The Great Skill Level Debate

[LynxVGL]

Back in the golden oldies 80's, I remember the careful choice I would make before selecting a Skill Level on a CV game. Out of the box with DK, I always thought that skill level #3 was "arcade" difficulty. Use skill level #1 to get familiar with controls and games, and then bump up to #3 for "Arcade Quality." I remember being cheesed that Parker Brothers Games seemed to go 1-6 instead of 1-8. Was "Star Wars Arcade" on #3 harder than the Arcade or the same?

 

What surprises me more though, is reading through threads and seeing how many people enjoy skill level #1, and don't make much noise about moving up to the "intended" skill level. "Mousetrap" for example, is VERY different with the birds for example. I assume the birds are in the Arcade (I only have seen "Mousetrap" in the arcades ONCE, and that was back in the 80's for s couple of weeks, and I was not a Pac Man/Clone fan back in the day).

 

Today, when I power up my CV, I still move up to #3 on the new games I add to my collection and the great originals.

 

What is your opinion on bridging the skill level gap?

[jblenkle]

When I originally played all these games back in the 80s, I always played on Skill Level 1. When I decided to start keeping my high scores, I'd briefly try the other Skill Levels, but never seriously...just to put up some kind of score. I never realized that in most of the games, the higher Skill Levels had different features and enemies, etc. Now, playing these games in the HSC, I realize I didn't know what I was missing back then!!!

 

Back in the golden oldies 80's, I remember the careful choice I would make before selecting a Skill Level on a CV game. Out of the box with DK, I always thought that skill level #3 was "arcade" difficulty. Use skill level #1 to get familiar with controls and games, and then bump up to #3 for "Arcade Quality." I remember being cheesed that Parker Brothers Games seemed to go 1-6 instead of 1-8. Was "Star Wars Arcade" on #3 harder than the Arcade or the same?

 

What surprises me more though, is reading through threads and seeing how many people enjoy skill level #1, and don't make much noise about moving up to the "intended" skill level. "Mousetrap" for example, is VERY different with the birds for example. I assume the birds are in the Arcade (I only have seen "Mousetrap" in the arcades ONCE, and that was back in the 80's for s couple of weeks, and I was not a Pac Man/Clone fan back in the day).

 

Today, when I power up my CV, I still move up to #3 on the new games I add to my collection and the great originals.

 

What is your opinion on bridging the skill level gap?

[+Gemintronic]

I've always considered skill levels to be crutches for poor game design. If people need to drop down to level 1 then you've designed the game such that not everyone in your audience can play. If people are forced to crank the difficulty up you've missed something important that would keep the game from being boring.

[SKELETOR68]

Pepper II is in the same boat, level 1 has no Zipper Ripper and only 4 eyes chasing you I believe, level 2 is starts getting harder with the Ripper, Level 3 (Arcade ver) very fast, I am too scared to try level 4.

[+LS650]

If people need to drop down to level 1 then you've designed the game such that not everyone in your audience can play.

I agree. A game should start off so simple that even your grandma can play it for a minute or so without dying off, then ramp up the difficulty level over time.

 

Recently I bought Astrododge for O2. I don't know how it compares to other console versions, but I find it hellishly difficult. I don't think I've played a round that lasted more than 30 seconds. Very disappointing especially considering the cost to buy it!

[Manoau2002]

 

"Recently I bought Astrododge for O2. I don't know how it compares to other console versions, but I find it hellishly difficult. I don't think I've played a round that lasted more than 30 seconds. Very disappointing especially considering the cost to buy it!"

 

 

The CV version is crazy hard as well.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Manoau2002

[fiddlepaddle]

I might occasionally play level 1, or start there if I never played the game before, but these days I usually start on level 4. If I can't play it at all, I'll dial it back and try again. I'd rather learn on the hardest difficulty so I hone my skills faster.

 

For example, Pepper II on level 4 is still usually a quick game for me, but I have cleared all four mazes four times before game over (after several years of practice).

 

I really prefer games that ramp up automatically based on my skill.

[NIAD]

When I was yyunger, I used to always start on Skill #1, but now-a-days I usually start on Skill #3 and have found that I was missing out on a lot of gameplay elements. I think Coleco made a wise decision in offering four different skill levels on most of their games to cover the wide spectrim of player experience and it's nice to see when Homebrewers offer the same or similar skill options in their games.

