HDN 2,008 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 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! Rocker67 and nosweargamer 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 I fully expect someone to show up with a rolled score and make mine look pretty low. But thank you. I played this a lot as a kid, and it's funny how it all comes back to me so quickly. Justin, Gianna, nosweargamer and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 (edited) 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. Edited January 4 by RickR Rocker67, nosweargamer, HDN and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LinkYoungPS 44 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 Happy New Year all! As I crawl my way back into the content creating/game playing scene, what a HSS challenge to come back to! YES!!!! I'll be trying to get my scores in soon! I'm pumped! Rocker67, HDN, Gianna and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chas10e 1,101 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 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. nosweargamer, RickR, socrates63 and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chas10e 1,101 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 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 nosweargamer, Dinobot711, socrates63 and 3 others 4 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nosweargamer 8,134 Posted January 4 Report Share Posted January 4 432,852 Had a great first ball. Rest of them, not so much. RickR, socrates63, Justin and 1 other 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nosweargamer 8,134 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 917,139 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! Justin, Dinobot711, RickR and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 361,363. I can do better, but I just can't focus tonight. Rocker67, Justin, nosweargamer and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marco1019 261 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 (edited) 41,831 I am thrilled with this score and I will not come CLOSE to the scores I see in this thread LOL Edited January 5 by Marco1019 Uploaded wrong screenshot HDN, Rocker67, Justin and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin 8,182 Posted January 5 Author Report Share Posted January 5 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 RickR, HDN, Rocker67 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin 8,182 Posted January 5 Author Report Share Posted January 5 12 hours ago, Marco1019 said: 41,831 I am thrilled with this score and I will not come CLOSE to the scores I see in this thread LOL Great score @Marco1019! In the future you'll want to make sure you're uploading actual photos of your score instead of screenshots 😉 HDN and Rocker67 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 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. Justin 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin 8,182 Posted January 5 Author Report Share Posted January 5 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! Rocker67 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 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. Rocker67 and Justin 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marco1019 261 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 @Justin No problem, as HighScore asks for the same. Justin 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RadioPoultry 778 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 (edited) 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. Edited January 5 by RadioPoultry Rocker67, Justin, nosweargamer and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chas10e 1,101 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 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. socrates63 and RickR 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Papa Pete 25 Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 (edited) 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 Edited January 5 by Papa Pete Added Info AtariSphinx, Marco1019, nosweargamer and 7 others 9 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 14,889 Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 (edited) 620,369 I made a video, but the resolution is way too low. Furthermore, @Papa Pete's video above shows you all you need to know. Edited January 6 by RickR Justin, Rocker67, nosweargamer and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RadioPoultry 778 Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 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! Justin, RickR, HDN and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HDN 2,008 Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 83,948 points. I am starting to get the hang of this one. I should play on real hardware. I always seem to do better with it, no matter what the game. nosweargamer, Justin, Dinobot711 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dinobot711 111 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 77,744 My best so far. Liking the challenge this difficulty setting adds with those extra holes nosweargamer, HDN, RickR and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
socrates63 1,346 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 @Dinobot711 I love the composition of the photo -- the TV, consoles, shelves, controller, games, and the beverage. It's just a very comforting shot. Justin, Rocker67 and Dinobot711 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ZilchSr 28 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Video Pinball 3A - 10,111,115 The first objective should always be to get the extra ball. Second, clear the diamonds to boost the bumper values to 900. Third, spam the bonus lane. Pardon the cat. Marco1019, HDN, socrates63 and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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