dauber

The guy in this video -- Duc Dang -- is a friend of mine and he's been tutoring me on all things Centipede for the past couple of years.

Strategies he's shared with me that I use (including on the 7800):

- "Tunnel down the middle" -- that is, fire from the home position repeatedly so that when you hit the centipede, mushrooms form on either side, eventually building a tunnel that will guide the centipede straight down (useful mainly on levels when the centipede is fully or mostly intact), making it easy to blast the centipede away. Shoot away mushrooms that form in the middle. (On the arcade version, shoot toward the thousands digit of the high score; hundreds digit of the high score on the 7800 version.) It might help you to leave one piece of the centipede alone while you clear away some mushrooms on the bottom of the screen, then clear away the final piece of centipede.

- Focus on the bottom third of the screen. (Easier said than done.   )
 
- Be careful with mushrooms on the sides on the lower portion, especially if there's a single-space gap between a mushroom and the left or right border. Blast away those stray mushrooms.
 
- Use mushrooms as aiming devices, especially ones that are only a small handful of rows above you. When a centipede piece passes under the mushroom, shoot that piece of centipede.
 
- Break the habit of constantly holding down the fire button, as you can have only one arrow (remember, your player is an elf shooting arrows   ) on the screen at a time. If you're constantly holding down the fire button and suddenly a spider comes straight for you, it's impossible to shoot most of the time because there's already an arrow on the screen.

 
(BTW, the video is out of date; Duc recently broke 800k. Heh...he doesn't consider it a good game unless he gets at least 500k!)

54376
 
I've been trying Dauber's tips, and look, I improved a little.  Thanks Dauber!
 
 

Heh...13k BETTER than the "Standard" score I accidentally posted.
107,167
 

The guy in this video -- Duc Dang -- is a friend of mine and he's been tutoring me on all things Centipede for the past couple of years.

Strategies he's shared with me that I use (including on the 7800):

- "Tunnel down the middle" -- that is, fire from the home position repeatedly so that when you hit the centipede, mushrooms form on either side, eventually building a tunnel that will guide the centipede straight down (useful mainly on levels when the centipede is fully or mostly intact), making it easy to blast the centipede away. Shoot away mushrooms that form in the middle. (On the arcade version, shoot toward the thousands digit of the high score; hundreds digit of the high score on the 7800 version.) It might help you to leave one piece of the centipede alone while you clear away some mushrooms on the bottom of the screen, then clear away the final piece of centipede.

- Focus on the bottom third of the screen. (Easier said than done.   )
 
- Be careful with mushrooms on the sides on the lower portion, especially if there's a single-space gap between a mushroom and the left or right border. Blast away those stray mushrooms.
 
- Use mushrooms as aiming devices, especially ones that are only a small handful of rows above you. When a centipede piece passes under the mushroom, shoot that piece of centipede.
 
- Break the habit of constantly holding down the fire button, as you can have only one arrow (remember, your player is an elf shooting arrows   ) on the screen at a time. If you're constantly holding down the fire button and suddenly a spider comes straight for you, it's impossible to shoot most of the time because there's already an arrow on the screen.

 
(BTW, the video is out of date; Duc recently broke 800k. Heh...he doesn't consider it a good game unless he gets at least 500k!)

The guy in this video -- Duc Dang -- is a friend of mine and he's been tutoring me on all things Centipede for the past couple of years.

Strategies he's shared with me that I use (including on the 7800):

- "Tunnel down the middle" -- that is, fire from the home position repeatedly so that when you hit the centipede, mushrooms form on either side, eventually building a tunnel that will guide the centipede straight down (useful mainly on levels when the centipede is fully or mostly intact), making it easy to blast the centipede away. Shoot away mushrooms that form in the middle. (On the arcade version, shoot toward the thousands digit of the high score; hundreds digit of the high score on the 7800 version.) It might help you to leave one piece of the centipede alone while you clear away some mushrooms on the bottom of the screen, then clear away the final piece of centipede.

- Focus on the bottom third of the screen. (Easier said than done.   )
 
- Be careful with mushrooms on the sides on the lower portion, especially if there's a single-space gap between a mushroom and the left or right border. Blast away those stray mushrooms.
 
- Use mushrooms as aiming devices, especially ones that are only a small handful of rows above you. When a centipede piece passes under the mushroom, shoot that piece of centipede.
 
- Break the habit of constantly holding down the fire button, as you can have only one arrow (remember, your player is an elf shooting arrows   ) on the screen at a time. If you're constantly holding down the fire button and suddenly a spider comes straight for you, it's impossible to shoot most of the time because there's already an arrow on the screen.

