+therealbountybob Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Robot vs Dragon... Zaxxon vs Super Zaxxon More Sega goodness for round 16 of HSC action Both games offer a good challenge, see how many times you can get through them. Note: Make sure you play the full "disk" version of Zaxxon it it's a lot tougher and better, especially the flying ships stage. Hints: [trbb] found it best to get through the gaps by looking at where the shots go and making adjustments rather than making notes/memory and using the gauge keep firing and look for the bullets going through - little taps to adjust. There are only about 5 force fields and there isn't much else to the game in terms of length so once you've made it once you'll soon be going round it several times. The end guy is fairly easy too. Trbb's official Zaxxon Hints First Stage - learn what kills you (usually sweeping right when firing) and avoid it. Don't be too aggressive, you shouldn't lose any men here. 2nd Stage - Not worth going for the 1000pt bonus but not much fun just hiding so I'm going for pick a height (1 or on the ground) and stick to it - look for them changing to that height and fire four shots as they cross you. Stay Mid/Right avoid left perhaps. 3rd Stage - Duck down immediately. Take out several fuels in a sweep across, immediately get up a bit, keep firing look for the missiles passing the gap under the forcefield - tap stick down a bit as required. Do not use the height gauge at all. 4th Stage - take out 3 fuels, set height to 1.5-2 and fire like crazy in the middle, take Mr. Robot out for a little destruction More trbb Zaxxon ramblings If you work out the collision issues: sweeping right firing on the guns that face left is a no-no and not getting too close to undestroyed objects from behind, it's very playable for those who like a challenge. I didn't see much difference on the first section as the levels progressed; I guess they had to keep the space down, but the tighter walls, higher fuel burn rate and planes' aggression were more than enough. Plus you have to change strategy on the later levels to target more fuels. Gets more and more intense Scoring one set of points based on positions for both games (may change) Bonus most robots and dragons slayed (not just shot their missiles) so keep track Downloads Zaxxon Info Super Zaxxon Info Everyone welcome to play Round ends Sunday 30th August around 10am UK time! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 As they would say in Karate Kid: "Zaxx on, Zaxx off!" 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 13 minutes ago, carlsson said: As they would say in Karate Kid: "Zaxx on, Zaxx off!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Ok, some quick entry scores. I found Super Zaxxon to be much slower pace than Zaxxon, and the colour combinations perhaps not that delightful. Is it due to PAL/NTSC or how I tuned my LCD TV? I also had to fiddle with the camera settings to get a dark enough picture to show the scores. Zaxxon - 8650 pts (reached a bit into stage 2) Super Zaxxon - 6950 pts (just barely reached the first laser thing in stage 2) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedThunder Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Zaxxon 17,400 Super Zaxxon This version does not have that certain Je ne sais quoi of ZAXXON. 3,850 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKong Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 1 hour ago, therealbountybob said: You've been hanging around TRBB too long ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 1 hour ago, RedThunder said: Zaxxon 17,400 Super Zaxxon This version does not have that certain Je ne sais quoi of ZAXXON. 3,850 "Back of Brussels!" My initial comments from Zaxxon last time were that Super Z was better but after discovering the full "disk" version during the round and looking at my comments about how much I liked Zaxxon it should be interesting to see playing them both at the same time (on two Ataris with 2 tvs and two joysticks DO IT!!) wibble p.s. can someone confirm fandal's Zaxxon is correct ver? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 The version from Fandal has the same title picture as Atarimania lists for the disk version. The cartridge version appears to have a text based title picture? Otherwise I don't see any differences except for when you get further into the game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graywest Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) First goes: Zaxxon: 19,350 Super Zaxxon: 22,400 Haven't decided which I like better... I prefer the smoothness of Zaxxon, but the tunnel stage of Super is more enjoyable than the outer space "interlude" from Zaxxon. I also like the smaller ship and more detailed graphics of Super, but the jerky scrolling is a trade off. I find it much harder to get through the force fields in Super. I don't know - they're both decent ports in their own ways. Edited August 17, 2020 by graywest 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graywest Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 11 hours ago, carlsson said: I found Super Zaxxon to be much slower pace than Zaxxon, and the colour combinations perhaps not that delightful. Is it due to PAL/NTSC or how I tuned my LCD TV? It's not just your TV - I thought the colors of Super Zaxxon were kind of muddy and depressing also. I'm playing on an NTSC CRT television. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I just checked Mobygames for other versions and found that the arcade uses pretty much the same dark green as the A8 version does, so it is somewhat faithful to the original. On the C64 there not only are two versions of Zaxxon (cartridge by SEGA/US Gold, tape/disk by Synapse), but also two versions of Super Zaxxon (cartridge by SEGA/US Gold, tape/disk by HESware), all visually different. Due to the much smaller palette, the cartridge version of SZ uses bright green/blue while the tape/disk version uses grey/blue. Mobygames also writes that SEGA's parent company Paramount (I didn't realize they had one) paid HESware $200,000 to postpone their version of C64 SZ in order for Synapse to release their version of Zaxxon first! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKong Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Super Zaxxon 7350 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 Zaxxon should have this loading screen: Played Super Z first 15,150 57,750 got to the 4th level, only got 500 pts for shooting the dragons fireball thingy each time, need to figure out this again! Zaxxon was much slicker, the tunnel stage is hard so had a bunch of goes, 28,450 is my best so far (2nd level) a measly 200 points for the robot, but much more for the EP stage if you can get them! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 Improvements After piling up the dodgy joysticks in the repair pile... Zaxxon 32,550 on 2nd level desroyed 1 robot for 1000pts! Working on a survival strategy for the tunnel stage but have picked up the 1000pt bonus a few times! Super Zaxxon 65,350 4th level, still only picked up 500pts for the dragon spit sure I used to do much better! UPDATED: Season 17 Current Standings 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Zaxxon 8,400 Super Zaxxon 12,550 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Zaxxon review here, have to scroll down a bit https://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n5/productreviews.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 20, 2020 Author Share Posted August 20, 2020 thanks rr Zaxxoin very frustrating, not made any progress but Super Z easier and 79,000 5th level. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Zaxxon - 9,500 Super Zaxxon - 9,450 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graywest Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 21 hours ago, roadrunner said: Zaxxon review here, have to scroll down a bit https://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n5/productreviews.html From the review: "ANTIC readers should know that the disk version of the game can be used on a computer that has either 16K or 32K in memory. If your ATARI only has 16K, you will get the basic game that will be missing just a few features. The 32K version also has a pause feature and the base missiles, and you can move the aircraft up and down as well as from left to right." I'm sort of curious to play the 16kb version now - you can't move up and down? How does that even work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Hm, perhaps I don't know how to operate Altirra but both when I tried to set it to a 16K 400 and a 16K 600XL, loading the XEX crashed the emulator. Setting it to a 48K 800 or 64K 800XL worked. I'm currently using the replacement Altirra OS ROMs because the original ones only cause a black screen for me? Thus I wonder if the disk version at all is supposed to load on a 16K machine, or if that is a separate disk image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 (edited) Zaxxxxxon 12550 Super (not) Zaxxon 4250 I remember the disappointment when I spent my hard earned pocket money on super zaxxon, nowhere near as good as the original IMO Edited August 21, 2020 by mimo Updated 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevymad Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 Had to switch from my XLD with vbxe machine to my XEL. The colors were so muted, bland, changed through my vbxe/lcd it was nearly unplayable. Looks great on the UAV/Svid combo though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted August 22, 2020 Author Share Posted August 22, 2020 After thinking Zaxxon was way too hard it's starting to line up and managed 44,350 and then 50,500 on the 4th level (I think) where the walls start having extra bricks in them, exciting stuff! 3 Robots Killed on a go. The hidden deaths are consistent so you can learn to avoid them; usually when sweeping to the right side of the playfield. Hmm might get the next poll up... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMarc-er Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 First run. Zaxxon - 12,950 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 Zaxxon - 15150 pts Super Zaxxon - 9200 pts I'm starting to get a feel of these two games, but not spending enough time to produce any competitive scores. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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