HSC Season 5 Week 31: Joust

[Ze_ro]

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

 

How on earth did you fall into this bizarre world? Look around you -- the sky is filled with knights astride enormous armored buzzards. These characters look mean, and the buzzards they ride don't look very friendly either.

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Joust
• Released By: Atari, 1983
• Left Difficulty: N/A
• Right Difficulty: N/A
• Game Mode: Default - Skilled
• Chosen By: Impaler_26

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 April 16th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 999,950 (StanJr) [+11] 999,950 (Gemini) [+11] 275,400 (phaxda) [+10] 271,900 (Impaler_26) [+9] 239,800 (Deteacher) [+8] 234,800 (Captain Beard) [+7] 233,800 (Mister VCS) [+6] 231,800 (aftermac) [+5] 187,950 (Kurt_Woloch) [+4] 170,650 (godzillajoe) [+3] 143,850 (midnight magicman) [+2] 102,000 (doctorclu) [+1] 100,750 (SpiceWare) [+1] 79,400 (toymailman) [+1] 75,400 (opeygon) [+1] 64,350 (keilbaca) [+1] 51,350 (theking21083) [+1] 29,050 (LarcenTyler) [+1] 9500 (Wickeycolumbus) [+1] Best Tips StanJr [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 2,150,300 (Todd Rogers) 456,300 (Tom Swingle) 139,550 (Bryan Miller) Game 1, Difficulty B)

Current Standings Deteacher [298] toymailman [274] keilbaca [184] Captain Beard [144] theking21083 [121] aftermac [112] Impaler_26 [98] Kurt_Woloch [94] homerwannabee [90] PressureCooker2600 [87] Nathan Strum [84] SpiceWare [74] rheffera [65] Gemini [58] Mister VCS [47] phaxda [45] Recycled [44] Bentley Bear! [44] midnight magicman [44] DarthCalvin [36] LarcenTyler [36] Blackjack [35] Christophero Sly [35] StanJr [34] the 5th ghost [30] shadow460 [25] Rom Hunter [23] ed1475 [19] Butterwasp [18] theKLT [12] lucifershalo [12] doctorclu [11] godzillajoe [11] Artlover [9] atariwarrior [9] Dauber [9] vintagegamecrazy [8] Shannon [7] keitaro [7] lonewolfette9847 [6] Goochman [6] atari2600land [6] Omegamatrix [6] darthkur [6] chuckwalla [5] opeygon [5] Nognir [5] MrBeefy [5] cosmosiss [3] Crazy Climber [3] SeaGtGruff [3] gospeedde [2] Phantom [2] Snider-man [2] EricDeLee [1] RJ [1] jboypacman [1] hrecker [1] [d2f]Iggy*SJB [1] HatNJ [1] KaeruYojimbo [1]

 

Scoring Points in Joust

• Unseat a Bounder - 500 points
• Unseat a Hunter - 750 points
• Unseat a Shadow Lord - 1500 points
• 1st egg - 250 points
• 2nd egg - 500 points
• 3rd egg - 750 points
• 4th egg and each egg thereafter - 1000 points
• Losing a life - 50 points
• Surviving a Survival Wave - 3000 points
• Destroying a pterodactyl - 1000 points

 

Hints and Tips

• Play the EASY version first to learn how to control your bird. Try keeping your flight steady and even, rather than bouncing off ledges.
• Learn the flight patterns of the Buzzard Riders. Try to predict when an area should be avoided, or where to expect the next Rider.
• Clear the screen of opponents as soon as you can. If too much time passes, the pterodactyl will appear.
• Collect eggs quickly. If you wait too long, they'll hatch into new Buzzard Riders.
• Stay away from the sides of the jousting arena since a Buzzard Rider or pterodactyl could appear unexpectedly.

