AtariSphinx

75,900
 

37,800
 

65,650. 
New score from my lunchtime unwind Joust session. 

I am going to need a TON of practice here. LOL Playing in OpenEMU using a USB controller. Only, do not own this one.
12000
 

130,300

99,450
Tried out that Easter egg, interesting! 

36,300. 
Let's get this party started. 🎉
I love Joust but I'm not great at it either. Such a classic from Williams and a great GCC port on the 7800! 

Poor thumb!  So, you and I will be competing for lowest score?!  LOL

Joust
Atari 7800
Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔
Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST February 14, 2021
 
 
Objective
Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between February 1st through February 14th, 2021. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. 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, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed.
 
Difficulty Level
Intermediate. This is a standard point to begin the game. Players with normal experience can join in the Squad Challenge and expert gamers will quickly advance.
 
Fair Play
Your integrity is everything. 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 we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater.
 
More
To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: 
 
 
Message
Welcome to our 97th Squad Challenge! We've enjoyed such tremendous turnout in High Score Squad so far this year! Let's see if we can keep it up with another Atari classic! This time we're playing Joust on Atari 7800! This was an aboslute arcade smash hit that came home in style on the Atari 7800. One of the original 1984 launch titles for the system, Joust has become a must-have game for the 7800. It's games like Joust that make Atari 7800 "The Neo•Geo of 1984". ROM and Instructions are provided below. Good luck to everybody participating!
 
NOTE: We have a supreme lineup of games coming your way for High Score Squad in 2021! Expect a nice mix of classic Atari home console games in the rotation along with games from other classic systems! Here's a look at some upcoming events:
February: A Magnavox Odyssey ² game
March: A TurboGrafx-16 game, and a Golf game to celebrate The Masters coming up!
April: National Pac-Man Day!
June: 2021 Pole Position II Grand Prix, plus get ready for our Summer Pizza Party!
July: A Sega Master System game, HSW Day Ultimate Yars' Challenge, plus a game chosen by our Instagram followers!
September: An Atari Lynx game
November: A Sega Genesis game
December: 2021 F-ZERO Championship, plus a game for Atari Jaguar! 
Plus many more great games! (Schedule subject to change)
 
 

 
 
Joust.pdf Joust.a78

The Evercade is a new, cartridge-based retro gaming handheld from Blaze (UK). Apparently, the emulators are on the carts and not the machine itself. Each cart has from 2 to 20 games. The idea here is that the carts provide curated collections add an element of collectability to an emulation handheld. 
Personally, I'm somewhat interested. I like the look of it. Early reviews are generally positive and it has HDMI out. Also, I agree with the premise that it's easy for good games to get lost in a sea of rom files on sd cards and hard drives, so curated collections are welcome.  So far these collections are a bit underwhelming but two Lynx carts are planned, one of which includes a Songbird release. A few collections also contain modern homebrew for retro consoles. 
Prices range from $80 - $100 for the console. Carts are $20 each. The $100 bundle comes with 3 carts including collections from Atari, Data East and Interplay. That seems to be the best value. 
Is anyone here jumping in on the Evercade? Other thoughts? 

I've reviewed cartridge 01, Atari Collection 1, if anyone is interested. At the end of the video, I put short clips of all the games on the cart so you can see the emulation quality.
 

For me, while not a dedicated gaming console, it is the Atari 400/800 systems and their derivatives. 
I may be biased as that was my first gaming system and first computer.  I had the 1200XL version and was lucky that my close friend's dad worked at Atari.  I played nearly 100 or so games most of which were great and had the best graphics for Atari games.   Plus it was a computer so used word processing, paint programs, learned programming, and even arranged basic music.
Between the C64's cost, marketing, and mass adoption it lost the computer/computer gaming space and the NES/remaining dedicated Atari consoles dominated the plug and play gaming space, the Atari computer line really was a niche product.

