RickR Posted May 10, 2020 Report Share Posted May 10, 2020 Keep on trying @Gianna! Practice really helps on this game. When you lose a ball, take a moment to catch your breath. Breath in and out a few times before pushing that button. That's what I do. Gianna, greenween and Justin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted May 10, 2020 Report Share Posted May 10, 2020 4 hours ago, Gianna said: Here is my score so far. I played using paddle controllers. It seems like I go a while on the first ball, and then once I lose a ball I go through them really quickly! You guys have really good scores! 2 hours ago, RickR said: Keep on trying @Gianna! Practice really helps on this game. When you lose a ball, take a moment to catch your breath. Breath in and out a few times before pushing that button. That's what I do. Welcome to "The Squad" @Gianna 🙂 I generally hit the launch button right away out of frustration from losing a ball. I did have to leave the game once between balls and the screen went in color-shift mode but hitting the launch button picked the game up from where I left off. It's easy to burn through 5 balls in this game ... even though they are square. Justin, greenween and Gianna 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted May 11, 2020 Report Share Posted May 11, 2020 One thing I found that helps me is to not focus on the bricks, but to watch the bottom half of the screen. 🙂 Justin, RickR and Gianna 3 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted May 12, 2020 Report Share Posted May 12, 2020 4094 RickR, Justin and greenween 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadioPoultry Posted May 14, 2020 Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 Finally broke 2000: 2378 Something I hadn't noticed before before is how the change in direction of the ball works. I had always assumed when the ball moved faster horizontally, it was because I had hit it on the very edge of the paddle. Instead, it happens automatically after you hit the ball the first 8 times with a new paddle, and resumes normal movement after another 8 hits. The arcade game seems to work the same way. Kind of disappointing, honestly. The player really doesn't have that much control over the ball. Still, I remember playing a DOS clone of Breakout where you had no control of the ball's direction at all, so it's better than that, at least! Justin, greenween and RickR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 My New High Score: 2,504 greenween and RickR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianna Posted May 15, 2020 Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 High score: 2192 Justin, greenween and RickR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted May 15, 2020 Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 Amazing score Scott Stilphen!!! The scores got really impressive on this one. This is a tough one just to hit 1,000 on for me, but when you get in that zone you can kill it. Justin 1 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 15, 2020 Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 Today is the last day! I tried to play after work yesterday, but was too tired and couldn't make it past 1,700. I'll try again after work today. Good luck, all! Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 26 minutes ago, RickR said: Today is the last day! I tried to play after work yesterday, but was too tired and couldn't make it past 1,700. I'll try again after work today. Good luck, all! WOW I made a mistake! Squad Challenges usually end at 11:59 PM on the night of the 14th. Looks like I screwed this one up by a day! I came in here just now to tally up scores and get the new challenge posted. Looks like we get an extra day of Super Breakout! Good luck to everyone playing! Our next Squad Challenge will be posted either late tonight or sometime tomorrow. RickR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 On 5/8/2020 at 4:27 PM, kamakazi20012 said: V61 I think has replacement knobs. You might just replace them with new ones...especially if the paddles themselves are still working. Good suggestion! 🙌 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted May 15, 2020 Report Share Posted May 15, 2020 Last photo 4,227 Justin, chas10e and greenween 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 2,559 greenween and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 Today, I took the opportunity to try 5200 Super Breakout. It's a fun game, but I'm sorry to say, I found it really hard to play with the joystick controller. I feel like the rubber boot on the stick fought me the whole time, and it wasn't easy to be precise in movement. I tried and tried. The best I could do is 318! "Fair" is that the game told me. The fact that Atari made this the pack-in game is (again, I'm sorry) horrifying. What were they thinking? Colecovision came with Donkey Kong. I'm so glad they changed the 5200 pack-in to Pac Man later on. Much better choice. greenween and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 I'm with you Rick! I managed to get 382 and "fair". WTH were they thinking? I always defend the 5200 but this pack in was just idiotic. The 2600 version with the paddles is better in every way. Justin and RickR 2 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 11:53 PM, greenween said: One thing I found that helps me is to not focus on the bricks, but to watch the bottom half of the screen. 