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HSC12 Round 15: Popeye "Arcade" / 5200 Port


therealbountybob

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Latest tables

Popeye

1st therealbountybob (p) 84,540 12pts
2nd McKong (p) 49,670 11pts
3rd roadrunner (n) 49,180 10pts

4th ballyalley (n) 47,940 9pts
5th Goochman (n) 31,490 8pts
6th Sikor (p) 24,320 7pts
7th jblenkle (n) 21,580 6pts
8th JK40001 (p) 13,950 5pts

Pick something different in the Round 16 POLL :)

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Still not got a system for the Ship screens but the other two are ok ish, made it through to the 4th ship (round 12) but in a mad panic missed punching my spinach and bluto got me. The round counter 0s at round 10; those lazy programmers! I guess they figured no one would get that far eh?!

115,460 :)

post-19705-0-03727700-1442356492_thumb.jpg

post-19705-0-90679600-1442356496_thumb.jpg

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Is there a trick to hit Bluto's thrown bottles? Sometimes I can hit all four in a row, but sometimes I'll get killed even though it looks like I should have smashed the bottle with a punch. Is it just poor timing, or is it something about the game? Is there a work-around for this, or do I just need to get better?

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Is there a trick to hit Bluto's thrown bottles? Sometimes I can hit all four in a row, but sometimes I'll get killed even though it looks like I should have smashed the bottle with a punch. Is it just poor timing, or is it something about the game? Is there a work-around for this, or do I just need to get better?

I think you should work on avoiding the bottles. The collision detection on this game looks a bit hit or miss and therefore even with the best timing in the world it's going to be somewhat down to chance.

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You should be able to totally avoid the bottles on the first two boards - there is a strategy to it. On the ship level you can lure the hag's (?) ones and use it to make a run across the bottom, I'm still working on this! And I've not bagged Bluto on the bottom level... yet!

 

Pick something different in the Round 16 POLL :)

 

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c'mon roadrunner this is your chance to win a round or at least make runner-up spot ;-)

 

Latest tables

Popeye

1st therealbountybob (p) 115,460 12pts
2nd McKong (p) 49,670 11pts
3rd roadrunner (n) 49,180 10pts

4th ballyalley (n) 47,940 9pts
5th Goochman (n) 31,490 8pts
6th Sikor (p) 30,840 7pts
7th Bunsen (n) 22,230 6pts
8th jblenkle (n) 21,580 5pts
9th JK40001 (p) 13,950 4pts

Pick something different in the Round 16 POLL :)

 

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Here's my latest score:

Popeye - 56,070 (Real Hardware: 130XE, NTSC, Homesoft Atari 5200 Conversion)

 

post-4925-0-47924900-1442620260_thumb.jpg

 

I've been trying to avoid thrown bottles as was recommended. This has allowed me to progress further into the game than I could before, when I was punching the bottles for 100 points each. I still wish that I could punch those bottles reliably for points, but I still can't seem to do it.

 

The game gets quite a bit harder (for me) when the Sea Hag throws two bottles at once instead of just one bottle at a time. Sometimes you'll find yourself needing to punch the bottles thrown by the Sea Had and also avoid Bluto punching you from above or below. In those cases, I lose a life every time.

Edited by ballyalley
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With practice you can avoid all bottles apart from on the 3rd screens... funny you play these games then suddenly realise something - a bit late for a hint but on the first screen when you get the punchbag to drop the cage you can just stand still on the edge and press fire, I've always tried to run and punch which sometimes meant falling off :ponder:

 

Still time to pick something different in the Round 16 POLL :)

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McKong and roadrunner took runners up spots.

It looks like you overlooked my score that was posted on Friday:

 

Popeye - 56,070 (Real Hardware: 130XE, NTSC, Homesoft Atari 5200 Conversion)

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242456-hsc12-round-15-popeye-arcade-5200-port/page-2?do=findComment&comment=3324491

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a bit late for a hint but on the first screen when you get the punchbag to drop the cage you can just stand still on the edge and press fire, I've always tried to run and punch which sometimes meant falling off :ponder:

 

Although Round 15 for "Popeye" is over, I liked this hint about hitting the punching bag without falling off the ledge. I had never noticed this before. So, I tried it. It doesn't work for me. I read the manual and it says specifically that Popeye must jump off the ledge in order to hit it the punch bag. Here what the manual says on the subject:

 

Punching the Bag and Bucket

 

You'll notice a punching bag and bucket located near the center, topmost part of the screen. Whenever Popeye jumps off the right "thru" ledge, he may punch the bag, causing the bucket to fall. If Brutus is directly below it, the bucket will stop him in his tracks and you gain extra points (See "Scoring" section.)

