The Mame Club! - This Week's Game is Berzerk!

[zektor]

This week's game was chosen by chadtower. The next person on the MAME Club list will get to choose their game the coming week and must PM me with the chosen title by Friday night at the very latest.

When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. It would also be nice to let us know other aspects of the emulation. Here are some things that would be good to know:

Did you like/dislike the game? Why?
What type of machine are you running it on? Specs?
What version of Mame?
How long did it take you to beat it? Score?

Again, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

A download for this game will be posted shortly!

Club Members

Gamereviewgod
Wisesalesman
scooterb23
ddockery
AlanD
digitalpress
IntvGene
NE146
jonjandran
Flack
IGotTheDot
zektor (me!)
buttasuperb
*chadtower
Sotenga
Stark
ECWSandmanECW
christianscott27
TripppsK
vespertillio
ghsqb
TheSmirk
anotherfluke
BHvrd
ManekiNeko
MarioAllStar2600
Ze_ro
slip81
Qbert
k8track
Hamsnibit
Sofa King Gud
jgenotte

* this week's entry was chosen by this member, the next to choose is the one below!

[Flack]

Humanoid. Intruder Alert.

I can't ever remember PLAYING Berzerk. I mean, I've seen it, I've played the Atari 2600 version, I know all about it, but I don't remember ever sitting down and giving Berzerk my undivided attention. The MAME club, if nothing else, is great for that -- closing everything else off and allowing you to focus your attention on one game for a few minutes.

That being said ... this game is much harder than I remembered or imagined. I looked up some high scores on the web. 32,000? I did good to break 3 grand! Maybe it's due to my Gravis Gamepad, but I had a hard time making those diagonal shots. The robots didn't, which usually led to my demise.

Walls that can kill, robots that can shoot, and a killer happy face that keeps you from dawdling around on any particular level for too long. It's been said before, but all the classic games had one thing in common -- EASY TO LEARN. You can explain the concept of Berzerk in one sentence and even have your grandmother understand it. There's no combos, no secret moves or codes, and no complicated controls. It's just you, eight directions, killer robots and lots of opportinities to die.

When loading up Berzerk I noticed that the rom is 10k. 10k? That's smaller than half of the avatars and signatures around this place.

[Ze_ro]

Aw, yeah... I love Berzerk! One of the best games to come out of the 80's in my opinion. Perfect video game voice too.

I can't remember off-hand what my high score was (especially since I've had to erase my high scores a number of times over the years)... but I'm sure that I've broken 10,000 a number of times. I'll have to give this game some serious attention over the next week to see if I can bump that up a little higher.

One thing that I always got annoyed with though, was that although the mazes are generated randomly, they're always seeded with the same value every time you start the game up in MAME... so you'll ALWAYS get the same first level, and if you keep taking the same exits, you'll get a predicatable set of levels.

Anyways, here's some strategy I've learned for this game:

• Be very careful about diagonals. It's much harder to avoid diagonal shots, but that also holds for your shots. This can be an advantage if you're good, or a disadvantage if you're bad... so if you're new to Berzerk, avoid diagonals.
• Your shots fire "higher" than the robots shots... this means that if there is a robot on the opposite side of a wall, and there is an opening north of you, you can eventually get to a sweet spot where you can fire over the wall, but the robot won't. It's like shooting fish in a barrel from there. On the opposide side of this, if there is a opening south of you, the robot will be able to shoot you before you can shoot it, so avoid this case.
• Not only do your shots fire from almost the top of your character, but they also fire from your characters right hand side. Because of this, it's almost always safer to leave rooms via the east exit. It'll be easier to avoid and counterattack when you get to the next room. Going through the south exits makes you most vulnerable, since your legs are exposed to attacks.
• Robots can be killed by anything that would kill you... so you can lure them into crossfires with other robots, you can trick them into touching the walls, and you can make sure they're in Evil Otto's way while he homes in on you. Use this to your advantage as often as possible.
• Although you don't have to kill all the robots in a room, you get a bonus for doing so. This bonus (10 times the number of robots in the room I think) isn't high enough to risk death though, so you'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth it. You can leave a room without killing ANY robots if you want. You'll have to live with the shame though, and the game will be sure to remind you of that.
• The number of robots in a room is directly linked with the amount of time you have before Evil Otto appears. The fewer robots, the less time you have! So if you get into a room with only 3 robots, then you'd better be quick.
• The yellow robots in the very first room will not shoot at you. If you come across a room later on with yellow robots, they will.
• Bullets can pass through your "neck", if you're lucky. It's very tricky to do this though, since you need to be pixel-perfect in your positioning, so don't rely on it unless you have no other choice.
• You can't kill Evil Otto. I know you can kill him in the Atari 2600 version (on some games), and you can kill him in Frenzy, but not here. He moves just as fast as you do, so when he shows up: Run.

That's all I can think of for now... It's been awhile since I last played Berzerk, so I'll have to take some more runs at it to remember all my old tricks.

