HSC Season 5 Week 9: Pressure Cooker

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

 

Business is booming at "The Grille". Hamburger orders are just pouring in. But back in the Assembly Room, the Food Dispenser is pouring out condiments everywhere. Help Short-Order Sam fill each order with the proper combination of tomatoes, onions, lettuce and cheese. And don't forget the bun! Then, rush the completed orders to the Wrapping Room fast. Alright cooks, grab your spatulas!

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Pressure Cooker
  
• Released By: Activision, 1983
  
• Left Difficulty: Your Choice - Controls Music
  
• Right Difficulty: N/A
  
• Game Mode: Game 1
  
• Chosen By: Deteacher
  

Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday, Nov 14th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

If you want to suggest a game for future weeks, please send me a private message and let me know! I will add your game to the list. One one game per person will be kept on the list, so you will not be able to suggest a game until your first game is played! (Please note that due to time constraints, I very rarely reply to private messages... but I do read them all!)

 

Anyone can play! Just post a score and I'll add you to the list! Please read the Rules & Information if you haven't already done so!

 

Current High Scores

1. 253,375 (Deteacher) [+11]
   
2. 181,395 (toymailman) [+10]
   
3. 167,990 (midnight magicman) [+9]
   
4. 150,040 (PressureCooker2600) [+8]
   
5. 138,740 (DarthCalvin) [+7]
   
6. 88,150 (keilbaca) [+6]
   
7. 40,290 (Recycled) [+5]
   
8. 31,905 (theking21083) [+4]
   
9. 30,960 (Kurt_Woloch) [+3]
   
10. 18,240 (Impaler_26) [+2]
    
11. 10,390 (phaxda) [+1]
    
12. 4380 (homerwannabee) [+1]
    
13. 3460 (Butterwasp) [+1]
    

Best Tips

• Deteacher [+2]
  

Bounties and Challenges

• None yet
  

TwinGalaxies Top 3

(Game 1, Difficulty B)

• 1,000,000 (Todd Rogers)
  
• 217,925 (Robert Macauley) (PAL)
  
• 190,180 (Matt Matthews)
  

Current Standings

 

(Note: These scores reflect the standing as of the beginning of this week, and do not include points scored from this game.)

1. Deteacher [82]
2. toymailman [59]
3. keilbaca [56]
4. theking21083 [55]
5. Pressurecooker2600 [44]
6. SpiceWare [39]
7. rheffera [36]
8. Blackjack [35]
9. Captain Beard [31]
10. Recycled [30]
11. Nathan Strum [29]
12. Impaler_26 [28]
13. homerwannabee [26]
14. Kurt_Woloch [25]
15. Rom Hunter [23]
16. Christophero Sly [13]
17. LarcenTyler [12]
18. DarthCalvin [11]

• godzillajoe [11]
• Butterwasp [10]
• theKLT [10]
• Artlover [9]
• keitaro [7]
• Nognir [5]
• ed1475 [4]
• midnight magicman [4]
• atari2600land [3]
• Goochman [2]
• Crazy Climber [2]
• shadow460 [2]
• gospeedde [2]
• Phantom [2]
• Snider-man [2]
• RJ [1]
• phaxda [1]
• KaeruYojimbo [1]

Scoring Points in Pressure Cooker

• Catch a condiment - 5 points
  
• Place a condiment on a hamburger for the first time - 10 points
  
• Drop a completed hamburger into the correct wrapping chute - 100 points
  
• You score bonus points at the end of each level
  

Hints and Tips

As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy and a scanned copy available. Here are the hints it provides:

 

- First of all, keep moving. The open-flame oven never stops cooking, so you never have time to just stand around. Run to the conveyor belt and place the condiment on the hamburger. After dropping a hamburger into a wrapping chute, hurry back to the Assembly Room. Don't waste time watching the order fall into the sack.

 

- Also, it is important to remember that the Food Dispenser only throws out one condiment at a time. So, if there is one in particular that you need, then move closer to the dispenser and reject the ones that you don't need. It'll really speed things up, and you'll get the condiment that you need sooner.

