Season 13 ~ Week 19/20/21 ~ Atari 2600 Homebrew

[Absalon]

today I finally had time to play BOOM! : 00119900

[Absalon]

and a new score for star castle arcade: 10050

[Rickster8]

Finally got over 100k on Mr. Yo Yo. That was my goal so now I'm probably done.... 👍

I liked this one the best out of the 4 Homebrews. I'm absolutely dreadful at the other 3 games.... 🥺

 

 

Mr. Yo Yo - Level 1 - B/B - 103,830

 

 

[Keir]

Slight improvement in 2 games:

 

Star Castle - 8,570

Conquest of Mars - 35,050

[Rickster8]

Ok so I lied. This game is just too fun.....  

 

 

Mr. Yo Yo - Level 1 - B/B - 120,530

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Rickster8
Wording

[AtariSphinx]

Boom! (1 B/B): 166,800

 

Improvement!

[Rickster8]

YES!!! I finally got some of them sweet GEMS!!! WOOHOO!!!!  

 

Okay so NOW I'm done..... 😜

 

 

Mr. Yo Yo - Level 1 - B/B - 208,180

 

[AtariSphinx]

Conquest of Mars (1 B/B): 51,750

 

Improvement.    Definitely my favorite especially due to growing up with the computer version.   Great implementation.   All of these homebrews are really impressive 

[+jgkspsx]

Boom: 2100

 

 

Star Castle Arcade: 8050

 

 

Full plays: 

 

 

It's really neat to see Bomberman on the 2600, but I've played a lot of Bomberman on other platforms and I don't really feel the need to keep playing this version.

[Atarian7]

7 hours ago, Rickster8 said:

sweet GEMS!!

What sweet gems?

 

I get to a round that seems to be a bonus round but my score doesn't change at all when I collect the rectangular shaped thingys.

[Rickster8]

24 minutes ago, Atarian7 said:

What sweet gems?

 

I get to a round that seems to be a bonus round but my score doesn't change at all when I collect the rectangular shaped thingys.

You have to shoot them. I believe you have to shoot 10 of them in a certain amount of time and then a gem appears at the bottom of the cave. Once you grab that and bring it up you get 10,000 points and an extra guy. There is a brief intermission where Mr. Yo Yo has a quick celebration with a party hat and silly music. If you watch DaveM's video where he scored 500k+ you will see the happy celebration. Collecting the squares doesn't help, you have to shoot them. It's pretty difficult to do. I've only managed to do it twice so far..... 👍

Edited January 4, 2023 by Rickster8
Wording

[Atarian7]

Thank you very much Rickster8. 

 

I guess I missed earlier posts where all of this is explained.

 

I think I wanted to figure out the game by myself but I don't know if I ever would  have shot at them.  Which is odd considering I shot at everything else.  LOL

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Atarian7

[Absalon]

today Mr Yo-You again. new score: 099610

 

improving on this one, but I don't feel like I'm in control of the game 😆 all guns blazing when those blue demon fish appear. Getting the gems and jewel in bonus stage really works for a better score.

[DaveM]

A couple improved scores.  First, Star Castle Aracde:

 

And finally, Boom!  Never having played any of the Bomberman games before (I don't know why), I found this one quite frustrating.  Finally got the hang of it a bit, but still kept blowing myself up.

 

Oh, and I'm listed as "DameM" in the Conquest of Mars high score list on Page 1.  I may be a lot of things, but I'm no Dame. 

 

Glad Mr. Yo-Yo did so well with the HSC.  A few things I've learned that I'll work into my future homebrews:

1. Don't flicker the score.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it makes taking screenshots a hit-and-miss thing.

2. Make sure the game works well with the traditional Atari joystick.  Mr. Yo-Yo definitely plays better with other controllers.  Even I have trouble with the regular joystick.  I can usually score 500k+, but with the joystick, I have trouble cracking 150k.  Although, I think with practice, that would improve.  Seems to be mainly a timing thing.

3. Offer an easier version so players can learn the game.  I think I ramped up the difficulty too quickly.

 

I'm trying to keep all these in mind as I work on my next game, Kick Ice. The development thread can be found here:

 

 

This one is taking me a while to develop for numerous reasons, but I am still working on it, and hope to have an update either over the weekend, or sometime next week.  I just have so little time to devote to working on it, that it's become a very slow process.

 

When I started on Mr. Yo-Yo, I decided early on that I was making the game just for an audience of one - myself.  I always intended to share it with the AtariAge community, but to help take some of the pressure off of making my first game, I just wanted to make sure that I enjoyed it, and that was it.  The idea for the game has sat in the back of my head since the 80's, so I was thrilled to finally get it out of there and start playing it.  In the end, I really do enjoy the game, and play it almost every time I fire up Stella.

 

Anyway, thanks again for playing my game!  I think I'll try to participate in the HSC more in the future.  I've always kinda lurked in the background and checked out the scores and whatnot, but never got around to joining in.  So I think I'll stick around here and give it a shot.

[Rickster8]

3 hours ago, DaveM said:

A couple improved scores.  First, Star Castle Aracde:

 

And finally, Boom!  Never having played any of the Bomberman games before (I don't know why), I found this one quite frustrating.  Finally got the hang of it a bit, but still kept blowing myself up.

 

Oh, and I'm listed as "DameM" in the Conquest of Mars high score list on Page 1.  I may be a lot of things, but I'm no Dame. 

