The Arcade Game Tip Thread

Cafe Society
1

Yeah, this one will probably drop like the proverbial stone, but wtf.

Here is the one-stop thread for tips for all your favorite new and old-time arcade machines. Being a man in my, a-hem, thirties, my tips will tend to be about machines that are better found on MAM…, uh, some unnamed emulator somewhere. :o

Robotron: 2084: Can be found in the totally awesome Williams Arcade Classics collection, which I found in a Wal Mart in Auburn AL about 5 years ago. I absolutely ruled this game as a kid, and I still play it today. :love: But, it is much harder playing it on the keyboard, so I’m not getting anywhere near the high scores that I’m used to… which is good, 'cause I don’t have hours and hours to play a single game.

General strategy for every wave should start with the following: Go after the Spheroids! These things are the most dangerous creatures in the game - not only do they spit out those Enforcers, but they take great pleasure in purposely ramming your ass at the start of a level.

But… be sure to leave 1 enforcer alive at the end of the wave, if possible, so you can rack up on the people. Nice thing about enforcers is that they are easy to avoid and the closer you get to them, the slower their shots move (same thing goes for tanks).

The “Brain” waves, which occur every 5 waves (5, 10, 15…) can be had for major points because of all the people. One glitch (I think) in the game has all the Brains focus in on one specific human at the start of the level - if you can keep that human alive, the brains will NOT go after any others. But as soon as the human is killed or rescued, that frees the brains to go after all the others. In the “Mommy” waves, the human the brains go after first is the only Mikey in the wave - keep him alive and you’ll do OK.

“Tank” waves: Most people play with the following strategy: head out towards the walls and shoot in, killing as many as you can while waiting to be killed by some bank shot. BIG MISTAKE. As with the enforcers, the tanks’ shots move much… more… slowly the closer you are to the tank, so the best strategy is actually to stay close to the middle. If you get killed and respawned, the best thing to do is pick a side (left/right) that you’ll want to hang in, kill all the tanks on that side, and then (staying in the relative middle) kill all the tanks on the other side.

Tanks also have a 20-shot limit for the entire wave. That means, that if 20 of the tanks shots go without being shot down by you, the tanks will stop shooting. :smiley:

Due to the 8 bit processor, the machine could only count up to 255. Once it hit 256, it “rolled over” to 0. This causes some interesting and frustrating things to happen:

  1. Once you hit wave 256, you started again on wave 1.
  2. If you get 255 extra men, and you reach that 256th extra man, the machine will roll over and give you 0 extra men. You still have the man you’re playing. I lost two 25,000,000 point (6 hours each) games this way. Both times I was going for the record of, at that time, 100,000,000 points. I was quite pissed. I later rationalized it as giving the machine such a butt-whupping, that it quit. Rolling over your men is as close to beating Robotron as you can get.
2

The Simpsons

Play as Marge. Her range with the vacuum makes her the best character.

3

I don’t remember any particular tips, but Centipede had a similar end-of-game bug. The first level has a single twelve-segment 'pede, the second has an eleven-segment 'pede and one detached head segment, the third has a ten-segment and two detached heads, and so on. If you get to the thirteenth level, twelve heads crawl on from the top of the screen, and then the game realizes it’s out of segments and crashes (in retrospect, I suspect it was a subscript-out-of-range error).

Oh, yeah, I do remember one tip. If you could get the mushrooms in the right formation, you could stay in one spot at the bottom of the screen (usually near the middle) where the 'pedes would all be channeled around you, before approaching from straight above where you could pick them off rapid-fire. The only risk came when you had to leave your safe spot to kill spiders, and you absolutely had to kill the spiders or they would eat mushrooms and mess up your pattern. I don’t remember exactly what the pattern looked like, though I’d probably recognize it if I saw it, and it was often formed by falling fleas (the things you had to hit twice to kill).

4

Hey there, fellow gamesters. I’d be more than happy to keep this thread afloat for as long as possible.

