Dodge 'Em

[Ite]

Used to have it when I was a kid, just got it in the mail from ebay. Very fun game and gets intense, not much to look at but once you get into it real real fun.

[Gabriel]

This was one of those games which made an impression on me as a kid.

 

Before the Dillards department store my mom liked to shop at started displaying the Odyssey 2 running Quest for the Rings, they had an Atari 2600 displaying Dodge 'Em. Sometimes, they would even let me play it!

 

Back then, I thought it wasn't very good. But it was a videogame, so it made up for it in cool points.

 

Nowadays, though I don't own the cart, I load it up on Atari Anthology on the PS2 and play from time to time. I appreciate the game much more as an adult than as a little kid. I even showed one of my buddies who had never seen the game before. Two player is fun.

[+SpiceWare]

it's one of my favorites.

[StanJr]

Had only played it briefly as a kid, and wasn't impressed. But then I played it again a few years ago and discovered how good it really was. Too bad it tops out so soon.

[yuppicide]

Would be nice to have a Dodge Em style game with different mazes to drive through. That would make it challenging.

[Atari-Jess]

I only enjoy it because its one of the older games. Its alright but Im not a fan.

[NE146]

Anyone know any good patterns?

[Ite]

Anyone know how many rounds there are all together?

[LYNXGUY]

Dodge'Em was one of my favorite games for the 2600, I wonder if there are any Dodge'Em type games for the PC

[D.Yancey]

Anyone know how many rounds there are all together?

903520[/snapback]

The max score is 1080. You cannot lose any lives to get this score because of the way the score is figured. IIRC, I think there are 6 boards to complete?

[joeybastard]

I love Dodge 'Em but it ends WAY too soon. Somebody should do a D2 with changing mazes and no topping out. Maybe on later levels there's multiple bad guys.

[128bytes]

I love Dodge 'Em but it ends WAY too soon.  Somebody should do a D2 with changing mazes and no topping out.  Maybe on later levels there's multiple bad guys.

903726[/snapback]

 

 

I agree, but on game 3, with 2 player simultaneous action (one player is the regular car and one is the crash car, then it alternates), it totally rocks and I've never had a topping out problem.

[StanJr]

Here is a thread I started awhile back that talks all about Dodge 'Em.Dodge 'Em of the Past

[Ite]

So after the 6th round it ends or freezes or what?

[StanJr]

game just stops, goes to attract mode.

[Nukey Shay]

You will automatically lose a car every 5 screens IIRC...so the effect is just as if you crashed your car. The game then loops back to the first round for the next car.

 

Patching over this limitation doesn't sound too challenging, but alternate mazes would be (since you would need to come up with a layout, rewrite the kernal a bit to create that pattern...and then redefine the car "rules" to operate within that layout). Coding a game from scratch to take advantage of more generic data would be easier (and yield a greater number of alternate maze screens).

[Ite]

You guys must be super good to even get to the last round. Maybe if I practice more.

[Zonie]

hummmm.dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-screech-dit-dit-dit-dit-crash!

 

Oh yeah. I played the crap out of that game when I was a kid. It was called "Head-on" in the arcade. Played that one too.

[Nukey Shay]

You guys must be super good to even get to the last round. Maybe if I practice more.

904796[/snapback]

 

It's not so difficult really...just spiral in toward the center and spiral back out...all at top speed except slowing down momentarily as the car(s) try to hit you in the center.

 

This quickie gets rid of the automatic car removal...but it wrecks havok with the score (the game was designed so that the total # of lives must NOT be more than 1 when you reach 1000 pts. due to ram-sharing..that's how come it was written that way).

Dodge__em_endless_.zip

[Foxsolo2000]

Dodge Em was a perfect arcade translatation for it even looked the exact same as its arcade counterpart. They had one in the local arcade I used to frequent and it was virtually ignored for I was the only one who ever played it. The forerunner to Pacman and yet few realised it.

[supercat]

Dodge Em was a perfect arcade translatation for it even looked the exact same as its arcade counterpart.  They had one in the local arcade I used to frequent and it was virtually ignored for I was the only one who ever played it.  The forerunner to Pacman and yet few realised it.

937510[/snapback]

 

Indeed, the only real novelty in Pacman is the energizers (though in fairness that's a pretty big novelty). Any games prior to Pac Man that allowed the player to turn the table on otherwise-deadly enemies? The Donkey Kong 'hammer' is the same sort of thing, but I'm pretty certain that came later.

[silverpoodleman]

Some of you talk about how easy it is. I like it because I find it quite challenging. At first, I wasn't able to complete the first screen for, oh, the first 98 attempts. It is a VERY satisfying accomplishment to finally get there. After all, isn't that what makes these games so much fun? You keep playing until you figure it out - kinda like life (uh-oh - to philosphical - dial it down man!)

[NE146]

The forerunner to Pacman and yet few realised it.

 

True. But although Dodge em/ Head on may have came out slightly earlier, I think Space Chaser is more of a closer ancestor to Pacman since it had that free movement and you were being chased.

 

But then again I guess most everything evolves from something else.

 

[Paul Slocum]

not much to look at...

903168[/snapback]

 

Try this version.

_8dodge_songmn.zip

[vdub_bobby]

not much to look at...

903168[/snapback]

 

Try this version.

938008[/snapback]

 

Sweet!