Marble Madness: C/D?

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for some reason this videogame is all i can think about anymore

(classic obv)

― geeta, Friday, 28 March 2003 04:41 (twenty-three years ago)

not to mention the soundtrack from this game rocked my universe (original 8-bit nintendo version obv)

― geeta, Friday, 28 March 2003 04:43 (twenty-three years ago)

classic. the minute I read this the soundtrack was back in my head as though it had never been away. Ah, Marble Madness Theme, how i missed you.

― isadora (isadora), Friday, 28 March 2003 04:48 (twenty-three years ago)

the sound the marble made when it fell off the path! so mournful, so drenched in pathos!

there was also the earlier atari version but the nintendo one oWnZ in my opinion

and MY GOD the aerial level!!

― geeta, Friday, 28 March 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I've gotten many a hand blister from that game. I thought the evil ball-eating worms were endearing, though.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 28 March 2003 05:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Brilliant game. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 March 2003 05:44 (twenty-three years ago)

The opening music sounds like the end of the first movement of La Mer.

(I love the game, though the last level is fiendishly, even unfairly hard.)

― Phil (phil), Friday, 28 March 2003 06:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought this thread was going to be about:

Playing Marbles

or possibly

The Elgin Marbles

or possibly

losing one's marbles

...but now I can see it's a pooter game thread and I feel myself being disenfranchised from the world of polite conversation.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 28 March 2003 12:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I was rubbish at it, so it's dud!

You can relive the real thing if you get an emu, anyway. (Cue: emu-fucking thread and Rod Hull jokes.)

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Friday, 28 March 2003 12:35 (twenty-three years ago)

OH MY GOD this game was one of the greatest games EVER. THAT MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 28 March 2003 13:10 (twenty-three years ago)

The Residents should do a tribute soundtrack to that game.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 28 March 2003 18:48 (twenty-three years ago)

i remember the music being wonderful, i'll have to find this on the net somewhere.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Friday, 28 March 2003 20:59 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember going on holiday to North Wales and seeing Marble Madness in an arcade. The music floored me. I went home and fetishisized the memory of it in my head. There was never a decent version on the Spectrum. But Bobby Bearing was a cute variation.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:02 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, I don't remember the music: I hated the game, which I couldn't control at all, even with all the Game Genie codes you want to throw at it. Bah.

How many other games did you get to play an inanimate object in, though?

― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, classic. Wish it wasn't so hard to find back in the day. There was only arcade that had it where I was.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:29 (twenty-three years ago)

only "one" arcade, that is.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I play the arcade version using MAME, but it's bloody hard. I've only ever managed to get to level 5 or something. Is the Nintendo version easier? I think I would prefer the game if it was more of an explorey game than a get-to-the-finish-in-20-seconds one.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Saturday, 29 March 2003 00:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay music, horrid game if I recall. Mainly because I'm not good at any of the sort of games that require split-second anything.

River City Ransom, on the other hand...

― Millar (Millar), Saturday, 29 March 2003 01:31 (twenty-three years ago)

A horrid game! Tom, you wound me, sir.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 29 March 2003 01:33 (twenty-three years ago)

There was nicht shooting.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:25 (twenty-three years ago)

You didn't even get to punch people to death.

― Millar (Millar), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Have you ever crushed a marble with your bare hands? Because I have.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:42 (twenty-three years ago)

American marbles aren't made of sausage

― Millar (Millar), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:45 (twenty-three years ago)

That's your loss.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:46 (twenty-three years ago)

One of very few video games I ever completed. Also: secret level!!!

― Paul Eater (eater), Saturday, 29 March 2003 17:46 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

This is one of my favorite videogames of all time.

I'm going to try to make a youtube video soon, as soon as I can get a digital camera over here. I can definitely beat everyone else's video (as measured in real time, from the second you start until you cross the final finish line) that I've seen, and I can come close to the highest scoring video I've seen (it sucks, because there's an element of luck involved in that you have to hope you get the random magic fairy wand 3 times, which adds 10 seconds to your time, thus giving you more points at the end).

