Ever been bummed that old games don't save high scores?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

So yeah, does it bug anyone else? Would you be more inclined to play certain games? I know a lot of NES games and on are really driven by "beating the game," but there are still quite a few games where a high score can be an achievement. I know that you can write down scores or make a video of it, but it isn't the same feeling when you could pop a game on and see your hard work at the top of the title screen. It sort of makes the game feel like it's your own.

Lately I've been playing my 60-in-1 arcade (a lot), and I'm really happy that the game saves at least one high score for every game. I worked hard for my Ms. Pac 104,XXX high score dammit. A lot of the older games that didn't allow you too save your scores after they've been flipped, now have added life.

Just today I ordered High Score save kits for my Donkey Kong machine, and my currently disassembled Asteroids. I'm excited to get them, and it'll encourage me to turn on my DK even more. The Asteroids kit was $45 and the DK multi game/ High score kit was $80. Is it a waste of money? I don't think so.

I guess this could as easily belong in Arcade Alley, but that place is a ghost town sometimes.

Anyone else?

[Gapporin]

MAME saves high scores, too, through the use of hiscore.dat. But yeah, I agree, it's not the same.

One of the great things about playing cracked/trained disk games (I'm talking about specifically for the Commodore 64, although other platforms may include this as well) is that sometimes, the group will add a high-score saver as well, which writes the new scores directly to the disk (they can also be reset back to default later on, if the user so chooses). Great for keeping track of my Proof Of Destruction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_Of_Destruction) scores. Remember (http://www.bitte8bit.de/newremember/htdocs/credits.php) is one group that does this a lot with their releases.

[kupomogli]

Atleast arcade games have the feature to save high scores. Console games can't do that until they have a save system. I don't know of any console games that save high scores that don't have save files unless they're collection type games. The collection games have a system data so you still have to save. But carts? None.

[ubersaurus]

It never really bothered me much, but I was used to that being how things worked. I had a tendency to write down my high scores anyway on a dry-erase board, so I had a low-tech workaround going.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

It never really bothered me much, but I was used to that being how things worked. I had a tendency to write down my high scores anyway on a dry-erase board, so I had a low-tech workaround going.

Right now I use a Dry Erase marker on my Donkey Kong's cocktail glass, to remember my top 5.


Atleast arcade games have the feature to save high scores. Console games can't do that until they have a save system. I don't know of any console games that save high scores that don't have save files unless they're collection type games. The collection games have a system data so you still have to save. But carts? None.

Well techically a lot of Arcade Games are similar. A lot of NES games will save the high score until you cut the power- much like a lot of classic games.

[Pantechnicon]

It never bothered me concerning home games. I never played that much with other people so it bother me that there wasn't a more permanent record somewhere. I was content to track my own progress.

On the other hand, I always thought it rather depressing that any scoring achievement on most arcade games of the early 1980's was going to be wiped out as soon as the power was shut down around closing time.

[pseudonym]

I write it down or take a pic of it so I can show it off.

[dreamcaster]

Yeah if I ever had any score I wanted to prove "back-in-the-day" I just took a photo.

That said, most of my first games were MS-DOS rip-offs of classic 70's arcade titles, which DID save the high scores...unless they got randomly corrupted due to the unreliability of 5.25" floppy disks. :(

[retroman]

i bummed me, because i would have a score..tell my friends, and knowone believed me. Now as a kid..that sucks

[Ed Oscuro]

Kids these days...needing the game to write down your highscore for you, sheesh. :D

Anybody remember the old "mail in a picture of your highscore" from the mid-90s days of Nintendo Power?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Kids these days? Berzerk (1980) could save a high score when turned off. Just sayin'.

[pseudonym]

Kids these days...needing the game to write down your highscore for you, sheesh. :D

Anybody remember the old "mail in a picture of your highscore" from the mid-90s days of Nintendo Power?

I used to do this all the time actually but I never got any into the NP as far as I know.

[Ed Oscuro]

Kids these days? Berzerk (1980) could save a high score when turned off. Just sayin'.
Waste of the operator's money on components. ;)

Ditto for those epic long hiscore lists like Crystal Castles. It's all about the rush of getting on the single screen top 10 list, and then climbing it.

