Galaga Completion

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:21 pm

I,ve made it to level 38 but has anyone in history ever played Galaga to some sort of finality?

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:36 pm

I've made it to level 58 years ago using only two quarters. Don't think there is an end and the point of the game is to rack up points.

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:18 am

Well look at it this way nowon probaly thought Pac-Man(Another Namco Game)had an end till it was found out that it ended at 255. We've never even come close to 255 in Galaga.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:27 am

When you reach 255 in Galaga, the level counter goes back to 1

It doesn't crash, it goes back to 1.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:28 am

So the counter goes back to 1, but does it play at level 1 difficulty at that point as well?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:34 am

it290 wrote:So the counter goes back to 1, but does it play at level 1 difficulty at that point as well?

Good question. Geez, I wonder how many other early 1980's Namco arcade games end at 255!

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:17 am

Or do the Galaga trick:-

Destroy a sheet leaving 1 'beamer' alive. Let it swoop down over 255 times then kill it. Nothing will shoot you from then on.

(I listed this before).

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:40 pm

No, the difficulty keeps at the current level.

I think that after a certain level, the difficulty doesn't get higher.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:43 pm

dave4shmups wrote:
it290 wrote:So the counter goes back to 1, but does it play at level 1 difficulty at that point as well?
Good question. Geez, I wonder how many other early 1980's Namco arcade games end at 255!

Many.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:39 pm

Yep... back then bytes were precious.

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:22 pm

What is the "magic 255" significance? Surely a programming limit or something?

llabnip · Post by **llabnip** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:50 pm

Soldato J wrote:What is the "magic 255" significance? Surely a programming limit or something?

Correct. It's the maximum unsigned integer that will fit into 8-bits (i.e. a single BYTE. 8 bits was a typical hardware register size back in the day). The range on an unsigned 8-bit value is 0-255 for a total of 256 unique values.

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:08 pm

Awesome. Early VG tech is so cool....no wonder everyone has "retro fever"

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 3:27 am

Galaga's kill screen can be avoided by using the Rank D difficulty setting, according to Twin Galaxies' 1998 high score book.

Dig Dug's kill screen has a Pooka stuck right on top of you, causing your reserve lives to dwindle away until you reach the Game Over screen.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:31 pm

I was about to ask for Dig-Dug.

I consider myself pretty good at Dig-Dug, reaching around level 25-30...

What about Rally-X ? Rally-X loops endlessly too, I've managed to go REAL far on it.

antron · Post by **antron** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 4:59 pm

in Ghosts n' Goblins if you get turned into a frog right when the timer hits zero, the program forgets to check for zero time. the timer wraps around (negative or huge depending on how you look at it) and you are left unrestricted to rack up points and men.

CecilMcW00t · Post by **CecilMcW00t** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 2:34 am

Shatterhand wrote:I was about to ask for Dig-Dug.

I consider myself pretty good at Dig-Dug, reaching around level 25-30...

What about Rally-X ? Rally-X loops endlessly too, I've managed to go REAL far on it.

On regular Rally-X? Or New Rally-X? I love that game, but it kicks my ass after like round 8. How far can you get and do you have any tips for me? >_>;

Post by **Shatterhand** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:49 pm

Oops, I wanted to ASK if Rally X actually loops, not state.

When I mean "real" far is like around level 25

. And this is in New Rally-X. I've never seen a Rally-X cab, and now playing in Mame, I just prefer New because of the music.

Not to mention the MSX version of Rally-X (The only home port of it afaik) was based on the New too.

I played New Rally-X so much that I knew all mazes from memory, and by looking at the red blips in the map, I could tell exactly where the red cars were. Now I haven't played it for ages now, I doubt I am still that good at it

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:00 pm

255 is actually quite a prevalent number in most recent videogames as well...it's the maximum Strength/Speed/Defense/Hit%/Luck/Magic Defense/Magic Power/stats in most RPGs as well.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:26 pm

Blade wrote:255 is actually quite a prevalent number in most recent videogames as well...it's the maximum Strength/Speed/Defense/Hit%/Luck/Magic Defense/Magic Power/stats in most RPGs as well.

It's because 8bit cpus could "count" only up to 255. Wasn't there a joke in a game, when finally programmers achieved more powerful systems and they put an item limit of 256? I can't remember which game though...