The New HSC - Week 36 = Gravitar

[S.BAZ]

Gravitar

~ WEEK 36 ~

(*Special Bonus Week #3*)

"Final Round"

CLARIFICATION: No use of CHEATS, emulation advantages, bugs, cart frying or other variables that gives you an unfair advantage in this HSC. Please assume you have to follow the game difficulty and mode for the playing week/s. No game enhancements or special favorite settings to play in the 2600 HSC, unless you are given authorization to do so by your humble yet strict MODERATORS! Jacob/BAZ.

Gravitar
Released By: Atari 1983
Left Difficulty: B
Right Difficulty: B
Game Mode: Game 1

The HSC Record for Gravitar: 999,950 by ToddRogers (Original HSC Season 1, Week 5, 2004)

 

Post your scores right here in this thread, and we will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone else.

The deadline for posting scores is Midnight (EST) the evening of Sunday, September 27th, 2015

* * * * Bonus * * * *

Normal Bonus: Video Game Master - Atari Club Patch challenge - score at least 15,000 pts. (+2)

 

Rollage Bonus

The HSC record for Gravitar can't be beaten, so a rollage earns you (+2)

 

 

Double Points
All final scores earn double points during bonus weeks!


Beat the Leaders
Bonus scoring according to your overall ranking:

Beat 1^st (Northcoastgamer):
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: +1
3^rd Place: +2
4th - 8th: +4
9th - 16th: +8
17th - 24th: +16
Below 24th Place: +32

Beat 2^nd (voodoo_chilly):
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: 0
3^rd Place: +1
4th - 8th: +2
9th - 16th: +4
17th - 24th: +8
Below 24th Place: +16

Beat 3^rd (S.BAZ):
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: 0
3^rd Place: 0
4th - 8th: +1
9th - 16th: +2
17th - 24th: +4
Below 24th Place: +8

Beat at least 1 Top 8:
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: 0
3^rd Place: 0
4th - 8th: 0
9th - 16th: +1
17th - 24th: +2
Below 24th Place: +4

Beat at least 1 Top 16:
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: 0
3^rd Place: 0
4th - 8th: 0
9th - 16th: 0
17th - 24th: +1
Below 24th Place: +2

Beat at least 1 Top 24:
1^st Place: 0
2^nd Place: 0
3^rd Place: 0
4th - 8th: 0
9th - 16th: 0
17th - 24th: 0
Below 24th Place: +1


you may combine as many of these as you are eligible for!


max. bonus pts. available this week
according to your ranking:

1^st Place: +4
2^nd Place: +5
3^rd Place: +7
4th - 8th: +11
9th - 16th: +19
17th - 24th: +35
Below 24th: +67










Gravitar High Scores
(Scoring is +1 point for last place and up from there)
(Scoring MAX points or beyond is considered ROLLAGE)
(Pics of scores over 98% MAX points are sufficient to show ROLLAGE)

45,500 darthkur 5 (+32) (+2) (+1) (+2) (+4)

39,100 S.BAZ 3 (+30) (+2) (+1) (+2)

24,250 Northcoastgamer 1 (+28) (+2)

16,450 DanyMato nr (+26) (+2) (+1) (+2) (+4) (+16)

15,550 karokoenig 9 (+24) (+2) (+1) (+4)

15,300 KaeruYojimbo 6 (+22) (+2) (+2)

14,500 LarcenTyler 27 (+20) (+1) (+2) (+4) (+16)

7,000 voodoo_chilly 2 (+18)

6,900 oyamafamily 7 (+16)

6,700 RJ 29 (+14) (+1) (+2)

5,750 roadrunner 23 (+12) (+1)

5,000 Scrabbler15 17 (+10) (+1)

4,500 Spacey Invader 15 (+8 )

2,650 Mister-VCS 19 (+6)

2,550 jblenkle 30 (+4) (+1)

550 classicgamer_27330 21 (+2)

 

 

Overall Standings Through Week 34 (H.E.R.O.)
Top 24 make the Bracket Challenge at the end of the season!
The bracket winners get to choose a game for next season

