Atari 7800 Vs. NES

[Alienblue]

Well, AF, you are a better gamer than most of us then. I beat the NES Double Dragon on my third play, but I cannot get more than a third of the way through level one on the 7800 using proline sticks! And I'm not alone, even most Atari sites give this a low grade due to the controls.

It's not alone though...I found the old Gameboy and Sega Master System DD's to have awful control, too. Maybe if I had played the 7800 version first....

(can you get past one level on the 2600 version?!)

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Well, AF, you are a better gamer than most of us then. I beat the NES Double Dragon on my third play, but I cannot get more than a third of the way through level one on the 7800 using proline sticks! And I'm not alone, even most Atari sites give this a low grade due to the controls.

It's not alone though...I found the old Gameboy and Sega Master System DD's to have awful control, too. Maybe if I had played the 7800 version first....

(can you get past one level on the 2600 version?!)[/QUOTE]

I never played the 2600 version (although I understand it's terribly easy if you attack in certain orders).

The 7800 version is really, really easy once you learn a few tricks (it's the easiest version I've played).  Most important is that you should do whatever you can to hang on to a weapon, as it makes it really easy to beat up on enemies (it's more important in this version than the NES version).  However, the more esoteric strategies I learned come from Cousin Vinnie:
http://flipsiderunner.com/7800/doubledragondc.html

Once you use those strategies, beating the game becomes a foregone conclusion.

Also, if the prolines are giving you trouble, you could order a joypad online.  I have one on the way and I'll let you know how it is.

[Funkmaster V]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Well, AF, you are a better gamer than most of us then. I beat the NES Double Dragon on my third play, but I cannot get more than a third of the way through level one on the 7800 using proline sticks! And I'm not alone, even most Atari sites give this a low grade due to the controls.

It's not alone though...I found the old Gameboy and Sega Master System DD's to have awful control, too. Maybe if I had played the 7800 version first....

(can you get past one level on the 2600 version?!)[/QUOTE]

I never played the 2600 version (although I understand it's terribly easy if you attack in certain orders).

The 7800 version is really, really easy once you learn a few tricks (it's the easiest version I've played).  Most important is that you should do whatever you can to hang on to a weapon, as it makes it really easy to beat up on enemies (it's more important in this version than the NES version).  However, the more esoteric strategies I learned come from Cousin Vinnie:
http://flipsiderunner.com/7800/doubledragondc.html

Once you use those strategies, beating the game becomes a foregone conclusion.

Also, if the prolines are giving you trouble, you could order a joypad online.  I have one on the way and I'll let you know how it is.


[/QUOTE]

Well, thank ya!

Cousin Vinnie
PS: The Scrapyard Dog dog thing will be hosted at my site to for future reference.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Funkmaster V]
PS: The Scrapyard Dog dog thing will be hosted at my site to for future reference.
[/QUOTE]

That's what I figured.  It's good to know you're still finding new stuff for the Froo Froo, as it's probably my most frequently visited site without a forum.  
I was going to do up a guide for Super Huey (reality mode) and ask you to put it up, but I'm just making a Super Huey 7800 website instead.  

[Leo Ames]

The 7800 gamepads are nearly as useless as the Pro-Lines, buy a 7800 arcade controller from the GoatStore if you want a good 7800 controller.

I'm shocked there's anyone playing Super Huey for the 7800, it was a terrible game 20 years ago and it hasn't gotten any better with age.

[Funkmaster V]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

[QUOTE=Funkmaster V]
PS: The Scrapyard Dog dog thing will be hosted at my site to for future reference.
[/QUOTE]

That's what I figured.  It's good to know you're still finding new stuff for the Froo Froo, as it's probably my most frequently visited site without a forum.  
I was going to do up a guide for Super Huey (reality mode) and ask you to put it up, but I'm just making a Super Huey 7800 website instead.  
[/QUOTE]

Wow, that is an interesting project. What compelled you to do that?

FUNK

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Leo Ames]The 7800 gamepads are nearly as useless as the Pro-Lines, buy a 7800 arcade controller from the GoatStore if you want a good 7800 controller.
[/quote]

My JAMMA stick should arrive close to the time my joypad gets here.  I hardly think the prolines are useless however.  When I hear people say any of Atari's controllers (except the easily broken 5200 ones) are terrible, I always get this mental picture of someone holding the controller upside down and trying to play it with their teeth and then giving up in disgust.  The 7800 controllers and Jag controllers really aren't that bad.  They're certainly better than the Intellivision, CD-i, Coleco controllers.

