HSC Season 15 Round 8: Blaster and Atari Blast!

[+therealbountybob]

Blaster with bonus Atari Blast (cart only)

This is a prototype but from my limited play I thought WOW this is one we should play here!

Download Fandal XEX, Atarimania has some Info in the comments.

The International Arcade Museum has good info on the arcade game.

 

Atari Blast!

Astounding graphics and a decent game too!

We don't usually play games that need extra RAM or are Cart only but this will be a bonus game: Cart runs on standard XL/XE - Emulator users set RAM to 1088K - anyone who can't run this game can play an alternative shooter that is similar to one of the games you get to pick, try and find something unusual/you have not played before/much

 

Play on "Normal" difficulty and Start from the beginning each time? - the game is short so you will get through it before too long. If you find it too hard here's a link to level codes on normal difficulty - you cann complete each one separately.

 

Details here on the GTIA Blast thread (this was the working title), you can post there for any help to get it working!

Post 184 has MAx Flash and Rambo versions:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/214476-gtiablast-wip-demo/page-8?do=findComment&comment=3612111

Post 201 has Megacart version:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/214476-gtiablast-wip-demo/page-9?do=findComment&comment=3615521

 

See/read more about the game on Atariteca (site has language translation)

Video

 

This should be a nice round with the old and the new. Have fun, Join in, and if you haven't got Atari Blast! see if someone on the forum will create a cartridge for you - or even get setup yourself to make one - you could also then have Space Harrier (both carts run on Atari XL/xE with standard memory)

 

Scoring well make up the scoring as we go.

 

Round closes in two weeks on the Sunday at 10am UK time my fingers tell me it's the 13th but they often lie

Edited May 3, 2018 by therealbountybob
Added info on getting Atari Blast! running

[Deteacher]

I'll start things off with Blaster: 140,900!

 

 

Not much info on this game, but a few things I noticed:

 

1. Extra life every 50K

2. Cannot kill the "Tron Recognizer" thing...either that, or I'm just a really REALLY bad shot.

3. fly into the spacemen to save them

4. Fly into the big "E" to end the level and move onto the next difficulty level.

 

AtariBlast! 12,510

 

 

Made it to the 3rd round. Have never been a big fan of the scrolling shooters, but this one is a lot of fun!

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Deteacher

[+therealbountybob]

I'll start things off with Blaster: 140,900!

 

...

Not much info on this game, but a few things I noticed:

 

1. Extra life every 50K

2. Cannot kill the "Tron Recognizer" thing...either that, or I'm just a really REALLY bad shot.

3. fly into the spacemen to save them

4. Fly into the big "E" to end the level and move onto the next difficulty level.

 

AtariBlast! 12,510

 

...

Made it to the 3rd round. Have never been a big fan of the scrolling shooters, but this one is a lot of fun!

 

Good info thanks, I'm hoping Blaster will hold up

Have you got AtariBlast! on cart? If not how are you playing this? Same for everyone - if there's anything to help others aside from the info on the links on the first post please tell all!

Think there are a few skill levels on Blaster but Normal should be completable and players will have the enjoyment of seeing each stage.

[Deteacher]

Good info thanks, I'm hoping Blaster will hold up

Have you got AtariBlast! on cart? If not how are you playing this? Same for everyone - if there's anything to help others aside from the info on the links on the first post please tell all!

Think there are a few skill levels on Blaster but Normal should be completable and players will have the enjoyment of seeing each stage.

 

I'm playing on Altirra with the memory jacked up to 1088K.

[carlsson]

Blaster - 80700 pts

A lot going on at the same time!

 

I'll consider if I should re-flash my AtariMax to play GTIABlast AtariBlast on real hardware or perhaps emulation, which seems to be the simpler solution.

Edited April 29, 2018 by carlsson

[McKong]

Atari Blast 38080 - looks great a bit too easy to last a long time in this game. No idea how many levels I went through on only my 2nd go.

Edited April 29, 2018 by McKong

[+therealbountybob]

Go for real hardware if you can guys, Atari Blast is an amazing sight. Glad it runs on emu with the extra RAM, cart works on standard XL/XE with inbuilt RAM. If you complete a skill level play on the next one - perhaps we'll have the best scores for each

 

For Blaster if you have a trackball give the game a go using it (joystick mode) - I had it on my list of games that might be good for TB

[Deteacher]

AtariBlast: 44,560! Made it to the Xevious stage. I love how each stage is based on a classic Atari game. Really diggin' it!

 

 

One question, though...I know that the "S" bar is for shields...but what about the "D" bar? What is that for?

