Gyruss is an F?! O.O

[A Sprite]

I thought my controller was malfunctioning, but in fact it's the game that's really broken! You need to wrestle the joystick to guide your ship, and when centered at the bottom of the screen it's impossible to move right! If you want to get to the other side, you'll need to go all the way around the top! Unreal! The uptempo musical score is terrific, but music by Bach is far too good for this half-assed piece of garbage.

 

- The Videogame Critic

 

Anyone play this game on the actual hardware? In sut's new gamebase, it works fine...

[Jess Ragan]

I like the game, myself. Anyone who claims that the control is broken obviously doesn't understand how the control works. You roll the joystick to the edge of the screen where you want your ship to rest. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... if you can play Street Fighter II, you can play the 5200 version of Gyruss.

 

I've been meaning to post pictures and video clips of my high score on Atari Age, but haven't gotten around to it. I not only reached Earth, but almost did it TWICE before I ran out of lives. That's proof enough that the control in the game is NOT broken.

[walter_J64bit]

I like the game, myself. Anyone who claims that the control is broken obviously doesn't understand how the control works. You roll the joystick to the edge of the screen where you want your ship to rest. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... if you can play Street Fighter II, you can play the 5200 version of Gyruss.

 

I've been meaning to post pictures and video clips of my high score on Atari Age, but haven't gotten around to it. I not only reached Earth, but almost did it TWICE before I ran out of lives. That's proof enough that the control in the game is NOT broken.

I need to get this game, why is it so hard play?

[Christophero Sly]

Anyone who claims that the control is broken obviously doesn't understand how the control works.

Wrong! Maybe your controller works just fine for you. That's great. But like I said in the last thread on this subject, for me, and evidently many others, the stock controller does not work with this game. It has nothing to do with a lack of understanding about how the control is supposed to work in this game.

 

And do we really need another thread about this subject? I think there was enough whining about the VGC in the previous thread to last us until at least next year.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Christophero Sly

[ubersaurus]

I just got to try it out, and yeah. The controls are awful. I thought to myself, hm, all I have to do is move my controller to this point, and the ship will follow. What I didn't know is that the ship will usually just sort of get "stuck" somewhere and not move any further until I wrestle the stick.

 

Blech.

[MIKE5200]

Heck, I can't get it to work on my Maxicart

[jetset]

I thought my controller was malfunctioning, but in fact it's the game that's really broken! You need to wrestle the joystick to guide your ship, and when centered at the bottom of the screen it's impossible to move right! If you want to get to the other side, you'll need to go all the way around the top! Unreal! The uptempo musical score is terrific, but music by Bach is far too good for this half-assed piece of garbage.

 

- The Videogame Critic

 

Anyone play this game on the actual hardware? In sut's new gamebase, it works fine...

This has been discussed.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...114514&st=0

 

Controllers issues aside, the video game critic tends to review games by playing for no more than 5 minutes, if at all and quite posibly reviews them by reading the box and reading others' reviews. It's clear he does not like the 5200. He seems to be a Jag hater too, but I cent speak to that I dont own a Jag sadly.

As to the control, the fact that Jess can play fine and Christopher cannot only lends to three possibilities.

1) Jess practiced a little and Chris did not

2) Chris has broken controllers

3) They are playing 2 totally different versions.

 

We know #3 is not it, theres only 1 version

We know its not #2, since Chris sly states his controller is fine.

Possibility #1 is our winner. A little practice goes a long way.

[+remowilliams]

Interesting. Since I have the beast out for a real svideo jack refit (had enough of the Y/C RCAs) - I just tried out Gyruss with the stock sticks. Now I usually don't ever use them but they are 100% repaired and calibrated. I had no issue controlling Gyruss other than the ship occasionally stopping on one of the directional breaks, which happens when I play the A8 version as well.

 

Maybe this is an issue of calibration. Some games are REALLY picky about that using values that are far too low/high. BBSB is a prime example.

Edited December 10, 2007 by remowilliams

[Jess Ragan]

Thanks, Jetset. However, I think people are expecting me to offer proof to back up my claims. Luckily, I just happen to have some!

 

http://www.lakupo.com/grblitz/gyruss_with_stock.avi

 

It's not a perfect playthrough, but I finished the Neptune stage without too much trouble, using the stock controllers. That should be proof enough that the game is playable no matter what controller you use. Like I said before, anyone who's having difficulty playing the game isn't playing it right. Next time, treat the controller like a dial. Roll your ship into position instead of just pointing in different directions... it works a lot better that way.

