Contents

General:

About Midway’s Arcade Classics Volume 1

About this game

In the game window, press:

Play to begin or continue a game;

Options to customize the keyboard, joysticks, or game play;

History for game history and interviews;

Change game to play a different game; or

Exit to exit Arcade Classics.

Game play:

How to play

Game controls

Changing the keyboard

Using joysticks

Changing a joystick's sensitivity

Varying the game's difficulty and settings

Other:

Troubleshooting


About Midway's Arcade Classics
About Midway’s Arcade Classics Volume 1

Digital Eclipse Software, Inc. Team

Digital Eclipse Software, Inc. has developed and published several successful commercial software packages for the Macintosh and the PC.  The company was also responsible for the DOS and Mac versions of Midway’s Arcade Classics and is currently working on projects for next generation gaming systems.

Andrew Ayre - Andrew served as Producer of Midway’s Arcade Classics for Windows® 95 and is President of Digital Eclipse Software.

Jeff Vavasour - Jeff was the Lead Programmer on this project, responsible for the emulation engine and the Arcade Room and "Behind the Scenes" interfaces, as well as supervising the overall design.

Technopop (Randel Reiss and Justin Wolf) - Technopop was responsible for the coding of the games' user interface and also for DirectX support programming.

Bert Monroy - Bert is the talented artist that lent his hand to creating the original artwork which appears in the Arcade Room.

Chris Charla and Jon Snyder - Chris and Jon brought you "Behind the Scenes" with their multimedia one-on-one interviews with the original Midway Programmers.

Midnight Design - Midnight Design provided multimedia post-production, including additional artwork for "Behind the Scenes."

Image Impressions - Image Impressions did additional layout for parts of this CD-ROM's "AutoPlay" launcher.

Developed by Digital Eclipse Software, Inc.

Emulation software © 1995 Digital Eclipse Software, Inc.


The Play Button

Press the play button to enter the actual game.  The first time you do this after choosing a new game, you will start out in the "attract mode."  This is the mode the arcade game is in when it is waiting for a new player.  To start a new 1-player game, press 1.  To start a new 2-player game, press 2.

To pause a game, press the ESC key.  This will return you to the game's main title window.  You can resume your game where you left off by selecting Play a second time.

For more information on the object of the game, see How to Play.

For more information on the controls used to play this game, see Game Controls.


Changing the Keyboard

Using the Options button on the game window, you can change the keys used to control the game.  In Options, select the Keyboard tab.  This page lists all the controls used by the game, and the current keys assigned to each.  To assign a new key to a control, click on the Change button next to it, and then press a new key.

If you press Cancel or ESC when you are asked to select the new key, the change is cancelled and the control remains unchanged.  You can also restore the original keys assigned to the controls by clicking on Restore Defaults.

For a list of the keys assigned to the controls when you first install the game, see Game Controls.


The Options Button

The Options button on the game's title window allows you to customize the game in a variety of ways.  You can vary the difficulty and game play options (see Game-Play Settings), change the keys used to control the game (see Changing the Keyboard), select joysticks to be used to control the games (see Using Joysticks), or vary the game's sensitivity to motion of the joystick (see Advanced Joystick Settings).


Behind the Scenes

Click on the History button on the main game window to enter the "Behind the Scenes" multimedia retrospective.  "Behind the Scenes" features interviews with the original game designers, insider tips and information, and rare artwork and photos that are a must-see for game enthusiasts.

Once on a game's "Behind the Scenes" page, you can view interviews by pressing one of the Clip buttons, read through the accompanying text, or see the artwork and photos in the Media Gallery.

You can also enter "Behind the Scenes" from the Arcade Room by clicking on the center of the neon sign on the back wall.

Warning: Entering "Behind the Scenes" will end any game that may have been paused.


The Arcade Room

When you first start Arcade Classics, you will enter the Arcade Room where you can select a game to play.  Pressing the Change Game button on a game's main window will end the current game and return you to the Arcade Room.

In the Arcade Room, you are shown three games.  You can either click on one of these three games to go to it, or click on the "Front/Back Room" sign to see the other three games which are available.

In addition, you can also click on the center of the neon sign on the wall to enter the "Behind the Scenes," or click on the "Exit" sign to exit Arcade Classics.

The "Go to" pull-down menu provides an alternate way to go directly to one of these options using the mouse or the keyboard.

