-Game PlansHow I Zero In So I Don't Zero Out

-Game PlansHow I Zero In So I Don't Zero Out

When a new game hits the arcades, there’s always curiosity about how I’ll react to it. And, how it’ll react to me.

There are certain games that, while I like to play them, I just don’t get any satisfaction out of. The game and I don’t seem to interlock, and not only is it a waste of quarters, but it shakes my faith in my overall combat ability.

There are ways to deal with a particularly down game. The easiest is to ignore it. But then the game beats you without a contest. I prefer to accept that 1 have trouble with the game, then try to figure the reason.

If it turns out that I’m just not interested in the basic game event (and there are always new games that are inherently boring), then I feel my poor performance is based on lack of interest.

But when I like the game, I feel the challenge, and know that there are no excuses for not coming out on top. After all, 1 don’t let my friends get away with that kind of guff. I never believed a guy yet when he kicked the machine in disgust because it beat the hell out of him. So there’s only one reason a game beats me, and that’s if it’s better than I am, and I sure don’t believe that.

So I keep playing, and as I play I zero in on the program. I work on the rules of the game. Because whoever set down those rules was out to annihilate me. The code I’ve got to break is that person’s logic (or the lack of it sometimes) who wrote the program that challenges me. That’s right, I take it personally.

If I play not to win but to reconnoiter the strong and weak points, I play with understanding and I begin to gain control of the machine. In a way, I’ve dumped the program from the machine to myself. Once I’ve got that program, I start playing like I know what I’m doing, which is the only way to play. Suddenly the game is fun, and time dissolves.

Don’t ever let a machine keep you at a distance. Even if you have to sneak in the middle of the night and play until they throw you out, get close to the tough machines. Hands on, ride the images; the harder you ride it, the sooner the odds are in your favor.

There are other approaches. I’ve seen players try to rely on one particular move they develop in response to a tough game. But that leads to indifferent success. They may have a hot game or two. But they don’t have any consistency when it comes to knocking the game over every time. As I’ve said, to do that, you’ve got to know a whole lot more about what you’re up against.

It’s difficult not to always play to win, but on a hard screen game, if you don’t do a little sparring with the program, you won’t honestly understand it. Sure the machine believes in luck, but the guy who wrote the program stacked the deck. Your job is to locate the aces, because when you do, the advantage is all yours.