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HSC12 Round 4: Alley Cat


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Love them mousies...

Alley Cat

runner up and now poll victor, one of the all time classics. Play (each go) on the default level Kitten - you should see 6 bins - the game levels up as you go. Master jumping direclty onto the tall bins by running and then pushing diagonal up as you'll need to do this on the harder levels to avoid the savage dog :-o

alley_cat.png

Downloads

Fandal XEX

Well worth checking out the comments on Atarimania and the PDF with instructions, or the later Americana release with the brief instructions

See my hints on Post #10 if you struggling!

Bonus Point

Set the new HSC record [McKong 060-9534]

 

Bonus Game

tin_can_alley_cats.gif

 

It's about time we had a bonus game so here goes making it's HSC debut is Tin Can Alley Cats. emulator users will need to enable BASIC (altirra: settings, firmware) if you need any help let me know. Not sure if bluecat will aprove as you seem to be knocking cats off your fence! It's from The Best of Antic Vol 1 so it should be fun for a quick go - Instructions [1pt for highest score] :)

 

Round Closes Sunday 29th March 10am UK time

 

If you missed any of the previous three HSC rounds feel free to post a score (on those threads)

 

Have Fun :)

Edited by therealbountybob
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Ok the short version is. Jump into a window on the first screen, if you successfully complete the next screen you'll be back on to the first but this time when you jump through a window you'll be transported to the hearts board. If you can get to the top and kiss your girlfriend the game levels up and you start again!

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This is a hard game not to like. Why the strong feelings of dislike so early in the round?

 

I dunno. I guess I was expecting more from a game deemed to be a classic?

 

Or maybe it doesn't play quite so well on an emulator as it does on real hardware with a real joystick.

 

Even so, I find the mini games frustrating rather than fun - even though I actually managed to complete the cheese round.

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It is a difficult game to play and can be very frustrating. Once you've played it a bit you get used to the frustrations of getting swept out of the window by the broom, falling off the washing line and most of all not being able to get to the top of the hearts board and then having to start all over again! It's a good game and worth playing if you have the time and patience

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1360 - because I haven't got a clue what you're supposed to do in this game.

There's a link to the manual (PDF) on atarimania on the first post... the game is tricky at first but each screen has several ways of playing - once you have a plan for each it's fun.

 

Most important hints:

There is little chance of playing without a joystick - you need to make a lot of use of the diagonals as you fling yourself around the screens.

make use of the running jump

jump directly onto the tall bins

practice the seamless 'run to bin' as soon as you fall off the washing line

learn what costs you a life and what just kicks you out

General hints:

attack each screen right from the off

dive into the open windows using diagonals

leave a lot of footprints (patch of four rows is good) at the start of screens

get down low quickly for the fish

if in desperate dog trouble, run into the broom to get air-bourne

hold the button in on the cheese to go between a pair of holes and jump from the positions

lure the spiders down and jump across at the top

use the presents to kill off a cat so you have a safety row

you can leap up to your girlcatfriend from below

don't let sleeping dogs lie but watch their eyes!

 

my score 002-1856

post-19705-0-98523200-1426528218_thumb.jpg

almost certainly McKong will be 3 in a row after this round :twisted: :P :-D

 

p.s. if you've not pressed [space] yet do so!!

Edited by therealbountybob
More Catnip sorry Cat Tips :D
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This is a hard game not to like. Why the strong feelings of dislike so early in the round?

 

 

I actually disagree with this statement, even though I do like the game.

 

It's easy to see why someone would get frustrated with it, and if I hadn't played it a lot back in the 80s I could definitely see myself not liking it.

 

I've got a score but I'll wait until I can add a screenshot (which is another way of saying I can't remember the score until I see the picture :) ).

 

I can't believe how big McKong's score is now, let alone the HSC high score. There's no *way* I get close to that - well done sir!

