Marble Madness Might Be My Favorite 80s Era Arcade Game.
As I look back at old cultures and eras of time, there’s one that always puts me at awe and that’s the era of the 1980s. You see I was born at the start of the 90s so part off me feels like it was a time frame I just missed. The thing that really got me into understanding the culture and aesthetic of the 80s was Grand Theft Auto Vice City, but that’s for another day.
During my college days, there was an old retro-cade downtown from where I was living, in fact it was walking distance from me. Not a small walk but a walk. The theme of the arcade was it was all games from the 1980s. So we’re talking OLD school mostly Atari era games like Q-Bert, Paperboy, Pole-Position, Pac-Man, that kind of era.
As my friends were either surviving in Gauntlet, trying to go home but could not get my friend off the Joust cab, or others dropping endless amounts of quarters in pinball classics like Medieval Madness or Black Knight 2000, I mostly spent time looking around the arcade at all the cool 80s themed stuff. I’ll admit this old school era of gaming was let’s say not my style. I get the 80s the idea of a video game arcade was a new and exciting one, as most games were simply bare bones. However there was one game I tried that kept me coming back for more. Something different that help me understand that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this ear.
The game was Marble Madness.
Marble Madness as a concept is quite simple. You play as a marble. You have to go down slopes, tight paths, and avoid many dangers to get to the goal within the time limit. The trick of this game is momentum and control. However you don’t play this game with just a simple joystick or buttons on the cabinet.
This is your controller layout.
You have to use this trackball like controller in order to control the marble. The game has a two player mode if you’re wondering why there’s two balls here. The challenge besides the clock is having to deal with uphill and downhill slopes. Too much movement will make your marble go too fast, often resulting in falling off course or your demise. Not enough movement and you won’t be able to get past the slopes and other challenges the game throws are you. Oh yeah did I also mention you can lose time/die from falling too far? You can take some small falls but the bigger falls will leave you breaking your marble and costing you time. The trick of Marble Madness is balance.
So seems simple enough, use the ball to control the marble on screen and do each level in the time limit. How hard can it be? As Marble Madness only has 5 levels to beat, the game quickly becomes quite brutal. Keep in mind this was an era where arcades were designed top be quarter/token eaters. Something you were challenged to beat but if you wanted to be a Marble Madness wizard, it’s going to take a pocket full of coins.
So let’s start with the first level.
The game starts you with 60 seconds. This level is very simple as it has only a few slopes and the path is pretty easy to understand. Even first time players can/should clear this level with ease. A easy understanding as to how Marble Madness works. It’s the next level where I feel the training wheels come off.
Level 2 the game now introduces you to some enemies. What you thought this game was just going to be a balancing act? The first bad guy you meet is another marble that’s black and will chase you to knock you off course. You then shortly after meet these green mouth things (best way I can describe it) that will jump up and try to eat you whole. Don’t underestimate these things, they are more accurate than they seem and could end your run before it really starts. The end of this level has a large patch of ice that of course makes your ball super slick. Something that could catch you off guard right before the finish if you’re not careful.
The next level I think is where most people will met their end when trying to beat this game before mastering the controls and feel of Marble Madness. It starts you in a very cramped maze with little to no room to move your marble. This often results it getting bumped into the walls and killing your momentum. I should also mention the left over time you have from earlier levels gets added to your time, so if this is your first try on this level, you are likely low on time, meaning you’re more stressed out into racing against the clock, resulting in more wall hits and mistakes.
This is also where understanding what you can get away with when it comes to fall damage really helps. You can take little falls but larger falls will result in your marble breaking. There’s times it feels like you get away with more of a drop than others but maybe that’s just perception of the moment.
This level also has more of a darker music track to it. The first couple of levels were very mellow to being catchy. Here it gets much more creepy. There’s also a part where the song gets faster and faster, causing you to get stressed out and rushing things. This level I feel is way harder than people think as it really messes without not just in skill but mentally as well.
Aerial race is where you will have to master the art of falling. Early into this challenge you are hit with sound speakers that come out from the side of the course that will likely throw you off if you don’t know it’s coming ahead of time. This is where the game really throws some curve balls at you (or in this case marbles). Understanding how much of a fall you can take is a necessity here.
Next up is the Silly Race, where “Everything you know is wrong”. This is where the game really picks up with the mind games. Every level before this you are going down, but here you are going up instead. This level also throws some mental and visual mind tricks at you.
Finally, you are meet with The Ultimate Race. This is where the game throws almost everything at you. Also a very rude part in the end where there’s teleporting/changing platforms that you have to pretty much memorize the pattern to. No doubt the last gear check before beating the game, look at it as a final boss if you will.
Don’t forget the game also has two player mode and not each player takes turns kind of thing, nah you both are playing at the same time, adding to even more of the chaos Marble Madness brings to the table.
Marble Madness would get many ports, but it’s just not the same without the trackball. You could get a trackball controller for the NES if you’re really needing that Marble Madness fix. Marble Madness is a very short game if you know what you are doing but this is the ultimate game of trial and error. I don’t know if it was the gimmick with the trackball controller, the 3Dish look of the game, or what but it’s an older 80s era arcade game that always caught my eye and is a fun game to try to master. It was just something new and different compared to everything else in that era. As I said, it might be my favorite 80s era arcade game and every time I see it either at a retro-cade or wherever, I always spend a few credits giving this a try.