[mufla]

Thanks for starting this topic. I had no idea that there were new gameplay elements on higher levels. I have been playing Pepper II for 30 years on level 1. Any other ones besides Pepper2 and Mousetrap?

[cimerians]

I used to always pick #4. I got so good at some games that I would play for hours on anything less than 4. In reality I think Skill #3 is probably the best.

 

 

Thanks for starting this topic. I had no idea that there were new gameplay elements on higher levels. I have been playing Pepper II for 30 years on level 1. Any other ones besides Pepper2 and Mousetrap?

 

I think Smurf is missing the hawk or bat. Dragonfire has no archer and I cant remember the other games, I'd have to play them. Sometimes the features would be missing temporarily until you passed a few screens or levels.

[VectorGamer]

Thanks for starting this topic. I had no idea that there were new gameplay elements on higher levels. I have been playing Pepper II for 30 years on level 1. Any other ones besides Pepper2 and Mousetrap?

 

Frantic Freddie is a much different game on Skill 3. On Skill 3, there's a cat that appears in the windows and he will jump down. You have to catch him or you lose a life. Very difficult compared to Skill 1 and IMO an entirely different game.

[+GoldenWheels]

Along these lines--all my original CV controllers are absolute shite. Thus I have to use a Sega pad to play.

 

I realized you can choose the difficulty to start the game with the pad....up and down are two difficulties levels and left and right are another two, with one of these being 2p modes and the other 1p modes (can't recall which is which at my desk).

 

Has anyone mapped out what directions on a sega pad choose what difficulty? Am I too hopeful to assume an 8 way pad (with diagonals) will account for the 8 difficulty modes??

 

I am simply not familiar enough with colecovision games to do it but by what you guys are saying, someone who knew a particular game really well could map this out by recognizing the various changes in the game...right?

[Pixelboy]

 

Frantic Freddie is a much different game on Skill 3. On Skill 3, there's a cat that appears in the windows and he will jump down. You have to catch him or you lose a life. Very difficult compared to Skill 1 and IMO an entirely different game.

 

I discovered that the skill levels in Strike It! are more than just about skill: Skill level 3 actually lets you play in two-player co-op mode, and another skill level lets 4 players play in a sort of alternating co-op mode!

[WispFollower]

I love skill level three. If anyone has any games they feel confident about playing on skill three, take a pic of your score and post it on my skill level three challenge thread in the Colecovision high score area. Let's get some friendly competition going. I've been slacking, but I'll get some new scores up soon.

[hardhat]

Well, when I was 10, skill level 1 was plenty challenging for me. But on favorite games I'd learn the skill level 2 through 4. Yes there are game elements that are missing or less deadly on lower skill levels. Now, I am more skilled as a player and I usually pick 3 or 4 for serious progress.

[Tempest]

I always thought Smurf was too easy (well it is a kids game), so I decided to try level 4. Holy hell if it isn't too hard now. I was humbled a bit.

[+grips03]

I agree. A game should start off so simple that even your grandma can play it for a minute or so without dying off, then ramp up the difficulty level over time.

 

Recently I bought Astrododge for O2. I don't know how it compares to other console versions, but I find it hellishly difficult. I don't think I've played a round that lasted more than 30 seconds. Very disappointing especially considering the cost to buy it!

 

I love this game, but I wish it had a kid level too as it supports 2 players and it would be nice to play the game with the kids

[+grips03]

Along these lines--all my original CV controllers are absolute shite. Thus I have to use a Sega pad to play.

 

I realized you can choose the difficulty to start the game with the pad....up and down are two difficulties levels and left and right are another two, with one of these being 2p modes and the other 1p modes (can't recall which is which at my desk).

 

Has anyone mapped out what directions on a sega pad choose what difficulty? Am I too hopeful to assume an 8 way pad (with diagonals) will account for the 8 difficulty modes??

 

I am simply not familiar enough with colecovision games to do it but by what you guys are saying, someone who knew a particular game really well could map this out by recognizing the various changes in the game...right?

 

sometimes keypad on port 2 works, otherwise hack the Sega pad into the standard controller so you can use its keypad

 

pressing direction won't help when selecting skill level

[+thegoldenband]

I always liked arcade games that let you select a starting wave + bonus points for selecting a higher wave. That's a nice mechanic, and lets you skip ahead once you've gotten early levels down.

 

Do any CV games use the numbered skill level settings to let you start play as if you were on Level 3, 5, etc.? Some games on other consoles do, e.g. Raid on Bungeling Bay for NES and several Imagic Intellivision games.

