NoahsMyBro

Over 25K ??!!? Surely you meant 2500, not 25,000, right?

Of course, difficulty A. I haven't tried B ( and don't expect to). I'm using a Wico Command Control bat-style. I think I'm getting stuck on wave 7, maybe 8. It's a wave where the Ties are almost immediately right on top of you, and there isn't time to scroll the incoming fire off the screen. I think I'll try a CX-40, see what happens.

I'm curious - Could those of you who've already scored at least 3500 chime in with what controller you used while playing? I seem to have hit a brick wall at approx. 2300 points, and while I don't think my controller is causing me any problems, I'm beginning to wonder if it might be worthwhile to try a different one. SO what did you guys use?

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I'm playing Difficulty A. A results in higher scores, right? -- Steve PS: Anybody know of any decent pawns or thrift stores in NJ, where I might pick up a cheap 19" Stereo TV?

I just tried Star Fire out on our main TV in the Den. Sure enough - the special ship in level 5 (Slave ship?) was simply too dark/dim to be visible on my TV in the game room. I managed to get 2274 points right off the bat! Literally off the bat, too - I've settled on using the Wico Command Control stick with the baseball bat-style handle! Pretty soon I think I'll be seeing that glorious badge of honor (the patch, you nitwit!) coming to my mailbox.... First Battlesphere, now Star Fire... I've GOT to get a new gaming TV!

Unfortunately, the TV has no contrast control (I swear!), and the brightness has been at full-blast since I discovered the problem on Battlesphere. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to try this out on a different TV soon. I'll let you guys know the outcome once I do. -- Steve

One other possibilty occurred to me - The TV I'm using is old, and the display is not as bright as it should be. When I got Battlesphere a few years ago, I discovered it was unplayable on this TV, because it was impossible to see the many navy-blue colored objects against the black background. Is it possible that whatever is left for me to shoot is dark blue or dark gray, and I simply can't see it on this TV? I'll have to attach an RF switch to my better TV and test this theory out later. -- Steve

Well this is frustrating. There's no way I'm going to break 3500 if I can't get to Wave 6. I'm almost positive that my copy is simply not letting me advance past Wave 5. Every time I finish off Wave 5 no warp appears, and I am left just flying around aimlessly. I can still control the ship (steer and shoot), but there is nothing to do. Pressing Reset once brings me back to the title screen. I've tried the cart on a 2600jr and a 6-switch VCS. I'm seeing the problem on both. I don't know what I can do about this. This is very frustrating.

Beats me. I don't see how that could be possible, but I don't really know. For what it's worth, I just scored 1799 (best so far), and my left hand really hurts! I'm thinking I may try Genesis or Pointmaster controllers and see how I do with one of them. Damn I ought to go to bed.

The same quirk just occurred again! I think I'm in level 5 (not sure). My score was about 1150 before entering the sector. I've killed off all the bad guys, and no warp appears. The shield indicators are all dark green, the border around the screen is white, and the radar shows no objects at all, with a yellow inner square and a sky-blue outer square.

Well, I received my copy of Star Fire tonight, and it's very impressive! (below are excerpts from an email I just fired off to Albert) We had company over this evening, so I wasn't able to open it and check it out until about 30 minutes ago (it's now 3am), but I must say it's pretty cool! The instruction manual is First-Rate stuff, as is the game - graphics, sound, gameplay, all very good! Now, I don't know if this is due to my advancing age, but I seem to recall in my youth playing these games for hours before my hands began to ache - I've only played Star Fire for about 30 minutes, and my wrists ache already. And I've tried using an Epyx 500j, and then a CX-40. So far, my best score is around 1200. AND, I don't know how I did it, but at one point I managed to kill off all enemies in the sector, and no warp ever appeared, leaving me to fly around aimlessly for all eternity. The only thing left to do was hit reset. Have you heard of that occurring before? ____________________________________________________________ So, to sum up - the game is very good, I'm lousy at it and my hands hurt, and I think I found an interesting bug. That is all.

