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High Score Club 9.15 - Escape From The Mindmaster


Ze_ro

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

 

You've been abducted. Kidnapped. Snatched in your sleep, right out of your bed. Right in your own home town.

 

Nobody could stop him. His proton beam made you glow like a Christmas tree. A few seconds later you disappeared.

 

You never even woke up.

 

Until now.

 

You slowly awaken. Surrounding you are giant walls, smooth as glass. Endless corridors, with no apparent escape.

 

As you explore your strange prison, you encounter various games. You realize that these games are tests--of your intelligence, memory, coordination, and reflexes.

 

It slowly dawns on you that you're the subject of an incredible experiment. Then you realize that you're not alone.

 

The MindMaster looms above you, watching your every move. You must use all the brainpower you possess. Not only to be able to solve the maze-- but to preserve the honor of the human race.

 

eftm-attract.jpg

 

Game Information
  • Game Name: Escape From The Mindmaster
  • Released By: Starpath, 1982
  • Left Difficulty: B / Novice (9 chances)
  • Right Difficulty: B / Novice (Slower Alien Stalker)
  • Game Mode: Default

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 June 29th at 1:00 AM (Central Time, UTC-6).

 

Challenges
  • Catch Up - Outscore someone who is currently higher than you in the overall rankings, and you will get bonus points equal to 2x the difference in positions... so if you outscore someone who is two places higher than you, you'll get 4 points... 5 places higher and you'll get 10 points. This will only result in one bonus for the highest ranked player you beat.
    • toymailman (2) beats JacobZuzu (1) - [+2]
    • Jifremok (12) beats JacobZu7zu7 (1) - [+22]
    • DT Kofoed (9) beats JacobZu7zu7 (1) - [+16]
    • Gorfy (6) beats JacobZu7zu7 (1) - [+10]
    • Frostbite76 (4) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+2]
    • classicgamer_27330 (11) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+16]
    • Vocelli (5) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+4]
    • cparsley (20) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+34]
    • Amstari (15) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+24]
    • theKLT (49) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+92]
    • LarcenTyler (29) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+52]
    • Miss 2600 (13) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+20]
    • pokeplayer984 (24) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+42]
    • Scrabbler15 (10) beats oyamafamily (3) - [+14]

     

Current High Scores
  1. 500 (toymailman) [+11]
  2. 444 (Jifremok) [+10]
  3. 428 (DT Kofoed) [+9]
  4. 407 (Gorfy) [+8]
  5. 402 (JacobZu7zu7) [+7]
  6. 242 (Frostbite76) [+6]
  7. 176 (classicgamer_27330) [+5]
  8. 148 (Vocelli) [+4]
  9. 134 (cparsley) [+3]
  10. 118 (Amstari) [+2]
  11. 97 (theKLT) [+1]
  12. 96 (LarcenTyler) [+1]
  13. 88 (Miss 2600) [+1]
  14. 85 (pokeplayer984) [+1]
  15. 77 (Scrabbler15) [+1]
  16. 57 (oyamafamily) [+1]
  17. 51 (roadrunner) [+1]

 

Scoring Points in Escape From The Mindmaster
  • You start with 60 points in every maze. Every few seconds, a point is taken off your score. The number of points left when you leave a maze is added to your total score.
  • There's a test hidden in each of the first five mazes. The better you do, the higher your final score. As you leave each maze, your test score is added to your total.

 

Hints and Tips

The Manual

 

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 online. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any specific hints... though it's worth reading, as the game is fairly complicated.

 

JacobZu7zu7

 

Quick tips,

 

Mini-Games

1. The mini-games seem easier with sound turned down, or off. Don't turn sound too loud it's very distracting.

 

MindMaster

2. If you find a MindMaster walking twards you... always back up and head around another corner,

never go forward, and if you do, listen to the sound cue... the faster it goes the closer you are to making

a life losing collision, so get through a side door quickly.

 

Moving Glass Walls

3. With the sliding glass walls, always wait for the plate to clear the wall "completely", before running by...

even if it's two sliding walls, wait for the second one to clear. You won't make it if you try to run "early".