 

- Lastly, there will be times when you catch a condiment that you don't want. When that happens, place it on the hamburger at the top of the conveyor belt and hope the next order will need it. But more importantly, try not to catch any useless condiments.

- Don't fret about one or two mistakes....just don't make TOO many.

 

- Always do the burgers one at a time. Don't focus on more than one order. Get the first in line and make it until it is done. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

 

- Become a master of bouncing back pieces. Stay in the middle.....just enough space to move up and down. That'll give you ample time to bounce back enough pieces until you find the one you need.

 

- Be careful when you drop the finished burgers into the order slots. If you're a little off.....there goes your burger and a bunch of points.

 

- On the higher levels, I always go after the burgers with 3 & 4 ingredients and get them done first. It will get you less cluttered in the head. If you try to get the lesser burgers first, it will keep shooting you ingredients. And MOST of the time, if a burger top comes out....you have a complete burger. This helps if you've gotten confused or you were making another burger and weren't looking at the other orders.

 

- The key to getting mucho points is perfection. I cannot stress that enough. Because when you get the maximum of 99 skill points, they add tons to your overall score at the end of each round.

Here's a quick tip for the faster levels: If you know you're not going to finish a burger in time, let it go and start on a buger that's higher up on the conveyor. It's better to lose those points and catch up than fall behind to a point of no return.

 

This might sound goofy, but it really helps me out. On the levels where you have to put 2 or more items on a burger, verbalize what you need as you play. Here's an example:

 

Let's say you need tomato, lettuce and cheese. The lettuce comes out first. As you're taking the lettuce to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato and cheese." Then, lets just say the cheese comes out next. As you're taking it to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato." Don't say it too loud...people might think you're crazy, talking to your tv.

 

Verbalizing what I need to do in this game helps me to mentally keep track of my orders. Since I would guess that most (if not all) people only work on 1 burger at a time, this method helps me boost my score.

 

When you need a break in mid game, put the last order together, but don't drop it into the wrapping chute. Just hang onto it and take a break, get a drink/snack, etc. When you're ready to resume, drop in the last burger and go on to the next level.

 

--Zero

[DarthCalvin]

Great choice Deteacher! Haven't played it in a while but I'm looking forward to it.

[PressureCooker2600]

Oh Lord.....Bathe me in flames.

 

The time has come.

 

For me...to dominate!!!!!!

[PressureCooker2600]

First of all.....some tips from THE Pressure Cooker:

 

- Don't fret about one or two mistakes....just don't make TOO many.

 

- Always do the burgers one at a time. Don't focus on more than one order. Get the first in line and make it until it is done. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

 

- Become a master of bouncing back pieces. Stay in the middle.....just enough space to move up and down. That'll give you ample time to bounce back enough pieces until you find the one you need.

 

- Be careful when you drop the finished burgers into the order slots. If you're a little off.....there goes your burger and a bunch of points.

[Deteacher]

I had a feeling you'd like my pick, Pressure....I wonder why...

 

Yeah, I picked this one in honor of my acquiring it a few weeks ago. This has always been one my top favs. I played the heck out of it in college. That was a long time ago and I'm more than a little rusty, but it'll be a fun week, I hope. Enjoy!

 

Here's a quick tip for the faster levels: If you know you're not going to finish a burger in time, let it go and start on a buger that's higher up on the conveyor. It's better to lose those points and catch up than fall behind to a point of no return.

Edited November 7, 2007 by Deteacher

[homerwannabee]

Ok here is my score so far 4380. This game definitely takes awhile to figure out.

[PressureCooker2600]

This game is like Yoga to me.

 

It cleanses my spirit and puts me in a state of Zen.

 

This game just reeks of pure awesomeness.

[PressureCooker2600]

Tonight, I'll have to play on the real thing.....because playing this game on an emulator....WITH A KEYBOARD, is kind of hard.

 

10,305

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, this is a game I played for a long time back in summer... so I made a pretty good score already in my first game:

 

30960.

