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HSC Season 15 Round 8: Blaster and Atari Blast!


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Thanks for the compliments carlsson and therealbountybob, and the warm welcome too. :)

Thank you very much for all you do for HSC therealbountybob. :thumbsup:

 

Already feels kinda like home here! Not for the competition but for the camaraderie and sharing the joys of game playing. :jango:

 

I'd need to clean up that text some more but thank you for considering my spontaneous write up review worthy, therealbountybob; I was trying to go for a little info but mostly help with Balster strategy/tactics.

 

As you all may already know there's no game manual or guide for Blaster...should we try to make one?

Anyone who might be interested please let me know; I am happy to do typing/data entry and format/layout but could really use some help with documenting A8 Blaster "features" and details, and double/triple checking assumptions/conclusions drawn on my part (done so without an existing manual or guide).

Edited by Fingolfin
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Hooray I found my Atari Blast Cart!

8,370

12,760

15,780

now I need to find my blasting mojo :D

 

Blaster 308,800 reached 4-1 can't believe how good this is they really missed a trick not releasing it. No photo as I pressed Start to try and get to the title screen score again - it's reset :twisted: only 9.9 out of 10 then :P

 

The Williams' games thread I resurrected on the main forum has a link to Atari Protos with a great info on Blaster:

 

It is indeed a proto. Read about it here: http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/blaster/blaster.htm

:)

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Blaster has very peculiar yet somehow fascinating graphics. Having played before reading Fingolfin's post above I scored a meagre 46400 points.

post-4219-0-63856700-1525557053.png

 

While not a big Shmup fan either, AtariBlast is cool and many 1980's Atari fanboys would have loved to have a game like this to show the C64 guys what the Atari is capable of. Just watched a documentary about Japanese arcades catering to "bullet hell" shooter fans and for an 8-bit AtariBlast sure keeps up nicely. Love those "broadside" shots.

14670 points.

post-4219-0-65562800-1525557319.png

 

 

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Reading Blaster arcade info from The International Arcade Museum made me want to see -- find -- Armageddon :-o and Paradise :lust: / | :)

Not sure if either are in the A8 version but hopefully we'll find out.

 

Paradise occurs as level 20 in the arcade version, so the wikipedia info was correct there. Armageddon is level 19.

I have not watched this entire video all the way through but liked it as it demonstrates achieving paradise at 20:12 and the person who made the YouTube seemed to be good at Blaster arcade (even though he acknowledges using a couple of cheats in playing M.A.M.E. arcade Blaster). Video is good quality and there's no talking (none that I noticed in watching about half of the contents).

 

Several different stages or "waves" (term used in article from the The International Arcade Museum; makes sense with Blaster being Robotron 2084's older brother...) than A8 exist in the arcade version of Blaster and there are a few that are similar but graphically altered.

I like the A8 3rd level better than many/most of the arcade version stages or waves. The A8 third and first stages are the best looking and best playing (?) in A8 Blaster: like therealbountybob posted above they really missed it on not releasing A8 Blaster!

 

Readers beware, seriously silly siding/digression ahead...

This is completely random but in addition to the Tie Fighter looking enemies, the Space Shuttle looking enemies, and the Satellite looking enemies in the A8 third stage there are these enemies that look like boys riding cycles of some kind...these enemies remind me of Rudy from PeeWee's Playhouse (and yes I am a very, very immature later 40 year old! :lol: ). Historically this is anachronistic but they do look alike, don't they? Anyone remember Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis and Phil Hartman (RIP) as Captain Carl on PeeWee's Playhouse?

 

4653572616_0e6f072dc5_z.jpg

 

Back to the point...Blaster...

 

I had forgotten all the different enemies and levels in the arcade version; BITD although I sank plenty of quarters into Blaster I wasn't very good at it.

Do not remember any personal arcade score(s) or levels as I was 14 when it came out; seems I had forgotten a lot about the arcade gameplay having been playing the A8 version over the last couple of months.

 

 

Regarding AtariBlast, in addition to shooting better and moving quicker ;) any suggestions with tactics/approaches to AtariBlast?

Any helpful hints to share? Any suggestions? I am practicing but am struggling with the Xevious 7800 optimized level.

Thanks in advance!

