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ST-urday #010: Shufflepuck Café

By Mento 2 Comments

Greetings, fellow STalwarts, to another retrospective ST-urday. We're deep into PAX Prime as of right now. Various YouTubers and Twitch streamers are receiving their biannual (triannual? tetrannual?) time in the PAX convention limelight while more professional outfits like our very own Giant Bomb team perform in rooms not set up for internet streaming (ironic, given how many Twitch superstars are able to do so straight out of their bedrooms and living rooms with little problem). It's a rum state of affairs, that's for sure, though I mostly speak out of envy for those in Seattle who are able to watch the GB panel live later today.

It doesn't pay to be supercilious about this new movement of aspirant video game hosts, of course, as there's a lot to recommend from the innumerable nickel-and-dime video game coverage operations out there. I'm partial to Super Best Friends Play myself, and hold out hope that they managed to convince Ryckert or Jeff to shoot a promo for this month-long "Rustlemania 2" feature they've been doing throughout August. Collectively, though, I just find it... difficult, to ascertain the wheat from the chaff, as there is so much of both. That the younger audiences with more time and patience on their hands are able to do so sort of reminds me of when I was barely into my double digits, and would spend inordinate amounts of time on games of dubious quality that I'm no longer sure were worth my rapt attention. Your time is more freely given the younger you are and have more of it to spend, I've discovered, and it's helped a generation of new critics and entertainers with little more to their presentation than a wit (of a sort, in the case of PewDiePie and his equally histrionic contemporaries) and a webcam to find an ardent audience. There's a hint of iconoclasm and antiestablishmentarianism too, of tearing down the old guard and installing a new order, and I suspect something similar is what drew many of us to Giant Bomb: a site created in the aftermath of an unfortunate episode that, for all the world, seemed to exist purely to flip the bird to the world of corporate game journalism.

Man, I am getting far too melancholy and baroque with my nostalgia goggles today. You know what they say: If it ain't baroque, don't fix it. With that in mind, let's talk about cleavage and alcohol and playing some air hockey with the scum of the universe.

Shufflepuck Café

No Caption Provided

For the longest time I thought this game was the domain of the Amiga and the Amiga alone. Though I never owned a copy, I would frequently take turns playing against its multitude of opponents alongside an Amiga-owning friend of mine, simply assuming that - for whatever reason - the game did not see a release on its sister system the Atari ST. I might chalk that down to how, though this was rarely emphasized with any spite by the acquaintance in question, the Amiga of this Amiga-owning friend would frequently have games that never saw ST releases. This occurred more often towards the mid-90s, as both systems began to slowly die out in the face of the PC's overwhelming might. The ST, as the first to arrive, was also the first to die with the Amiga following a scant couple years later despite a misguided attempt to increase its longevity with the CD-based Amiga CD32.

(This same friend, incidentally, would be the first of my middle-school posse to have access to a PC - his elder brother's - and introduce me to many late DOS/early Windows mainstays such as Team17's Worms, Westwood's Lands of Lore and Command & Conquer, the bizarre point-and-click Monty Python licensed games and the original Diablo and Warcraft games from Blizzard. He did not have permission to play Doom or Duke Nukem, alas, or at least while I was around and could hypothetically tell my folks over dinner about how I gibbed a demon or told a stripper to "shake it, baby". At this point in my personal gaming career I had almost completely crossed over onto consoles, only occasionally taking over the family PC whenever an interesting RPG like Betrayal at Krondor, Daggerfall or Baldur's Gate showed up.)

Anyway, Shufflepuck Café. It's essentially 3D Pong from an angled perspective situated behind the player - a game perhaps more accurately described as an air hockey simulator - so it seems a little odd that the game would opt to give itself a sci-fi setting. Instead of air keeping them aloft, one could assume the pucks moved around the table due to some sort of repulsorlift anti-grav technology, and the glass-shattering effect caused by every point scored is simply a dramatic holographic projection. It also meant that the developers could have fun creating a "rogue's galaxy" of alien beings to challenge you: some humanoid, others less comprehensible to Earth-bound ken.

