"Poor old" is the very last descriptor I'd ever give to the Qix. The Qix...that chaotic, cold-blooded, contemptible, conceivably carcinogenic combination of CPU and copious coding...that downright satanic, rule-shredding, bath salts-fueled, pocket-draining, eye-searing, nerve-flaying, soul-rending, sanity-destroying heap of utter whirling-dervish fractal maleficence and overall crazed graphical douchenozzlery. It was beyond beautiful to see the Qix bound, banished, stymied, frozen, held fast, closed off, locked down, walled in, and experiencing a generous dose of the kind of claustrophobic torment it's given players since the game's release. This is the sweetest, coldest vengeance I've ever had the pleasure to experience. Also, the procedure used on these boards is the very definition of "meticulous" (and "methodical", "patience", and "awesome"). I thought no video could top my list of "incredible feats hosted on YT" than one I watched this morning of a gentleman having an immense papilloma (warty) mass surgically excised from the tip of his tallywhacker, but this one just nudged above it. Both of them required similar kinds of approach, ingenuity, careful manipulation, regard for timing, laser-like mental focus, and amazing hand-eye coordination. So, TL;DR - ...cool beans.
Amazing how a roaming stick can be such a hated character in a game. But is it EVER a bastard. And watching those trapped sparks, you can almost hear them screaming to escape.
I laugh at both your comments. On the one hand, I can't help but feel a little empathy when I see the "poor old Qix" being trapped in that wall. The game reminds me of "The Cask of the Amontillado" at these times. The inverse of that is that the Qix is like some shape-shifting mosquito with artificial intelligence. I'm breathing a sigh of relief when he's trapped. This game and "Robotron 2084" have my nerves on edge. Besides strategy, twitch reflexes and reaction time are so important. "Qix" is a masterpiece.
When I owned the arcade QIX my friend and I made up another game with this that entertained us for a long time. We would get the QIX trapped early but taking as little space as possible in the middle of the playing area. Then we would follow the border all the way around the outside and then continue to the follow the inside until the entire playing area was filled with a spiral death trap. Whoever had the longest time from the moment you could spiral no longer would win. It was a totally different way of playing with the goals being fun but in a different way. Hopefully you understand that but if not let me know.
There weren't a lot of video games that I liked (Asteroids and Missile Command pretty much filled out the list) But this was the one that I excelled at, and this was pretty much the way I did it; gradually box the Qix into the smallest area then use the slow Stix to close it off, yielding a huge red area in the process. I could go all day on one quarter doing this.
It's been DECADES since I've played this! I happened to be at an 80s arcade today and I played it. Totally forgot about it until then, but it came flooding back! I never played it with the skill you do
I used to build one more layer on my sparx trap. Then I would split the screen horizontally using one long horizontal branch not all the way across. From there I would make a "comb" with multiple small inlets on whichever side the Qix wasn't. When the Qix entered my comb trap, I would draw another horizontal branch from the opposite side, close to but not touching the first, almost all the way across. Now Qix is trapped. All fast draw sections so far. NOW I could slow draw my radiator in the open half. Imagine an orange tube, one pixel wide, filling the space by tracing back and forth in the thghtest pattern possible, filling the screen but claiming minimal area. It was beautiful. By the time I was finished the Qix would be well trapped in a narrow space and I could just go claim 99%. Learned this from watching a guy do it at Goldie's in Seattle. He was probably a math major at U of W.
_Qix_ is one of the more underappreciated games out there. Well done, sir! I also want to say that the audio in this game is extremely well done, especially for the time.
Very good! I have been able to trap the Qix in very small places but never two rounds in a row! Very fun to watch! I need to buy the arcade game again. I used to own it and sold it cheap when the logic board went south. Now with all the available parts I could have fixed it and been playing like you! Thank you for sharing!
Was I the only one screaming around 13:53 "You got him trapped! Seal him in!" A fast line down just missing the lower horizontal one would have done it. Then it would have just been a matter of going to the right of it and filling in the inside, and then off to the left to get the 99%.
I thought this game was intriguing, but as this video strongly suggests, the fun factor that the experience offers doesn't telegraph well to the mentality necessary to do well.
