORCE" disappears. This means dodging everything the Empire throws at you. You get a bonus for doing this. 5000 on the first level, which increases to as high as 100000 on the higher levels. [I'll vouch for that. -JTR]
SUPER BASKETBALL (ROGER:) On bonus shot screens, just shoot like crazy. You can have multiple balls onscreen at once, so don't bother aiming. After about the 4th team, you're better off just avoiding passing altogether as they pick off the balls too often. Move diagonally as much as possible rather than straight forward, and when under the hoop, you don't need to make a full jump to get it in easy - that just makes it easier to be blocked.
TAC/SCAN (KAPTAIN:) Be patient and let enemies go by when you are in a vulnerable position. There is no penalty for enemies not shot. For high scores, concentrate on lining up three and four (rare) enemies for the 10,000 and 20,000 point bonus. This is fairly easy to do in the early rounds. In the early rounds, purposely avoid docking the reserve ships so that they are added to your off-screen inventory. You'll need them in the later rounds! Experiment with different squadron formations. Some are easier than others to avoid enemy fire. Always hit the shimmering enemy ship for extra points.
(ROGER:) The most effective strategy for extending your playing time in Tac-Scan is to add as many extra ships as possible to your reserve (listed in upper-left corner of screen). Ships must be caught by the leading ship position which is further signified by a red colored underline in order to be added to your reserve. To begin capturing ships you must have at least one open position in your fleet; otherwise the game will not award ships (kill off two of your ships on the edges of your fleet at the very beginning of the game to achieve the highest amount of reserve ships during the first wave). Wave one in Tac-Scan should always be played with a minimum of two ships in your fleet, with additional ships added as the levels get faster and harder. The second and third wave can almost always be effectively played with only two ships, and it is very important not to waste reserve ships in these two waves (saving those ships for the more dangerous first wave).
Always keep changing directions on both wave 1 and 2. It is very effective to destroy ships while turning on wave 1, and on wave 2 ships will have a hard time hitting you if you don't stay in the same position for very long. The faster you fire, the shorter your shots will travel. Allowing a short pause between shots will allow them to travel the distance of the screen.
TEMPEST (ROGER:) These are cheats that were apparently left in by somebody at Atari. They were removed in ROM 217 and 222 Software Revision 2. Get a score with the format XXYYZZ: XX must be greater than 16, YY between 29 and 60, and ZZ is a code listed below. Codes for ZZ are as follows: 00 - freeze screen 01 - access bookkeeping totals 05 - play during attract mode 06 - 40 credits 11 - 40 credits 12 - 40 credits 14 - credit sound without actual credit 15 - credit sound without actual credit 16 - 40 credits 17 - 40 credits 18 - 40 credits 41 - switch last 2 digits of score 42 - increase score quickly 46 - demonstration mode - start at any level, up to level 81 50 - player moves by itself 51 - player moves by itself 60 - objects drift down 66 - objects drift right 67 - objects jump 68 - objects drift up 70 - objects drift up After code "05" (play during attract mode) is activated, the following cheats become available: Set the last two digits to 46: Random-colored level with wrong enemies. Set the last two digits to 48: 255 extra lives.
TIME PILOT (KAPTAIN:) 1. Hold the fire button down!! NEVER stop firing. 2. When enemy's are near, head straight for them. -just shoot them head on, you will ALWAYS kill then, if you turn away, they will just smash into you. 3. Don't waste time killing once the Monster ship. No more Parachutes will come out. -Catching the parachutes is where you will score the most points, so don't miss them!!! 4. On level 1 & 2 (bi/mono planes) pick a direction and always head in that general direction. -don't just fly in circles -Fan your bullets out and you will kill most enemies before they even fire! -You will also collect more bonuses this way. 5. On Level 3 & 4 heat seeking missiles make it harder but try to follow the strategy as above! 6. On level five NEVER fly in a straight line for long!! Always be turning back and forth a little. - when a saucer comes on the screen they will fire directly at you.
- Never fly in circles on this screen or you will smash into saucers.
(UNKNOWN:) Stay alive by dodging shots and bombs dropped from above. In later missions, avoid and destroy missiles. Flying toward upper corners seems to give you maximum time to collect parachutists and take out complete squadrons for maximum points.
