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Atari game difficulty settings A or B


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#1 Ite OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 4, 2011 2:40 AM

Hey guys sorry if this has been asked before but is the A setting normally the easier setting? I figured it was but remember some settings had to be on B. Anyone have a list of difficulty settings for each game? Thanks guys.

#2 Ite OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 4, 2011 3:19 AM

Wait is B the most normal Easy setting instead of A?

#3 disjaukifa OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 4, 2011 7:10 AM

Yes I think "B" was called easy and "A" was called normal. I've also heard it referred to as novice and pro as well.

Edited by disjaukifa, Tue Oct 4, 2011 7:10 AM.


#4 SpiceWare ONLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 4, 2011 10:07 AM

I remember it as
(A)dvance
(B)eginner

You can check the settings using the AA database for the game manuals.

#5 Rex Dart ONLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 4, 2011 10:09 AM

Yup, I've seen it as Beginner and Advanced also.

#6 krslam OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 10:06 AM

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

#7 disjaukifa OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 10:23 AM

View Postkrslam, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 10:06 AM, said:

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

I did not know that . . . good to know! Learn something new every day!

#8 Torr OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:33 PM

They also turn off the Phoenix music, controls Vanguardss firing setup and bring up the map screen in Starmaster.
They don't ALWAYS affect difficulty.

For a lot of games the A Position makes them closer to the arcade originals, granted it DOES increase the difficulty, but...
No UFOs or Satellites in Asteroids? Where's the fun in that?
No red balls in Q*Bert? bad enough they left out the gremlin who hopped all Escher-esque, but why would you WANT to leave out another enemy???

Edited by Torr, Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:35 PM.


#9 SlowCoder OFFLINE  

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Posted Thu Oct 6, 2011 5:53 AM

View PostSpiceWare, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 10:07 AM, said:

I remember it as
(A)dvance
(B)eginner
... is what I remember also.

They really aren't "difficulty" switches at all. No more than the BW/Color, select and reset switches are. They are simply toggles to flip registers in your game software, to be used as the programmer wishes. A mere extension to the joystick controller. But, they are labeled as they are for the most commonly used functions.

#10 Syntaxerror999 OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:45 PM

View PostTorr, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:33 PM, said:

They also turn off the Phoenix music, controls Vanguardss firing setup and bring up the map screen in Starmaster.
They don't ALWAYS affect difficulty.

For a lot of games the A Position makes them closer to the arcade originals, granted it DOES increase the difficulty, but...
No UFOs or Satellites in Asteroids? Where's the fun in that?
No red balls in Q*Bert? bad enough they left out the gremlin who hopped all Escher-esque, but why would you WANT to leave out another enemy???

Dont forget shuttle controls in Space shuttle and menu changing in ridle of the sphinx

#11 JQW ONLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:27 AM

You could only play Backgammon properly if both switches were in the A position. When set to B, one switch let you dial-in numbers on the dice, whilst the other let you position pieces to where-ever you wanted.

#12 Torr OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:24 PM

And it's for these reasons I dont get why they moved the switches to the back and made them tiny. [sarcasm] Good thing they left the Color/B&W switch easily accessible on every model, I remember that was the first switch I ever wore out it got so much use [/sarcasm]

#13 SlowCoder OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:55 AM

View PostTorr, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:24 PM, said:

And it's for these reasons I dont get why they moved the switches to the back and made them tiny. [sarcasm] Good thing they left the Color/B&W switch easily accessible on every model, I remember that was the first switch I ever wore out it got so much use [/sarcasm]
I appreciate that sarcasm. :) They probably thought (and would have been correct, though it doesn't matter) that it would have made the machine look lopsided with 5 switches.

#14 NE146 OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:57 AM

View Postdisjaukifa, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 10:23 AM, said:

View Postkrslam, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 10:06 AM, said:

And, oddly enough, the difficulty switch turns the music on and off in Moon Patrol.

I did not know that . . . good to know! Learn something new every day!

It also controls the music in Pengo, In Phoenix it toggles the bird sound effects.

#15 player 0ne OFFLINE  

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Posted Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:47 AM

in othello the difficulty switches allow you to pre-place playing pieces. can only play game is both switches are in proper position.

#16 Atari Hacker OFFLINE  

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Posted Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:23 PM

In Space Invaders, the difficulty switches change the size of your ship!

A makes your ship really big and B makes it small

I don't even see the point in the switches, most later games use the game select option to makes it easier and harder
(Try play game 12 in Berzerk and you'll see what I mean)

#17 SoundGammon ONLINE  

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Posted Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:32 PM

The Sears version of the 2600 has EXPERT(A) or NOVICE(B)!

#18 SpiceWare ONLINE  

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Posted Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:16 AM

View PostAtari Hacker, on Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:23 PM, said:

I don't even see the point in the switches, most later games use the game select option to makes it easier and harder
Seems like most of the later games, like Berzerk, were 1 player games. In 2 player games the Difficulty Switch allows one player to be handicapped (such as having the larger, easier to hit ship, in Space Invaders) so that Dad could play Jr. and have the game be somewhat more even.




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