RTFM Games - Games that you realise are actually fun after you take the time to, you know, RTFM

[shane857]

3 hours ago, MrChickenz said:

I’ve had this one for years, never played it. But I’m going to have a go at this one.

Watch a walkthrough video bro. the manual is no help. 😆

[+jeremiahjt]

2 minutes ago, shane857 said:

Watch a walkthrough video bro. the manual is no help. 😆

No, you have to read the manual until it says "warning, do not go further if you do not wish to receive clues." Then you try to play and realize you do not know what to do. So you go back to the manual and read the next section. But stop when it says "warning, do not continue reading unless you want the solutions."

 

You again try to play, and again you get nowhere. So you go back to the manual and read the last section. Go back to the game and still get nowhere. No you find a copy of the Tip Sheet online, read it, and go play.

 

Again you get nowhere, so now you go find a copy of the Solution Sheet online and read it. Again you try the game, but still get nowhere. Then you go watch a video of somebody finishing the game.

 

[JetmanUK]

8 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

No, you have to read the manual until it says "warning, do not go further if you do not wish to receive clues." Then you try to play and realize you do not know what to do. So you go back to the manual and read the next section. But stop when it says "warning, do not continue reading unless you want the solutions."

 

You again try to play, and again you get nowhere. So you go back to the manual and read the last section. Go back to the game and still get nowhere. No you find a copy of the Tip Sheet online, read it, and go play.

 

Again you get nowhere, so now you go find a copy of the Solution Sheet online and read it. Again you try the game, but still get nowhere. Then you go watch a video of somebody finishing the game.

 

Sounds... fun? 🤣

[+Intellivision Master]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:07 AM, JetmanUK said:

When playing classic carts I have usually purchased them stand alone, no box or manual, I am sure many of you are the same. To get more info we are then forced online to check out the manual, sometimes I do this, most of the time I do not. Well, we should do it, not only do you not get the most out of the game but you are also missing out on some of the nostalgic experience from back in the day, albeit on screen instead of on paper. I am so glad that new games will come with a manual. All this leads me onto the topic...

 

My RTFM Game discovery today is Slot Machine.

Now, I have always found slot machine games quite dull whenever I have tried them, with the Codemasters one back on the Spectrum being the best of the bunch. Well, we have a new king in town!

 

After I RTFM, I learnt that the single player game is actually against the console with the ability to vary your stake and increase your chance of winning (dependent on which game you have selected) and that this is a fun game!

I have not tried in in two player mode yet, but usually you would expect it to be even better. The game variations, like with many 2600 games really add some variety and value to the package.

 

I just beat the console with 36 coins left on game 3. Take that Atari! I will go less conservative next time, it will be fun to win by a wider margin (higher score). This is one game which I recommend that you try out, you might be surprised... just make sure that you RTFM first.

 

What are your RTFM Game recommendations? Please share, along with a screenshot and the manual.

 

Slot_Machine_1979_Atari.pdf 565.18 kB · 6 downloads

It's funny you mention this game.  Because a YouTuber recently did a video on it.

 

[John Stamos Mullet]

On 4/29/2024 at 7:29 AM, JetmanUK said:

E.T. is probably the most famous RTFM game.

Raiders too.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Fighter Pilot, pretty ambitious simulation.

[+jeremiahjt]

11 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

Sounds... fun? 🤣

I actually find it fun. I had it as a kid, but I did not have a manual. I never thought to try the right joystick, so I was never able to play it, even though I tried.

 

Last summer I decided to try to beat the game, and I wanted to do it right. Like I would have back in the day with only the manual. I could not do it.

 

But once I did some research and could beat it myself, I found it quite fun. Particularly trying for the Easter eggs.

[MrChickenz]

23 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Fighter Pilot, pretty ambitious simulation.

So I had to look this one up. I never heard of Fighter Pilot. Always enjoyed flight simulators. Is there a 2600 version of this game? If so I wasn’t aware. F14 Tomcat came up in my search the label on the cartridge is for 2600. I have this for 7800. Had it since I purchased a 7800 when they were first released. Can’t say I played much but that’s because I can’t say I read the manual!

 

Now I have to read the manual and revisit this one!

Edited May 1 by MrChickenz

[+jeremiahjt]

4 hours ago, MrChickenz said:

So I had to look this one up. I never heard of Fighter Pilot. Always enjoyed flight simulators. Is there a 2600 version of this game? If so I wasn’t aware. F14 Tomcat came up in my search the label on the cartridge is for 2600. I have this for 7800. Had it since I purchased a 7800 when they were first released. Can’t say I played much but that’s because I can’t say I read the manual!

 

Now I have to read the manual and revisit this one!

The 2600 version of Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator was sold as Fighter Pilot in Europe.

