Live Long and Conquer.

[EvilSpock]

Greetings DP moderators, posters, and lurkers.

First let me thank you for having such a community where open discussion is encouraged and a sense of verbal decorum is common. These attributes are sadly lacking in many of the forums I've seen on the net.

I've enjoyed sifting through many of the archived posts here and haven't come across the topic that I'm interested in. Perhaps a helpful moderator can use his/her expertise to find a thread or move my question to one of the other sub-forums where it would better be served.

I'm looking for strategy help on some classic coin-op games. I have my mind set on beating them and dare I say mastering them? By strategy I mean any hints, tricks, or tips on how to improve my skills, get a higher score, and generally how to get into the "zone" where the game play seems almost automatic.

Any such strategical data for these games would be helpful:

Ghosts 'N Goblins

Sinistar

Defender

Joust

Space Invaders

Asteroids

Pacman

Ms. Pacman

Dig Dug

Crystal Castles




I thank you for your attention,

Evil Spock

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Howdy Evil Spock. Dig the goatee, man.

I've found that the best advice for Sinistar is belted out at top volume by the machine itself: RUN! RUN! RUN! :p

Seriously: Dig Dug is actually as much of a pattern-based game as Pac-Man is (both were originated by Namco), and there are some standard playing patterns that seldom, if ever, let me down, though it's still possible to wind up in a bit of a pickle.

Joust: stay on top. This may sound stupidly simple, but I can't stress enough the importance of taking, and keeping, the high ground to yourself here. This doesn't necessarily mean the tip top of the screen, but staying above the heads of every other ostrich-ridin' lunatic on the screen is a good thing. Being less of a Joust klutz than me also helps. LOL

[GillianSeed]

There are plenty of strategies for Defender. One of the stranger ones is to purposely kill all the humans but one -- the idea being it's easier to um, defend, him. There's also a line on the map beyond which the aliens will stop chasing you, they think it's quicker to catch you from the other side.

For Asteroids, the usual strategy is to take out most of the rocks on a board and then hunt the UFOs for points for as long as you can.

You'd probably find this vintage book interesting: The Winners Book of Video Games by Craig Kubey. It has strategies for some of the older titles you mention. There's one on eBay now cheap. I'm sure there are tons of other good books out there too, I know I had a little booklet with the patterns for Pac-man.

[GarrettCRW]

It hasn't been updated in a few millenia, but Roger's Classic Arcade Tips & Tricks (http://rcatt.classicgaming.gamespy.com/) has some good general purpose info on pretty much all of the games you're looking for. Also, following each game's Wikipedia links should provide useful as well.

[EvilSpock]

[ Phosphor Dot Fossils ]

Re DigDug: I didn't know Dig dug had a pattern, so I guess google is my destination to see if someone has offered up those patterns, although I'm almost stubborn enough to figure them out the hard way!

Re Joust: I have tried that but I still run into problems with the pterodactyl of terror--I also came across (since posting this) a strategy that involves hovering just under the right edge of the bottom-most shelf and snagging lava kills when it's safe to do so. Any thoughts on that--have you ever tried it?

Re Sinistar: I do a lot of flying around but I just CAN'T get a handle on this hard mother of a game.

Addendum: Great wordage for your nickname.


[ GillianSeed ]

Re Defender: (quirks the vulcan eyebrow) Kill all the humans but one? Illogical, for the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. But in the interests of higher scores, I may have to revise this axiom!

Re Asteroids: I'll have to give that a try, and my initial thought is how long can you keep that up?

Re Kubey's Book: I'm heading to the used bookstore and see if I can unearth it, then I suppose I'll resort to Ebay. Thanks!


[ GarrettCRW ]

Re your linkage: What a great find--thanks a million. There are so many files here, a treasure to be sure. And I'll check Wiki--hadn't thought of that. That's right, I'm not nearly as intelligent as I look!

Thanks a lot guys and if anyone has any more, they will be just as well-received.

Live Oblong and Obsequious

Evil Spock

[GillianSeed]

Re Defender: (quirks the vulcan eyebrow) Kill all the humans but one? Illogical, for the good of the many outweighs the good of the one.


Damn your Vulcan logic!



Re Asteroids: I'll have to give that a try, and my initial thought is how long can you keep that up?

Right, sooner or later a stray shot will take out the last asteroid. If you try to preserve one of the medium asteroids that will give you an extra margin for error. But the basic idea is to avoid rolling over to the next board for as long as possible, so you can hunt the small saucers. Here's a better explanation via Wikipedia:



Lurking
Soon after the release of Asteroids, some players discovered that small UFOs would be continually sent out when the asteroid count decreased to a certain level. Since these UFOs were worth 1,000 points each - a significant sum in this game - a strategy known as "lurking" soon developed around this. Players would shoot asteroids until there was only one small or mid-sized rock remaining, and then maneuver the ship to a spot approximately one inch from any corner of the screen. Small UFOs would then be ambushed as soon as they emerged (and before they were able to return fire), using wraparound fire if necessary. Because the small UFOs were unable to "lead" the player's ship with their fire (i.e. aiming ahead of the ship's flight path), a clever player could maneuver, if necessary, in such a way as to virtually ensure they would never be hit by the small UFO (in fact the large UFO in a sense was seen as more of a threat precisely because of its unpredictable random shots). Since each 10,000 points awarded an extra life, players could continue almost indefinitely once the practice had been mastered. [1] The designers abolished this practice in Asteroids Deluxe by causing the UFOs to either shoot at the remaining asteroids, thus ending the round, or shoot at the player as soon as they appeared on the screen. They also gained the ability to lead the player's ship as well, making them much more dangerous.

However it was also possible to succeed by shooting the asteroids instead; a shrewd "asteroid hunting" player would typically attempt to kill all the asteroids "inside" a large one before shooting another asteroid, thus minimizing the amount of "clutter" on the screen.

[Snapple]

I remember Evil Spock. That bastard tried to kill Kirk and take command of the Enterprise.

[EvilSpock]

[ GillianSeed ]

I'm thankful that you took the time to look that up for me and post it here. I really appreciate it.