Arcade Stuff

[Castille7]

1 hour ago, Joseph Kerman said:

That was the problem with older games and the 8-bit programming. That is called integer overflow. The same thing happens on Pac-Man when you hit level 256, where the screen is split in half; left side had the left side of the map, while the right side was just a flurry of numbers and invisible walls.

(just a flurry of numbers and invisible walls) . I guess they didn't expect us kids to get that good at these games .

If only I could turn back the time and destroy my last ships just before 999,999  I didn't have it in me to try and do it a second time, the amount of work was very intense. Oh I forgot to mention when playing avoid the Hyperspace Button at all cost!  Nine out of ten you will not survive.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Castille7

[StupidAndy]

in a pizza place in Wisconsin I found an old timey version of Tetris

also I got a score of 60,000ish in Tetris

[pxi]

4 hours ago, Joseph Kerman said:

That was the problem with older games and the 8-bit programming. That is called integer overflow.

The high score wrapping back to 000000 when you hit a million points isn't a case of integer overflow afaik.  An 8-bit number covers from 0-255.  What you're seeing there is a case where they simply didn't include enough digits to show the score, likely because at the time such scores were thought to be impossible.

You are correct about the Pac-Man Kill Screen though.  Other examples of this can be seen in Donkey Kong, Galaga and Dig Dug.

[RoadRunnerAerospace]

Dig Dug! Totally forgot about it (I have an emulator)! Love the music in it

[Joseph Kerman]

1 hour ago, pxi said:

The high score wrapping back to 000000 when you hit a million points isn't a case of integer overflow afaik.  An 8-bit number covers from 0-255.  What you're seeing there is a case where they simply didn't include enough digits to show the score, likely because at the time such scores were thought to be impossible.

You are correct about the Pac-Man Kill Screen though.  Other examples of this can be seen in Donkey Kong, Galaga and Dig Dug.

When a 6-digit odometer hits 1000000 km, it rolls back to 0 km. Bam! Integer overflow.

[pxi]

2 hours ago, Joseph Kerman said:

When a 6-digit odometer hits 1000000 km, it rolls back to 0 km. Bam! Integer overflow.

Ok I'll grant you that.

The question though is whether internally on the board Asteroids is actually rolling the score variable back to zero when the million hundred-thousand point threshold is passed.  My suspicion would be that the score continues to increment, but the display is only showing the last six five digits.  Consider my reasoning.  1 million 100,000 is not a significant number in computing like say 256 or 65536.  There is no reason for the number to overflow because you are hitting a bit-length limit.

For all intents and purposes, yes you can probably consider it to be an overflow condition, but I really doubt it has anything to do with the limitations of 8-bit programming.

Edited August 24, 2017 by pxi

[LordFerret]

On 8/23/2017 at 11:49 AM, TheSaint said:

... bum a couple of bucks off of our parents, walk down to {wherever}, buy some candy bars and comic books, play a couple games of pinball, walk down to the river and swim in the swimming hole, hang out eating candy bars and reading comic books, walk back to {wherever}, play a couple more games of pinball, etc. ...

Ha! This positively is the definitive of summer days of my youth... perfect.

 

3 hours ago, Joseph Kerman said:

When a 6-digit odometer hits 1000000 km, it rolls back to 0 km. Bam! Integer overflow.

I actually remember when cars had 5-digit odometers. The roll-over meant your car became brand new again!... my first Chevy for instance... pay no mind to those dents and dings and rust. "For Sale: Very Low Mileage"

[maceemiller]

I remember playing 10 Yard Fight as a child growing up in the 1980`s.........that game certainly had a lot of my coins

[cubinator]

I just got a 385000 high score in Xevious. 

[Castille7]

5 minutes ago, cubinator said:

I just got a 385000 high score in Xevious. 

I had to pull up a search on this one to see what it was, I didn't remember the name, after seeing it I do remember it and this was an extremely hard game. With a 385000 high score this was very impressive. Lots of stuff happening on the screen and a very quick reflex was definitely happening.

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Castille7 said:

I had to pull up a search on this one to see what it was, I didn't remember the name, after seeing it I do remember it and this was an extremely hard game. With a 385000 high score this was very impressive. Lots of stuff happening on the screen and a very quick reflex was definitely happening.

Yes, there was a lot of stuff going on. Dodging the bullets while maneuvering into position to destroy the ground targets gets tough after a while! I was one area before the third mothership. At the spot where enemies start coming out of the bottom of the screen as well as the top. I have beaten the third mothership once, and was destroyed immediately after shooting it.

Knowing where the secret towers and extra lives are can help a lot. 

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Highscores... worth dying for.

(best Sienfeld episode ever)

For me those vertical shooter type games were always "too busy". Tons of crap flying towards and sideways to you all the time, ships coming, watch out the stream of bullets, mind the turrets, there's the mothership...  Meh, too little money waste on those games. Better waste it in something else.