Major Havoc (or The Adventures of Major Havoc) is an arcade action game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. A vector-based upright arcade cabinet, Major Havoc consists of several smaller game experiences played in succession, including a fixed shooter, platform game, and a lunar lander sequence. It was developed by Owen Rubin with some levels designed and tuned by Mark Cerny, who joined the development team approximately a year into the game's development. The game was released as a dedicated cabinet in 1983 and then one year later as a conversion kit for older vector arcade games like Tempest. Dedicated versions of the game used a roller control for left-right movement, while conversion kits used their native controller hardware, such as the Tempest rotary spinner knob. from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Havoc Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Major Havoc Arcade levels 13-20 in 16:00 (1,260,178 points) Notes: -Now that I see the video, I see where I could take less time. But I never know if I want to optimize for time or score. -I use the warps to start at level 13. The codes are: 23, 46, 824 and 315. -Level 14, I forgot to jump over the O2 which is next to the reactor -Level 16, I had to work hard and optimize the level several times to complete it without dying. On my first try, I died when I touched the reactor, it was a long way from the exit. Normally, even a good player loses a life in this level because there isn't enough O2. I was surprised that it was possible not to lose a life. -Level 20, since it's the same as level 16, this time I was ready, I knew what to do. I optimized each movement to waste as little time as possible. I was surprised to end up with 26 O2. -I will probably do a TAS of all levels, from 1 to 20. What is a TAS? ruclips.net/user/Prog61about For a good introduction to TASing: ruclips.net/video/Ietk1-Wb7oY/видео.html For more information visit tasvideos.org.
This is really some impressive work by Atari, I’ve never seen this game before. Too bad it wasn’t in any of the arcades I went as a kid, I’m a sucker for a good vector game, especially one made by Atari.
Nice to see level 16/20 done in one life even if its via TAS. I've been able to use similar aggressive and highly dangerous strategies but have only ever made it as far as setting off the Reactoid and making it into the dual Ion cannon hallways above with one life. I can see now that the extra time/o2 we need comes from perfect jumps that don't go any farther nor higher than needed the entire level. Surprising how much time that saves as you saw on Level 20. I'm pretty sure the original problem with this level comes from adaptive difficulty which speeds up things too fast including o2 consumption by that point in the game (and a lack of play testing to ID this problem and fix it because Atari rushed it to market unfinished). Without AD you can also jump the second of two Pyroids in the upper right section of the maze which is sped up way too fast in the factory default original arcade version by that point in the game too (the one you have to use up your shields on). These problems are finally fixed in the Promised End and Tournament Edition...and if you pay attention and have some patience you can access those previously inaccessible areas to get even more extra o2 ;)
Interesting...but are cheats enabled (invulnerability)? It looks like the player's ship gets hit several times on space waves but the shots just pass through it. The Booms (red lines) also appear to clip the player's ship on the Level 16 space wave which normally would result in death under normal play.
This is a TAS, no cheats were used. More info here: www.youtube.com/@prog61/about With an editor, I manually control the player for every frame. It took me about 10 hours of work to do this video. In almost all arcade games, collisions are not pixel perfect, Hit boxes are a bit smaller than the sprites. You can observe this fact in many of my other videos. The TAS show you the limits of the game. Thanks for the comment.
It's easy and quick in the TAS editor to adjust a move or jump by one frame and see the result so I know immediately if the character dies or not. Because of this, in many places the character is 1 pixel or 1 frame away from dying. The most spectacular place where I demonstrated the limits of hit boxes is in Galaga where I was able to pass an enemy bullet between the player's 2 ships in dual ship mode. ruclips.net/video/mWZYJykjvGw/видео.html
A bit disappointing that if they were going to have that many levels in a game, that they didn't make unique ones, instead of using the same ones over and over.
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Major Havoc (or The Adventures of Major Havoc) is an arcade action game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. A vector-based upright arcade cabinet, Major Havoc consists of several smaller game experiences played in succession, including a fixed shooter, platform game, and a lunar lander sequence. It was developed by Owen Rubin with some levels designed and tuned by Mark Cerny, who joined the development team approximately a year into the game's development.
The game was released as a dedicated cabinet in 1983 and then one year later as a conversion kit for older vector arcade games like Tempest. Dedicated versions of the game used a roller control for left-right movement, while conversion kits used their native controller hardware, such as the Tempest rotary spinner knob.
from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Havoc
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Major Havoc Arcade levels 13-20 in 16:00 (1,260,178 points)
Notes:
-Now that I see the video, I see where I could take less time. But I never know if I want to optimize for time or score.