Edited April 29, 2018 by Deteacher

[+therealbountybob]

AtariBlast: 44,560! Made it to the Xevious stage. I love how each stage is based on a classic Atari game. Really diggin' it!

 

AtariBlast 44560.png

Atari Blast! Let's have some other screenshots guys to show people the game. Not played it for a while but there are lots of things to shoot in the playfields too. There is a 3 page review and lots of info in EXCEL MAG #3 still available - 5 issues so far

[carlsson]

AtariBlast! - 8520 pts

 

So I did the reflash. Maybe I'll try to buy a couple more AtariMax cartridges so I can keep a selection of games onto one cart and another one for special ones like this. A friend of mine was discussing getting a five pack of cartridges a while ago, I should ask if he ever bought those.

[+therealbountybob]

AtariBlast! - 8520 pts

 

So I did the reflash. Maybe I'll try to buy a couple more AtariMax cartridges so I can keep a selection of games onto one cart and another one for special ones like this. A friend of mine was discussing getting a five pack of cartridges a while ago, I should ask if he ever bought those.

Atari Blast! + Space Harrier (both great) - anyone know of anything else cart only ?

[McKong]

Blaster 28800

Edited April 30, 2018 by McKong

[carlsson]

AtariBlast! - 12180 pts (reached third stage, the first Xevious/Flak-type one -- I've seen from the demo stage there are several)

 

I should probably play the main game Blaster a bit more too.

[McKong]

Blaster 138100

[carlsson]

Blaster - 159200 pts

[jblenkle]

Blaster - 31,100

[RedThunder]

Blaster

49,000

I've gone blind, and my thumbs have go weird ?!!

 

AtariBlast

9,020

23,020

Very nice game.

Edited May 1, 2018 by RedThunder

[+therealbountybob]

I must tear myself away from the assembler and get some blasting in later today

 

Season 15 Current Standings updated

[+therealbountybob]

Blaster 181,300 (3-1) pretty fricking insane - especially when you collect the giant E! Is there a main thread for this game, was it unreleased / released in recent times anyone? Still not sure if you can "accidentalyl" shoot the men you rescue or not. Going under the bridge things gives you a nice sound so I guess that's good! OK find / read the manual time!

 

RT you can hold fire in!

 

I'm still hunting for my Atari Blast! Cart

[McKong]

Blaster 304100 i think level 4-3

[McKong]

Yeah this is a pretty good game. Good points for going under the arches.

[Deteacher]

Blaster: 191,900!

 

[+therealbountybob]

Still hunting for my Atari Blast cart - I know it's here somewhere I might have played it on before manual firing (might be imagining this) give it a try and don't forget about hooking up Blaster to a trak-ball if you have one too. Found arcade ver instructions on The International Arcade Museum !

 

Looks like a lot of button bashing and pixel splaying is scheduled for this weekend

 

Next poll will feature long plays - proably single game round with something more complex, I'll look at the suggestions list but if theres anything else that you might have wanted to try e.g. Infiltrator springs to mind then post here with it!

After that Round 10 will be a season catch up plus something fun

 

first tables

Blaster

1st McKong 304,100 12pts (4-3)
2nd Deteacher 191,900 11pts (3-4)
3rd therealbountybob 181,300 10pts (3-1)
4th carlsson 159,200 9pts
5th RedThunder 49,000 8pts
6th jblenkle 31,100 7pts
(round reached - get the giant E to level up)

 

Atari Blast! (Normal)
1st Deteacher 44,560 4pts
2nd McKong 38,080 3pts
3rd RedThunder 23,020 2pts
4th carlsson 12,180 1pt

1pt per player for now, might make this full points too!

[Deteacher]

AtariBlast: 81,560!

 

 

Made it through the game. The ending is pretty cool! Then it starts over.

[Fingolfin]

Hello all!

 

This is my first visit to AtariAge's HSC and I couldn't resist with these two games!

 

As a big shooter/shmup fan I really like both of these games.

Confession: I am truly addicted to Blaster A8 since finding it a few months ago!

That is to take nothing away from AtariBlast: it is an incredible game with all of it's various stages and classic shooter inspired levels, frenetic gameplay and great soundtrack and sfx! The theme from AtariBlast is super upbeat and perfect for the gameplay!

 

Although I have played it a fair amount I haven't been tracking high scores for AtariBlast but will start.

 

With regard to Blaster, my high score is 692,900. I was at level 9 stage 1 or 9-1 when I lost my last blaster.

 

From what I understand Blaster does have an end: you reach paradise after level 10 or something?

