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Dragons have driven the Royal Court from the Castle.
"O we are lost, lost" laments the King. "Without our vast treasures we cannot raise an army 'gainst these accursed dragons. Our Kingdom must now languish under lizards!"
"Nay, not so, my liege!" replied the young Prince. "None knows that Castle, those many bridges and storerooms, better than I. Give me leave and I shall loot those lizards of their plunder and restore my lord to his birthright."
"Brave boy," said the King, fully pleased. "But," he added darkly, "beware dread dragonfire!"
Game Information
Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday March 16th at 1:00 AM (Central Time, UTC-6). |
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Scoring Points in Dragonfire
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Hints and Tips
The Manual
As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Here are the hints it provides:
- Don't spend any more time on the bridge than you have to. Cross it as fast as you can and you'll encounter fewer fireballs.
- If you face an impossible combination of fireballs on the bridge, run back to the right tower if you can make it in time...you're safe there. Or make the Prince squeeze through close-trailing fireballs by jumping from a crouch (pull joystick and press button at the same time).
- In the treasure room, run fast to the objects. KEEP MOVING! Return to the hiding place if you need a rest, because the Dragon never stops hunting.
We played this game twice before in the High Score Club, back in Season 2 and again in Season 4. You may want to check out those threads for more hints and tips.
JacobZu7zu7
STARTING A GAME,
When starting or resetting a game of Dragonfire, look at the bottom of the screen... where your total of lives are, The correct total of life's should reach the second ZERO in your score, (6 lives in reserve). Sometimes when hitting reset or the fire button, You suddenly are missing 1 life!!
To avoid this, before starting a new game, just shut down the power switch and turn it back on. For some odd reason the fire button takes away one of your lives in reserve and only give you (5) back up lives and not (6).
THE BRIDGE
You are safe from both two flames behind the right corner of the castle! If you run out on the bridge nervous, and unsure, and two fireballs are on their way adjacent to each other, run right and jump right to safety.
If there's no time to run from the top flame, DUCK the top flame,...then run right back to the castle, since you can "always" outrun the bottom flame.
There's also a time where you CAN get passed two closely spit together flames, to do that... duck the top flame, then JUMP in PLACE to avoid the bottom flame. Always keep trying to press left into the Castle. Don't stall!
I've gotten passed the bridge my last game, (over 15ks) every time losing ZERO lives!
You actually can jump over the bottom flame (still in a tuck position), THIS helps me a lot... and stops me from running back home on the bridge. Practice jumping the lower slower flames, in a TUCK, but remember the flame has to nearly be burning your knees, before you should jump.
If you jump at all soon, you will burn. It always works on those two SLOW flames. It's to tricky to stay tucked and jump the bottom flame, when you don't have to, only use this when you get advanced enough, and that top fire is close to the bottom and there's no time to run back.
If you are at a beginner level, you should practice jumping on the bridge,
and learn different ways to cross. Just keep doing it, before ever entering the castle/treasure room.
CROSSING THE BRIDGE
My best technique so far, is... I first run out almost half way, stop... duck the first flame, jump the second... then wait in a tuck, for the next flame to shoot over my head (never try to jump across here) always wait for the third flame above to cross. Then when that flame goes over your head, raise back up and jump again... INTO the castle. Sometimes another bottom flame will appear, but if you get your footing/technique right... your jump will clear it.
DON'T TRY TO JUMP to the castle after ducking only one top flame, it's only 70% effective. After tucking that "second" fireball speeding past your head, come up, and jump into the castle. I recommend jumping into the last space into the castle, don't run, because of that sudden bottom flame
that occurs, about 30% of the time.
INSIDE THE TREASURE ROOM
Don't try to snag treasures straight to the (LEFT) of your safe box, if one treasure is sooo close u can smell it (left of your starting zone), that dragon will fireball you dead before you can even reach it! Don't try that pattern over again either, same thing will happen and 3 lives or all will be lost! Also before re-entering the room "WAIT" a second after losing a life in the treasure room, you don't wanna send another man out to get burned by fire that's not even crossed to the top yet! Make sure all fire is cleared before leaving the box again, always use an angle upward!