The history of Shufflepuck Café is a curious one, and one considerably divorced from my original assumptions. It began as a 1988 Apple Macintosh 128k game, of all things, created by the American game developer Brøderbund: they of the Carmen Sandiego edutainment series. The original version's art was stark and striking due to the Apple Mac's sharp monochrome monitor. The ports that followed for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC adopted its more well-known look: the grubby characters, the orange and red grid-like table, as if it was some kind of pitch or field for a different sport, and the blocky wood sideboard that was nonetheless far springier than it appeared. Odd to think that a sci-fi game would create an air hockey table that looks less sophisticated than any you'd find in a modern Arcade, but as we'll see shortly the titular Shufflepuck Café is a pretty run-down place itself. The most interesting thing I discovered when researching the game is that it also saw a Famicom port in 1990. Published by Pony Canyon exclusively for Japanese audiences, it added a bit more in-game backstory for its oddball characters and changed the portly champion Biff into someone that more closely resembled Double Dragon's burly bruiser Abobo. (Talking of Macintosh originals, I've really got to get around to covering one or more of the MacVentures series on ST-urday at some point... maybe once I've played my recently purchased copy of the 2014 revamp of Shadowgate.)

As you can see, we're dealing with a cyberpunk type world here. Actually, in the story of the game, Shufflepuck Café is on some alien world somewhere. We're stuck here due to our crashed ship and cannot call for whatever the interstellar AAA is without beating every patron at shufflepuck between us and the callphone. None of these sci-fi games pre-empted mobile phones, it seems like.
As you can see, we're dealing with a cyberpunk type world here. Actually, in the story of the game, Shufflepuck Café is on some alien world somewhere. We're stuck here due to our crashed ship and cannot call for whatever the interstellar AAA is without beating every patron at shufflepuck between us and the callphone. None of these sci-fi games pre-empted mobile phones, it seems like.
Talking of obstinate patrons, here they all are. The only creature I'm not sure about is that flesh-colored eyeball monster. Far as I know, he's not an opponent. Maybe he works here? Or maybe the developers never bothered to program him in as a player? Who knows. What's a weird alien bar without a few inexplicable gooey monstrosities in your peripheral sight?
Talking of obstinate patrons, here they all are. The only creature I'm not sure about is that flesh-colored eyeball monster. Far as I know, he's not an opponent. Maybe he works here? Or maybe the developers never bothered to program him in as a player? Who knows. What's a weird alien bar without a few inexplicable gooey monstrosities in your peripheral sight?
DC3 is a waiter robot, but you can select him as an opponent. He's unique in that his difficulty can be programmed. He's really more of a training dummy.
DC3 is a waiter robot, but you can select him as an opponent. He's unique in that his difficulty can be programmed. He's really more of a training dummy.
DC3 has no
DC3 has no "tells" or weaknesses, unlike a few of the others. He'll just play you at whatever level of competency you decide. Notice the glass shattering effect going on in the corner of his playing field: that occurs every time either player scores, and there's some very visceral about the sound and look of broken glass. I have no idea if the cracks are procedurally generated or not, though I suspect there's a finite number of those animations that get played at random.
Anyway, no need to humiliate the wait staff. I just needed to get my bearings. Turns out, it wasn't necessary: the only thing that you use is the mouse, and that moves your paddle around. Very simple. Suspiciously simple, perhaps.
Anyway, no need to humiliate the wait staff. I just needed to get my bearings. Turns out, it wasn't necessary: the only thing that you use is the mouse, and that moves your paddle around. Very simple. Suspiciously simple, perhaps.
Skip Feeney is the first actual opponent if you turn on the game's main tournament mode. A fellow human (though, of course, we have no way of knowing if the protagonist is human or not) Skip's really more of a joke character. His paddle is waving around erratically, suggesting some kind of hidden trick up his sleeve.
Skip Feeney is the first actual opponent if you turn on the game's main tournament mode. A fellow human (though, of course, we have no way of knowing if the protagonist is human or not) Skip's really more of a joke character. His paddle is waving around erratically, suggesting some kind of hidden trick up his sleeve.
But no, he's just nervous. I mean, he's surrounded by space monsters, so why wouldn't he be? I half-wonder if he's supposed to be some sort of cruel joke at someone's expense. A fellow game developer, perhaps. Either way, he's not a problem whatsoever. No tricks, no anything. Hit the puck hard enough to either corner and he'll refuse to block it out of nerves.
But no, he's just nervous. I mean, he's surrounded by space monsters, so why wouldn't he be? I half-wonder if he's supposed to be some sort of cruel joke at someone's expense. A fellow game developer, perhaps. Either way, he's not a problem whatsoever. No tricks, no anything. Hit the puck hard enough to either corner and he'll refuse to block it out of nerves.
Visine Orb's a little more devious, or at least first appears to be. Like Skip, his paddle moves around erratically from side to side even when the puck's nowhere near his half of the table.
