Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

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VideoGameCritic
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Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby VideoGameCritic » July 27th, 2021, 3:33 pm

It occurred to me that there are number of "rules of thumb" some people know by heart about their favorite classic games, but maybe some people don't know them. I was thinking it might be fun to have a thread where people can share helpful hints/tricks. I'll start.

When playing Kaboom (Atari 2600), after losing a bucket, the game dials steps back to the previous wave speed - maybe to help get your confidence back. Anyway you can use this strategically. When your score is just about to hit 1000 (about five waves in) let that last bomb fall.

When you restart, it'll be a little easier and you'll quickly recoup your bucket at 1K (you get a free bucket for every 1k).

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pacman000
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby pacman000 » July 28th, 2021, 10:30 pm

In Crash Bandicoot for the PS1, there are 2 levels with rope bridges. If you’re careful, you can walk on the bridges’ ropes, avoiding most of the levels’ obstacles.

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DrLitch
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby DrLitch » July 31st, 2021, 7:20 pm

Ghosts and Goblins / Ghouls and Ghosts - Only one tip, get the knife.

Slap Fight - A run of the mill Taito shooter. Start game, do not shoot anything, dodge projectiles as far in game as possible. When you die, you will respawn fully powered up in a much later segment of the game.

Wardner - A run of the mill Taito side scroller. The game is very easy albeit with a very difficult end boss. To kill the end boss easily, line up your character's hat with the last wall tile. Do this during the boss phase when he transforms from wizzard to a demon. You will be very close to the end boss but take no damage from his body or his projectile attacks. Just stand still and fire your projectile attack to defeat.

Shinobi - In the boss level with rotating Buddha statues, get close to the statues, crouch and fire your shurikens. Get two Buddha's on the lower tier to rotate and let them pass over you. Provided you time the second rotating Buddha, the first one will knock you forward and you can thus traverse this section (via getting knocked around) without getting nailed to the spikes since clearing all statues the normal way is quite a button mashing challenge.

Toki - Near the end of the first level, get the helmet and when you reach the boss that tosses monkeys, lightly touch the boss's torso with your helmet and then walk back. The boss will stand there (or jump on the spot) making an easy target to mow down. Not that you need any help with this game, it is ridiculously easy to beat.

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pacman000
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby pacman000 » August 1st, 2021, 9:29 am

Crash Bandicoot 2

On the ice-hub, there is a polar bear. Hop on it. Keep hopping on it! Eventually, you’ll get a (good) surprise.

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Matchstick
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby Matchstick » August 1st, 2021, 2:54 pm

Fun topic! I've been thinking this over all weekend, so apologies for the lengthy post. But, if you've been following me on these boards over the years, you know that I am rarely able to keep things short :roll:

Do well-known cheat codes count? Many of us here probably know the Konami Code by heart, but it has uses far outside of giving you 30 lives in Contra. It comes in real handy in Gradius where, if you pause the game and input the code, it'll fully power up your ship. Try putting it in again, though, and it'll make your ship explode!

There's the blood code for the first Mortal Kombat for the Genesis - ABACABB. Punch it in during one of the intro screens to hear Scorpion say "Get over here," and you're set.

Ikari Warriors for the NES lets you continue immediately where you left off if you punch in ABBA after losing all of your lives. I think this only applies to the first few levels, though, or only works up to so many uses.

In Castlevania 3 for the NES, enter your name as HELP ME to start the game with 15 lives. In Symphony of the Night for the PS1, enter your name as RICHTER after you beat the game to play as the Belmont character from Dracula X.

Many classic PC games (and modern ones, too!) will allow you to bring up the system console screen by pressing the ` key on the keyboard. It's amazing how many games have cheats that activate after punching in simple words like "god," or simple phrases like "giveallitems" or "skiplevel".

Aside from cheats, I can think of a few simple tricks for older games. In Mario 64, to avoid taking fall damage, hit the Z button right before Mario touches the ground to do a butt-stomp. You will land safely and take no damage.

In MUSHA, simply pause the game and press left or right on the D-Pad to adjust your ship's movement speed. This works at any point in the game. In a game devoid of speed power-ups, it's a pretty crucial tip to know.

