Justin Posted May 16, 2022 Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 Crystal CastlesMAMEController: TRAK-BALL / JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICEDifficulty: Default (Start at Level 1)Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST May 31st, 2022 Nominated by @Justin 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 May 15th and May 31st, 2022. 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 Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and 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 Crystal Castles on the Default settings, starting the game at Level 1. You may use settings for any controller setup of your choosing, including Trak-Ball, Joystick, Keyboard and others. You will begin the game with a total of 3 lives (with your two additional lives displayed on the bottom left corner of the screen as two bears). Any remaining dip switch settings will be set to the default settings. Rewinds and ROM hacks are not allowed, however you are free to use your own cunning skill to find warps and other tips and tricks to help you win at Crystal Castles. 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 124th Squad Challenge! For this challenge we're firing up MAME and jumping into one of my favorite Atari arcade games of all time, Crystal Castles! Crystal Castles was released in arcades by Atari in 1983 and was memorable for its use of the Trak-Ball for navigating Bentley Bear through a 3-Dimensional maze world collecting gems. As this is a MAME game, it will be up to you to source the ROM and if you run into trouble I'm sure the community can help you out. Instructions should be obvious, Crystal Castles is basically 3-D Pac-Man. This should be an awesome game, when you're doing Crystal it feels amazing and it's like there's nobody else alive but you. I hope you all have fun, and good luck to everybody playing! Gianna, Sabertooth, Dinobot711 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 Let's get the word out about this High Score Squad Challenge!The more people participating the more fun the challenge! Spread the word and invite friends to play! Sabertooth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 TNT Amusements has an enjoyable overview of Atari's Crystal Castles arcade machine. It's a great place to start if you haven't seen Crystal Castles in the arcade! Sabertooth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 And just for fun, @nosweargamer has an excellent overview of Crystal Castles on Atari 2600: Sabertooth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted May 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 The Level 3 Hidden Ramp Right at the start of the game on Level 1, run around the back of the "pyramid" structure to the very back / top of the playfield, and jump up. The game will award you 140,000 points and instantly warp you to the Hidden Ramp in Level 3! Sabertooth, RickR and E. King 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted May 16, 2022 Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 (edited) I'll miss this one as I haven't played MAME in years. (The sad irony is that I used to play MAME on my Mac, but I totally forgot how to boot it up LOL!) Anyway, good luck to everyone! Crystal Castles is a fun game with good replay value. Oh, and the video DOES contain the Level 5 warp! (It's around the 2:25 mark) Interesting that it was accomplished without the magic hat; I always thought it was required. Edited May 16, 2022 by Marco1019 I watched the YT clip & spotted the Lvl 5 warp Justin and Sabertooth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 16, 2022 Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 I'm going to try this on VCS Vault and the Evercade Atari Arcade 1 cart to see if there are noticeable differences. Wish I had a trackball for this one! E. King and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E. King Posted May 16, 2022 Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 I might give this a go if I get the time since I really like this game but I never was very good at it so I doubt I will get anywhere near that 540k. Justin, Sabertooth and greenween 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 I spent a bit of time on the 2600 version, not so much the Arcade version. I have it on PS2 Atari collection. Should be a fun one. 🙂 Justin and Sabertooth 2 "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 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 OK, I've got it working on both the VCS and MAME. I like the MAME version a little better because I can use a mouse, which is an "okay" substitute for the trackball. First score is 15,669 Justin and Sabertooth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 15 hours ago, RickR said: OK, I've got it working on both the VCS and MAME. I like the MAME version a little better because I can use a mouse, which is an "okay" substitute for the trackball. First score is 15,669 My question is: Are you running MAME on your VCS? 🙂 Justin and RickR 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 3 minutes ago, Sabertooth said: My question is: Are you running MAME on your VCS? 🙂 I assume you mean load Windows or Linux on the VCS? That is probably above my pay grade. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 12 minutes ago, RickR said: I assume you mean load Windows or Linux on the VCS? That is probably above my pay grade. Yes, that's what I've been using for emulation lately. If you have a fast USB thumbstick (3.1 min) with enough memory, it works great and is easy to get going. Between that, AtariOS and the various game streaming services, VCS is pretty flexible. Here's the link to creating a thumbstick. RickR and Justin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure I want a keyboard/mouse in my living room. Is there an alternative? Like a virtual keyboard or something? Sabertooth and Justin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 18, 2022 Report Share Posted May 18, 2022 3 hours ago, RickR said: I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure I want a keyboard/mouse in my living room. Is there an alternative? Like a virtual keyboard or something? When you're in AtariOS, you can use the Atari VCS Companion app to use Chrome, Google docs and launch various streaming apps. This is a virtual keyboard and mouse. In PC-Mode under Linux or Windows, you'd need a Bluetooth mini keyboard with touch pad. RickR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted May 19, 2022 Report Share Posted May 19, 2022 On 5/17/2022 at 4:38 PM, RickR said: OK, I've got it working on both the VCS and MAME. I like the MAME version a little better because I can use a mouse, which is an "okay" substitute for the trackball. First score is 15,669 I've used a Genesis d-pad when playing the C64 version. Perhaps there's a similar controller you can use? It's not a trackball, of course, but I found it to be a decent substitute. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 19, 2022 Report Share Posted May 19, 2022 4 hours ago, Marco1019 said: I've used a Genesis d-pad when playing the C64 version. Perhaps there's a similar controller you can use? It's not a trackball, of course, but I found it to be a decent substitute. You can map VCS Vault controls to either the analog thumbsticks or d-pad on the Modern Controller (or third party gamepad). Or use the joystick. Justin and Marco1019 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E. King Posted May 19, 2022 Report Share Posted May 19, 2022 Just realized this is a Mame challenge. I thought it was VCS so I won't be participating but it is a great game. Strange that I think only the 1st secret on the 1st level seems to work in the VCS Vault version. I can't get the 3rd level secret to work on VCS. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 20, 2022 Report Share Posted May 20, 2022 2 hours ago, E. King said: Just realized this is a Mame challenge. I thought it was VCS so I won't be participating but it is a great game. Strange that I think only the 1st secret on the 1st level seems to work in the VCS Vault version. I can't get the 3rd level secret to work on VCS. You can play Crystal Castles on the VCS as long as it's the arcade version with the default settings. I'll have to try the secrets. That is strange. E. King and Justin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E. King Posted May 20, 2022 Report Share Posted May 20, 2022 I could be doing it wrong, please do double check the 3rd level secret. Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosweargamer Posted May 22, 2022 Report Share Posted May 22, 2022 (edited) About to go live with my attempt. 61,823 Edited May 22, 2022 by nosweargamer Justin, Marco1019, RickR and 1 other 4 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted May 22, 2022 Report Share Posted May 22, 2022 This version is available on Antstream. Is that permitted for this Squad Challenge? Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted May 22, 2022 Report Share Posted May 22, 2022 12 hours ago, Marco1019 said: This version is available on Antstream. Is that permitted for this Squad Challenge? Check that: I was reminded as to why I stopped playing this game on Antstream: Bentley is rather pedestrian and I cannot get him to pick up the pace lol. Justin and Sabertooth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted May 22, 2022 Report Share Posted May 22, 2022 163,110 Via Atari VCS Vault Vol. 1 using the modern controller. Justin, RickR and Marco1019 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted May 24, 2022 Report Share Posted May 24, 2022 Tomorrow is my Friday and I have 3 days off! I'll be getting in on this for sure. Sabertooth, Justin and RickR 3 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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