ballyalley Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I prefer text versions of manual, so here is the OCR version saved as ASCII text: Blue Max (1983)(Synapse Software)(Manual).txt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) Nice - you should post that on the Quote of the Day thread on the main A8 forum anyone noticed sometimes beeps and L flashes when landing - perhaps too long before I pressed fire? Anyone got a better link to the manual/more info? L flashes because you're one landing away from the city. It's to warn you that you'd better make sure you fuel up and have at least a few bombs. The city level seems to be longer than any other. Edited April 18, 2015 by Tickled_Pink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Blue Max NTSC 4320Air Cadet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepy Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) My first attempts; I didn´t manage landing at the end of level 1 until yet: 1350 (PAL) Sleeπ Edited April 18, 2015 by Sleepy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Ahh... a good run cut short by a mid-air collision: 5670 - Air Cadet Class 1 (sorry for the crappy photo - I had a very comfortable sleeping cat in my lap and did not want to get up. I had to zoom in with my phone from the couch) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 The manual (posted above) is a very good read - I did wonder about those flashing planes and red boats/vehicles; they score a lot of points so I was going for them anyway! Been to the final stage a couple of times but seem to get blown to pieces before I've worked it out... top players see the table for details of the Blue Max Ranking Bonus - up to 4 points available here, 1 for each class... Better start assembling the next poll ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I spent a bit of time yesterday trying to figure out how to get Blue Max status. I thought it might be the equivalent of a fighter ace so started paying more attention to shooting down enemy aircraft. I crashed into the last target in the city because AGAIN it didn't drop the bomb on command. But after getting another Class 1 Air Cadet from it, I don't think that's the answer. On one occasion I went straight from the normal stage to the 'airfield' stage at the first attempt. So I'm wondering if that's it - it depends on how quickly you progress through the game? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 570 PAL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Heh! 100 goes later and I'm getting the hang of it! Helped a lot when I ditched the buggy file versions I was using and played the original disk - might be worth using the ATR version for this one (from atarionline.pl) if you see anything strange at all on the file versions. 6,080 Air Cadet Class 1 then 3 hours later and after getting over the shock of why the instrument panel was flashing green - 10,910 Flying Tiger Class 1 no less - I'm assuming this sits nicely between Squadron Leader and Blue Max I got on a lot better taking out more guns and using the straffing more on the later stages. Round 7 Poll OPEN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) 5740 Flying Tiger Class 1 NTSC In first passage over the city I bombed all three targets. Edited April 19, 2015 by firestorm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballyalley Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Helped a lot when I ditched the buggy file versions I was using and played the original disk - might be worth using the ATR version for this one (from atarionline.pl) if you see anything strange at all on the file versions. [...] 3 hours later and after getting over the shock of why the instrument panel was flashing green - 10,910 Flying Tiger Class 1 no less - I'm assuming this sits nicely between Squadron Leader and Blue Max Since I'm running into the not-bombing-when-bombing-isn't-damaged, I'll try the ATR. These are quite a few of them. Which one do you suggest? Or, I guess I could just avoid the whole situation and play the cart under emulation. Are there any differences between the 1987 cartridge the 1983 disk/cassette release? Congrats on your score of 10K+. I'm still stuck at my lower score, which I'm finding shocking, since I've put in quite a few games (though not three-hours worth of gametime). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LidLikesIntellivision Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 340 Too low for a pic... But I hit something and I bet it was the enemy... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 5740 Flying Tiger Class 1 NTSC In first passage over the city I bombed all three targets. So I was pretty useless here and took several passes to get all the targets - not intentionally (the 3rd one was on it's own on a run)... we had the same rank and class so it didn't seem to be penalised. I'll amend the scoring to be just by rank. Since I'm running into the not-bombing-when-bombing-isn't-damaged, I'll try the ATR. These are quite a few of them. Which one do you suggest? Or, I guess I could just avoid the whole situation and play the cart under emulation. Are there any differences between the 1987 cartridge the 1983 disk/cassette release? Congrats on your score of 10K+. I'm still stuck at my lower score, which I'm finding shocking, since I've put in quite a few games (though not three-hours worth of gametime). How do you bomb? Do you play with reversed controls? Like I said I DO and hold fire then push forward until I hear the sound - if you move diagonally by accident it may stop this? I'm using my original Blue Max disk so you'll have to check out the ATRs - the file versions may be ok but perhaps not from the mydos/mypicodos menu I was using? p.s. that 3 hours was just today!