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Atari 5200 HSC Round 14 *Vanguard*


Atari5200

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Welcome to another round of the HSC. The game this round is Vanguard, one of my favorite shoot em ups of all time, and the one that started it all for me liking the genre.

 

As always, the rules are as follows: emu ok, any control scheme is also ok. highest score wins.

 

Competition will end 10-20-2007.

 

Let's get cracking people.

 

 

Final Leaderboard: updated 10/22/2007 7:58am est.

 

1. Phuzaxeman: 73230

2. BydoEmpire:67180

3. Jess Ragan: 40280

4. Scihorror: 27450

5. Artlover: 23900

6. Pressurecooker2600: 5460

7. Noahsmybro: 4950

8. Mike5200: 3110

Edited by Atari5200
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I think you're actually continuing, Mike. I've had that happen before... it's kind of confusing.

 

One thing this version of Vanguard has that the arcade version lacks is the ability to continue whenever you like. You can only continue in the first level in the coin-op.

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62,4100 - almost made it through two whole runs. The level right before the boss the second time through kills me every time - those ships are fast and when they shoot sideways I haven't figured out how to get past them.

 

hpim0065tf1.th.jpg

Edited by BydoEmpire
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For about 20 years I've felt like I never gave Vanguard a fair chance. I thought that if I'd spent more time with the game I'd learn to appreciate it.

 

Tonight I decided to revisit the game, and toss my hat in the ring for the HSC. And I could only tolerate the game for at most ten minutes. It's obviously been about 20 years since I played the game in the arcade. But playing it on the 5200 was a miserable experience.

 

I *like* the 5200 controllers, but the control on this game is awful. Lousy. Dreadful. I sucked, but my God the control was bad in this stinker of a game.

 

I can't fathom how you guys that are good at this can do so well.

 

As for me, my best score after a few minutes of play, and maybe 5 or 6 games, was 4950. And that's about as good as I'll get.

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The problem is that your ship slows down every time you fire, so if you're firing a lot, you won't be moving much. It's rather frustrating, and it makes me wish the designers had gone with the arcade version's four way firing. Like Robotron and Space Dungeon, Vanguard was designed to let you fire in any direction without using the main joystick.

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40,280. That's not a bad score, is it? I was able to make it through the first tunnel but got blasted by the Gond before I could sneak a shot through its protective barriers. You only get one shot at this guy, and if you screw up, you don't get another chance... you're just sent straight to the next tunnel. Bummer!

 

I'm going to play Ken Uston here and offer some tips that will help you score mucho puntavos in this game...

 

* Release the fire button when you collect the energy tank. You're invincible and can't fire anyway... holding down that button is just going to slow your ship to a crawl.

* When you're in the Rainbow Zone, there are two patterns the saucers follow. First they show up in groups of four. Sandwich yourself between the two middle ships and they won't touch you. Halfway through the zone, five saucers will appear. Stay in the center of the screen and rapidly alternate between firing up and down, and the center ship will never hit you.

* Take advantage of the Kemlar snakes in the Bleak Zone. These guys can't kill you... in fact, if you touch them, they'll loop around you and you'll score a huge point bonus. Just be careful! Sometimes the snakes will drop you right in front of a stalactite. Catch them as close to the center of the screen as you can.

* Any enemy you destroy will give you extra fuel. This makes it important to blast as many saucers as possible in the Rainbow Zone. Also, don't get greedy when you're in the Bleak Zone... you're eventually going to have to kill some of those Kemlar snakes if you want enough fuel to survive.

* There are two paths through the Striped Zone. The first is the most dangerous, so stick to the bottom path if you can. There's a laser gate on the bottom path, but it can be shut off by destroying the top generator. Then as you pass through the disabled gate, fire downward to blast the bottom generator and score more points.

* The Striped Zone is probably the best place to score points in the game. Everything is worth a huge bonus, so destroy everything you can! This is where those four way cannons really come in handy.

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ok...much better. 73,230. pic coming later. 3rd stage is fast already.
Dammit, I actually thought I might have had a chance this week. ;-)

 

[Edit] 67,180 - that's my best tonight, and I'm done. Didn't bother taking a pic. The wave of ships just before the final stage on the second run got me again. I used to LOVE Vanguard on the 2600. It was done of the first games I had for it, and I remember playing the heck out of it on the tiny black and white TV I had in my bedroom.

Edited by BydoEmpire
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