Tip: When you first insert the Arcade Classics CD-ROM, you can bypass the Arcade Room and go to one of the six games or "Behind the Scenes" by clicking on a shortcut button at the top of the "Welcome" window.


The Exit Button

The Exit button will completely exit Arcade Classics.  To restart Arcade Classics you will either have to reinsert the CD-ROM, or open your "My Computer" folder and double-click on the CD-ROM icon.

To exit your current game in order to choose a new game to play, click on Change Game instead.


How to Play

The object in Bubbles is to gain as many points as possible by cleaning sinks while avoiding "nasties."  Sinks are clean when all crumbs, ants, and greasies have been removed -- which is done by running over them with your bubble.  (See Game Controls on how to move Bubbles.) As Bubbles cleans up these grimy critters, he grows.  When a sink is finished, Bubbles must be big enough that he won't slip down the drain.  You'll know he's big enough when he grows a mouth.

When Bubbles is small, he must avoid brushes and sponges which are also busy cleaning the sink.  You must also be careful that he doesn't fall down the drain.  Once he grows a mouth, though, he's big enough to push these guys around.  Bubbles will get a large bonus if he manages to push a brush or sponge down the drain.  But be careful: each time Bubbles pushes a brush or sponge around, he shrinks a little, and may become too small again.

There are two other enemies that Bubbles must never touch:  the cockroach and the razor.  The cockroaches are large bugs that come out of the drain.  The drain will flash red when they're on their way, and, just before they show up you'll hear them rattling their way up the pipe.

A Cleaning Lady can appear out of the drain too.  She can be collected for points.  Be sure to catch her before she gets back on her broom or she'll disappear back into the drain and take all the points she's swept up with her!  If you touch her broom first instead of some other part of her, you get her broom too.  If you touch a cockroach with a broom (and not Bubbles himself), you can kill it for big points.

For more bonus points you can also end a sink early, before you've finished cleaning.  To do this, Bubbles must be big enough to have a mouth.  When this happens, the drain will flash green.  It is then safe to "dive in."  Doing so will give you more points than ending the sink by cleaning it thoroughly, but if you do this you'll skip ahead two sinks rather than going on to the next one, so the game will get tougher more quickly.

To find out more about how to play Bubbles, watch the attract mode when you select Play, before starting a 1- or 2-player game.


Game Controls

Bubbles can be moved in one of eight directions (up, down, left, right, or the diagonals) using a joystick (see Using joysticks) or the keyboard.

When Arcade Classics is first installed, it sets up the keyboard so that you can control Bubbles using the Numeric Keypad.  (You must have your NUM LOCK turned on in order for this to work.)  The keys are arranged as follows:

Keypad 1 - Diagonally down and left

Keypad 2 - Down

Keypad 3 - Diagonally down and right

Keypad 4 - Left

Keypad 6 - Right

Keypad 7 - Diagonally up and left

Keypad 8 - Up

Keypad 9 - Diagonally up and right

You can change the keys used to control Bubbles using the Options button on the game's title window (see Changing the Keyboard).


Game-Play Settings
Varying the Game's Difficulty and Settings

These original arcade games had a number of settings which could be adjusted to vary the difficulty of play (to make it harder for people to play too long on one quarter!).  On the main game window, choose the Options button and then select the Game tab.  Here you can adjust your game in the same way to make it easier or harder.

As Bubbles was originally set up, you start with 3 bubbles and get a bonus bubble every 25,000 points.  On the Game page of the Options, you can adjust this so that you start with anywhere from 1 to 99 bubbles, and get a bonus life every 1,000 to 99,000 points.  There is also a special setting below 1,000 which gives you infinite lives.

In addition, you can vary the game's difficulty using the "Difficulty" slider control, or change the number of letters allowed in the top score to anywhere from 3 to 20.  Only the top score is allowed more than 3 letters.  All the rest only get 3 regardless.

If, at any time, you want to restore the game to its original "mint condition," simply press the Restore Defaults button under the Game tab.

You can also clear all your high scores, restoring the high score table to the factory-set scores.  To do this, click on the Reset High Scores button.

Warning: If you attempt to change any of these settings or reset high scores while you are in the middle of a game that has been paused, that game will end and your score in that game will be lost.  If you attempt this, however, you will be warned and given a chance to change your mind.