 

Very much agree with slx that AtariBlast keeps up with a lot of classic Japanese shmups/shooters like R-Type, Gradius and Xevious; incredible programming work and A8 achievement. On top of so many other nuances and details from classic shooters, I think the explosion graphics achieved are really special for A8 (they look 16 bit or nearly so). Thank you very much kiwilove and all who helped make AtariBlast! :thumbsup:

AtariBlast.pdf

Edited by Fingolfin
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Regarding AtariBlast, in addition to shooting better and moving quicker ;) any suggestions with tactics/approaches to AtariBlast?

Any helpful hints to share? Any suggestions? I am practicing but am struggling with the Xevious 7800 optimized level.

Thanks in advance!

 

...

I've not completed on Normal it yet but have before, it's more a case of staying alive than shooting everything, keep an eye out for the playfield destrucable pieces, there are some hearts in there, I think they are in the same places each time. Stock up on hearts at the end of level bit. It's a bit unclear sometimes if the scenery will damage you but think it's yes for most of it. (You could use the restart codes to practice a level but I'd advise against it as you will get there after a few more goes, the game is shortish). If the panel stays red when you've been hit your shields top bar) are low so be extra careful and find an S to replenish them, the damage (bottom bar) will affect movement and firing ;)

 

EVERYONE Any suggestions for a longer play game for the next poll, something that we might not usually play as it is a bit more involved?

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I've not completed on Normal it yet but have before, it's more a case of staying alive than shooting everything, keep an eye out for the playfield destrucable pieces, there are some hearts in there, I think they are in the same places each time. Stock up on hearts at the end of level bit. It's a bit unclear sometimes if the scenery will damage you but think it's yes for most of it. (You could use the restart codes to practice a level but I'd advise against it as you will get there after a few more goes, the game is shortish). If the panel stays red when you've been hit your shields top bar) are low so be extra careful and find an S to replenish them, the damage (bottom bar) will affect movement and firing ;)

 

EVERYONE Any suggestions for a longer play game for the next poll, something that we might not usually play as it is a bit more involved?

 

Star Raiders! :)

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Perhaps Raid over Moscow which was played back in season 8 and requested once in this season's welcome thread. I was also looking at various war simulations but perhaps those are not HSC material at all, things like Eastern Front 1941 as well as all the SSI games etc. Previously we looked into Crush, Crumble and Chomp to find if it has any score at all (which it does seem to have) and perhaps is one more longer play game.

 

Then again we shouldn't collect a bunch of games that virtually nobody are interested in playing, just for the cause of having something that will take longer campaigns to get anywhere in. It will only mean even fewer people post a score in the end, if they barely have time for a quick play on the more action oriented games.

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Deteacher, I really like the Star Raiders suggestion. :thumbsup:

As was the case for many others that's a game I loved as a kid. Still a great/classic/landmark space shooter.

I had been a big fan of Star Trek reruns in the 70's and Apple II versions of Star Trek (text) and Apple Trek, so when I first played A8 Star Raiders it seemed to combine some elements from those games (i.e. map, shields, warp and ion engines, base protecting, etc) with a futuristic 3D shooter. One that combined elements/references to Star Wars, Star Trek and BattleStar Galactica. Always thought the front/rear combat mechanics in Star Raiders was somewhat like the Millennium Falcon scene from Star Wars where Luke gets his first chance to fight Empire Tie Fighters and perspective goes back and forth between Luke and Han operating AA guns on different sides of the 'Falcon.

I've never been much better than a mediocre PILOT for Star Raiders even BITD. It'd be good to brush up and try to improve. I'm definitely game for Star Raiders.

Could we please consider using the phaeron hack version from the Atari ROM hacks 1MB multicart .car attached here? There are a number of improvements for this version of Star Raiders identified here. ​Tried using the .xex at the second link and it doesn't seem to be as complete or up to date as the version in the Rom hacks multicart. Not 100% sure though.

 

carlsson, these all sound good to me! :thumbsup:

Perhaps Raid over Moscow which was played back in season 8 and requested once in this season's welcome thread. I was also looking at various war simulations but perhaps those are not HSC material at all, things like Eastern Front 1941 as well as all the SSI games etc. Previously we looked into Crush, Crumble and Chomp to find if it has any score at all (which it does seem to have) and perhaps is one more longer play game.

 

Then again we shouldn't collect a bunch of games that virtually nobody are interested in playing, just for the cause of having something that will take longer campaigns to get anywhere in. It will only mean even fewer people post a score in the end, if they barely have time for a quick play on the more action oriented games.