--Zero

[IntvGene]

Well, I won't give the strategy that Ze_ro just gave.. but here's my thoughts:

I like the game alot, it's simple and fun and an obvious classic. The voices add so much to the game for me (I played it a bit without the samples, and it just wasn't the same).

It's a great shooter, but I still like Frenzy better (ducks for cover)... I think it was because of the sweet Colecovision port that came out for it. Man, did I play that forever when I was a kid! Frenzy is just more interesting to me.. the ability to keep Evil Otto at bay temporarily, ricocheting shots, the neato rooms, etc. Berserk is fun and all, but I just feel that Frenzy tweaked and perfected it a little, and I can last longer in it too.

Anyway, I got almost 4k just playing around. I'm no expert. I find that I will die in the first two seconds, or I will clear the board almost every time. The initial positioning is the key. I gotta practise up and try and get a better score.. don't know if I can make 10k though..

[Ze_ro]

Frenzy was okay... but I always preferred Berzerk. There was just too much chaos going on in Frenzy, and it lost the classic simplicity that made Berzerk so fun.

I hate to say it, but I agree that the voices really add to this game. I usually don't like when games rely on flashy graphics or sound, but somehow the voices really make this game stand out.

--Zero

[Sotenga]

Ah, the classics before I was even born... it brings a tear to my eye.

When first playing this game, I practically laughed my buttocks off when I escaped before killing everyone.

Chicken, fight like a robot.

And then, we must beware Joe Santulli... well, his avatar anyway, Evil Otto! As the robots change color, it gets harder. I've seen them yellow, then red, then cyan, then green... don't know what the next level is. Black, maybe? And they're invisible against the pitch-black background? That would be impossible.

This game also had a solid conversion to the 2600, where it had everything but the funny digitized voices. Regardless on what system it's played on, Berzerk is an undeniable addiction. And bite your tongue if you claim you've killed Evil Otto, because I haven't found ANY way to do so. Besides, what would Joe use as an avatar?

[Hamsnibit]

I remember playing this all the time on atari 2600 and in the arcades. I loved the annoying sound effects. Glad this game came up cause I haven't played it in a long time.

[Sofa King Gud]

The sound on my rom isn't working, so I can't enjoy the voices, or the annoying sound effects. But, I can enjoy the quick and strategic gameplay involved. Berzerk doesn't give you too much time to think and strategize, making your reflexes crucial when playing. It's a great game to train your reflexes to become more quick. But, I think I'll need to better my skills at this game, before attempting Frenzy... I can barely get a score of 3K. Which goes to show you how bad my reflexes are...

[IntvGene]

The sound on my rom isn't working, so I can't enjoy the voices, or the annoying sound effects. But, I can enjoy the quick and strategic gameplay involved. Berzerk doesn't give you too much time to think and strategize, making your reflexes crucial when playing. It's a great game to train your reflexes to become more quick. But, I think I'll need to better my skills at this game, before attempting Frenzy... I can barely get a score of 3K. Which goes to show you how bad my reflexes are...

Download the appropriate Sample package from here:

http://www.mame.net/downsamples.html

It should give you sound.

[Sofa King Gud]

Thanks dude! Man, the experience is 10x better with the sound effects! ...Although they do repeat, "Back off humanoid" quite often!
As you can see I'm quite new to MAME, but I like to think of it as a learning process.

[TripppsK]

Nice choice. This is one of the games I was originally looking for when I discoverd MAME. This game always brings back memories of 8th grade (the good old days before responsibilty). The voice was a definite bonus, but this game would have stood on its own without it. So simple to play, so difficult to master.

[Ze_ro]

This game also had a solid conversion to the 2600

I'd argue against that actually... 2600 Berzerk is a fun game in it's own rite, but it pales in comparison to the arcade version... due to hardware restrictions, only ONE robot bullet can be on the screen at a time, robots can't shoot diagonally, robots cannot share a horizontal line (thus restricting their movement), your diagonal shots fire at very odd angles, and the mazes are MUCH smaller.

I like how they added some customizations to the 2600 version though, like removing Evil Otto altogether, or allowing you to kill him. Although I still think it's dumb that game 1 doesn't have Evil Otto on by default... the game is far too easy without him. Basically, you just pick robots off on the diagonals until you get to the point where they fire so fast that you can't avoid them. I got some ENORMOUS scores on 2600 Berzerk when playing it at university. If it wasn't for time restrictions, I could probably roll the score on it.

Has anyone had trouble with the high score saving on Berzerk? MAME wasn't running Berzerk properly for me until I deleting the high score file This isn't the first time it's done this to me either. Maybe I should try to find a new hiscore.dat file or something. So far, since my last post, my highest score was an even 7500.

I'm sure I've broken 10,000 before... I'll have to put in some serious Berzerk play tomorrow to see if I can do it again.

--Zero

[chadtower]

This game also had a solid conversion to the 2600, where it had everything but the funny digitized voices.

Get Berzerk: Voice Enhanced for the 2600. GREAT HACK. It has the voices. Seriously. I LOVE my copy. If you love Berzerk you must have one.

[scooterb23]

This game scared me back in the day.

I had never heard a game talk to me before.