So it seems like the strategy is this: 1) Make spark trap at top of screen to limit number of roaming sparks. 2) When sparks come by, hop over them at a corner. 3) Construct a branching structure, forcing the qix into a narrow hallway. 4) Do nothing for five to ten minutes, repeating step 2 as necessary. 5) Seal off the qix in a small space, thereby claiming the rest of the field. I feel like I understand most of the steps, but I'm puzzled about step 4. Is this to gain extra points?
know why this is the best game ever,,,,,,,because you make your own the game, all the other games got patterns, once you find it ,the game becomes boring
I remember playing this game. I start with trapping the sparks, then I would work to divide the two Qix which would give you multiple scores on the next run. Every time you split them, the multiplier increases (2x, 3x, 4x.. and so on). I remember getting at least 10x one time and then I did a 90+% closure to reach the highest score. I can't remember my final multiplier value but I know I went to at least 10x.
Wow this is impressive! I've been obsessed with Qix on MAME lately, and remember playing it long ago when it was new. You show some great techniques here, the sparx trap is impressive. Are you not filling and icreasing the edge distances to keep the other sparx away?
donpopsiejr I used to own the gameboy version back in 89 or 90. it was one of the earliest releases at least here in Spain. II was 12 back then, and I spent hours trying to claim as much space as this fella. curiosly enough, one of the few gamer I never got rid of along dr franken and robocop, for its music...
I posted this comment under another video but will retype it here - there was a bug in the game that could cause the QIX to become trapped underneath a fill. I don't know the exact circumstances that made this possible but it happened to me twice. It would be stuck as a single line, humming and changing colors. So.... you draw a slow line around it, and claim 97% or more!
does the red mean more points? if it does and more points does not equal more markers, what the point? other than maybe having a high score to put initials to.
+fododude no. not really. I just started playing it recently. by he way, I figured out how to get the red. but since you can't get extra markers from higher points as I have found out playing the console that I have access to, it's not much of an incentive for me.
You are essentially drawing shapes to capture as much of the board as you can, when you capture enough of it you win the level. If you touch one of those sparks you lose a life, you also lose one if a line you're drawing is touched by the Qix. (That swirly thing that looks like a windows screensaver.) Normally the game gets hectic as the game adds sparks at regular intervals, though you aren't seeing that here do that particularly brilliant box trap that the sparks are being spawned into. You can draw lines with a slow button(red) or a fast button(blue). Red boxes score double.
QiX monster, stuff of nightmares - it can not be destroyed, it can not be defeated, only contained... Sparks ... silent, sneaky, deadly. And like their real world cousins, to be avoided at all costs !
I thought Qix was the one where you're lookin down a deep hole and there's big red X's climbing up at you. Damn, shit. Fuck. What was that one called now?
![[TAS] [Obsoleted] NES Arkanoid "warpless" by Chef Stef in 11:11.18](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PfqGpPNah9Y/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] [Obsoleted] NES Arkanoid "warpless" by Chef Stef in 11:11.18](/img/tr.png)
![Quando Rondo - Grow Up [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8zFnCg3BO4Q/mqdefault.jpg)
Excellent. I never knew this game could be played so patiently. Loved the Sparx-trap; never seen that before.
Tormenting the poor old Qix is viewing pleasure in itself.
"Poor old" is the very last descriptor I'd ever give to the Qix.
The Qix...that chaotic, cold-blooded, contemptible, conceivably carcinogenic combination of CPU and copious coding...that downright satanic, rule-shredding, bath salts-fueled, pocket-draining, eye-searing, nerve-flaying, soul-rending, sanity-destroying heap of utter whirling-dervish fractal maleficence and overall crazed graphical douchenozzlery.
It was beyond beautiful to see the Qix bound, banished, stymied, frozen, held fast, closed off, locked down, walled in, and experiencing a generous dose of the kind of claustrophobic torment it's given players since the game's release. This is the sweetest, coldest vengeance I've ever had the pleasure to experience.
Also, the procedure used on these boards is the very definition of "meticulous" (and "methodical", "patience", and "awesome").
I thought no video could top my list of "incredible feats hosted on YT" than one I watched this morning of a gentleman having an immense papilloma (warty) mass surgically excised from the tip of his tallywhacker, but this one just nudged above it. Both of them required similar kinds of approach, ingenuity, careful manipulation, regard for timing, laser-like mental focus, and amazing hand-eye coordination.
