TheActivisionary Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 13 hours ago, Skippy B. Coyote said: Score improvement with the help of some strategy, a lucky ship call point placement, and my peanut buttery secret weapon E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Game 3, B/B Difficulty, 1 Run): 21,948 Very cool controller, what is the model number and is it a piece of 2600 hardware or 400/800/XEGS? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 8 minutes ago, TheActivisionary said: Very cool controller, what is the model number and is it a piece of 2600 hardware or 400/800/XEGS? It's actually a modern controller using real arcade parts, it's just designed to look like a period authentic piece of Atari hardware. I had it custom made for me by https://retrogameboyz.com/ 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keir Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 19 minutes ago, Skippy B. Coyote said: It's actually a modern controller using real arcade parts, it's just designed to look like a period authentic piece of Atari hardware. I had it custom made for me by https://retrogameboyz.com/ That thing is sweet. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, Keir said: That thing is sweet. Thanks Keir! I've got real bad tendonitis all through my left arm so my days of being able to hold and operate an original Atari 2600 joystick are pretty much over, but setting that controller on a lap desk makes playing Atari games totally comfortable for me again. Inside it's got a Sanwa joystick with an 8-way octagonal gate, and I can't quite remember what brand the light up button is but it's very responsive and snappy 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vocelli Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 Vocelli: E.T = 14574 I must say it was an exciting moment when I finally beat E.T. after 40 years! I told everyone at work..... no one cared. 😝 2 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 6 hours ago, Rickster8 said: Let me ask this. When your score tabulated at the end of the game do you remember if the score started with an unusually higher score than usual? When I got the 33k, the initial score started with 14k.... That was a great indicator to me that something was amiss...... I really didn’t notice 😐 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermit73 Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) E.T. - 17134 I agree with others that the commentary about E.T. being such an awful game is unfounded. It's not my favorite game by any stretch, but I'd rather play it than a good number of other games. As others suggest, I think many of the bad reviews are from folks who never read the manual or figured out how to "win" the game. As for falling into the pits - this can be avoided with skill. I recall completing this game as a kid without the manual. I borrowed the cartridge from a friend who figured out how to collect the phone pieces and I eventually figured out how to call home and board the ship. Now fast forward some 40 years later and I found myself reading the manual for the first time. It turns out for the first few games this week, I just wasn't waiting for the timer to elapse at the landing pad. I thought pressing the button to raise E.T.'s head at the landing pad would cause the ship to appear right away LOL. Regarding what scores are possible... You get 770 points for every piece of candy you give Elliott. The most pieces I've ever gotten in a single run is 16, so 16 x 770=12320. It seems you get 3 points for free (carried over onto the scoreboard from playing game variation #3) and one point for each point of energy left. If you were somehow able to call the ship with 9999 energy, that would get you a score of 12320 + 9999 + 3 = 22322. The only way I think it would be possible to score higher in a single run is to figure out a way to get the game to give you more than 16 pieces of candy total. The manual indicates that after 31 pieces of candy, the scoring changes. At this point, you lose 700 energy when picking up the candy, but earn 1000 bonus per piece after boarding the ship (it's unclear whether you have to give the candy to Elliott for the 1000 points). I expect this change in scoring may not be applicable since I doubt there is a way to get that much candy on a single run. If it were possible, it may be best to stop after collecting the 31st piece. Edited October 13, 2022 by kermit73 Added screenshot. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keir Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 22 minutes ago, kermit73 said: Regarding what scores are possible... You get 770 points for every piece of candy you give Elliott. The most pieces I've ever gotten in a single run is 16, so 16 x 770=12320. It seems you get 3 points for free (carried over onto the scoreboard from playing game variation #3) and one point for each point of energy left. If you were somehow able to call the ship with 9999 energy, that would get you a score of 12320 + 9999 + 3 = 22322. The only way I think it would be possible to score higher in a single run is to figure out a way to get the game to give you more than 16 pieces of candy total. The manual indicates that after 31 pieces of candy, the scoring changes. At this point, you lose 700 energy when picking up the candy, but earn 1000 bonus per piece after boarding the ship (it's unclear whether you have to give the candy to Elliott for the 1000 points). I expect this change in scoring may not be applicable since I doubt there is a way to get that much candy on a single run. If it were possible, it may be best to stop after collecting the 31st piece. The manual is inaccurate on a lot of points, one of them being the candy limit. After 22 candies (not 31), you still get 770 points for each, but your starting energy on the next round is penalized. See here: http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/26et.htm That being said I agree with you and the others who said 27000 seems extremely unlikely if not impossible on a single run. Here are some previous high scores for a single run to compare to: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 32 minutes ago, Keir said: The manual is inaccurate on a lot of points, one of them being the candy limit. After 22 candies (not 31), you still get 770 points for each, but your starting energy on the next round is penalized. See here: http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/26et.htm That being said I agree with you and the others who said 27000 seems extremely unlikely if not impossible on a single run. Here are some previous high scores for a single run to compare to: Right and even though NCG got over 23k, that seems like it was on game 1 which probably gives some kind of bonus points for evading FBI agents and scientists, that's just a guess though. 🤷♂️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbag Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 14,037 for gbag 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Some improvement... 