You can snag one treasure to the RIGHT side of the box, but it's probably smart to get back in your box after doing that!
If you don't want to run immediately out of the safe box, after clearing the bridge, make sure you pull down/right on your joystick. Doesn't matter if you left the box for a second, the dragon has to cross the left
side of the screen to get you, you are fast, you will get back in the box if you pull the joystick down/right. If you wanna get out of the box, always angle yourself up/left corner in doing that. Or you can try mostly UP. NEVER try straight across the dragon! Also a problem can be, if you don't put enough angle on your left running... that FIRST fire ball will most likely sizzle you down!
The first 4 levels of Dragons don't shoot fire at the farthest right or left! You can hide anywhere at the far left or right side if the screen! For beginners this is a great way to avoid dragons in the first 4 rounds, that are literally "hot" on your tail. However, once you reach the yellow dragon on the 5th level... you cannot use the left or right side of walls to escape, which now brings to the next tip.
Your treasure box, is your only true safe place in the treasure room, after level 4 (the red dragon). So, if you struggle getting away from the fireballs, approach from the upper left corner, then zoom diagonal down/right
The skating around technique, if you feel lost but don't want to go back into your treasure box, the dragon follows you, so... skating around the room, in a figure 8 fashion, (but a number "8" laying on it's side) you can weave fire, and maybe snag a few final treasures to escape. The number 8, technique, works best with the treasures nearest to the dragon, those tough ones! You gotta either weave a tight 8, 'till you reach that last 1 or 2 treasures, or you can kinda go straight up and down, snag... then fly diagonal up/right to the exit box.
To exit the treasure room every time, it may be a mild risk, but when heading upper left to the exit, just before hitting the box, I always like to hit the left wall, and push right on the joystick. So I always am able to get in the exit box. I never miss it, by hitting the left wall for a half second before entering. Of course if you are barely outrunning flames, you might need to swing right and back left to exit safely.
Rush, but don't rush in treasure rooms,
This is vital, I'll explain... the dragons fireballs often are slower then you are! Many mistakes happen from "over steering" the joystick in a panic to clear the room of treasures. Remember there's no time limit!
Patience is a key needed, in difficult patterns to snag the treasures. Sometimes (outside the box) just waiting for the fire to "near" you and then moving out into your next pattern or exit/safe box, can be helpful. I find myself running into fire, instead of knowing better. I'm working on it, but I think the real rush starts at the yellow dragon and beyond that. I rarely lose 1 life before the white dragon now.
ADVANCED TIPS (WHITE DRAGON ROOM),
The White dragon is one tough punk as* b*tch! One technique that works for me, is don't always try to clear every single piece of treasure and leave. Instead look at the treasure and visualize a route! Then you can snag most, or even just a few treasures, then go back into your safe box for a mental break! This will stop the dragons fireballs and reset him! You should actually (visualize) a plan a new route each time you leave your box... you also can repeat this as often as you want. Just practice getting back into your safe box in one piece, using the diagonal right/down, on the joystick... it takes practice but it works for me!
All dragons go from the left screen to the right, so I like to hop out of the box immediately,(UNTILL THE WHITE DRAGON LEVEL) the White Dragon fireballs really can put you at "game over" quickly, this could prove a deadly move... I find it better now to plan where you want to run to, before
leaving your safe box. When it's time to leave, don't go left out, don't even go left/diagonal, a fireball will sizzle you to ash. What I find works, is push up with a (slight) angle... you will just clear the first fire ball, then try a figure 8 route to dodge the fireballs and get some treasure, use the safety box if you need to!
Memorize the Dragons fireball patterns, he shoots about 3/4 first straight then a curve or a last "middle ball", it's very tough to outrun and dodge these, swerving around left to right, and going back to your safe box is what works for me so far.
You might want to practice difficulty level (4), it starts you further in the game, and you get to figure and improve your technique against the white dragons without having to do so many early levels.
--Zero