[quote]
I'm shocked there's anyone playing Super Huey for the 7800, it was a terrible game 20 years ago and it hasn't gotten any better with age.
[/QUOTE]
That's why I'm playing it.  Because it isn't good, it's one of the few things in the Atari world that isn't already recieving attention from someone else.  I might be the only person alive who actually can give a set of instructions on completeing reality mode. 
The sad part is that with a little work the arcade mode could have been pretty solid.  Make it so your fuel can run out in that mode if your helicopter is hit, make it so one of the critical system failures is an obstructing crack in your window, and throw in a couple weather conditions and it'd basically be a helicopter version of Robot Tank.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Funkmaster V]
Wow, that is an interesting project. What compelled you to do that?

FUNK
[/QUOTE]

I've been wanting to contribute something to the Atari community for awhile, but everything was already done better than I could do it.  However, I can't find anything overly helpful on this topic, so I figured I'd make something helpful on it. 

I'm really enjoying making the website, and now I think I may make one for each of the 7800 flight simulators and link them together as, say, the Atari 7800 flight school.  I think I will write with a German accent for Ace of Aces for some reason. 

I'm finding this a good way to make the game more enjoyable (which I guess wouldn't take much).  Did you know that if you fly for awhile with the engine reved all the way up the helicopter will stop working?  If you're high up, you'll have lots of time to try to restart it, but it doesn't seem to want to turn over again.  I'm finding out all kinds of stuff like that.

[Alienblue]

God I hate flight simulators! I would love to fly a REAL plane, but in a videogame MAKE IT SIMPLE. Whether on the 7800 or PS3 I just do NOT like games that require more study than a college algebra course. I thought this was supposed to be fun? Give me CHOPLIFTER or AFTERBURNER anyday!

I tried and tried, 3 different controllers, all those Double Dragon "strategies" to no avail. The enemey is too relentless and the controls make anything but a straight punch or kick nearly impossible. This is one time I'd have to agree with the VGC's score! (One problem is it is hard now to go "back" to DD after playing Streets of Rage, anyway. It's a classic game but hasn't aged as well as other scroll/fighters).

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]
I tried and tried, 3 different controllers, all those Double Dragon "strategies" to no avail. The enemey is too relentless and the controls make anything but a straight punch or kick nearly impossible.
[/quote]


The only move you need is the over the shoulder punch, and it's simply holding up (which you should almost always be doing anyway) and pressing punch.  If you're using the strategies I linked to a difficult move would be, say, the straight punch, which would force you to do something silly, like let go of "up".

Here's the only section of the strategy you need if you're simply interested in a "no frills" completion of the game. 

[QUOTE=The Froo Froo]
***Baddies move in 2 modes; "Attack mode" and "Intimidation mode". To discern from the 2 is easy. Just go to the top of a screen and hold "up" on your controller. Those who keep moving are in "Intimidation mode". Those who are standing still are in "Attack mode". Bad guys in "Attack Mode" can counter-attack if attacked. Those in "Intimidation mode" can be sucker-punched (or kicked). To move characters into "Intimidation mode", just wiggle the joystick around until the bad guys start walking around aimlessly instead of chasing you. You should always try to get the bad guys in "Intimidation Mode", because they are defenseless and easy to kill. This is a useful technique to prevent 4 baddies from picking on you at once, and to get them into a position to be easily taken down***
- The over-the-shoulder technique; In my mind, this is the most powerful attack. One hit always takes them down. To better facilitate this technique, find a good hard wall, stand about 1.5 character lengths away from it, facing away from it, and force the enemy into "intimidation mode". When this happens, just keep over-the-shoulder attacking the baddie, and they'll hit the wall, and get up right behind you, where another blow is inevitable before they can retaliate. An enemy can be taken out in less than 10 seconds with this technique. There are lots of screens with useful side walls, including the final scene with the shadow boss.

[/QUOTE]
None of the other moves aside from over the shoulder punch need ever be used.  I personally use the jumping back kick and forward kick as well as the weapons, but that's just being unnecessarily flashy about it.  


By the way, my joypad just arrived.  With the thumb stick removed, it makes the unecessary special moves in this game a lot easier to pull off.  One problem I have with the joypad right now though is that it feels leftward shifted a little, like the A and B buttons are a little too far over.  Still, it is better for this game.  I'm going to go now to see if it helps in Impossible Mission: Version NTSC Possible Mission.