# What are some unorthodox ways of playing video games? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631 "2009-10-13T05:59:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/61 "2018-01-03T16:09:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I remembered another alternate play mode I’m fond of: The classic trajectory game Scorched Earth, without using any offensive weapons. It’s actually a lot easier than you’d think, at least against the AI, because even the highest-level AI doesn’t know how to deal with being buried under mountains of dirt, and often ends up killing itself in the process of blasting out of it I’m a human and I don’t even know how to deal with being buried under mountains of dirt. Remind me, was there a weapon that cleared dirt but didn’t deal damage to tanks? > [@](#): > > Once, I even beat a round without firing a single shot at all, not even of non-damaging weapons: I just drove over all the other tanks and squished them. But IIRC, that triggered some glitches. Wouldn’t surprise me—that game was full of bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/62 "2018-01-03T16:34:20Z")
The Riot Bomb (projectile) and Riot Blast (cone originating on your tank) both cleared dirt without hurting tanks (except indirectly, by making them fall). And lasers hurt other tanks they hit, but wouldn’t hurt the originating tank. Or you could tunnel out from under the mountain (including possibly flying tunneling: Flying was one of those many bugs you mentioned). Usually, though, I just fired off tracers while waiting for the other tanks to do it for me: They’d usually get one or two hits on my shield in the process, but they did a lot more damage to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/63 "2018-01-03T17:25:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Riot Bomb (projectile) and Riot Blast (cone originating on your tank) both cleared dirt without hurting tanks (except indirectly, by making them fall). And lasers hurt other tanks they hit, but wouldn’t hurt the originating tank. Or you could tunnel out from under the mountain (including possibly flying tunneling: Flying was one of those many bugs you mentioned). Usually, though, I just fired off tracers while waiting for the other tanks to do it for me: They’d usually get one or two hits on my shield in the process, but they did a lot more damage to themselves. Ah, yes—it’s all coming back to me now. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/64 "2018-01-05T19:47:50Z")
My daughters used to play Mario Cart on (Super NES?) upside down. The TV faced our couch, and so they would lay on their backs with their legs and feet over the back of the couch and their heads hanging down near the floor, happily going around the tracks, albeit a little slower than normal. I had a hard enough time staying on the tracks playing right-side up, but somehow, they managed to do it upside down. They played a LOT of Mario Cart back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/65 "2018-01-06T21:29:45Z")
On Sega Genesis Greatest hits you can unlock various extra games by completing certain tasks. One of them is completing the first level of Sonic and Tails using two players. I tried doing it by myself but I’m not that good of a player to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/66 "2018-01-12T23:38:28Z")
When I was a kid, a friend had a Sega Genesis, and his dad had taken apart controllers and wired them up to custom-built chairs w/ steering wheels and pedals for use in auto-racing and flight games. We 10-year-olds thought it was the coolest thing ever, like a real arcade racer in your living room! We also played a bunch of other games with the chairs. Some worked better than others. Mostly, you turn right a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/67 "2018-01-13T05:17:11Z")
It’s a tangent, but this thread reminds me of when you’d encounter Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid. In one of the more innovative sequences at the time, the character would read the info on your memory card and talk about it (this was on the PS1/PS2). He could also predict your attacks. The trick to beating him was to unplug your controller, and plug it into the Player 2 slot. He couldn’t predict your actions then. [/tangent] ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/68 "2018-01-13T21:09:53Z")
Here’s one that’s old school: somebody scored over a million points on the Atari 2600 version of Space Invaders - using the same hand for the left/right movement and the fire button. ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/69 "2018-01-22T16:05:16Z")
I enjoyed watching this guy play through [Half Life without using the HEV suit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXLnNnmbwtY). ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/70 "2018-01-23T01:45:14Z")
Nearly all of these are about self-imposed handicaps. Me, I’ve never had any desire to go that route, both because I don’t have extreme patience and aren’t interested in using video games as bragging rights (that and _I’m really not that freaking good_). Usually what happens is that, while working out my gameplan, I settle on something that’s a bit unorthodox, or settle for the “wrong way” of doing something because the “right way” is too damn hard. In the NES Defender of the Crown, one of the extremely important tasks is to repeatedly call tournaments so you can win land from the Normans in jousts. If you don’t, they’re going to rampage all over the map, squash your Saxon buddies like ants, and send a colossal unstoppable army to your castle to snuff out whatever microscopic chances you ever had of defeating them. The problem is if you’re playing as Geoffrey Longsword, the worst jouster in the game. He _can_ win, but it’s a huge struggle and really not worth calling tournaments with him. So I developed what I called the “twincastle gambit”. I take Glamorgan, Cambridge, or Lancashire and _immediately_ put a castle on it (I think I have to take Yorkshire too if I’m starting at Cumbria), then _let_ those Norman bastards run wild while I raid their castles, defend my own castles, and gradually build my forces. Since Geoffrey has Good Leadership, he can survive a castle defense with only 1 or 2 casualties, and _none_ if the castle has 25 soldiers. That’s it: hunker down in my two little territories and raid, defend, and buy forces until the Normans’ treasuries and reputations have taken such a pounding that they don’t even have the will to do roll call anymore. Then I sally out and pick 'em off one by one. Never failed me once. 