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qix: MAME ROM Information.

History:

Qix (c) 1981 Taito.

The objective of Qix is to claim a certain proportion of the playing field as your own. At the start of each level, the playing field is just a large, empty rectangle, containing the Qix - a stick-like entity that performs peculiar, erratic motions within the confines of the rectangle. The player controls a small marker that can move around the edges of the rectangle. To claim an area of the screen, the player must detach from an edge and draw Stix within the rectangle. Stix are simply lines traced out by moving the marker. When the marker traces out a closed shape, the area enclosed by the shape becomes solid and has been claimed. The player may draw either Fast Stix, which appear blue when solid, or Slow Stix, which appear red. Slow Stix take longer to draw, but are worth twice as many points. Once the player has claimed an area, the marker can safely move along the border of that claimed area. To complete a level, the player must claim 75% or more of the rectangle's area.

- TECHNICAL -

Board Number : LKN00003

Prom Stickers : LK / QQ / QU / QX

Main CPU : (2x) M6809 (@ 1.25 Mhz)

Sound CPU : M6802 (@ 921.6 Khz)

Sound Chips : Discrete

Players : 2

Control : 4-way joystick

Buttons : 2 (SLOW, FAST)

- TRIVIA -

Released in October 1981.

The author named the game 'QIX' (pronounced 'KICKS' and not 'QUIX') because his car registration/number plate at the time was : 'JUS4QIX'.

Qix is the first 'drawing game', a truly original game. Also the first totally Taito American game, Qix initially did big numbers, but quickly died when players discovered the machine was 'unbeatable'. Having a googolplex of possible combinations, there was no singular pattern to the game and players lost interest.

A Qix unit appears in the 1983 movie 'Joysticks' and in the 1984 movie 'The Karate Kid'.

- SCORING -

There are a couple of ways you earn points in Qix. The first involves actually claiming areas.

There are 2 buttons, slow and fast. These buttons determine how fast your Marker goes. In essence, going slow increases the risk of losing your Marker so it is obviously worth more points. Here's how the points work out for making 'boxes':

1) Slow : It is a base 500 points multiplied by the percentage of area covered by that box. For example, if you create a box that claims 3% of the total area, then points scored would be 500 X 3 or 1500 points. This area fills in with brown.

2) Fast : It is a base 250 points multiplied by the percentage of area covered by that box. For example, if you create a box that claims 1% of the total area, then points scored would be 250 X 1 or 250 points. This area fills in with blue.

NOTE : The above points may not be exact since the game rounds off the percentages to whole numbers for display but calculates them using decimal percentages.

You also get bonus points for going above the 75% Threshold. Any percentage above the 75% Threshold is multiplied by 1000 to determine your bonus points.

During the split Qix screens, if you successfully split the Qix's into their own compartments, you will get a multiplier bonus that is applied to points scored when you are making boxes. For example, if you had a 250 points and the multiplier was 3X, you now have 750 points. This multiplier increments by one every time you successfully split the Qix's. Of course, when you do this, you don't get the bonus points (if you had any).

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* When you start the game, your Marker will be at the bottom, middle of the playing screen. It is now up to you to start creating boxes. Keep in mind that you need to be constantly moving or the Sparx will take out your Marker. In addition, when you are moving your Marker around the perimeter, you can only move along the perimeter actually touching the Playing Field.

* First of all, you must be constantly aware of two things. First, you must know where the Qix is located at all times. It moves randomly and can go anywhere on the Playing Field that your boxes haven't blocked. Last, the Sparx are constantly moving around the perimeter of the Playing Field. This can set up a dangerous situation where one Sparx is coming at you from one way and another from the other to make your Marker a 'Sparx Sandwich'.

* Once you have assessed the danger, it is time to start making boxes. There are a few things to note when you are making boxes :

a) When you start to draw the line, the Sparx cannot travel along the new perimeter you are creating until it is filled in.

b) The Qix, though, is your primary concern. If it touches any part of a line before the box is filled in, you will lose your Marker.

c) The box must begin and end either at a filled box or on the side of the Playing Field. You cannot connect the line to itself. If you try to do this, you will go into what is called a 'Spiral Death Trap' and a Fuse will follow your line to your Marker and destroy it.

* After the fourth wave, the Qix will split in two. Now you have 2 Qix's bouncing around to deal with. You major goal is to actually 'split' the Qix's into their own areas. This means creating a series of boxes so that each Qix will be in its own compartment.

* For maximum points, you must do two things :

a) First, use the slow button as much as possible since this is where the points are.

b) Try to claim as much area in each box as possible. That percentage multiplied by the speed value can yield some big point values.

c) Constantly try to split the Qix's (if you can) to get that bonus multiplier even higher.

d) When you are close to the Threshold, find an area in the Playing Field that hasn't really been touched and try to make a big box. That way, you will go over the 75% Threshold and claim a bonus.

* As the waves progress, everything gets faster and the game will become less forgiving if you are less then committed to making a box.

* Also, listen for sounds in this game. The only real sound you need to be concerned with is what sounds like a fuse being lit. If you are making a box and you hear this sound, that means you are taking too long or you have unfortunately gotten yourself into a 'Spiral Death Trap'. In the case of delay, once you move the fuse will go out.

* To maximize points, draw narrow, tall boxes, like fingers, from the bottom. When the Qix goes down between two fingers, go across the top of the fingers at slow speed. This tactic permits percentages of up to 99%.

* It is possible create a 'slide-box' to avoid the sparks. Starting at a corner of a box, draw another box that connects only at that corner. When a spark approaches, the player can slide the diamond through the intersection, while the spark has to go around the perimeter. After the spark passes the intersection, the player can slide back across the intersection and be behind the spark.

- SERIES -

1. Qix (1981)

1. T.T Qix (1981)

2. Qix II - Tournament (1982)

3. Super Qix (1987)

4. Twin Qix (1995)

5. Battle Qix (2002)

6. Qix ++ (2009, XBLA)

- STAFF -

Designed & programmed by : Randy Pfeiffer, Sandy Pfeiffer

- PORTS -

* Consoles :

Atari 5200 (1982)

Atari XEGS

Nintendo Famicom (1990)

Nintendo Game Boy (1990)

Atari Lynx (1991)

Sony PlayStation 2 [JP] (August 25, 2005; "Taito Memories Gekan [Model SLPM-66092]")

Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Taito Memories Vol. 2")

Sony PSP [JP] (January 5, 2006; "Taito Memories Pocket [Model ULJM-05076]")

Microsoft XBOX (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

Sony PlayStation 2 (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

* Computers :

Acorn Electron (1983, "Stix" - Supersoft)

BBC B (1983, "Stix" - Supersoft)

Commodore C64 (1983, "Stix" - Supersoft)

Atari 800 (1983)

Tandy Color Computer (1984, "Qiks")

Tandy Color Computer (1984, "Quix")

Commodore Amiga (1989)

Commodore C64 (1989)

Apple II (1989)

PC [MS-DOS] (1989)

Apple IIGS (1990)

Oric (2004, "4kQix" - Stephane Geley)

PC [CD-ROM] (2006, "Taito Legends 2")

* Others :

Nokia N-Gage (2004, "Taito Memories")

Arcade Legends : Space Invaders TV Game (2004 - Radica Games)

- SOURCES -

Game's rom.

Machine's picture.

F.A.Q. by Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc

MAME Info:

0.23 [John Butler, Ed. Mueller]

Artwork available

SETUP and TEST MODE:

- The first time you run the game, it will ask the language. You can use F1 to proceed through all the configuration screens, or just reset (F3).

- Press F2 to enter test mode, then F1 to advance to the next test. There are no dipswitches, press F1 to enter the service mode, then F1=Next screen, F2=Next line, F5=Up and F6=Down.

