Ze_ro

Oh, whoops... I guess I shouldn't use the term "CST". I *do* following daylight savings (even though I consider it silly and pointless), I just didn't realize that time zones actually change names during that time. (/me changes original post) Being on Central time, I've always found it incredibly annoying when TV channels exclusively tell you times in Eastern and Pacific. --Zero

Yeah, I try to avoid that as much as possible. One of the things I've always liked to emphasize in all this is playing obscure or uncommon games that people don't normally think about... but this often leads to playing games that really are quite bad. I do what I can to try to use a good game before and after any game that I know is going to be bad. I also try not to use too many rare games, prototypes or homebrews, as I know this can turn some people off (Luckily, with flash carts becoming more and more common, this is becoming less of an issue). I'm assuming you're saying that like you'd rather see Pac-Man played more often... but frankly, I don't like to repeat games. As you said, there are hundreds of them, and when at all possible, I want to introduce new games rather than ones that have shown up time and time again. Actually, I've been using requests less and less anyways. This season (more than any other), I've taken to introducing my own choices much more often, and the last few weeks I haven't even attributed to anyone (though some of them were requests). Quite honestly, I get a lot of requests that I know won't turn out well... either because the game is not fun, or is incredibly rare, or has wonky scoring, or has been played four times already. I used to do games in the order they were requested with no exceptions... then I started mixing up some of the requests to get some balance (heck, I think earlier this season, I choose three of roadrunners selections in a row!)... then I started adding my own games in to break things up a bit. I've actually already put together a list of the first 10 games I plan to use for next season, in a specific order that I feel will work without bunching up "difficult" games. All 10 are well known games, only one of which is rare (a 6), and only 3 of which have been previously played (and even those three are from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seasons). This doesn't mean that requests are closed, of course. In fact, some of the ones in my list are from requests, and I still have all the requests in a list, though some have been waiting a long time while I try to find just the right time for then (like Elevators Amiss, which I've probably shuffled to the bottom a dozen times now... sorry toymailman!) I just want to point out some of the difficulties involved in scheduling things. I feel this will work better, as this will actually be the first time I've thought it out this far ahead of time. I usually just pull a game out of my ass every Wednesday and hope for the best Well, the problem is that it IS broken. If you look at the standings, the top 4 or 5 people are pretty much cemented in place, and I think toymailman probably clinched the number 1 spot several months ago. Not that I want to take anything away from the excellent players that post consistently impressive scores, but I'd like to somehow get a bit more competition out of things. I'm sure a lot of newcomers see 200+ scores and think "Oh forget this!" Fifty weeks is simply far too long to keep things close. Honestly, the 2-weeks thing was mostly to keep the length of each season the same. I've thought of stuff like that too... like having 4 or 5 games for a two-week bonus round and combining scores from all games for the rankings or something... Sort of like what the NWC cartridge does, but without the time limit. I like the idea of doing weird stuff now and then, but I'm not sure yet how to fit it in. We'll see. If things were to drop down to 25 games a season, all it would mean is resetting the scores more often. It wouldn't really affect the way I choose games. Earlier this season, when we played Strategy X, only four people submitted scores. With this kind of a system, if someone else posted even an amazing score, they'd only be able to get 5 points, and everyone else would get the same amounts of points regardless. In fact, I like to think that there was some inspiration in that week because someone could have come along, played the game for the first time, posted a score of just 1000 points, and got 7 points that week... that's certainly a nice jump-start for a newcomer! I've thought about changing the scoring format several times, but I can never seem to come up with anything that's really any better than what I'm currently using. Unfortunately, any score-based bonuses that I introduce are naturally awarded to the top players, and extend the scoring gap between players. Patch scores are fun because most of them can be attained by casual players if they make the effort, but it's only going to be the absolute top performers that beat Todd Rogers scores. There's also the problem that TG simply doesn't have scores for some of the games we play, or we're playing a different mode than the default. I'll have to try to think up some creative bonus challenges that don't necessarily relate to scoring. I'd like to encourage more casual players, but of course, this whole thing is a scoring contest which favours the more consistent players... it's pretty much impossible to strike a balance that works both ways. --Zero

