peterson@vaxwrk.DEC (Bob Peterson) (02/07/85)
Has anyone seen this delightfully computer-animated game yet? It's a coin-op,
from Atari I think.
It looks like the next black-hole for my quarter for a while. I just wanted to
know if anyone's gotten past the green acid blobs on the third set of ramps.
2 cent review:
If you haven't seen the game, look for it! You (and another live player if
desired) push a marble around a 3-D ramp structure via track ball, no buttons
folks. The push on the ball pushes the marble. Stay on the ramps and flat
areas, which can be hard given the sharp turns and occasional hazards. Drop
from too high and the marble breaks into bits, which are swept away by a whisk
broom that appears from thin air. Occasionally you get extra time to finish
the marble run: a fairy wand appears and taps the marble to grant you time!
As mentioned, the game supports competition between two players. What makes
this unusual is it's a race and no direct (if you're nice guys) attacks. If
you're not nice guys I suppose you can bumb the other guy off the edge of a
cliff...
The 25 cent review can be had at the nearest arcade featuring this game.
-bob peterson, Digital Equipment Corporation
Usenet {allegra,decvax,Shasta}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxwrk!peterson
ARPA peterson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA, or
@decwrl.ARPA:peterson@vaxwrk.DECee163ahj@sdcc13.UUCP (PAUL VAN DE GRAAF) (02/11/85)
[] Wow, you have to be quick on the draw these days! I was just about to write an article about this wild new game, but was beaten to the punch. I spent several hours playing this game yesterday, and I must say it is outstand- ing. The subtle shading of the graphics makes it the best "3D" game I've seen to date. The graphics are similar to _Crystal Towers_, but the designers must have spent lots of time fine-tuning the shading to make it look more realistic. Unlike _Crystal Towers_, the screen in this game fine-scrolls to follow the action of the game down the "hill" to the finish-line of each race. [The name might be _Crystal Palaces_ or some such, I never liked the game.] The game is also a treat to the ears as well. Each race has an original piece of music to accompany it. I love the way the themes fit the mood of each track. The easy race has a theme that suggests fluid motion, while the intermediate race has a theme full of dischord and turmoil, reflecting what's happening on the screen. I hope more games follow this example; I'm tired of the trite "fanfare" music of the old games. Instead of using a couple square-wave generators programmed by some software hack, this game uses what sounds like stereo digital synthesis similar to the EMU synthesizer programmed by * real * musician. Could this be the sounds of the rumored 16 voice chip that Tramial is supposed to be putting in his new computers? I know this game is made by Atari Games, which is still owned by Warner, but who knows how much technology was transferred to Tramial in his leveraged buy-out? ------------------------What's beyond the acid blobs?------------------------- Most of this is from watching the resident expert, some is my own experience: Some sort of waves that appear in a green surface, the shading on these is done very well. I can't really do justice to them in words. To get past these, you have to wait for a wave to move past you, and then make a break for it in front of the wave making sure you stay ahead of the wave so it doesn't knock you over the side. A tricky turn where you have stop in the middle of a hill, is the only other thing between the waves and the goal for this track. Next comes the Aerial Race: In this race, you fly through the air and have to stop without falling off the edge. You then pass some vaccumn cleaner thingies that try to suck you off the track. If you keep your distance from these, you'll be O.K. A couple of tricky turns after these puts you at a catapult that throws your marble across the screen right next to one of those bothersome black balls. Now I know what it means to be black-balled :-). If you can avoid your dark companion, you continue past some posts that pop up out of the floor at random. These can hurl you to your demise if you're on top of one when it pops up, or just block you. A jump over a ramp puts you at what I think is the hardest part of the game. You are on a narrow ledge and these sort of fingers come out of the floor and try to push you off. It takes very good timing to get past these. There seems to be some pattern to the order in which they appear, but it's very tricky. I haven't gotten past them yet. Once you get past them, though, it's smooth rolling to the finish. The next track is called something like the Crazy Race: In this one, everything is the opposite of what is was before: it's hard to roll downhill, but easy to roll uphill; you can kill the black balls, slinkies, and acid blobs; you race uphill instead of downhill, and the tubes work in reverse. The only new hazard are birds that can fly into you near the end of this one. It looks pretty easy; I wish I could give this level a try. The last track I've seen is called the Ulimate Race: This race looks almost impossible. In it you have many different types of surfaces that you have to negotiate. First blue ice, which make you lose all control. It just turns your trac-ball off. Yellow floors make it difficult to control by making all your moves exaggerated. Wavy floors make your marble jump up and down as if there is an earthquake. When you get to the end, the path to the finish dematerializes in sections. It takes extremely careful timing to negotiate this path without having the floor drop out from under you several times. The path is made up of all kinds of different surfaces making the task even more difficult. The resident expert at my arcade has been inches away from the finish for this track many times, but he always runs out of time before he finishes. I'm