Starbuck66

My wife and daughter made my birthday an Atari birthday this year!
 

 
Have to say the Retron 77 has been fun so far! I found the AtariAge community image for the SD Card, and its been working great. 

Look NSG, Rock n Rye ice cream! I haven’t tried yet, but next time I’m on the east side I’m going to check this place out!
 
https://www.mlive.com/food/index.ssf/2016/09/this_is_the_best_ice_cream_ive.html

Congratulations everyone who played!
 
 
PREPARE TO QUALIFY!! Congratulations to all who participated! Consider this my personal shoutout to RickR, Atari Creep, BTB, Kid A, chas10e, kamakazi20012, No Swear Gamer, and our Mayor, Mr. Greenween. I love when we get a great turnout in these events and I think it's really cool that each and every one of you posted lap times. Atari Creep said it best in his Pole Position II video, it's not about stressing out to get the best lap time or highest score, it's about participating with a great group of people and just having a good time playing these games. So thank you to each and every one of you for being here! Also, I've disqualified myself from winning any course that other people posted lap times for. I don't want to win my own contests! That's like somebody throwing a party for themselves. People do it, but it doesn't look good and they aren't well liked. I love to participate though and I want you guys to beat me, badly. Nobody else posted lap times for Suzuka though so I am leaving that course up, and I will be submitting lap times to the Scoreboard. It's great to see so many members showing up for this event and sharing their lap times here, I hope it was a good reason to break out the Atari 7800 and play this game. We may do another Grand Prix again next year. Congrats to everyone who played! And a VERY special thank you to RickR who kindly sent me a Pole Position II cartridge when I couldn't find my own. This event was a lot of fun for me and the generosity in our forums is over the moon. Way to go guys!
 
 
 
 
 
 TEST TRACK LAP TIMES    
 
 
 
265:14       Kid A                .
 
266:45       Justin               .
 
266:79       kamakazi20012
 
267:37       nosweargamer.
 
267:45       greenween      .
 
267:79       btbfilms76       .
 
267:79       Atari Creep      .
 
268:00       RickR               .
 
268:00       chas10e           .
 
 
 
 
 

 
 FUJI TRACK LAP TIMES    
 
 
 
275:14       Justin               .
 
291:00       Kid A                .
 
295:00       kamakazi20012
 
303:37       btbfilms76       .
 
303:79       nosweargamer.
 
304:00       chas10e           .
 
305:00       RickR               .
 
 
 
 
 

 
 SEASIDE TRACK LAP TIMES    
 
 
 
295:45       Justin               .
 
306:45       kamakazi20012
 
313:00       Kid A                .
 
 
 
 
 

 
 SUZUKA TRACK LAP TIMES    
 
 
 
312:62       Justin               .
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The tiles have finally landed in their correct spots, meaning the FlipOut! episode is available for your listening pleasure (or consternation, depending on how you feel about FlipOut!).  I was honored and fortunate to have the game's designer Conrad Barski answer a lot of questions about the game, and fill the gaps in FlipOut!'s development story.  Check it out through the link at the top of the show notes, or in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or your favorite RSS-based podcast player.

The next episode covers the top-down racing game Power Drive Rally.  Memories?  Opinions?  Post here, or e-mail jaguar@gamebygamepodcast.com.  Above all, though, thank you for listening!

Awesome goodwill find today! Got all this for about $15 plus tax.

Great! I have been so backed up on podcasts because of vacation that I just got to Alien Crush. I thought this was a really fast turnaround but it's been a month. 
 
Anyway, I'm looking forward to listening, I love baseball games!

Congratulations everyone who played!
 
 
PLINK PLINK PLINK!! Congratulations to all who participated! And a huge congratulations to Starbuck66 for his double win!! Starbuck66 topped the Crystal Castles 2600 Final Standings with an amazing 97,239 points! NoSwearGamer was close behind with 64,551 points! btbfilms, greenween, and Kamakazi20012 all showed up with respectable scores too, and we were joined by a very special player in this Squad Challenge by Abby, Starbuck66's daughter who posted 5,224 points! It's great to see members playing these games with their kids and sharing their scores here. Congrats to everyone who played! And a very special thank you to btbfilms76 for setting up the Crystal Castles live event and helping to make the Crystal Castles Squad Challenge happen. I'd encourage Starbuck66 to post his new high scores on the Scoreboard! Way to go guys!
 