I walked up to it at Shakey's one day, it talked, and I actually trembled while I was playing it. To this day, I am not very good at the game...

[Nature Boy]

Long time Mame Club lurker, first time poster...

Berzerk is *already* in my personal Favourites folder and will be a welcome addition to my Mame Club folder.

For me it's the combination of knee jerk action and the speech that make it a favourite. Although my current high score is only around 3500 or so, I *am* playing on a laptop with a keyboard so I'm assuming I'd be more competitive on a *real* machine

I always play by leaving in the North exit. Something my Dad did back when we had it on our Atari 8 bit (pirated, probably the 5200 version?) or 2600 I'm guessing. I'm gonna try using the East side next time I play...

[Ze_ro]

Whoo-ee.. I just got off a very nice run of Berzerk that netted me a high score of 13,320... That's definitely my best score ever. Boy do the robots shots ever move fast when you get that far! Anyways, here's some more tips:

• If you're on the same vertical line as a robot, your shots will hit each other and cancel out. So, when this happens (it happens fairly often when you try to sneak out from behind a horizontal wall), your best bet is to try to weave back and forth while firing to try to lure the robot to walk into your shot without actually shooting your bullet. This can be tricky though, and sometimes the robot will charge you.
• If you're on the horizontal line as a robot, your shots will fire higher than theirs. They shoot from the hip. This is a little more dangerous, because fewer of this shots will hit each other, so there will be more bullets to dodge (but you have a better chance of hitting the robot too).
• The robots will always try to stop before hitting a wall... however, they're pretty clumsy when it comes to the edges of walls. If you're careful, you can lure them into these edges quite easily.
• Robot explosions can still kill you! So don't be too quick to run past an enemy after you shoot him.
• Similarly though, if two robots are VERY close together, killing one will sometimes cause the other one to be killed by the explosion.
• When possible, stay near the bottom of the screen. Since your shots come from your shoulder, you want the robots to be forced to move south to shoot you, but this makes you a very small target, since they only get a chance to shoot at your head before you can dispatch them.
• Building on the previous tip, it's also MUCH safer to be shooting on the up-left and up-right diagonals than the down-right and down-left, since you fire from your shoulders, you can more easily dodge the robots diagonal shots by moving downwards. If you're firing on the downward diagonals, you almost have to step right in front of the robots aim to aim at them. This means the robots are shooting for the center of your body rather than your head. Much harder to dodge.
• The robots can never move faster than you. So if you're on the opposite sides of a wall, you can move towards an opening, fire, and keep moving and there's a very good chance the robot will blindly walk into your shot.
• The less robots there are on the screen, the faster they move. This goes for Evil Otto as well. If Otto shows up while there are still three or four robots left, he'll be moving fairly slowly... but once you finish off the robots, he'll be moving just as fast as you are.
• You always move at a constant horizontal speed, and a constant vertical speed. If you move diagonally, these speeds are added together, so you actually move faster when you're moving diagonally (the vectors are added, so you move sqrt(2) times faster, for you mathematicians). This also holds for bullets, so diagonal shots are faster. Because of this speed irregularity, if Evil Otto is chasing you, use the diagonals as much as possible. Moving right, then down, then right will just slow you down when you could have moved diagonally (just be careful you don't hit any walls while you're running).
• Pressing the fire button on it's own does nothing... it only fires a shot when combined with a direction. If you hold fire, your character will stand still so you can just press directions to make him fire. How you use this is up to you, but I find it helps to know exactly how the controls work.
• When things start getting hard, you're better of playing defensively. Back yourself into a corner and pick off robots as they come for you (Just be sure not to wait there too long, or Otto will come for you). Diving right into the mix is total suicide once the bullets get as fast as they do in the later levels. If there are 10 or more robots on the screen, give them some time to shoot and run over each other before you try to go after them.
• I don't know if I mentioned this before, but any time a robot dies, you get the points for it regardless of the cause... so there's no advantage to shooting a robot instead of letting Otto hit him. There are no points for style. Also, you can still gain points after you die... for a short while, the robots will still move and fire, and if any of them get hit in the crossfire, you still collect points post-humously.

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Oh, and one last thing: You get an extra life at 5,000, 10,000 and every 5,000 points thereafter (at least, I assume so anyways).

--Zero

[TheSmirk]

Much like jello, "theres always time for Berzerk ©"
The clean, simple gameplay and increasing pace enhanced by the mocking menacing voice of Otto. This game is great! This IS a great example of classic gaming.

Does anyone know if this was a inspiration for Robotron 2084? Robotron is like the extreme version of this simple game logic, no mazes or bowtie trickery although.

[TripppsK]

Have all the previous choices for the MAME Club game of the week been posted? There was 1 or 2 that I did not have and wanted to download.

[TheSmirk]

Have all the previous choices for the MAME Club game of the week been posted? There was 1 or 2 that I did not have and wanted to download.

Most were posted, or are found at DP's Roms by request section....but if someone that has some web space can actually keep the MAME club roms that'd be great....cause' theres been a few that I didn't have and when I went to find em' it was a pain in the ass