In Star Wars for the NES, Obi-Wan can use The Force to revive Han or Leia if they die, up to I believe 5 times in total. This can't be used on Luke, as he has his own set of extra lives, and when they run out, it's Game Over. When on the Death Star level, you can escape the maze and make it back to the Millennium Falcon *without* rescuing Leia, if you so choose. You can then proceed to complete the game and blow up the Death Star like normal, leaving Leia on board. I think she still shows up in the ending cinematic, either way!

In the original NES Metroid, run left at the start to pick up the Morphing Ball powerup. It's amazing how many people I've known over the years that immediately run right at the start, then spend hours getting lost because the skipped the game's first item pick-up.

In Turtles in Time / Hyperstone Heist (and maybe the TMNT arcade game, too) all of the turtles have slightly different stats. Raph is the fastest in terms of movement and attack speed, but has the shortest attack range. Donnie is the opposite.

Mario 2 has similar differences in stats for all of its characters. Princess can jump pretty high and fly (!) but has the slowest pickup speed. Toad is fast as a bullet and picks items up the fastest, too, but can barely jump. To do a superjump with any character, simply hold down on the D Pad for a few seconds until the character starts to flash, then jump. It's amazing how many years went by before I figured out that last tip...

Tetris for the Game Boy (and maybe NES, too) allows you to speed up a falling block by holding down on the D Pad as it falls. If you use this method to "slam" the pieces into place, you will receive slightly more points for doing so, versus letting the piece simply fall into place at its own pace. I believe these bonus points are multiplied into line clear bonuses, as well, including bonus points for a Tetris. Great if you're going for a high score!

The original Final Fantasy for the NES has one of my favorite glitches to exploit. The second town you can reach in the game (the one where you earn the pirate ship) has some wilderness to explore to the North. At the edge of this wilderness is a peninsula the extends out into the water. It is full of very, very tough enemies from later in the game, but if you manage to win even just one battle, your characters will gain so much EXP that they'll leap ahead in levels and stats, and earn quite a bit of GP, too! Simply pitch a tent by the area, save your game, and pick a fight with the monsters there. If you win, save it, then do it again. If you lose, reset, load your save game, and try again. You'll rack up so much XP that it'll make the rest of the game a breeze - and save some massive late-game level grinding, too.

Final Fantasy 2 has similar exploits, involving a peninsula to the South of the starting town as well as picking a fight with high-level soldiers in the first town to the North of the starting town. Best of all, these glitches for both games carried over into later remakes, including Final Fantasy Origins for the PS1 and Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls for the GBA.

Finally, the original NES Mega Man is one of the only games in the series that lets you straight-up pause the action. If you have Elec Man's weapon, fire it off, then pause the game as soon as it makes contact with an enemy. Give it a sec, then unpause the game and immediately pause it again. Each time you unpause, the Elec Beam deals damage to the target. Keep pausing and unpausing until the bad guy explodes. Great against bosses.

Den
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby Den » August 1st, 2021, 4:59 pm

In Stampede, your best bet is to continually "herd" a line of three cows at the bottom of the screen, and never rope them. That effectively halves the width of the screen, and keeps you from being surprised by a dreaded black angus.

When people play DDR for the first time, they instinctually return their feet to the center after hitting each arrow. You will never advance this way. Keep your foot on the arrow until you need to move it somewhere else.

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Gentlegamer
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby Gentlegamer » August 3rd, 2021, 3:38 pm

Image

Breaker
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby Breaker » August 3rd, 2021, 10:04 pm

Hahaha! That's a great pro tip, GG!

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MSR1701
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby MSR1701 » August 4th, 2021, 7:39 am

Sega Genesis Aladdin - Pause the game, press ABBAABBA to skip to the next level.

I do not know WHY I remember that fact all these years after I used it, it just stuck. And I think I recall the Game Boy Lion King code, Pause ("Paws") and press BAAB, I think?

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MSR1701
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Re: Classic Gaming Tips and Tricks

Postby MSR1701 » August 4th, 2021, 7:39 am

Gentlegamer wrote:Image

LOL!!!!!!!!


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