Sabertooth

Very cool Sinistar tribute!

Phear finally hits the Jag! Cool! 😎

You're welcome @Dinobot711! It's good to see you on the board! Solid score! 🤘🔥

They have been on an acquisition tear: Sterns arcade IP, Accolade & Ocean, M-Network, and Night Dive Studios, which gives them an internal dev studio. While I would love to see them purchase Atari Games IP and Williams/Midway IP from Warner, investment in these brands and franchises is a positive. I already sense a Berzerk title in the works based on comments Wade Rosen made in a recent interview.

Wow @socrates63! Amazing score! I think we can allow the 2600 version with an asterisk since the ROMs are slightly different.;) And I hope you enjoy your VCS. Some new users encounter difficulties with the updates, as there have been so many since launch. If you do, be sure to reach out here or on the AtariVCS Discord. It's an easy fix.

Dang @D.joe!!! No way I'm posting my score yet. LOL.

It is a very fun and immediate game. Just what you want in a 2600 game! Apparently, there are slight enhancements in the VCS version of this and Towers of Rubble. Here's what Dionoid said on the VCS Discord server: Hi, I hope you like playing Amoeba Jump and Tower of Rubble on the VCS! Both games are VCS-specific special editions, with small enhancements. Note that highscore will be saved on exiting the game, but *only* when you exit the game by pressing the Esc key on a plugged-in keyboard. Amoeba Jump got an additional animation when the amoeba misses the lowest platform and falls down, and Tower of Rubble has a different color theme. And both games can keep your highscore across sessions.

Thanks @Justin! But what, no bold!? 😉

I'd add that if you're viewing the site on mobile - which is how I generally look at it - the Clubs section is WAY down there.

I think the issue is that the Atari VCS is not included/listed with the classic Atari consoles. This not only makes VCS content harder to find, but it can give VCS users the impression that the main forum isn't welcoming to them. Even AA - full of VCS critics - now lists it along with the classic consoles. Listing the Atari VCS under the Atari Video Games (Systems) section with a redirect to ClubVCS, would remedy that perception and make our VCS content more accessible.

@Mockduck , as a fellow VCS super fan, I hear you and can appreciate where the sentiment comes from. I also want to be clear that the rest of the forums are available to anyone to access and use. Likewise, ClubVCS is available to any forum member to join. As Rick said, ClubVCS is a dedicated subforum, and intended to have an exclusive vibe/feel. Over the past 16 months or so, we've been able to build out something (hopefully) cool and curated for VCS owners and VCS-curious folks to participate in. We've given away two controllers, made buttons, hosted exclusive challenges, etc. and there is more in the works - including a digital fanzine. While I don't want to speak for @Justin , here's my take on having a separate section for the VCS: ClubVCS presented an opportunity to test out the Club module for the forums; which was new at the time. Using the club module has a number of benefits, including the ability to have its own navigable subsections like the Recharged Squad Challenge. We can curate it in a "club" in a way that we can't in the main forum. We can also assign specific mods to a "club." In many ways, its better than any of the main forum topics in terms of what we can do with it. Additionally, ClubVCS provided an opportunity to gauge interest in the VCS among forums members. The "opt-in" nature of the Club means that forum members who aren't interested in the platform don't see VCS content in their feeds. Lastly, and to be frank, the VCS and other initiatives from modern day Atari have been divisive among longtime Atari fans. Having the VCS content in the Club section helped to curb some of the negativity/trolling that we've seen on other sites. Should the VCS have its own section? From my perspective, that would take away from what we're building with ClubVCS and eliminate the additional functionality we get by hosting VCS content in "Clubs." However, I do think ClubVCS should be easier to find on the forum. Unless you know where to look, you're not going to see it. My recommendation would be to list the Atari VCS under the Atari Video Games (Systems) section with a redirect to ClubVCS for viewing/posting VCS content. I'm not sure if that's something that's possible. Maybe @Justin can chime in with his thoughts? Anyway, thanks for the discussion and for being an active and supportive participant of the Club.

Want to learn more about AMOEBA JUMP? Check out this great video from @LinkYoungPS!

Let's get the word out about this Recharged Squad Challenge! The more people participating the more fun the challenge! Spread the word and invite friends to play!

