Good goals for some classic arcade games

[s3kt0r]

So, I've been told this is the place to come for opinions on classic arcade games. Basically, I have set myself up for a somewhat odd project, completely for fun. I've decided I want to play through video game history essentially. I am wanting to use the list as presented here

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_considered_the_best

 

Now, I understand one does not drop a list like that into a forum like this and not expect some sort of backlash. I like it though. It passes the sniff test to me, so it's what I'm using. I'm not really posting it to debate over the validity of the list or what games should or should not be on there.

 

Anyway, my goal is to play each of these games in order. I've played Pong and beat the computer, which was very easy. I also just finished up Zork, which I'll own up to some cheating on my part going on. That one was not easy.

 

With those two games, the ending was easy. With modern games and the advent of console games, there is usually a definitive ending. The problem with most arcade games is there is no ending. You just play until you die or the machine freezes up. So, what I am asking here is: What are suggestions for good goals in each of these games? As in, what is a goal I could set for myself that I can feel like I've seen what the game has to offer? Basically, I want something a little challenging, but I don't want to spend months on end trying to get to master ranks on something.

 

For example, I'm doing Space Invaders right now. It seems the aliens drop lower and lower until Level 5. Would beating Level 5 be a good goal there. Challenging, but nothing I have to devote a major chunk of my life to? Anyway, here are a list of the arcade games on that list, that from what I can tell, don't have a defined ending:

 

Asteroids

Missile Command

Pac-Man

Defender

Donkey Kong

Galaga

Joust

Ms. Pac-Man

Robotron: 2084

Gauntlet

Bubble Bobble

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 12/19/2019 at 4:48 PM, s3kt0r said:

Anyway, here are a list of the arcade games on that list, that from what I can tell, don't have a defined ending:

 

Bubble Bobble

 

Correction: Bubble Bobble has multiple endings (bad, good, and true).  See https://bubblebobble.fandom.com/wiki/Bubble_Bobble for more info regarding how to achieve them, but you will need play with a second player in order to get both the good and true endings.

 

Reaching both of those will keep you busy for quite some time.

Edited December 21, 2019 by x=usr(1536)

[Cynicaster]

"challenging, but nothing I have to devote a major chunk of my life to"

 

^^ I totally understand what you're looking for, but with classic arcade games, where you draw the line to meet the above standard is very player-dependent.  As an extreme example, lots of people have played Donkey Kong for decades but can't get anywhere near 200k.  On the other hand, many freakishly skilled players have surfaced since the Donkey Kong hype was reignited ~11-12 years ago following the release of the "King of Kong" film, and some of these players have reached kill screens with only a few weeks of trying.  I don't know how that's humanly possible, but they've done it.  Several of these players weren't even close to born yet when the game originally came out. 

 

Anyway, having spent a great deal of time playing these classic games over the last 10 years, I'll give you what I think are some reasonable goals on some of them.  Of course, some players will look at these numbers and think they're too high, and others will think they're laughably low.  But here goes:

 

Asteroids - 35,000.  If starting from scratch, this seems like a goal that might be achievable with several hours of focused effort. 

 

Missile Command - 40,000.  Stuff really starts to speed up around this score level, so to go much beyond it will require a lot of additional practice.  Hopefully you have a track ball. 

 

Pac-Man - 50,000.  I am hopeless at this game, so lots of players would probably snicker at this goal.   

 

Defender - 35,000.  Get your jedi skills ready, this one's pretty brutal. 

 

Donkey Kong - 100,000.  If you can get to this score, then you've probably learned most of the fundamentals of this game, including how to get past the infamous Level 4+ elevator stages. 

 

Galaga - no opinion, don't play it.  I think my personal best is 120k or so. 

 

Joust - can't stand this game.  No feedback, sorry. 

 

Ms. Pac-Man - I am hopeless at this game, too, so ... 50,000 again maybe? 

 

Robotron: 2084 - 300,000.  Don't even bother if you don't have a good twin-stick setup. 

 

Gauntlet - * fart noise *

 

Bubble Bobble - no idea

   

[s3kt0r]

Thank you Cynicaster! That is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for.

[+x=usr(1536)]

For Bubble Bobble, aim initially for 100K, then push that to 200K when you hit it.  Keep building your score up in steps and you should have a pretty good challenge on your hands.