[Details may differ a bit depending on which platform you’re using.]

Kageki
The key to winning is SPEED. If your jab speed is fast enough (i.e. as fast as the game will allow), you can beat anybody. If not, it’ll be a struggle just to take the second opponent. Don’t ever play on a machine with stiff, heavy, or too far apart buttons (did once…second guy creamed me).

Basic strategy: Offense - Jab; if jabs connect, follow up with KO punch. Repeat until he’s down. Defense - Duck or dodge, then quickly retake the offensive with jabs.

Specific opponent notes: #1 - He’s a bum. Destroy him at your leisure. #2 - Other than his backflips, when can get annoying (especially when they break up your combo), he’s pretty easy. His punch speed is pathetic, so just stay on the attack. #3 - Jockey hard to get close, then immediately pound away. You must take away his reach advantage, or he’ll chip you into oblivion. Don’t bother ducking; this just slows you down. #4 - He’s got astonishing foot speed for his size. Don’t bother chasing him down, just jab like a maniac when he gets close. When he turns red and windmills at you, retreat and jab continuously. #5 - You have to be superfast on the jab button to beat his duck-and-jab technique, but it can be done. Note that from here on out, you need 4 knockdowns to win instead of 3. #6 - Very fast on the attack (and he gets even faster once he turns green), but he, too, can be bested with sufficiently quick jabs. Use defensive technique every time he starts pounding you (which will happen often). #7 - Again, all it takes is fast jabbing. Be quick on the defensive, as his jab-KO punch combo is the most powerful one in the game. When he crouches, duck or dodge to avoid the flying spinkick. #8 - Sheesh, this isn’t even a real match. One punch of any kind, and you win. If you wait too long, the referee runs into the screen…and gives you the win! #9 - If you made it this far, the boss should be a cakewalk. His big strength, if you can call it that, is that he has precise timing on his jabs (which are slow, BTW) and will wait until the right moment to strike. He defends himself with a block which he can hold much longer a duck. The basic defensive technique still works on him. When he blocks, keep pounding away and eventually you’ll break his guard.

Notes: The ball-'n-chain guy dumps everyone down the manhole except #5, #8 (himself), and #9. The referee doesn’t count out #8 or #9, he instead drags them away. The biker babe (just an easter egg; has nothing to do with the hero or the gang he’s fighting) usually appears on #9; occasionally it’s #2. One extremely rare occasions, she pops up on either #6 or #7 (don’t remember which).

5

Hey there, fellow gamesters. I’d be more than happy to keep this thread afloat for as long as possible.

[Details may differ a bit depending on which platform you’re using.]

Kageki
The key to winning is SPEED. If your jab speed is fast enough (i.e. as fast as the game will allow), you can beat anybody. If not, it’ll be a struggle just to take the second opponent. Don’t ever play on a machine with stiff, heavy, or too far apart buttons (did once…second guy creamed me).

Basic strategy: Offense - Jab; if jabs connect, follow up with KO punch. Repeat until he’s down. Defense - Duck or dodge, then quickly retake the offensive with jabs.

Specific opponent notes: #1 - He’s a bum. Destroy him at your leisure. #2 - Other than his backflips, when can get annoying (especially when they break up your combo), he’s pretty easy. His punch speed is pathetic, so just stay on the attack. #3 - Jockey hard to get close, then immediately pound away. You must take away his reach advantage, or he’ll chip you into oblivion. Don’t bother ducking; this just slows you down. #4 - He’s got astonishing foot speed for his size. Don’t bother chasing him down, just jab like a maniac when he gets close. When he turns red and windmills at you, retreat and jab continuously. #5 - You have to be superfast on the jab button to beat his duck-and-jab technique, but it can be done. Note that from here on out, you need 4 knockdowns to win instead of 3. #6 - Very fast on the attack (and he gets even faster once he turns green), but he, too, can be bested with sufficiently quick jabs. Use defensive technique every time he starts pounding you (which will happen often). #7 - Again, all it takes is fast jabbing. Be quick on the defensive, as his jab-KO punch combo is the most powerful one in the game. When he crouches, duck or dodge to avoid the flying spinkick. #8 - Sheesh, this isn’t even a real match. One punch of any kind, and you win. If you wait too long, the referee runs into the screen…and gives you the win! #9 - If you made it this far, the boss should be a cakewalk. His big strength, if you can call it that, is that he has precise timing on his jabs (which are slow, BTW) and will wait until the right moment to strike. He defends himself with a block which he can hold much longer a duck. The basic defensive technique still works on him. When he blocks, keep pounding away and eventually you’ll break his guard.