AMOEBA JUMP (2023) Atari VCS Controller: MODERN CONTROLLER / CLASSIC CONTROLLER / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: BLUE AMOEBA (HARD) Play on: Real Hardware ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST June 30, 2023 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 June 2nd through June 30, 2023. 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 This is a Club VCS Exclusive Challenge. All Club VCS players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real Atari VCS hardware. 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 We are playing AMOEBA JUMP! on "hard" difficulty. Jump your way to the top of the leaderboard with the highest possible score! 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 16th Club VCS Recharged Squad Challenge!!! For this challenge, we're taking on AMOEBA JUMP, the 2600 homebrew from developer Dionoid! The release of 2600 homebrew titles on the modern VCS is something worth celebrating! We're celebrating the release of Amoeba Jump & Tower of Rubble with this special squad challenge! Amoeba Jump is a vertical jumping game where your objective is to guide the amoeba up a never-ending series of platforms without falling. The higher you get, the higher your score will be. There are three different platform types: Yellow - these are the basic, stable platforms White - these are unstable platforms that disappear after you bounce off them once Blue - these platforms are harder to hit because they move back and forth Jumping on red or green mushroom push-buttons will give you a short boost and some bonus points, but best of all: it makes the little amoeba rejoice! When your score gets beyond 1,000 points, little white oval-shaped bacteria start appearing on the platforms, which can be eaten by the amoeba. Each bacteria holds one of the six letters of the word A-M-O-E-B-A. Collect all six and the single next time you jump on a spring, you will get a super boost. The screen wraps around, which means that the amoeba can leave one side of the screen and immediately reappear on the opposite side. Jump your way to the highest score possible! Club VCS Recharged Squad Contest This game is the sixth title in our third Club VCS contest giveaway! Prize details will be announced shortly. 1) All challenge participants will receive one (1) entry for each challenge in which they submit a valid score! 2) The top scorer of each challenge will receive two (2) additional entries - for a total of three (3) entries in a single challenge! 3) On Twitch or Youtube? Stream or record and post your ClubVCS high score attempt for one (1) additional entry in each round. You must post a public link to the video in the Challenge. BUT ARE THERE BUTTONS? Yes! We've made another set of ClubVCS buttons to celebrate the games in this series. There will be two ways to get a button set. 1) Win a challenge. 2) Post a valid score to all challenges in the 6 game series. Only one button set will be mailed per member during the series. This contest is open to everybody, including Atari I/O Moderators, with a U.S. or Canada mailing address. It's really easy, all you have to do is participate be a Club VCS member and participate in our Recharged Squad Challenges.

From Dionoid via VCS Discord: Hi, I hope you like playing Amoeba Jump and Tower of Rubble on the VCS! Both games are VCS-specific special editions, with small enhancements. Note that highscore will be saved on exiting the game, but *only* when you exit the game by pressing the Esc key on a plugged-in keyboard.

From Dionoid via Discord: Hi, I hope you like playing Amoeba Jump and Tower of Rubble on the VCS! Both games are VCS-specific special editions, with small enhancements. Note that highscore will be saved on exiting the game, but *only* when you exit the game by pressing the Esc key on a plugged-in keyboard.

Out now for just $3.99.

Out now for just $3.99!

Congratulations @D.joe, the winner of our Caverns of Mars: Recharged Squad Challenge! Joe plundered the martian cities with devastating efficiency to achieve a first place score of 239,935! @Mockduck delved deep into the red planet to turn up a solid second place finish of 211,580. I came in third with a score of 208,385. As the winner of this round @D.joe will receive 3 entries in the upcoming giveaway (prize TBA)! @Mockduck and I will each receive 2 entries for posting our attempts on YouTube. I'd like to encourage @D.joe to post this high score on the Scoreboard so we can make sure this Challenge continues on! Congratulations to D.Joe on a fantastic score. Also, a big thank you to @Marco1019 for helping to get the word out on this Double Feature challenge! NOTE: Our next Recharged Squad Challenge will be announced on June 3 due to work-related issues. Apologies for the delay!

We were at a specialty liquor store that - oddly - also sells breakfast burritos when I saw three gaming themed sour ales by 450 North Brewing Co. out of Columbus, IN. The first I'm trying is Starship Shooters, a low ABV slushie inspired sour ale with a Galaga theme. It's got peach, passionfruit and dragon fruit flavors. The label says to drink fresh "due to the large amount of fruit in this beer" and I believe it. It's incredibly fruity. Anyway, a good way for a retro gamer to kick off summer.

Here's a "First Look" gameplay only video of Doodle Taxi. It's a bit of a strange concept. You are a taxi driver in a story book world. A witch curses you and takes the color out of the world. To restore color, you have to pick up fares and earn money. As you progress, color is slowly added back to the world. You can also use your cash to unlock cars. There are leaderboards for the game.

Out now for $7.99 in the VCS store!