So, TL;DR - ...cool beans.
+Sean Wilkinson Oh, and F the Qix. Almost forgot the most important part amongst all my nonsense.
Amazing how a roaming stick can be such a hated character in a game. But is it EVER a bastard. And watching those trapped sparks, you can almost hear them screaming to escape.
lol matt
I laugh at both your comments. On the one hand, I can't help but feel a little empathy when I see the "poor old Qix" being trapped in that wall. The game reminds me of "The Cask of the Amontillado" at these times. The inverse of that is that the Qix is like some shape-shifting mosquito with artificial intelligence. I'm breathing a sigh of relief when he's trapped. This game and "Robotron 2084" have my nerves on edge. Besides strategy, twitch reflexes and reaction time are so important. "Qix" is a masterpiece.
It's about time someone showed QIX who's boss!
Wow, looks like a gerrymandered district map.
When I owned the arcade QIX my friend and I made up another game with this that entertained us for a long time. We would get the QIX trapped early but taking as little space as possible in the middle of the playing area. Then we would follow the border all the way around the outside and then continue to the follow the inside until the entire playing area was filled with a spiral death trap. Whoever had the longest time from the moment you could spiral no longer would win. It was a totally different way of playing with the goals being fun but in a different way. Hopefully you understand that but if not let me know.
i didn't get it pls explame
Keeping those sparks busy at the top of the board is ingenious!
I've never seen someone that knew how to play this game well, that was masterful. I remember playing this like it was yesterday.
There weren't a lot of video games that I liked (Asteroids and Missile Command pretty much filled out the list) But this was the one that I excelled at, and this was pretty much the way I did it; gradually box the Qix into the smallest area then use the slow Stix to close it off, yielding a huge red area in the process. I could go all day on one quarter doing this.
I learned this game from a master and it *is* so satisfying to see the Qix so methodically boxed-in. Well played!
It's been DECADES since I've played this! I happened to be at an 80s arcade today and I played it. Totally forgot about it until then, but it came flooding back! I never played it with the skill you do
I used to build one more layer on my sparx trap. Then I would split the screen horizontally using one long horizontal branch not all the way across. From there I would make a "comb" with multiple small inlets on whichever side the Qix wasn't. When the Qix entered my comb trap, I would draw another horizontal branch from the opposite side, close to but not touching the first, almost all the way across. Now Qix is trapped. All fast draw sections so far. NOW I could slow draw my radiator in the open half. Imagine an orange tube, one pixel wide, filling the space by tracing back and forth in the thghtest pattern possible, filling the screen but claiming minimal area. It was beautiful. By the time I was finished the Qix would be well trapped in a narrow space and I could just go claim 99%. Learned this from watching a guy do it at Goldie's in Seattle. He was probably a math major at U of W.
O_O
The Sparx Trap! Why hadn't I seen this anywhere else before?! This! Changes! EVERYTHING!
Jimmy Dimples beautiful
It's an old trick. I saw it in an old arcade cheat book in the 80s
_Qix_ is one of the more underappreciated games out there. Well done, sir!
I also want to say that the audio in this game is extremely well done, especially for the time.
the audio is fucking killing my ears
I love the Sparx warning sounds at 1:26 and 6:31
This version the audio isn't good compared to the Apple IIGS version that had excellent audio.@@luftkadettarchives6387
@@luftkadettarchives6387not wrong it is rather shrill
This strategy is as genious as the game itself. They dont make em' like this anymore.
You know it's good when a couple of 13 year olds that grew up with the ds and Wii stayed up all damn night playing just this game.
@@Masherful Was that you? On what system?
@@chrisray9653 On a space invaders plug and play.
This person was truly an amazing QIX-master ... I remember the game but I wasn't very good at it
Ironically Taito's Kick Master is a better game
Progressing from black and white space invaders, this game was ultra modern, and oh how I LOVED the game sounds.
I remember this game. I always wanted to trap that thing but never properly executed the maneuver. Well done!
Very good! I have been able to trap the Qix in very small places but never two rounds in a row! Very fun to watch! I need to buy the arcade game again. I used to own it and sold it cheap when the logic board went south. Now with all the available parts I could have fixed it and been playing like you! Thank you for sharing!
the original version of this game feels like a fever nightmare
I loved this game. Never thought I'd see it again.