😃 In the first Assassin’s Creed, I think I followed that “strike from the shadows” garbage half the time at best. Against the executioner, I never did anything _but_ charge in and carve up all his guards. Hey, it’s not like there’s any penalty for it, and it’s good to have experience fighting large groups when you reach the point where **you have absolutely no choice**. Oh, also he’s a punk and I didn’t want to listen to his self-righteous spiel a second longer than necessary. In Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, once I got the train, I spent a _lot_ of time doing nothing but going around opening chests, and once I got all I could safely, I stayed on the train and let the game run for _hours_ to allow the safe to fill up. It wasn’t until I had all the income upgrades that I started cleaning up the city. Finding the music boxes and getting the special outfit was also one of the _first_ things I did, mainly for the experience boost (skill points make a _big_ difference in this game). Also, on my first attempt at the Maxwell Roth missions…y’know, the ones where you can’t kill anybody…I called up Rooks and let _them_ lay waste to everyone, and it didn’t count as me killing them! (Later I discovered that a nonviolent approach was actually easier.) There’s an arcade old wrestling game called “Blazing Tornado” by some obscure company. Because it’s really easy to get submissions (and I already played it to death), I did an “all pins” run with each of the 8 wrestlers. For the most part it wasn’t difficult, only a little inconvenient. However, one of the fighters is a submissions specialist…his signature move, as well as both his downed-opponent attacks, are submissions, and he has no aerial attacks. So what I ended up doing was when the opponent was nearly beaten, I picked him up, then, before he could recover, quickly grapple him from behind and do a “Dragon Suplex Pin”. If all went well, this would end the match. If not…well, no choice but to land another throw and do a boring 'ol cover (which I never did with this wrestler otherwise). ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/71 "2018-01-23T04:02:40Z")
After beating the most recent edition of Sniper Elite, I went back and re-did the maps but avoiding headshots, only doing nut-shots, only using a pistol, only melee kills, etc. Killing Nazis just never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/72 "2018-01-23T15:49:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Apparently the player in question also heals in battlegrounds (for the daily xp at the time this interview was done, but now you’d get xp all the way along): > > [http://www.wow.com/2008/01/08/15-minutes-of-fame-noor-the-pacifist/](http://www.wow.com/2008/01/08/15-minutes-of-fame-noor-the-pacifist/) > > [http://www.pacifistundeadpriest.blogspot.com/](http://www.pacifistundeadpriest.blogspot.com/) There’s [this guy](https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/mannoroth/doubleagent), who got to max level by picking flowers and mining in the Pandaren starting zone. Never chose a faction, never left the island. Just picked flowers and mined copper deposits. That’s pretty unorthodox. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/73 "2018-01-23T16:21:37Z")
> [@Should I play the previous Fallouts before playing Fallout 4?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-play-the-previous-fallouts-before-playing-fallout-4/785683/34): > > One guy managed to go through [Fallout] 4 without _killing anyone_ but the game really doesn’t like that. He got enemies to kill each other and scum saved when that didn’t work. [article here, with videos](https://kotaku.com/guy-beats-fallout-4-without-killing-anyone-nearly-brea-1749882569) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/74 "2018-01-23T17:01:56Z")
I read that article looking for an explanation of how the game breaks down when you don’t kill anyone… and I didn’t really find anything. It just says that in one quest, one where there is in fact a nonviolent option, when that guy chose the nonviolent option an enemy spawned for no reason. The article makes it sound like the game was just tired of his zero-killcount and wanted to screw him up, but that’s not the way computer games work. What actually caused that enemy to spawn? Would it have also happened if he had done the same thing in the hard parts, but gunned down a random nobody somewhere? Would it have happened if he hadn’t done whatever no-kill exploit he used on some other hard part? If so, which one was the key one? And why does that trick, whatever it was, cause this bug? I was expecting something like “An NPC in dialog with you tries to guilt-trip you by naming some of the people you’ve killed, and if there’s nobody on that list, the pointer goes into invalid memory space”, or something. That really would be a bug caused by not killing anyone. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/75 "2018-01-24T16:19:26Z")
Back in the ‘90’s there was a video game based on the musical version of War of the Worlds written by Jeff Wayne, unironically called Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. The game map was made up of England and Scotland, and I believe the Isle of Man, broken up into 30 or so different areas. The Martians have their base in the Scottish Highlands, while the humans’ base was London. The game only has one difficulty, which is way too easy. After a few play-throughs, I had gotten it down to winning in under 400 game days, and it only took that long because after capturing an area you have to build a command post there before you can attack from that area, and it takes at least 30 game days to build a command post. By winning that quick, I did not have time to unlock the whole technology tree, and never saw some of the most interesting upgrades in the game, so I was trying to figure out how to extend the length of the game. I decided to retreat all the way back to London. I would only keep control of London and a ring of areas around London, and allow the Martians to take all of the other territories. I would build up as much as I could, and only commence my attack after my ring of territories were invaded by the Martians. After the computer attacks, it pretty much blows its load and I can march all the way to Scotland pretty quickly, only having to pause to build command centers. The game is still way too easy, but at least I got to see what the Blimps and Digger Tanks looked like. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/76 "2018-01-24T19:34:00Z")
I’ve attempted to play 2v2 Clash Royale with two tablets side by side, playing both players on my team at the same time. It hurt my brain, so I stopped. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/77 "2018-01-24T22:16:01Z")
I’ve heard of people playing action video games with unconventional controllers, like a guitar peripheral from Rock Band or something. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631/78 "2018-01-25T04:07:35Z")
> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#): > > After beating the most recent edition of Sniper Elite, I went back and re-did the maps but avoiding headshots, only doing nut-shots, only using a pistol, only melee kills, etc. Killing Nazis just never gets old. Preach! I’m currently maxing out all the rifles/pistols/etc. Ricochet kills are my bane. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-unorthodox-ways-of-playing-video-games/513631.md?page=3)