Miniature Golf (Arcade Golf): Atari Archive Episode 27

[@JordanHJ]

Good video, enjoyed it. That mine explosion was so over the top haha

[@epicboomshine6595]

I remember the ‘AHA!’ moment me and my grandfather had when we figured out how this game worked. It was one of our favorite games on the Atari Flashback we had. For those having trouble getting used to the controls, it’s a lot closer to playing a pool table but trying to get the ball into a hole in the middle of the table instead of corner and side pockets. You pretty much have to use the walls to make longer shots.

[@shawncarter7188]

I ****LOVED**** this game!

[@sandal_thong8631]

It was one of my starting cartridges when I got the system (for Christmas 1979?). Trying to find where to put the "putter" to get a hole-in-one was the trick. When I found one I'd mark it in the manual which had pictures of all 9 holes.

[@Phediuk]

Another great episode. I really like all the background info and primary sources you dig up for these vids.

[@shawncarter7188]

This game is a LOT of fun with 2 players, when one person gets stuck. It's hilarious

[@allenhuffman]

Hey hey, @jim gerrie gets a screen shot. Cool.

[@jpbishi]

Keep em coming! Thanks for doing these!

[@drunkendelver1966]

I play this game sometimes to unwind at night with a drink. Not even to win or beat the game. Just to see what the ball will do when I hit it from random far away angles. Yes, I am easily amused. Why do you ask?

[@sandal_thong8631]

Green Atari Logbook challenge: Play game number 1 with difficulty switch in A and complete the course in the fewest strokes. Pro: 36 (Par), Master: 30, Wizard: 25 or less. If the "ball" hits the "hole" at too great a speed on difficulty A, then it will bounce off. As a kid I would hit the ball on A for speed, and as it got close to the hole would switch it to B, which lets it enter and also slows it down. So I had to "re-learn" the course for the challenge to find ways to score a hole-in-one on A difficulty. The second game is just two-players, so you can just as easily do your attempts on game 2, with player 1 as "practice", switching controllers for turns. It's too bad they don't have other game options (say games 3-9) to practice the later holes, as 7 and 9 are particularly difficult and it takes a while to get through to them. Once I got a hole-in-one, I'd mark where I shot from in the manual, which has pictures of all 9 courses.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

I once managed to get a score of 36 on this game which I can tell you is not easy to achieve.

[@sandal_thong8631]

The trick is to find spots to score a hole-in-one from. I didn't mark where it ended _near_ the hole, but knowing how to get it in two would have been good to know too.

[@metronome8471]

You play this with nothing but power shots. Place the cursor far away and press the button

[@sandal_thong8631]

True. If you get a hole-in-one, remember where you placed your putter, and maybe where the moving obstacle was too. It was most satisfying to hear it go "umf, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, ack." Usually you don't want to hear the obstacle's "beeep" that kicks your ball away. I was glad to see him get a couple long shots to either near the hole or right in. "ACK." 3:48

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

It's not really been one I've been able to get into - the early VCS abstract really doesn't help much, and the controls? Oh gosh, I think more than anything that's been the turn off.

[@sandal_thong8631]

He's right about this being more like billiards and not having the controls you need to power-hit it in the desired direction when you can't back up from the ball. I enjoyed playing this a lot and I liked seeing the unreleased arcade game. So many of these Atari games were 1970s arcade games, that this needed to be one as well to get public play testing "in the wild". With Activision's superior use of graphics, I'm sorry they didn't come up with a "new and improved" version that solves these problems.