Season 13 ~ Weeks 13/14 ~ Activision Quickies!

[kermit73]

1 hour ago, Moisés Tuseto said:

How strange, without making mistakes or hitting the pigeons, I was worse at barnstorning

I improved my time by experimenting with different course layouts.  You get a different course every time you use the game select switch to cycle through the game variations.

 

[AtariSphinx]

Barnstorming (4 B/B): 1:11.43

Sky Jinxs (4 B/B): 2:20.04

 

Improvements! 

[Absalon]

I was wondering if I have a big advantage playing the PAL Version of the game. So I played the ntsc version online to check this out.

And yes, ntsc is slightly faster (= harder), but tactics and timing seems to be the same.

 

I made one ntsc flight with 1 crash and got this:

[Rogerpoco]

Couple messages, folks struggling to level the plane-

This is what I mean.

Have to link the webpage instead of just uploading the vid, I lost it in a PC crash years ago...

Seriously, straighten out the wings, it's how to do it.

First vid is pretty much just the run.

https://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/171793

[Rogerpoco]

11 hours ago, kermit73 said:

I improved my time by experimenting with different course layouts.  You get a different course every time you use the game select switch to cycle through the game variations.

 

Whew. OK.

Hadn't actually realized I could help on this one.

I GUESS I'll "give this away", lol, almost is one to keep to myself.

Cycle the game select button until you see a barn first, followed by two birds, one above the other-

THAT'S the route to take.

Pretty sure I tried every damned one of them, lol!

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Rogerpoco

[+Atari_Warlord]

I just need to put some scores up before I run out of time.  Had a blast playing these when I was a kid. 

 

Freeway = 20

 

Barnstorming = 1:18.54

 

Sky Jinks = 2:44.08

 

Fishing Derby = 99-92

 

[Rickster8]

A few ticks quicker...  

 

 

Barnstorming - Game 4 - B/B - 1:13.72

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Rickster8
Formatting

[DrMooCowz]

Barnstorming (4 B/B) - 1:16.75

Fishing Derby (1 B/B) - 99-74

Freeway (8 B/B) - 26

Sky Jinks (4 B/B) - 2:27.88

 

Barnstorming the most frustrating, because my memory stinks!

 

[Jason_Atari]

Improvements:

 

Barnstorming (4 B/B) - 1:13.25

Fishing Derby (1 B/B) - 99-64

Freeway (8 B/B) - 23

Sky Jinks (4 B/B) - 2:17.57

 

 

[Jasonhrb]

Improvements on three of the four games. Small gains in two, and a (if I'm being honest) total fluke for Fishing Derby. A full 14 points better than my next best attempt before or since. I genuinely played it as normal, but if @Vocelli feels that this score means something must have gone wrogt and so it shouldn't count, I'm happy to post my next best one instead.

 

My freeway score was frustrating in a way, as you can see from the position of the chicken how close I was to joining the 29 club !. Still, happy to have improved some more. And congrats to @Absalon on an absolute belter of a sky jinks score. I have really tried to hit the top of the pile on this one, but I don't think I'll be beating that effort (although I'll try again over the weekend if I get a chance)

 

Anyway, that's enough from me. Here are some scores : 

 

[dombradley@googlemail.com]

Freeway: 24

[dombradley@googlemail.com]

Sky Jinx: 2:26.63

[gbag]

99-92 for gbag in Derby

[gbag]

231.07 for gbag

[dombradley@googlemail.com]

Fishing Derby: 99-86

[kermit73]

18 hours ago, Jasonhrb said:

Improvements on three of the four games. Small gains in two, and a (if I'm being honest) total fluke for Fishing Derby. A full 14 points better than my next best attempt before or since. I genuinely played it as normal, but if @Vocelli feels that this score means something must have gone wrogt and so it shouldn't count, I'm happy to post my next best one instead.

 

 

 

I see no reason to question the Fishing Derby score.  I did a 99-56 last night and need to grab a photo from my video to get it posted.  Your game ties the world record score on Twin Galaxies.

 

I think the key to getting high scores is to time when you reel in your fish at the faster rate to steer the shark toward your opponent, leading it to eat more of their fish.  This is easier said than done and I've not completely worked out if there is a way to implement this strategy in a predictable manner.

 

Update: I was in error when stating that 99-48 ties the world record.  This is the best score using the emulator.  The world record NTSC score on original hardware is 99-28 (win by 71 points).

Edited November 20, 2022 by kermit73

[kermit73]

Barnstorming: 1:11.30

Sky Jinks: 2:25.16

Fishing Derby: 99-44

 

Improvements...

 

Barnstorming was on the course @Rogerpoco recommends.  I may still try to see if I can beat 1:11.

 

A lot of right things happened on this Fishing Derby game.  Not only did the shark eat several of the computer player's fish, but for much of the game, most of the fish, including the bottom-most 6-point fish were on the left side of the screen, making it much harder for the computer player to earn points.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by kermit73

[Rickster8]

Some Freeway improvement... 👍

 

 

Freeway - Game 8 - B/B - 28

 

 

 

[fakecortex]

Getting better on Barnstorming, thanks @Rogerpoco! What a hand-cramper for such a short game. 