I didn't like the 2600 Asteroids at all. It seemed easy and boring. OTOH, I loved 2600 Space Invaders, and didn't care for it in the arcades - I couldn't get the hang of controlling the gun using the buttons, but it worked beautifully with the joystick. For me: Arcade -- Asteroids by a mile. 2600 -- Space Invaders by a mile.

I generally assume things like this are already available online. However, if the playbooks aren't posted somewhere, I'm happy to scan and post them. -- Steve

I now have almost everything ready for the Star Fire "Thank You" boxed sets. Maybe in a week or two they'll ship. :wink: Greetings, Manuel What is the 'Thank You' box? I've pored through the thread, and can't find any more details on it. As an aside, I just ordered a copy of Star Fire last week. Like neotokeo2001, I too hope I have a chance to earn a patch before they're all gone. -- Steve

Here's my $.02: I love the idea of the patches and letters. BUT, I think anybody that meets the requirement should get the patch, and it should not be limited to the first nn requests. If cost is a problem, charge $3 or $4 for the patches and still require some sort of accomplishment (IE, don't just sell the patches). That's what I'd like. -- Steve

Ya' Know, I'm as staunch a defender of the 5200 as you'll ever find, and as unfair as this ganging up on the controllers is, I've got to say, that was really funny. If Kelso was in the room, I just know he'd point to the 5200 and yell 'BUUURRRRRRNNN!!!'

See subject.

Clay, What ever happened to the awesome sounding adapter you planned on producing? (It should be noted that I detest the word awesome and it's overuse, but it is definitely the right word in this case!) I've been hoping I could get one ever since then, alternatingly wishing it would come out already, and hoping it doesn't come out quite yet as I'm not ready to lay out the cash. A status report would at least give my overactive mind something to work with. Thanks, Steve

I haven't heard of calibrating the pots in the controllers. I have heard of calibrating the controller ports in the console itself, and I've done so. I don't know the 'official' way to do this, but basically I stick in Missile Command, and then verify that the controller can travel full-range in all directions. I double-check using Super Breakout, to again make sure the controller can move all the way to either extreme, right or left. If things aren't just-right, I tweak the controller port pot until they are. The other pot you'll see is used to adjust the color displayed, so if your colors are off you can adjust it a little bit. More knowledgeable folks than I are around in the hardware forum, in case you want more skilled advice. -- Steve

While Pac Man would have been a killer pack-in, another one could have been Star Raiders. On the one hand it had already been out for a while (and was an effective killer app) for the Atari 400 & 800, but on the other hand there may have been MANY people, myself included, who would have loved to have Star Raiders, but didn't have or want a computer system.

My son is almost 3, and just this week I saw something scary. My collection fills my basement, which has walls lined with heavy, dark wood shelving mounted using those slotted tracks and the L-brackets that fit into the slots. I don't know if that's what you meant. Well, the other night my son was in the basement with me, running around trying to keep me from catching him and carting him to his room - it was bedtime. As he ran around in the basement, he began to reach up to try and climb the shelves, and I had this horrifying vision of him pulling the shelves down on him, raining a large part of my collection, which would be full of 'sharp and heavy', down on him, damaging the collection, but more importantly him. Don't consider shelves necessarily out of harm's way. Once Nate was able to climb he's been able to get just about anywhere. And he's now to the point where he can still climb anywhere, but is now heavy enough to cause things to break/fall/collapse, and he doesn't realize that yet.

As Capt. Feathersword likes to say, 'Well blow me down!', a contest I actually have a fighting chance to win! Or, to be succinct, I'm in too!

So, what's the latest with the Masterplay? Are we there yet?? Huh? Huh? Are we there yet??

Well, I haven't had a chance to revisit this yet, but over the weekend somebody made me a suggestion that I wanted to run by you guys -- If the center post and outer ring on the video RCA socket are reversed, would/could that cause a black & white image?