 

Scoring

 

Hitting Punching Bag... 30 points

Hitting Brutus with Bucket

Platform #2... 1000 points

Platform #3... 2000 points

Platform #4... 4000 points

I had never realized that hitting Brutus with the bucket was worth varying points depending upon which level the bucket hit Brutus on the head. I had also never noticed that grabbing Olive's love heart, her sung notes or her crying for letter of "HELP" were worth varying points either. The instructions explain:

 

Scoring - Hearts, Notes & Letters

 

Platform #1... 500 points

Platform #2... 300 points

Platform #3... 100 points

Platform #4... 50 points

 

I nearly always caught the Hearts, Notes and Letter on the lowest platform, where they were worth 10% of the points that could be gained on the top platform. I did this so that I could gain points using other methods. Now I see that I've been playing the game completely wrong! How strange to have done well, and yet I didn't play it to my best advantage. I could see myself reaching many more points than my approximate 56K points just by making sure to grab the Hearts, Notes and Letters on the platform of most value. Also, hitting Brutus on the head with the bucket on the lowest level could really boast a score too. Did anyone else play using these two methods, or did I overlook the obvious to rack up easy points?

 

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Ok let's try again, I did see those scores and raised an Atari eyebrow at ballyalley doing so well...

 

bluecat is NOT pleased with me as after a few goes she beat the first screen and then I pressed paused to explain screen 2 but I pressed Escape instead of space (be mistake of course!) so she refused to play again... you were lucky JK40001 ;)

 

Not much different to see but it was fun playing Popeye again. Still a decent game. The third screen remains challenging, but I managed to get through it a few times to take the win :) ballyalley and McKong took runners up spots, with and roadrunner so close :thumbsup:

Thanks for playing you hardy few :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Corrected Final tables :-D

Popeye

1st therealbountybob (p) 115,460 12pts
2nd ballyalley (n) 56,070 11pts
3rd McKong (p) 49,670 10pt
s
4th roadrunner (n) 49,180 9pts
5th Sikor (p) 36,390 8pts
6th Goochman (n) 31,490 7pts
7th Bunsen (n) 22,230 6pts
8th jblenkle (n) 21,580 5pts
9th JK40001 (p) 13,950 4pts
10th bluecat (p) 12,840 3pts

 

bally - yes I knew about the scoring, I did mention not managing to capture Bluto on the bottom level - but he always goes to the 2nd level on the start of each man so you can easily bag 2500 points. what do you mean it doesn't work for you? just stand on the edge (past the brown bit) facing left and press fire?!

 

so we're all looking forward to the re-match in the final Season 12 catch-up round ;)

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bally - [...] what do you mean it doesn't work for you? just stand on the edge (past the brown bit) facing left and press fire?!

I tried it again on real hardware and I could not hit the bag without falling off the edge. Here's is a close-up of my NTSC TV while playing "Popeye" on my Atari 130XE:

 

post-4925-0-30140500-1442869352_thumb.jpg

 

Leaving Popeye exactly where he is in the above picture does not allow the punching bag to be reached at all. If I move Popeye even one pixel close to the ledge then he'll fall off of it. The bag can only be punched if you fall off the edge, just like the manual says. This was weird and deserved additional investigation. I loaded it up the game on under Altirra with the same results.

 

Then it hit me when looking at the close-up picture of the above graphics! Notice anything a little odd? I've accidently been playing the original Parker Bros. version of "Popeye" on real hardware, and only playing the 5200 conversion of the game on the Altirra emulator. Ugh. I loaded up the 5200 version of "Popeye" on my 130XE and, Bam!, just like "TheRealBountyBob" says, I can hit the punching bag while standing on the ledge. This makes the game quite a bit easier. I wonder if the Atari 5200 version allows this, or if it's a hack for this conversion of the game?

 

Realizing all this, I may have to withdraw my Parker Bros. "Popeye" score. I'm pretty sure it's still valid, but just in case, if only scores for the 5200 conversion count, then only my first submitted score (of a measly) 19,130 points is acceptable. Here's is a link to that original submission:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242456-hsc12-round-15-popeye-arcade-5200-port/?do=findComment&comment=3317522

 

Hopefully my better score that put me in second place works for this round. If not, then that's what I get for not paying attention! Ragardless of which Atari 8-Bit version of "Popeye" that you play though, they're both fun!

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scores are fine, so this was a difference in the our new version? perhaps someone can play the 5200 game to confirm too (rr) ;) [ :idea: I think the links to the thread on the changes to the 5200 ver were to improve the game to play with the 5200 controllers so I bet this was tweaked]

do I earn a bonus point for finding something new trbb? sure trbb, take about 6 so you can get ahead of McKong :D

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do I earn a bonus point for finding something new trbb? sure trbb, take about 6 so you can get ahead of McKong :D

 

Hmm... Let's see. You know, I think that's fair. Give you're those six points Don't forget to throw me twenty points for supporting these extra points that you're not stealing from the Point Chest kept in the Hall of Atari. Also, I think McKong may need six points for looking in the other direction.

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