Troubleshooting

The action in Arcade Classics stutters:  Windows® 95 may do a momentary "garbage collection" (that is, a clean-up of memory and disk) after a new program has settled in for a short time.  If this occurs on your machine and is unsatisfactory, try letting the attract mode run through once or so before playing a game.  If it occurs frequently, it may be a sign of insufficient memory, or another active application may be requiring intensive use of the CPU or hard disk.

I get no picture or a corrupt game screen:  Ensure that your video board is at least a local bus video board.  Microsoft's DirectX requires local bus video (or better) in order to work properly.

The sound seems choppy or poor:  Ensure that you have an up-to-date Windows® 95-compatible audio driver for your sound card, and preferably a sound card which is recommended for use with Microsoft's DirectX.  Consult with the manufacturer for details.

I can't move Bubbles: Ensure that the NUM LOCK key is on, and that your key controls are set correctly.  See Game Controls and Changing the Keyboard for more more information.

I am having trouble using my joystick with the game: See Joystick Troubleshooting.


About this Game

The Bubbles Team

John Kotlarik and Tim Murphy - Program/design

Python Anghelo - Art/design

Dave Rzepka - Support software

John Kotlarik and Tim Murphy - Sounds

Chuck Bleich and Greg Wepner - Hardware

Leo Ludzia and Gary Berge - Mechanical

Ken Lantz - Video Manager

Bubbles © 1983 Midway Amusement Games, LLC.

Bubbles is a registered trademark of Midway Amusement Games, LLC.

All rights reserved.  Used under license.


Using Joysticks

In order to use a joystick with this game, it must first have been set up under Windows® 95's Control Panel.  To do this, choose Start, then select Settings..., then Control Panel, and finally select the Joystick icon.  See the help within for more details.

Once this is done, you must tell the game which joystick you wish to use with it.  This is done by selecting the Options button on the title window, and then selecting the Joystick page.  Select the joystick from the combo box there.

If you wish, you can also adjust how far the joystick needs to move before the game responds.  See Advanced Joystick Settings for more details.

If you are having trouble with your joystick, see Joystick Troubleshooting for help.


Advanced Joystick Settings

The Advanced button on the Options' Joystick tab gives you access to the joystick sensitivity slider and the calibration tester.

The calibration tester is the graph on the right of the dialog box.  It is divided up into nine squares, representing center (the gray square) and the eight possible directions of the joystick.  By moving your joystick around, you can see how far the joystick has to move in order for the game to register it as being "centered," "up," "right," etc.

The Sensitivity slider allows you to vary the relative size of these squares.  As you increase sensitivity, the distance the joystick has to move to get out of the "center" position gets smaller.  You can use this control if you wish to make your joystick either more "touchy" or more "sluggish" in the game.

A separate sensitivity setting can be set for each game, and, in the case of games that use more than one joystick, for each joystick also.

If you are having trouble getting your joystick to respond properly, you can use the calibration tester to troubleshoot the problem.  See Joystick Troubleshooting.


Joystick Troubleshooting

If you are having trouble getting your joystick to respond correctly, first ensure that you have the correct joystick selected under the Joystick tab of the Options button.

If the joystick is not listed there, then it may not have been calibrated. Joysticks must be calibrated in Windows® 95 using the Control Panel.  To access this, select Start, Settings..., then Control Panel and then double-click on the Joystick icon.  Follow the instructions there to calibrate your joystick.  If you do not have a Joystick icon under your Control Panel, you may not have installed the needed multimedia drivers.  Check your Windows Setup under Add/Remove Programs.

If your joystick has been calibrated under Windows® 95, and selected in the game's Options' Joystick tab (a joystick must be selected in each of the six games individually), click on the Advanced button under that tab to access the Advanced Joystick Settings.

The graph in this window shows you where the game "sees" the joystick, using a small "+".  The graph is divided up according to the different possible positions of the joystick, with "centered" indicated by the gray square.  You can try recalibrating your joystick or adjusting the trim controls (on joysticks that have them) and seeing how this graph responds.  Also, in all games but Sinistar, it is possible to adjust the Sensitivity which changes the threshold beyond which the joystick is no longer considered to be "centered" by the game.

If no "+" is shown on the graph, then the Windows® joystick driver is reporting that the joystick is not responding properly, and so its plug may be loose or not connected, or else the joystick driver has not been correctly selected in Windows® Control Panel.