Edited May 1 by jeremiahjt
Spelling

[JetmanUK]

Today's RTFM Game. 

 

Golf

 

This is a little different. You don't need to read the, ahem FLIMSY manual due to complexity of game modes or controls, but actually to learn how to position your Golfer in relation to the ball.

 

When I've tried this game previously I've wanted to destroy my screen. However, when you have the manual at hand, which I have played with it in front of me for reference, then it's fun. I bet two player would be hilarious. 

 

Heres the key part of the manual, excuse my holy copy.  Incidentally it doesn't actually show how you play the ball directly up or down l, but you can figure that out like I did. 😋

Top tip  - You can step away from ball for a practice swing and not incur a penalty. 

 

Here's a screenshot for those who haven't seen the game. (This is me practicing, on my light sixer with S-Video mod through a Retrotink to HDMI. Super impressive picture quality eh?).

 

Try it out, but with the FLIMSY manual for reference. 🤟🏻

Edited May 1 by JetmanUK

[NicodemusLegend]

On 4/29/2024 at 10:01 AM, JetmanUK said:

As an Atari fan I have a confession, I have never played Haunted House... or Adventure! 😱

 

This is because I didn't play them back in the day so looking at them so long after release they look super primitive, even for 2600 games, plus I'm more of an arcade gameplay kinda guy. However, I know that fans of these games say that they still play well, so I should sit down and give them both a try.

 

Thinking in more modern terms, Haunted House looks more interesting to me as I prefer a horror game to a Zelda game. 🤷🏻🤣

FWIW, I'm right there with you. I can't quite bring myself to play them, despite the clear love many fans have for both games, because they look so primitive, even by 2600 standards.

My loss, I'm sure.

Edited May 1 by NicodemusLegend

[JetmanUK]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

Today's RTFM Game. 

 

Golf

 

This is a little different. You don't need to read the, ahem FLIMSY manual due to complexity of game modes or controls, but actually to learn how to position your Golfer in relation to the ball!

 

When I've tried this game previously I've wanted to destroy my screen. However, when you have the manual at hand, which I have played with it in front of me for reference, then it's fun. I bet two player would be hilarious. 

 

Heres the key part of the manual, excuse my holy copy.  Incidentally it doesn't actually show how you play the ball directly up or down, but you can figure that out like I did. 😋

Top tip  - You can step away from ball for a practice swing and not incur a penalty. 

 

Here's a screenshot for those who haven't seen the game. (This is me practicing, on my light sixer with S-Video mod through a Retrotink to HDMI. Super impressive picture quality eh?).

 

Try it out, but with the FLIMSY manual for reference. 🤟🏻

How about an 18 hole sequel?! 

 

I need to check if there's a hack available, I think there may be. 

Edited May 1 by JetmanUK

[CapitanClassic]

@JetmanUK, Nukey Shay made a hack that allowed you to edit the courses, and increase the holes to 18. I tried my hand at trying to edit a couple of holes, but the code that controlled object placement was a little over my head.

 

[JetmanUK]

11 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

@JetmanUK, Nukey Shay made a hack that allowed you to edit the courses, and increase the holes to 18. I tried my hand at trying to edit a couple of holes, but the code that controlled object placement was a little over my head.

 

Thanks for sharing, I thought I may have seen a hack.

 

All I need now is a brain hack to make the position of the golfer make sense to me. 

[shane857]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:44 PM, jeremiahjt said:

I actually find it fun. I had it as a kid, but I did not have a manual. I never thought to try the right joystick, so I was never able to play it, even though I tried.

 

Last summer I decided to try to beat the game, and I wanted to do it right. Like I would have back in the day with only the manual. I could not do it.

 

But once I did some research and could beat it myself, I found it quite fun. Particularly trying for the Easter eggs.

Yes, and the great thing about the game is you can keep doing multiple play-throughs, as the location of the Ark changes when you reset the game.

[Video]

While the manual can be part of the experience, especially with the old 2600 and its limited resources, I find the manual is usually not needed to make a game fun. Playable, sure, but not fun. Granted if you can't play a game, sure, that is no fun, but I see rtfm in lots of cases where the game is perfectly playable, but still isn't all that fun, such as ET. Holes, holes, f#$%ing holes. No amount of manuals can change that.

 

That said, there are plenty of games that you need to RTFM, to even play. Any of the adventure types, adventure, Indiana Jones, haunted house, and yes, ET. Though if you read it for one, their largely the same game.