Notes: The ball-'n-chain guy dumps everyone down the manhole except #5, #8 (himself), and #9. The referee doesn’t count out #8 or #9, he instead drags them away. The biker babe (just an easter egg; has nothing to do with the hero or the gang he’s fighting) usually appears on #9; occasionally it’s #2. One extremely rare occasions, she pops up on either #6 or #7 (don’t remember which).

6

Galaga, arcade machine:

If you do not shoot one of the two left-most blue-green bugs, let it fly around the screen for 10 or so minutes, it will stop shooting. Let it pass three times w/o shots (just to be sure) and then kill it. Voila! The bugs don’t shoot for the rest of the game.

Chronos, the "right formation " you are talking about involves, iirc, having a bunch of mushrooms in the bottom third of the screen, none in the top 2/3rds, allowing you to:

  1. Pick off the centipede at leisure
  2. Not worry about the fleas coming down on your head (they were triggered by having too few mushrooms in the bottom 1/3rd).

That is why the sequel, Millipede, had the playing field move up one row at the end of every wave.

7

Punch-Out!!

First opponent: Glass Joe. He’s a snap. Take a poke at him, dodge his counterpunch, and throw combinations (left-right-left-right) until his energy is low enough to take him out with a right hook. You should be able to down him in about 30 seconds.

Second opponent: Piston Hurricane. Very similar to the above; throw a punch, dodge the counter, throw combos as long as you can. One slight change: quite often, PH will throw a right hook, which puts him out of range for your left. Start combos with your right. At about the 30 second mark, PH will back off and taunt you, then come in to throw his “piston hurricane” at you, a series of fast blows. With superb timing, nail him with a body blow when he approaches you, just before he can throw his first punch. He’ll go down and stay down. If you miss, absorb his punches by going up-down-up-down with a regular rhythm with the joystick until he starts throwing uppercuts. Dodge the uppercuts and start the combos again. If you can hit him with the body blow, you’ll win in 30 seconds.

Third opponent: Bald Bull. Not much to him, except that you’ll rarely get a series of more than 4 punches off. Throw a left, dodge his blows and counter. When he backs off and does his charge, just dodge his uppercut and punch away.

Fourth opponent: Kid Quick. Ridiculoudly easy. Throw a left, dodge his counter, left-right-left, then left and dodge again. Repeat until he stays down.

Fifth opponent: Pizza Pasta. You’ll beat him with a left, left-right-left, left-right-left rhythm. When he clinches with you, get ready to dodge, because he’ll throw a big uppercut right after the break. Keep at him, and he’ll eventually stay down.

Champion: Mister Sandman. Not too different from your previous opponents; just faster. Stay in charge of the fight. Throw a punch, dodge the counter, and let loose on him. If you hold back, he’ll destroy you.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a new champion!”

I can do Super Punch-Out!! too, if you like…

8

No, the formation I’m thinking of only involved about five mushrooms, in the bottom 2 or 3 rows. What was on the top of the screen didn’t matter. It wasn’t anything as simple as what you described.

