HSC Season 5 Week 10: Fantastic Voyage

[Ze_ro]

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

 

You and your submarine are to be injected into the bloodstream of a critically ill patient. Your mission is to blast your way through several phases of artery obstacles and destroy a life threatening Blood Clot.

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Fantastic Voyage
  
• Released By: 20th Century Fox, 1982
  
• Left Difficulty: N/A
  
• Right Difficulty: N/A
  
• Game Mode: Game 1
  
• Chosen By: theking21083
  

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 21st 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. 337,095 (Deteacher) [+11]
   
2. 333,395 (toymailman) [+10]
   
3. 284,548 (rheffera) [+9]
   
4. 277,147 (keilbaca) [+8]
   
5. 255,665 (PressureCooker2600) [+7]
   
6. 253,742 (shadow460) [+6]
   
7. 215,831 (DarthCalvin) [+5]
   
8. 165,590 (theking21083) [+4]
   
9. 153,355 (homerwannabee) [+3]
   
10. 148,721 (Kurt_Woloch) [+2]
    
11. 126,042 (LarcenTyler) [+1]
    
12. 111,247 (Impaler_26) [+1]
    
13. 60,431 (phaxda) [+1]
    
14. 58,640 (doctorclu) [+1]
    
15. 25,107 (Goochman) [+1]
    
16. 17,588 (Butterwasp) [+1]
    

Best Tips

• shadow460 [+2]
  

Bounties and Challenges

• Figure out the Scoring - Kurt_Woloch, toymailman [+1]
  

TwinGalaxies Top 3

(Game 1, Difficulty B)

• 258,510 (Robert Macauley)
  
• 170,940 (Greg Troutman)
  
• 140,923 (Lafe Travis)
  

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 [95]
2. toymailman [69]
3. keilbaca [62]
4. theking21083 [59]
5. Pressurecooker2600 [52]
6. SpiceWare [39]
7. rheffera [36]
8. Blackjack [35]
9. Recycled [35]
10. Captain Beard [31]
11. Impaler_26 [30]
12. Nathan Strum [29]
13. Kurt_Woloch [28]
14. homerwannabee [27]
15. Rom Hunter [23]
16. DarthCalvin [18]
17. midnight magicman [13]
18. Christophero Sly [13]

• LarcenTyler [12]
• Butterwasp [11]
• godzillajoe [11]
• theKLT [10]
• Artlover [9]
• keitaro [7]
• Nognir [5]
• ed1475 [4]
• atari2600land [3]
• Goochman [2]
• Crazy Climber [2]
• shadow460 [2]
• gospeedde [2]
• phaxda [2]
• Phantom [2]
• Snider-man [2]
• RJ [1]
• KaeruYojimbo [1]

Scoring Points in Fantastic Voyage

• Defense Cells: 250 points, these can pass by without harming the patient.
  
• Blood Cells: 3 shots to destroy, 1st=10 pts, 2nd=20 pts, 3rd=25 pts, Total = 55 points
  However, you do not want to shoot these. Damaged Blood Cells will harm the patient.
  
• Bacteria: 3 shots to destroy, 1st=100 pts, 2nd=50 pts, 3rd=50 pts, Total = 200 points
  Shoot these or the patient will be harmed.
  
• Enzyme: 500 points, these can pass by without harming the patient.
  However, you want to shoot these as they will heal the patient a little.
  
• Antibodies: 75 points, Shoot these or the patient will be harmed.
  These spawn if a wall is touched.
  
• Clotlets: 1 point per hit and are indestructible.
  
• Blood Clot: 15 shots to destroy, each hit is worth 200 points, Total = 3000 points
  
• Bonus points are gained for completing each phase. The stronger the patient's heartbeat upon completion, the higher the bonus.
  
• Thanks to Kurt_Woloch and toymailman for providing a scoring summary!
  

Hints and Tips

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

 

- Avoid the walls. Not only are the Antibodies dangerous, they also cut down the chance that an Enzyme will appear.

 

- Get close to the Bacteria and the Blood Clot. This allows your laser to shoot faster. Try to hit each Bacterium at least once, but don't waste too much time on them. Time is your biggest enemy.

 

- Be ready for each new phase, since each requires a different strategy.