 

Ill say RTFM is a great idea anyways, and atariage is a great resource, containing most manuals for various Atari consoles, and especially on 2600 where many games have features that aren't automatically apparent. Such as asteroids, the base game is just vertical rocks, but RTFM and you find you can adjust them to be more horizontal, have the UFO and other neat stuff. Berserk has no Otto on the base game, but you can have him full on, or killable. Lots of games let you adjust lives, or speed, and like I said, atari limited resources meaning most games are dip driven, rather than menu driven. Sure, you might luck on something just fiddling with switches (a/b difficulty being most obvious) but the manual will have a list of settings, and maybe breakout with smaller paddles will indeed be more fun for you.

 

RTFM!

 

[Sean_1970]

On 4/29/2024 at 5:37 PM, MrChickenz said:

I’ve had this one for years, never played it. But I’m going to have a go at this one.

Games like this and ET may require reading the manual, but I very much disagree they would fit the title of this thread in being regarded as “fun.” I bought Raiders again out of nostalgia since I had it back in the day - I’ll be impressed if you can beat it even with the manual as it’s horribly obtuse and not a fun game. E.T. for 8-bit is light years better than the 2600 version, but still avoids being “fun” quite successfully.

 

There are definitely Atari games where you need to read the manual, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head where my experience changed because I did so, simply because I always read the manual back in the day. But my choices for games that are more fun/playable if you do would be: Haunted House, Yars Revenge and Star Raiders (not on this platform, sadly).

 

I still have to try Radar Lock after reading as folk in the Collecting thread have said that’s a game in this category.  I have it on Evercade and previous attempts have failed 🤔

Edited May 3 by Sean_1970

[JetmanUK]

1 hour ago, Sean_1970 said:

There are definitely Atari games where you need to read the manual, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head where my experience changed because I did so, simply because I always read the manual back in the day. But my choices for games that are more fun/playable if you do would be: Haunted House, Yars Revenge and Star Raiders (not on this platform, sadly).

 

I still have to try Radar Lock after reading as folk in the Collecting thread have said that’s a game in this category.  I have it on Evercade and previous attempts have failed 🤔

 

I wonder what someone would think of Yars Revenge without RTFM, I did read it back in the day and clearly understood what I was supposed to do.

Without it there are some unique game mechaincs which could cause some confusion for sure.

 

Radar lock is good, I like it, it sratches an After Burner itch (One of my favourite Spectrum arcade conversions, I played the arcade but the home version was loaded up many many times).

 

You mentioned the Evercade, I wonder that the Alpha is? Mini Arcade cabinet? Switch style dockable handheld with more power? Hmmm.

Edited May 3 by JetmanUK

[Sean_1970]

5 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

 

I wonder what someone would think of Yars Revenge without RTFM, I did read it back in the day and clearly understood what I was supposed to do.

Without it there are some unique game mechaincs which could cause some confusion for sure.

 

Radar lock is good, I like it, it sratches an After Burner itch (One of my favourite Spectrum arcade conversions, I played the arcade but the home version was loaded up many many times).

You mentioned the Evercade, I wonder that the Alpha is? Mini Arcade cabinet? Switch style dockable handheld with more power? Hmmm.

Yeah I almost didn’t mention Yars, but the Zorlon cannon definitely needs a bit of understanding. Trial and error you could probably get to grips, but more fun going in knowing what you need to do.

 

Ill be editing video of the two new Evercade releases today for upload, so might give Radar Lock another go 😉

 

The “Alpha?” What’s that? I subscribe to the Evercade YouTube channel. Other than new colour schemes for the VS and EXP I’m unaware of any new hardware.

[JetmanUK]

2 minutes ago, Sean_1970 said:

Yeah I almost didn’t mention Yars, but the Zorlon cannon definitely needs a bit of understanding. Trial and error you could probably get to grips, but more fun going in knowing what you need to do.

 

Ill be editing video of the two new Evercade releases today for upload, so might give Radar Lock another go 😉

 

The “Alpha?” What’s that? I subscribe to the Evercade YouTube channel. Other than new colour schemes for the VS and EXP I’m unaware of any new hardware.

The Alpha name was spotted on the box for the new dark coloured joypad. Then Evercade added this to their site.

 

Alpha : Evercade

 

All we know right now is that it is compatible with the standard VS/VS-R joypad controller. Everything else is speculation. I hope it isn't a hardware upgrade as I feel that the console is currently powerful enough for the kind of games they sell. I don't want it too turn into a 3D era emulation box, no thanks. I don't mind it having the odd early 3D title, like Glover for example, but I think it's focus would be better kept on old 2D arcade and computer/console games and modern indie 2D retro games. Let's see.

[Sean_1970]

1 minute ago, JetmanUK said:

The Alpha name was spotted on the box for the new dark coloured joypad. Then Evercade added this to their site.