 

B-stormin’ - 1:15.85

[Evandro_ECM]

Barnstorming - Game 4 B/B

1:13.27

[+jgkspsx]

At least participation points:

 

Barnstorming: 1:20.57

 

 

Fishing Derby: 99-88

 

 

Freeway: 19

 

 

Sky Jinks: 2:46.16

 

[dombradley@googlemail.com]

Barnstorming: 1:12.95

[Rogerpoco]

15 hours ago, kermit73 said:

Barnstorming: 1:11.30

 

Barnstorming was on the course @Rogerpoco recommends.  I may still try to see if I can beat 1:11.

 

 

 

 

(Not sure how ok it is to cut up someone else's post like that, when quoting, lol, just wanted to stay relevant)

(Stop laughing, I know I'm Mr. Off-Topic...)

 

 

Anyway, ya, haha-Go get it, catch me!!!

I'm truly more "ham" then "Meat and Potatoes", lol, occasionally more fluff than substance, but that's one I'm really proud of!

I can't honestly remember if I accidentally found a faster route than OldManG, or just ran the course faster(likely the first).

 

Lotta fun in those type tracks, Game 5 of Sky Jinks is like that, and it takes FOREVER to find the right course, and I believe Game 5 on Skiing is the random one-it takes forever and a day to find the right course, lol!!! I believe I found the route we use(on Skiing), tho I don't have the fast time anymore.

 

Ya, I watched yur vid over at TG-you played SO incredibly safe, particularly with the barns, I was actually surprised at your time-

I'm thinking if you did to it what I've seen you do to other games, you may well push below 1:10 even, Man, for real...

 

I think mostly historically, the "high scorers" tended to focus on Game 1 on most Activision timed games.

When @OldManG and I set to work on the 2, 3, and 4 on Grand Prix, noone "good at it" had ever really posted scores on it before, we felt like it was uncharted territory, really, and went pretty far beyond what had been previously done-

I imagine this Barnstorming track is like that, if @nads or someone had really focused on it, I wouldn't likely have that score anymore!

 

Good Luck, Man, for real, if it's something you really wanna do!!!

Edited November 20, 2022 by Rogerpoco

[kermit73]

12 minutes ago, Rogerpoco said:

(Not sure how ok it is to cut up someone else's post like that, when quoting, lol, just wanted to stay relevant)

(Stop laughing, I know I'm Mr. Off-Topic...)

 

 

Anyway, ya, haha-Go get it, catch me!!!

I'm truly more "ham" then "Meat and Potatoes", lol, occasionally more fluff than substance, but that's one I'm really proud of!

I can't honestly remember if I accidentally found a faster route than OldManG, or just ran the course faster(likely the first).

 

Lotta fun in those type tracks, Game 5 of Sky Jinks is like that, and it takes FOREVER to find the right course, and I believe Game 5 on Skiing is the random one-it takes forever and a day to find the right course, lol!!! I believe I found the route we use(on Skiing), tho I don't have the fast time anymore.

 

Ya, I watched yur vid over at TG-you played SO incredibly safe, particularly with the barns, I was actually surprised at your time-

I'm thinking if you did to it what I've seen you do to other games, you may well push below 1:10 even, Man, for real...

 

I think mostly historically, the "high scorers" tended to focus on Game 1 on most Activision timed games.

When @OldManG and I set to work on the 2, 3, and 4 on Grand Prix, noone "good at it" had ever really posted scores on it before, we felt like it was uncharted territory, really, and went pretty far beyond what had been previously done-

I imagine this Barnstorming track is like that, if @nads or someone had really focused on it, I wouldn't likely have that score anymore!

 

Good Luck, Man, for real, if it's something you really wanna do!!!

I am done with this game for awhile, but if and when I find the time will be coming back to it.  That's why I went ahead and posted it to Twin Galaxies now.

 

I may take the time at some point to look for a better course, but imagine that it would be a very time-consuming process.  It takes several runs just to memorize the pattern and then you need several more runs to get good at it.  Further, this game is torture on your hand since you have to keep the button pressed practically the entire run.  There is a limit to what I can endure in a single session.  I definitely got some benefit from the work that you and others have done with this game in the past.

 

If a better course exists, I expect it would be one that starts with a barn, so I'd start by looking at the two or three you skip through to get to the one with the two birds on the course you recommend.  I wonder if all the courses are the same, but toggling the select switch just changes the starting point and the pattern of the birds.  In terms of windmill/barn sequence, the only difference between the course I played and the default course you get when powering up the console is you don't have to fly over the first windmill.  I've wondered if there is a way to start in the middle or end of one of the sets of four consecutive windmills.  Being able to skip 3-4 windmills could easily take another 5 seconds off your time.

[+jgkspsx]

“Real Ataris are better” bumper tickers should be issued.

Barnstorming: 1:14.02