Dig Dug/Stampede/Pressure Cooker

[AAA177]

I've been playing the Flashback Portable a lot lately and just wanted to briefly comment on three games on it.

 

I have been playing Stampede quite a bit. It's surprisingly addictive at times. I don't know why I didn't engage it more back when it was first out. But I was curious if anyone else has a difficult time with it. I struggle to get past 1000, and usually end up being thrown off at about 700, or the third/fourth Angus. I'm curious if the Angus pattern is constant, and if there is a resource online that sort of has a map of their placement, if you will. It seems to me the Angus placement is somewhat random after the first few. And I have to say, it also seems to me the game unfortunately is at times difficult in an unfair manner, curious if anyone agrees on that. Of course, full disclosure: I love video games, especially the early ones (obviously), but I have never, ever been good at them; my sessions tend to be low-scoring affairs.

 

Pressure Cooker is another game that I never owned when I was younger but have recently discovered, even after owning some Activision Anthology software. It is a great title with a very fun set of rules/premise. Again, curious if anyone agrees with this: the one thing that would have made this better is if you could send back an improperly-captured ingredient by pressing the button. Would that have made it too easy? I assume probably not, but if it did, maybe some other obstacle could have been added...like a rat that sometimes enters the kitchen, or something. But I find the need to press the button to push an ingredient away somewhat needlessly confusing/complex; just seems that was a design-element opportunity.

 

On Dig Dug: fun game, but I wanted to know if anyone else has problems with the controls on this one. On mine -- and this could just be my unit -- the controls are not responsive sometimes, and it seems as if they will activate an adjacent direction (i.e., push right, go down). Really ruins what could have been a relaxing experience. I say relaxing because I think Dig Dug is essentially a game one can play for a long time if one does not go for points.

[lokidchser]

On Stampede, Once you've roped all 3 speeds of cows on a row, an Angus will appear, (or a skull, IIRC) so try to anticipate their appearance to score big

[+save2600]

Your experience playing Dig Dug with a cheap 8-way control pad and not a joystick, sounds typical to me and why I don't like playing Atari on such things. Even though the regular CX40 joystick is 8-way of course, can get much more precise action out of it thanks to its dome contact design. In other words, it can feel and act very much like a 4-way when you want or need it to.

 

Pressure Cooker has always seemed unnecessarily tedious to me, so never got into that one.

 

Need to play more Stampede. Good game, but have never really sat down and paid attention to any patterns, etc.

[Lord Thag]

Stampede, for me, is just alright. I never could get into it.

Pressure Cooker, on the other hand, is brilliant. Nothing else like it on the system. One of my favorite 'unsung heroes' of the 2600 library. It's a mood, certainly, but it's very well done.

Dig Dug is a pretty good port as well, but it's never been my favorite arcade game. But it's an excellent version.

[Jstick]

I find the need to press the button to push an ingredient away somewhat needlessly confusing/complex

 

 

I love Pressure Cooker, it was one my favourites as a kid (along with Frostbite, another game I feel doesn’t get the recognition it deserves).

 

Anyway, the key to bouncing ingredients away is not to press the button to reject an ingredient, but rather to ALWAYS keep the button held down until you are about to catch an ingredient you need. That way you can focus strictly on maneuvering your chef.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Jstick

[G-type]

I love Pressure Cooker, even though I'm not very good at it.

[Video]

Part of digdugs thing is, you can't go left/right and up/down just anywhere. If your not on the predetermined grid, your character will go to the next one before turning to the direction you pressed.

 

Dpads aren't to good on Atari games anyways, and I hear the fb portable one is not that good, so if your guy isn't going to the next grid and turning, it could be controller issues.

 

Been to long since I played stampede but I could swear the steer was a set location and frequency. May have to do with difficulty switch settings, I rarely need with those.

 

Never played pressure cooker so I've no idea.

[GeekDragon]

On stampede, look for the skulls. When you see one, that's when the Angus comes out. I never knew this till recently, and I have been playing this game since it first came out. This, IMO, is one of the best games on the system. I don't have much experience with the other 2, since I have picked them up over the last year or so.

[AAA177]

Thanks for all these replies, I really appreciate it. I am going to apply all the tips. The suggestion of always keeping the button depressed on Pressure Cooker is something I never even considered, it sounds like it might help me.

 

I respect all the opinions. Stampede to me, for some reason, is just so engaging for me right now. I hope to get good at it. I'll try the suggestions on the angus cows.

 

Yes, the pad on the Portable probably is subpar. But I will keep that tip about moving the Dig Dug character in mind.

 

Thanks for all the help...

[Cynicaster]

 

 

I love Pressure Cooker, it was one my favourites as a kid (along with Frostbite, another game I feel doesn’t get the recognition it deserves).

 

 

 

Frostbite and Pressure Cooker are both top 5 games in the entire 2600 library, IMO. I'm always puzzled they don't get more love than they do.

[Lord Thag]

 

Frostbite and Pressure Cooker are both top 5 games in the entire 2600 library, IMO. I'm always puzzled they don't get more love than they do.

They are too hard for most people, and combine that with relative obscurity, and they fall off the radar.

 

Laser Gates and Subterranea are the same way for Imagic.