 
(BTW, the video is out of date; Duc recently broke 800k. Heh...he doesn't consider it a good game unless he gets at least 500k!)

Heh...13k BETTER than the "Standard" score I accidentally posted.
107,167
 

Here's my first car...1992 Chevy Corsica LT. No-frills car, just pretty basic...although I did upgrade the AM/FM radio to AM/FM/cassette, like, the day after I got it in 1997.
 
Picture must have been taken in 1998. I had just bought a Kodak DC-25, featuring a high resolution of...640 x 480. I got that camera because it was Amiga-compatible. I carried that camera everywhere. This picture was taken in the parking lot of Sharp Electronics in Romeoville, Illinois, where I worked at the time. I took a picture because in that huge parking lot, it was a rare day you'd get a parking space so close to the entrance; I needed to capture the moment for posterity! The bumper stickers are from The Kat 105.5, the radio station where I was a weekend disc jockey.
 
Had the car until I traded it in for a brand new 2002 Saturn SL2.
 

WELCOME DAUBER!!    You're amongst friends here, really glad you're active in the forums!

Dude.....Louisiana...man, all I can say is New Orleans is the most dangerous place to visit if you're trying to watch your weight; oh, man, the po' boys...and the gumbo....
 
Heh...I loved Food Fight before I ever even played it. September 1983 article in JoyStik got me into it. Never played it until the '90s on Jimmy G's/Inky's Atari 7800...

Wow, I realized that I've been a member for a few months now (but not very active) but haven't formally introduced myself.

You might recognize my handle from AtariAge. I looooooooooove my 7800 (I'm lucky enough to have one that plays *everything* that it theoretically should, including all the Activision carts and even the Supercharger) and in fact will soon be sharing something that hopefully you 7800 fans will enjoy. Started out with an Atari 2600 4-switcher on Christmas 1982 and have never given it up. I'm not into modern games; they bore me.

I'm a music guy. Amateur musician (guitar, bass, harmonica, bit of piano) and obsessed with the music of The Beatles and Brian Wilson.

Other stuff about me?? Uhh....

Age: 42
Locale: Chicago (and I mean *Chicago*, not a suburb!)
Occupation: web site developer (in fact, if you live in the US, there's a good chance you've actually run some of my code!)
Pets: a beagle
Marital status: very happily married for 17 years
Children: No, thank you.
Religion: Christian but I don't go to church as often as I "should" and I generally keep my religion to myself and don't get preachy -- what works for me works for me, what works for you works for you;
Politics: liberal but I don't associate with any political parties as I feel they're all equally crooked, just in different ways (I always do vote though)
Favorite Atari 2600 game (offically sanctioned): wow, too hard to choose...Jr. Pac-Man is up there (I've been a major Pac-Man fan since 1981), and I've been getting into Megamania and Communist Mutants From Space! lately...
Favorite Atari 2600 homebrew: tie between Ladybug and lately have been getting into Space Rocks
Favorite Atari 7800 game (officially sanctioned): Food Fight by a landslide!
Favorite Atari 7800 homebrew: wow...too hard to pick just one...I love Bob DeCrescenzo's Frenzy/Berzerk twofer and have kinda been getting hooked on K.C. Munchkin! lately
Atari 2600 Coleco conspiracy beliefs: shut up, there's no conspiracy there!
Favorite arcade game: again, too much to name, but I've really been getting into Pigskin lately (and have a TG world record on the "turbo" version of Jr. Pac-Man!)

Oh, and to answer the question that will probably be asked of everybody:

- My handle comes from the character played by Bill Faggerbakke on the TV show Coach, because when I was in college, people told me I looked just like "that guy from Coach" -- and I worked for the college's football team, which just further encouraged the association.   And I use Charley Chuck as my avatar because I kinda look like an obese version of him.
I...think that's about it for now...anyway, I've gotten some really great welcomes already, so thanks, everybody!

I was doing some research for an upcoming...well, project...(more info soon!)...and I found out about this store called Minnesota Fats and an ad it ran in the Chicago Tribune that, long story short, helped Atari's lawyers out immensely. Found out that as a Trib subscriber I actually have access to digitized versions of back issues (for now)!
 
I though this was a cool find. This isn't the ad I was talking about (I did find that, too, btw), but it's still cool to see...and apparently one of their locations was not too far from where I live now! The ad I was looking for was for exactly one year later, and this same picture appeared, and the price was exactly the same too.
 

Get thyself to the AtariAge store post-haste and get that Atari 7800 homebrew called Pac-Man Collection!, which contains the Pac-Man Plus you're looking for. Plus, it's an awesome cart all around. Has an improved version of Ms. Pac-Man as well as Pac-Man, Hangly Man (an old bootleg), Ms. Pac-Attack, and one or two others, and a "Plus" variation of every game. (meaning you can play "Hangly Man Plus," which never actually existed before!)

