What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2014 (Season 7)

[zylon]

5200-

 

Space Invaders 1hr 45min

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 30, running from July 21 - 27. We logged 3785 minutes of eligible play, playing 53 games on a total of 15 systems.

Top 10:

1. Sampras Tennis '96 (Genesis) - 623

2. Shellshock (Sega Saturn) - 480

3. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 452

4. Loaded (Sega Saturn) - 335

5. Fighting Force (PlayStation) - 214

6. Moonwalker (Arcade) - 199

7. Krazy Ivan (PlayStation) - 146

8. Jennifer Capriati Tennis (Genesis) - 120

9. Baseball Stars (NES/Famicom) - 112

10. Monopoly (Game Boy) - 110

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 452

2. Space Invaders (Atari 5200) - 105

3. Moon Cresta (Atari 7800) - 90

4. Strat-O-Gems Deluxe (Atari 2600) - 75

5. Stay Frosty (Atari 2600) - 64

6. Seaquest (Atari 2600) - 45

7. Stay Frosty 2: Stay Frostier (demo) (Atari 2600) - 23

8. China Syndrome (Atari 2600) - 22

9. Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time (VIC-20) - 20

10. Super Burgertime (Arcade) - 19

Top 10 systems:

1. Genesis (878)

2. Sega Saturn (840)

3. Atari 2600 (779)

4. PlayStation (389)

5. Arcade (218)

6. Game Boy (205)

7. NES/Famicom (155)

8. Atari 5200 (105)

9. Atari 7800 (90)

10. VIC-20 (36)

For the first time since Week 1 of this year, the Genesis takes the top spot on the charts, led by...

...a PAL-exclusive sports title? Really? Yep, it's Sampras Tennis '96 (aka Pete Sampras Tennis '96), which also becomes our 131st member of the 1000-minute club with 1104 minutes logged to date. Meanwhile, the Saturn hovers just behind, with Shellshock at #2.

This week also marks the first-ever appearance of the Epoch Super Cassette Vision on the tracker, though it doesn't quite make the Top 10 charts. And it's interesting how many common Atari games are still showing up for the first time: believe it or not, Word Zapper had never been played on the tracker before this week.

BTW @cvga, I assume World Class Bowling is the Romstar game (World Bowling), and 10 Pin Bowling is the Game Boy Color game. If I'm wrong, let me know and point me to the right game!

[karokoenig]

Atari 2600

Kool-Aid Man: 15 min

Landungskommando (aka Strategy X): 5 min

Video Chess: 21 min

 

Played a very casual (low concentration) game of chess against the 2600 and got my ass handed to me on the easiest difficulty. NES Chessmaster was a total pushover compared to that. Go 2600!

 

SNES

Super Morph: 5 min

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego: 2 min

 

Master System

Asterix and the Secret Mission: 5 min

Secret Command: 4 min

Zillion: 4 min

 

Game Boy Classic

Choplifter II: 3 min

 

PC

Baldur's Gate: 150 min

 

I don't know yet where this is going. I picked up a very nice (and complete) Big Box of Baldur's Gate with Tales of the Sword Coast expansion disk. Tempting tempting... but I don't really have the time to play through this 150 hour monstrosity.

 

I paid 50 cent for that box, by the way!!!

Edited August 3, 2014 by karokoenig

[carlsson]

This week I've been scanning and programming more than I've been playing, so I have no real data to add. If you want to consider near-beta playtesting, I suppose I could add some minutes:

 

Creativision:

Reversi (own homebrew, nearly bug free) - 10 min. (rough estimate)

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-537 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 64,924

 

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (July 28th through August 3rd)...

 

Arcade:

Moonwalker - 308 min. in 9 sessions

 

Commodore 64:

Di's baby - 70 min.

Super Pipeline - 32 min. in 2 sessions

 

Mechanical games (not sure if eligible):

Rubik's Cube - 43 min.

 

I couldn't quite put Moonwalker down yet, but I didn't manage to improve... the best result I have is completing the game on 3 credits, but sometimes I also need 4 or 5. Today I made it again on 3 credits with 0 lives, no dance moves and about 60% of health left.

 

On the C-64, I played "Di's baby" again (for the first time since back in the day) which plays some nice and some rather distorted tunes. There's a quite nice rendition of "Rule Britannia" in there, and a so-so rendition of "God save the queen" / "Rufst de mein Vaterland". However, the gameplay is rather lackluster. There's five rather short stages with quite different gameplay, however after you beat the 5th stage, there's just a short fanfare sounding (the same one that sounds at the end of the other stages), and then the game is over! So a successful game might take only about 5 minutes. Moreover, it's not even necessary to beat the game to get a high score because you're actually only able to score points on stages 1 and 3, so even if it's Game Over on stage 4 or 5, you might end up with a higher score than a player beating the game.