1. Northcoastgamer 890
2. voodoo_chilly 780
3. S.BAZ 731
4. StanJr 589
5. darthkur 565
6. KaeruYojimbo 547
7. oyamafamily 519
8. Gorfy 499
9. karokoenig 482
10. MoomUnit 423
11. keilbaca 390
12. JacobZu7zu7 354
13. LidLikesIntellivision 315
14. Hyperboy 303
15. Spacey Invader 288
16. Dauber 281
17. Scrabbler15 278
18. SpiceWare 264
19. Mister_VCS 253
20. CapitanClassic 245
21. classicgamer_27330 233
22. ReflectionAngle 223
23. roadrunner 222
24. Nathan Strum 219
25. DT Kofoed 213
26. Tony The 2600 198
27. LarcenTyler 182
28. GornThrifting 157
29. RJ 135
30. skosh 113
..... jblenkle 113
32. adri_o 111
33. Wickeycolumbus 106
34. SIO2 100
35. Zeptari1 94
36. Fallout_002 78
37. NIKON 77
38. Cafeman 74
39. Botbird208 73
40. Retrogamer81081 58
41. centiqueen81 52
42. Crispy 30
43. McCallister 29
..... Mangia-Boy 29
45. 24Fanatic365 26
46. Shadow460 23
..... Atarian7 23
48. gamerguy99 20
..... Random Terrain 20
50. Atariron82 18
51. zylon 17
52. Private Eye 16
53. BrianC 15
54. retrorussell 14
..... LS_Dracon 14
56. Arenafoot 13
57. lodger 12
58. flammingcows 10
59. Ry guy 9
60. StarThief 7
..... Ramses 7
62. SuperFreddie 6
63. Dan Iacovelli 5
64. Algus 2
65. Goochman 1

 

 

 

 

 

The NEW High Score Club Season 4:

up next:

we'll take a 1-week break

-------------------------

(After Season) Bracket Tourney [4 Weeks] -- begins October 4th!





SEASON 4: EXTRA INFO

Bracket Challenge to follow. TOP 24 make the Bracket Challenge single-elimination tournament!

Edited September 29, 2015 by S.BAZ

[Lauren Tyler]

5,700

 

I seriously have high doubts about the legitimacy of the highest score achieved from 2004.

[jblenkle]

Gravitar - 2,550

[CapitanClassic]

5,700

 

I seriously have high doubts about the legitimacy of the highest score achieved from 2004.

no doubt. I believe that Todd posted a score on Twin Galaxies for Fathom that isn't even possible (the game ends after 7 levels) Edited September 20, 2015 by CapitanClassic

[karokoenig]

Ouch... this game is really hard on the fingers and lower arm when played with keyboard controls.

 

First score: 6,800.

[Mangia-Boy]

5,700

 

I seriously have high doubts about the legitimacy of the highest score achieved from 2004.

Todd Rogers world record was verified by a referee.

 

 

Maybe he was his own referee.

[Mangia-Boy]

 

supplement to post #6

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Skimming through the original thread, it looks like the trick to rolling the score is to get good at destroying reactors and just doing that over and over again instead of going after the planets. Todd and jedijeff both hit 999,950, then there's a bunch of debate as to whether or not that's a legit way to play. This was only the 5th week of HSC ever, so I don't think the no point farming rule had been established yet.

 

So if you have the time and patience to play that way for however long it takes to max the score, and happen to be a Twin Galaxies referee in your spare time, it's completely possible to get a "verified" score of 999,950.

Edited September 20, 2015 by KaeruYojimbo

[darthkur]

42,150

 

 

Another one of my favorite games.

 

I had no idea that patch existed. Now I need to get one.

Edited September 20, 2015 by darthkur

[karokoenig]

Totally aggravating game, even with joystick controls. At least to me. Slight improvement, but probably the end of the line for me.

 

13,200.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

13,850

 

Honestly, if I can hit the 15K for the bonus, I'll be pretty happy.

[DanyMato]

First Gravitar night: 14 850

 

[Mister-VCS]

2,100

 

 

[karokoenig]

15,550. Hand over that patch and leave me alone!

 

I have no idea how people can beat the second solar system. I reach it easliy, always with a score between 12k and 13,5k. And then there's no way to get anywhere. Weird gravity erratically sucks you around in tiny passages and faster than you can ever hope to turn your ship. I am too used to the tight controls and well-emulated gravity and inertia of Space Taxi and Thrust (C64) to find this game here appealing in any way.

 

I also fiddled around with the reactor screen. Never got out to even find out how many points you get for this, so I went back to the conventional method. I happily confess that I farmed a few UFOs when I saw I had 14.5 k on my last life - till I crossed the 15 k mark. Then, and only then, did I even try to enter the pits of hell again.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

15,300

 

Yay! Patch!

 

Ha! I did the same thing karokoening did. When I saw how close I was to 15K, I farmed a few UFOs to push me over and then was able to crash into a turret with my last life.

