Squad Challenge - Ultimate Yars' (Atari 2600)

[Justin]

 

 

 

 

Yars' Revenge
Atari 2600
Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE
Difficulty Level: GAME 6 - ULTIMATE YARS! 
Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Compilation / Emulation OK! ✔
Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST November 30, 2023
Nominated by @RickR

 

 

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 October 1st through October 31st, 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

Anyone can join in. All players are welcome!

 

Play Rules

Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, officially released compilation, 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, updated and hacked versions of this game are not allowed.

 

Difficulty Level

ULTIMATE YARS: GAME 6. Ultimate Yars features a bouncing Zorlon Cannon, plus some wild twists that distinguish this version of Yars' Revenge from all the others. What should you expect? First, you must bounce the Yar against the left side of the screen to make the Zorlon Cannon appear. Also, to make the cannon appear, you need five TRONS. TRONS are units of energy which you can collect at the following rate:

1. Eat a cell from the shield: 1 TRON
2. Touch the Qotile: 2 TRONS
3. Catch a Zorlon Cannon shot after it bounces off the shield: 4 TRONS

If a Yar bounces on the left side with less than five TRONS, it will not get a shot, but it won't lose the TRONS it has either. (Each time a Yar is destroyed, it loses its TRONS). Each Yar has a capacity of 255 TRONS. If a Yar tries to take on more than that, it will short out and the Yar will lose all its TRONS. The count of TRONS is not displayed on the screen. Yar scouts understand the count instinctively.

 

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 dishonest 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 151st Squad Challenge! This month we're playing ULTIMATE YARS! - which is what we call Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600, being played on Game 6, the most challenging difficulty settings. Special thanks to @RickR for nominating this game! PDF Instructions are attached below.

A note about ROMs in High Score Squad: as the Atari landscape is quickly changing, we won't always be able to attach a ROM file for High Score Squad Challenges in the future. I will always do my best to include the best PDF Instructions available, and a ROM when possible. If you ever have trouble locating a ROM and need one, you can always PM one of us and we can help point you in the right direction. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Yars_Revenge.pdf

[Justin]

This is a MONTH LONG Squad Challenge!
You have through November 30th to post your High Score!
Let's GET THE WORD OUT about this Challenge!

 

 

[TrekMD]

OK, here's just a score to get us started...

[Sabertooth]

82,754 via Atari50 on the VCS.

[socrates63]

51,266

I remember owning Yars' Revenge when I was  a kid, but I never got hooked on it. Fast forward to today, and I still haven't played this highly regarded game very much. I hope to change that with this month's high score challenge.

Reading the manual certainly help in learning about the game and getting into the mood -- pulsing, scintillating fireball. I love all the terminology and names but Swirl is a bit disappointing especially when compared to other cool game element names like Zorlon Cannon or Qotile or even Yar (aka cosmic fly) 😂 When I hear "swirl," I immediately think ice-cream 🍦

[socrates63]

87,570

Some Saturday afternoon Yars action -- what a fantastic and original game design. It's really cool to see what talented and creative people can do within such a constrained technical environment.

[socrates63]

175,573

Doubled my score! So far, the strategy has been shooting the swirl while it's in flight to earn an extra life and chomping away at the shield as much as possible to pad the score.

[Justin]

32 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

175,573

Doubled my score! So far, the strategy has been shooting the swirl while it's in flight to earn an extra life and chomping away at the shield as much as possible to pad the score.

AWESOME improvement @socrates63!! Way to go!

 

[TrekMD]

I need to play again and improve my score!

[TrekMD]

OK, I have a new score to post: 67,080

[RickR]

124681 game 6

[socrates63]

Great scores @TrekMD and @RickR!

I've been playing Berzerk Recharged on the VCS the past couple of weeks and need to get back to some Yars fun.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I’ll be setting up in a few days.  I would like to try this.

[Smell Dawg]

Had a lil gaming timing this evening. 
149,670

Holy smokes Ultimate gets hairy quickly - you the man @socrates63!

edit: Played Atari50 on Xbox

Edited November 22, 2023 by Smell Dawg

[socrates63]

31 minutes ago, Smell Dawg said:

Had a lil gaming timing this evening. 
149,670

Holy smokes Ultimate gets hairy quickly - you the man @socrates63!

edit: Played Atari50 on Xbox

It sure does get hairy and very quickly. When the swirl does a double move, that's what gets me. I've been playing the past couple of days and 166k was the highest I've gotten.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

My first score. 51776 played on junior with europad controller.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Atari 5200 Guy
Forgot picture

[Atari 5200 Guy]

85159

 

[RickR]

169511

[RickR]

237220.  Don't tell the boss, but I played during my lunch time today when I'm not so dang tired and BOOM.  The shields turn pink at 200k and things get wild.

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by RickR

[socrates63]

💥 day-um @RickR great score! 🕹️

[TrekMD]

That is an awesome score, @RickR!  I haven't been able to play again.  I will try to beat my own high score but I doubt I'll be reading that record! 

[RickR]

Things get really wild when the quotile curves, the little chaser thing moves fast, and the neutral zone is gone.  Honestly, once you get above 100K forget about getting more lives and just shoot the base as soon as you've cleared the shield. 

 

[TrekMD]

3 minutes ago, RickR said:

Things get really wild when the quotile curves, the little chaser thing moves fast, and the neutral zone is gone.  Honestly, once you get above 100K forget about getting more lives and just shoot the base as soon as you've cleared the shield. 

 

Oh, I know!  It just gets crazy!

[Smell Dawg]

That's a beastly score there, @RickR !!

[Justin]

 Congratulations RickR!

 

Congratulations to @RickR on an incredible victory! "The Don" RickR takes the top spot in our Final Standings with an outstanding score of 237,220 points on an insanely challenging game. Incredible! @socrates63 is coming in hot and takes 2nd Place in the standings with 175,573 points! @Smell Dawg puts in a good show and takes 3rd Place with 149,670 points! @Atari 5200 Guy put in the work and takes 4th Place with 85,159 points. @Sabertooth stepped away from kicking butt in Club VCS to join us for this Squad Challenge and takes 5th Place with 82,754 points. Rounding things out is the doctor in the house @TrekMD with 67,080 points in 6th Place.

As always I'd like to encourage @RickR to  post his high score on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! Congratulations once again to Rick for his BIG WIN, and I want to thank Rick for nominating this game, as well as @Sabertooth for hosting this month's VCS Recharged Squad Challenge in Club VCS!

👉 Be sure to join Club VCS this month to participate in our Recharged Squad Challenges for the new Atari VCS!

COMING UP NEXT IN HIGH SCORE SQUAD: Join us for our 2023 F-ZERO Christmas Challenge. Be there!