TrekMD Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 I haven't played again. Going to try this weekend to see if I can improve my score. RickR, greenween, Smell Dawg and 1 other 4 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted July 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 It would be interesting to compare the 1984 "Warner" instructions with the 1986+ "Tramiel" instructions and note any differences. Let me see what I can find. RickR and socrates63 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 (edited) It is strange how the 1986+ manual lists down as being hyperspace. There is no mentioning of a second fire button. Pulling down to activate hyperspace is mentioned again in the 5th paragraph under PLAYING THE GAME. The instructions don't mention any buttons except to use a controller button to fire but that could mean a single fire button on two controllers instead of two fire buttons on a single controller. Interesting discoveries surrounding my favorite 7800 game. I hope @Justin can find more info. Edited July 22, 2023 by Atari 5200 Guy Justin, socrates63 and RickR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 AHHHHH!!! I was almost at 20,000 points. I got 18,140. RickR, TrekMD, Justin and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 I DID IT!! I cracked 20,000! I got 24,030 points. If this.game would have been the only game I would have received with my 7800 many moons ago I would have been happy. Im glad others are having fun with this one. Smell Dawg, socrates63, TrekMD and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 Here...see if this helps 😉 Sabertooth, socrates63 and Justin 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted July 22, 2023 Report Share Posted July 22, 2023 I've played here and there throughout the month, but I'm staying with 7800 as my submission. 🙂 Justin, socrates63, TrekMD and 2 others 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 23, 2023 Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 I really was in a trance of some kind. Best game I've played yet. 58,320. Smell Dawg, RickR, socrates63 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 23, 2023 Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 On 7/15/2023 at 3:59 PM, socrates63 said: 116,770 Feeling the heat and trying to put more distance from the pack -- game on, gents! 🕹️ So this is the current highest score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted July 23, 2023 Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 4 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said: So this is the current highest score? Yes, I believe 116,770 is the current high score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 23, 2023 Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 Why not? I'll try for it. See if I can get in that groove again. socrates63 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted July 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 On 7/21/2023 at 10:10 PM, Justin said: It would be interesting to compare the 1984 "Warner" instructions with the 1986+ "Tramiel" instructions and note any differences. Let me see what I can find. I haven't been able to find the 1984 instructions yet. They were produced and sold and they exist somewhere. (It always bugs me when the 7800 is listed as "1986-1992" when they were absolutely sold in retail stores in Spring of 1984. "Yes, but that retail availability was a test market" - so was NES in December, 1985.) Here is a common photo of artwork Curt Vendel had for the 1984 box. The text on the back differs completely (why?) and the paragraph on the right begins with "You hyperwarp but end up in a worse spot than before!" - but doesn't explain how that's done. If anyone finds the 1984 instruction manual for Asteroids please feel free to share it with us 😀 RickR, socrates63 and TrekMD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted July 23, 2023 Report Share Posted July 23, 2023 It's a real shame that the box designs didn't stick. I know why it didn't but that artwork would have sold the system and its library of games. It had flare! Something Warner Atari was best known for in my opinion. I absolutely love that artwork. 2 hours ago, Justin said: It always bugs me when the 7800 is listed as "1986-1992" when they were absolutely sold in retail stores in Spring of 1984. "Yes, but that retail availability was a test market" - so was NES in December, 1985. The 7800 didn't reach my area's region until 1988 and without any advertising. It came and seemed to disappear just as quick. Trips back to the same store my first 7800 came from roughly a month later resulted in that store having nothing 7800 related. All 7800 stuff I found after were found in second hand stores. Justin, socrates63 and RickR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenween Posted July 24, 2023 Report Share Posted July 24, 2023 16,010. TrekMD, RickR, Smell Dawg and 2 others 5 "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 On 7/21/2023 at 4:25 PM, RickR said: It isn't true though. Bad documentation. It only works that way with a 2600 stick plugged in. If a 7800 stick is used, hyperspace is button 2 and down does nothing. I find it amazing that the Atari 7800 can tell the difference between a 2600 joystick and a 7800 joystick - to the extent that "Down" on the 2600 joystick does what Button 2 does on the 7800 stick I'm trying to think of other examples of this. RickR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Just now, Justin said: I find it amazing that the Atari 7800 can tell the difference between a 2600 joystick and a 7800 joystick - to the extent that "Down" on the 2600 joystick does what Button 2 does on the 7800 stick I'm trying to think of other examples of this. Same! How can it tell? The only possible difference may be the bit of extra circuitry for button 2. If memory serves, it uses the same pin as button 1...kind of a multi-plex circuit but based on resistance? And why the heck didn't they make "down" work as hyperspace for 7800 in addition to button 2? This one really boggles my mind. socrates63 and Justin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 7 minutes ago, RickR said: Same! How can it tell? The only possible difference may be the bit of extra circuitry for button 2. If memory serves, it uses the same pin as button 1...kind of a multi-plex circuit but based on resistance? And why the heck didn't they make "down" work as hyperspace for 7800 in addition to button 2? This one really boggles my mind. The more I think about it the