WIP:

- 22nd February 2010: Mr. Do - Gregf pointed out an auction for a Taito Phoenix bezel, which looked a lot like Rock Climber. After checking through The Arcade Flyer Archive, it seems there quite a few Taito Japan games that used this type of bezel, just with different colors. So, based on the TAFA flyers, there are new bezels for Qix.

- 0.133u2: Team Europe added clone Qix (set 2, smaller roms). Changed description of clones 'Qix (set 2)' to 'Qix (set 3, earlier)' and 'Qix (set 3)' to 'Qix (set 2, larger roms)'. Renamed (qixa) to (qixo).

- 0.123u5: Zsolt Vasvari changed qix driver to use the MC6845's VSYNC notification for interrupts.

- 0.115u2: Zsolt Vasvari changed the CRTC6845 emulator to optionally control the screen configuration and video rendering. Updated the Qix and Spiders driver to use the new functionality. Added notifications for when the display enable pin changes in order to drive blanking signals. Changed VSync to 76.293945Hz.

- 29th April 2007: Mr. Do - Added the instructions to the Qix bezel, thanks to BYOAC.

- 3rd December 2006: Mr. Do - Minor adjustments to Qix bezel.

- 5th November 2006: Mr. Do - Ad_Enuff adjusted Qix artwork with a more correct black.

- 29th October 2006: Mr. Do - Zorg vectorized Qix. This is the first of many bezels courtesy of Gene at Vintage Arcade.

- 0.37b16: Changed M6802 CPU3 clock speed to 921600 Hz and palettesize to 1024 colors.

- 1st August 1999 John Butler modified Qix to draw straight to screen bitmap.

- 0.35RC1: Al Kossow added clone Qix (set 3).

- 9th June 1999: Al Kossow added another version of Qix.

- 0.35b3: Nicola Salmoria added clone Qix (set 2). Changed parent description to 'Qix (set 1)'. Added 2nd player.

- 0.31: John Butler merged the Qix and Zookeeper drivers, they now also support rotation.

- 0.30: Mike Balfour added clone Qix II (Tournament). Aaron Giles added sound and support dirty rectangles in Qix.

- 8th December 1997: Kevin Klopp dumped Qix II (Tournament).

- 0.29: Qix runs correctly and without slowdowns (CPU execution is interleaved) [Nicola Salmoria].

- 0.28: John Butler added optimizations to Qix and fixed several problems in Qix.

- 0.23: John Butler and Ed. Mueller provided a driver for Qix (Taito 1981). High Score saving supported too. Game is playable with accurate colors and no sound. Control: Arrows = Move around, CTRL = Fast draw and ALT = Slow draw. While in the configuration screens: F1 = Next screen, F2 = Next line, F3 = Reset/Start game, F5 = Up and F6 = Down. Known issues: No sound. Emulation will be slow on anything less than a Pentium 133. Interrupt timing should be exact now (NdMix). Player 2 controls don't work right. Press F3 to skip the configuration screens at the beginning. In the DIP switch menu, "CONFIGURE CMOS" lets you change the game's settings by using the configuration screens. Change the value to "YES" while not in a game. Change the configuration as desired, then re-enter the DIP switch menu and change the value back to "NO". Your configuration is saved automatically and will be reloaded the next time you play. To leave the configuration screens, press F3. To change the language, delete the QIX.HI file from the Qix directory and re-run the program.

- 26th April 1993: Dumped Qix (set 1).

PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:

- Controll your Marker with joystick.

- To draw stix press Fast or Slow.

- Claim areas by joining walls with stix.

- Scores based on area: 250 points for Fast Score and 500 points for Slow Score.

- Claim more than 75% of the playfield for special Bonus.

- Your opponents are the Qix and two Sparx.

LEVELS: 1 (endless)

Other Emulators:

* HiVE

Recommended Games (Qix):

Qix

Super Qix

Twin Qix

Jin

Volfied

Romset: 32 kb / 16 files / 22.2 zip

MAME XML Output:

<manufacturer>Taito America Corporation</manufacturer>

</input>

</game>

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