One Thing About Atari I Really Don't Like

FrizzleFried

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Mar 20, 2007
Messages
54,193
Reaction score
5,245
Location
NAMPA, Idaho
There is one thing I really don't like about many classic Atari titles... great games such as Tempest, Black Widow, Empire Strikes Back and others are affected by this piss-poor design choice...

What is it you may ask?

The ability to start games at a higher level for a "BONUS" score. And to make matters worse... the ability to start games at ever higher levels as you play and continue to pump quarters in.

I wouldn't have such a beef with it if it weren't for the fact that the high score board displays these advanced-rack games as if they were played from the early levels.

Back Widow is a great example. You can start at level 13 for a 75K bonus from the get-go... lets say you get to 300K... and lose all your lives... you can then start at a much higher level with a 275K bonus and get up to say 400K... you can then start at an even higher level with a 390K bonus, etc... etc... etc..

BW only saves 3 high scores... so the 3 high scores end up being games that were continued over and over... BAH!!

What really blows is that there is no way to turn this "feature" off. You can only limit what levels are available from the get-go.

BOO Atari... BOO!
 
Oh well. That is why high score contests have start and buy-in restrictions. If anything it was a smart choice by Atari. These things were made to make money and advanced buy-ins probably helped suck down more quarters.

Then again the extent of my experience with this is Millipede where the feature didn't affect your game much. If I buy in at 0 pts I generally get to about 100k. If I buy in at 75k the damn thing starts so difficult I still only get to around 100k or so. So to call it a 'crutch' is an exaggeration, at least for that game.
 
It sure would be nice if some of the PCB guys here could build a little add-on kit/chip to disable this "feature"...
 
I agree with you on BW. You get crazy high scores but just starting at the highest possible level and just surviving for one round.

But I actually love it on Millipede because the early levels are so slow it drives me crazy to have to play through them. Same with Star Wars. I never start on the early levels because they are BORING.

But I like the SW hybrid model best where they give you a few levels to choose from but don't let you just go crazy like BW does.
 
I don't so much have a problem with starting at a higher level as I do it rewarding you and allowing you to start at an even higher level afterward. If the max you could start out at was, say 13, regardless... it would work great.
 
You can turn it off on Food Fight. Is this not the case with all of them?
 
I like it. You get to start at the more challenging levels without having to slog through the easy ones. I bet operators loved it. It made good players start at later levels because they wanted the score bonus, so they weren't on the machine as long.
 
Oh well. That is why high score contests have start and buy-in restrictions. If anything it was a smart choice by Atari. These things were made to make money and advanced buy-ins probably helped suck down more quarters.

Then again the extent of my experience with this is Millipede where the feature didn't affect your game much. If I buy in at 0 pts I generally get to about 100k. If I buy in at 75k the damn thing starts so difficult I still only get to around 100k or so. So to call it a 'crutch' is an exaggeration, at least for that game.

Totally agree. And luckily for me, the very few of my friends that do play my games aren't good enough for me to worry about this. As for me it depends on my mood. Most of the time I will start at 0, but once in a while I will take the bonuses to start farther.
 
Last edited:
You can turn it off on Food Fight. Is this not the case with all of them?
I was going to ask this same question. I told the buyer of my cocktail over and over and OVER to NEVER turn those features (continues, advanced level start) back on, as they destroyed the replay value for me. I am minimally okay with continues on games that end that they made mega-impossible to pass on one quarter to maximize profits.
 
You can turn it off on Food Fight. Is this not the case with all of them?

Actually you can in Millipede too. I can't remember about Tempest.

EDIT: Tempest you can only control if it can start past levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 depending on the last score.
 
Last edited:
Totally agree. And luckily for me, the very few of my friends that do play my games aren't good enough for me to worry about this. As for me it depends on my mood. Most of the time I will start at 0, but once in a while I will take the bonuses to start farther.

Same here. I've found if you're not skilled enough to get past 100k or so from 0, chances are you won't get any higher of a score with a buy-in.

Millipede is a very well balanced example though. Pretty sure that on Star Wars I usually do better starting from easy. It's been a while so I forget.
 
I like it on Tempest and Millipede. There isn't much point in playing the easy levels. I think the bonus is roughly equal to what you would get if you played through the early levels, so for the most part, someone has to be better to get a higher score by skipping. On Tempest, you have to keep clearing boards to keep going, if you don't pass the next board, you don't get to keep continuing.
 
Actually you can in Millipede too. I can't remember about Tempest.

EDIT: Tempest you can only control if it can start past levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 depending on the last score.

For myself, I added the modified ROM hack that lets me start at any level I chose on my Tempest because the easier levels are just too easy for me and I don't have the time anymore to slog through them to get to what are for me the challenging levels. Otherwise, it would take me 20-30 minutes to get to the fun stuff (as in the black and green levels :) ).

Otherwise, you cannot turn this feature off for Tempest.

I do see the other side of the coin on this issue, though...I make it a rule with myself for games like Black Widow or Millipede to start only on level 1 since I'm not as good at those games and the earlier levels are still fun for me.

Jon
 
In a perfect world only games that are started at level 1 would be saved in the HS list... too bad we live in an imperfect world, eh?
 
From a high score standpoint it creates a small bit of imbalance, but overall it makes the game more fun and more accessible to all kinds of players. The people who are just coming into the arcade can come in and start right at 0 and get a feel for the game, the advanced players can still have fun and move straight up to the harder levels, with a risk of losing your money a bit faster/easier.

It kind of makes sure the games don't get that Gradius effect of "I just trudged through five levels only to die and start at the beginning all over again?". Gives some more replay value.
 
Oh well. That is why high score contests have start and buy-in restrictions. If anything it was a smart choice by Atari. These things were made to make money and advanced buy-ins probably helped suck down more quarters.

Then again the extent of my experience with this is Millipede where the feature didn't affect your game much. If I buy in at 0 pts I generally get to about 100k. If I buy in at 75k the damn thing starts so difficult I still only get to around 100k or so. So to call it a 'crutch' is an exaggeration, at least for that game.

Exactly this. Myself, I would not have gotten as high as I have on Liberator or Tempest without this feature. Especially on Tempest where each time you play, you can go from plateau to plateau, if I can make it to the next "start at level", that becomes the floor going forward. On Tempest, at one point, I thought I would rack up more extra men starting from scratch, but stupid mistakes always did me in.

Bottom line is that I am not that good....


ArcadeMaze!
 
I don't so much have a problem with starting at a higher level as I do it rewarding you and allowing you to start at an even higher level afterward. If the max you could start out at was, say 13, regardless... it would work great.



Since you are like me , and most others , you want to go from start to where you can get to

Just start a game and play to you die , no need to take any options is there ?

I wouldnt start at any other round except 1 , i cannot see the point with starting on say level 35 , as you said , so just ignore all of this , is that possible ?
Like Gunsmoke , i cannot see the point of hitting continue , as it is cheating , even if you do see all the higher stages , that is why i love these old games , you only get big scores based on great skills , not screen options .
 
Back
Top Bottom