48 replies to this topic

[Ikrananka]

Beamrider





A beam matrix of iridescent blue engulfs the distant blackness of Earth-Space.  You stand watching.  First mesmerized, you now realize the beams carry weapons.  Frightening creations in endless configurations.  Intriguing to watch, but will you - yes you, dear reader - take action?  You will??!!  Then roll up your sleeves, mount these beams and . . . ride!!

Game Information

Game Name: Beamrider
Released by: Activision, 1983
Original arcade game by: N/A
CV HSC High Score: None
TwinGalaxies High Score: 999,999 by Todd (Jul 2003)
Settings: Level 1
This game was suggested by: roadrunner and duncantoml


Contest Ends

Saturday, 11 February 2012 at 1:00AM EST


Quick-Start-Bonus-Info and HSC Rules


Final High Scores

1. Mangia-Boy 71,520 [+10]
2. skosh 69,230 [+9]
3. jblenkle 68,420 [+8]
4. Ikrananka 46,864 [+6]
5. ChuckH 46,476 [+4]
6. roadrunner 42,430 [+2]
7. ed1475 12,638 [+1]
8. JacobZu7zu7 11,628 [+1]


Leaderboard

1. Mangia-Boy [93] (14)
2. jblenkle [90] (15) 2
3. skosh [75] (9) 4
4. patbb [65] (14) 1
5. ed1475 [64] (15) 2 1
6. ChuckH [51] (6) 2
7. chuckwalla [36] (7) 1
8. JacobZu7zu7 [34] (13)
9. Ikrananka [32] (15)
10. atariron82 [30] (5) 1
11. Ms. Do [13] (1) 1
12. roadrunner [11] (11)
13. rmaerz [11] (4)
14. Yurkie [10] (4)
15. purenergy [10] (2)
16. retroillucid [10] (1) 1
17. Akito01 [8] (1)
18. ColecoDan [6] (1)
19. AtariBrian [4] (1)
20. 1982VideoGames [2] (2)
21. SegaShooters [2] (1)
22. cmart604 [1] (1)
22. NIAD [1] (1)
22. centiqueen81 [1] (1)
22. Darrin9999 [1] (1)

[ ] = Points
( ) = Rounds Played
BLUE = Rounds Won
GOLD = Seasons Won

[ChuckH]

OK. I'll start it off. About Sector 12 it becomes almost unplayably fast for me. I don't think I can get much better. This game reminds me of one of my favorite games, Juniper First. I prefer the SG-1000 version to the arcade actually. I wish someone would make a conversion to Colecovision for it.

Attached Thumbnails

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[jblenkle]

Ouch! This one should be interesting...this is one of the few games I've never really played a lot.

[Ikrananka]

ChuckH, on Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:07 PM, said:

OK. I'll start it off. About Sector 12 it becomes almost unplayably fast for me. I don't think I can get much better. This game reminds me of one of my favorite games, Juniper First. I prefer the SG-1000 version to the arcade actually. I wish someone would make a conversion to Colecovision for it.

Checkout the Twin Galaxies high score - I just don't understand how that is even possible.

[Mangia-Boy]

  16.140

I wonder how Todd Rogers plays this game. This is again one of the Activision titles where he holds a fabulous world record (like Stampede or River Raid).

[roadrunner]

Cool, a game i picked.

I was doing good until i got to sector 14


42,430

Attached Thumbnails

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[jblenkle]

Beamerider - 7,956

[ChuckH]

I give up. My high score will have to stand for me. I can't find any tricks to increase scores and I can't understand  how the guy Todd could get 1 million. It seems impossible. For the heck of it, I tried it on Atari2600, Atari5200, and MSX. They all have about the same logic and are almost impossible on the higher sectors.
Great score by Roadrunner, BTW. About twice what I could muster.

[ChuckH]

OK, I'm going to be revisiting this game. Here's some tips I found on the Atari 2600 High Score Forum:

• DON'T SHOOT the yellow rejuvenator (extra ship).
  
• Position your ship at the center (or near the center) of the screen. This action decreases your risk of collision with White Enemy Saucers, Brown Space Debris, Green Blocker Ships, Green Bounce Craft, Green Chargers and Orange Trackers.
  