Was I the only one screaming around 13:53 "You got him trapped! Seal him in!" A fast line down just missing the lower horizontal one would have done it. Then it would have just been a matter of going to the right of it and filling in the inside, and then off to the left to get the 99%.
Yes this guy was taking his sweet time!
I would just go from one screen straight to the other. 50 percent square or more. living on the edge.
I thought this game was intriguing, but as this video strongly suggests, the fun factor that the experience offers doesn't telegraph well to the mentality necessary to do well.
The music in this game resonates the pleasure centers in my brain. I might actually be addicted. Also, I had no idea you could capture the sparks.
Wow! Used to love Qix but never came close to this - this is ninja level...
So it seems like the strategy is this: 1) Make spark trap at top of screen to limit number of roaming sparks. 2) When sparks come by, hop over them at a corner. 3) Construct a branching structure, forcing the qix into a narrow hallway. 4) Do nothing for five to ten minutes, repeating step 2 as necessary. 5) Seal off the qix in a small space, thereby claiming the rest of the field.
I feel like I understand most of the steps, but I'm puzzled about step 4. Is this to gain extra points?
cometkite it's to wait for the qix to get in these said hallways.
Yes, we, me and two friends used to regularly hit less than 3% stuffing the Qix using this strategy. Fun.
this is brilliant! not sure why i didn't figure this out, it makes so much sense seeing you do this. nicely done!
I build a rectangle to the left and the qix gets stuck in the gap, close it off, bam instant 98% at least.
know why this is the best game ever,,,,,,,because you make your own the game, all the other games got patterns, once you find it ,the game becomes boring
Dude knows his Qix. We had this on Atari 800 computer, loved it. Funny, we always called it Qwix, but I heard someone call it Kicks the other day.
This game was a sound & geometric artwork.
You are the Rainman of Qix sir! Beautiful! Thank you for posting!!
Ha! I can't play this game for sh*t! That sparx trap is the best idea ever.
I remember playing this game. I start with trapping the sparks, then I would work to divide the two Qix which would give you multiple scores on the next run. Every time you split them, the multiplier increases (2x, 3x, 4x.. and so on). I remember getting at least 10x one time and then I did a 90+% closure to reach the highest score. I can't remember my final multiplier value but I know I went to at least 10x.
Zolyx for C64 was similar and yet slightly different!
I always tried to fill it up as quick as possible while still trapping the spark.
Oh my God it was so slow on the Game Boy. This is terrifying!
You made QIX as art piece!
anthropocentrism was where video games went wrong
I'd box the Qix into a small corner and then draw a giant tight unresolved spiral to make the game lock up. Good times!
Sparx warning sound time stamps
1:26
6:31
And for people like me too stupid to even understand it we had 'Amidar'.
what, the new sparx that generate can't get out of that trap (in the first level)? i don't think my DOS version worked like this!
Sweet! I haven't seen this game in AGES. Steam has a new game out called Lightfish that reminded me of this game.
Wow this is impressive! I've been obsessed with Qix on MAME lately, and remember playing it long ago when it was new. You show some great techniques here, the sparx trap is impressive. Are you not filling and icreasing the edge distances to keep the other sparx away?
Oh, i need Qix Remastered.
Is this available for play on consoles? I played this in the Penn State lounge arcade +30 yrs ago. Loved it.
+donpopsiejr Yes. Taito Legends 2 for the Xbox & Playstation 2.
There's a port for GBC and a virtual console re release for the 3DS
+Nicholas Svitak There's also the Atari 5200 version.
donpopsiejr I used to own the gameboy version back in 89 or 90. it was one of the earliest releases at least here in Spain. II was 12 back then, and I spent hours trying to claim as much space as this fella. curiosly enough, one of the few gamer I never got rid of along dr franken and robocop, for its music...
Antonio Criado Diaz ... Excellent history. I would play 8 to 10 hrs on a quarter with bridging. My games would eventually end when the game froze.
2000年くらいにこれに似たのがアーケード版であった。
囲んだ範囲に女の子の画像が出るパターンのだった。
i was mesmerized.
I wonder if there were any revision coding that overcame the spark trap. Also is it possible to trap both?