 

- Watch the Heart Monitor. If it begins to go flat, you'll want to speed ahead instead of shooting for more points.

- Just like other 20th Century Fox games (remember Turmoil) you can pause the game by flipping the Color/B&W switch. This is very useful to keep your hand from cramping up.

One thing that is VERY important in this game.....READ THE MANUAL!!! There are things you can shoot and thing you can't. Learn the difference. Otherwise, you'll kill this poor bugger that you're supposed to be saving.

Pick your shots. Don't forget, you're against a clock too, if you kill say, 4/6 of the enemies but going at a decent speed, its better off than waiting forever and getting 6/6.

 

Avoid the small dots (i forget what they're called). They're too hard to hit, and you gain almost no strength from hitting them.

 

ALWAYS kill the key looking things. They seem to give you the most strength back.

As far as I can see, the "life" logic goes like this:

You start with a level of 12 or 15. Each time the clock at the left passes 12 (small hand), the counter goes down by 1 and the beeps speed up. If you shoot an enzyme (key-like thing), the counter goes up by 1 again. This is the only way you can re-gain "life".

The antibodies (small, dot-like things) only appear if you touch the side walls (which otherwise won't harm you). If you don't shoot them, some of your life will be subtracted if they reach the bottom of the screen. The same thing happens with the alien-like bacteria, and if you shoot the asteroid-like blood cells (which won't harm the patient if they reach the bottom of the screen, but rather if they get shot).

So my advice would be... set your priorities. The enzymes are probably the most important things to shoot, for they prolong your life.

 

In the last stage with the clotlets, you can safely touch walls, for in that stage, antibodies won't appear. so you can use the walls to "sneak" past those clotlets (but you should keep the fire button pressed because hitting them increases your score, though not by too much).

In the blood clot stage, you get points for shooting the clotlets. I don't know if it's really worth it to lace into a clotlet, or just work your way to the clot. Just useful information, I guess.

 

I had nearly a perfect run on the 5th patient. He had a nice, slow heartbeat when I blew away the clot and I was rewarded with over 30,000 points in bonus. That's what really boosted my score. So, it really pays to take your time. It's better to lose a little time and play patiently (especially when you have to navigate around the blood cells.)

In stage 3, it is very important to assign priority to your targets. Even if it means hitting a bacterium only once or twice, you MUST get ahead to the large chains that are moving towards areas you can't reach. Enemies and wall will get very close to you, and you need to be comfortable with that.

 

Get used to killing antibodies, too. Sometimes wall collisions are inevitable. If you have to miss an antibody to kill a full grown bacterium, do it. Antibodies cause two points of damage, bacteria cause one point for each hit they have left.

 

In stage 1, cruise by at about half speed nailing as many T cells as you can. Nail all the enzymes and keep off the walls.

In stage 2, navigate the maze, blasting blood cells if you have to. One hit causes on point of damage, but it can trim the cell down enough to let you through. Colliding with the cell causes at least two points of damage, and maybe a third for the collision itself.

In stage 3, make sure you get to the bacteria before they hide. It's better to let one or two slip than to hit one. It's also better to hit the wall than to let a full grown bacterium slip by. You have a good chance of killing the antibody anyway.

In stage 4, shoot ONLY the bacteria and the enzymes. Do not aim for the T cells, as one errant shot can hurt your patient.

In stage 5, find the sweet spot that allows you to handle the maze, and speed up when you can. don't hit the walls here, as slowing down for an antibody will cost you too much time.

In stage 6, barge right through to the clot, firing the whole way, then pull back just a bit as the clot approaches. If your patient is critical already, you need to skirt around the clotlets, otherwise just barrel on though.

 

It can't be stressed enough, TIME is you biggest enemy here. If you spend that time going from enzyme to enzyme, your patient will survive. If you waste the time trying to hit everything, he or she will die on the table.

 

--Zero

[homerwannabee]

Ok, one word of advice. Don't shoot the stuff that looks like asteroids. This will actually kill you if you do.

Here is my first score 153,355. This definitely can cramp your hands up.

Edit: Wow, I just realized I am only 17,000 away from the all time high. If there ever was a wussy record for the Atari 2600 this is it. I would not be surprised if at least 5 people including myself pass this record.