Also,

One of very few video games I ever completed. Also: secret level!!!
-- Paul Eater (list...), March 29th, 2003. (eater)

um, there is no secret level, unless you count the last level to be secret somehow. But if that were the case, every game would have a secret level.

Whoa, every game has a secret level!!

― Zachary S (Zach S), Saturday, 27 January 2007 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe you should go back and look again.

― Paul Eater (eater), Saturday, 27 January 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

C'mon, there's no secret level!

At least in the NES and Genesis versions. I've never played it in the arcade, admittedly.

But, and I realize this is sort of pathetic, I'm pretty sure that I've been to every website on these internets dedicated to Marble Madness, read every guide, watched every posted video, and so on. I really love Marble Madness.

I'm pretty gullible, sometimes. Maybe you're just joshin'?

Quit joshin'!

― Zachary S (Zach S), Saturday, 27 January 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

there is indeed a secret level in some versions of marble madness.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 27 January 2007 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

Never been one of my favorites. The controls were horrible. I don't know how the arcade was, but trying to move your marble using the NES controller was frustrating as hell. That one spot at the end of the second level, my God! I would spend like twenty seconds trying to pass that part.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 27 January 2007 23:04 (nineteen years ago)

oh jesus, the controls were the BEST! You're not supposed to play that game with anything other then a trackball. I have it on MAME and use a trackball, so it was perfect.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 27 January 2007 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

I spun that trackball like a motherfucker.

I like the tragic broken glass sound when it smashes. And the wee brush.

― stet (stet), Sunday, 28 January 2007 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

STILL THE BEST GAME ON THE PLANET

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Sunday, 28 January 2007 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

great port to NES, but yeah, the whole point is the trackball.

― the kwisatz bacharach (sanskrit), Sunday, 28 January 2007 03:48 (nineteen years ago)

also, has anyone won this bitch? i never got anywhere close with this game. even with ROMs and cheating via saving mid-course i can't get past level three.

― the kwisatz bacharach (sanskrit), Sunday, 28 January 2007 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

I've beaten the NES cartridge version a couple times. There's only like six mazes, the last one being the one where the maze moves.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 28 January 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

Dan, soundtrack YSI?

I played it on an Amiga with mouse control. Six + one levels.

― Paul Eater (eater), Sunday, 28 January 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

To be honest, I haven't NOT beaten Marble Madness since the early 90s. Once you figure out how to do it, it's almost impossible to lost.

The trick at the end of the second level is to hold left as soon as you pop out of the tube, and then, hold down, just before you get to the dip.

Also, most people I've seen that have trouble with Marble Madness don't realize there's a turbo button that you can hold that not only makes you go faster, but also improves your control as well because you can make tighter turns.

I had no idea that there's a secret level. I'm going to do some googling now on that subject.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Sunday, 28 January 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Impossible to lose, not lost. It's typo city today for me.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Sunday, 28 January 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Whoa! Wikipedia's Marble Madness page has been updated since I last saw it. Here's the skinny on the Marble Madness secret level, called "Water Maze":

"The Commodore 64, Apple II, Apple IIGS and PC versions had a secret level called the Water Maze which you could get to by being on the leftmost bottom platform of the first level at a certain time (13 seconds). Once reaching the Water Maze, the player was transported out of the level as soon as a mistake was made. The walkthrough can be found here (pick the latest date) and it requires two players to complete."

Here are a few screenshots from the secret Water Maze level:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060516101545/www.video-fenky.com/pix/marble5.gif
http://web.archive.org/web/20060516101754/www.video-fenky.com/pix/marble9.gif

If you beat the level, it adds 100,000 points to your score and takes you back to the second level.

Paul Eater, my sincerest apologies for not believing you. I guess I'm not really a MAN (Master At Nintendo) like I thought I was.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Sunday, 28 January 2007 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Dan, soundtrack YSI?
I played it on an Amiga with mouse control. Six + one levels.

-- Paul Eater (list...), January 28th, 2007. (eater) (later)

You can download the songs here

I think these songs are from the original arcade game.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Sunday, 28 January 2007 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, as soon as I saw the screenshot the tune came flooding back.

― stet (stet), Sunday, 28 January 2007 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

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