15 replies to this topic

[MegaManFan]

Having never played this game in the arcade when it first came out in the 80's, and having not bothered to read the instructions for the game in Midway Arcade Treasures (nor trying to find any when playing the Atari 800 emulation version) I totally missed the point of how to play. NovaXpress was over at my house this weekend and we fired up the Treasures comp and proceeded to start a game. He's hitting me up with advice about which waves are the best to build a bridge on, and for all I know he could be talking about the song by Limp Bizkit. "Build a bridge?" I say.

He then proceeds to shoot down an enemy, zip to the left side of the screen, pick up a piece, and zip to the right to drop it off.

"Umm, I didn't know that."

"You didn't know that was the point of Satan's Hollow?"

"I thought it was a Galaga game where you just shoot all the flying enemies!"

No kidding. I never even knew there WAS a bridge in the game until he showed me how to do it and get to the screen with Satan. In fact I thought Satan was the fire breathing demon who shows up between waves of the birds! When I saw the real Satan, it was actually a let down. According to Nova, it was back then too.

So really, am I the only one this stupid, who never knew what the actual point of playing Satan's Hollow was before now?

[PaulEMoz]

Well, I only played it for the first time on Arcade Treasures, and I didn't have a clue about the bridge until the time I watched the attract mode. I have to say, I felt pretty stupid myself.

[GrizzLee]

I loved this game back in the day. I finally played it again after all these years on the Midway Arcade Treasures and... well let's say this. It hasn't aged very well. It seems very bland and flat compared to say Galaga. I'm not sure why I liked it back then.

-Lee

[rpmxxipt]

I think Satan's Hollow is great.. I didn't play it much in the day because all my borrowed quarters were getting pumped into Battlezone, but there's never been a Bally/Midway game I didn't like.. and that includes the Sente games too!

Just an observation, it seems like Midway never upgraded their video hardware from Satan's Hollow all the way through what, Xenophobe? That was always kind of the charm to me of Midway games, the blocky high school-style cartoon artwork and the cheesy sound effects.

Anyone know what the last old-style game Midway released prior to MK was? Was it Pigskin 620 AD?

rpm

[oesii]

MegaManFan said:

So really, am I the only one this stupid, who never knew what the actual point of playing Satan's Hollow was before now?

I'd have to say "Yes"

Although I'm sure there are games I've missed the point of for years, if the controls were too complicated I probably skipped it back in the day. Except for Raiders of the Lost Ark, I loved that one.

[MegaManFan]

Nova told me their hardware for Tron and Satan's Hollow was almost identical, down to the funky joystick (except that it was red instead of blue). Even the high scores at the end look the same, with only two letters per entry and your ranking is 11, et cetera.

[NE146]

Yep. Build a bridge. I figured this out when I was a kid, but there was an inital playing period when I didn't know this. I do remember seeing the bridge piece under my gun and wondering what it was.. until of course I dropped it off on the right and figured it out from there.

This brings up an interesting thought. Usually older games are thought of as "simple" and "straightforward", but yknow, a lot of them had some little objective, or special move, or trick that wasn't immediately discernable or sometimes almost impossible to know about to someone just jumping in and playing for the first time today without the aid of any arcade instructions or explanation.

I'm struggling to think of other examples though.. but I know I've encountered it many a time on one game or another...

[desiv]

I seem to remember "back in the day" I discovered this by accident also..

I heard this sound and I was dragging this piece around.. Then I went right and "klink", in it went... I suppose if I'd stayed more central in the screen, it might have taken much longer to figure out, but I was always getting myself caught in the corners in those types of games.. :-)

However, personally, I think it aged great.

It's still one of my all-time favorites and I'm disappointed it's not in Vantage, which is the emulator I use in my Arcade machine.. I picked Vantage because of speed, but since I've upped my MB/CPU since then, time to revisit and put MAME on there... Bummer is that Vantage and ArcadeOS are working so well.. :-) :-)

desiv

[Scooterb23]

Wait...you're supposed to build a bridge??? Huh...I did not know that...

[The MilkMan]

Yes! Satans Hollow! Wow, I have that for the C-64. Havn't played that one forever! Since late 80's I'd say....time to clear the dirt off the 'ol Commodore!

[Cootster]

rpmxxipt said:

Anyone know what the last old-style game Midway released prior to MK was?  Was it Pigskin 620 AD?

rpm

Wasn't there an arcade version of General Chaos? If so, it was probably the last, since it came after Pigskin and was designed by the same team . . .

[Ze_ro]

I cut my teeth on this game back on the C64. I didn't know at first about the bridge either, but I very quickly (like, 20 or 30 seconds into my first game) figured it out by accident ("Hey, there's something over there, I'll pick it up"... "What the..? I touched the side of the screen, and it locked in place!" *repeat*).

Regardless of how fast I caught onto the game, I still completely suck at it. I never remember to use the shield.

--Zero

[NovaXpress]

We were testing the 5200 version actually, then switched to the Xbox comp so I could show you how weak Satan was.

We nailed that bastard a few times, but couldnt get past that "holy shit" level. Has anyone else finished Blaster and reacxhed paradise? Is there any sign of the 30-level version? Does anyone know how to warp on Marble Madness?

[MegaManFan]

Sadly if we don't start a fresh thread, these important mysteries may go unnoticed and/or unsolved.

You're right, we played the 5200 version first. Seems to me Satan sucks just as much on either one!

[Sanriostar]

NovaXpress said:

Has anyone else finished Blaster and reached paradise?

I can do it on a pretty reliable frequency on the PS Midway 2 comp!

[NE146]

NovaXpress said:

Has anyone else finished Blaster and reacxhed paradise?

If you're like me, to reach it start it up in Mame and hit the Cheat option for unlimited life. You'll reach Paradise in no time