 

Then I played Super Pipeline after quickly glancing over that arcade game again that's much like Super Pipeline II, and after hearing the original version of Super Pipeline's title music on the radio. I managed to get through to Pipe 5 in my last attempt, however there's always something happening bringing down the sheik that's the main creature... uh... character.

 

Finally, just before writing this post, I tried to solve Rubik's Cube again. Sadly, I can't remember all of the strategy I learned by heart back in 1981 anymore, and I also can't find the book where I got most of it from (except for one move I found which replaces a much longer move from that book). I then tried a different strategy I found on the net, but it took me 11 minutes and 13 seconds to solve the cube while back in 1981 I was routinely down to 90 seconds or below before I lost interest in it in favor of the first Game & Watch games.

[oyamafamily]

MY WEEK - July 28th to August 3rd

 

Atari 2600:

1) Air Raid - 21 minutes

2) Kool-Aid Man - 6 minutes

3) Missile Command - 12 minutes

4) Plaque Attack - 22 minutes

5) Stampede - 45 minutes

 

Atari 7800:

Frenzy (one of New Releases by PacManPlus) - 40 minutes

 

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS:

 

1) Frenzy - 2 gameplays in ONE video (Frenzy and Berzerk modes) for 7800 HSC Season 7

 

2) Kool-Aid Man for 2600 NEW HSC Season 3

 

3) 2600 Plaque Attack - 2 gameplays in ONE video - Games 1BB and 1AA

 

4) 2600 Air Raid - One of rarest games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqJi_CLdzlg

[zylon]

A8-

 

Star Wars Arcade(Zeppelin Games version)- 15min

Space bombs- 10min

Satalite- 10min

Mario BrosXE- 15min

Speed Ace- 10min

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

NES:

The Last Ninja - 47 min.

Skull & Crossbones - 292 min.

Total Recall - 254 min.

Genesis:

The Humans - 217 min.

PlayStation:

Fighting Force - 76 min.

Krazy Ivan - 247 min.

Rampage World Tour - 39 min.

Completed PlayStation mech game Krazy Ivan on Medium and Hard, getting the best ending; thoughts on that one here. I also beat two NES games, of which one is an old favorite I enjoyed revisiting (Skull & Crossbones), and one is...well, pretty terrible (Total Recall).

Otherwise my wife and I got thwarted by Fighting Force on Hard (for now), and also played through 20 levels of the mind-numbingly repetitive Rampage World Tour. Meanwhile I played through about the same number of levels in middling puzzler The Humans, aka Dino Dudes on the Jag, and poked around in the "computer-hard" NES port of The Last Ninja.

By the way, tracker updates may be delayed during the next two weeks, as I'll be traveling.

[Iwantgames:)]

Sega Saturn

 

 

A*M*O*K - 645min

Finished the game, however due to the game not having a save feature and not having the time to sit and play the whole thing in one sitting I did use level skipping to return to my last reached level. I was abit disappointed with the ending in the game but overall it is one of the prettiest games on the Saturn I've seen

 

Machinehead - 15min

 

Battlestations - 10min

 

 

PS1

 

 

Reloaded - 10min

 

 

Atari 2600

 

 

Coconuts - 5min

 

 

Non Qualifying Times

 

Xbox

 

 

Arx Fatalis - 90min

[+cvga]

Continuing with Season 5 with my son playing Baseball Stars. Our latest team, the Video Gamers is off to a good start (9-4) and are tied for second place (behind the American Dreams). Donkey Kong is currently leading the team with 4 home runs. We also bought a composite modified Atari 7800 and have it hooked up to a cheap projector. What a blast it is lying on your back and playing Kaboom! on the ceiling 18 feet above you!

 

Baseball Stars (NES) - 64 minutes

Kaboom! (2600) - 35 minutes

Beamrider (2600) - 10 minutes

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 31, running from July 28 - August 3. We logged 3338 minutes of eligible play, playing 38 games on a total of 14 systems.

