Tron Arcade - Question about "The Bit"

REDEYE

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So, what is the trick to make the "bit" appear on the spider level?

I had heard that if you entered with under 15 seconds left on the clock the first few levels in a row that it would appear. Well, that's not true.
 
It is totally random. Both the current and former WR holders on the game have said as much.
 
I haven't been able to find a trick to get it to appear either. A friend of mine and I have had this discussion for a while now. No luck getting an answer.

Has anyone looked at the code for an answer? That's something that's beyond my abilities.

I have a hard time believing it's totally random.
 
I agree I believe it to be random, but I haven't tried to follow my patterns, etc. when I've seen it 30 times in a game, vs 10 times in a game.
 
I haven't been able to find a trick to get it to appear either. A friend of mine and I have had this discussion for a while now. No luck getting an answer.

Has anyone looked at the code for an answer? That's something that's beyond my abilities.

I have a hard time believing it's totally random.

Don Hodges could probably do it if he's got the bandwidth to. I asked him awhile back to look into the Crazy Climber code as there are so many seemingly random events in that game that are begging to be looked into but he was too tied up at the time.
 
I haven't been able to find a trick to get it to appear either. A friend of mine and I have had this discussion for a while now. No luck getting an answer.

Has anyone looked at the code for an answer? That's something that's beyond my abilities.

I have a hard time believing it's totally random.

Yep, still wondering. My theory is that if you finish the first tank level by shooting only 3 times, you get mo' bits. I haven't played it enuff to test that out.
 
I agree that it sure seems random, and all indication is that it is random, but I wish I could disassemble the code to find out for sure.

My scores usually range in the 70k-80k range, once in a while higher and once in a while lower, so as you can see, if I can influence the bit showing up I would make a good difference in my scores.

I think I just need to practice and get over the 5th MCP on a regular basis. I'm getting close to being there and from what I hear, that's the break point to massively higher scores.
 
I agree that it sure seems random, and all indication is that it is random, but I wish I could disassemble the code to find out for sure.

My scores usually range in the 70k-80k range, once in a while higher and once in a while lower, so as you can see, if I can influence the bit showing up I would make a good difference in my scores.

I think I just need to practice and get over the 5th MCP on a regular basis. I'm getting close to being there and from what I hear, that's the break point to massively higher scores.

massively higher scores come from domination of the mcp cone, and grid bugs. Patterns generally take care of the tanks and the light cycles-though the game throws a twist at you every 5 levels starting with assembly, so you have to count them as well.

I've scored over 2 million and like I said before I have had around 30 bits in a game, and only 10 with similar scores.

It is worth noting, that the game does not get easier, nor do scores sky rocket.
 
From what I've read it doesn't get easier, but the difficulty levels out after the 5th level. I'm not there yet so all I can speak of is what I have read.

If you know different I'm all ears, I want to learn.
 
From what I've read it doesn't get easier, but the difficulty levels out after the 5th level. I'm not there yet so all I can speak of is what I have read.

If you know different I'm all ears, I want to learn.

by 5th level I think you are saying the 5th screen of the 4 games? I would disagree with that as being the peak of difficulty. Somewhere up there the tanks do get some extra quickness every few levels and really haul ass. Once you hit about 200,000 (or so, just a guess) you have seen just about everything the game is going to throw at you. Though from what I understand, once you get in the 3 million range,(or so, again I don't know this for sure since I've never attempted to get that high) you play the same screen over and over and over.
 
You are correct about me saying the 5th level, PL1.

I'm glad to hear it doesn't level out so soon. More challenges ahead for me.
 
Don Hodges confirmed this was a rumor a few years ago (I asked him to look into it):

· Grid Bug stage: "Sometimes a Solar Sailor will appear at the start, sailing across the top of the screen. It will drop a "bit", which is worth 5,000 bonus points if you can grab it! There's a 50% chance of it appearing, but only on certain levels, and some levels can never deploy a bit prize. The check whether or not to deploy the bit prize has 3 steps. First, it checks what I call the difficulty. This is dependent on the game level and on the actual difficulty setting which is set in the service mode. If this value is less than 9, a bit will never be deployed. Next, it checks a value from a table based on which pattern of grid bugs is being played. There are 9 patterns. Of the 9, only 3 have a value which will allow for the bit prize to appear. If the pattern is not correct, a bit will never be deployed. Finally, the game generates a random number and looks at one of the bits. If it is clear (50% chance), it does not deploy the bit prize. If it is set (50% chance), a bit prize is deployed. The random number is generated from the Z80 R register, which is an excellent way to generate an extremely random number. It's the same register that is used for random fruit prizes in Ms. Pac-Man past the banana level. The test for the bit prize is called every time the grid bugs screen is started. So, if a player dies on the grid bug screen, this test is called again and could deploy a bit, or not, depending on the factors listed above."
 
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