The Manual
As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online for your viewing pleasure. Here are the hints it provides:
Deteacher
I just try to stay in the center of the screen and just drop down on top of the enemies as they fly under me. Then wait for the eggs to float by.
StanJr
Tips: Stay at the top center of the screen at the start of each wave. Avoid bouncing against the ceiling, this will surely drop you under the first enemy spawned from the right side. Egg Round: Start on the upper right platform exactly where the egg spawns, grab it then head right, wrap the screen slowly and snag the second egg. Carefully drop off, nudging slightly right and you will perfectly land on the two middle eggs, head right full speed and drop to the lower level, you should be able to snag the last two eggs close to each other on the left side of the lower level. A perfect egg round, no nasty enemies to battle. Remember, you can bait the pterodactyl as he only appears on 3 specific lines of the playfield and he will almost always make an effort to be on the level you are on. Dropping down to the middle then immediately returning to the top will almost certainly keep him on the middle level for the duration of his round. Like Deteacher said, stay in the middle of the top level and use dive bombing tactics to wipe out enemies below. Try to minimize horizontal movement. Eggs will come to you and usually need two laps around the screen to hatch giving them PLENTY of time to float into you. If you should die, do not panic, you get limited invincibility and you can plan your lift off. Obviously look for a clearing. If none presents itself, don't go for the whole enchilada in one swoop. The lowest left and right platforms will ALWAYS be there. Try flying up under one of those, then concentrate on knocking out the lowest two enemies, from there you can carefully work your way back to the top. The upper enemies will usually be incapable of coming down for you, IF you stay UNDER those platforms. When there is a center platform up high and all enemies are below, you can bait them up one at a time to finish them off safely. Just stand in the center of the platform. Enemies will collect under the platform, unable to ascend. Carefully move toward one end of the platform. The pacing enemy will follow, until it ranges far enough to ascend. The moment it does, pounce. You'll often snag the egg at the same time. Repeat until all enemies are gone.
Gemini
My secret to success was to move left and right as little as possible and to concentrate on up and down movement. Once all the enemies were blue I would start each level hovering as best as I could at the top of the screen to take out the top two enemies, then would find a "sweet-spot", depending on the platforms, where it would be easiest to predict how the lower enemies would come up to reach me. The egg levels were also easy once I noticed that they were the same patterns every time.

 

--Zero

[aftermac]

58,100

 

I'll get us started. I'm awful at Joust, so I'm not expecting this to be a good week. We'll see...

 

Edited April 10, 2008 by aftermac

[Deteacher]

103,250.

 

This is the only tip I can come up with: I just try to stay in the center of the screen and just drop down on top of the enemies as they fly under me. Then wait for the eggs to float by.

[theking21083]

51,350 for my first attempt

[StanJr]

374400 Game ON.

 

 

 

Tips: Stay at the top center of the screen at the start of each wave. Avoid bouncing against the ceiling, this will surely drop you under the first enemy spawned from the right side.

 

Egg Round: Start on the upper right platform exactly where the egg spawns, grab it then head right, wrap the screen slowly and snag the second egg. Carefully drop off, nudging slightly right and you will perfectly land on the two middle eggs, head right full speed and drop to the lower level, you should be able to snag the last two eggs close to each other on the left side of the lower level. A perfect egg round, no nasty enemies to battle.

 

Remember, you can bait the pterodactyl as he only appears on 3 specific lines of the playfield and he will almost always make an effort to be on the level you are on. Dropping down to the middle then immediately returning to the top will almost certainly keep him on the middle level for the duration of his round.

 

Like Deteacher said, stay in the middle of the top level and use dive bombing tactics to wipe out enemies below. Try to minimize horizontal movement. Eggs will come to you and usually need two laps around the screen to hatch giving them PLENTY of time to float into you.

 

If you should die, do not panic, you get limited invincibility and you can plan your lift off. Obviously look for a clearing. If none presents itself, don't go for the whole enchilada in one swoop. The lowest left and right platforms will ALWAYS be there. Try flying up under one of those, then concentrate on knocking out the lowest two enemies, from there you can carefully work your way back to the top. The upper enemies will usually be incapable of coming down for you, IF you stay UNDER those platforms.

 

When there is a center platform up high and all enemies are below, you can bait them up one at a time to finish them off safely. Just stand in the center of the platform. Enemies will collect under the platform, unable to ascend. Carefully move toward one end of the platform. The pacing enemy will follow, until it ranges far enough to ascend. The moment it does, pounce. You'll often snag the egg at the same time. Repeat until all enemies are gone.

 

Love me some freakin' Joust.

[payman84ce]

This week's game will be Joust, Default game (Skilled). Difficulty switches have no effect.

 

--Zero

hi

please see my blog

[Kurt_Woloch]

I think I made a pretty good score already... 187950.

 

 

Basically, I got killed at the pderoadyctil round where only blue enemies come out... the problem was, even the blue ones were pretty easily catchable when I stayed on the top and let them come up one after another... but after I got killed, I started from the bottom, and it wasn't as easy getting those enemies from down below.

[aftermac]

109,250

 

Bit of an improvement. The 2600 version seems quite a bit easier than the 7800 version, which I'm used to. The Ptery's are A LOT easier to avoid since they travel in a straight line.

 

[phaxda]

72,400. This is very hard to adapt to after the 5200 version!

[Impaler_26]

Yeah! This week is gonna be fun!

 

First entry:

 

176,650.