[S.BAZ]

17,100

Aiming for my p.r. (28k) so I'm setting my goal at 30,000!

I killed the 1st reactor and didn't get many points. Maybe they compound though?

[RJ]

6700

 

This game makes me NOT want to play Atari today...or any other day.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

17,100

Aiming for my p.r. (28k) so I'm setting my goal at 30,000!

I killed the 1st reactor and didn't get many points. Maybe they compound though?

 

Here's the deal with the reactors as I understand it. There are two ways to advance to the next level: destroy the turrets on every planet or destroy the reactor. Since the reactor doesn't change from level to level, just the time you get to complete it, once you master it you can do it over and over rather than tackle increasingly difficult planets. If you're willing and able to do this for 4 hours, you roll the score.

 

The debate is whether or not this is point farming since the manual clearly states that you can go after the planets or the reactor to complete each level. The flame war starts here:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/49502-high-score-club-week-5-gravitar/?p=605164

 

None of this even came up when Gravitar was played again in season 7.

[Scrabbler15]

5000

 

.

[karokoenig]

I really don't mind reactor farming. I have tried. It's not all that easy. And that was with the gentle time limit of 60 seconds. Getting in and out again in 25 seconds seems hard to do repeatedly, so if anyone masters it and can do it for several hours - have at it. We've had games that had similar "requirements" for rolling in the past. Pac Man for example. Once you had the pattern down at the maximum speed, you could just do that till the end of eternity. Both SBaz and me stopped at half rollage (about 2 or 2,5 hours of gameplay without a pause) back then, because we couldn't stand it any longer. Our scores counted. And so should a reactor farming score in Gravitar.

[Northcoastgamer]

24,250

[S.BAZ]

24,400

back tonight with standings update & pics, sorry for lagging!

 

...[edit] standings are "pencil 'd in."

 

... i find the farming question hard to address in this game. it's designed so you can finish a solar system either way -- destroy all the planets, or simply destroy the reactor at any time. Simply destroying reactors consecutively may seem like a cheap way to avoid the difficulty of taking on planets, and yet as mentioned above that also proves quite difficult (maybe on par with "riding the vortex" in Reactor?). Aside from having to master getting in, shooting it and getting out in 25 sec., one must also have a lot of patience and prolonged concentration to roll the score.

 

since there are a lot more points to be had in the planets, the max score could theoretically be achieved much faster by focusing on planet-smashing. presumably it would take longer to master but if so this approach would dominate in a Marathon contest, or a Speed-Run contest.

 

[now i think it is faster to just kill reactors]

 

currently I fail to score as much just attacking reactors, so my plan at this point is: (1st level) destroy all planets; (2nd level) destroy the easiest (for me) planet, then take out the reactor; (3rd level) just have fun. I like the planets in the 3rd level. I'm working on getting better in the 2nd level (I've finished it before) so I don't have to skip it.

Edited September 26, 2015 by S.BAZ

[DanyMato]

Finally, more than 15000!!!

 

16 450

 

[oyamafamily]

no doubt. I believe that Todd posted a score on Twin Galaxies for Fathom that isn't even possible (the game ends after 7 levels)

During the Activision Patches Summer Quest 2015 Contest, I tied NUMERICALLY Todd Rogers scores on the following games:

1) Laser Blast - 1,000,000 points (I chose Game 3 - Captain Level)

2) Megamania - 999,999 points (Game 1-BB - Guided and Fast Missiles)

3) H.E.R.O. - 1,000,000 points (I chose Game 5 - Random Levels)

4) Dolphin - 299,990 points (Games 1BB and 1AA)

 

And on Pitfall II Lost Caverns, I got SO CLOOOOSE to the maximum score of 199,000 points.

 

URL to visit: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/239177-activision-patches-difficulty-2015-summer-quest/

[Atarian7]

During the Activision Patches Summer Quest 2015 Contest, I tied NUMERICALLY Todd Rogers scores on the following games:

1) Laser Blast - 1,000,000 points (I chose Game 3 - Captain Level)

2) Megamania - 999,999 points (Game 1-BB - Guided and Fast Missiles)

3) H.E.R.O. - 1,000,000 points (I chose Game 5 - Random Levels)

4) Dolphin - 299,990 points (Games 1BB and 1AA)

 

And on Pitfall II Lost Caverns, I got SO CLOOOOSE to the maximum score of 199,000 points.

 

URL to visit: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/239177-activision-patches-difficulty-2015-summer-quest/

You did all that and you couldn't get the maximum score on Pitfall II ?