I posted this comment under another video but will retype it here - there was a bug in the game that could cause the QIX to become trapped underneath a fill. I don't know the exact circumstances that made this possible but it happened to me twice. It would be stuck as a single line, humming and changing colors. So.... you draw a slow line around it, and claim 97% or more!
I’ve been watching for 10 minutes and still have no idea what’s going on.
is it me or is the arcade version surprisingly easier than the remakes made in flash?
I thought I sucked at Operation until I played this.
Spark traps! I can't get them to work on PS5 Arcade series version or the Gameboy.
I didnt urderstood nothing of what i saw but damn the sound is so relaxing
does the red mean more points? if it does and more points does not equal more markers, what the point? other than maybe having a high score to put initials to.
+ybrix101 ha ha ha. you must be young.
+fododude no. not really. I just started playing it recently. by he way, I figured out how to get the red. but since you can't get extra markers from higher points as I have found out playing the console that I have access to, it's not much of an incentive for me.
I've tried to imitate how he traps the sparks. But I haven't had any luck. Has anyone been able to do this? If so, how?
hearing this with headphones tortures my ears
the qix on "classic arcade" site is too hard.
QIXXO 99% excelente 👍👍👍👍👍
Excellent! Congratulations! I will copy your style of play.
I think that qix should’ve been much slower in the early rounds.
Haven't played this but reminds me of Gals Panic. Same concept. Maybe designed by the same company?
What is the difference between blue and red fills and how do you make them?
Red is slow, but gives you more points. There are two buttons for this game, one for fast and one for slow.
WoW. Can you make 2 spark traps?
I could never understand this game. Can someone explain what's the concept of this game.
You are essentially drawing shapes to capture as much of the board as you can, when you capture enough of it you win the level. If you touch one of those sparks you lose a life, you also lose one if a line you're drawing is touched by the Qix. (That swirly thing that looks like a windows screensaver.) Normally the game gets hectic as the game adds sparks at regular intervals, though you aren't seeing that here do that particularly brilliant box trap that the sparks are being spawned into. You can draw lines with a slow button(red) or a fast button(blue). Red boxes score double.
great sound design
I can't recall the difference between the red and blue fills...
red fills are slower to draw and worth more points for the fill
Good old days
I think I played that game once.
A arcade machine that has Qix with space invaders 👾
Dr. Ruby 7LT I actually saw one of those recently. I believe it was a commemorative edition.
QiX monster, stuff of nightmares - it can not be destroyed, it can not be defeated, only contained...
Sparks ... silent, sneaky, deadly. And like their real world cousins, to be avoided at all costs !
You owned the Qix!
What is the object of this game?
+Chesco 75%+ coverage without getting hit by qix, sparks, lit fuse, or trapped by your own spiral trail.
+Chesco you have to make lots of blocks til you get the claimed thing to the exact number or you can try to trap the qix
Okay, I tried to capture the sparks and it didn't work. If you are still out there 25956464, can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong?
what kind of controls are you using, and is this mame
I thought Qix was the one where you're lookin down a deep hole and there's big red X's climbing up at you. Damn, shit. Fuck. What was that one called now?
Tempest.
That's DANGEROUS!!!!
R E S P E C T for your mad gamin' Skillz. Fortnite is for babies, do battle against the Qix !
There was a figure to make this first & you had no problem..........
on what site do u play?
i tried on retrogames b ut couldnt find the hotkeys.. well ifoudn but cant change.. i could move to my left n right only..using a pc.
nice trap
This is brilliant
Outstanding!!!
my game got the high score in bc canada when it was new
Impressive but it seems like more work than fun.
STUNNING !!!
You are the best !
Qix and Qix 2....hard games
How is this game fun?
jtathec Obviously you were born after this game came out. 😋
Bravo
ASMR for games ! :-)
Hard and frustraiting challenging but fun game
Look up, if you made this, you can do what you want or not.Only with this trick, may you can do it. it was so fun without ......
Omg how bored am I what has my life come to???
Awesome
Hall Daniel Martin Amy Williams Jose
White Carol Perez Kevin Thomas Ruth
Io amo questo gioco è l unico di vera strategia....poi il trucco è incarcerare il fulmine
Like a boss!