sure the next track is even wilder. Some hints on play: Play this game with a partner. The winner of a each race gets 5 bonus seconds. These really add up if you play with a guy who never wins. On the minus side, the game subtracts 5 seconds from the player who gets a full screen behind his partner and places his marble near the end of the screen. This can really hurt a bad player's game, making it a lot shorter than if he ran it alone. If you really want to be fair, play the game as a two-player game, but only control one player. This way you'll always win, and you won't have to screw-up a partner's game. Another problem is that players who are very close in playing ability tend to get in each others way, sometimes knocking them both off the brink. Cooperation is needed to keep the game civil. Make sure you don't get in each other's way by deciding which part of the course each player is going to take. Waiting up for a player who is just about to lose 5 seconds is considered courteous. Don't turn the game into a brawl just because of an accidental clash. I've seen a lot of people mess up a perfectly good game, because they wanted "revenge". I'm glad to see the group is waking up again, I guess video is not dead yet! Paul van de Graaf sdcsvax!sdcc13!ee163ahj U. C. San Diego
wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll W William) (02/11/85)
> Has anyone seen this delightfully computer-animated game yet? It's a coin-op, > from Atari I think. > > It looks like the next black-hole for my quarter for a while. I just wanted to > know if anyone's gotten past the green acid blobs on the third set of ramps. > I am glad somebody else has see this great game! I spent about $2 before getting dragged away. The music is really neat too - different for every screen; style is "new music" synthesizer type stuff. I got past the green acid blobs -- you wait at the top of that first little hill until they "part" for you, then zip across to the next little hill. Sometimes (not always, i don't know why) a magic wand appears and taps you, giving you about ten extra seconds at that point. I couldn't figure out how to go on the 4th level -- there seemed to be no path for my marble. Somebody knows, though -- there were some scores over 80000 on the machine i saw in Ledgewood. Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws
zarth@drutx.UUCP (CovartDL) (02/11/85)
I have played alot of MARBLE MADNESS lately. I have made it all the way though and my best score is 103,000+. If you want to get past the green slime on the third maze the best thing to do is go around the left side. If you die that on that side(far enough up) you come back past them all. Most of the time you can make it through that way though. Zarth Arn
cmoore@amdimage.UUCP (chris moore) (02/11/85)
> Has anyone seen this delightfully computer-animated game yet? It's a coin-op, > from Atari I think. > > It looks like the next black-hole for my quarter for a while. I just wanted to > know if anyone's gotten past the green acid blobs on the third set of ramps. > I just discovered this one at a local arcade about three days ago. My friend and I poured $5.00 into it before we finally came up for air. This really is a fantastic game. I made it past the acid blobs several times, but I always come just short of finishing the course when my time runs out. I usually have the 'Goal' in sight, but just can't quite make it. -- "My system is so slow we don't use 'who' anymore - it's faster to walk around the building and count the users." Chris Moore (408) 749-4692 UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!amdimage!cmoore
rls@ihuxf.UUCP (Richard Schieve) (02/11/85)
> Has anyone seen this delightfully computer-animated game yet? It's a coin-op, > from Atari I think. Yes, I believe marble madness is from Atari. It is supposed to be one of the new games that can be easily updated or converted with out major modifications. As I have purchased some used games from Bally Midwest in Chicago, I am on their mailing list. I don't think their mailing list programs know how to tell a home customer from an arcade owner. About two weeks ago they sent an invitation to see Marble Madness converted to another game while everyone watched, so it must be fairly easy to do. Their showroom is the only place I have played but I agree, it is fun to play and easy to learn. Maybe, this kind of game can save the sinking arcade business. Bally is cutting back and laying off every time I go there. How depressing. Rick Schieve ...ihnp4!ihuxf!rls
cmoore@amdimage.UUCP (chris moore) (02/15/85)
A follow up to my last posting: After stuffing another $7.00
into Marble Madness, I finally finished the Intermediate
race and almost finished the aerial race. I got past the
vaccuum cleaners, the catapult, and the rods but keep getting
knocked off the track by the ..... well, the things that
knock you off the track! Now that I've read what lies
ahead, I can't wait to get back and have at it again.
Unfortunately, the arcade I usually play at has a partially
dead machine - only one track ball works, so it can only
be played single player.
--
"My system is so slow we don't use 'who' anymore - it's faster to
walk around the building and count the users."
Chris Moore (408) 749-4692
UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!amdimage!cmoorekrn849@uiucuxa.UUCP (02/22/85)
I think it is better to play single player anyway. Playing doubles gives you an extra 5 seconds if you win, but I find myself in the same spot as the other player too often. I have gotten to the part on the ultimate wave where parts of the path to the goal appear and disappear. It is frustrating because I never have enough time to have a chance at completing this wave. Even arriving at the ultimate wave with 70 seconds is not enough! Does anyone know of a way to get thru the black ball and/or the slimes quickly on this wave?
aol2901@acf4.UUCP (adam lee) (02/27/85)
does anyone know what atari is up to: