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!