Just a note that this season is coming to a close after week 50. When Season 8 starts up, there will likely be some format changes. Specifically, I'm thinking of 20 games in the season, with each one lasting for two weeks. --Zero

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted. Travel to a distant galaxy, and to a planet called Krull! Help Prince Colwyn battle the hideous Beast and his dark army of Slayers. Armed with the weapon of a king - the magical Glaive - you must survive the Slayers' neon spears, pass through the lair of the Widow of the Web, and fight the Best in his own castle. Rescue Princess Lyssa, and the galaxy is yours! Game Information Game Name: Krull Released By: 1983, Atari Left Difficulty: N/A Right Difficulty: N/A Game Mode: Game 1 Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday July 14th at 1:00 AM (Central Time, UTC-6). Current High Scores 127,350 (Scrabbler15) [+11] 24,500 (SekOner) [+10] 18,480 (Jifremok) [+9] 18,010 (toymailman) [+8] 15,810 (JacobZu7zu7) [+7] 6250 (Zoyx) [+6] 5810 (SpiceWare) [+5] 5030 (zylon) [+4] 3870 (roadrunner) [+3] 2730 (Wickeycolumbus) [+2] 2500 (LarcenTyler) [+1] 2410 (oyamafamily) [+1] 2000 (4Ks) [+1] Best Tips Scrabbler15 [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 1, Difficulty B)1,245,900 (Todd Rogers) 33,500 (Keith C Post) 27,100 (James Carter) Current Standings toymailman [448] Zoyx [325] oyamafamily [248] roadrunner [233] darthkur [218] shadow460 [184] LarcenTyler [124] JacobZu7zu7 [117] Cebus Capucinis [107] Deteacher [92] zylon [92] Atardi [84] vjames [71] aftermac [70] keilbaca [64] Mister VCS [63] SpiceWare [62] Captain Beard [61] godzillajoe [56] katana [51] 4Ks [40] Scrabbler15 [31] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] Tr3vor [27] homerwannabee [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] Jifremok [14] HatNJ [14] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] SekOner [10] Chuck D. Head [10] LoneWolfSeth [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] SeaGtGruff [7] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Ravey [5] Chris Leach [5] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Krull Stabbing Slayers - 10-90 points Reaching the Widow's Cocoon - 500 points Jumping Web Strands - 40-60 points Destroying the Beast - 3000 points Breaking into Lyssa's Prison - 70 points per chunk Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Here are the hints it provides: Start playing on Game level 2 - the Beginner version - to become familiar with game play. Then move on to harder levels. Make sure you have at least one Glaive before entering the Black Fortress, since you'll need a weapon to rescue Princess Lyssa and fight the Beast. If you think you may not have enough time to reach the Black Fortress before sunrise, simply wait on the Widow's Cocoon until the next sunrise. Then go down the new path to the Black Fortress. Try to reach the Widow's Cocoon from the upper left side of the web. Maneuver yourself to the web center - the movement of the web will pull you up to the cocoon. Scrabbler15 Don't lose a guy on the first level, no matter what. The risk is not worth the points. The princess is always going to get carried off, anyway. While the princess is being carried off, the slayers can still be killed, so take the free points. On the spider web level, the easiest way to get to the cocoon is to push straight up to get to the top left corner, turn right and make 4 clean jumps over the web strands. To pick up the Glaive or Man at full gallop (on the way to the castle) it seems like pressing the button and holding it a little bit works better than a quick button hit. There are multiple tries available to make the pick-up, so watch the timing. The Glaives/Men are always the same distance apart. To free the princess, get into a back and forth rhythm that is opposite to the beast's back and forth. To throw the Glaive at the prison, push forward and cross over the beast. As soon as the cross over is complete (past the beast), throw the Glaive. After the throw, the Glaive is still steerable, so keep moving away from the beast to get a clear shot at catching the return after it hits the prison. I noticed that when I started freeing the princess and defeating the beast, my scores went down. That's because the second spider web level is impossible to deal with. Instead of the web pushing out to the sides of screen, the web sucks the guy into the middle for a quick and untimely death. So I played the game normally, except that the princess didn't get to see the light of day. At least once, be the hero. Save the girl. However, there is a price to pay for being a hero. And the spider on the second level is coming to collect. --Zero

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted. Once upon a time in a misty, enchanted forest, there lived a colony of good elves. These elves had a major problem, though. There prized mushroom garden was infested with pests--a giant Centipede, a poison-spreading scorpion, a mischief-making spider, and a pesky flea. The good elves tried everything they could to rid their garden of these bugs. But nothing worked. One day, an elf named Oliver was hacking away at a poisoned mushroom in the garden. Suddenly, he saw an unusual stick gleaming in the dirt. Just as Oliver picked up the stick, a spider jumped out from behind a mushroom and rushed at him. When Oliver waved his hands wildly to try to scare the spider away, sparks flew from his stick and the spider disappeared! "How did that happen?" Oliver wondered out load. "Could this be a magic wand?" Soon Oliver had another chance to try the wand. When the scorpion scurried across a row of mushroom, poisoning every mushroom it touched, Oliver pointed the wand at the scorpion and shouted, "Be gone!" Instantly, the scorpion disappeared and the poisoned mushrooms were transformed back into normal mushrooms. "This is great! This is the tool we need to clean up our mushroom garden!" Oliver shouted ecstatically. With his new found magic wand, Oliver hid behind a mushroom. "OK, you great big Centipede," he said. "Come out whever you are. I'm ready for you now!" Game Information Game Name: Centipede Released By: 1982, Atari Left Difficulty: N/A Right Difficulty: N/A Game Mode: Standard Difficulty (No Teddy Bear) Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday July 7th at 1:00 AM (CST). Current High Scores 444,174 (oyamafamily) [+11] 244,195 (Jifremok) [+10] 178,998 (SekOner) [+9] 176,686 (Scrabbler15) [+8] 157,102 (JacobZu7zu7) [+7] 149,856 (SeaGtGruff) [+6] 117,467 (Ravey) [+5] 79,240 (Zoyx) [+4] 66,062 (toymailman) [+3] 56,790 (SpiceWare) [+2] 52,142 (roadrunner) [+1] 43,744 (Mister VCS) [+1] 35,640 (zylon) [+1] Best Tips Scrabbler16 [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 4, Difficulty B)1,211,230 (Frankie Cardulla) 1,110,655 (Todd Rogers) 275,701 (Giovanni Flamand) (Emulator) Current Standings toymailman [445] Zoyx [321] oyamafamily [237] roadrunner [232] darthkur [218] shadow460 [184] LarcenTyler [124] JacobZu7zu7 [110] Cebus Capucinis [107] Deteacher [92] zylon [91] Atardi [84] vjames [71] aftermac [70] keilbaca [64] Mister VCS [62] Captain Beard [61] SpiceWare [60] godzillajoe [56] katana [51] 4Ks [40] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] Tr3vor [27] homerwannabee [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] Scrabbler15 [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] HatNJ [14] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] Chuck D. Head [10] LoneWolfSeth [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Chris Leach [5] Jifremok [4] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] SekOner [1] SeaGtGruff [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Centipede Centipede Body Segment - 10 points Centipede Head - 100 points Spider - 300, 600, or 900 points (depending on range) Flea - 200 points Scorpion - 1000 points Mushroom (totally eliminated) - 1 points Mushroom (wounded or intact at end of turn) - 5 for every 2 Bonus Wand every 10,000 points Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any specific hints, but it's worth reading anyways so you know what you're doing. Shoot away mushrooms in a straight line up the screen to create a "corridor." When the Centipede reaches this "gap," it will fall straight down the battlefield and can be easily picked off. Since the flea doesn't appear until you have eliminated most of the mushrooms near you, you can set up a shield to prevent this lightening-fast pest from striking. Simply leave at least 5 mushrooms on the lower third of the screen. After you score 120,000 points, you'll need to leave 10 mushrooms. Shoot Centipede heads to create new heads out of the body segments left behind. Since heads are worth 10 times the point value of body segments, you'll score lots of points. Each creature makes a distinct sound. By becoming familiar with these sounds, you will know without looking, what is attacking and where it is on the screen. We have played this game before in the HSC, check it out here. Scrabbler15 Start by building the corridor in the middle of the screen. Shoot any mushrooms that end up inside the corridor to keep it clear. At higher levels, this corridor could end up anywhere on the screen. Try to keep it clear and take the easy points by shooting the centipede in the corridor. When the spider comes out, it will usually do it at a 45 degree angle and go all the way to the floor. The other thing it will do is start at 45 degrees and then go straight down, so watch out for that. Playing from the middle is safest, but anticipating the spider and shooting it before it gets started can be cheap points (if the wand doesn't get crushed in the process). Shoot the spider when it's as far away as possible. Even doing that, there will be plenty of accidental 600's and 900's. Using this method allows the chasing of a spider that has already moved pass the wand (The spider moves either right-to-left or left-to-right, but not both on the same pass). Once the spider touches the floor, it becomes unpredictable. Wait for it to bounce high before trying to shoot it or move past it. The wand is safest when it's on the floor. Don't move up the screen, except to jump out of the way of something. I know some players like to shoot the flies, but I don't. So I leave enough mushrooms on the lower part of the screen that the flies stay away. Try to make sure to clear any mushrooms that accidentally form a corridor at the bottom of the screen. This corridor of death allows the centipede to be funneled all the way to the floor, which is not good. When shooting pieces of the centipede on the lower part of the screen, try to use mushrooms to backstop the shots. Even when the shots miss, the reloading is faster than if the shot went all the way up the screen. This is also helpful for clearing multiple loose centipede pieces, because of the rapid reload. Always go for the scorpion. The points are worth it and a hit will cancel any poison mushrooms that would have happened otherwise. When the screen starts to fill up with poison mushrooms, just survive as long as possible. When the wand is finally lost, the new screen for the next wand will have fresh (not poison) mushrooms. If possible, try to keep a clear path all the way up both sides of the screen. Then, when the scorpion comes out, there will be at least one clear shot at it before it disappears. oyamafamily If you have 7 Wands in reserve (which is the maximum number of lives) displayed at the bottom of the screen, here's my advice: DON'T score the next multiple of 10,000 points (including bonus points for mushrooms intact). For example: if your score is 68,500 points with 7 lives in reserve, let the spider, flea or Centipede bite your Wand. --Zero

I vote for the 2000. --Zero

... and here's a link that might help you on the TurboExpress. --Zero

If you're looking for versatility, then any normal television will do. The C64 outputs S-Video after all. If you're intent on a Commodore monitor though, then the 1084S is the best you'll find (Supports RGB, so this is highly prized by video enthusiasts and modders). If you want something that matches the older brown C64's, then a 1702 is a nice fit. --Zero

AmigaOS hands down. I remember using it on my brother's Amiga 500, and it was doing things that made Windows 3.1 (and sometimes even Win95) look like an absolute joke, even though the 500 was pretty long in the tooth at the time. Hell, even the Amiga's CLI had some amazing features that have no equal outside the Unix world. --Zero

Well, I think a lot of companies actually did just that. Write nice music for the Roland MT-32 or General MIDI, then write some driver that can read the same music and reformat it (in a much lower quality) for a Sound Blaster or Adlib card. These days I don't think it makes a big difference. Back then, there was a wide array of cards with different features and different price points, and you kind of had to do your homework to figure out what was worth spending your money on. These days, I think most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a top of the line Sound Blaster and the old AC'97 that motherboards used to use. The X-Fi cards have some nice features, but even most gamers probably don't use most of them. --Zero

In the computer industry, it's common practice to leave things unused in case future redesigns need the space. You'll even see this in the design of microprocessors when there are flags that used to be marked as "unused", but were later used for newer features like virtualization or memory protection or whatever. Trying to kludge in something like that later on gets incredibly complicated if you haven't left space for it. I've also seen electrical connectors were certain pins were left unused, but in later revisions they put a +5V power supply on that line... hope you didn't hook that pin to ground on your cable! Long story short, if something is "unused", then don't use it! (especially since most of the problems in this respect are actually "write only" memory that was written over carelessly) Holy hell, that's quite a wall of disks you have there... I sure hope you put them there for the picture, and don't leave them blocking access to the computer the whole time! You really might want to look into getting a 1541 Ultimate... it would save you a ton of space. --Zero