Dude.....Louisiana...man, all I can say is New Orleans is the most dangerous place to visit if you're trying to watch your weight; oh, man, the po' boys...and the gumbo....
 
Heh...I loved Food Fight before I ever even played it. September 1983 article in JoyStik got me into it. Never played it until the '90s on Jimmy G's/Inky's Atari 7800...

So a new episode is out, effective, oh...ten minutes ago.
 
http://fab4it.com/piefactory/audio/PFP_Episode044.mp3

It's an Activision prototype. I think it was supposed to just be a demo of some kind of graphical feature. More info:
 
http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2701

ATARI 2600:
Basic Math (gatefold box version)
Demon Attack (CIB, or just the box)
Thunderground (CIB, or just the box and manual)
 
ATARI 7800:
Dark Chambers (CIB or just the box and manual)
Motor Psycho (just cart, NTSC)
 
OTHER STUFF:
Atari CX-22 trackball -- the one with the NOT-black bottom!
Working Commodore 64 or 128 with power supply...64C preferred but will take what I can get!
Vectrex overlays (except Star Trek)

Get thyself to the AtariAge store post-haste and get that Atari 7800 homebrew called Pac-Man Collection!, which contains the Pac-Man Plus you're looking for. Plus, it's an awesome cart all around. Has an improved version of Ms. Pac-Man as well as Pac-Man, Hangly Man (an old bootleg), Ms. Pac-Attack, and one or two others, and a "Plus" variation of every game. (meaning you can play "Hangly Man Plus," which never actually existed before!)

It's an Activision prototype. I think it was supposed to just be a demo of some kind of graphical feature. More info:
 
http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2701

ATARI 2600:
Basic Math (gatefold box version)
Demon Attack (CIB, or just the box)
Thunderground (CIB, or just the box and manual)
 
ATARI 7800:
Dark Chambers (CIB or just the box and manual)
Motor Psycho (just cart, NTSC)
 
OTHER STUFF:
Atari CX-22 trackball -- the one with the NOT-black bottom!
Working Commodore 64 or 128 with power supply...64C preferred but will take what I can get!
Vectrex overlays (except Star Trek)

It's an Activision prototype. I think it was supposed to just be a demo of some kind of graphical feature. More info:
 
http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2701

I was doing some research for an upcoming...well, project...(more info soon!)...and I found out about this store called Minnesota Fats and an ad it ran in the Chicago Tribune that, long story short, helped Atari's lawyers out immensely. Found out that as a Trib subscriber I actually have access to digitized versions of back issues (for now)!
 
I though this was a cool find. This isn't the ad I was talking about (I did find that, too, btw), but it's still cool to see...and apparently one of their locations was not too far from where I live now! The ad I was looking for was for exactly one year later, and this same picture appeared, and the price was exactly the same too.
 

I was doing some research for an upcoming...well, project...(more info soon!)...and I found out about this store called Minnesota Fats and an ad it ran in the Chicago Tribune that, long story short, helped Atari's lawyers out immensely. Found out that as a Trib subscriber I actually have access to digitized versions of back issues (for now)!
 
I though this was a cool find. This isn't the ad I was talking about (I did find that, too, btw), but it's still cool to see...and apparently one of their locations was not too far from where I live now! The ad I was looking for was for exactly one year later, and this same picture appeared, and the price was exactly the same too.
 

I was doing some research for an upcoming...well, project...(more info soon!)...and I found out about this store called Minnesota Fats and an ad it ran in the Chicago Tribune that, long story short, helped Atari's lawyers out immensely. Found out that as a Trib subscriber I actually have access to digitized versions of back issues (for now)!
 
I though this was a cool find. This isn't the ad I was talking about (I did find that, too, btw), but it's still cool to see...and apparently one of their locations was not too far from where I live now! The ad I was looking for was for exactly one year later, and this same picture appeared, and the price was exactly the same too.
 

I was doing some research for an upcoming...well, project...(more info soon!)...and I found out about this store called Minnesota Fats and an ad it ran in the Chicago Tribune that, long story short, helped Atari's lawyers out immensely. Found out that as a Trib subscriber I actually have access to digitized versions of back issues (for now)!
 
I though this was a cool find. This isn't the ad I was talking about (I did find that, too, btw), but it's still cool to see...and apparently one of their locations was not too far from where I live now! The ad I was looking for was for exactly one year later, and this same picture appeared, and the price was exactly the same too.