(ROGER:) Here's one way (although a boring one) to get a great Time Pilot score: 1. Finish the first stage as soon as possible. 2. On the second stage, don't shoot anything!! Eventually, parachutes will start to appear. Collect the parachutes while avoiding the planes. Each parachute (after #4) will give you 5,000 points. It's possible to roll the machine over (999,999+ points) while remaining on level 2 using this strategy.
By the way, while using this cheat you can also shoot the 1500 point bombers without causing the time bar to be shortened.
TIME PILOT '84 (ROGER:) On the first level, head directly to the right. After a couple of screens, you'll see an unusual "V" formation of silver ships that resemble craft in Time Pilot 1, heading up or down. This easy-to-kill formation gives you 8,000 points, a good start to the game. The biplane from the original Time Pilot makes a cameo appearance in TP84. To find it, fly right to the water and harbor area. Then turn vertically up the screen. When the biplane appears (over water), hit it with a missile, and you are rewarded with a free player! This game contains many bonuses, hidden and otherwise. Here is a semi-complete scoring table: Enemy Description Points Green enemy 100 Silver enemy on ground w/missile 200 Silver enemy w/missile 500 Missile carrier 1,000 Bomb carrier 1,000 Formation of 5 (Green enemies) 1000,2000,3000,3000(max)... Formation of 5 (Silver enemies) 5,000 Uncover hidden ground target 5,000 Boss ship at end of level 5,000 Shooting 8 ground targets 8,000
TRACK & FIELD (DEFINITIVE:) (Contributor: Tony Mason. A game-busting guide.) First, the triple-flapping technique. It's the fastest method I've ever seen for pounding the buttons. I would hit each button (left and right) with the middle three fingers on each hand, one hand at a time. The sequence is 4, 3, 2 (2 is the pointing finger), on each button. [Note that this technique also works on any other speed-intensive button pressing game. Try using this on the fire button on Sinistar sometime, for instance. -JTR] Event 1 (100-m dash): Nothing to say, except use the triple-flapping technique. Oh, and the gun going off happened at exactly 3.3 seconds after the 'READY' flag. A tie (in 2P game) gets you 1000 points. At one point my friends and I got loony and made a little machine out of a lego motor and a gear. Results: (1) We got very fast speeds. (2) We got kicked out of the arcade. [A friend of mine claims to have used an electric toothbrush on the button versions, same results. -JTR] Event 2 (Long jump): Note that hitting the line at all gives you a speed boost of 50, hitting it in the exact center gives you a speed boost of 100. My personal best is 9.76. Event 3 (Javelin throw): 42 degrees is the best angle. A secret trick in this event is to throw the javelin upwards at 90 degree angle. You'll hit a bird for 1000 points. [Make sure you qualify! -JTR] Event 4 (110m meter hurdles): You'd be best off getting a friend to hit the jump button for you. A tie gets you 1000 points, just as in the 100m dash. Best time: 9.5 seconds. A cheat in the two-player mode, on older machines: have one person win the race normally. The other player should take his time. After 40 seconds, the clock stops running down. Use a watch to ensure a 100+ second finish time. The + is how many seconds you get credited for :). I got 0.01 seconds once that way... Event 5 (Hammer throw): Perfect throw will have 1500 speed, 45 degree angle. 99.99 meter throw most of the time. [I've found that the best way to get good speed is not to listen, but to watch the bar at the bottom. -JTR]
Event 6 (High jump): Note that hitting the buttons, even after you have jumped, really helps. Be sure to tap the jump button to ease yourself over the top, not hold the button down. I use the background stuff to judge distance; when I get to a certain point I jump. PR: 2.50 meters, though it sure looked like I fouled... If you foul the first two jumps and nail the third, you get a 1000-pt. bonus. (Contributor : Tad Perry) I believe you can also let time roll over in the 100 meters to get awesome records just as with the hurdles. (At least I seem to remember that I did it.)