Visine Orb's a little more devious, or at least first appears to be. Like Skip, his paddle moves around erratically from side to side even when the puck's nowhere near his half of the table.
Visine, it turns out, has zero strategy. If the puck ever hits his wildly veering paddle, it's entirely accidental unless the puck's moving particularly slowly. Visine's returns tend to be the annoying sort where they bounce off the sides a dozen times before finally reaching you, largely because he's not even trying to aim. He just doesn't want the puck to hit his glass. Maybe being at eye level makes the broken holo-shards more nerve-wracking than usual.
Visine, it turns out, has zero strategy. If the puck ever hits his wildly veering paddle, it's entirely accidental unless the puck's moving particularly slowly. Visine's returns tend to be the annoying sort where they bounce off the sides a dozen times before finally reaching you, largely because he's not even trying to aim. He just doesn't want the puck to hit his glass. Maybe being at eye level makes the broken holo-shards more nerve-wracking than usual.
Good ol' Vinnie the Dweeb. Vinnie's a competent player, but a lethargic one. He'll make an effort to block each of your shots, even returning them at angles to confound you, but hit the puck at a fast enough speed and he won't be able to react to it in time.
Good ol' Vinnie the Dweeb. Vinnie's a competent player, but a lethargic one. He'll make an effort to block each of your shots, even returning them at angles to confound you, but hit the puck at a fast enough speed and he won't be able to react to it in time.
He's genial in defeat at least. Vinnie's the first real opponent of the game: someone you can't really roll over until you've figured out how the game works.
He's genial in defeat at least. Vinnie's the first real opponent of the game: someone you can't really roll over until you've figured out how the game works.
Lexan Smythe-Worthington. This blue blood (whose blood might literally be blue; I don't think there's a polite way to check) will start off being a far stronger opponent than you're used to. He'll block almost everything and return the puck as quickly as you're sending it.
Lexan Smythe-Worthington. This blue blood (whose blood might literally be blue; I don't think there's a polite way to check) will start off being a far stronger opponent than you're used to. He'll block almost everything and return the puck as quickly as you're sending it.
The trick? Well, the trick is that after every couple of winning points he'll take a celebratory sip of whatever space martini he's drinking. Each sip lowers his reaction speed, making him easier and easier to get past as the match progresses.
The trick? Well, the trick is that after every couple of winning points he'll take a celebratory sip of whatever space martini he's drinking. Each sip lowers his reaction speed, making him easier and easier to get past as the match progresses.
When Lexan has 0 points, he's a challenging opponent. At four or six points or more, he's a pushover. I think his early competency is meant to be intimidating, but it's like being intimidated by E.T. when he gets drunk off of Elliott's mom's Coors and falls over. Naturally, once the match has concluded, Lexan also collapses to the floor. You get the impression he was sent to this backwater planet so he wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Smythe-Worthington dynasty.
When Lexan has 0 points, he's a challenging opponent. At four or six points or more, he's a pushover. I think his early competency is meant to be intimidating, but it's like being intimidated by E.T. when he gets drunk off of Elliott's mom's Coors and falls over. Naturally, once the match has concluded, Lexan also collapses to the floor. You get the impression he was sent to this backwater planet so he wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Smythe-Worthington dynasty.
Eneg, or The General, is a porcine military officer and one of the most aggressive players. You can turn this aggression against him easily enough, though his serves are still brutally fast. If he's not serving, and you don't give him a softball that he can spike back at you at full speed, he's a tough but surmountable opponent.
Eneg, or The General, is a porcine military officer and one of the most aggressive players. You can turn this aggression against him easily enough, though his serves are still brutally fast. If he's not serving, and you don't give him a softball that he can spike back at you at full speed, he's a tough but surmountable opponent.
Like Lexan, the metaphysical being Nerual (it you're wondering about this guy and Eneg's names, try reading them backwards. That's an unimaginative developer NPC-naming trick as old as Wizardry's Werdna and Trebor) has a trick to him, but unlike Lexan it won't make itself obvious over time.
Like Lexan, the metaphysical being Nerual (it you're wondering about this guy and Eneg's names, try reading them backwards. That's an unimaginative developer NPC-naming trick as old as Wizardry's Werdna and Trebor) has a trick to him, but unlike Lexan it won't make itself obvious over time.
Nerual, you see, is a mimic player. If you send the puck at him with full force, he'll return it with same, and the player is often ill-equipped to react in time. The first time you meet Nerual, he'll dominate you for a while until you figure him out.
Nerual, you see, is a mimic player. If you send the puck at him with full force, he'll return it with same, and the player is often ill-equipped to react in time. The first time you meet Nerual, he'll dominate you for a while until you figure him out.
