2600 Porky's opinions and tips

[jpfalcon2003]

Just purchased this game. I haven't had a chance to play it yet. I just got to try the game to see if it worked. I wanted to get some opinions and tips on playing the game from others who own it or have played it.

[Foxsolo2000]

Opinion, crap, nothing to do with the film. Tip, chuck it in the bin

[Loco-san]

Got this cart last week and played it for the first time. It's completely awful and laughable. You thought falling into a pit in ET was a pain in the butt? Wait until you see this game!

[StanJr]

oh, its not so bad.

 

Sure, its mostly crap, but you can play it, unlike some other games.

 

Once you get out of the pit area, it's ok.

 

Don't give up on it immediately, but don't plan on playing it forever.

 

The trickiest part is figuring out the lattice climbing on the difficult setting. It's trial and error as I recall, but I think there are arrows that help you figure it out.

[supercat]

Just purchased this game. I haven't had a chance to play it yet. I just got to try the game to see if it worked. I wanted to get some opinions and tips on playing the game from others who own it or have played it.

 

My advice is to wait a few seconds after powering the machine on. Then you'll get to see the ending explosion and save yourself the trouble of actually playing the game.

 

To be sure, the game does have some technical merit since it fits five different screens (title/ending, road, pit, locker, lattice) all in 4K, but none of the screens are really any fun.

[jpfalcon2003]

Thanks for the tips and advice on the game. For sure I'll try it out, but may not keep it.

[bretthorror]

I can't even get past the Frogger inspired screen.

[JacobZu7zu7]

I love this game, but the scaffolding level can be a pain if you're on anything past Game 1.

 

Controls: To climb the scaffolding, position Pee Wee next to the post and push the joystick up. Only one path will work and it must be approached from the bottom. If you're on the right path, the arrow on the left of the screen will turn green. If you're wrong, the arrow will turn red and you must return to the bottom level and start again.

[Foxsolo2000]

I love this game, but the scaffolding level can be a pain if you're on anything past Game 1.

 

Controls: To climb the scaffolding, position Pee Wee next to the post and push the joystick up. Only one path will work and it must be approached from the bottom. If you're on the right path, the arrow on the left of the screen will turn green. If you're wrong, the arrow will turn red and you must return to the bottom level and start again.

 

 

And there by lays one of the biggest problems with the game. When you are being chased by the damn guard it is nigh on impossible to line yourself up with the ladders to be able to climb them in time. The guard on the other hand has no such problems and more often than not catches you with frustrating ease. The ending is a joke as well for Peewee never blew the place up, it was pulled into the lake by a 4x4

[+Psionic]

I've never played this game, but I got the Porky's 'One Size Fits All Edition' DVD recently and among the extras is an industry sales pitch/promo reel for the VCS game. Has anyone else seen this?

[Rom Hunter]

I haven't.

 

Would love to see it.

 

[sandmountainslim]

I am one of those who likes this game. It is cool.

WP

[Lord Thag]

I'd like to see the ad too. The game is pretty weird, but occasionally fun. It's kind of like an interactive ink blot test.

[+Psionic]

I haven't.

 

Would love to see it.

 

It's just short of 5 minutes in length...most of it shows clips from the upcoming 'Porky's II: The Next Day' film that is being released in theatres, and it talks about how successful the movie and game are going to be (stresses the fact that Fox is spending "millions of dollars" on them).

 

Sample dialogue:

"The Porky's video game features an 8K memory for outstanding graphics and multi-level play, even on the Atari 2600!"

 

I can only assume the announcer is alluding to the ColecoVision version which was programmed and nearly completed but never released. The film is nothing special, but I had no idea it was on the DVD when I bought it and it was cool (and very surprising) to see anything Atari-related on there.

 

[+thegoldenband]

I recently played Porky's for the first time, and was wondering about this:

 

The trickiest part is figuring out the lattice climbing on the difficult setting. It's trial and error as I recall, but I think there are arrows that help you figure it out.

When I was playing this level in emulation, I tried saving a state on the second level of the scaffolding, and then trying every possible way up. None of them worked -- not a green arrow in sight! I had to fall back down and climb back up before any of the paths would work.

