Games with PAUSE features?

[godzillajoe]

Which games either have a pause feature using a switch or let you take a break between levels

 

Yars' Revenge - You need to press the button to start the next round after killing the Quotile so so can sneak in a bathroom break if you need to

 

Montezuma's Revenge - You can stand around any room without an enemy for as long as you like

 

Kool-Aid Man - Difficulty switch pauses the game

 

Go Fish! homebrew - You can hide on the ocean floor in the weeds forever

 

Most sports games that aren't timed let you take a break in-between action (Bowling, Home Run, Tennis, Volleyball)

 

Pesco homebrew - Gotta press the button to start the action after you clear a board or get killed

 

Breakout / Super Breakout - Gotta press the button to start the action

 

Kaboom! - Gotta press the button to start the action

 

More?

Edited February 10, 2007 by godzillajoe

[thomasholzer]

Top of my head:

River Raid: Crash and you start at the bridge, but not until you press 'fire'

Snoopy/Red Baron: Pause mode has some cool rhythm-type music, can't remember how to do it though (color/bw switch?).

H.E.R.O. press 'fire' to star next level?...can't remember

X-Man: Left difficulty switch to 'B' pauses the game

Edited February 10, 2007 by thomasholzer

[shadow460]

IIRC, all of Fox's games let you pause by flipping the TV Type switch.

Dragonstomper, bieng an RPG with no timer, will let you just sit there forever. Survival Island will let you sit there on the second and third stages.

 

Fireball waits until you hit the button to start.

 

Some of Math Gran Prix'x varations don't have a timer, so you can sit and wait. Ditto with any brain game such as Checkers, Video Chess, Codebreaker, Basic Math, etc.

 

Once you kill the dragons, you can sit around in Adventure.

You can sit around in a two player game of Fishing Derby.

 

In Mouse Trap you can lock yourself in the center of the maze.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Thrust+ and many more homebrews.

[humppa]

Thrust+ and many more homebrews.

 

...like e.g. Strat-O-Gems (using the reset button).

[Video]

James Bond 007 uses the B/W switch to pause the game. (I don't know how many years I had that agme and though it was broken befor figureing that out)

 

Doesn't Ghostbusters stay on the item screen between levels till you hit one of the switches to continue?

[A.J. Franzman]

Stellar Track is sort of a turn-based RPG in which nothing happens until the player enters an action.

[Krytol]

Some of Math Gran Prix'x varations don't have a timer, so you can sit and wait.

 

*wipes sweat off brow*

 

I wish I'd known that before!

[supercat]

...like e.g. Strat-O-Gems (using the reset button).

 

Of, if you're too lazy to leave your chair, pushing and holding the fire button during a 'reaction' will also pause the game (the press must occur during the reaction).

[Shawn]

Conquest Of Mars has a pause feature.

[Foxsolo2000]

So what was the first game that had an intentional pause feature built into it?

[Shawn]

I forgot Sentinel has a pause also.

[supercat]

So what was the first game that had an intentional pause feature built into it?

 

Probably the original Magnavox Odyssey.

 

Otherwise, for short-term pausing, Video Olympics. Unfortunately, rather than merely color-cycling during an active game, VO will abort the game in progress if a player goes too long without serving the ball. Irksome behavior, which also occurs even more annoyingly in Star Raiders.

Edited February 11, 2007 by supercat

[atwwong]

Nukey Shay's Hack'Em and Haunted Adventure Trilogy use the b/w switch as a pause toggle.

[gamme]

Breakout / Super Breakout - Gotta press the button to start the action

 

Not only that but you can hit the ball up into a corner once it's clear of bricks and have the ball return to your paddle every time without having to move the paddle.

[sidcrazy]

Burgertime by M Network had a pause feature. It was the right difficulty switch.

[Vic George 2K3]

Mousetrap lets you put your mouse in park if you enter the center area of the screen and block it off with no cats inside that area.

[Lord Helmet]

In Defender, as long as there are no landers left you can hide in the city or above the sky without anything bad happening.

[Raiu]

Two more:

 

Fast Eddie lets you pause with the Color/B-W switch. (The action stops and the maze flashes different colors until you move the switch back the other way)

Superman lets you pause with the select button. (The screen dims and it cycles through the different background areas until you move the joystick to unpause it; there's a well-known cheat using this pause in that you can put Clark in the Daily Planet right away by positioning him at the center of the screen, pausing the game, and then waiting for the Daily Planet background to be shown before moving the joystick to unpause it)

 

-DS-

[Snider-man]

Not a PAUSE feature, per se, but in Halloween, you can wait in the "safe rooms" at either end of the house indefinately. Michael doesn't appear in these rooms, so you can race to a safe room, drop off whatever kid you've collected, and take a restroom break or leave the house for a burger or something without worrying about losing a man or running out the clock (no timer on the game).

[Feralstorm]

in Pitfall 2, you can stand in a non-dangerous area for as long as you like (long enough and the screen will start cycling colors, returning to normal when you move again)

[Dauber]

Toyshop Trouble, in that the level doesn't start until you press the fire button.

[shadow460]

Ghost Manor lets you sit in one place on the first, third, and fourth screens. The game itself is timed, but you can sit there and grab the phone if it rings.

Artillery Duel won't kill you if you have to leave the controls, but I think it does fire automatically after a given amount of time.

 

In Armor Ambush, both tanks can sit still as long as necessary.

[Video]

in Pitfall 2, you can stand in a non-dangerous area for as long as you like (long enough and the screen will start cycling colors, returning to normal when you move again)

 

I seem to recall that the music will stop playing after a while if left alone, and either the music won't start, or the game freezes. I'll have to try it again and see what happens.

[jpfalcon2003]

Wish Road Runner would have had this feature. For a 1989 game, this should have been included in the game.