TRON (ROGER:) General Tips: TANKS: hide behind corners and use them for cover when you shoot. Also, use the transporter in the center as cover. You can shoot clear through the transporter and out the other side and zap the computer. Don't use the transporter except for a desperation tactic. It will more than likely dump you right in the computer's gunsight(s). SPIDERS: Fire in a constant spread and just hose 'em down from side to side. Gradually move in a constant arc up to the entrance. Stay just outside the entrance and hose the spiders above and below until time runs out. Enjoy the music. MCP CONE: Move up so you're just underneath the rotating cone and on the right side. Shoot the blocks nearest to you. This gives you another shot more quickly than shooting blocks farther away. When you get a gap, move up and fire away due left. Above all, don't hang around and get caught : if the going gets tough, move on up and into the cone. Don't forget to twirl the knob as you rise. (You'll see if you do it) LIGHT CYCLES: Use a question mark type shape for the first board. The Computer'll run right into it. For the harder boards, try to trap them either near the center tracks or against the wall. This is, by far, the hardest thing to do. The first few boards are unique, but the events of the game eventually repeat, two with one order and the other two with another. I believe that the Light Cycles and Tanks have order 6, the Grid Bugs and Cones order 5. For the Light Cycles you can develop patterns, for the Tanks you can do the same (the basis for all of my patterns involved immediately going up, to the right, and hiding halfway in and out of the teleporter). The Grid Bugs and Cones also have somewhat looser patterns, and for some of these boards you have to spin the controller *before* the board actually starts in order to have the gun positioned properly to shoot a bug/cone section and move (otherwise it is instant death). If you shoot ALL the bugs, the level ends, and drags you up and through the tower no matter where you are on the board. Here's an odd Tron bug: On the Recognizer Tank levels, make your way to one of the little alcoves in either the top right, or bottom left corners. The tanks cannot shoot, and will not go down an alcove, so therefore cannot kill you. Then, wait approximately 9 to 10 minutes without moving your tank. You can fire, but do not kill all the recognizers. After the time (9-10 mins), the sound system will go berzerk, starting with a very high pitch tone, which falls to a low tone that vibrates the cabinet.
The sound also goes berzerk if you enter the tower at 0099 units on the bug screen. (This is reported to be unreproducible in MAME).
VANGUARD (KAPTAIN:) FIRING SLOWS YOU DOWN. Hold your fire whenever you need a burst of speed to pass Paynes, dodge missiles, or dive for energy pods. MISTS AND HARLEYS. Keep the spaceship moving up and down to avoid missiles, and fire vertically against the enemy's line of flight. RAINBOW ZONES. Before entering a Rainbow zone, advance your spaceship to the middle of the screen. This will prevent you from crashing into the tunnel walls as you enter. To avoid getting zapped from above or below, fire your starboard and port guns alternately. STRIPE ZONE. Go for the energy pod first; then crash into as many high-scoring targets as you can while pod power lasts. When firing, fire on approach. Don't fire at Paynes. You can't destroy them, and firing slows you down. CITY OF MYSTERY. To stay alive in the City of Mystery and earn lots of bonus points, you have to dodge missiles. Wait for the first missile to appear, then quickly move to avoid it. Keep changing your position while firing at Gond. If you're lucky, you'll hit Gond before he hits you.
WARLORDS (RAJEEV GANTELA/ROGER:) The game is basically a souped-up version of PONG with a twist. There are four castles. One in each corner of the screen. Players (Warlords) have little crowns in the center of their castles and the computer players have little black evil looking Black Knights. Surrounding your castle on your two vulnerable sides is your castle's wall. This is about an inch thick and has the standard castle wall look to it with buttresses. Each castle's courtyard is a different colour as is it's wall. Besides your castles walls you have one more item for your defence. Your shield. It's a little shield shaped thing with a yellow + and it's background colour is the same as your courtyard. The only other graphic item (Excluding the Dragon) is the fireball. Your weapon and your nemesis. You use this fireball to blast chunks of wall out of your opponents to create a hole that you can send your enemy to a blazing death. The winner is the one left standing at the end of a round. You control your shield with a rotating control knob. Your shield moves with it from left to right and back. The control knob does, however, only move so far to the left and right before it stops. The control is read on the position of the control and not how far it has traveled. Therefore you can move the knob so fast as to have your shield vanish and pop into your new spot making for some very fast, timed moves. There are 3 modes of play for the Cocktail version of Warlords. One player Game: the one player game involves the player playing against the three computer controlled opponents called Black Knights. In this mode of play you select your castle out of the four available and press your start button. (It will remain lit) A countdown will start (from 9 to 0) waiting for other players to join in. During the countdown a dragon will appear and walk around opening it's mouth and making a fire breathing sound.