 

So, it looks like some sort of "trial and error" might be forcibly built into the game. Has anyone disassembled it? Or perhaps I'm missing something.

 

Also, what's the deal with the opening "Frogger" level that starts out insanely, absurdly, impossibly difficult, but then gets gradually easier? Was that intentional, or a programming glitch, or what?

Edited February 8, 2009 by thegoldenband

[Tempest]

If you're going to play Porky's play the Colecovision or Atari 8-bit version. They look and play a tad bit better than the 2600 version, and you can actually tell what everything is supposed to be.

 

Tempest

[Canadian Paul]

Also, what's the deal with the opening "Frogger" level that starts out insanely, absurdly, impossibly difficult, but then gets gradually easier? Was that intentional, or a programming glitch, or what?

 

It's intentional. Every time you drop an item down the shower drain and successfully escape, it stops the slowest moving band and reduces the speed of all others by one. That's the only point of going through the swamp and shower scenes. If you're a badass at this game and can make it across all the bands on the first go, you don't even have to go to the swamp or shower screens. It's worth a hell of a lot of points too.

[Stan]

I actually like this game and play it at least one every other week. Something just draws me to it... Anyway, here are some tips:

 

1. It's possible to bypass all the obstacles to get to Porky's on the first try but you probably won't. If you do by chance manage it, go to the last step. Getting out of the pit for maximum points requires you to not make any mistakes in landing. Let go around halfway so you fly to the platform and you'll never miss (watch out for Porky on harder settings). It's pretty easy. You just keep going back and forth until the game lets you move up the ladder after you've built enough of it.

 

2. During the second part you just have to make sure your back stays to the girl in the shower as long as possible. Go up the left side, keeping your back to her. Once you push the object to the right, you'll eventually make the lady appear, but you have enough time to push it down through the hole and go back up the other side away from her to get max points.

 

3. The third part is first seen at the start of the game, but it's pretty much impossible to bypass unless you've dropped enough objects in the shower scene. It's basically a Frogger-type run. No real tips here, just pay attention to how things move to make it.

 

4. This is the hardest part. To get to the top of the scaffolding takes practice and is quite difficult and frustrating when you first play it. The arrangement is very confusing. However, once you figure out how to move and where you can actually move up, it's a lot of fun in my opinion. Anyway, on this part you have to first move above Porky because he'll be walking towards you. Once you find a location to move up to the first level, move to the opposite side, keeping him as far away as possible. You can wait for him to come over by staying on the edge of the screen, and then move over to the other side. Keep in mind you need to JUMP across where you see the pillars, otherwise you'll fall down on him. Once you get to the other side, keep using this tactic until you go up one of the spaces and you see a GREEN ARROW blink, signifying you've chosen the correct path (you'll hear a sound too). Then, just keep doing this the whole way up.

 

It's trial and error, and once you get further to the top you have to make sure, if you choose the wrong one, to fall where Porky is not, so use the tactic I described earlier to get him to move out of the way. The positions you climb won't change on the hardest setting unless Porky gets you and you have to go through the other parts again. Otherwise, they'll stay where they are and don't change on the easier setting. If you get to the very top and don't choose the right one, you'll keep climbing, so move slowly down and maneuver yourself onto the lower platform or fall if Porky isn't below you. That's it, beat that part and you get to see a little ending where you blow up the bar.

 

I actually really like the game. Once I got into it, there was just something about playing it. I don't have any excuses for my love, I just continue loving.

[+thegoldenband]

Thanks for the replies! I have to admit that while the play control is at times frustrating, it's not so bad once you get used to it. One nice thing about the game is that it operates on a different sort of paradigm, i.e. not the usual three-lives-and-you're-out business. Similarly, the fact that the opening stage gets progressively easier -- not harder! -- is a clever bit of user-driven feedback, now that I understand that I'm "supposed" to fail initially. My hat's off to anyone who can consistently make it through that opening level without getting hit.

 

Plus better players will have shorter games, rather than longer ones -- also a nice change of pace. (Also something worth emulating, since the usual conundrum when you mix experienced and inexperienced gamers is that the latter end up twiddling their thumbs too much.)

