Marble Madness
Manufacturer: Atari, 1984
Staff:
Graphics and game design: Mark Cerny
Programming: Bob Flanagan
Sound: Hal Canon, Brad Fuller
Description:
Marble Madness is an abstract maze game for one or two players. The
game's goal is to guide a small glass marble over a
three-dimensional maze and reach the finish line before the level's
timer has expired. Any seconds that remain on the timer when the
finish line is crossed are carried over to the next level.
As well as having to negotiate the marble over treacherous walkways
and ramps, numerous obstacles and unfriendly creatures will try to
slow the marble's progress or knock it over the edge of a platform,
wasting yet more precious seconds until a replacement marble
appears. The two-player game has players competing to reach the goal
first.
Marble Madness features six different mazes.
History:
Mark Cerny was only 17 years old when he joined Atari and designed
Marble Madness. The game was designed as part of a contest Atari ran
at the time, allowing outsiders to design a game. Mark was very well
known for his game-playing skills and easily won the contest. He
then taught himself how to program in assembly language before
joining Atari, so he found it very easy to settle in at Atari.
Released in December 1984, Marble Madness was the first game to run
on the new Atari System 1 hardware and was the perfect showcase for
Atari to demonstrate the technical superiority of its new arcade
architecture, it was also the first game to feature such impressive
and cleanly rendered pseudo 3-D Graphics. The original design brief
called for the trackball to be motorized and synchronize its spin
with that of the marble, to simulate inertia.
Marble Madness was the first game to feature true stereo sound; it
was the first game to truly capitalise on what in-game music could
offer the player, with each level having its own distinctive, and
suspense building soundtrack. Marble Madness was also one of the few
games of the time to have a definite goal, in that the game ends
when all levels are completed.
The race names are :
1. Practice
2. Beginner
3. Intermediate
4. Aerial
5. Silly
6. Ultimate
Scoring and tips:
Moving the marble: 10 points per unit
Taking a jump (Practice race only): 3,000 to 6,000 points
Killing Black Steelie: 1,000 points
Going through a tunnel or tube: 2,000 or 4,000 points
Rolling over an enemy (Silly race only): 500 points + 3 seconds of
time
Finishing a race: race number x 1,000 points
Finishing a race: seconds remaining x 100 points
Finishing the game: 20,000 points + 1,000 points per second
remaining
Finishing the game: -1,000 point penalty for every death during the
game.
Hints for how to play:
1) Anticipate your next move and start the Trak-Ball rolling in that
direction ahead of time.
2) Complete each raceway as fast as possible because extra seconds
mean extra points, and the extra time from one raceway is carried
over to the next raceway
3) Try to maneuver around the Black Steelie, or try to bump him off
a cliff to get rid of him permanently.
4) Move quickly to avoid being swallowed by the green Marble
Munchers.
5) Watch for patterns, and time your movements right to pass by
difficult obstacles.
6) Some raceways have alternate paths, so explore a bit and you may
find an easier way to reach the goal. Bonus points are given for
paths which are more difficult.
Cancel The Timer: Begin a game and then hold down either the 1 or 2
player Start and press the 'service switch' twice. The first press
will glitch the screen display slightly - the second will remove it
and give you 99 seconds to complete the level. This method adds 60
seconds to the clock, after which the normal countdown will begin.
The clock will not appear to be counting down during the first 60
seconds, probably because the 99-second display was overflowed by
the extra 60 seconds added. This method can be used multiple times
per level for virtually infinite play time.
When you play 2 players, the winner of each level gets a bonus 5
seconds (I was better than my brother, so I'd always get the 5
seconds :D). If your opponent can make it as far as the silly race,
that's an extra 25 seconds for the ultimate race, not to mention a
possible extra 10 seconds with a wand. The opponent can also
continue once (with the same time as the other player).
Some people may not realize it, but on the practice race, don't move
when you start, and after a few seconds, a ramp will appear that
will slide away the ball.
Marble Madness 2
Manufacturer: Atari, 1991
Description:
A sequel to this classic game, subtitled Marble Man, was fully
developed and a very small number of cabinets were built, but
unfortunately the game was never released and is only available as a
prototype. Unlike the first game's superb trackball control, 'Marble
Man' was controlled via a joystick.
