History VideoGame / MarbleMadness

* AcidPool: The Slimes oozing around the course are living examples of this trope, instantly melting the player marble as soon it touches it.

* OneHitPointWonder: Your marble will shatter if it falls more than a fairly small distance, and contact with a Slime will instantly dissolve it. Shorter drops and contact with a Marble Muncher will stun it for a moment, though it can easily set up for said Marble Muncher to munch on said stunned player marble.

''Marble Madness'' is a 1984 arcade game by Creator/{{Atari}}, created by Mark Cerny. The game is an isometric puzzle game, controlled by a trackball, where you lead the eponymous marble to a goal while dodging obstacles through six courses with artwork inspired by Creator/MCEscher. The game also features two-player competitive mode.

Not only was it the first Atari game to use the Atari System 1 hardware and be programmed in the C language, but it was also the first video game to use true stereo sound, and the first video game to use FM synthesis for sound.

* AcidPool: The Slimes oozing around the course are living examples of this trope.

* OneHitPointWonder: Your marble will shatter if it falls more than a fairly small distance, and contact with a Slime will dissolve it. Shorter drops and contact with a Marble Muncher will stun it for a moment.

* NintendoHard: The final three courses, due to a combo of narrow track designs and low time limits. The Ultimate Race is the worst of the lot by far, with weird track surfaces, enemies in the worst possible places, and disappearing track sections in the final run to the goal--It does not help either that, in the Master System version at least, the music has the nasty habit of occasionally playing slower in the final part, distracting you.

[[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marble_madness.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:288:some caption text]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' is basically ''Marble Madness'' in 3D with monkeys and NintendoHard difficulty.

Surprisingly, a sequel, titled ''Marble Man: Marble Madness II'' was in the works for release in 1991, but was cancelled at the prototype stage due to poor reception in testing markets and fear of it flopping against games such as ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''.

** Each player's timer can only display values up to 99 seconds. Depending on the version played, any excess time above 99 may still be credited toward the player, with the timer starting to run only after those seconds have counted down. The second game eliminates the issue by adding a third digit to each palyer's timer.

** Each player's timer can only display values up to 99 seconds. Depending on the version played, any excess time above 99 may still be credited toward the player, with the timer starting to run only after those seconds have counted down.

* ColorCodedMultiplayer: In two-player games, one player controls a blue marble and the other controls a red one. (The players' colors are reversed in the Genesis port.)

* AnimateInanimateObject: The player's marbles are made sentient in ''Marble Madness II''.

Surprisingly, a sequel was in the works for release in 1991, but was cancelled at the prototype stage due to fear of it flopping against games such as ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''.

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Marblemadnessscreenshot_586.png]]

* HyperspaceMallet: The last obstacle in the Aerial Race.

Not only was it the first Atari game to use the Atari System 1 hardware and be programmed in the C language, but it was also the first video game to use true stereo sound.

** Each player's timer can't go any higher than 99 seconds. Depending on the version played, any excess time above 99 will be credited toward the player.

* {{Minimalism}}: The players are marbles, the enemies are simple and abstract, and the stages are grid-textured hallways floating in a void. This approach is evident in some of the music as well, especially the Practice Stage.

* OneHitPointWonder: The marble you control will break into pieces if it falls more than a fairly small distance. Shorter drops will stun it for a moment.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' is basically ''Marble Madness'' in 3D with monkeys and NintendoHard difficulty. ''VideoGame/Hamsterball'' replaces the marble with a hamster inside a plastic exercise ball and has a total of 15 courses.

* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: The music that plays during the Silly Race increases in tempo for each time it loops.
* SpiritualSuccessor: ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' is basically ''Marble Madness'' in 3D with monkeys and NintendoHard difficulty.

* AWinnerIsYou: The only thing you get for beating the game is "You have completed the ultimate race!", and the game shows your final score as marbles fly around the screen.

* AcidPool: The Slimes oozing around the course.

* NintendoHard: The final three courses, due to a combo of narrow track designs and low time limits. The Ultimate Race is the worst of the lot by far, with weird track surfaces, enemies in the worst possible places, and disappearing track sections in the final run to the goal -it does not help either that, in the Master System version at least, the music has the nasty habit of occasionally playing slower in the final part distracting you-

* {{Minimalism}}: The player is a marble, the enemies are simple and abstract, and the stages are grid-textured hallways floating in a void. This approach is evident in some of the music as well, especially the Practice Stage.