MAME ROW #148 - Cloak & Dagger

GtBFilms

Interesting, I'd never heard of the movie mentioned on the poster, but after this write-up, I think I'm going to have to check it out!

https://io9.gizmodo.com/cloak-dagger-may-be-the-most-messed-up-kids-movie-of-1784793760

GtBFilms

This is a tough game - quite fun though, reminds me of a faster paced Berzerk a bit.

I'm guessing it was a twin joystick game, but I mapped my buttons to fire in the four main directions - diagonal shooting kind of worked by pressing two buttons at once, but I think this would play better with 2 joysticks.

I loved the animations between levels!

55248 was my best. Edit: Ah, I think this was the time I inadvertently started on a later level - which makes the bonus greater - oops, ignore that.

My best score (starting on G level) is a puny 9964!

Interesting video review of this game here:

GtBFilms

... after watching that YouTube video, I realised:

There's an 'ignite' button I haven't mapped. (P1 button 5)
I'm supposed to pick up the green bombs and cakes. but avoid the red bombs
If I get all the map parts 'S' then it shows me all the mines in the minefield level
If I go to the big middle bomb and press ignite, before hightailing it to the exit, I get a massive amount of extra points!

New High Score armed with this extra knowledge: 62446!

IanDaemon

Tough and fun game!

backstander

@GtBFilms

Interesting, I'd never heard of the movie mentioned on the poster, but after this write-up, I think I'm going to have to check it out!

I had seen the Cloak & Dagger movie many times when I was a kid and never realized all the messed up things about it but now looking back, I can see a lot of them! Thanks for the article.

I wasn't aware there was an arcade game with the same name.

IanDaemon

Remapped controls for dual arcade sticks - 14,986.

IanDaemon

Slowly moving up...35,310.

IanDaemon

In the MAME menu there is a difficulty setting. Maybe I cranked mine. There are A-B-C-D levels. I think B is default. . . . Now that I say this I can't find that setting again. I'm looking in MAME menu and in Retroarch menus. Maybe I just had a waking dream. "Mother, the sleeper has awakened!" OK, that's enough references to a certain novel written by Frank Herbert for today. :)

IanDaemon

@IanDaemon Found the setting in the MAME menu. I still don't know which way is easy and which way is hard. I just went with the default "B".

IanDaemon

35,405 Moving up in the world! XD I get to the caves and sooner or later the robots shoot me before I can shoot them.

IanDaemon

I'm really enjoying Cloak & Dagger now that I have the controls mapped well.

GtBFilms

Had a go on this on my PC, using two joysticks rather than the joystick and buttons on my cab. Although it makes the diagonal shots a lot easier, I'm not sure it actually makes the game easier.

I managed to ignite all the bombs on the first seven levels, but that eight level I just run out of time while trying to shoot my way though walls.

I improved a bit - 73382

mediamogul

@GtBFilms said in MAME ROW #148 - Cloak & Dagger:

Interesting, I'd never heard of the movie mentioned on the poster, but after this write-up, I think I'm going to have to check it out!

It's definitely worth a watch. I would always rent this as a kid when nothing new had been released. The kid (Henry Thomas from 'E.T.') can be seen playing the game throughout the movie on his Atari 5200. Since the home ports were in development at the time (and ultimately scrapped), they hooked an arcade board up to the various TVs in the film.

The only major downside is that the annoying little girl from the 'Terror at 20,000 feet' segment of 'Twilight Zone: The Movie' has more screen time than should've been allowed. Every time she whines the name "Daay-veeey" is like nails on a chalk board. Below is a pretty cool scene set in a vintage game store of the time. If you look closely, you'll even see an ad for 'E.T.' on Atari, which I'm sure had to be an intentional jab, given that Henry Thomas was the star.

IanDaemon

Cloak & Dagger is such a hidden gem with twin arcade sticks. I love the way it feels.

obsidianspider

MAME ROW #149 is live. We'll close voting on Thursday this week.