It always amazes me when people make these "worst of" lists, and they list a bunch of consoles like Jaguar and 32X. If you do a little research, you'll find a whole bunch of systems that were FAR bigger failures. Hell, at least the Virtual Boy made it to market... some consoles didn't even that far! For example: Active Enterprises Action GameMaster - This was going to be a handheld system, and the plan was for add-ons to allow it to play NES, Genesis and SNES games (as well as others that did stuff like play CD's). Anyone with half a brain could look at this and know right away that this was never going to work. First of all, the design is a damn nightmare... it's difficult to tell the scale, but either this "handheld" is incredibly huge, or has a screen the size of a postage stamp. Also, the logistics of being able to play games for three completely different systems is just unworkable for a handheld. Remember the LaserActive? It was a Laserdisc player that you could buy expansions for that played Genesis and TG-16 games... except the expansions cost $600 each. Not to mention that powering all this hardware would be a nightmare, since it relied on 1993 technology (The Nomad had 2 extra years of tech at it's disposal and still barely manages to run on batteries). Since the only product this company had released before this was an unlicensed game (Action 52, which is another huge red flag), you can only assume that they planned to do all this without any help from Nintendo or Sega. Good luck there guys! Whoever ran this company was completely delusional if they thought any of this had any chance of working. Infinium Labs Phantom - The whole idea here was this was going to be based on PC hardware, and all the games would be delivered via digital distribution, so no discs. The upside of course is that you'd have a library of hundreds of games that could be made available at launch, which is nice and all... but what about new games? At no point do I ever recall any claims of games being made specifically for the Phantom, so you would have had to rely on PC games that Infinium managed to get running on the Phantom. Anyone who does any PC gaming knows how fast the industry moves, so how long do you think the Phantom would have remained viable before new PC games would have no chance of running on it? Maybe 6 months? And then what? Buy a new Phantom? This was obviously the main reason the Phantom never happened... Infinium took too long with it, and by the time they got near a finished product, it was already too far behind the curve and they had to redesign. It was an interesting concept, but with major flaws that a small, unknown company like Infinium really had no means of fixing. Also, lets take a look at the digital distribution thing. This thing was announced in 2002. Lets say we're really patient and don't mind waiting while our console downloads gigabytes worth of data for a game, judging from this info, I really doubt you'd see this machine with any more than a 40GB hard drive (sure, bigger ones were available, and since it was the heart of this whole idea, maybe they'd use a bigger one, but it gets a bit pricey, especially for a machine that absolutely had to have the most powerful hardware you could afford). By the end of that 6 month window of relevance, you'd be constantly deleting and re-downloading games. Indrema L600 - This was another PC-based machine, except it ran Linux. So you don't get any of the benefits of using established hardware, since it didn't use Windows, but you do get a machine that users can program themselves. I love the idea of an open-source system that anyone can write software for... but there was no real chance that any major companies were going to write software for it (even if only for fear of piracy from a community that expects most of their software to be free). Trying to sell the system on fan-made games alone would have been a pretty rough ride... their only real chance would have been to appeal to hobbyists, sort of like the XGameStation (I'd have included that one too, but the designers are well aware of it's niche market, and embraced the whole idea, so in that respect I suppose it has "succeeded"). GamePark XGP - This gets a little confusing, so bear with me: GamePark is a Korean company that released a handheld called the GP32 back in late 2001. The machine was completely open source, and the main draw for fans of the system were emulators that were ported to it. GamePark released a few commercial games, but they managed to scrape by largely on the profit from sales of the system itself. Schisms within the company led to the creation of a different company called "GamePark Holdings" (again, bear with me). GPH went on to release the GP2X, which was even more successful than the GP32. GamePark themselves were planning on releasing a similar system called the "XGP", which was going to be slightly more powerful than the GP2X. Delays continued, and eventually they announced they were going to release not one, but THREE separate machines: The XGP, XGP Mini, and XGP Kids. The XGP and XGP Mini were mostly the same except for the screen (480x272 Widescreen on the XGP, 320x240 4:3 on the Mini). The XGP Kids was far less powerful (being based largely on the GP32 rather than the current design), though cheaper, and aimed at a younger audience who might not care about whiz-bang graphics. Eventually, the company stopped releasing information, time went on, and it was clear that the company had quietly gone out of business. There's no real smoking gun here as to why they failed (probably just not enough capital), but splintering their market and dividing with three different machines with different specifications would have pretty much doomed them, especially when GPH pretty much had the market cornered by that point. So there are four machines that failed for very different reasons. You may think it's cheating to choose machines that never made it to market, but the fact is that if you're going to talk about game systems that failed, can you really say that N-Gage failed worse than any of these machines? At least the N-Gage made it to market, had 3rd party support, lots of hardware sold, and plenty of people knew about it. --Zero