I like Raid over Moscow and need to get better at that: I am decent at the flying/air to air and air to ground combat part but I often destroy more than half of my craft just trying to make it out those launch doors at the beginning of the mission. :-o

 

Strategy war games, especially WWII SSI games and Eastern Front would very much be of interest but with those more instruction oriented and multiphase types of games -- where there are specific commands for executing different types of orders (i.e. a standard infantry attack vs. one that combines forces of different types of units and uses artillery and air support as well) in different operational phases and games that require players to know so much and rememeber/refer to manual tables, charts, etc while playing -- it may help to allow a pre reading/re-reading of directions/manuals period before the HSC play begins (?). FWIW I have a few SSI strategy manual scans; loved these games BITD.

Tangentially related: even having played it dozens and dozens of times, DOS Panzer General II is still a favorite game. Have tried to figure out Iron Cross III Hearts of Iron but never have made it through the learning curve in order to do so.

 

McKong I like Starquake too! :thumbsup:

And another great game I need to get to know better and practice more; aside from Bruce Lee I am not good or am even outright terrible at most A8 platformers.

 

Adding a few suggestions for consideration: C'est La Vie (a little more to it than a quick glance or short play reveals; it is also silly and fun with very light hearted graphics, animations and music/sfx), Shamus/Shamus+, Shadow World and Skool Daze. All are attached for convenience. Shadow World has a bug in some circulating versions where the game locks up after the end of the first level/stage; the attached version works.

 

And maybe consider at some point trying a dual controller game like Robotron or Space Dungeon (5200 conversion)? Only if there are others interested trying that; certainly helps to have a controller coupler of some kind for dual controller games like these two.

Atari ROM Hacks.car.zip

C'est La Vie.car.zip

Shadow World.xex.zip

Shamus+.xex.zip

Skool Daze.xex.zip

Edited by Fingolfin
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I am trying to start to put together materials for an A8 Blaster combo manual and players guide: gathering as much info as exists online and can be gleaned from existing sources. I have managed to finally get a good MAME setup for my Mac and have been chipping away at arcade MAME Blaster to try to get more info about level names and enemies, etc. Some levels and enemies are unique to either the A8 or arcade version, but there's enough overlap of level and enemy content between both versions that both levels and enemies named/identified in arcade MAME Blaster help identify same/similar levels or enemies in the A8 version. FWIW at least one sound is identical in both versions: when you save/capture a floating human the sound is exactly the same. Kinda cool!

 

I've been continuing to practice A8 Blaster and even more so AtariBlast, but I am feeling compelled to continue to try to make some sort of useful document for A8 Blaster players!

Prototype or not, released or not, Blaster is one of the best games on A8 in my book.

Edited by Fingolfin
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Blaster - 297700 pts, level 4-1. The tip to go underneath all those bridges makes a lot of difference, since the score is accumulative up to 5000 pts each until you miss a bridge. Same goes for a lot of the items in this game, accumulation makes a lot of difference. Bah for being so close to 300K and another life!

post-5454-0-00721500-1525989270.jpg

 

AtariBlast! - 29580 pts, level 5.

post-5454-0-48952100-1525989268.jpg

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post-19705-0-70981300-1526134560.jpg

Atari Blast! 46,320 that slowdown when your nearly out effect is good, you feel the pain! Made good progress trying to collect everything I could but not made it through all the levels yet!

Will hit Blaster again later :)

 

 

Reminder this round closes 10AM tomorrow morning (UK time)

Still time for EVERYONE to vote in the Round 9 Poll "Something Different"

 

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Sikor, please consider yourself added! :)

I am sure it was a simple oversight.

therealbountybob's burning the candle at at least three ends of which I am aware: busy A8 coding (like yourself Sikor), hosting A8 HSC and playing and competing with all the A8 HSC games he hosts!

 

Hope this update is okay therealbountybob.

 

final tables

Blaster

1st Fingolfin 692,900 12pts
2nd therealbountybob 370,700 11pts
3rd McKong 319,500 10pts
4th carlsson 297,700 9pts
5th Deteacher 191,900 8pts
6th Sleepy 133,300 7pts
7th RedThunder 49,000 6pts
8th slx 46,400 5pts
9th jblenkle 31,100 4pts

10th Sikor 22,100 3pts

Atari Blast! (Normal)
1st Deteacher 81,560 12pts
2nd therealbountybob 46,320 11pts
3rd McKong 38,080 10pts
4th carlsson 29,580 9pts
5th RedThunder 23,020 8pts

6th slx 14,670 7pts

7th Sikor 11,760 6pts

Edited mistakes after carlsson's reply below; apologies to all.

Edited by Fingolfin
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