When the countdown (with a drum like sound as it ticks) expires the game begins. The dragon will walk to the center of the screen and stop. It will turn it's head a few times and seemingly randomly spit out a fireball at one of the castles. (With the fireball sound) The dragon vanishes as the fireball flies towards one of the castles. If you were quick and or prepared for such an attack you can position your shield to block the shot. The fireball bounces off either your shield or your castle's wall (taking a little bite out of it in the process). You can grab onto the fireball with your shield by being directly under the fireball when it comes at you while holding down the start button. This will cause the fireball to spin very quickly on your shield spitting out little bits of fire as it goes around. If you hold onto this for too long it will start damaging your castle's walls! You can then redirect the fireball's trajectory by moving your control knob and then releasing your start button. This causes the fireball to blast from your shield at a high rate of speed and if it impacts into a castle's wall it takes a HUGE chunk out of it. About 4x the standard chunk. If your opponent manages to block your blast it will careen off their shield at an angle and will continue at it's high rate of destructive speed until it impacts with a wall. (Even yours!) A player or computer controlled Black Knight dies when their wall has been eaten though and a fireball enters the courtyard. There is a blinding flash as the castle explodes (With a great explosion sound. 8^) ) and a second fireball flies from the destruction. There can be up to four fireballs in play at one time. This makes for a wild and hairy game! Besides extra fireballs being released into play on the death of a castle you can also get extra fireballs by being too slow in destruction. If the game feels you are too good, it will bring extra fireballs into the game. They will appear in the center of the screen and slowly drift toward a castle. If you survive the round (you are the one left standing) you go onto the next level, with much smarter computer opponents. (They seem to get exponentially harder on each successive level) You also get a brand new castle with new walls. Scoring is based on the following format: (one & two player games) 125 = Damaging a castle wall (even yours I believe) 1000 = Destroying any Warlord (any Human player) 2500 = Destroying any Black Knight (any Computer player) 5000 x level = Surviving player gains 5000 points x current level
The game is over when the human player has been destroyed. If the player has beaten the current high score the player can enter in their initials with their score. They are listed as the high score for 1 player mode. Two player Game: the two player game is exactly the same as the one player game except: In two player mode two human players select any castle position. The counter ticks down and play begins. Except in this mode it is recommended that the two human players play as a team both taking out the Black Knights. Once the computer controlled players have been destroyed, however, it's a free for all for the end of level points. (See the one player scoring list) The surviving warlords (providing they were not killed during the round by the computer or human players) fight it out for the 5000xlevel + 1000 Warlord bonus. Once there is only one human left, you both start out on the next level (with much harder opponents) with all new castles and walls. The game is over when both human players have died. If the players combined score is greater then the current high score, each player can enter in their initials. Their scores are combined and their initials under each other. They are listed as the high score for 2 player mode.
WIZARD OF WOR (KAPTAIN:) Pick a safe moment and put your Worrior into play as soon as possible. Otherwise, after 20 seconds he'll be ejected into the dungeon which may leave him in a bad position. Learn to use your radar scanner and rely on it to locate invisible Worlings and track their movements. Don't shoot without having a plan to hit something. Otherwise, you may not be able to shoot when you have to.
XEVIOUS (KAPTAIN:) Move your ship back and forth with the controller handle to strafe airborne enemies with the Zapper. Fire the Zapper continuously to destroy foes as soon as they enter the battle screen. Keep your ship away from the sides or bottom of the screen to avoid being trapped by enemy fire. When facing a barrage of opponents, first destroy those shooting at your ship, then destroy the remaining units for extra points. Enemy citadels are hidden underground. Your target sight will glow red when you are directly over a hidden citadel. Score points by raising the citadel with a Blaster hit. Score additional points by destroying it. Flags are also hidden in the ground and waterways. Score points by raising them with Blaster hits. Fly over the raised flags to earn extra ships.
