Anyone still play Tutankham?
found this old archived thread which was interesting.
Been playing it on xbox 360 game room. really challenging. love the pattern game with the random intensity.
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artz - 10:58am Feb 27, 2002 (#487 of 1407)
Tutankham strategy
Hello everyone. I have a question on the game Tutankham. Does anyone know of any advanced strategies for this game? The game gets insanely difficult for me at around 130,000.
Walter Day was kind enough to reply to me yesterday on my question about the world record of 512,000 by Paul Barrette. I thought I was doing pretty good with 140,000 (stage 7), but I only have 372,000 to go. I used to play this game all the time back in the early 80's, and have only started playing it again since November. Any help would be appreciated.
RMRUCZEK - 11:06am Feb 27, 2002 (#140.1 of 1407)
Dwayne Would Know
Hello Artz:
Dwayne Richard is another excellent Tut player who might be able to provide some tips. He will be in person at Funspot this coming May-June competition, if you are nearby New Hampshire, or if you want, send me your E-MAIL address and I will foward to Dwayne so he can answer you as best he can. Keep in mind that some players keep their choicest game secrets well guarded, as is their right, so no guarantees on a reply.
In any event, I'll send him an E-MAIL and point out this posting thread...perhaps he can offer some advice here.
Robert T Mruczek Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee Star Wars classic arcade champion (212) 366-3036 (work-day) [email protected] (work E-MAIL)
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dwayne - 12:04pm Feb 27, 2002 (#140.2 of 1407)
Tutankham strategy
What part are you stuck on. You have 3 keys. you have to learn how to deal with the swarm in the second area. You have to watch and figure out how they move under the little square you can shoot tham as they come out of the hole or from the top of the screen. learning how to get through this space is critical to advance in levels. I take first key at beginning, then the second close to the door then go back to the front to get the third key.
There are various spots where you can stand to shoot and thin out the enemies. Watch the timer they swarm every 16 sec fom the last one so you want to be in a position to protect yourself before they swarm. It takes practise timing when you are shooting is critical. That is how one dies most often is missing a shot. Learn to use that clock to move and get stuff before swarms and you should be able to make some progress. Good luck!
artz - 12:35pm Feb 27, 2002 (#140.2.1 of 1407)
Tutankham strategy
Hi Dwayne.
I was not aware that the enemies swarm every 16 seconds. I thought it was random. I will start watching for that in the future.
By the way, what is your high score on this game?
Thanks for the advice.
RMRUCZEK - 12:58pm Feb 27, 2002 (#140.2.2 of 1407)
Swarming
Hello Dwayne:
Although I watched you play, I didn't realize that the swarming was consistent. I have to apply this to the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision translations as I currently hold the record on both. Thanks !!
Robert T Mruczek Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee Star Wars classic arcade champion (212) 366-3036 (work-day) [email protected] (work E-MAIL)
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dwayne - 12:26am Feb 28, 2002 (#140.2.2.1 of 1407)
tutankham strategy
If you have a game open it up to switch the dipswitches there is a setting for 255 men to start that way you can work through the game and practise technique without having to slow down and start again. There are four sets of four boards. Level 17 is the same as level one. Each of the 16 boards have the enemies move the same way on that level. I am going to drop a game off to Rob Barrett in 4-6 weeks if you want i should be able to put a tutor tape together. my high is 398000 unofficial robs is 488000. I died on 16. We figured out how to get buy 16 at the funspot this past year so break through are going to be coming when rob gets his own game. Good luck!
artz - 06:39am Feb 28, 2002 (#140.2.2.1.1 of 1407)
tutankham strategy
If you can put a tape together for me, that would be great. I would really appreciate it. If you need to get a hold of me, you can reach me at my home email address [email protected]. Robert has my work email address also.
I'm not going to be able to make it to Funspot for this event, but I am hoping to make the next one.
Robert, Dwayne, thanks for the help.
artz - 12:43pm Mar 18, 2002 (#140.2.2.1.1.1 of 1407)
Tutankham strategy
Within the last 2 weeks I've been able to go from 140,000 to 170,200 (end of stage with the help of Dwayne Richards advice (from an earlier post) and also an .inp file from MAME that I was able to get from a website showing a Rob Barrett game. My score is only using default settings, but once I've reached my goal of stage 12 (which should put me around 240-250k points), I'll switch over to the TG settings. I consider this very reachable since the bats, which are the hardest of all enemies to kill and avoid, seem to slow down between stages 9 to 11. Both you guys have nothing to worry about from me since the both of you are scoring in the 400-500k range.
I wish I could make it to Funspot this year to watch both of you play, but I will have to wait until next year. Thanks again guys.
RMRUCZEK - 06:44pm Mar 21, 2002 (#140.2.2.1.1.1.1 of 1407)
Strategy
Hi:
As it is normally not TG policy to give away players' hard-earned strategies without their approval, here's what I can offer based on what I saw at last year's Funspot...
Both players came into each stage with a definitive course of action. Though the game is not a pure pattern, they derived the best general path to follow, improvising as necessary. So the lesson here is to experiment with the enemy behaviour based on your position at any time and see what works best on a recurring basis for each screen separately, since the strategies differ.
Never give up. Sounds simplistic, but both players were occassionally in do-or-die situations where the immediate response that comes to mind would probably have been to risk a near-kamikaze run at a goal or away from an enemy. Sometimes that is an absolute necessity, but these players were more savvy than to risk a life unnecessarily. They exercised great patience at key areas of the game, and I'm sure you know where the problem areas are if you're reaching the 170K level of skill.