 

I haven't been able to reproduce the thing I mentioned above, in which (using savestates) every path after the first floor would give me a red arrow until I fell down and tried again. It might've been a one-time glitch.

 

What's the max possible final score, by the way? Using savestates to make it through the opening Frogger stage, I was able to get 7402.

 

EDIT: I'd imagine something in this thread will probably answer that last question.

Edited February 8, 2009 by thegoldenband

[cougar302b]

I love this game, but the scaffolding level can be a pain if you're on anything past Game 1.

 

Controls: To climb the scaffolding, position Pee Wee next to the post and push the joystick up. Only one path will work and it must be approached from the bottom. If you're on the right path, the arrow on the left of the screen will turn green. If you're wrong, the arrow will turn red and you must return to the bottom level and start again.

 

 

And there by lays one of the biggest problems with the game. When you are being chased by the damn guard it is nigh on impossible to line yourself up with the ladders to be able to climb them in time. The guard on the other hand has no such problems and more often than not catches you with frustrating ease. The ending is a joke as well for Peewee never blew the place up, it was pulled into the lake by a 4x4

And a boat.

[S1500]

I just find it odd they would make an Atari 2600 game after a teen sex comedy. Then again, they made all those "adult" titles for the 2600 as well, but this game wasn't as billed as so. How can it be a Porky's game where if you press the fire button, your player instantly strips off his clothes(even in public) thinking he's gonna get laid?

[Stan]

I haven't been able to reproduce the thing I mentioned above, in which (using savestates) every path after the first floor would give me a red arrow until I fell down and tried again. It might've been a one-time glitch.

 

What's the max possible final score, by the way? Using savestates to make it through the opening Frogger stage, I was able to get 7402.

 

You can't go up any more if you hit even one red arrow. Once you hit one, you have to start the whole process all over again. So long as you stay on that screen (on harder settings is where this is key), their location won't change. But if you go up one correctly and then another wrong, all the rest will be wrong regardless. You have to choose the correct path from the bottom to make it. So, it's not a glitch actually. Forgot to mention that bit.

 

I think you can get pretty high scores if you keep repeating the locker room, but in a basic game roughly 7K is about as high as you could get just beating it straight through.

[Canadian Paul]

I just find it odd they would make an Atari 2600 game after a teen sex comedy. Then again, they made all those "adult" titles for the 2600 as well, but this game wasn't as billed as so. How can it be a Porky's game where if you press the fire button, your player instantly strips off his clothes(even in public) thinking he's gonna get laid?

 

I've been wondering, did anyone made a big stink about Porky's back when it was released? I've never heard of any complaints about the shower scene, but I could very well be wrong. Granted, it's nowhere near the same premise as any of the Mystique/Playaround games, but video games even in the next generation or two got far more flack for "adult situations" (not that I care personally, but usually nudity/sexuality gets far more negative attention in the U.S. than, say, violence). I was going to suggest that, perhaps like Taboo: The Sixth Sense, they let nudity slide if it wasn't sexualized... but that is really the entire premise of Porky's, even if it's satirical.

 

Maybe even back then, the concept of 2600 nudity was seen as more amusing than anything. So long as you're not raping Native Americans or catching special sauce from buildings, it was just too difficult to get worked up about (I don't even recall if people got worked up about Bachelor Party... it was certainly the tamest of the three Mystiques).

Edited February 9, 2009 by Canadian Paul

[+thegoldenband]

You can't go up any more if you hit even one red arrow. Once you hit one, you have to start the whole process all over again. So long as you stay on that screen (on harder settings is where this is key), their location won't change. But if you go up one correctly and then another wrong, all the rest will be wrong regardless. You have to choose the correct path from the bottom to make it.

I understand what you're saying, though I'm fairly sure that -- just on one this particular occasion -- I set up my savestate after reaching the 2nd floor, but before trying any of the paths to the 3rd floor. I could be wrong, or it could've just been a weird glitch. I'll playtest some more to see if I can reproduce it.

[moycon]

If you're going to play Porky's play the Colecovision

 

I liked the 2600 version of Porkys very much back in the day. I'm trying out the CV version, but I can't figure out how to use the pole to vault over the pond. Can you explain it?