 
 
 
 
  CRYSTAL CASTLES 2600 FINAL STANDINGS    
 
 
 
1       Starbuck66                     97,239
 
2       nosweargamer               64,551
 
3       btbfilms76                      42,093
 
4       greenween                     38,981
 
5       Justin                              34,865
 
6       kamakazi20012              19,478
 
7       Abby                                 5,224
 
 
 
 
 

 
  CRYSTAL CASTLES ARCADE FINAL STANDINGS    
 
 
 
1       Starbuck66                     286,336
 
2       nosweargamer               202,071
 
3       btbfilms76                      176,603
 
 
 

Congrats! 

I really love that you included your daughter's high score Starbuck! I was hoping some of our members who are able to play classic games with their children would start doing that. Please feel free to post your kids high scores in our contests even if they don't have an account here. I love it! 

Here are my scores!
 
I have two for Crystal Castles Arcade, one used the level 1 and 3 warps (both played on the DS Atari Greatest Hits Vol 2), the other was straight up from level 1:
 
286,336 with level 1 and 3 warp
 

 
41,852 without using any warps:
 

 
And I also have a score for the 2600 version, played on my 7800 with Genesis controller, 97,239
 

 
My daughter (Abby) also wanted to submit her high score of 5224 on the 2600:
 

 
Really enjoyed the challenge this month, this was a lot of fun!

I say we give the trophy to Abby. 

Here are my scores!
 
I have two for Crystal Castles Arcade, one used the level 1 and 3 warps (both played on the DS Atari Greatest Hits Vol 2), the other was straight up from level 1:
 
286,336 with level 1 and 3 warp
 

 
41,852 without using any warps:
 

 
And I also have a score for the 2600 version, played on my 7800 with Genesis controller, 97,239
 

 
My daughter (Abby) also wanted to submit her high score of 5224 on the 2600:
 

 
Really enjoyed the challenge this month, this was a lot of fun!

Here are my scores!
 
I have two for Crystal Castles Arcade, one used the level 1 and 3 warps (both played on the DS Atari Greatest Hits Vol 2), the other was straight up from level 1:
 
286,336 with level 1 and 3 warp
 

 
41,852 without using any warps:
 

 
And I also have a score for the 2600 version, played on my 7800 with Genesis controller, 97,239
 

 
My daughter (Abby) also wanted to submit her high score of 5224 on the 2600:
 

 
Really enjoyed the challenge this month, this was a lot of fun!

Crystal Castles
Atari 2600 / Arcade / MAME
Controller: PLAYER'S CHOICE
Difficulty Level: Default
Achieve high score to win challenge
Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔
Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST July 31st, 2018
 
 
 
Objective: Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between July 15th through July 31st, 2018. Screen captures are not allowed as they are easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. We are playing Crystal Castles on Atari 2600 as well as the original Atari Arcade version. You may submit multiple scores for one or both games. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor!

Eligibility: Anyone can join in. All players are welcome!

Play Rules: Games may be played on real hardware or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. Enhancements and hacked versions of this game are not allowed.

Difficulty Level: Default. We are playing the default game on both versions of Crystal Castles (Game 1 on Atari 2600)
 
Fair Play: Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater.
 
More: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/1219-high-score-squad-how-to-play/ 
 
Welcome to our 41st Squad Challenge, and our first Double Header! Crystal Castles is one of the last popular releases for the Atari 2600 during the Warner years before the company was split up and sold to Jack Tramiel. Crystal Castles is a really fun game in arcade form, and gave us what potentially could have been an Atari mascot with Bentley Bear.. We're playing TWO versions of Crystal Castles simultaneously for this Squad Challenge! The original Arcade game, and the 2600 version of Crystal Castles! You can submit scores for just one game, or scores for both versions. The choice is yours. There will be two different scoreboards (one for each version) and high score champions announced for BOTH versions of the game! Enjoy!
 
  Achtung!!: The site upgrade may occur during the course of this Squad Challenge, please be prepared for interruptions.
 