[phaxda]

102,750. Much better--I might have more left in me too!

 

[StanJr]

479150

 

 

I get fancy and start shedding lives like crazy. Once you get above wave 30, and they are always all blue, one accidental death means the loss of about 4 lives.. sigh..

[keilbaca]

64,350.

 

I still need to get used to the Blue enemies.

 

I didn't lose a life, went to a blue wave, lost all of them.

[Mister VCS]

new personal high: 224,800

[+SpiceWare]

100,750

 

floating eggs? what were they thinking???

 

are you ready for the movie?

[Wickeycolumbus]

479150

 

 

I get fancy and start shedding lives like crazy. Once you get above wave 30, and they are always all blue, one accidental death means the loss of about 4 lives.. sigh..

 

Wow. The best I can do is 9500

[opeygon]

38050

 

i only have this on the 5200 so i have to play this one on stella. i've never been very good at this game, but i'm gonna try and improve this weekend if there's time.

 

[Lauren Tyler]

29,050

 

I loved this one as a kid.

[StanJr]

1,037,050

FINALLY! I rolled the bastard. Interesting note, the score counter and the wave counter roll at the same point: 1 million and 100 waves. Weird. I watched the score slowly begin to even out with the wave counter and on wave 99 the score and wave counter rolled over. Also weird, the first new wave after 99 is 0.

 

I soon crashed and burned (wave 104 I think) because I had just spent about 2 hours rolling the score and was growing weary. It wasn't a cake walk though. There were some really sketchy moments around 975K where I was down to 3 lives the future was uncertain.

 

I dearly love this port of Joust, floating eggs and all.

 

Here is the score just before the roll (thanks to Aimee for taking the pic, albeit it washed by the flash (why is Joust so hard to photograph??)

 

 

And here is the final score.

 

 

Unless that bastard keilbaca (or someone else) makes a real run at this score, I might be done for the week. I need to spend more time on Ms. Pac-man...

[Captain Beard]

97,700 for my first entry.

I should do better, but I ain't gonna come anywhere near some of these scores, particularly yours, StanJr.

 

Wow!

[Deteacher]

Nice improvement for me: 239,800.

 

Congrats on rolling the score, Stan! I'm starting to get the hang of the "all blue" birds...maybe with a little luck, I'll get close to rolling it too.

 

To answer your question about why it's so hard to photograph the screen, it's most likely because most of the screen is black, so the camera can't auto-focus very well. I find that to be the case whenever the background is black. Case in point is my latest screenshot...a little blurry, but you can make out the score.

[aftermac]

1,037,050

FINALLY! I rolled the bastard. Interesting note, the score counter and the wave counter roll at the same point: 1 million and 100 waves. Weird. I watched the score slowly begin to even out with the wave counter and on wave 99 the score and wave counter rolled over. Also weird, the first new wave after 99 is 0.

 

I soon crashed and burned (wave 104 I think) because I had just spent about 2 hours rolling the score and was growing weary. It wasn't a cake walk though. There were some really sketchy moments around 975K where I was down to 3 lives the future was uncertain.

 

I dearly love this port of Joust, floating eggs and all.

 

Unless that bastard keilbaca (or someone else) makes a real run at this score, I might be done for the week. I need to spend more time on Ms. Pac-man...

 

 

:-o

 

Nice score StanJr!

 

Unless you just want to beat keibaca (or anyone else... no worries, I'm not gonna get there) just for the sake of beating him, it's safe to stop playing Joust. Everybody that rolls the score automatically ties for 1st place. So, you can spend the rest of the week playing Ms. Pac Man, if you choose.

 

Meanwhile, here in I-love-Joust-but-suck-pretty-bad-at-it-land, I'm struggling to break 120K. In the 5200 vs 7800 competition last month, I couldn't break 50K...

Edited April 13, 2008 by aftermac

[godzillajoe]

170,650 is my best after a couple of rounds.

 

Can't find the cable for my camera to post a pic though

[aftermac]

128,050

 

Slight bump for me, but I broke 120K...

 

[Mister VCS]

Nice improvement for me: 239,800.

 

Congrats on rolling the score, Stan! I'm starting to get the hang of the "all blue" birds...maybe with a little luck, I'll get close to rolling it too.

 

To answer your question about why it's so hard to photograph the screen, it's most likely because most of the screen is black, so the camera can't auto-focus very well. I find that to be the case whenever the background is black. Case in point is my latest screenshot...a little blurry, but you can make out the score.

 

Watch out Deteacher! New score 233,800 (now on my Atari vader 2600A instead of 2600 sixer)

Edited April 13, 2008 by Mister VCS