For me, while not a dedicated gaming console, it is the Atari 400/800 systems and their derivatives. 
I may be biased as that was my first gaming system and first computer.  I had the 1200XL version and was lucky that my close friend's dad worked at Atari.  I played nearly 100 or so games most of which were great and had the best graphics for Atari games.   Plus it was a computer so used word processing, paint programs, learned programming, and even arranged basic music.
Between the C64's cost, marketing, and mass adoption it lost the computer/computer gaming space and the NES/remaining dedicated Atari consoles dominated the plug and play gaming space, the Atari computer line really was a niche product.

Eh, eh, eh.  Don't be praising them too soon.  Their dabbling in a CD accessory for the SNES resulted in Sony creating the PlayStation. 

But you're on point for sure.  Think of poor Sega trying to support Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, Game Gear, AND Saturn all at once. 

You bring up a great point. I'm sure a lot of companies were hampered by R & D into products that did not sell well or never came out.
Atari with the 5200 & Cosmos (Got sold shortly after) Mattel with the intellivision computer add-ons and to a degree, the Intellivoice (Stopped Intellivision during the crash) Sega with the 32X & Saturn (Stopped making systems after the Dreamcast) TG-16 with the early, expensive CD drive (Did not survive to the next generation in the US) 3DO with the M2  Sony with the Vita (which got them out of the portable game) Both Microsoft & Sony focused on their main console's and where ready to lose money on systems.
This is where you have to give Nintendo a hand. They made solid, profitable systems and were smart enough with their money that they could overcome stuff like the Virtual Boy and Wii-U.

My opinion:
That Atari 2600 is the greatest pre-crash system.  It sold the most consoles by far.  It broke so much ground.  It essentially defined an industry. The Colecovision gets my special attention for "Technically best" pre-crash system.  I believe the CV had the most potential to be the Atari killer.  That system was capable of so much, all of it unrealized due to the crash.  Heck, the NES architecture is essentially a souped-up CV.  It is my belief that the CV could do anything the NES could.  The greatest "what-if" of the pre-crash era is:  what if Coleco had never green-lighted the idea of the Adam computer?  All their resources were depleted by Adam.  Would they have survived the crash?  With a few killer games for CV, I think yes.   

@AtariSphinx got his package!
I plan to do another giveaway soon.
Stay tuned...

67,700. 
On a Gemini with a stock gray CX-40.
 

80,675. 
This is my last try. It gets really hairy on later levels. On the last one I wasn't even sure which color I was going for. 😂

Congratulations Sabertooth!
 
%!#$&! Congratulations to @Sabertooth on his next big win! Sabertooth takes the top spot in our Q*bert Final Standings with his score of 80,675! We've kicked off 2021 with a BANG in High Score Squad, we had our second high participation in a row for this challenge, and we continue to have new Members join the forums to participate! Let's all give a GIANT Atari I/O Welcome to our new friend @EEP! who joined us in High Score Squad this week, it's great to have you here!
Last Challenge's winner @ZilchSr held his place close to the top, posting a score of 69,450 to claim the 2nd Place on our Final Standings. Another new friend to the forums @AtariSphinx takes the 3rd spot on our board with a score of 66,000. "The Mayor" @greenween returns with a vengance and a score of 63,475 to take 4th Place. @TrekMD @nosweargamer @EEP! @Marco1019 @RadioPoultry @RickR @HDN @Dinobot711 @socrates63 @Papa Pete all joined us in this Squad Challenge and came through with stellar scores!
Congratulations once again to @Sabertooth for the win, and as always I'd like to encourage Sabertooth to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! And a big congratulations to our community for being such a great group, I hope everybody had fun with this classic Parker Brothers Atari 2600 game!
NOTE: Our next High Score Squad Challenge is Joust for Atari 7800! Be there!
 
 

 
 

 

Q*bert (A/A): 66,000
Probably my final effort.  Really great port of this game.  

Q*bert (A/A): 66,000
Probably my final effort.  Really great port of this game.  

Q*bert (A/A): 62,000
Got in a few more runs.

Q*bert (A/A): 66,000
Probably my final effort.  Really great port of this game.