 

FWIW, I'd recommend reading up on the various secrets, etc. the game has.  If your initial focus is just on score, I wouldn't start worrying about them until you're consistently over the 300K mark, but they are good to know about.

Edited December 23, 2019 by x=usr(1536)

[s3kt0r]

23 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

For Bubble Bobble, aim initially for 100K, then push that to 200K when you hit it.  Keep building your score up in steps and you should have a pretty good challenge on your hands.

 

FWIW, I'd recommend reading up on the various secrets, etc. the game has.  If your initial focus is just on score, I wouldn't start worrying about them until you're consistently over the 300K mark, but they are good to know about.

Actually, I wasn't aware Bubble Bobble had an ending. I think shooting for the bad ending, since I will be playing solo, is a good enough goal. Unless that's like insanely difficult?

 

BTW, any suggestions for Space Invaders? I had mentioned beating level 5, but it does seem like shooting for scores is more in line with the spirit of these classic arcade games.

[Cynicaster]

Score is what all the die-hards care about in classic arcade games.  All games are different but “number of boards cleared” often isn’t a very good indicator of anything.  This is partly because running boards often means avoiding risks.  Risks are usually where the points are, and surviving those risks takes skill.  That’s what makes score a measure of skill.  

[NE146]

Good goal for original Space Invaders is easy.. roll over the score at 10,000 points.  It really doesn't take long at all if you milk 300 point saucers.

[Mr. Brow]

I wondered the same thing when I started playing these games.  I found that the mid-range scores in the MAME high score club (a subforum of this one) usually made for a reasonable challenge without requiring a ridiculous time commitment.  

 

It’s very much dependent on the player though.  Once you start playing, you’ll probably get a better feel for what would be a good personal target.

[negative1]

On 12/19/2019 at 4:48 PM, s3kt0r said:

So, I've been told this is the place to come for opinions on classic arcade games. Basically, I have set myself up for a somewhat odd project, completely for fun. I've decided I want to play through video game history essentially. I am wanting to use the list as presented here

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_considered_the_best

 

Now, I understand one does not drop a list like that into a forum like this and not expect some sort of backlash. I like it though. It passes the sniff test to me, so it's what I'm using. I'm not really posting it to debate over the validity of the list or what games should or should not be on there.

 

Anyway, my goal is to play each of these games in order. I've played Pong and beat the computer, which was very easy. I also just finished up Zork, which I'll own up to some cheating on my part going on. That one was not easy.

 

With those two games, the ending was easy. With modern games and the advent of console games, there is usually a definitive ending. The problem with most arcade games is there is no ending. You just play until you die or the machine freezes up. So, what I am asking here is: What are suggestions for good goals in each of these games? As in, what is a goal I could set for myself that I can feel like I've seen what the game has to offer? Basically, I want something a little challenging, but I don't want to spend months on end trying to get to master ranks on something.

 

For example, I'm doing Space Invaders right now. It seems the aliens drop lower and lower until Level 5. Would beating Level 5 be a good goal there. Challenging, but nothing I have to devote a major chunk of my life to? Anyway, here are a list of the arcade games on that list, that from what I can tell, don't have a defined ending:

 

 

Asteroids

Missile Command

Pac-Man

Defender

Donkey Kong

Galaga

Joust

Ms. Pac-Man

Robotron: 2084

Gauntlet

Bubble Bobble

 

When I started out, I charted my game progress. To me, 100,000 was a good mark at most games.

 

Galaga - 100k, you would have earned the extras at 20k, 70k, and did the bonus stages

Joust - 100k, you would have gotten past a pterodactyl level, and several stages (5 men start default)

Ms Pac Man - 100k, get to the pear/banana stages, and play pretty greedy.

 

learn basic strategies here:

 

Gauntlet : 100k, with one player is pretty hard, maybe 50k is more reasonable (i was never that good at it)

 

Bubble Bobble : 100k or 10 stages, if you don't play super greedy, will take awhile.

 

later

-1

[Asheron]

Just got an arcade machine for Christmas for the kids and Bubble Bobble used to be one of my favorites.  Really looking forward to play that again.  IIRC, if you don't lose a life there are secret diamond rooms on levels 20/30/40 which are good goals to unlock and give you a ton of points.  Also, if you end the levels with a score of xx0, then you can trigger the bonus big dessert on every level, which will help with high scores.  I used to be able to get to between 60 & 65 on one quarter and it was easily my best game.  I can't really speak to benchmarks to strive for on the other games but if I cleared 6 levels on any version of pac-man, I would count that as unusually lucky.