Top 10:

1. A*M*O*K (Sega Saturn) - 645

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 572

3. Moonwalker (Arcade) - 308

4. Skull & Crossbones (NES/Famicom) - 292

5. Total Recall (NES/Famicom) - 254

6. Krazy Ivan (PlayStation) - 247

7. Humans, The (Genesis) - 217

8. Baldur's Gate (PC (Windows 95/98)) - 150

9. Fighting Force (PlayStation) - 76

10. Di's Baby (C64) - 70

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 572

2. Di's Baby (C64) - 70

3. Stampede (Atari 2600) - 45

4. Frenzy/Berzerk (Atari 7800) - 40

5. Super Pipeline (C64) - 32

6. Plaque Attack (Atari 2600) - 22

7. Air Raid (Atari 2600) - 21

7. Kool-Aid Man (Atari 2600) - 21

7. Video Chess (Atari 2600) - 21

10. Mario Bros. XE (Atari 8-bit) - 15

10. Star Wars Arcade [Zeppelin games version] (Atari 8-bit) - 15

Top 10 systems:

1. Atari 2600 (734)

2. Sega Saturn (670)

3. NES/Famicom (657)

4. PlayStation (372)

5. Arcade (308)

6. Genesis (217)

7. PC (Windows 95/98) (150)

8. C64 (102)

9. Atari 8-bit (60)

10. Atari 7800 (40)

(Posting a bit earlier than usual for travel reasons...)

If this week's gameplay stats were an episode of Sesame Street, then the letters A, K, M, and O would clearly be the sponsors -- and the numbers 3 and 8 too, since on a week ending on 8/3, we had 3338 minutes and 38 games logged. There it is!

[oyamafamily]

MY MAIN GAME PLAYED THIS WEEK - China Syndrome for Atari 2600

 

The story: "For years the nuclear power plant Spectra Island has provided safe and efficient power for the people of Spectraville, now a devastating earthquake has changed everything! The core has been damaged! Radioactive particles are loose and threaten to overheat the plant, contaminate the town and may even cause meltdown. Only your expertise can save teh day! So get your D.D.V. (Decontamination Defussion Vacuum - Your joystick will do!) and collect the escaping particles before meltdown!"

 

This week, I played China Syndrome on 12 sessions - Games 1BB, 1BA, 1AB, 1AA, 2BB, 2BA, 2AB, 2AA, 3BB, 3BA, 3AB and 3AA.

 

Tips to win this game: (from the 2600 OLD High Score Club, Season 9 / Week 18)

 

1. TEST YOUR SKILL AND COORDINATION: To practice with advanced levels, choose Game 2 (Certification Test - Starts at Level 3); then, go to Game 3 (Starts Test at Level 5). Try to get the following perfect scores: 105 on Game 2, and 75 on Game 3.

2. SPECIAL TIP FOR BEGINNERS: To learn how to play China Syndrome, practice with Game 4 (Children's Version - Starts at Level 1). On this setting, there are 4 levels (note that the gameplay continues with the repetition of Level 4).

3. You always start every level with the Robot Arm positioned at the top of gamefield. Each time you lose a life, the Robot Arm always reappears at the top of screen.

4. The minimum number of particles which you must neutralize to progress to the next level is 15 per stage (5 per zone, i.e., the gamefield is divided by 3 zones). Quickly, try to neutralize the particle in the following sequence: Red Zone, Blue Zone, and Yellow Zone; once you complete this sequence sucessfully, repeat this procedure until it stabilizes the core. On Levels 2 to 9, DON'T MOVE YOUR JOYSTICK after stabilizing the core completely, because you can touch the Core Vent (Fan) accidentaly and you have to repeat the current level wherein you lost a life.

5. On Levels 5-9, try to use this tactic to neutralize particles easily:

• Red Zone: Robot Arm positioned at the top of gamefield (note that you can pass above the red Core Vent safely);
• Blue Zone: Robot Arm positioned at the bottom of this zone;
• Yellow Zone: Robot Arm positioned at the bottom of screen (note that you can pass under the yellow Core Vent safely).

6. The tactic mentioned above works when you try to neutralize particles which move diagonally (and vertically in a few occasions). The particles always emerge from the Core Vents (Fans) presents on the gamefield. And stay tuned: some particles move horizontally; so, you can neutralize them easily and take your advantage.

7. If you are NOT READY to neutralize a particle at the beginning of each level, DON'T press Fire Button. Touch one of the Core Vents (Fans), or let the radiation levels increase and the word "DANGER" appears at the bottom of screen. Do this when you have more than 5 lives. With this tactic, I got a perfect score of 75 on Game 3 (Starts at Level 5) just for training and testing my coordination.