By sending slow pitches to Nerual - something you're conditioned not to do when playing earlier opponents, especially Eneg - he'll return in kind. His paddle will then start to slowly wander from side to side: at this point, sending the puck as fast as you can to the side his paddle isn't on will net you an easy point. After the strategy becomes clear he's far less difficult. It'd be fair to compare this game to Punch Out!!, actually, in that you spend the first fight or two learning all your opponent's tells, and then using what you've learned to reliably put him down each subsequent encounter.
By sending slow pitches to Nerual - something you're conditioned not to do when playing earlier opponents, especially Eneg - he'll return in kind. His paddle will then start to slowly wander from side to side: at this point, sending the puck as fast as you can to the side his paddle isn't on will net you an easy point. After the strategy becomes clear he's far less difficult. It'd be fair to compare this game to Punch Out!!, actually, in that you spend the first fight or two learning all your opponent's tells, and then using what you've learned to reliably put him down each subsequent encounter.
Princess Bejin is a nasty opponent specifically because of her serve. She is usually a tricky defensive player - one that you'll have a hard time getting past, but one that won't continually throw impossibly fast shots at you either.
Princess Bejin is a nasty opponent specifically because of her serve. She is usually a tricky defensive player - one that you'll have a hard time getting past, but one that won't continually throw impossibly fast shots at you either.
However, when she serves, she psychically commands the puck to hover across the table, suddenly veer to one side and then slam towards either corner. It's impossible to stop it unless you're prepared for it.
However, when she serves, she psychically commands the puck to hover across the table, suddenly veer to one side and then slam towards either corner. It's impossible to stop it unless you're prepared for it.
One way to be prepared is to stick your paddle in one of the two corners and pray you got the right one. It's a 50-50 chance. The other is to listen to the theremin-esque noise she makes: the pitch is slightly different for when she intends to send the puck in the opposite corner after the horizontal set-up. I was never able to reliably make it out myself. Most of my matches with Bejin ended up being very close as a result of all her ace serves. With enough perseverance, though, you can inch ahead. (You might also have noticed that Bejin opened her cloak a little as a reward for our skill, which... I dunno. Proves something about how this sort of thing has always been here, though that hardly excuses it.)
One way to be prepared is to stick your paddle in one of the two corners and pray you got the right one. It's a 50-50 chance. The other is to listen to the theremin-esque noise she makes: the pitch is slightly different for when she intends to send the puck in the opposite corner after the horizontal set-up. I was never able to reliably make it out myself. Most of my matches with Bejin ended up being very close as a result of all her ace serves. With enough perseverance, though, you can inch ahead. (You might also have noticed that Bejin opened her cloak a little as a reward for our skill, which... I dunno. Proves something about how this sort of thing has always been here, though that hardly excuses it.)
As for Biff Raunch, well, there's a reason he's the champion. There's no trick to Biff: he's just exceptionally good.
As for Biff Raunch, well, there's a reason he's the champion. There's no trick to Biff: he's just exceptionally good.
I've honestly never beaten this guy fairly, though I have on occasion managed to get past him once or twice in a single game. Since I'm certain the ST version of the game doesn't have the ending cinematic of the Amiga version, I'm not inclined to cheat my way past this match to show off what happens next. This redneck space biker can keep the trophy for all I care. It's not worth the carpal tunnel.
I've honestly never beaten this guy fairly, though I have on occasion managed to get past him once or twice in a single game. Since I'm certain the ST version of the game doesn't have the ending cinematic of the Amiga version, I'm not inclined to cheat my way past this match to show off what happens next. This redneck space biker can keep the trophy for all I care. It's not worth the carpal tunnel.

I was prompted early on to add Shufflepuck Café to the list of games to peruse for this feature because of the semi-recent Steam release of Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe, which I wrote about here. I remarked on how close to the original it felt, for better or worse. It adds more reasons to keep playing other than the thrill of the fight, but earning all its meta-game goodies meant playing the same opponents far too many times than was palatable. It can't be easy to convert a game made in 1988, where concerns about longevity and value for money weren't quite as prevalent, to the 2010s where players expect a little more to keep them invested.

Then again, maybe not: I've come to realize that the reason many Indies do so well is because they rarely outstay their welcome. You pay a tiny amount for a game when it's on sale or in a bundle, beat it in a few hours, feel the price justified the time spent (when the game is actually well-made, at least) and move onto a dozen micro-experiences just like it in the same month. I think this incarnation of Shufflepuck Café would do just as well now as an afternoon's frivolity as it did back then when it was a graphically and mechanically remarkable coup. That's presumably how the Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe people felt about it as well. Or maybe they just really liked the original and wanted a new version of it out there; there's been crappier reasons to want to create a game.

(Back to the ST-urday ST-orehouse.)

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