Great Hierophant Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Back in the pre-crash days, how did one cheat? There were strategy guides available for popular games, but how well did they help? There certainly weren't any Game Genies or Pro Action Replays to manipulate ROM and RAM. I doubt rapid fire was a big thing back then as most shooters fired at set intervals. I guess that the only way to cheat would be to find something in-game and exploit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Put your buddy's skill switch to "expert" A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 LOL I actually did that the other day on Frogs and Flies -. he had been getting twice my score then it was all he could do to stay on the lilypad ! when we were both "experts" We did closer to the same scores but he still beat me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Some games would allow the use of frying to scramble up the state of various things (or the console switches could have an effect like Space invaders' double missiles)...others had odd reactions to various controllers. And some had glitches that could be exploited (like Pac-Man's tunnel glitch). All of those could be considered "cheating", I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinball22 Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 I think the tunnel glitch in Pac-Man is a vital feature -- since there's no pause button, it's your chance to go to the bathroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
128bytes Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Well, away from the Atari VCS, if you call memorizing cheating, it seems like everyone was memorizing the routes through Arcade Pac-Man and the Rubik's Cube -- there were entire books, which I owned, on just those topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 In Indy 500 you could drive through the wall and back to cross the finish line before your buddy could make it around the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 I could drive through the wall but not before my buddy could make it around the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Well, away from the Atari VCS, if you call memorizing cheating, it seems like everyone was memorizing the routes through Arcade Pac-Man and the Rubik's Cube -- there were entire books, which I owned, on just those topics. I hated it when I found out Pac-Man had patterns you could learn. I wanted the ghosts to have a bit of randomness thrown in. They would still have their personalities, but you wouldn't be able to count on some stupid pattern to win. You'd actually have to play the game. I'm pretty damn sick and tired of all the patterns necessary to beat video games. I want a challenge, not a memory exercise. I got enough of that in history class back in school.--Joe Santulli (from a Digital Press article) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 I could drive through the wall but not before my buddy could make it around the track. I think it was only on the hard ice track with all the turns. That was 25 years ago, I could be remebering it wrong. Your buddy driving skill may vary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIPITBULL Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 The only thing I had to help me cheat on a 2600 game was another friend of mine named Jeff, this guy would not leave his house after he got home from school and would play Atari all day long, so if I needed some extra help to win, Jeff would tell me what to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 I think the tunnel glitch in Pac-Man is a vital feature -- since there's no pause button, it's your chance to go to the bathroom. Once it happens, you can rack up an unlimited score by just collecting vitamins...but it's real slow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian M Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Cheating back in old days? Well, aside from "word of mouth" rumors and strategies from your friends at school, that was pretty much it. I didn't know that gaming mags existed nor did I have access to strategy guides of any sort. You could also give your opponent a faulty joystick to use (you know, sticks that were well worn and gave inconsistent results when moving in certain directions!) to give oneself an advantage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinball22 Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Once it happens, you can rack up an unlimited score by just collecting vitamins...but it's real slow I never actually did that, just used it as a good chance to pause. My Mom was the one who made the most use of it... she was astonishingly good at 2600 Pac-Man, and a single game could take her > 6 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 The only real "cheating" I remember back then was when one of us wasn't happy with our game progress so we'd hit the Reset button and start over. When you had others waiting to play, reseting your game to start over was definitely cheating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic George 2K3 Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 1. Get a controller that did "auto-fire" (what the Nintendo generation would call "turbo-action") for games that required repeated pressing of the action button, either instead of or in addition to normal action button functions. 2. Read up on whatever books or magazines were available at the time for cheats that other players discovered. I can't think of anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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