[+GoldenWheels]

 

sometimes keypad on port 2 works, otherwise hack the Sega pad into the standard controller so you can use its keypad

 

pressing direction won't help when selecting skill level

 

It's how I start all my games. So it's clearly doing something on the skill level screen.

 

I ran down and did a quick experiment with two games (Zaxxon and PepperII) to assure that it wasn't likely to be a game specific thing and came up with consistent, if puzzling, results:

 

LEFT on the D-pad starts a one player game

RIGHT on the D-pad starts a one player game

UP on the D-pad starts a two player game

DOWN on the D-pad does (here I was puzzled) NOTHING but...

DOWN and LEFT on the D-pad starts a two player game (so clearly not a registering as a LEFT input alone as that would be 1p)

 

But, DOWN and RIGHT on the D-pad does nothing (That puzzles me, again)

 

I can't truly check UP with any right or left input as I cannot be sure it isn't just be registering as UP alone, or RIGHT/LEFT, or both. I guess none of this surprises me, that mapping would be totally inconsistent on a controller not made for said system.

 

But then, and not to go to far down the rabbit hole but, when I get in game, the D-pad then works as the stick on the Coleco controller would (Puzzling me, thrice) ...if that is the case, does that mean you could use the Coleco number pad as a directional means (replicating the stick) in game as well? I can't know or test as all my controllers, all 4, have none working keypads. But if it's not a dual use thing with the original controller, how can the mapping be right for controls but wrong or inconsistent for the level/difficulty selection screen? Seems to me if it's wonky on one it should be wonky on the other?

 

My apologies if this is all explainable in some noobish way, as I said I am really not familiar with Colecovision. But my Sega D-pad is definitely doing things, consistently and repeatably (at least across two games) on the level/player selection screen.

[+GoldenWheels]

Also I apologize if I am derailing the thread with my big post there. I realize that was not the point of this thread.

[+grips03]

 

It's how I start all my games. So it's clearly doing something on the skill level screen.

 

I ran down and did a quick experiment with two games (Zaxxon and PepperII) to assure that it wasn't likely to be a game specific thing and came up with consistent, if puzzling, results:

 

LEFT on the D-pad starts a one player game

RIGHT on the D-pad starts a one player game

UP on the D-pad starts a two player game

DOWN on the D-pad does (here I was puzzled) NOTHING but...

DOWN and LEFT on the D-pad starts a two player game (so clearly not a registering as a LEFT input alone as that would be 1p)

 

But, DOWN and RIGHT on the D-pad does nothing (That puzzles me, again)

 

I can't truly check UP with any right or left input as I cannot be sure it isn't just be registering as UP alone, or RIGHT/LEFT, or both. I guess none of this surprises me, that mapping would be totally inconsistent on a controller not made for said system.

 

But then, and not to go to far down the rabbit hole but, when I get in game, the D-pad then works as the stick on the Coleco controller would (Puzzling me, thrice) ...if that is the case, does that mean you could use the Coleco number pad as a directional means (replicating the stick) in game as well? I can't know or test as all my controllers, all 4, have none working keypads. But if it's not a dual use thing with the original controller, how can the mapping be right for controls but wrong or inconsistent for the level/difficulty selection screen? Seems to me if it's wonky on one it should be wonky on the other?

 

My apologies if this is all explainable in some noobish way, as I said I am really not familiar with Colecovision. But my Sega D-pad is definitely doing things, consistently and repeatably (at least across two games) on the level/player selection screen.

I just tried the Super Action Controller joystick and it just sits there, perhaps the Sega pad is haunted

[+GoldenWheels]

I just tried the Super Action Controller joystick and it just sits there, perhaps the Sega pad is haunted

 

Ha well I certainly can't check that one....my Super Action Controller is also toast (well, it will go left, sometimes)! ALONG with the steering wheel I got. I mean, I know what "untested" on ebay usually really means but damn my luck has been really bad so far as Coleco in this regard!

[+grips03]

I like the skill levels, but wished they used a selection method that would not require Coleco controllers to be used, make it more like Mecha8.

 

Smurf game has great balance due to skill selection

[NIAD]

Do any CV games use the numbered skill level settings to let you start play as if you were on Level 3, 5, etc.? Some games on other consoles do, e.g. Raid on Bungeling Bay for NES and several Imagic Intellivision games.

Two come to mind, Star Wars and Moonsweeper, but I can't think of any others right now.