(ROGER:) The first special is in the first cross screen river after three tanks that don't move. It's usually in the lower part of the river on the far left or far right. Its position moves around so you need to bomb the whole river. Hint on second mothership: Just before the escort you are swarmed by ships and 1 anti-aircraft gun, there are 4 missile silos in a small clearing. They are laid out in a diagonal going up from left to right. If you leave them alone you will have an easier time getting to the second mothership. Hit the second mothership as it is coming down!! Don't let it start moving with you!! Xevious includes a hidden name trick. The display can be brought up by bombing at the extreme right of the screen at the very beginning of the game before any enemies have appeared. The exact spot is marked by a slightly larger than normal dark shadow in the trees. Even if you don't know the exact spot you can usually get it out by bombing all over the place over there on the right side. You also score 1000 points for pulling this off. This may require destroying the first two enemies that appear in that area...
ZAXXON (ROGER:) To kill the robot at the end of every second level, fly at 2 1/2 units (in other words, with two blocks of your altimeter filled in and one at halfway). Shoot 6 shots at the robot's missile, and you will kill it quickly. If you miss, either dodge the missile, or keep firing and you can still blow up the missile. However, you get less points for hitting the missile while it's in the air. Flying at an altitude of 1 1/2 will allow you to hit ground targets while making their shots go harmlessly under you. Shoot airplanes on the ground: it will reduce the number you need to kill in the space scene. If you shoot all the airplanes in space you will get a bonus. On the levels in outer space, start up the highest point on the upper left and start shooting immediately. You should be able to hit the satellite right away. If you miss, keep moving to the left and keep firing. This works for the second satellite also.
This is important in later levels because it is possible to run out of fuel in space: if you hit the satellite, you will get some back. There are only two levels that repeat. The first air fortress level never gets much harder: use the same pattern for it. On the other levels, only the gaps become narrower. Always keep firing! This way you can see if you will make it through the gaps, and you can adjust your height as needed. On the outer space levels, you can tell if you're at the same height as the enemy planes by watching the color of their canopies. If the canopy turns white, you're at the same altitude. This makes it much easier to grab the 1,000 point bonus for destroying 20 enemy planes, as well as to avoid their shots. On later levels you will lose fuel quickly. Make sure you hit as many fuel tanks as possible. If you run out of fuel you will lose a ship.
ZOO KEEPER (DEFINITIVE:) An obscure trick in an obscure game. On the coconut boards, when you jump onto the top ledge, you get some points. Jump off the ledge then onto it again; you'll get twice as many points. And again, for four times as many. The bonus keeps doubling until 300K per land. The best board to try this on is the board where the ledges are invisible. It's kind of hard to jump on then off, but so few coconuts are thrown that you have lots of room for error.
ABOUT THIS GUIDE: You may distribute this freely, provided it's not altered. It has been compiled from different sources, first of all from Roger's Classic Arcade Tips & Tricks, Kaptain Koin-Op and the Definitive Arcade Cheat Sheet - kudos to them! Not every piece of info has been included, because some times there are lots of pictures to explain the games, and I have chosen not to bring the pics. I have done a lot of cutting, pasting and editing in order to compress a maximum amount of info in this document, so unnecessary lines, spaces and breaks are gone. And my apologies, if the info some times repeats itself! And my apologies, if the info some times repeats itself! In my investigation I found out that the oldest source of game strategy stored on the Net might be The Definitive Arcade Cheat Sheet.....I have found a version from 1992. But before the Net there were lots of books regarding this topic, check out the sources section! However, with this guide I have tried once and for all to gather most information possible about the games available in M.A.M.E v0.30 in one place, and have added a few extra tips and tricks myself. The sources are: Roger's Classic Arcade Tips & Tricks (credited as ROGER), Kaptain Koin-Op (KAPTAIN), Jeremy Radlow-The Definitive Arcade Cheat Sheet (DEFINITIVE), Keeper's Arcade Emulations (KEEPER), Phanatik, Peer Blumenschein, The Mappy Unofficial Home Page, Gamefaqs, The Galaxian Page, Walton C. Gibson (Have You Played Robotron Today?) , The Gauntlet Hacker Page, and many many more. You also should know that a lot of people have contributed themselves to the mentioned sites, so they deserve credits, too. And in addition, some times multiple sites share the same information, so I have chosen more or less randomly which contributor are mentioned. Please check out the sites and read the tips!