Next Month: We will have a special Squad Challenge event spanning the month of August!
 
 
 
Crystal_Castles.binCrystal_Castles.pdf
 
 

You know how I've been playing Video Pinball on Atari Greatest Hits Vol 2 for the DS on my 3DS? Well guess what? It also has both the arcade and 2600 versions of Crystal Castles! I'm not the biggest fan of CC (I like the look more than the game itself, but then again, I never played the arcade machine), but I did give both versions a go.
 
Arcade: 202,071 (really hard to see the high scores on this version. I assume using the first level warp is not considered cheating. I learned it from BTBs video! If it is, just let me know)

 
2600: 57,633

I managed to get 38,981 playing on my 7800 w/ 2600 joystick. I've never spent any time on this game. The first couple of attempts I did not enjoy it at all. I'm starting to like it!

So since I was playing it for the HSS, I also did a review of the 2600 version

 
When I posted my review on FB and Twitter, I plugged the HSS and linked to the forums.
 
Also, I hit a new high score while doing my review: 64,551

SPECIAL LIVE EVENT:
 
CRYSTAL CASTLES LIVE!
 
 
SUNDAY, JULY 15th
 
 
7:30 PM Pacific
8:30 PM Mountain
9:30 PM Central
10:30 PM Eastern
 
 
 
Hey what's up everybody! We're hosting a special live event tonight at 7:30 PST, and you're invited! We're going to be playing CRYSTAL CASTLES LIVE in studio in the BTB Arcade! That's right, we're going to fire up the original classic Atari Arcade version of Crystal Castles. We're gonna take Bentley Bear on a magical journey through a huge castle, and we're gonna collect all of the glittering diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls. Will we help Bentley escape from Berthilda the Witch and her evil cronies? Well you'll have to tune in to find out.
 
We'll be posting the video for the live stream right here in this very post. So if you'd like to join us, stop back here later tonight, Sunday, July 15th, at 7:30 PST to watch the live event. Can't stay up that late? No problem, we've got you covered: The replay of the event will be watchable in here too, so you can check back later to catch the replay if you can't stay up that late.
 
If you'd like you can a watch live on my YouTube channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrhPvmALbHpBUqrbBOms5Vw
 
The event will also be live streaming on Facebook, as well as on the Atari I/O Instagram (@atarigames)
 
 
 
!!! WATCH NOW !!!
 

 
 

Well...looks like I'm first.
 

 
I have to admit that I prefer the 2600 version over the arcade. I never was fond of the trakball controls of the arcade. I liked it on Missile Command and Centipede/Millipede but not on Crystal Castles.
 
Played on real hardware of course.
 

My daughter got this for Christmas a couple years back. We've played it quite a bit and love it! The only thing I hate is it seems like every time we go to play, there is some huge update that has to download. Great game though, and a nice mix of previously released Lego games and Skylanders.

Episode 8 - Alien Crush is now available!   http://traffic.libsyn.com/turbotasticpodcast/Episode_8_-_Alien_Crush.mp3   Libsyn page: http://turbotasticpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-8-alien-crush   Link to Show Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gHRp9GGNGLYcxTrBXRBVZXphdfBkqi6imYBk0vRvF5w/edit?usp=sharing  

Thanks! I'll be sure to join your FB group as well!

Cool. FYI I shared it in my humble Facebook group. 
 

 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/maximumrdclassic/
 

 
 
 
 

Episode 5 - Victory Run is available!
 
http://traffic.libsyn.com/turbotasticpodcast/Episode_5_Victory_Run.mp3
 
I have also included more information in the show notes regarding the term TATE in reference to shoot em ups. Thanks again for Gary Harris (aka Mr Grissom) for the additional info regarding arcade mode!
 
Link to show notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DnJ_c9TkMo0UZQxWx_HRf3txe04f6iaaCP5rk56iu-0/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 6 - Fighting Street is now available!
  http://traffic.libsyn.com/turbotasticpodcast/Episode_6_Fighting_Street.mp3   Link to show page: http://turbotasticpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-6-fighting-street   Link to show notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X9bM3BQpJphxHqFWet5497iuta6lgQCT7LJxBuSmLJY/edit   Thanks for listening!