 

Glad Mr. Yo-Yo did so well with the HSC.  A few things I've learned that I'll work into my future homebrews:

1. Don't flicker the score.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it makes taking screenshots a hit-and-miss thing.

2. Make sure the game works well with the traditional Atari joystick.  Mr. Yo-Yo definitely plays better with other controllers.  Even I have trouble with the regular joystick.  I can usually score 500k+, but with the joystick, I have trouble cracking 150k.  Although, I think with practice, that would improve.  Seems to be mainly a timing thing.

3. Offer an easier version so players can learn the game.  I think I ramped up the difficulty too quickly.

 

I'm trying to keep all these in mind as I work on my next game, Kick Ice. The development thread can be found here:

 

 

This one is taking me a while to develop for numerous reasons, but I am still working on it, and hope to have an update either over the weekend, or sometime next week.  I just have so little time to devote to working on it, that it's become a very slow process.

 

When I started on Mr. Yo-Yo, I decided early on that I was making the game just for an audience of one - myself.  I always intended to share it with the AtariAge community, but to help take some of the pressure off of making my first game, I just wanted to make sure that I enjoyed it, and that was it.  The idea for the game has sat in the back of my head since the 80's, so I was thrilled to finally get it out of there and start playing it.  In the end, I really do enjoy the game, and play it almost every time I fire up Stella.

 

Anyway, thanks again for playing my game!  I think I'll try to participate in the HSC more in the future.  I've always kinda lurked in the background and checked out the scores and whatnot, but never got around to joining in.  So I think I'll stick around here and give it a shot.

It's (Mr. Yo Yo) a really fun game Dave. Question, is there a way to know how many Notelies you have left to get in a round? Also does that number you need to get go up by 1 each round? Also I assume if you miss time on a round then you can't get to the bonus round until the next level, right? 

 

EDIT: Okay I just answered one of my questions, it's the green progress bar that moves to the right. When it flashes I believe you have one more Notely left to get? Still not sure of how many you need per round and I don't think the bonus comes up if you run out of time on a set. 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Rickster8
Wording

[DaveM]

2 hours ago, Rickster8 said:

It's (Mr. Yo Yo) a really fun game Dave. Question, is there a way to know how many Notelies you have left to get in a round? Also does that number you need to get go up by 1 each round? Also I assume if you miss time on a round then you can't get to the bonus round until the next level, right? 

 

EDIT: Okay I just answered one of my questions, it's the green progress bar that moves to the right. When it flashes I believe you have one more Notely left to get? Still not sure of how many you need per round and I don't think the bonus comes up if you run out of time on a set. 

Yes, so you got part of it.  The color of the walls determines what you need for each cave:

 

Blue - Collect 5 Notelies.  Notelies appear immediately after a rescue.

Purple - Collect 6 Notelies.  Must shoot 1 object or collect 1 coin to get Notelies to appear.

Green - Collect 7, must shoot 2 objects or collect 1 coin to get Notelies to appear.

Orange - Collect 8, must shoot 3 objects or collect 1 coin to get Notelies to appear.

 

The blue cave appears only on level 1.  Level 1 has blue, purple, and a green cave, while all other levels go purple, green, orange.

 

Yes, the green marker is the progress bar, and it flashes when you have just one rescue left.  In the bonus round, you must shoot 10 targets, and the green marker will flash after 9 are shot.  When you shoot your 10th, it still flashes, and moves a bit to the right, then it goes all the way to the right when you rescue the gem.

 

And you're right about the bonus round.  You must complete all three caves in a level before the time runs out in order to qualify for the bonus round.  Also, if the timer runs out in a cave, your score is frozen until you complete that cave.

[Evandro_ECM]

Star Castle - 3.750

Mr. Yo-Yo - 61.290

Conquest of Mars - 50.210

[DrMooCowz]

Star Castle: 8150 (ooof, hard game!)

Boom!: 100000

 

The first game of Boom!, I didn't know what I was doing killed off a few of those tough enemies when time ran out trying to find the door. That was like... 25,000 points. Then the score I submitted, I played it straight without any of those fast/high value enemies and game over'd at level 17. Definitely does seem like that's kind of broken for point value on those dudes. But thanks @kermit73 for the tips on this one and making me understand how I got 1/4 of my score submitted score in about 5 minutes vs my 100,000 in 45 minutes 😄.

 

[Rickster8]

And AGAIN, I'm UN-done.... 😜

 

 

Mr. Yo Yo - Level 1 - B/B - 258,830

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Rickster8
Formatting

[AtariSphinx]

Star Castle (1 B/B): 10,980

Boom! (1 B/B): 183,500

 

Improvements !

[DrMooCowz]

Mr Yo-Yo: 90800

Conquest of Mars: 39850

 

Both of these are really cool! The escape on CoM was not expected and I really like the concept.

 

Mr Yo-Yo, simple controls and scales in difficulty properly. Awesome!

[+jgkspsx]

Holy crap, I had a good game!

 

Mr Yo Yo - 136540

 

[Keir]

A couple more improvements. I tried to get better in CoM but couldn't do it. I even played the Atari 8-bit version and I feel like that one is actually harder!

 

Mr. Yo-Yo - 144,290

Star Castle - 10,490

[danger]

Might be my last entry, most certainly last for CoM, I wanted to get a score in the 100k and managed it finally. Getting to be consistent at the laser part is hard, but it pays off. Hopefully if time allows, I'll get to have a score on Boom! too, the only game I neglected.

Conquest of Mars: 133310

[Atarian7]

1 hour ago, danger said:

Conquest of Mars: 133310