Contents

General:

About Arcade Classics 2

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 2.

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 Arcade Classics 2
About Midway’s Arcade Classics Volume 2

Digital Eclipse Software, Inc. Team

Digital Eclipse Software, Inc. has developed and published several successful commercial software packages including Williams® Arcade Classics for home computers and Williams Arcade’s Greatest Hits and Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 for home game consoles.

Andrew Ayre - Andrew served as Producer of Midway’s Arcade Classics Volume 2 for Windows® 95 and is President of Digital Eclipse Software.

Jeff Vavasour - Jeff was the Lead Programmer on this project and also supervised the Trivia Game multimedia post-production.

Midnight Design and Jon Zimmerman - Midnight Design was responsible for the CGI artwork used in the opening sequence and game selection.

Jon Bradley Snyder and Julie Palsmeier - Jon produced the interviews with the original game designers for the trivia segment, and wrote the trivia questions.  Julie served as assistant producer on the interview component.

Image Impressions - Image Impressions provided multimedia post-production on the trivia segment, as well as additional animation.

Luke Porter - Luke provided the game show narration for the trivia segment.

Doug Jefferys, Tom Johnson and Sue Urbanski - Doug, Tom and Sue were responsible for sound capturing from the original coin-op machines.

Special thanks to Larry DeMar, Cary Mednick, Ken Fafrak, Sean Kelly, and Jean Baudin for their technical assistance during the development of these games.

An extra special thanks to the interviewees: Larry DeMar, George Gomez,

Eugene Jarvis, Steve Meyer, Scott Morrison and John Newcomer.

The Midway Home Entertainment, Inc. Team

Michael Rubinelli - Executive Producer

David Schwartz - Technical Director

Brian Lowe - Associate Producer

Will Shen - Assistant Producer

Robert Sablan - Testing Manager

Erwin Gasmin - Lead Tester

Peter Chang, Ross Deynata, Ed Duran, Matt Vella, Kevin Wang - Testers

Special thanks to Jim Flaharty.

Developed by Digital Eclipse Software, Inc.

Emulation software © 1997 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.  In all games but Spy Hunter, you can also press 2 to start a new 2-player game.

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 canceled 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).


Arcade Trivia Game Show
The Arcade Trivia Game Show

Click on the History button on the main game window to enter the "Arcade Trivia Game Show" interactive multimedia retrospective.  This trivia segment 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 in the Trivia Game Show, choose the correct answer to the multiple choice question to view the interview, or skip the question by pressing the “Next >” button.  At the conclusion of the trivia segment is the Media Gallery, a collection of game-related photos and artwork.

You can also enter the Trivia Game Show from the Welcome screen by clicking on the “Trivia” button there.

Warning: Entering "The Arcade Trivia Game Show" will end any game that may have been paused.


The Welcome Screen

When you first start Arcade Classics 2, 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 one of seven games.  You can either click on “Play” to go to the selected game, or click the arrows to select one of the others available.

Alternatively, you can use one of the shortcut buttons on the top of the “Welcome” window to go directly to a game or the Arcade Trivia Game Show.


The Exit Button

The Exit button will completely exit Arcade Classics 2.  To restart Arcade Classics 2 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

Splat! is a crazy food fight where heads are going to roll!  Splat! is a unique find in this game, it was a completed Williams prototype from 1982 that never saw commercial release until now.

In Splat!, upon starting a game, select one of three characters – Marc the Slob, Harry the Hood, or Tanya Tootsie – using the movement control and then enter the ring by pressing 1 or 2 again.  A conveyer belt at the top releases food into the arena.  Use the movement control to position one of your hands underneath it to collect the food.  You can carry two items at a time.  Throw a piece of food at your opponents in any one of eight directions using the throwing control.  (See Game Controls for further details on moving and throwing.)

For you and the other human characters, a single impact will knock the character’s head off, sending it bouncing around the ring.  At that point you or the character will lose all the food he or she might be holding, and must concentrate on getting the head back (by moving to chase after it and tag it) because if you take another blow while you’ve got no head, you’ll lose your character.

If you have a free hand available, and position yourself just right, it’s possible to catch food being thrown at you.

Other characters appear which can also throw food at you: the Corn Stalker repeatedly explodes in a shower of popcorn.  Fortunately, one blow is all it takes to dispatch the Corn Stalker.  The Hit Men will fade in from the shadows and try to finish you off with a barrage of cream pies.  Get them before they’re gone for big points.

The garbage monster appears in later waves, and is deadly to the touch.  It can only dispatched with two blows.  The monster chases you fast until it has been hit once, so it’s always a good idea to be ready with two pieces of food: throw one to slow him, pick up another piece for the next monster, and then throw a second to finish off this monster.

Other inconveniences include roaming banana peels which are intent to make you slip up, and nerds who just come in to bother everyone.  (Food can be thrown at nerds for points, but they don’t notice it.)

If you pick up a key, it can be thrown as food, or you can use it to slip into one of the four doors on the sides of the screen.  Once inside these doors, you can select any one of four to exit again.  Use the movement control to select a door, and then tap the throw control to return to the ring.