On the wikipedia page there's reference to 20 levels though the wikipedia page seems somewhat incomplete in describing certain aspects of the game.

I found links here and here provided by AtariAge member x=usr(1536) from another thread where Blaster and other A8 games were discussed.

 

For Blaster there are four stages for each level: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, then 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, etc

 

Like all shooters there are patterns; however with Blaster enemy AI patterns can and will change depending on what the player is doing. Player movement/choices of direction cause the enemies to respond in slightly different numbers and in different attack groups. Additionally the stages seem to change every time as well -- or at least there are enough variables in enemy types which attack and the "physical" layout that each time playing through a stage seems different and unique or never the same twice. To be clear, attack patterns are the same but the way the physical layouts change/presentation for each level changes and the enemy attack formations change.

 

One thing about Blaster which is really cool is that you can shoot enemy fire and block it/take it out in this way; when you're firing away aim for enemies and obstacles that can be destroyed but also try to hit enemy fire too. Doing so can really help.

 

The AI isn't particularly tough for each of the three stages though with enemies (stage 1, 3 and 4), especially once you get a feel for the patterns of the different enemy or obstacle types. As with most games from this time period, enemies don't get smarter in higher levels, just faster.

 

In the first of the four stages in Blaster going under all of the arches -- objects that look like gates from Tron -- is key to getting scoring bonuses for this stage.

Fire away and try to make it through all of the arches/gates! Shoot enemies attacking as much as you can but stay focused on the making it underneath the arches/gates. You'll hear a tone when you get the bonus; each arch/gate you get strings the bonuses together and if you miss one the bonus string is snapped/broken. You don't need to worry about avoiding enemies too much on stage one until you are a couple of levels in; 3-1 or 4-1 and higher consider trying lots of left to right/right to left lines of movement and occasionally throwing in some quick up and down vertical movements as needed helps avoid enemies and stay on track for nabbing the arches/gates. Flying enemies on this stage start showing up starting in 2-1. The big obstacle in stage one are those fence things.

 

Slamming into any enemy or obstacle needs to be avoided at all cost in Blaster because of the toll such damage takes on your shields/energy. Though there are bonuses for killing enemy groups (vs. just the score for killing individual enemies), sometimes its just better to avoid contact with angular movements -- wiggle the stick a bit left/right/up/down/diagonally -- then to take the direct attack approach. I try to take out enemy groups and reap those bonuses when it is possible to do without taking too much damage/being subject to risk of too much damage by colliding with enemies or obstacles on any of stages 1, 3 or 4.

 

In stage two can rescue humans and catch them all to string together and maximize bonus points here too.

You cannot be hurt in stage two and this is a good time to practice capturing humans and getting better at controlling your Blaster without fear of damage.

 

In the third stage there's no bonus objects: you just have to shoot to kill and try not to take too much damage. Consider trying hard diagonal banking to avoid enemies and their laser fire. After a few levels you will notice enemies from stage one in stage three and vice versa. Some alien ships that look like they're from bases from Star Raiders also will show up in the third stage after a couple/few levels; these Star Raider base enemy ships are quite common in stage four, in addition to all those huge flying rocks!

 

In the fourth stage -- 3D, 1st person asteroids anyone? -- you need to shoot at the asteroids and avoid damage as best you can and wait for that great Big E to show up! You have to get the E for maximizing bonus points and for being temporarily indestructible...and it always feels good to hit that Big E after slogging through stage 4. You can also collect/save humans and string bonuses together for doing so as well but it can be hard to work saving human bonuses on this stage after level 2 or 3 because this stage is the hardest to not sustain damage: you can stay on the sides or border in this stage but there is no way to completely avoid the asteroids the way you can avoid enemies by fierce dodging tactics in stages 1 and 3. You have to blast your way through.

 

I have attached .car versions of Blaster and AtariBlast (atarimax 1 MB .car).

 

Hope this helps.

I am no expert at Blaster, just a die-hard fan: I thought it and Tempest were the best games BITD in the arcade (with Missile Command and Centipede close behind). As stated, I didn't even know Blaster existed for A8 until a few months ago.

 

Keep on virtual shooting!

Now for some AtariBlast practice before bed!

 

Edit/additions

1) had to clean up a few mistakes: corrected level discussion and changed "ring" for "tone" as the sound that indicates getting bonus for arches/gates in stage one

2) posting my new high score in Blaster and adding a few more details about Blaster gameplay after going a few rounds

Blaster.car.zip

AtariBLAST.car.zip

Edited May 4, 2018 by Fingolfin