9

Pac Man: first screen

left, down, left, up, left, up, right, down, left, down, right, up, left, down, right, down, left, down, right, down, left, up, right, up, left, up, right, up, left, down, right, down, right, up, left, up, right, down, left, up, left, up, right, up, left, down, right, down, left, up, left, down, left, up, left, up, right, down, left, up, left, up, left.

10

Gauntlet II:

The key to killing the dragons and getting the coveted “I’ve not seen such bravery!” line is to be a dirty coward with Reflecting Shots. Just lurk around the corner from a dragon and bounce shots in on him until he croaks. It’s always worth it, as you get massive amounts of food and permanent enhancements.

If you don’t have Reflecting Shots, you have to be brave and make quick runs in front of the dragon, firing off a single shot, then ducking back around a corner before his shots reach you. A few Super Shots speeds this process up greatly.

11

Forgotten Worlds (Arcade Box):

Buy the Napalm in the 2nd level; you will notice that it kills almost any bad guy instantly. You can defeat Dust Dragon in under 3 seconds with this weapon. Subsequently, do not buy any other satellite weapons- spend all your hard earned zenny on life bar extensions, armors, and primary weapon upgrades.

The napalm will get you all the way to the last level, and if you haven’t died you should actually have enough zenny to max out your main weapon and purchase the Homing Laser- without which you won’t stand much chance against the final boss.

Also remember that your satellite is indestructable and blocks shots; and if you release the fire button you can rotate the satellite around you to an advantageous angle.

12

Star Wars pinball

If you can light up the pathway to the Death Star, but your ball tanks before you’ve opened it, you still have a three-second window to open the Death Star and get the bonus (ah, the many, many times this has gotten me an Extra Ball… I was so proud the day I entered those three little letters as a Jedi Master).

This may be a no-brainer, but I couldn’t believe I could scam the game like that until it happened by accident.

13

Time Crisis 2 and 3, Crisis Zone:

Play it over and over, paying close attention to where the Red Guys are and when they attack you. Once you learn that, you will blow through these games no matter what your aim is like.

14

Global Thermonuclear War: The only way to win is not to play.

:smiley:

15

Crime Fighters - I can’t believe how much time I wasted on this (both in the arcade an on emulator). Tips to get through with a minimum of pain:

The key distinction between the basic enemies is which ones you can drop with punches and which ones you can’t. Against the ones you can’t, use a kneebutt (both buttons without moving the joystick) to drop them, than kick 'em like crazy. Other than that, it helps to memorize how much punishment each enemy can take, so you know just how many down kicks to give them. A weapon attack does 6 points of damage, a jumpkick or kneebutt does 2, and a punch or kick does 1 except for the one that knocks down, which does 6.

Against multiple tough foes (which will happen frequently in later levels), the best thing to do is knock one down and kick it, run around, try to isolate someone else, and work that enemy.

Bost-buster tips:
Tomahawk punk - Easy. Get to his level; he’ll swing the tomahawk like a windmill…while standing in place. Stay out of reach until he gets tired, than rush in and pummel him. When he can move again, he’ll resume swinging; quickly back away, wait, and repeat.
Axeman - Move up and down (not back) to avoid his swings. Wait until he does an overhead, which gets his axe stuck in the floor. Pummel, move up or down when he can move again, etc.
Chainman - Get close and punch furiously, and he’ll eventually go down. You should get quite a few licks in for every chain swipe or punch he dishes out.
Chansaw lunatic - There’s no avoiding damage here, so hurt him as much as possible before he cuts you down. Time your “wake up” so that you get to your feet just after his downstroke.
Stupid Freddy Kreuger knockoff - Virtually the same as the Chainman; just keep punching.
Boxer - Although he’s incredbly fast with his punches, he also has one glaring weakness; his opponent has to be at arm’s length. The strategy is obvious…hug him every second, getting in punches when you can.
Knife soldier - A real pain, especially with his speed. You’re gonna have to beat him with punches and wear him down bit by bit.
Bodyguard - Just plain tough, and again, it takes fast punches and patience.