 

I doubt I'll have time for more this week... my pc is dying and I decided to buy a new one. Now I have to decide which one and where to buy it... hmm... so many decisions. Does it make sense to buy a quadcore processor? Or to have two hard drives already built in? Or should I rather go with a cheap one? And what will I do with my 3 1/2" disks if most new PC's don't have a drive for it? So many things to consider... and after I've bought it, I'll probably start to install it which takes even more time.

But I've made my entry now, and I'm confident I'll make it to submit the next entry in time for next week.

Edited November 7, 2007 by Kurt_Woloch

[keilbaca]

OK, this is a game I played for a long time back in summer... so I made a pretty good score already in my first game:

 

30960.

 

I doubt I'll have time for more this week... my pc is dying and I decided to buy a new one. Now I have to decide which one and where to buy it... hmm... so many decisions. Does it make sense to buy a quadcore processor? Or to have two hard drives already built in? Or should I rather go with a cheap one? And what will I do with my 3 1/2" disks if most new PC's don't have a drive for it? So many things to consider... and after I've bought it, I'll probably start to install it which takes even more time.

But I've made my entry now, and I'm confident I'll make it to submit the next entry in time for next week.

 

Here's a simple fix that will help you out right now.

 

Go to start, run, type in msconfig and click ok.

 

You don't want anything to boot with your comp, you can do that manually or you can set it after you do this.

 

Select the selective startup button, then uncheck load startup items, then click ok. Reboot.

[theking21083]

First entry this week and my personal best score 31,905

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here's a simple fix that will help you out right now.

Go to start, run, type in msconfig and click ok.

You don't want anything to boot with your comp, you can do that manually or you can set it after you do this.

Select the selective startup button, then uncheck load startup items, then click ok. Reboot.

 

"Fix" for what? I didn't tell you what's really wrong with my PC. In fact, on first glance, it seems to work fine, it boots up and most of the programs in the start menu work fine. But I've had problems starting Windows Explorer... the drive would just spin and spin, then I defragmented it, and it works fine again, but while defragmenting I found out that some areas in the drive have execptionally long access times. Now this doesn't HAVE to mean anything, but if it does, I'm pretty much screwed...

 

To explain it further (but as short as possible), I had the following problems:

1. The already mentioned problem on the C drive, which was (at least temporarily?) fixed by DEFRAGging it.

2. On trying to defrag the D: file, errors were detected, so I tried Scandisk on it, which detected errors that were corrected. Then I tried to defrag it again, but had to abort it because I needed the PC. On another day, I tried Defrag again, and it showed errors again, so I tried Scandisk again, which showed more errors that were corrected. After that, some of the files on D: are corrupted - some have been turned into CHK files, and some more don't contain their original content, but fragments of other files. I guess either the Scandisk or Defrag (or both) utilities supplied with Windows ME can't handle such big drives.

 

So those are the reasons for "jumping ship" now:

- Both the C and D drives are somehow screwed up... I can still work with them, but the question is for how long. Anyway, I would have to format the D drive and put back all the data onto it in order to be able to work properly again.

- The main PC is already from 2001 (a Pentium III/800), thus it's got a rather small memory and is rather slow compared to today's PC's.

- Since the PC's that old, the BIOS doesn't natively support more than 128 GB drives, so there might be problems if I have to change the C drive for a new one. I'm already using a DDO for the D drive, which is a 160 GB one.

- I would have to upgrade to a newer OS anyway, since more and more programs don't support Windows ME, which I'm still running.

- I just did a backup on all of the files on my drives, so if I change the PC now, I don't have to do an additional backup.

 

But it's not that the PC doesn't work at all anymore. In fact, I'm typing this on it. I just can't reliably use it (especially the drives) anymore, so I store everything on a USB stick at the moment for safety reasons while I look out for a new PC.

 

Sorry to go off topic, just wanted to reply...

[Recycled]

guess I'm going to have to post a REAL score on here soon!!

[Deteacher]

96,795!

 

Man, I was on a roll. My performance rating was maxed at 99, but once that conveyor starts speeding up, I totally fell apart. I could just taste that 100K mark.

Edited November 9, 2007 by Deteacher

[PressureCooker2600]

Tonight.....I shall get on both knees and make a short prayer.