 

Alpha : Evercade

 

All we know right now is that it is compatible with the standard VS/VS-R joypad controller. Everything else is speculation. I hope it isn't a hardware upgrade as I feel that the console is currently powerful enough for the kind of games they sell. I don't want it too turn into a 3D era emulation box, no thanks. I don't mind it having the odd early 3D title, like Glover for example, but I think it's focus would be better kept on old 2D arcade and computer/console games and modern indie 2D retro games. Let's see.

Well they’ve already announced Giga carts and the Tomb Raider games for PlayStation are up for pre-order so that’s already happening. It’s not forking the hardware so clearly they knew what they were doing when they designed Evercade. If they’re going further then you will definitely need a dual stick joypad so I’d get one if they patch in support for older titles that would benefit - I’m also not a fan of early 3D games.

 

Now I’m intrigued, but given what’s on the website I’m not surprised there wasn’t an email or YouTube promo 😂

[MrChickenz]

53 minutes ago, Sean_1970 said:

I still have to try Radar Lock after reading as folk in the Collecting thread have said that’s a game in this category.  I have it on Evercade and previous attempts have failed 🤔

I had my eye on Radar Lock for a while because of reviews. I have on my list, but my list is forever changing and growing!

I am curious about this one.

[Sean_1970]

2 minutes ago, MrChickenz said:

I had my eye on Radar Lock for a while because of reviews. I have on my list, but my list is forever changing and growing!

I am curious about this one.

I’ll likely do a short video of the results 😁

[JetmanUK]

41 minutes ago, Sean_1970 said:

Well they’ve already announced Giga carts and the Tomb Raider games for PlayStation are up for pre-order so that’s already happening. It’s not forking the hardware so clearly they knew what they were doing when they designed Evercade. If they’re going further then you will definitely need a dual stick joypad so I’d get one if they patch in support for older titles that would benefit - I’m also not a fan of early 3D games.

 

Now I’m intrigued, but given what’s on the website I’m not surprised there wasn’t an email or YouTube promo 😂

A lot of the early 3D stuff has aged badly, that's why I don't mind them only putting a little on there, hopefully just good stuff. If they go into newer 3D well what's the point? I will play my Xbox or PS5. They need to stick to popular or rare early games.

 

Do you collect the carts or just buy the ones you like the look of?

Yeah the Giga carts are for larger capacity, so it does give a nod to more recent games, it could be the begining of the end.

 

The early Tomb Raider games used digital controls anyway so they should be fine on the current controller. I don't want analogue and I don't want more power, I want retro. Lets see if they know their market, they try to push too advanced and their USP is gone and they die. Surely they aren't so stupid...

Edited May 3 by JetmanUK

[Sean_1970]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

A lot of the early 3D stuff has aged badly, that's why I don't mind them only putting a little on there, hopefully just good stuff. If they go into newer 3D well what's the point? I will play my Xbox or PS5. They need to stick to popular or rare early games.

 

Do you collect the carts or just buy the ones you like the look of?

Yeah the Giga carts are for larger capacity, so it does give a nod to more recent games, it could be the begining of the end.

 

The early Tomb Raider games used digital controls anyway so they should be fine on the current controller. I don't want analogue and I don't want more power, I want retro. Let’s see if they know their market, they try to push too advanced and their USP is gone and they die. Surely they aren't so stupid...

I don’t collect, but I have over thirty carts. I’ve bought ones I thought I might like, but had to admit I wouldn’t be likely to spend time with them. There has to be at least one game in there I really like or it goes to a charity shop 🤷‍♂️

 

I bought my PlayStation to use to play classic arcade games and didn’t mess with most of the 3D stuff unless it was retro-adjacent, but most of those weren’t very good because the 3D was a gimmick (Centipede, Frogger and Robotron games come to mind). There were a few original games I enjoyed, but like you say most of them were published and/or developed by Sony, so I can get them on my PS5. There are some that weren’t. If Blaze did a Bushido Blade collection I’d be thrilled. Losing PSOne backwards-compatibility was a bit of a blow as I could no longer play those or Legacy of Kain. I was able to get Block Kurishi again when that got a retro release on PS5 and of course they had to remaster Parappa to make that work. I bought Um Jammer Lammy on PS3 and it was unplayable due to lag - hopefully that will get a remaster, but Sony doesn’t seem to be doing much with their catalogue any more 🤷‍♂️. I also liked some kind of futuristic cop in a chopper game I can’t remember the name of and a twin stick shooter that Bruce Willis contributed voice work for - I can’t remember if they were Sony titles or not. Oh Die Hard Arcade would be amazing - no voice work by the actors as I recall, so possibly just licensing 😁

 

Giga could also be used for Doom or Quake comps - the original X-Com games would be aces too, just depends on if they can get the rights. But if they just end up putting out Geko collections, well…

Edited May 3 by Sean_1970