WolfAmongWolves Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Laser Gates is one of the rare 2600 games that is supposed to be beatable: Destroy the four failsafe detonators, and according to the manual you've won the game. What has always frustrated me about this game is that it doesn't seem possible to reach the fourth detonator. Even if I manage to shoot or avoid the obstacles and keep my shields up, I always die because I run out of energy, as the game simply does not provide an energy pod when needed. This often also happens before I reach the third detonator. Energy burns at a steady rate, unaffected by laser fire and collisions. The Dante Dart also advances down the cavern at a steady pace, and even if you fly to the left side of the screen to dodge an attacker, you can never slow down or stop your overall progress. While it is possible to accelerate your advance by flying to the right side of the screen, this is not really a feasible technique because that's where all the enemies and obstacles appear, and you don't have time to shoot or dodge them if your ship is glued there. I'd really be interested to know whether anyone has ever managed to actually destroy all four failsafe detonators and beat the game. If not, has anyone ever taken a look at the game's code and figured out at which intervals the energy pods are supposed to appear or what triggers their appearance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 I thought I read somewhere that someone did beat it (don't know if it was through hacking or not) but that there was no ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Dan Oliver wrote this game and is on these forums as DanOliver. Imagic did make a few changes after Dan sold the game. Ask Dan to post what he knows... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Not sure but it is one of the hidden gems on the 2600 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Ok I was right. According to this the game just ends: http://www.2600connection.com/eastereggs/26lasergates.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 What about Dans original Romset? (untouched by Imagic) known as Rescue Terra 2 maybe? LOL could that have an ending? Dan?! Did you program an ending or at least envision one at done point during development? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 What about Dans original Romset? (untouched by Imagic) known as Rescue Terra 2 maybe? LOL could that have an ending? Dan?! Did you program an ending or at least envision one at done point during development? AFAIK there are only minor differences between the Venturevision and Imagic versions of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfAmongWolves Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Thanks for the info, guys. Let's see if Dan can shed some light on this matter. I'd be really interested to know if the non-appearing energy pod is a bug or if it is just generated randomly and sometimes the player is just plain out of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Propane13 Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 There's a thread here that may be of value. This is where a few atariagers have gotten the highest of scores: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/195785-atari-2600-knockout-round-13-laser-gates/?hl=%20laser%20%20gates Might be worth seeing if those top players want to try it again. They had some theoretical techniques for getting to a 4th detonator. But, it looks like the High Score club time expired before any of that could happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LidLikesIntellivision Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 If I remember right, when I came back to the game some months after that week on HSC, I could found the 4th detonator shot at it and then the game freezed. Unfortunately that wasn't a hard and legit gaming achievement, I used the disable collision detection function in stella to get that far. So, I still want to play it more and finish the game playing fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deteacher Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I suppose if someone wanted to hack the game to give unlimited energy/shields/D-Time, then we'd be able to solve this mystery once and for all. Anyone able to hack it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Just play in the Stella emulator and save the state frequently. A couple of years ago, I wanted to see what the end was like, so I pressed F9 after blasting every single enemy on the fourth level, while pushing rightward on the joystick to speed as often as possible. Whenever I was nailed, I'd press F11 to restore the state. Since it was cheating, it obviously wasn't done to try setting a high score or anything; I just wanted to see what happened when the game was beat. The game just ends. This is common on the 2600. Did you expect some Engrish message? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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