 

The pictures which explain my tips are available on the following URL: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/184793-high-score-club-918-china-syndrome/page-2?do=findComment&comment=2325637

Edited August 10, 2014 by oyamafamily

[oyamafamily]

CHECK OUT MY CHINA SYNDROME GAMEPLAY VIDEOS:

 

1) Games 1BB, 1BA, 1AB and 1AA:

 

2) Games 2BB, 2BA, 2AB and 2AA:

 

3) Games 3BB, 3BA, 3AB and 3AA:

[karokoenig]

Atari 2600

Spacemaster X-7: 10 min

Stampede: 15 min

 

SNES

Demon's Crest: 5 min

 

Master System

Alien 3: 3 min

Strider: 3 min

Xenon 2: 4 min

 

Mega Drive

The Smurfs: 3 min

 

PC

Baldur's Gate: 355 min

 

Oh boy... I had this idea that it might be fun to play Baldur's Gate with a mage as main character. I knew from a lot of other AD&D games that this can get tedious at early levels. But man, I'm stuck at the first real boss fight and I'm nowwhere near being able to win it. Getting there in the first place involved countless reloading after getting my ass handed to me by another pair of Kobolds. And "me" means a six-people party. I really don't know if I want to continue this venture. I've played through BG in the past, and yes it was hard as shit. But this is getting ridiculous.

Edited August 10, 2014 by karokoenig

[Iwantgames:)]

Not much gaming this week due to moving, but I'll have a dedicated game room now anyways I did get a TI-99/4A that I played with:

 

TI-99/4A -

 

 

TI Invaders - 10min

 

Munchman - 20min

 

A-maze-ing - 10min

 

Parsec - 30min

[carlsson]

Ditto about very little gaming. Actually most of it happened when I went away on a weekend programming/gaming event together with some of my friends.

C64:

Way of the Exploding Fist - 6 min.

Creativision:

Crazy Chicky - 2 min.

Reversi (updated version, now just about bug free) - 4 min.

Sonic Invaders - 2 min.

PC DOS:

Stunts / 3D Sports - 2 min.

Non-eligible:

Gamecube:

Mario Kart something or other - 3 min.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-492 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 51,691

 

 

I'm getting close to breaking out of my slump.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (August 4th through 10th)...

 

Commodore 64:

Frankie goes to Hollywood - 80 min.

 

Online (non-eligible):

Rallyetheworld - 14 min.

 

These are the only two games I played. I did drop Moonwalker by now. It's been my last week off from work, and I didn't want to waste too much time playing games. I want to change, or should I say, transform, my life in a big way, and I'm preparing for that, getting rid of all the clutter, especially in terms of things I do every day which don't really satisfy me. Rather, I want to do more in terms of music and Karaoke.

 

As for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, this is another musician-based game. But it's sort of an adventure, and after a time I didn't quite know how to make further progress. The game never seems to end, but you can do certain things preventing you from fully completing it, such as dropping items in the wrong place, being unable to ever recover them, or failing at minigames and not having any further attempts at them. As such, the game is rather frustrating.

 

In Rallyetheworld, you indirectly steer a rally car by giving the driver the correct sequences of curves coming up by clicking on the appropriate cart at exactly the time the car passes a checkpoint. The closer you get to the middle of the checkpoint, the faster the car gets.

[WispFollower]

Colecovision

 

Galaxian - 390 minutes

Mouse Trap - 60 minutes

[oyamafamily]

MY WEEK - August 4th-10th

 

Atari 2600:

1) China Syndrome - 70 minutes

2) Stampede - 22 minutes

3) Spacemaster X-7 - 30 minutes

 

Atari 7800:

Frenzy/Berzerk - 50 minutes

 

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS:

 

1) 2600 Spacemaster X-7 for 2600 NEW HSC, Season 3 / Week 24 - 206,400 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUD32CBsinw

 

2) 2600 Stampede for 2600 NEW HSC, Season 3 / Week 23 - 8,672 points

 

3) 7800 Frenzy for 7800 HSC, Season 7 / Round 8 - 8,587 points

Edited August 11, 2014 by oyamafamily

[zylon]

5200-

 

Frogger II- 55min

[+thegoldenband]

My gaming times for the week: none, for the first time since I joined the tracker IIRC (!).

 

(Or at least I haven't played any video games this week, though while on the road I've played a bunch of fine board games with friends -- and I did buy a few classic-ish games I haven't tested out yet.)

[+Ripdubski]

I spent too much time at work and then WoW recently and havent touched my retro stuff. Need to re-adjust priorities.

[Darth Link]

Quite a lot last week, between unlocks and new acquires.

 

Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Xbox 360) - 1 hour, 25 minutes (Replaying memories for 100% Synch and fulfilling faction challenges)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - 42 minutes

 

Also got a Retron 5 recently so been putting that to the test, so far I've played:

 

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (GB) - 10 minutes

Ninja Gaiden (NES) - 42 minutes (yeah, got kinna hooked on this one)

Super Mario Kart (SNES) - 10 minutes

Super Mario World (SNES) - 20 minutes

Galaga: Demons of Death (NES) - 10 minutes

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - 15 minutes

Altered Beast - 12 minutes

 

Unfortunately I don't have a converter so I can't test any of my Master System games,

 

Anyway total playtime: 4 hours, 6 minutes