-I use the warps to start at level 13.
The codes are: 23, 46, 824 and 315.
-Level 14, I forgot to jump over the O2 which is next to the reactor
-Level 16, I had to work hard and optimize the level several times to complete it without dying. On my first try, I died when I touched the reactor, it was a long way from the exit.
Normally, even a good player loses a life in this level because there isn't enough O2.
I was surprised that it was possible not to lose a life.
-Level 20, since it's the same as level 16, this time I was ready, I knew what to do.
I optimized each movement to waste as little time as possible.
I was surprised to end up with 26 O2.
-I will probably do a TAS of all levels, from 1 to 20.
What is a TAS? ruclips.net/user/Prog61about
For a good introduction to TASing: ruclips.net/video/Ietk1-Wb7oY/видео.html
For more information visit tasvideos.org.
The impossible is possible, it would seem
This is my favorite arcade game. I have never seen these levels anf you play them like a superhero! Amazing!
1983? Very ambitious for its time!
Wow. I've been in many an arcade, but I never even heard of this one before. Looks like I missed out on a good one. Nice playthrough.
Wow this game is good at reminding me of how cool vector graphics are. No joke, I'm appealed to the visuals.
Thanks for the video! This is my favorite arcade game.
Congrats for reaching 5.000 subs!
Great work! (As usual).
This is really some impressive work by Atari, I’ve never seen this game before. Too bad it wasn’t in any of the arcades I went as a kid, I’m a sucker for a good vector game, especially one made by Atari.
Totally cool to see this game played at this level
Nice to see level 16/20 done in one life even if its via TAS. I've been able to use similar aggressive and highly dangerous strategies but have only ever made it as far as setting off the Reactoid and making it into the dual Ion cannon hallways above with one life. I can see now that the extra time/o2 we need comes from perfect jumps that don't go any farther nor higher than needed the entire level. Surprising how much time that saves as you saw on Level 20.
I'm pretty sure the original problem with this level comes from adaptive difficulty which speeds up things too fast including o2 consumption by that point in the game (and a lack of play testing to ID this problem and fix it because Atari rushed it to market unfinished). Without AD you can also jump the second of two Pyroids in the upper right section of the maze which is sped up way too fast in the factory default original arcade version by that point in the game too (the one you have to use up your shields on).
These problems are finally fixed in the Promised End and Tournament Edition...and if you pay attention and have some patience you can access those previously inaccessible areas to get even more extra o2 ;)
I saw your video of the Promised Land, very fun to watch.
Thanks for the interesting comment.
Such a cool game, it gets so impossible though
Interesting...but are cheats enabled (invulnerability)?
It looks like the player's ship gets hit several times on space waves but the shots just pass through it. The Booms (red lines) also appear to clip the player's ship on the Level 16 space wave which normally would result in death under normal play.
This is a TAS, no cheats were used. More info here: www.youtube.com/@prog61/about
With an editor, I manually control the player for every frame. It took me about 10 hours of work to do this video.
In almost all arcade games, collisions are not pixel perfect, Hit boxes are a bit smaller than the sprites. You can observe this fact in many of my other videos. The TAS show you the limits of the game.
Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for the response. Had to ask given what I saw but I guess you are exploiting the hit boxes for maximum effect.
It's easy and quick in the TAS editor to adjust a move or jump by one frame and see the result so I know immediately if the character dies or not. Because of this, in many places the character is 1 pixel or 1 frame away from dying.
The most spectacular place where I demonstrated the limits of hit boxes is in Galaga where I was able to pass an enemy bullet between the player's 2 ships in dual ship mode.
ruclips.net/video/mWZYJykjvGw/видео.html
A bit disappointing that if they were going to have that many levels in a game, that they didn't make unique ones, instead of using the same ones over and over.
We fixed that in The Promised End ;)
ruclips.net/video/vD-JckArxJY/видео.htmlsi=MzDotsSQDYN9M77T
Please respond Rex Havoc, what's your status report⁉
What if The Tower of Druaga's *Maiden Ki* was in Major Havoc? Probably.
NO WAY PEOPLE STILL CARE 'BOUT MAJOR HAVOC! NOW DO ONE OF GRAVITAR, LMAO