Edited November 14, 2007 by homerwannabee

[theking21083]

Sweet, I love me some Fantastic Voyage and that is why I chose it. This game is definately a hand cramper but it is just so much fun.

My first tip is this:

-Just like other 20th Century Fox games (remember Turmoil) you can pause the game by flipping the Color/B&W switch. This is very useful to keep your hand from cramping up.

[PressureCooker2600]

This is one of my top ten favorite games. I'm loving this season!!! First Berzerk, then Bank Heist, then Pressure Cooker, and now Fantastic Voyage. Hopefully Seaquest and Dark Cavern are around the corner.

 

One thing that is VERY important in this game.....READ THE MANUAL!!! There are things you can shoot and thing you can't. Learn the difference. Otherwise, you'll kill this poor bugger that you're supposed to be saving.

[homerwannabee]

Never mind I played this a couple of more times. I think my first score may of been a fluke. This sucker gets extremely hard after 100,000.

Edited November 14, 2007 by homerwannabee

[keilbaca]

238210

 

I finally gave up on the atari 7800 being too bright (I was playing and certain spots, the ship disappeared completely along with stuff on screen, I thought it was just a cool fading effect). I need to contact 8bitdomain about this mod, its not working right at all. I hooked up the 2600, bam, first play. I played a very sloppy level 6 however, someone's going to roll this week's score.

 

My tips:

 

Pick your shots. Don't forget, you're against a clock too, if you kill say, 4/6 of the enemies but going at a decent speed, its better off than waiting forever and getting 6/6.

 

Avoid the small dots (i forget what they're called). They're too hard to hit, and you gain almost no strength from hitting them.

 

ALWAYS kill the key looking things. They seem to give you the most strength back.

 

And, that's really about it.

[homerwannabee]

238210

 

I finally gave up on the atari 7800 being too bright (I was playing and certain spots, the ship disappeared completely along with stuff on screen, I thought it was just a cool fading effect). I need to contact 8bitdomain about this mod, its not working right at all. I hooked up the 2600, bam, first play. I played a very sloppy level 6 however, someone's going to roll this week's score.

 

My tips:

 

Pick your shots. Don't forget, you're against a clock too, if you kill say, 4/6 of the enemies but going at a decent speed, its better off than waiting forever and getting 6/6.

 

Avoid the small dots (i forget what they're called). They're too hard to hit, and you gain almost no strength from hitting them.

 

ALWAYS kill the key looking things. They seem to give you the most strength back.

 

And, that's really about it.

Congrats on the new world record Keilbaca.

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here's mine... 93568.

 

Actually, one of my first games today was the best... I never managed to save 3 patients again after that.

 

 

As far as I can see, the "life" logic goes like this:

You start with a level of 12 or 15. Each time the clock at the left passes 12 (small hand), the counter goes down by 1 and the beeps speed up. If you shoot an enzyme (key-like thing), the counter goes up by 1 again. This is the only way you can re-gain "life".

The antibodies (small, dot-like things) only appear if you touch the side walls (which otherwise won't harm you). If you don't shoot them, some of your life will be subtracted if they reach the bottom of the screen. The same thing happens with the alien-like bacteria, and if you shoot the asteroid-like blood cells (which won't harm the patient if they reach the bottom of the screen, but rather if they get shot).

So my advice would be... set your priorities. The enzymes are probably the most important things to shoot, for they prolong your life.

 

Then there's the scoring, something of which I figured out (at least).

 

Defense cells (similar to Scamble's rockets) get you 250 points.

Blood cells get you 25 points per hit, but harm the patient at the same time.

Antibodies bring, I think, 75 points.

Bacteria bring 100 points per hit, that is 300 points if completely killed.

Clotlets get you 1 point per hit, though they're indestructable.

The clot gets you 200 points per hit, that is 3000 points in total.

 

I couldn't quite figure out the mid-level bonus sequences. I think on those the remaining life gets multiplied with the phase number, or something like that. However, the final bonus per patient seems to be 800 points per "life level" left.

[keilbaca]

238210

 

I finally gave up on the atari 7800 being too bright (I was playing and certain spots, the ship disappeared completely along with stuff on screen, I thought it was just a cool fading effect). I need to contact 8bitdomain about this mod, its not working right at all. I hooked up the 2600, bam, first play. I played a very sloppy level 6 however, someone's going to roll this week's score.