Shot impotence is problem with many gamers...they launch their "shot" in a game where their next one is unavailable until the prior one contacts an enemy of disapates off the screen. This holds true in Tut from what I've seen. Both players are practiced at when they can afford to, and cannot afford to, haphazardly fire while standing still or walking. Sometimes patience is necessary with respect to firing as well.
That's the most I can say without betraying their secrets. It may sound general, but to a dedicated Tut player, these overall tips should help out a lot.
Good luck with you gaming attempts.
Robert T Mruczek Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee Star Wars classic arcade champion (212) 366-3036 (work-day) [email protected] (work E-MAIL)
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Ron \"Mr. Atari\" Corcoran
Twin Galaxies Chief Editor
A couple of decent scores here and there...
SPQR - Senatus Populus Que Romanus
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
I just recently started playing it at Richie's arcade since it was at the front last weekend and looked fun. It is a good game. I think I've played about a dozen games thus far and am at about 75-80k right now.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
wow, that's a GREAT score for so few games.
i seem to be stuck at trying to complete level 3 on xbox.
That open rectangle in the middle of the maze on 3 where the dragons come down in a boxy pattern i haven't yet figured out how to get around efficiently.
Need to get the real PCB installed so I can try out the real version.
Is it possibly easier than emulated?
After getting good and frustrated I put it on infinite men and played through wave 18. Seems to have helped create some sense of flow and timing. The game for sure seems to be 4 sets of 4. wave 17 was just like wave 1.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1500points
That open rectangle in the middle of the maze on 3 where the dragons come down in a boxy pattern i haven't yet figured out how to get around efficiently.
Yeah I usually end up using my first flash bomb there, either first going, or on the way back with the other key. I also need to find a better method.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
got a real tutankham pcb up and running the other day.
real gameplay has slightly faster and more plentiful enemies than xbox 360.
but the gameplay with a real 4 way controller is far superior.
have made it to level 4 finally. around 50k.
gotta learn the best "point to point" parts of the maze. seems like the gameplay is how to get from one safe firing spot to another.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
barcade jersey city had it but got rid of it. my other half still has the high score on their site. he got me into playing it, but the most i could get in it was around 20k before the machine would go wacky. i play it on mame here or there (with a joystick and buttons doing the right hand control...bummer) and i can get about 42k but mame hates my computer and has a problem with slowing down and lagging then all of a sudden picking up and whoops, i died.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
Quote:
Originally Posted by legendofcroft
barcade jersey city had it but got rid of it. my other half still has the high score on their site. he got me into playing it, but the most i could get in it was around 20k before the machine would go wacky. i play it on mame here or there (with a joystick and buttons doing the right hand control...bummer) and i can get about 42k but mame hates my computer and has a problem with slowing down and lagging then all of a sudden picking up and whoops, i died.
I'm in NJ as well and I need to get back to Barcade JC again, a few of my scores are still on the board there it seems, but I haven't even been to check out the Philly one yet so that's prolly my next stop first. That and Yestercades in Red Bank though they need a scoreboard first :)
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
That was my old post many years ago. I was able to finally get 416,000 back in 2003 or 2004. Score is posted at MARP. I understand this is a coin op thread, but don't have access to arcade machine, only MARP. Haven't played it since either. Other people who can score this high would be Rob Barrett, Dwayne Richard, Greg Bond, and Donald Hayes.
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
thanks for the thread.
I haven't played much lately but I'm pretty much stuck in level 4, trying to find all the sweet spots to stop and fight, and figure out a strategy for the open vertical corridors.
i've played on 255 men up through level 16 a number of times, but still can't get through 4.
Would love to watch some online videos of master game play but can't seem to find any.
Any tips for the sweet spots and movement strategies for level 3 and 4 mazes?
Re: Anyone still play Tutankham?
The best advice I can give is to not get stuck in the large open areas and the ends of stages 3 & 4. Getting stuck means going thru these areas when the enemy starts to swarm. At the very start of the game on stage 1, the timer starts at 60 (sorry been awhile since i played, could be wrong). When the timer gets to 44, you will notice the enemies coming out of their caves really fast. You can only have a maximum of 8 enemies on the screen at any given time. So if you have only 2 enemies on the screen when the timer hits 44 on stage 1, you will get an additional 6 enemies appear on the screen almost immediately. So make sure you are in the "sweet spots" when these swarms start. The enemies swarms every 16 seconds of the timer, so if you don't complete stage 1 fast enough, you can expect another swarm at 28 seconds left. If you complete stage 1 at 42 seconds, the enemy will swarm during stage 2 14 seconds into the stage. This never changes. Every 16 seconds be sure your in a safe area and only move to the next area when it is safe.
You can upload my games, Rob Barrett's, and Donald Hayes games thru MARP. If you need assistance with this, let me know and I can help (shoot me an email). Our gameplay is slightly different. Rob is the record holder and can easily hit a 400k or 500k from what I remember. He also doesn't use the timer as much as I do. He is a much better shot than I am, so he uses the sweet spots, but doesn't rely on them like I do.
One last thing is that if you play enough, you will notice different monsters/enemies have different patterns when they move thru the maze. Recognizing these different movements and timing of your shots can turn a 50k game into a 200 or 300k game.