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Squad Challenge - Video Pinball (Atari 2600)


Justin

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1 minute ago, RickR said:

Video Pinball was available in 1980.  It's one of the first games my family purchased. 

Really? I thought it was 1981. Wasn't that when the picture labels were introduced?

If we're going by the timeline laid out by Kevin Bunch of Atari Archive, who has already finished his chronology of the Atari-published VCS games of 1980, than it must have come out later. According to the copyright date on the cartridge itself, it also says 1981.

I do know that this was one of the earlier picture label games, though. It's got the lowercase letters.

I'm fairly certain that this was 1981. I'll do a little digging in some old 1980 catalogs and see which one of us is right. You've brought up an interesting topic, @RickR

And by the way, dude-- you're really good at this! @chas10e as well, but he's a pinball wizard so that's kind of expected! This is one of your games for sure. According to "legend", my dad and his cousin were quite good at this game as well, though nowadays he kind of sucks. That may be chalked up to damn near forty years of rust, but he may just be stretching the truth.

I personally won't have to worry about rolling over the score; I suck!

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My personal experience:  my family got the Atari VCS (and Space Invaders) Christmas 1980.  So everything available then is "early" to me.  It was Space Invaders that made me beg for the Atari.  The first games that we purchased in 81 were Adventure, Pinball, Circus Atari, Indy 500, and Basketball. 

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15 hours ago, Justin said:

@RickR @chas10e Do you guys have tips on how to get such high scores?

Along with nudging skills , there are also plunging skills, took a tip from @nosweargamer actually & go for the extra ball right away just a little more than a half -plunge will get it in the fuji-lane

After getting the extra ball, if you can get it back in the shooter-lane a full plunge will get mebbe a couple of the 3 top roll-overs to increase the pops. with an extra ball the value is held 😉

Then constant nudging throughout the game trying to work the bonus-lane and keep it from draining

I'm usually just "ape-flipping", can't really do a "slap-save" but I suppose it's possible.

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4 hours ago, HDN said:

Really? I thought it was 1981. Wasn't that when the picture labels were introduced?

If we're going by the timeline laid out by Kevin Bunch of Atari Archive, who has already finished his chronology of the Atari-published VCS games of 1980, than it must have come out later. According to the copyright date on the cartridge itself, it also says 1981.

I do know that this was one of the earlier picture label games, though. It's got the lowercase letters.

I'm fairly certain that this was 1981. I'll do a little digging in some old 1980 catalogs and see which one of us is right. You've brought up an interesting topic, @RickR

And by the way, dude-- you're really good at this! @chas10e as well, but he's a pinball wizard so that's kind of expected! This is one of your games for sure. According to "legend", my dad and his cousin were quite good at this game as well, though nowadays he kind of sucks. That may be chalked up to damn near forty years of rust, but he may just be stretching the truth.

I personally won't have to worry about rolling over the score; I suck!

I got both lower case & upper case , think I was playing the lower case , I imagine the tilt is a little looser :P

 

IMG_2173.JPG.8baa307e111077bc8b7eac82681d9721.JPG

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917,139

Almost rolled the score! 

Actually I'm kind of happy I didn't. I'm playing on my 3DS and I wasn't looking forward to having to play through viewfinder 😆

About half of my score came from a single ball where I rolled through the bonus lane a ton. Gotta love that nudge!

20210104_190253.jpg.8e7925ff0dee8e174b0ddabc147e1ad6.jpg

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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You guys are posting scores that are out of this world! 🚀 I'm trying to up my game and have been reading through all your pro-tips, and gave No Swear Gamer's review another watch to pick up some of his strategy. I'm practicing and putting these tips to good use, but I've only been able to increase my score by a few thousand points. I have a feeling this super basic Atari VCS game could end up giving us our widest spread of high scores at the end of this challenge. I can barely break 25,000 on an average game, some of you are rolling past one million points! What a rush.

My High Score: 53,147

2021-01-05 12:31:03.376.JPG

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2 minutes ago, RickR said:

I will make it a point to post a video and use a clicky joystick so you can hear the nudging.  We shall lift you up, my brother. 

The points come when you get the ball bouncing up and down through that left/top channel over and over. 

 

Thanks @RickR!! I think I understand the strategy, but it's tricky to implement! 

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2 minutes ago, Justin said:

Thanks @RickR!! I think I understand the strategy, but it's tricky to implement! 

It is very tricky!  Be patient, though.  You have to nudge it into existence.  When you get the ball bouncing straight up and down on the stairs lower left, that's the time to strike.  Wait for a nice high bounce, then push it over!  Nudge it away from the spinner on the way up. 

 

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119,551

After some effort, I managed to break into 6 digits! It's probably been at least 15 years since I used this cartridge. I wasn't the biggest fan, but it's grown on me a little, now. I like how nudging works, and the physics on the flippers isn't bad. The spinners still really annoy me, though. 

20210105_124217.jpg.3dfd7a58fd86349de563989c2beee587.jpg

Edited by RadioPoultry
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3 hours ago, RickR said:

It is very tricky!  Be patient, though.  You have to nudge it into existence.  When you get the ball bouncing straight up and down on the stairs lower left, that's the time to strike.  Wait for a nice high bounce, then push it over!  Nudge it away from the spinner on the way up. 

 

THOSE AREN'T STAIRS !!!! their "slingshots" https://www.ipdb.org/glossary.php#S And don't tell me the ball is square either 'cause balls ain't square.

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1 hour ago, Papa Pete said:

I made my Demon Attack video a little late for the contest, so I didn't post it here, but I've compared emulation to OG Hardware again for this Video Pinball challenge.....and let's just say, there is NO comparison between the two...

1,413,706

 

Mamma mia, @Papa Pete!

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