 

My tips:

 

Pick your shots. Don't forget, you're against a clock too, if you kill say, 4/6 of the enemies but going at a decent speed, its better off than waiting forever and getting 6/6.

 

Avoid the small dots (i forget what they're called). They're too hard to hit, and you gain almost no strength from hitting them.

 

ALWAYS kill the key looking things. They seem to give you the most strength back.

 

And, that's really about it.

Congrats on the new world record Keilbaca.

 

*ponders* I should record my next run onto video...

 

And thanks, although I can hardly call that a record, being I beat the score in 4 tries. *shrugs*

Edited November 14, 2007 by keilbaca

[Deteacher]

After playing a few rounds, getting frustrated, then actually READING THE MANUAL, I finally got the hang of this game. First submission: 214,240.

 

In the blood clot stage, you get points for shooting the clotlets. I don't know if it's really worth it to lace into a clotlet, or just work your way to the clot. Just useful information, I guess.

 

I got this game at the fleas this season. I plugged it in just to see if it worked, then I put it into my collection. I had no idea what I was missing out on. THIS GAME ROCKS!

[Lauren Tyler]

126,042

 

I saved three patients. Not bad.

 

Let's see Derek Stiles try this!

Edited November 15, 2007 by LarcenTyler

[theking21083]

First score for this game is 165,590.

[toymailman]

My first submission for the week.

 

198,686

 

 

The fifth patient is hard to save.

[PressureCooker2600]

140,658

 

First score....died on the 4th run.

 

LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!

 

The heart monitor makes this game intense!!

[Deteacher]

There was a question earlier about the bonus points. All I gathered from the manual is that the bonus is dependant on the paitent's heartbeat. The stronger the heartbeat, the higher your bonus.

 

I'll have a new submission tonight. I can't wait to get home and play some more.

[Impaler_26]

111,247.

[Deteacher]

280,762.

[phaxda]

60,431. I am an old man with bad reflexes!

 

I will keep trying, though.

[Kurt_Woloch]

 

OK... I managed to beat my best. My new record is: 118009.

 

Between the last screenshot and this one, I switched PC's. The new PC now has a Quadcore 2,4 GHz CPU (instead of Pentium III/800 MHz) and is running MS Vista Home Premium (instead of the old Windows ME). I've played this on Stella 2.4.2 (previously using Z26), and I noticed the framerate isn't smooth at all times. May have to tweak the settings a bit...

[+stephena]

 

OK... I managed to beat my best. My new record is: 118009.

 

Between the last screenshot and this one, I switched PC's. The new PC now has a Quadcore 2,4 GHz CPU (instead of Pentium III/800 MHz) and is running MS Vista Home Premium (instead of the old Windows ME). I've played this on Stella 2.4.2 (previously using Z26), and I noticed the framerate isn't smooth at all times. May have to tweak the settings a bit...

Normally my recommendation in such cases would be to use OpenGL mode, which combined with vsync can be very smooth. However, OpenGL mode doesn't seem to be working in Vista yet. I'm working on this issue.

[toymailman]

Got over 200k!! When I was trying to save the 7th patient the blood cells wave was very hard to navigate. The maze was very narrow and filled with the darn cells you want to avoid touching. I lost most of the patients life in that round.

 

256,529

 

[DarthCalvin]

156,365

 

I've had this game for years and didn't really understand it til now. Good game. I hope to give it another try tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Deteacher]

Double post...sorry.

Edited November 17, 2007 by Deteacher

[Deteacher]

337,095.

 

I had nearly a perfect run on the 5th patient. He had a nice, slow heartbeat when I blew away the clot and I was rewarded with over 30,000 points in bonus. That's what really boosted my score. So, it really pays to take your time. It's better to lose a little time and play patiently (especially when you have to navigate around the blood cells.)

[toymailman]

I've had the day off today so got some more gaming in. Almost got over 300k.

 

299,046

 

 

The randomness of the maze can make the game very hard sometimes. In the wave I died on (bacteria) there was a long diagonal part that had 5 bacteria in it. Because it was diagonal I could never get under them before they left the screen, even by going minimum speed and waiting for them to come back. That wiped out A LOT of life. The patient died soon after.