 

I will then plug this legendary game into my VCS and make history.

 

[DarthCalvin]

Looks like I need to practice, 49730

[keilbaca]

Gah, my atari 7800 s-video mod must be messing up or something. The whites/grays are way too dark

 

I'll be playing soon, posting a score tonight.

[Deteacher]

Here's a tip. This might sound goofy, but it really helps me out. On the levels where you have to put 2 or more items on a burger, verbalize what you need as you play. Here's an example:

 

Let's say you need tomato, lettuce and cheese. The lettuce comes out first. As you're taking the lettuce to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato and cheese." Then, lets just say the cheese comes out next. As you're taking it to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato." Don't say it too loud...people might think you're crazy, talking to your tv.

 

Verbalizing what I need to do in this game helps me to mentally keep track of my orders. Since I would guess that most (if not all) people only work on 1 burger at a time, this method helps me boost my score.

[keilbaca]

Here's a tip. This might sound goofy, but it really helps me out. On the levels where you have to put 2 or more items on a burger, verbalize what you need as you play. Here's an example:

 

Let's say you need tomato, lettuce and cheese. The lettuce comes out first. As you're taking the lettuce to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato and cheese." Then, lets just say the cheese comes out next. As you're taking it to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato." Don't say it too loud...people might think you're crazy, talking to your tv.

 

Verbalizing what I need to do in this game helps me to mentally keep track of my orders. Since I would guess that most (if not all) people only work on 1 burger at a time, this method helps me boost my score.

 

Well people already think I'm crazy... but I do this as well and it does help

[Recycled]

Here's a tip. This might sound goofy, but it really helps me out. On the levels where you have to put 2 or more items on a burger, verbalize what you need as you play. Here's an example:

 

Let's say you need tomato, lettuce and cheese. The lettuce comes out first. As you're taking the lettuce to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato and cheese." Then, lets just say the cheese comes out next. As you're taking it to the burger, actually say to yourself "I need tomato." Don't say it too loud...people might think you're crazy, talking to your tv.

 

Verbalizing what I need to do in this game helps me to mentally keep track of my orders. Since I would guess that most (if not all) people only work on 1 burger at a time, this method helps me boost my score.

 

 

Oh yea, I do that. I'll say stuff like Tomato, lettuce, onion NOT cheese.

Edited November 9, 2007 by Recycled

[PressureCooker2600]

My epic night ended up not so epic...

 

Best I could get after two plays was.....66,995

 

I was a little off my game and tired so I'll have to give it another go tonight.

 

Some more tips:

On the higher levels, I always go after the burgers with 3 & 4 ingredients and get them done first. It will get you less cluttered in the head. If you try to get the lesser burgers first, it will keep shooting you ingredients.

And MOST of the time, if a burger top comes out....you have a complete burger. This helps if you've gotten confused or you were making another burger and weren't looking at the other orders.

[Deteacher]

135,990

 

Here's the best tip of all! I made use of this trick when my hand started to cramp up. When you need a break in mid game, put the last order together, but don't drop it into the wrapping chute. Just hang onto it and take a break, get a drink/snack, etc. When you're ready to resume, drop in the last burger and go on to the next level.

[toymailman]

My first go at this game. It was hard at first to keep track of everything, but then it clicked and was LOTS of fun. Played several rounds tonight and almost got to 100k

 

90,880

 

 

I'll be playing this one a lot for the HSC!!

[PressureCooker2600]

114,705

 

Finally got a decent score last night.....I was more in my element and I think that helped.

I still have a lot of work to do to catch up to Deteacher.

I was doing perfect, too. I lost all my points in basically 1 or 2 levels. I guess I lost my Zen touch.

 

And I've always dreamed of maxing the score like Todd and 5th ghost.

[toymailman]

I was perfect for a while too. Then it all fell apart...fast! When you have several ingredients to get, the burgers are moving fast, and the wrong things keep flying out, then it gets really hard (for me). But I was in a zone for a while and got...

 

133,755

 

Arghh!!! soo close.