😏 E.T. - GAME 3 - (B/B) - 1 RUN TOTAL - 17,857 POINTS!!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, kermit73 said: Regarding what scores are possible... You get 770 points for every piece of candy you give Elliott. The most pieces I've ever gotten in a single run is 16, so 16 x 770=12320. It seems you get 3 points for free (carried over onto the scoreboard from playing game variation #3) and one point for each point of energy left. If you were somehow able to call the ship with 9999 energy, that would get you a score of 12320 + 9999 + 3 = 22322. The only way I think it would be possible to score higher in a single run is to figure out a way to get the game to give you more than 16 pieces of candy total. There is indeed a way to get the game to give you more than 16 pieces of candy, but the maximum you can get is 20 pieces in a single run. When the game starts wait at least 11 seconds after the spaceship drops you off and leaves to give the game time to spawn candies, then head downward to the next screen. If there's no candy piece on the first screen downward then reset and try again. If there is a candy piece on that first screen then reset, head downward back to that screen with the candy immediately after the ship drops you off, and play as normal from there. Now the game will spawn 18 pieces of candy (which you can trade 9 of to Elliot for phone parts twice and still get the full 770 points for each piece) then spawn 1 additional piece of candy on the two screens you visited least frequently during that play attempt for 20 pieces of candy in total. A perfectly efficient run giving Elliot all 20 candy pieces, making use of arrow jump points to hop between candy gathering screens, only having to find one phone part yourself since you got the other two from trading in 9 candies for each, and not having to hunt around for the spaceship call point will net you just shy of 24,000 points Information Source: https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et-tips.html#single_round_high_scores Edited October 14, 2022 by Skippy B. Coyote 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absalon Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) Thank you for the link. A good read AFTER playing the game. 😆 In my run with 21k score I got 2 phone pieces from elliot in return of 9 candy each. I think I ate candy 19 for energy and took candy 20 onboard the ufo in e.t. pocket. Edited October 14, 2022 by Absalon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 As Skippy, Rickster and Kermit have pointed out i must have restarted the game with the fire button instead of the reset button thus having such a high score, my bad. Vocelli disregard my first score, i was definitely playing game 3 as only Elliott was around. New score: 19,959 Might have another go as i do recall cracking 20K as a kid on game 3 with the first run. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariSphinx Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) E.T. (3 B/B): 20,082 Improved score. Really need to watch your candy calories.... no I mean steps! Edited October 14, 2022 by AtariSphinx Added photo 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 17 hours ago, Skippy B. Coyote said: I'm guessing that's probably what happened, since I'm pretty sure a score of 27K is impossible on a single run on account of the only way to score points being collecting candy and leftover energy, but I tagged @Random Terrain to get his thoughts on the matter since he's the most knowledgeable person there is outside of the original programmer when it comes to E.T.. If there's anyone who would know whether or not 27K in one run is possible it would be him. Sorry, I've been busy doing other stuff. Northcoastgamer got 23,718 back in 2015: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/237157-season-4-the-new-hsc-week-13-14-sci-fi-movie-weeks/?do=findComment&comment=3226533 Similar to what you've already posted, anyone getting anything over 24,000 probably forgot to start a fresh game. 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vocelli Posted October 14, 2022 Author Share Posted October 14, 2022 @Random Terrain Thanks for the clarification! We appreciate it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+McCallister Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 22,339 Achieved by getting the 20 pieces of candy and having a pretty smooth lineup of arrows. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keir Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Got 17 candies this time, so I did a little bit better. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonhrb Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 I couldn't help coming back for one more go, and have got a small extra improvement. I'm surprised to have got this far and can't see how I will improve further 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickster8 Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 A little better still.... 😏 E.T. - GAME 3 - (B/B) - 1 RUN TOTAL - 18,201 POINTS!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 9932 Now that I know what I'm doing... I still don't think I ever want to play the original version again. Falling into pits when changing screens for no apparent reason is one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had in video gaming. This round has helped me appreciate what the game was trying to do, though. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonhrb Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 And another (unexpected) big step forward. I've been reading the gameplay tips on here, and they have really helped me move my score on, so thanks to everybody for that. Don't think I'll be able to better this one, but I have said that more than once already this week !. And @jgkspsx , I know what you mean about falling into pits on a screen change, but there is a knack to avoiding that. There ae only half a dozen or so "pit screens", and they're easy enough to memorize when they come. Once you do that, you can position ET at the right point to avoid the pits on the next screen when you exit the previous ones. Anyway, that's enough from me. Here's a (probably) final score. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 Sigh. I lied. I figured I had put enough time in to learn it that I should at least crack 10k. OK, this really is it for me. 14712. I mostly got the knack for avoiding pits when changing screens, but sometimes I fell in places there should not have been a pit. I also sometimes could not get out of pits for the life of me. And sometimes I could not turn on the levitation in time to avoid hitting the ground at speed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 4 minutes ago, jgkspsx said: I mostly got the knack for avoiding pits when changing screens, but sometimes I fell in places there should not have been a pit. I also sometimes could not get out of pits for the life of me. Has anyone posted this video? youtu.be/zh4U3BwlTcY 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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