Are some games too fast or am I too old?

[RandyT]

@PBJ

Don't feel bad.  Psygnosis started out on the Amiga.  Their early games pushed the graphical limits for their time, but they can also be somewhat frustrating unless you really put the time into them.  The learning curve for some seemed more like a straight vertical line.

But once you die about 50 times, it "clicks" and the games are fun to play and usually have good replay value.

[Xiaou2]

If your leafs are too old and worn... then they wont have enough spring resistance, and it will be too easy to bottom out.

No, that's just the way they are.  Even the player 2 start button (you know, the one which got the least amount of use) is soft and easily bottoms out.  You seem only to have experience with badly installed leaf-switches on conversions which were placed too close to the plunger.  If they were as tight as you describe, they would need constant adjustment and replacement as the contacts would take a terrible beating from scrubbing against each other.  I have just such a conversion unit here and it arrived with the contact points gone because they were worn flat.  The ones on my Defender panel still have plenty of life and they still have factory soldered connections to the wire harness.

 Metal Fatigue has been discussed here before.  I didnt really consider it, before that point... but after visiting Funspot, and trying to play a Robotron
that had badly fatigued Leafs... I realized that the problem is exactly as Described.   Especially considering, that I have played a friends Robotron,
that has good leafs installed in it, not that far from the time of the Funspot trip.  I could easily tell the difference between the two.

 Yes, you can try to over-Bend certain fatigued springs... to get more resistance... but even with that, if the metal is too fatigued, it will
quickly lose that bend, and will go back to being way too weak.  (which is exactly what was happening with the Funspot Robotron)


 Id assume that some MFG may have used different buttons and or leafs, for the Start buttons.  As they do not need a long travel, and they
are not used much.

 I can say, that I recall having some leaf buttons, that have a much longer travel, than others.
I will also say, that many Leafswitches tend to have more than two leafs.  They have a 3rd leaf, that provides extra spring strength.

 I will also say, that Ive experienced Spring Fatigue from Spring driven Toys... when I was collecting certain old mechanical toys...such as
the game "Frenzy".   Frenzy's ball-drop mechanism, relies on a set timing / speed... and once the spring was fatigued, it couldnt rotate
the mechanism fast enough, to end up dropping multiple balls on the field... before the player could get a single ball into the score chute.

The big problem with  "LIGHT ACTIVATION force micros",   is that they are Too easily activated.  Just resting your fingers
on the buttons.. and they often accidentally fire.

That's not an issue with the switch, rather the spring in the button itself.  If you lack the control to keep from accidentally actuating the switch, you can give the spring a stretch and make it as firm as you like.  What you don't want is that "bump in the road" created by the snap-spring mechanism in the switch.

 I tried your trick, to pull and extend the spring... but it was still WAY too lose/light, as far as resistance goes.
Those particular springs, are not high tension springs.  They are thin, light-pressure "return" springs.  They are made to return a lightweight
piece of plastic... NOT meant to resist the downwards pressure of a human Finger.   You would need a much Beefier spring for that.

[Xiaou2]

@PBJ

Don't feel bad.  Psygnosis started out on the Amiga.  Their early games pushed the graphical limits for their time, but they can also be somewhat frustrating unless you really put the time into them.  The learning curve for some seemed more like a straight vertical line.

But once you die about 50 times, it "clicks" and the games are fun to play and usually have good replay value.

 I bought an Amiga, mostly because of the  Psygnosis  game,  Shadow of the Beast.  I was very impressed with the multi-parallax scrolling layers..  the artistry of the graphics.. and the great stereo soundtrack.   However... upon playing the game at home... It was pretty awful.  Most of it was cheap Pop-Ups that would sap your health.  The rest was precision timing.

 As good as it looked.. it wasnt actually "Fun" to play.   Its gameplay was Clunky, slow, and "Wonky".

 I played a Demo version of  Wipeout.. and I was also impressed with the Graphics... but the control of the Ship, was absolute Sh*T,  IMO.

 I tried "Rewind" ("The Killing Game" ?)  for the Genesis... and while it played OK... it was not that fun,  and,  it wasnt even that graphically interesting either.

 I think the only  Psygnosis  game that I enjoyed playing, was  "The Adventures of Lomax"  for the  PS1.   It actually had pretty decent control, and OK gameplay.
The graphics were a thing of Beauty, on that game.   That said, from what I recall, the gameplay was a bit "Basic".   If given the choice, between playing
Lomax vs Ghouls and Ghost... Id always prefer G&G...  Or on the same console... Rayman (original).

 The biggest problem with most PC games, was a steep difficulty, due to the fact that they didnt have a lot of memory and storage to work with...
so to make up for that.. then made certain areas, nearly impossible, and often, very "Quirky".

 One of the few Amiga games, that played almost as good as any Arcade game... was  Battle Squadron.   The only issue with BS, was the lower level
difficulty, if you lost any of your powerups.  In that sense, it became similar to R-Type (best to start over from scratch, if you lose a life)... but still not
quite as brutal as R-Type.

 But even when  Psygnosis  creators were given a console to work with..  IMO,  they still had various gameplay issues, that prevented them
from becoming great / fantastic games.

[RandyT]

I played a Demo version of  Wipeout.. and I was also impressed with the Graphics... but the control of the Ship, was absolute Sh*T,  IMO.

When I first started playing Wipeout, I played so poorly that I thought I was doing something wrong.  Well, it turns out that I was.  If you don't learn to use the banking function, and use it well, you will hate the game.  Once I learned the technique, and it wasn't easy, controlling the ship became second nature.  I have more hours in Wipeout and it's sequels than possibly any other game.

When I did most of my gaming on an Amiga, I went back to the Psygnosis titles again and again.  If you never played Menace back in the day, you missed out.  Ballistix was another favorite, which combined elements from pinball, air-hockey, billiards and shooters, with a macabre theme.  And who could forget Lemmings?

None of their games were easy.  But difficult doesn't always mean bad or poorly designed.  (see Defender/Stargate)

[negative1]

​
super pac-man finally hit 1 million plus, with 3 men default (+2 bonus):

 

Arcade 1up Game : Super Pac Man Score : 1.12 Million - Settings : 3men+2 bonus Machine : Dig dug machine Levels : 2 - 100 THE ONE time i forget to start recording from the beginning. 3 weeks of playing hundreds of times, 40 years later, FINALLY got past 1 million with 3 men+2 bonus, got through 40 levels perfect without dying. Although messed up a bunch of patterns. The cake, and mushrooms are the hardest.

 



later

-1

​

[tommyinajar]

Truly authentic controls for each individual game make such a remarkable difference in gameplay that it is astounding.

 Yes!  Playing defender, Q-bert or Joust even. It makes a difference. Same "need" as having scanlines in a game.

That's why I am going multiple CP layouts with USB's.

[javeryh]

​super pac-man finally hit 1 million plus, with 3 men default (+2 bonus):

Damn.