Ultimately, there was no uploading scores in those times, so if you wanted to share your score you wrote it down and shared it. It still works this way even in most modern games; Achievements are a bit of a breakthrough (and I wonder how long those will hang around).

[TheDomesticInstitution]

MAME saves high scores, too, through the use of hiscore.dat. But yeah, I agree, it's not the same.

Yeah the newer versions of MAME don't have this, but they have save states. If I ever got a decent computer for MAME, I might make my multi cab a vertical MAME.


One of the great things about playing cracked/trained disk games (I'm talking about specifically for the Commodore 64, although other platforms may include this as well) is that sometimes, the group will add a high-score saver as well, which writes the new scores directly to the disk (they can also be reset back to default later on, if the user so chooses).


That said, most of my first games were MS-DOS rip-offs of classic 70's arcade titles, which DID save the high scores...unless they got randomly corrupted due to the unreliability of 5.25" floppy disks. :(

I never did a lot of PC gaming mostly because I didn't get my first computer until 98. I often wish that I had gotten into computers way back when, because a lot of people seem to love their classic PC games.


It never bothered me concerning home games. I never played that much with other people so it bother me that there wasn't a more permanent record somewhere. I was content to track my own progress.

On the other hand, I always thought it rather depressing that any scoring achievement on most arcade games of the early 1980's was going to be wiped out as soon as the power was shut down around closing time.

I don't play much with people nowadays, but I did have 4 brothers with whom I had to share a single console with when I was a kid. The worst thing was, when my mom would get mad at 2 or 3 of us, she'd often cut the cords of our NES as punishment. There were then long periods of time where we'd go without. I still have fond memories of playing our NES in a bedroom on an old black and white TV with an RF converter (because the TV wasn't cable ready). Back then it was exciting to have a TV in our room, even if it was a 13" B&W.

I don't know I guess I just have this idea in my head, that a game should save a high score. Too bad that there aren't NVRAM mods that could be added to a cart to make them save them. I understand that that's logistically impossible, but it's just a thought that enters my head occasionally.

Well once I get my Asteroids board back and my high score kits in the mail, then all my games will save them when I power down. Someone made a comment over at KLOV about how they needed room for a game so he was selling an Outrun. One of the reasons he was selling the game was because it didn't save High Scores.


Waste of the operator's money on components. ;)

Ditto for those epic long hiscore lists like Crystal Castles. It's all about the rush of getting on the single screen top 10 list, and then climbing it.

Ultimately, there was no uploading scores in those times, so if you wanted to share your score you wrote it down and shared it. It still works this way even in most modern games; Achievements are a bit of a breakthrough (and I wonder how long those will hang around).

Seeing that a lot of people seem to be achievement whores, it's apparent that the quest for a high score (or a modern variation of it) is still alive. The consensus here seems that most people want that high score so they can share it with others. I guess it doesn't matter to me if others see it that much, it just adds an extra element if I have a goal to shoot for. Especially for games that don't really have a story or ending.

Berzerk a waste? It's an appropriate comment coming from a fan of Japanese bullet hell games with overly convoluted scoring methods.

[ScottK]

yes. that is probably the main reason i had to have a nes system xmas of 1988, because you could save some games. also your score stayed until you powered off the system. most atari 2600 games, the scores reset after every play.

[lazyhoboguy]

yes. that is probably the main reason i had to have a nes system xmas of 1988, because you could save some games. also your score stayed until you powered off the system. most atari 2600 games, the scores reset after every play.

Yea it does slightly bother me when playing the NES, but for games I play a lot on there I write down my high score in a notepad file every once in awhile.

[whoisKeel]

I wish all games could save high scores. I'm too lazy to write such things down, and it is more gratifying to get to enter your name in when you beat your own (or another's) high score.

I find it especially annoying when some of the XBox Live arcade games don't even support this feature. There's just no excuse for such behavior.

[lazyhoboguy]

Yea it does bug me too when releases of old games dont include the function to save high scores though. That is just pure laziness.

[Lerxstnj]

Mobile Light Force for the PS1.
RRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
WTF is the reason for no saves on that one??