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01-11-2021 at 09:39 PM
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Atari ghostbusters

ok been playing atari ghostbusters could use some help. This game absolutley requires reading the instructions, but even after the instructions two main issues

1. trapping the damn ghosts
2. what makes the marshmallow man appear?

3ghosts leaving

marshmellow man is an easy 2k points if he appears, its great when he appears, so thats kinda a weird design choice, but ive noticed some games he appears more than others and it would be good to know how to control that

as for the ghosts i've noticed trapping them like the instructions, and the game "intends"/spirit of the game is the worst thing you can do. except for the first few ghosts, trapping them almost guarantees they'll be in the right spot, meaning the moment you release the rays they'll leave that spot and its a guarentee miss. versus not trapping them i can still get them about half the time. but that just feels wrong. so counter intuitive how the ghost trapping is best played


i've seen ghosts leave before i can even trap them with no idea what causes them to leave and end that phase so fast.
any help figuring this out would be appreciated. i've "beaten" the game once in that i got the 10k and looped the game, but seocnd loop got me for what i feel was random bad luck but i've got to be missing something. for the maxouts to loop it approximately 100 times (at leats 50 times i would think) tells me there must be some consistent way to deal with these things

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  1. nads's Avatar

    Fun game! I’ve played it a bit, but I find having to use the difficultly switch to bait the marshmallow men pretty tricky ( I don’t have a six switcher )

    The PK energy is what sets off the Mallow Man, but it does feel a bit random although from memory when the PK hits 5000 be prepared or when the ghosts go fast it’s a sign.



  2. Scott S.'s Avatar

    I think there's a lot of randomness with the appearance of the MM. It's the same with the Atari computer version, and probably other versions as well. There is a 'tipping point' as far as what the PK meter is at as far as when he starts appearing, but once he does start appearing, it's random from that point. From my notes, a tip from Al Backiel - "When the PK level reaches 4,000, just keep toggling the Right Difficulty switch (to bait the Marshmallow Man) and you’ll easily reach the 10,000 points needed for the last screen. "

    As for trapping ghosts, there's no exact pattern or strategy that will work 100% every time.

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  3. Snowflake's Avatar

    thanks guys. a point on the toggling ( @cw">@CWK also did the rapid toggling for each mm, i've confirmed thats not needed, just the one toggle per mm.

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  4. Snowflake's Avatar

    ug i tagged nads and clay, two tags. and the comment worked for a second and then garbled itself later. man thats an annoying bug, but this time i tricked me, which is extra weird thta the bug wasnt immediately present

    anyway my comment was it appears "keep toggling the switch" was taken to mean multiples toggles for each mm. you only have to toggle it once per mm. i think you can toggle it immediately after the last one and just wait for the next one, but you can certainly toggle it once when the ghosts speed up and then just wait. its not like the toggle has to exactly coincide when it first appears.

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  5. Scott S.'s Avatar

    I think what Al meant was you could just sit there on the map screen with your hand on the toggle switch and flip it as soon as MM appears, not to keep flipping the switch repeatedly until it appears or after it appears. But IIRC you could just keep flipping the switch so that you bait MM as soon as it appears. It won't affect the game negatively, it'll just prevent the MM from ever damaging anything.

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  6. Snowflake's Avatar

    yes i believe thats correct. now i just gotta decide when i wanna play 12 horrible hours, were messing up a single round ends it regardless of earlier rounds. you cant build a buffer in one loop for the next.

  7. nads's Avatar

    You do get a buffer of 2000 points when you sneak past the MM, that carries to the next round so you only need pick 8000

  8. Snowflake's Avatar

    ah yes, in a way you have to view the mm as the beginning of the loop rather than the end for that reason. kinda awkward

  9. Kelly Kerr's Avatar

    i dont have this game. i had it on nes but never on atari....will need to check it out.

  10. Snowflake's Avatar

    i know theres a grey area, when games with ends loop, of trying to classify "is it just a typical atari game that goes on forever ramping up difficulty or is it a game with an end that loops". here though theres a final boss and an objective. and any atari game with an end/final boss whatever even if it loops is a nice change of pace

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