🙂 I completely agree! I found myself most often playing at night, on a 1990's Sony Trinitron that is great for playing these games on original hardware. There's something about the warm glow of the phosphorescence of the screen and the scan-lines, the ball leaves a trail behind it in the dark like a shooting star. It's most noticeable when playing in the dark. That trail really helps point the direction of the ball and where to catch it. Gianna, greenween, chas10e and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 Congratulations Scott Stilphen! Congratulations @Scott Stilphen! Your Super Breakout score took top placement in our Final Standings! In my opinion games like Super Breakout really shine on the 2600. It was designed to do Tank (Combat) and Pong, and everything else that came out for it was seeing what else the system could do. I thought Super Breakout played like a dream. I was fortunate to be playing with a fresh set of Paddles on original hardware, everything was smooth and I love that analog feel. Some of these early 2600 games are my favorite, they get down to the root of "easy to learn hard to master" games that made Atari so successful. I thought this Squad Challenge was particularly fun, and I was thrilled to see so many people participate. I made a mistake in setting the challenge to end at 11:59 PM PST on the 15th instead of the 14th, new Squad Challenges are always posted on the 1st and 15th of every month and it will continue that way. It should be noted that AtariLBC posted a nice starter score of 888 points, but poor guy, his brittle paddle knobs gave out as he was trying to improve his score. I’m sure we all would’ve loved to see how far Atari LBC could’ve gotten with a fresh set of paddles! Congratulations again to Scott who clenched the top spot at the very end with a 1st Place score of 4,227 points! @chas10e claims 2nd with 3,369 points, and @greenween takes 3rd with 3,041. @RickR, myself, @RadioPoultry and @Gianna all came in very close to each other, and @Kid A @kamakazi20012 @atarilbc @TrekMD and Ms. Greenween all joined in on this one with their best scores, hopefully having fun in the Squad Challenge too! Congratulations to Scott for an exciting run, and to everyone who joined in this Squad Challenge and shared a score! I'd like to encourage Scitt to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad Challenge will be an Atari 2600 challenge. Be there! RickR, greenween, Sabertooth and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 What a great turn out. If my thumb had not been banged up I would have joined in for sure. On to the next. Justin, greenween and Sabertooth 2 1 Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 12 minutes ago, Atari Creep said: What a great turn out. If my thumb had not been banged up I would have joined in for sure. On to the next. It's just great to have you hanging out with us here again! greenween 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 First Congrats to @Scott Stilphen I tried all the extended day & couldn't even reach my previous score & then he sand-bagged in one more to top his own .... nicly done :D @RickR - Jr posted a score as well putting squad players up to 13 for this challenge and was also good to have Ms. @greenween along as well 30 minutes ago, Atari Creep said: What a great turn out. If my thumb had not been banged up I would have joined in for sure. On to the next. Get well ... don't really wanna ask what happened -BUT- you always tell a great story 🙂 21 hours ago, RickR said: Today, I took the opportunity to try 5200 Super Breakout. It's a fun game, but I'm sorry to say, I found it really hard to play with the joystick controller. I feel like the rubber boot on the stick fought me the whole time, and it wasn't easy to be precise in movement. I tried and tried. The best I could do is 318! "Fair" is that the game told me. The fact that Atari made this the pack-in game is (again, I'm sorry) horrifying. What were they thinking? Colecovision came with Donkey Kong. I'm so glad they changed the 5200 pack-in to Pac Man later on. Much better choice. Try it with the trak-ball ... I haven't tried "the paddle" mod yet but prolly make SB5200 much more enjoyable Most importantly ..... what is that console is that real wood ? greenween 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 10 minutes ago, chas10e said: Get well ... don't really wanna ask what happened -BUT- you always tell a great story HAHA not this time. Stupidity this time. cracked the inner joint to my right thumb. chas10e 1 Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 That is a chopped up 5200 case with a piece of wood paneling on top. The empty back portion (controller storage) has been sawed off. I did not make it, but I did repair it. I think it's cool, and I can't believe Atari didn't make the 5200 this size. greenween 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 So, that's a 5200 Woody! I wanted to play more but was not able to. At least I got to participate. 🙂 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 Darn, sorry I missed this. I may give it a whirl just to see how poorly I would have fared. 🙂 Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 19, 2020 Report Share Posted May 19, 2020 Wow, great turnout. @RickR, I am getting replacement knob tops but I really appreciate the offer. I did try to get back in with a Hyperkin Ranger but the paddle was a bit sensitive for that game. Maybe I'll give it another go when I get the new knobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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