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I haven't played either game yet, but I'm intrigued by BASIC games like "Tin Pan Alley Cats." They're not always great, but these are the types of games that I was first exposed to in the early 1980s. I dug out my version of the "Best of Antic" book and read the short directions. I figured that others might benifit too, so I OCRed the one-page docs. Here they are:

 

"Tin Pan Alley Cats"

By Rick Bloom and Rob Glassman

From: The Best of Antic: An Anthology, Volume One

1983

 

After you've worked hard all day and programmed all night, the last thing you need is to have your few hours of sleep disturbed by alley cats howling on your back fence. There are three of the buggers-- a green one, a white one and a pink one. Every now and then one jumps up where you can hit it with a tin can, if you're quick enough.

 

That's the scenario for Tin Pan Alley Cats, a one-player BASIC game requiring joystick and 16K RAM. You start out with 25 tin cans that you can kick toward the fence by pressing the fire button. But first you must move horizon­tally along the fence to lineup under the cats as they appear and disappear at random. The pink cat is the fastest, and hitting it scores the most points. The green cat is slowest, and hitting it yields the least. The cats will appear 35 times during a game, and the pace quickens as you use up your cans. When you hit a cat you will see it and hear it, and points will be added to your score.

If you score 2,000 points, you get five extra cans, and the cats appear five extra times. The bonus is repeated if you reach 3,000 and 4,000 points. The high score of your session is saved after each round. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted by changing the value of TUF in lines 280-310.

Thanks go to Stan Ockers for his ideas on vertical blank interrupts (ANTIC, June 1982). We modified the VBI into a fast joystick routine.

We also thank Jerry White for his ideas on sounds and the ATARI (ANTIC, October 1982).

The BASIC program for this game is about eight full-pages long. If you're interested in seeing the Analog book, then it's on AtariMania. Maybe you can type the original code in yourself (lose a point this round if you bother with that!). Here's a link to the quite large (81.9MB!) pdf:

http://www.atarimania.com/documents/The-Best-of-Antic-Anthology.pdf

I hope to play this game on real hardware-- that will be neat. Thanks for choosing an unsual bonus game that fits in with the theme of "Alley Cat." Another unusual one would have been to have picked "Cloudbust," a neat little game where it will sometimes rain cats and dogs (literally!). For a good overview of that game, check out this fun review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5AYzICTelw

I'm looking forward to this round... even if I'm not any good at the main game.

Adam

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I can't believe how big McKong's score is now, let alone the HSC high score. There's no *way* I get close to that - well done sir!

Ahem Ahem cough splutter:

 

Cat Scratch Fever...

Cat Scratch Fever

 

017-0415

 

& Tin Can Alley Cats 1850 :music:

I'll take it while it lasts :P no improvement today :(

If you're wondering about big scores there's such a lot for delivering the kiss (with a present) and I think you get an extra life each time so you can sometimes get lucky and leap right up there

 

p.s.

Nice info BallyAlley :thumbsup: Yes Cloudburst is a very good game will squeeze it in later in the season as a bonus or part of a special round

 

I've added some more Hints on Post 10 :)

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After reading about everyone playing this fun game, I had my first (and only) game of "Alley Cat" late last night:

 

7,192 - Real NTSC 130XE

 

I've played this game before, but it's been awhile. I forgot how natural it is while swimming for the fish in the goldfish bowl (that's REALLY deep and has electric eels that have escaped from Pitfall 2!). I also didn't know I could press the button and go into the cheese. I really have to read the manual for this game-- although I had planned on that already. This game's control is great, and it's good fun to boot! Also, the animation is simply fabulous-- I wish later games had stayed with the simplicity of this game. This is a stand-out game from the early 1980s, and it deserves its well-earned reputation.

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Hello from the Philippines!

 

My first time to join the fun.

 

Haven't played this game in decades! So, here's my first stab at this.

 

001-3208

Welcome pusakat :thumbsup:

 

... This game's control is great, and it's good fun to boot! Also, the animation is simply fabulous-- I wish later games had stayed with the simplicity of this game. This is a stand-out game from the early 1980s, and it deserves its well-earned reputation.

It's amazing he crammed in so many nice screens no duffers and totally original. His games are all special :thumbsup:

 

Loved this on the PC. Still haven't decided which version is better, although if the PC version had been in full color I'd have to give the nod to that one.

 

Been trying to get the guy who runs VGJunk to review this. Sadly, I don't think it's gonna happen.

I remember that CGA goodness :)

 

Cheating on the cheese :twisted: will give you nightmares :D

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