[mr_me]

Games like space invaders, asteroids, missile command, defender just repeat themselves with increasing harder difficulty.  The first wave is meant to be easy, and games were only meant to last a few minutes.  People who master these games and play endlessly or until they crash should be rare.  So if you get through several waves you're doing fine.  As long as you find these games fun there's no reason to stop playing them.

 

When you see smart bombs in missile command the game is saying you're doing good.  With robotron you should try to get to the brain and tank enemies.  With donkey kong you should get through all four boards; that's level three with the US version.   Don't waste your time learning patterns for pacman; that's no fun.  It's why people prefer ms pacman.

 

Make sure you are playing the arcade original and not a home conversion, and that goes for Punch-Out as well.  Curious what version of pong you played, I think the Atari 2600 version is one of the only ones at that time that had computer ai.  Breakout was meant to be a one player version of pong, of course you need a proper paddle control but a computer mouse will do.

Edited December 26, 2019 by mr_me

[negative1]

22 hours ago, Asheron said:

Just got an arcade machine for Christmas for the kids and Bubble Bobble used to be one of my favorites.  Really looking forward to play that again.  IIRC, if you don't lose a life there are secret diamond rooms on levels 20/30/40 which are good goals to unlock and give you a ton of points.  Also, if you end the levels with a score of xx0, then you can trigger the bonus big dessert on every level, which will help with high scores.  I used to be able to get to between 60 & 65 on one quarter and it was easily my best game.  I can't really speak to benchmarks to strive for on the other games but if I cleared 6 levels on any version of pac-man, I would count that as unusually lucky.

Bubble bobble gets ridiculously hard without continues (and with continues) after 20.

I've gotten stuck in the 40's, and have never gotten past that. and this is decades later still playing it.

 

later

-1

[s3kt0r]

17 hours ago, mr_me said:

Curious what version of pong you played, I think the Atari 2600 version is one of the only ones at that time that had computer ai.

I'm trying to find as original and official sources I can find without going crazy. For Pong, I played the version in the Atari Vault set on Steam. It was in the arcade section as opposed to the Atari 2600 section so I assumed it was the original arcade code. ?‍♂️

[Keatah]

There is no program code for Pong.

 

[mr_me]

Arcade pong didn't have computer AI; it didn't have a computer.  It was a two player game.  If atari vault has a pong ttl simulator they could program a computer player layer on top of it to control player input.  Does it have difficulty settings?

[s3kt0r]

4 hours ago, mr_me said:

Arcade pong didn't have computer AI; it didn't have a computer.  It was a two player game.  If atari vault has a pong ttl simulator they could program a computer player layer on top of it to control player input.  Does it have difficulty settings?

No, no difficulty level. It just had a 1 player or 2 player option and the computer controlled the second paddle in the 1 player option. I assume they just built a simple AI layer on top, in the same way they built the games to have online multiplayer options. It's a pretty dumb AI though. It didn't take long to win a match against.

[+Cafeman]

For Dig Dug, other than the goal of seeing the Pineapple, try to squash 3 enemies, and then try 4 enemies, under the same rock.  I can squish 3 at a time regularly.  I can achieve 4 enemies squished usually at least once per game.   I squished 5 enemies one time only;  but it was a lucky drop, not planned. 

 

I have NEVER reached the Pac-Man Key stage,  in the coin-op original.   I just bought Pac-Man and other Namco games on PS4 during the December sale online ... Pac-Man is more challenging than I remembered!  

[negative1]

5 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

For Dig Dug, other than the goal of seeing the Pineapple, try to squash 3 enemies, and then try 4 enemies, under the same rock.  I can squish 3 at a time regularly.  I can achieve 4 enemies squished usually at least once per game.   I squished 5 enemies one time only;  but it was a lucky drop, not planned. 

 

I have NEVER reached the Pac-Man Key stage,  in the coin-op original.   I just bought Pac-Man and other Namco games on PS4 during the December sale online ... Pac-Man is more challenging than I remembered!  

check out my easy dig dug max out patterns here : 

also a better one here:

 

 

 

later

-1