[A Sprite]

It's clear he does not like the 5200.

 

Then why give Defender, Centipede, and 3 Deep high marks? We can argue his opinions on individual games, but if he's out to convince people to avoid the 5200 he needs to stop being so loose with the words "best version."

[jetset]

It's clear he does not like the 5200.

 

Then why give Defender, Centipede, and 3 Deep high marks? We can argue his opinions on individual games, but if he's out to convince people to avoid the 5200 he needs to stop being so loose with the words "best version."

 

Read his review of the system itself. He slams the controllers so badly it overshadows anything positive he does say.

many new owners actually thought they were broken straight out of the box.

 

WTF? Who? I NEVER heard of this. I would love for someone here who got one back in the day to admit to thinking this. Of course, you'd be outing yourself as a complete idiot, but still...I'd love to hear about this.

 

Anyways...nither here nor there. My guess is that there are at least 2 people doing reviews at VGC. One is an actual gamer and actually tries out the games, the other must be a dishwasher or something and maybe has pruned fingers.

 

And back to your original question I've played Gyruss on the real hardware. It works fine and is a lot of fun.

[Bruce Tomlin]

The real problem is that the 800/5200 version of Gyruss has a bug which can cause a level to not end when you have gotten rid of all the enemy ships. I seem to recall that you can smash yourself into some unkillable thingy which is still wandering around the level, but you lose a life when you do that.

 

The C64 version didn't have this bug.

[Shannon]

The issue with the ship "sticking" at the for cardinal directions happens in the arcade as well. So it's really more a result of the design of the original game itself. No fault on the 5200 versions part.

[ubersaurus]

Thanks, Jetset. However, I think people are expecting me to offer proof to back up my claims. Luckily, I just happen to have some!

 

http://www.lakupo.com/grblitz/gyruss_with_stock.avi

 

It's not a perfect playthrough, but I finished the Neptune stage without too much trouble, using the stock controllers. That should be proof enough that the game is playable no matter what controller you use. Like I said before, anyone who's having difficulty playing the game isn't playing it right. Next time, treat the controller like a dial. Roll your ship into position instead of just pointing in different directions... it works a lot better that way.

 

 

I tried that when I played(for that trick works wonders on Intellivision games) , and it would just get stuck and not move anyway!

 

For the record, I am playing on actual hardware, with fully functional sticks. They give me no issues on any other game-just that one. It's gotta be a QA issue with the game itself.

[Jess Ragan]

I disagree, and the video should explain why. However, if you are having problems, there's a potentiometer in the game system that can be adjusted to make your controllers more accurate. I had to do that to center my Wico Command Control sticks, because adjusting the trimmers on the sticks just wasn't enough.

 

Pop in a copy of Missile Command and start the game while you're adjusting the potentiometer for best results. When the cursor is perfectly aligned in the center of the screen, you're done!

[A Sprite]

I disagree, and the video should explain why. However, if you are having problems, there's a potentiometer in the game system that can be adjusted to make your controllers more accurate. I had to do that to center my Wico Command Control sticks, because adjusting the trimmers on the sticks just wasn't enough.

 

Pop in a copy of Missile Command and start the game while you're adjusting the potentiometer for best results. When the cursor is perfectly aligned in the center of the screen, you're done!

 

I think the only way we can resolve this is to have someone play someone else's copy on someone else's machine. If it's just technique, it can be taught. If there's a bad factory batch, with either the program or the controllers, it's one more colorful story about how Atari shot itself in the throat.

[+remowilliams]

If it's just technique, it can be taught. If there's a bad factory batch, with either the program or the controllers, it's one more colorful story about how Atari shot itself in the throat.

The 'rolling quadrant' based control of the ship is a technique, and it's the same one the Gyruss arcade machine uses, and the same way the A8 version plays.

 

If people can't get it working on the 5200, they have bad or improperly calibrated sticks (i.e. the norm) or they simply aren't grasping the control scheme. It's not the game itself.

[ubersaurus]

Yeah, I just tried two different controllers, and got the same results with my copy of Gyruss. The damn ship just isn't very responsive.

 

I'm not too keen on opening up the 5200 just for one game, so maybe I'll just stick with 2600 Gyruss.