Atari game difficulty settings A or B

[Ite]

Hey guys sorry if this has been asked before but is the A setting normally the easier setting? I figured it was but remember some settings had to be on B. Anyone have a list of difficulty settings for each game? Thanks guys.

[Ite]

Wait is B the most normal Easy setting instead of A?

[disjaukifa]

Yes I think "B" was called easy and "A" was called normal. I've also heard it referred to as novice and pro as well.

Edited October 4, 2011 by disjaukifa

[+SpiceWare]

I remember it as

(A)dvance

(B)eginner

 

You can check the settings using the AA database for the game manuals.

[Rex Dart]

Yup, I've seen it as Beginner and Advanced also.

[krslam]

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

[disjaukifa]

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

 

I did not know that . . . good to know! Learn something new every day!

[Torr]

They also turn off the Phoenix music, controls Vanguardss firing setup and bring up the map screen in Starmaster.

They don't ALWAYS affect difficulty.

 

For a lot of games the A Position makes them closer to the arcade originals, granted it DOES increase the difficulty, but...

No UFOs or Satellites in Asteroids? Where's the fun in that?

No red balls in Q*Bert? bad enough they left out the gremlin who hopped all Escher-esque, but why would you WANT to leave out another enemy???

Edited October 5, 2011 by Torr

[SlowCoder]

I remember it as

(A)dvance

(B)eginner

... is what I remember also.

 

They really aren't "difficulty" switches at all. No more than the BW/Color, select and reset switches are. They are simply toggles to flip registers in your game software, to be used as the programmer wishes. A mere extension to the joystick controller. But, they are labeled as they are for the most commonly used functions.

[Syntaxerror999]

They also turn off the Phoenix music, controls Vanguardss firing setup and bring up the map screen in Starmaster.

They don't ALWAYS affect difficulty.

 

For a lot of games the A Position makes them closer to the arcade originals, granted it DOES increase the difficulty, but...

No UFOs or Satellites in Asteroids? Where's the fun in that?

No red balls in Q*Bert? bad enough they left out the gremlin who hopped all Escher-esque, but why would you WANT to leave out another enemy???

 

Dont forget shuttle controls in Space shuttle and menu changing in ridle of the sphinx

[JQW]

You could only play Backgammon properly if both switches were in the A position. When set to B, one switch let you dial-in numbers on the dice, whilst the other let you position pieces to where-ever you wanted.

[Torr]

And it's for these reasons I dont get why they moved the switches to the back and made them tiny. [sarcasm] Good thing they left the Color/B&W switch easily accessible on every model, I remember that was the first switch I ever wore out it got so much use [/sarcasm]

[SlowCoder]

And it's for these reasons I dont get why they moved the switches to the back and made them tiny. [sarcasm] Good thing they left the Color/B&W switch easily accessible on every model, I remember that was the first switch I ever wore out it got so much use [/sarcasm]

I appreciate that sarcasm. They probably thought (and would have been correct, though it doesn't matter) that it would have made the machine look lopsided with 5 switches.

[NE146]

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

 

I did not know that . . . good to know! Learn something new every day!

 

It also controls the music in Pengo, In Phoenix it toggles the bird sound effects.

[player 0ne]

in othello the difficulty switches allow you to pre-place playing pieces. can only play game is both switches are in proper position.

[Atari Hacker]

In Space Invaders, the difficulty switches change the size of your ship!

 

A makes your ship really big and B makes it small

 

I don't even see the point in the switches, most later games use the game select option to makes it easier and harder

(Try play game 12 in Berzerk and you'll see what I mean)

[SoundGammon]

The Sears version of the 2600 has EXPERT(A) or NOVICE(B)!

[+SpiceWare]

I don't even see the point in the switches, most later games use the game select option to makes it easier and harder

Seems like most of the later games, like Berzerk, were 1 player games. In 2 player games the Difficulty Switch allows one player to be handicapped (such as having the larger, easier to hit ship, in Space Invaders) so that Dad could play Jr. and have the game be somewhat more even.