HSC Season 6 Week 5: Chase the Chuckwagon

[Ze_ro]

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

 

Once upon a time, Ralston Purina decided to follow the stunning success of General Foods' "Kool-Aid Man" video game by cashing in on the millions of people swept up in the video game craze. Unfortunately for them, they overlooked three tiny little facts: kids don't eat as much dog food as they drink Kool-Aid, "Kool-Aid Man" wasn't a stunning success, and the video game industry was in the toilet with its thumb firmly on the flush lever (sadly, the Ty-D-Bol Man prototype has never turned up).

 

Not having any idea how to go about creating a game, they started calling around. Atari was too busy burying E.T. carts in New Mexico; Coleco was too busy making crap; Parker Bros. had a commitment to McDonald's, and therefore had a "non-competition" clause on dog-food games; M-Network had done the Kool-Aid game, and were busy trying to sneak leftover copies into Atari's landfill; 20th Century Fox couldn't figure out a movie to tie it into except "Old Yeller" which they didn't have the rights to; Data Age was trying to sign up "Flock of Seagulls" for a video game to follow-up "Journey Escape"; Activision couldn't figure out how to incorporate a sunset into it, so they passed; Imagic said yes and finished a much better version of the game but never released it and Rob Fulop still owns the prototype which he'll release as a special, limited edition boxed version; Apollo had gone out of business, and for that matter, so had everyone else except one company... SpectraVision. And they didn't know any better.

 

So finally having gotten the only license left in the world for a product not turned into a game for the 2600, they started working on it in earnest.

 

They watched

. They looked at some dogs. They ate dog-food. They played much better games for inspiration. Then they began coding, and nearly a half-an-hour later - they were done! And so today, we have...

 

Chase the Chuckwagon!

 

(Thanks to Nathan Strum for the intro!)

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Chase the Chuckwagon
• Released By: SpectraVision, 1983
• Left Difficulty: B / Novice - 60 seconds to complete each level
• Right Difficulty: N / A
• Game Mode: Default
• Chosen By: ninermaniac

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 October 8th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 2742 (the 5th ghost) [+11] 2667 (toymailman) [+10] 2292 (jjd) [+9] 2241 (Deteacher) [+8] 2115 (aftermac) [+7] 1806 (DarthCalvin) [+6] 1650 (darthkur) [+5] 1465 (SpiceWare) [+4] 1226 (Impaler_26) [+3] 1043 (Kurt_Woloch) [+2] 981 (Nathan Strum) [+1][+2] 902 (Artlover) [+1] 651 (LarcenTyler) [+1] 316 (LoneWolfSeth) [+1] 313 (ratfink) [+1] Best Tips DarthCalvin [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 N/A (Game 1, Difficulty A)

Current Standings toymailman [44] Deteacher [40] DarthCalvin [38] darthkur [33] SpiceWare [31] Zoyx [22] jjd [21] aftermac [20] Kurt_Woloch [16] the 5th ghost [16] Impaler_26 [12] homerwannabee [11] Mister VCS [11] maf [9] chuckwalla [7] LS_Dracon [7] LarcenTyler [7] Spector [6] Nathan Strum [5] LoneWolfSeth [5] phaxda [5]

 

Scoring Points in Chase the Chuckwagon

• When you start a maze, you get 60 seconds to complete it. Whatever time is remaining is added to your score.
• Eating from the dish in the bonus screen gives you an additional 100 points.

 

Hints and Tips

The Manual

As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a text copy of it available online. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any real hints.

DarthCalvin

First off, you can almost ignore the dogcatcher. It's amazing that anyone would hire him, even in a fictional video game world. I was actually frozen for ~20 seconds RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and he just went back and forth, like he wanted to come get me but changed his mind. It's as if he's Rainman and there's an episode of People's Court playing on the opposite side of the screen from you. The bouncing objects however, those are quite the opposite. In the first few levels, no big deal. If you're on level 1, being struck freezes you for one second. Level 2, 2 seconds etc. etc. Ok, makes sense. At level 14, you guessed it 14 of your 60 seconds you are frozen. So, each maze seems to take about 15 seconds at the bare minimum to finish leaving 45 seconds to burn if you blaze through. Get hit a few times and you still have time to spare, right? WRONG! When you are already frozen, you can still be refrozen by being struck again. On top of that, it seems that each level speeds up the bouncing object so it gets back to you faster. I was struck at the beginning of one maze with 57 seconds left and NEVER regained control of the dog. Not even for a millisecond. I think I got hit something like 15 times in a row, without ever moving after the first. The maze turns orange when you're frozen so watch for it to turn back to it's original color and haul ass, if it ever changes again. The bonus screen speeds up with each level and around the 6th they start dropping the bowl pretty fast. I found it easier in the later levels to stare at the center of the screen as the bonus is about to begin so you already see which direction the dog is facing, glance at which side the bowl is falling on and line him up. If I watch for the bowl first I seem to miss it almost every time. Hope that helps, although what would really help would be a hack that makes the dogcatcher more useful than a burnt-out lamp and prevents the bouncing strange object from refreezing you.

 

--Zero

[DarthCalvin]

1,269

 

 

I've had this rom in my folder for years and only played it once. Now I remember why.

 

First off, you can almost ignore the dogcatcher. It's amazing that anyone would hire him, even in a fictional video game world. I was actually frozen for ~20 seconds RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and he just went back and forth, like he wanted to come get me but changed his mind. It's as if he's Rainman and there's an episode of People's Court playing on the opposite side of the screen from you.