If your character is defeated, your next life (if you have any left) will start inside these doors, and you have a limited amount of time to select a door from which to exit.

When Splat! is played as a two-player game, the players play simultaneously.  You can either cooperate, for safety, or play competitively, for greater points.

To find out more about how to play Splat! (in poetry form), watch the attract mode when you select Play, before starting a 1- or 2-player game.


Game Controls

Splat!'s controls are the most complicated of the games in this package, but they allow for the greatest power and control.  In the original arcade game, Splat! had four joysticks – two for each player.  Each player’s left-hand joystick was used to move the player’s character in one of eight directions (up/down/left/right plus the diagonals). Pushing the player’s right-hand joystick in one of those eight directions caused the player’s character to throw an item of food in that direction  (if the character was carrying any food).

Of course, most PCs don't have four joysticks, and so this version of Splat! provides you with several additional options.  You can use the keyboard in place of any of the four joysticks (though using up to sixteen keys per player to control the game takes some practice).  If you have a 4-button joystick (the Gravis gamepad is ideal), a player can use the four buttons alone or in combination to fire in the eight directions.  A third option is the special 2-button joystick mode, where pressing the main fire button throws in the direction you last moved, and the second button throws in the opposite direction.  The last option is not a preferred one, as it reduces your throwing capabilitie, plus it will not be an "authentic" Splat! experience.

For more information on using the keyboard, read on.  For more information on how to select the best joystick option, see Using Joysticks.

By default, the left-hand movement controls are arranged as eight keys centered around the "L" key for player 1, and the “S” key for player 2 as follows:

Player 1 uses...	Player 2 uses...	...to move
I	Q	up and left
O	W	up
P	E	up and right
K	A	left
Semicolon (;)	D	right
Comma (,)	Z	down and left
Period (.)	X	down
Slash (/)	C	down and right

The eight right-hand throwing controls are similarly arranged around the "5" on the numeric keypad for player 1, and around the “G” key for player 2:

Player 1 uses...	Player 2 uses...	...to throw
Keypad 7	R	up and left
Keypad 8	T	up
Keypad 9	Y	up and right
Keypad 4	F	left
Keypad 6	H	right
Keypad 1	V	down and left
Keypad 2	B	down
Keypad 3	N	down and right

These controls can prove crowded for two-player simultaneous play, and so it is recommended that in two-player games, at least one player use a joystick.

You can change the keys used to control Splat! 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.

For Splat!, the initial settings are a bonus life every 25,000 points, starting with 3 lives, with each wave lasting 30 seconds.  You can change the bonus to occur at any interval from 1,000 points to 99,000 points, or not at all.  You can also change the number of lives you start with to be anywhere from 1 to 79, and the length of the wave to be between 15 and 99 seconds.

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 2 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.  If you are using Windows NT 4.0, you may need the latest Service Pack upgrade (see ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes for details).

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 fire using the keyboard: 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.

On my joystick, I can only fire left and/or up: The game is set to 4-button joystick mode.  This means that one button fires left, another up, another right, and another down.  You can press them in combination for diagonal shots.  If you want the main button to always fire in the direction you are moving, select 2-button under the Joystick Options.  See Using Joysticks.

I have the joystick set to 4-button, but only two buttons work:  Some joysticks (such as the Gravis gamepad) have a switch that changes the third and fourth buttons on your joystick to rapid-fire versions of the first two.  Make sure this switch is set correctly.  Also, joysticks that are connected through Y-splitters (so that two joysticks can be attached) can only use two buttons each.  If this applies to you, remove the Y-splitter and connect the joystick directly to the computer.

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


About this Game

The Splat Team

John Newcomer - Game designer

Marc Stanis and Harry Kline - Software and design

Jill Sprenger - Art

Ed Suchocki - Sounds

Splat! © 1982 Midway Games, Inc.

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 1 page for Player 1’s controls, or the Joystick 2 page for Player 2’s controls.  Select the joystick for the player from the combo box there.

Splat! has a great deal of flexibility in its use of joysticks.  For a given player, separate joysticks can be assigned to "movement" and "throwing." If you haven't already done so, you should read Game Controls and How to Play for more information on the use of these controls so that you can make the best selection of joystick configuration.  The possible configurations are:

Two joysticks (best) - If you have two joysticks connected to your PC, select one joystick for Movement, and the other for Throwing.

One 4-button joystick (good) - If you have a single 4-button joystick (particularly a Gravis gamepad) you should select it under Movement and use the four buttons alone or in combination to fire in the eight directions.  The throwing directions are arranged to correspond to the position of the four buttons on the Gravis gamepad.  Also select 4-button mode on the same joystick setup screen.

Alternate 4-button mode (fair) - It is also possible to select the joystick under Throwing and then use the four buttons alone or in combination to move.

One 2-button joystick (fair) - Select the joystick for Movement and then select 2-button mode.  In this mode, pressing the primary fire button throws in the direction last moved, while the second fire button throws in the opposite direction.

Separate configurations are available for each of the two players, however, players may not share joysticks as the two players play simultaneously.

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.