Recharged Squad Challenge 015 - Caverns of Mars: Recharged

[Sabertooth]

 

 

 

 

Caverns of Mars: Recharged (2023)
Atari VCS
Controller: MODERN CONTROLLER / CLASSIC CONTROLLER / PLAYER'S CHOICE
Difficulty Level: Normal Game
Play on: Real Hardware ✔
Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST May 31, 2023

 

 

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 1st through May 31, 2023. 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

This is a Club VCS Exclusive Challenge. All Club VCS players are welcome!

 

Play Rules

Games may be played on real Atari VCS hardware. 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 Caverns of Mars: Recharged in ARCADE MODE! Select your score modifiers of choice and play to achieve the highest possible score!

 

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 15th Club VCS Recharged Squad Challenge!!! For this challenge, we're taking on SqueakyBox and Atari's brand new take on the APX cult hit Caverns of Mars in a special DOUBLE FEATURE SQUAD CHALLENGE!

The original Caverns of Mars was was famously programmed a teenage Greg Christensen for the Atari Program Exchange (APX) in 1981 for the Atari 8-Bit. It went on to become the best selling APX game program ever.  Atari included the game in the Atari50 collection.

More than 40 years later, Atari returns to the red planet with Caverns of Mars: Recharged! Progress through 30 unique missions set within three primary “depths” of Mars, descending deeper and deeper into enemy territory. Blast through oncoming hostile fire, bull through debris and obstructions, and dodge other obstacles all while keeping a close eye on fuel and ammo reserves!

Play in ARCADE mode from level one and take the game as far as you can for the high score!

 

Club VCS Recharged Squad Contest

This game is the fifth title in our third Club VCS contest giveaway! Prize details will be announced shortly. 

1)  All challenge participants will receive one (1) entry for each challenge in which they submit a valid score!

2) The top scorer of each challenge will receive two (2) additional entries - for a total of three (3) entries in a single challenge!

3) On Twitch or Youtube?  Stream or record and post your ClubVCS high score attempt for one (1) additional entry in each round.  You must post a public link to the video in the Challenge.

BUT ARE THERE BUTTONS? 

Yes! We've made another set of ClubVCS buttons to celebrate the games in this series. There will be two ways to get a button set.

1) Win a challenge.

2) Post a valid score to all challenges in the 6 game series.

Only one button set will be mailed per member during the series.

This contest is open to everybody, including Atari I/O Moderators, with a U.S. or Canada  mailing address. It's really easy, all you have to do is participate be a Club VCS member and participate in our Recharged Squad Challenges.

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sabertooth

[Sabertooth]

Let's get the word out about this Recharged Squad Challenge!
The more people participating the more fun the challenge!
Spread the word and invite friends to play!

 

[Sabertooth]

This is a special DOUBLE FEATURE CHALLENGE!  Join us in the main forums to conquer the red planet in the original Atari 8-bit version of the game!

Edited May 2, 2023 by Sabertooth

[RickR]

This is a cool idea!  I haven't played 8-bit CoM in decades! 

 

[D.joe]

Both caverns of mars games !!!! I'm In on this one

[D.joe]

[Marco1019]

7 hours ago, Sabertooth said:

This is a special DOUBLE FEATURE CHALLENGE!  Join us in the main forums to conquer the red planet in the original Atari 8-bit version of the game!

This is an awesome trailer! I'd like to feature this one on my show this Wednesday night, but only with your permission. You would also receive end credits.

Which audio track did you use? I used Shazam twice and received two different answers lol.

[Sabertooth]

7 hours ago, Marco1019 said:

This is an awesome trailer! I'd like to feature this one on my show this Wednesday night, but only with your permission. You would also receive end credits.

Which audio track did you use? I used Shazam twice and received two different answers lol.

Thanks, @Marco1019! It would be really great of you to include the trailer on your show! Thanks for helping to get the word out!

The audio track is called Venture Planet and is credited to Soundjewel. It's part of a cinematic sound pack in my editor.

 

[Sabertooth]

103,315 to get on the board.

[Sabertooth]

208,385 with a Modern. 

This was a personal best and my first time completing arcade mode!  Still a bit back from @D.joe, but we have a lot of days left in May. 😉

 

[Mockduck]

I have really struggled this month to get close to my 221k best score, but I'll submit this one: 211,580

 

 

[Sabertooth]

 

Congratulations @D.joe, the winner of our Caverns of Mars: Recharged Squad Challenge!

Joe plundered the martian cities with devastating efficiency to achieve a first place score of 239,935!  @Mockduck delved deep into the red planet to turn up a solid second place finish of 211,580.  I came in third with a score of 208,385. 

As the winner of this round @D.joe will receive 3 entries in the upcoming giveaway (prize TBA)!

@Mockduck and I will each receive 2 entries for posting our attempts on YouTube.

I'd like to encourage @D.joe to post this high score on the Scoreboard so we can make sure this Challenge continues on!

Congratulations to D.Joe on a fantastic score.

Also, a big thank you to @Marco1019 for helping to get the word out on this Double Feature challenge!

NOTE: Our next Recharged Squad Challenge will be announced on June 3 due to work-related issues.  Apologies for the delay!

 

 

[RickR]

I'm sorry I missed this one.  Plane trips, personal stuff, long work hours, all got in the way.