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playermissile Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 6530, Class 1 Air Cadet, but still didn't get to the city. It seemed during that run that most of the flashing targets were enemy aircraft, heading straight for me and I can never hit those. To be fair, I missed a lot of the flashing bomb targets, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 So I was pretty useless here and took several passes to get all the targets - not intentionally (the 3rd one was on it's own on a run)... we had the same rank and class so it didn't seem to be penalised. I'll amend the scoring to be just by rank. How do you bomb? Do you play with reversed controls? Like I said I DO and hold fire then push forward until I hear the sound - if you move diagonally by accident it may stop this? I'm using my original Blue Max disk so you'll have to check out the ATRs - the file versions may be ok but perhaps not from the mydos/mypicodos menu I was using? p.s. that 3 hours was just today!!! Which version of the disk do you have? Like I said, I used to have this problem on real hardware and wasn't aware there were several versions released during its lifetime. If you have one of the later releases, maybe they patched it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I'm using SynSoft tape(CAS) version from Atarimania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) I'd use it as well if I could figure out how to turn off BASIC in Altirra. Edit: Never mind. Using the ROM version and that seems to have been patched to fix the bomb dropping issue. Still, got 10620 and only got Class 1 Squadron Leader. Gah! Edited April 20, 2015 by Tickled_Pink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Basic? It is easy, press and keep pressed F2 and F4 (start ant option) on your PC than press Shift (the one for upper case) and F5 (Reset). You should hear beep, then press Enter or Space and it should load from CAS as on normal Atari Edited April 20, 2015 by firestorm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 It's been so long since I hooked up one of my A8s that I'd even forgotten how to play tapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 But this one above is for Altirra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballyalley Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 How do you bomb? Do you play with reversed controls? Like I said I DO and hold fire then push forward until I hear the sound - if you move diagonally by accident it may stop this? I'm using my original Blue Max disk so you'll have to check out the ATRs - the file versions may be ok but perhaps not from the mydos/mypicodos menu I was using? Yes, I use reverse controls. For me, I can't play with regular controls. It is possible that I'm pressing diagonal, but I try my best to avoid this, as I know it's possible to miss bombing if you do. Since "Tickeled_Pink" says the ROM version of "Blue Max" fixes the bombing problem, then I'll try that under Altirra-- but I sure will miss playing it on the real thing. I wish I hadn't got rid of this cart now-- as I like the game... and I never thought that that would happen. BTW, is there a PAL version of "Blue Max," or are you PAL folks stuck playing a slower, easier, no-hard-at-all, beat-my-score version of the NTSC game? If you have the original "Blue Max" disk, then maybe you can dump it to, as it's not on AtariMania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 HSC's Beginners' guide covers turning basic off/altirra setttings I think but it's in system firmware... had 1000 goes today ARRRGHGHHTTGHHTHGT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballyalley Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 had 1000 goes today ARRRGHGHHTTGHHTHGT Put down the joystick. Back away from the computer. If you play "Blue Max" anymore today, then your eyes are going to fall out. Or explode. Or both. Yeah. Probably both. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I tried quickly to finish game on Advanced + Gravity to get Blue Max rank. Bombed my three targets in first go through the city. The flack was like a hell and my airfield was seen shortly almost instantly after R message on control panel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Latest Tables - hope the new scoring seems fair & gives everyone a chance to make some points! BLUE MAX - Rankings CountBlue Maxes - 12pts + Bonus 1pt per class ... Flying Tigers 11pts +1pt for Class 1 therealbountybob (p) Class 1 10,910 12pts firestorm (n) Class 1 5,740 12pts Squadron Leaders 9pts +1pt for Class 1 Tickled_Pink (p) Class 2 9,740 9pts McKong (p) Class 2 8,840 9ptsAir Cadets 5-8pts based on class adam242 (n) Class 1 5,670 8pts playermissile (n) Class 1 6,350 8pts JK40001 (p) Class 2 3,500 7pts SHiNjide (p) Class 3 2,620 6pts spookt (p) Class 4 1,060 5pts Runway Sweepers 1-4pts based on class Sleepy (p) Class 1 1,350 4pts Sikor (p) Class 1 450 4pts akator (n) Class 2 680 3pts ballyalley (n) Class 3? 1,530 2pts roadrunner (n) Class 3 570 2pts jblenkle (n) Class 3 400 2pts LidLikesIntellivision(n) Class 3 340 2pts--------------------------------------------- Bonus Points for this round: Highest score - currently Tickled_Pink 13,430 (not necessarily made with the highest rank above) First player to complete the mission - Tickled_Pink 1pt First player to rank Blue Max - 1pt Round 7 Poll OPEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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