When walking, you take/fill up the entire wall left to right, but not front to back. Sometimes I would run as the second wall was moving, but it didn't work and I end up just clipping the very corner, and lost a life.

 

... Always stop yourself after making a move passed moving walls in levels 3 and up... you can turn around all you like, just don't keep moving/walking. It's easy to hit moving walls at this stage of the game. Better to be patient and careful.

 

Starting a new level

4. "Take your time" if you are starting a new level, get to know the different areas and where all the moving walls are. That way next time you play it will be easier! Don't try to rush and finish a new level, it doesn't work.

 

Making a map

5. Mapping is a smart idea, but for the later levels like 5 and up. The earlier levels it seems better to just play and explore untill you get the feeling/idea and layout down. You will save time on your next try at it, and improve on your score. The items or puzzle piece locations change with each different game, so no need to write down their locations.

 

--Zero

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I have this game on the Stella Gets a New Brain cd for the supercharger, but I don't have a disc player at the moment. Ataariage doesn't list a ROM for it. Is it possible to play this on emulator?

 

Yes. For those who use Atari 2600 emulator as I always use, here's a ROM which I found at Atarimania page!

In the link above, you find more information about Escape from the Mindmaster, including catalogs.

Escape from the Mindmaster (Preview).bin

Escape from the Mindmaster.bin

Edited by oyamafamily
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How does that game use a cassette? I've never seen that before.

 

I don't think I'll be able to participate this week. I don't know what to do with the bin file.

 

Oh well, I ordered a Harmony cartridge so, whenever it arrives, I'll be able to play TONS of games :)

 

I never seen it before either. If you check the box cover at ATARIAGE's 2600 game library.

You will see the attachment for the cassette player. Now I get how you can play a tape game on

a 2600!

 

Atari 2600 really pushed every last bit of it's limits, throughout the 80's.

 

This game I don't get it , I walking around an empty maze?? :|

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I got a feeling this choice might be a bit of a wash overall. I've considered owning the Supercharger (don't like using emulators just for the real experience of the real thing), but other than Dragonstomper I haven't had much of an interest in the games.

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First time playing this one (on my new Harmony WOOT), and seeing as I'm heading to scout camp this weekend with my son, I'm just going to post my score early and be safe: 112 - I hope to have a chance to improve.

 

I must admit that technically this is quite impressive... I've playing other VCS 3D maze games, and this is the first I've seen that scrolls as you move, which makes a huge difference in playability.

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Zero-- Please make correction on last week standings. By mistake, I was listed as top score on Tutankham when i should have been listed fourth (I assume the combined scores of those affected will need correction as well). These variety packs must be a lot of work for you, so thanks again for all your efforts!! :)

Edited by Gorfy
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First time playing this one (on my new Harmony WOOT)

 

I'm getting a Harmony, too! I just ordered it a few days ago, so I probably won't get it in time for this game. Too bad, it does look very intriguing.

 

 

You can play this on emulator. It works the same as any other ROM. I used the link Oyamafamily provided in this thread.

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New personal best on easy ("BB") settings for me.

 

"Impressive" score = 486

post-10944-0-82355500-1308883955_thumb.jpg

 

Also, I did this one using the Harmony cart and ROM to avoid using the cassette player and supercharger. Everything was identical until the final screen where the score is shown. Below is another score I got with the Harmony cart (457) and a previous score with the "real" hardware (423). The Harmony version is not as smooth and it has some lines through it. The real version is very clean looking.

post-10944-0-59515300-1308884096_thumb.jpgpost-10944-0-52710700-1308884118_thumb.jpg

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2nd and last night before camping: up to 210.

 

The only problem is that well-known Harmony Error... I can read my score fine, but I can't tell what the Mind Master thinks of me (which seems to be the whole point!). Maybe I'm "amusing"? What's after "promising" but before "intriguing"? Anyone have a list of MM declarations at hand to help me out here?

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This is a great game and was one of my favorites as a kid. After beating the game you get some fancy screens.

 

I'm a winner! :D

[image]

 

"Intriguing" Score: 353

[image]

 

So you beat the game and you are just deemed "INTRIGUING"? I would think the Mastermind would declare you "AWESOME".

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