ronnie@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ronnie Schnell) (08/03/83)
Okay, here is a list of tempest bugs and how to make them work. They are fixed in most machines although there are still alot of them that they do work on. I expect to hear details on how to use bugs in other machines over the net: All of these bugs require getting a score over 180,000 and the "46" bug requires a score betwxt 180,000 and 200,000. All these bugs require the last two digits being a certain score. These scores can be gotten fairly easily since all pieces of spike are worth 2 points except the last piece which is worth one. The following is a list of last two digits along with a brief description of what they do: 00 - Game freezes until another quarter is put in or knob is moved 01 - Self test mode (see description) 06 - forty (no clicks) (see description) 09 - Brings credits up or down to 2 10 - forty (no clicks) 11 - forty (clicks) 12 - forty (clicks) 14 - clicks 15 - clicks 17 - forty (no clicks) 18 - forty (no clicks) 41 - Changes your score to hexadecimal 42 - Changes your score to hexideciman and increments it up to ffffffff 46 - "46" bug (demo mode) (see description) 48 - displays all of the possible bonus guys you could have waiting 60 - Goes crazy 67 - Goes crazy 68 - Goes Crazy 69 - Goes Crazy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Self test mode -------------- Puts game into self test mode. It displays the number of seconds the game has been turned on, the number of seconds it has been played, number of one player games, number of two player games, average time for one game, number of turns per game, and the difficulty, Easy, Medium, Medium 2, or Hard. If you press fire at the same time as superzap when this is displaying it will reset all of the high scores (except the first three) and reset the credits as well. People have used this to get rid of evidence after they have played forty games and have to leave with some more games still left in the machine. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Forty ----- This will bring the number of credits you have up to forty if you wait for the beginning of the first demo board. The Clicks/Noclicks modifier describes whether or not the machine will click once for every gredit you get. I assume this is because it is changing the number of game counter in the machine so it is advisable to get the one without clicks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "46" bug -------- If your score is between 180,000 and 200,000 and the last two digits are 46, if you wait until after the second demo board and start a new game it will let you start at any board you want (up to 81 (bonus 898,000)). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -Ron (..decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!ronnie)
newman@utcsrgv.UUCP (Ken Newman) (08/07/83)
Hold on a minute! How is one supposed to get 180,000 points in Tempest? My video game book says that 100K is expert level; if you're that good, what point is there in the free games etc?
ronnie@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ronnie Schnell) (08/08/83)
Your book is pretty bad. 100K is pretty much beginner material. Anyone can start on Level 9 and reach 100,000 before they reach board 13. -Ronnie [..decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!ronnie]
jjm@hou5e.UUCP (08/08/83)
Armed with a pocketful of quarters and the list of TEMPEST game bugs, I strode into an arrcade this weekend expecting to amaze the youngsters by winning 40 free games, which I would graciously leave for them to play... Contrary to previous reports, it is not true that "anyone can reach 100,000". I was unable to score the 188,000 points necessary to use the bug. (So I still don't know if this particular machine has the new roms with the bug fix). Does anyone out there have any advice on strategy for TEMPEST? Are there "patterns" or tactics that help, or is it merely a game of pure reflex and eye/hand coordination? Jim McParland ABI - HO hou5e!jjm
bill@hp-pcd.UUCP (Bill Frolik) (08/09/83)
#R:utcsrgv:-190600:hp-pcd:14600009:000:563 hp-pcd!bill Aug 8 09:45:00 1983 180K isn't that hard. Start at level 9 (the bonus for completing the initial level is largest here), and work up from there. Even if you're not very good at all, Tempest lets you be progressive since it allows you to start a new game at or near the last level you died on, provided you drop in another quarter within something like 30 seconds after your last game (drop in quarter, spin knob to highest starting level each time you restart -- the bonuses themselves for completing that initial level quickly become >100K.) - Bill Frolik hp-pcd!bill