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Marble Madness |
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Manufacturer:
Atari Games Year: 1984 Class: Wide Release Genre: Labyrinth/Maze Type: Videogame Monitor:
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2 Maximum number of Players: 2 Gameplay: Either Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player Controls:
Sound: Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp) |
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DescriptionGuide your marble through various courses to the goal. Obstacles include marble munchers, acid pools, an evil steelie marble, etc. The playing field includes a maze, ice patches, a funnel, catapult, etc.Know anything more about this game? Cabinet InformationAn upright cabinet, sometimes found with plain black sides and sometimes with the blue and silver striped "ATARI" side art.Cheats, Tricks and BugsFlipping the test switch (on the Audio/Regulator III board) while pressing either of the start buttons adds 99 seconds to the game play time for each flip of the test switch. Note: I've seen this crash the game on several occasions.ConversionAll of the Atari System I games should be convertable by changing the game cartridge (ROM board), control panel, and marquee. Road Blasters also requires a pedal. Note: I'm told that not all System I mainboards have the trackball decoder, used only on Marble Madness.Game PlaySteer your marble to the end of the course in the minimum amount of time. Watch out for other inhabitants that try to slow you down or bump you off - the marble munchers, the steelie, the vacuum, etc. You have an infinite number of lives, but getting killed loses you valuable time. On the "silly level" almost all of the rules are reversed. Some levels have alternate paths to the goal. If you run out of time before you complete a course, the game ends - but sometimes you will be "charmed" with extra time. Each level has its own stereo audio score.Scarcity in collections (VAPS.org)Very Common - There are 72 known instances of this game owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 54 of them are original dedicated machines, 5 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards have been placed in another game cabinet, and 13 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.Of the 42,694 video games (3,154 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 56 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records. - There are 17 VAPS members currently looking for this game. Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operatos might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range. Alternate Cabinet Imageshttp://www.atarihq.com/museum/coinops/games/marble.jpgTechnicalThe main CPU is a 68010, with the sound and coin subsystem controlled by a 6502. A "slapstic" chip is used for copy protection. This game is emulated (as of 5/98) by MGE (internal beta) and MAME.TriviaThis was the first Atari System I game. A successor, Marble Madness 2: Marble Man was playtested but never released.Fixes1) Trackball rollers wear out, making control of your marble difficult and slow. Replacement rollers, bearings, etc. are available from Happ Controls (888-BUY-HAPP). 2) IC sockets of this age often make poor contact. If you get a ROM error on powerup or erratic operation, check for oxidation on both the sockets and the IC pins. FOR EXPERTS ONLY: you might want to replace the sockets with Augat or similar machine-pin versions for better contact.eBay ListingsClick here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Marble Madness Videogame machine and items related to it.Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Atari Games. Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).
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