• The maximum number of ships in reserve displayed at the bottom of the screen is 13, BUT YOU CAN continue catching more and more yellow rejuvenators (extra ships) in order to get more bonus points via destroying the Sector Sentinel.
  
• For each sector, reserve ONE or TWO TORPEDOES to try to destroy the Sector Sentinel in order to score bonus points.

Well, I was shooting that yellow thing when if you let it run into you instead, you get an extra life! That's a big difference. You can get 13 lives or more.
Chuck

[roadrunner]

ChuckH, on Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:58 PM, said:

I give up. My high score will have to stand for me. I can't find any tricks to increase scores and I can't understand  how the guy Todd could get 1 million. It seems impossible. For the heck of it, I tried it on Atari2600, Atari5200, and MSX. They all have about the same logic and are almost impossible on the higher sectors.
Great score by Roadrunner, BTW. About twice what I could muster.

Thanks

Yeah, it helps alot not to shoot your extra ship.

[skosh]

44750

[ChuckH]

Insanity!

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[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 10,962

[Mangia-Boy]

43.900

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 24,052

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 35,170

[JacobZu7zu7]

5,104... i am pretty bad at this game...

[Ikrananka]

27,518 - personal best

Attached Thumbnails

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[jblenkle]

Anyone else have a problem with Beamrider locking up when played on a real CV using the 128-in-1 or other cart?

My games have locked up several times in between rounds when it displays the Sector and "Bonus" on the screen. The word Bonus should flash, but it doesn't and the game just sits there.

I also had one instance during gameplay where all the white UFOs disappeared. Without them to blow up, I couldn't advance in the game so I had to give up a life. Luckily when the round re-started, the UFOs were back.

[skosh]

Have had it occur multiple times on a 128-in-1 between stages. It has happened at least 4 times from stage 6 to 13. Very annoying and decided to stop playing it for a while since my last 2 games ended that way.

Would be interesting to know if this is due to the rom dump /  or if this behavior occurs in the original cart as well.

[jblenkle]

Probably the dump...just like Super Cobra played OK until you got to the last level and then went bad...

skosh, on Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:27 PM, said:

Have had it occur multiple times on a 128-in-1 between stages. It has happened at least 4 times from stage 6 to 13. Very annoying and decided to stop playing it for a while since my last 2 games ended that way.

Would be interesting to know if this is due to the rom dump /  or if this behavior occurs in the original cart as well.

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 42,718

[skosh]

This time I was lucky and it did not freeze.

50132

[Ikrananka]

Interesting issues around the Beamrider rom.  The original CV rom collection I have from many years ago shows a [!] in the name which I believe signified that the dump was possibly bad (although I don't have the key to the naming convention any more so can't be sure what it means).

Anyway, I dumped my Beamrider cart and it highlighted a few differences between the rom in the wild and my dump:

1.  The last two bytes at the end of 16k are different.  The public rom has "00 20" while my dump has "FD 77".
2.  My dump has some odd data between 16k and 32k which would signify that there is more than 16k of eprom in the cart.

So, I have created two versions of my cart dump (i) cut down to the supposedly correct size of 16k and (ii) my original full 32k dump.

Try out both and let me know if the bug appears.

Attached Files

•  Beamrider (1983) (Activision) Roms.zip   21.9K   48 downloads

[jblenkle]

Thanks...I will play both tomorrow and report back. Although I don't get the lockup every time I play, it happens on a consistant basis...maybe 1 out of 5 times I play.

Ikrananka, on Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:06 PM, said:

Interesting issues around the Beamrider rom.  The original CV rom collection I have from many years ago shows a [!] in the name which I believe signified that the dump was possibly bad (although I don't have the key to the naming convention any more so can't be sure what it means).

Anyway, I dumped my Beamrider cart and it highlighted a few differences between the rom in the wild and my dump:

1.  The last two bytes at the end of 16k are different.  The public rom has "00 20" while my dump has "FD 77".
2.  My dump has some odd data between 16k and 32k which would signify that there is more than 16k of eprom in the cart.

So, I have created two versions of my cart dump (i) cut down to the supposedly correct size of 16k and (ii) my original full 32k dump.

Try out both and let me know if the bug appears.