more I think it has to do with GCC - the MIT guys that developed the 7800 to begin with. They were absolute geniuses. I had always been told that the 7800 had capabilities that the GCC guys knew like the back of their hand, that were more or less forgotten about after Tramiel bought Atari. Much of the delay in the Atari 7800's national launch had to do with Jack Tramiel saying GCC's deal was directly with Warner and not with Atari, so GCC wasn't being paid. Instead of continuing to work with GCC to develop incredible games for the 7800, they were essentially told to go away. I think this joystick issue is one of those things that we could've seen more of - but didn't - because it was a standard that GCC had developed that wasn't maintained by Tramiel's Atari. @Video 61 may have more info on this. RickR and socrates63 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Congratulations Socrates63! Congratulations to @socrates63 his 2ND BIG WIN IN A ROW!! Socrates takes the top spot in our Final Standings with an outstanding score of 116,770 points. Awesome! @Atari 5200 Guy slogged it out all month and came in with a supreme score, taking 2nd Place in our Final Standings with 58,320 points! Squad Master @Marco1019 played his heat on camera and came in with the stellar score of 44,670 points landing him in 3rd Place! The newest member of the Squad, @Smell Dawg joined us for this friendly competition, posting a fantastic score of 38,820 points to take 4th Place! "The Don" @RickR takes 5th Place with a hard-fought 27,160 points, and @TrekMD beams up with 24,310 points in 6th Place. "The Mayor" @greenween takes 7th Place with 16,010, and Mr. VCS @Sabertooth sits nicely in 8th with an iconic score of 7,800. We had a great competition this month, I hope everybody had a great time! As always I'd like to encourage @socrates63 to post his high score on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! Congratulations once again to Socrates63 for his BIG WIN, and I want to thank @Atari 5200 Guy for nominating this game! 👉 Also, Be sure to join Club VCS this month to participate in our Recharged Squad Challenges for the new Atari VCS! NOTE: Our next Squad Challenge will be Venture Reloaded - a hack for the Atari 2600 nominated by TrekMD. Be there! RickR, Sabertooth, greenween and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Thank you @Justin and I applaud @Sabertooth‘s commitment to his iconic score of 7800. You didn’t budge one bit. I raise a toast to you 🍻 in your honor, sir. Justin, Smell Dawg, TrekMD and 3 others 4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 18 minutes ago, Justin said: The more I think about it the more I think it has to do with GCC - the MIT guys that developed the 7800 to begin with. They were absolute geniuses. I had always been told that the 7800 had capabilities that the GCC guys knew like the back of their hand, that were more or less forgotten about after Tramiel bought Atari. Much of the delay in the Atari 7800's national launch had to do with Jack Tramiel saying GCC's deal was directly with Warner and not with Atari, so GCC wasn't being paid. Instead of continuing to work with GCC to develop incredible games for the 7800, they were essentially told to go away. I think this joystick issue is one of those things that we could've seen more of - but didn't - because it was a standard that GCC had developed that wasn't maintained by Tramiel's Atari. @Video 61 may have more info on this. I agree with all of this. I was just thinking that they probably had code/calls designed to tell if a 2600 joystick, paddle, or 7800 stick was plugged in to each controller port. That purchase of Atari by Tramiel was more horrible than we could have ever imagined for the gaming legacy of Atari. Such a shame. Justin and Sabertooth 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Just now, socrates63 said: Thank you @Justin and I applaud @Sabertooth‘s commitment to his iconic score of 7800. You didn’t budge one bit. I raise a toast to you 🍻 in your honor, sir. hahahah I 2nd that toast! 🍻 And massive thank you to @Sabertooth for the incredible work in Club VCS - especially hosting the VCS Recharged Recharged Challenges! 🥳 socrates63 and Sabertooth 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Incredible job @socrates63 on this high score. And also to @Atari 5200 Guy and @Smell Dawg for rounding out the top 3, and everyone else who played. This was one of those contests where we saw people get better and better over the month. PS - Thank you @Justin for making these challenges a whole month long! Smell Dawg, Justin, Sabertooth and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 1 minute ago, RickR said: I agree with all of this. I was just thinking that they probably had code/calls designed to tell if a 2600 joystick, paddle, or 7800 stick was plugged in to each controller port. That purchase of Atari by Tramiel was more horrible than we could have ever imagined for the gaming legacy of Atari. Such a shame. There's literally documentation that Atari never looked at pertaining to developing for the 7800. Maybe they've gone into this more in threads on AA but I know it was brought up at the GCC reunion some time ago. I don't know if Tramiel's Atari was unaware or didn't care. For sure John Scrutch, who oversaw software development under Tramiel, would've wanted the best, but there was only so far you could push Jack or Sam Tramiel on these issues before they shut you down and gave you the lecture about how they didn't like video games. Again this part of the story is for @Video 61 to tell as he has first hand knowledge of this. RickR, Smell Dawg, Sabertooth and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Hi! Sorry I've been busy (the show will be postponed again, but so it goes), but I'm pretty sure I posted 44,670. I know it's not even close to 1st (Way to go, @socrates63!), but I believe it would put me on the podium. 3 hours ago, Marco1019 said: Hi! Sorry I've been busy (the show will be postponed again, but so it goes), but I'm pretty sure I posted 44,670. I know it's not even close to 1st (Way to go, @socrates63!), but I believe it would put me on the podium. Posted back on July 9 Sabertooth, socrates63, RickR and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted August 2, 2023 Report Share Posted August 2, 2023 Congratulations @socrates63! That was an amazing score! Asteroids on the 7800 is plenty of fun, which made this challenge all the more enjoyable! socrates63, Justin and Smell Dawg 2 1 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts