How to map keys 0-9 for SPACE WARS (0.78)

jonnykesh

@caver01 It's great. I love the way it looks like it was typed on a typewriter. And the explanations they give. You could tell it was not just another commercial product. There is genuine passion there. There would need to be.

jonnykesh

@caver01 Yeah, how many Space _ games were there at that time? I guess it was a lot to do with star wars and big plus space is black and white and very quiet! Everything was Star this or Space that. Gotta put food on the table.

caver01

@jonnykesh Yes, I am always a little amazed at what had to be done at the time so that kids like me could look at a game for 5 seconds and shrug, move on to the next one. I wish more people could see these service manuals and gain a little more appreciation for what was state-of-the-art back in the 70s. We look back and chuckle a little, but these guys were pushing the envelope of what was possible--all for a little revenue one quarter at a time.

markwkidd

#4 on this marquee describes the "reset" button: https://www.arcade-museum.com/images/118/1181242171187.jpg

I can only make out the words "frustrated, etc"

jonnykesh

@markwkidd I have never played the game in a cab, perhaps OP could shed some light on it. AFAIK each player got a limited number of shots and each round lasted from 45 secs to 2 minutes depending on the dip switch settings. I suppose it was a soft reset that accumulated your money / time and allowed you to carry it over to another game.

markwkidd

Actually I did find some more info:

After coining up, players can choose which game options to select and optionally select game modifications using a numeric keypad located above the center of the control panel. There is also a reset button on the center of the control panel for exigent circumstances such as a player missing his ship or if both players are dead in the water. Of course the “aggressive” player, aka the cheater, can hit this button to escape when severely pressed.

http://www.cinematronics.org/space_wars.html

Timed play. The player with the largest number of kills wins. After a kill, the victorious player will wait for 5 seconds before the next round begins. During that time he can kill himself and give the other kill for the other guy. Hitting the reset button will start the next round of battle.

https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9691

jonnykesh

@markwkidd

markwkidd

"Reset" does seem like a pretty important feature of the game, and it doesn't mean 'reset the machine' as one might guess.

mikemolang

@markwkidd said in How to map keys 0-9 for SPACE WARS (0.78):

seem like a pretty important feature of the game, and it doesn't mean 'reset the machine'

Correct! You guys seem to have answered the question already, so just to summarize (by a guy who played this endlessly in his youth on the original hardware).

The reset button kills any players that are alive at the time, and records a kill against them. The game then re-spawns both players to start the next battle. Here is why it is important:

Players can run out of bullets and can run out of fuel. Their ships can also be damaged but not dead, leaving them unable to move. When these things happen, the players can be stuck in a state of limbo, as the game timer clicks away there available playing time.
When a player is killed, the game does not re-spawn the players for 5 seconds. Instead, it shows the explosion and gives you time to punch your brother in the arm, laughing, "HAHHA!!! GOT YOU AGAIN!!!" But since the game is time based, to save a few seconds my brother and I would usually hit reset as soon as one or the other was wounded or killed so that time was not wasted. Sure, that meant that the score was not very useful to us, but we all knew who was really the better player, anyway. ;)
I am not certain if a reset was required to change the game mode and options, or not.

Best,
MML

paulace55

I can map the "parameter" keys 0-9 by hitting "Tab" to bring up the MAME menu, and the game will work fine until I close out and re-open it....then those settings aren't saved. Does anybody else have that problem?