From: ericc@Apple.COM (Eric Castle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Why walk throughs?
Date: 18 Aug 92 01:40:17 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

In article <1992Aug17.165520.6526@ultra.com> howard@ultra.com writes:
>In article <l8terdINNhin@aludra.usc.edu>, rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung) writes:
>|> In article <1992Aug16.191729.1112@random.ccs.northeastern.edu> penfold@dworkin.ccs.northeastern.edu (Karl J von Lauderman) writes:
>|> 
>|>   The thing is, nowadays players EXPECT secret codes in their games, and the
>|> designers feel obligated to put them in. Is that silly or what? It makes the
>|> whole thing kind of stupid -- why not forget the codes, and choose "invincible
>|> play" as an option from an easily-accessible menu? Maybe someday someone will
>|> market a video game with no "game" at all, but lots of codes for players to
>|> discover...
>|> 
>
>Oh give it a rest.  I'm not big on invincibility or special powerups, but
>show me a game without level select and I'll show you a game that'll quickly
>collect dust on my shelf.  Maybe y'all have oodles of time to toy with these
>games, or maybe you're all just so talented and coordinated that any new game
>takes about an hour to finish, but some of us find an hour or two a *week* to
>squeeze in a little game time, and having to go through from the beginning is
>just a death sentence for a game.  I want to get further, reach some goal,
>see the ending, just as much as anyone else.  If I ever find a level select
>code for Marble Madness, maybe I'll stick it back in the Genesis and give it
>some more play.  Till then, I'll stick with Sonic or Shove It or NVRAMers
>like Phantasy Star.
>
Agreed! I don't have a lot of time to spend playing video games either and
even when I do I usually get stuck at some boss or some other point in a 
level and can't get any further. Then I want a level select - that way I can
bypass the part I can't get by and at least see the rest of the game that
I probably paid $50 for.  Revenge of Shinobi comes to mind. I just couldn't
make the jumps over those vertical logs falling down. I tried many, many times
but just couldn't make it. Part of the problem with this game is that when you
die you get SENT BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE LEVEL and have to repeat the
damn level every time just to get to the logs and die again, aaarrrggg! I 
really hate games that do this. I believe that when 
your character dies in a game you should start exactly where you died. Maybe
after finishing all your lives and then using continues should you be put at
the beginning of the level. Terminator is another game that does this and you
only get one stinking life and no continues ( although I haven't even made
it thru the 1st level yet ). I guess I just have a low frustration point
when it comes to games like this which is why Revenge of Shinobi is gathering
dust in a closet.  

Also sometimes it just gets plain boring having to start at the beginning of 
a game just to get to the level you where on last. Castle of Illusion is
such a game for me. I can make it thru all the levels except the
last one and would like a level select to just choose that level and be
done with it. Even a passwd feature would be nice like the one for Desert
Storm so that at least after you finish a level you can always then start at
the next level. 

Level select should be a part of all games that have levels, IMHO. It shouldn't
be some secret code either but selectable from the options menu. 

Also codes that give you invincibility and the like are ok with me, I rarely
use them - mostly because I can't remember the codes in the first place. But
it is kinda fun now and again to just cruise thru the game and check it out
especially on a game like Gaiares which is really hard and I probably won't
ever get psat the 2nd level.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Where's that Game Genie for the Genesis at? I'm definetly buying it.

Eric Castle
ericc@apple.com