 

The bouncing objects however, those are quite the opposite. In the first few levels, no big deal. If you're on level 1, being struck freezes you for one second. Level 2, 2 seconds etc. etc. Ok, makes sense. At level 14, you guessed it 14 of your 60 seconds you are frozen. So, each maze seems to take about 15 seconds at the bare minimum to finish leaving 45 seconds to burn if you blaze through. Get hit a few times and you still have time to spare, right? WRONG! When you are already frozen, you can still be refrozen by being struck again. On top of that, it seems that each level speeds up the bouncing object so it gets back to you faster. I was struck at the beginning of one maze with 57 seconds left and NEVER regained control of the dog. Not even for a millisecond. I think I got hit something like 15 times in a row, without ever moving after the first. The maze turns orange when you're frozen so watch for it to turn back to it's original color and haul ass, if it ever changes again.

 

The bonus screen speeds up with each level and around the 6th they start dropping the bowl pretty fast. I found it easier in the later levels to stare at the center of the screen as the bonus is about to begin so you already see which direction the dog is facing, glance at which side the bowl is falling on and line him up. If I watch for the bowl first I seem to miss it almost every time. Hope that helps, although what would really help would be a hack that makes the dogcatcher more useful than a burnt-out lamp and prevents the bouncing strange object from refreezing you.

[ratfink]

313

Edited October 1, 2008 by ratfink

[LoneWolfSeth]

165

 

[Lauren Tyler]

651

 

It's games like this that make me realize why the Video Game market really went to the dogs back in 1984. (Get it? To the dogs! )

[LoneWolfSeth]

651

 

It's games like this that make me realize why the Video Game market really went to the dogs back in 1984. (Get it? To the dogs! )

and let me guess surviving the 80's was ruff well at least billions of this cart didn't wind up in a landfill i think this was about the time atari tried to phone home sorry al gore atari invented the internet if you remember the cart that hooked to a phone line that later became aol?

[jjd]

What a frustrating game.

 

1,162

[aftermac]

1,380

 

Interesting game.

 

[Impaler_26]

Bah! This game is a steaming pile of dog poo!!!!! :x

 

1,226.

[+Nathan Strum]

Write a Story: Come up with an interesting introduction for this week's game, and you get 2 bonus points!

Once upon a time, Ralston Purina decided to follow the stunning success of General Foods' "Kool-Aid Man" video game by cashing in on the millions of people swept up in the video game craze. Unfortunately for them, they overlooked three tiny little facts: kids don't eat as much dog food as they drink Kool-Aid, "Kool-Aid Man" wasn't a stunning success, and the video game industry was in the toilet with its thumb firmly on the flush lever (sadly, the Ty-D-Bol Man prototype has never turned up).

 

Not having any idea how to go about creating a game, they started calling around. Atari was too busy burying E.T. carts in New Mexico; Coleco was too busy making crap; Parker Bros. had a commitment to McDonald's, and therefore had a "non-competition" clause on dog-food games; M-Network had done the Kool-Aid game, and were busy trying to sneak leftover copies into Atari's landfill; 20th Century Fox couldn't figure out a movie to tie it into except "Old Yeller" which they didn't have the rights to; Data Age was trying to sign up "Flock of Seagulls" for a video game to follow-up "Journey Escape"; Activision couldn't figure out how to incorporate a sunset into it, so they passed; Imagic said yes and finished a much better version of the game but never released it and Rob Fulop still owns the prototype which he'll release as a special, limited edition boxed version; Apollo had gone out of business, and for that matter, so had everyone else except one company... SpectraVision. And they didn't know any better.

 

So finally having gotten the only license left in the world for a product not turned into a game for the 2600, they started working on it in earnest.

 

They watched

. They looked at some dogs. They ate dog-food. They played much better games for inspiration. Then they began coding, and nearly a half-an-hour later - they were done! And so today, we have...

 

Chase the Chuckwagon!

Although, you don't actually chase the chuckwagon in the game...

 

So maybe the chuckwagon's name is "Chase".

 

Or something.

 

But why does the dog have to eat glowing horse poop in the bonus rounds? Seems kind of mean to me.

[aftermac]

1,526

 

Bump.

 

Edited October 2, 2008 by aftermac

[DarthCalvin]

1,806

 

[toymailman]

1,729

[jjd]

1416

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here's mine... 1043. This was my third game, and it already took close to 15 minutes, so I doubt I'll be playing this again...

[+SpiceWare]

863

[the 5th ghost]

I could have had 200 more points, but while I timed the bonus round perfectly, I sent the pooch in the wrong direction! lol

 

2,023

Edited October 3, 2008 by the 5th ghost

[+Nathan Strum]

Meh. 981

 

[the 5th ghost]

Glad I played another game tonite...improved my personal best!

 

2,742

[aftermac]

1,809

 

Best I've got for tonight...

 

Glad I played another game tonite...improved my personal best!

 

2,742

 

Nice score!

 

[Artlover]

902.

 

Fun game.

[jjd]

Getting better at it. After level 9 or 10, the entire game boils down to getting out of the maze quickly and not letting the flying thing touch you. If it gets you once you are done for the level. After about level 10 or 11 catching the glowing bowl seems to be all timing and hoping that the dog is pointing in the right direction.

 

At the 10th beep, hit a direction, press the button and hope.

 

2,292

Edited October 3, 2008 by jjd

[darthkur]

1,650

 

[Deteacher]

2,241.

[toymailman]

New best for me!

 

2,263