Crazy Climber used 8-ways?

[Martoon]

According to all the databases (klov, controls.dat, etc.) and by what everyone here says, Crazy Climber used 8-ways for its joysticks.   However, when I play it with my sticks in 8-way mode (they're T-Stik Plusses), I completely blow at it.  It takes me forever to get my guy to move sideways.  But if I switch them to 4-way, I'm almost competent (I made it most of the way up the first building).  Now you could say that's because I never played Crazy Climber in the arcade (I was more of a Centipede kinda guy), but here's the thing.  I have a friend who's favorite arcade game in the 80's was Crazy Climber.  He tried it on my panel with the sticks in 8-way, and he could hardly get the guy to do anything either.  I switched the sticks to 4-way, let him at it, and he says, "There! That's more like it!" and cruises right to the top of the building.

So why is it that both of us (including an experienced CC player) do massively better in 4-way mode?  Did CC have 8-ways that barely hit the diagonals (kind of like Tron), or what's going on here?

[spidermonkey]

Keep in mind that the T-stick/T-stick plus has a *very* short throw. Much shorter than the leaf switch joys that came in the original C.C. machines. Its almost too easy to hit a diagonal on a T-stick and as a result unwanted directions are being hit at the wrong times causing Mr. Crazy Climber to get confused and rather unresponsive when trying to move left,right or diagonally. He'll even have trouble climbing straight up if the two joysticks aren't being shifted in a perfect vertical up/down motion. Don't get me wrong as T-stick plus's are great little peices of engineering but they will act up on certain games that really need to be played with leaf switch sticks. If you were to try playing it with a couple of old Wico 8-way leaf switch sticks you would experience much better control in all positions because leaf switch sticks have a longer throw and less sensitive diagonals.  I can assure you that Crazy Climber didn't use any kind of odd ball 8/4-way hybrid stick like Tron did because I bought a control panel on Ebay a while back and it had good ole Wico 8-way leaf sticks bolted underneath. Now,could the control panel have had the sticks replaced at some point before I owned it ? Yeh I suppose but I highly doubt it as the harness was fully intact,there was no evidence of splicing or hacking and the Wico sticks looked just as beat and rusty as the rest of the control panel so I have to believe they were the original sticks that came with the machine.
PS. I played a C.C. machine last summer at Funspot. It had the original white balltop sticks that were fairly worn and loose due to their age but none the less they were original. Guess what ? I still had *some* control problems even on the real deal machine which is just as I had remembered when playing it back in the eighties. The bottom line is that the game always had *some* control issues and took alot of practice to get really good at.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I agree with ALMOST all of what spidermonkey said.

The one point I would take issue with is that I think the T-stiks provide MORE control than the Wicos.
The reasons I would give the nod to the T-stiks are that they have a shorter throw on them, and are very distinct in hitting the diagonals.
I bought a pair specifically FOR Crazy Climber because my Wicos felt really sloppy on it.
You really need the 8-way to do QUICK diagonals.
It is possible to move your hand right, THEN up, with a 4-way; but moving it right AND up at the same time is quicker, and will get you out of jams once you are comfortable with it.

I agree that there are some inherent flaws in the controls.
These are not a function of the stick used, but are in the program itself.
The big trick to going sideways quickly is that your hands need to be spread first.
If you get your right hand out, and have your left hand tucked to your body, you can hit a spot where you CAN'T go right because it won't let your left hand move.
When this happens, try moving your left hand LEFT, then RIGHT.
There is a certain feel to moving quickly on Crazy Climber that has to be learned.
Practice on the lower levels by moving quickly side-to-side until you are comfortable with it.

Straight climbing is where the T-stiks really shine to me though.
I miss alot less grips with the T-stiks, due to their short throw, and audible clicking.
The clicking helps get the timing set, so that you can really fly up the building.
There is actually a maximum speed at which you can move the controls.
If you try to move any faster with your swapping, you will miss a ledge, and your hand will go back down the building.

[Rocky]

Crazy Climber is a difficult game to master.  I remember playing it in college when it first came out. The game room in my dorm complex had a Donkey Kong and a Crazy Climber, so we got a lot of practice on both.

On my MAME machine, I use competition sticks. They aren't bad for controlling it.  It really is an experience thing. I have friends who come over and I almost roll on the floor laughing as the climber moves randomly, flailing his arms and feet as they desperately try to move up the building.

Practice, practice, practice....

[Minwah]

I had a similar problem with my T-Stik Plus' for some 8-way games, namely scrolling platformers.  I found that I would *always* accidentally hit diagonals, causing the character to crouch (or in some cases jump), which is not good  I put this down to the short travel, close diagonals.

That said, I didn't seem to have the same problem with fighters, for some reason.

[RayB]

I could never move more than a couple windows worth when I tried this in the arcades (but I was just a kid), so it's partly to do with just "knowing" how you're supposed to control it.

[big daddy]

same here...I remember having problems getting the guy to move where I wanted him to in the original arcade game.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Your guy WILL get stuck.
There's no way to prevent that from EVER happening.
The trick is to learn how to UNSTICK him quickly.

[Martoon]

Okay, thanks guys.  So it really is just a difficult game to control, and using 4-ways "dumbs it down" a little, but makes you less versatile.  I thought it might be something like that (since I never played it in the arcade), but the fact that it was my friend's favorite game in the arcade, and he found it better with 4-way made me wonder.  Of course, it's been 20 years since he last played it, so I'm sure he has some re-learning to do.

By the way, as a CC virgin, I have to say that it's a very cool game.  It completely kicks ---my bottom---, but I keep putting a lot of virtual quarters into it.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Other off-shoots of this one are CC2 and Fire Trap.

[Dartful Dodger]

Other off-shoots of this one are CC2 and Fire Trap.

Here's an online CC type game with a high score tracker.
Climbing Madness