There's also at least one desktop CD-i model that was released under the LG name, and I recall seeing an LG 3DO at one point too (I can't seem to find any pictures of it now, but it wasn't the same as the Goldstar model). Excellent deal on the CD-i. If you actually want to use it to play games, I recommend getting a gamepad to go with it (look for the three-button one, it's better than the four-button one). That "controller" you're getting is known to be pretty crappy. I always thought it was funny how the portable CD-i's have built-in controls, but they put the D-pad on the right for some reason. --Zero

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted. USS MOONSWEEPER --ALERT! Your mission: to reach and rescue miners stranded on hostile moons in Star Quadrant Jupiter²! Warning! Proceed with extreme caution. Deadly photon torch and space bullet showers reported. Aurora flare activity in Quadrant at lethal levels. Take evasive action, then land on as many moons as you can. Avoid colliding with lunar landmarks. Unidentified alien ships patrol moons and launch armed surface destroyers. Survive at all costs or the miners won't make it! Game Information Game Name: Moonsweeper Released By: 1983, Imagic Left Difficulty: N/A Right Difficulty: N/A Game Mode: Game 4: Hardest Difficulty Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday June 30th at 1:00 AM (CST). Current High Scores 89,010 (JacobZu7zu7) [+11] 80,840 (shadow460) [+10] 35,785 (toymailman) [+9] 11,420 (Scrabbler15) [+8] 9155 (SpiceWare) [+7] 6370 (oyamafamily) [+6] 5040 (Chuck D. Head) [+5] 3460 (LarcenTyler) [+4] 2780 (roadrunner) [+3] 1530 (Zoyx) [+2] Best Tips shadow460 [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 4, Difficulty B)538,580 (Christian L Keilback) Current Standings toymailman [436] Zoyx [319] oyamafamily [231] roadrunner [229] darthkur [218] shadow460 [172] LarcenTyler [120] Cebus Capucinis [107] JacobZu7zu7 [99] Deteacher [92] zylon [91] Atardi [84] vjames [71] aftermac [70] keilbaca [64] Mister VCS [62] Captain Beard [61] godzillajoe [56] SpiceWare [53] katana [51] 4Ks [40] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] Tr3vor [27] homerwannabee [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] HatNJ [14] Scrabbler15 [13] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] LoneWolfSeth [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Chuck D. Head [5] Chris Leach [5] Jifremok [4] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] SekOner [1] SeaGtGruff [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Moonsweeper [*]Action Blue Moon Green Moon Yellow Moon Red Moon Rescue Miner 10 20 30 40 Shoot Tower, Surface Destroyer, or Missile 10 10 40 80 Shoot Lander Ship 200 200 300 300 Shoot Satellite 300 500 700 1000 Blast Off 980 1225 1470 1960 [*]Shoot a Space Bullet, Aurora Flame, or Photon Torch - 10 points (In orbit only) [*]Use of Forcefield Shield decreases points while shield is in use [*]An extra Moonsweeper is awarded every 10,000 points, up to a maximum of nine in total Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any specific hints, but it's worth reading anyways so you know what you're doing. We have played this game before in the HSC, check it out here. LarcenTyler If you see a Satellite, fire a missile at it (pull back and press the button.) If you hit it, it's worth big points! Don't fire indiscriminately! For one thing, you can only have one shot on the screen at a time. More importantly, though, is the fact that miners can accidentally be shot, which gets you no points, but leaves you with a sour aftertaste in your mouth! The difficulty of each moon, from easiest to hardest, is as follows: Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red. Note that on the Blue moons, the accelerator rings, which are used to take off after rescuing six miners, appear in a straight line, while on other moons they appear in a random pattern. Your speed is increased on each moon, depending on the difficulty. When you're on the red moons, note that you can't decelerate at all, meaning you must be very careful when dodging towers and picking up miners. shadow460 IIRC, only two "enemy" objects can be rendered on the moons at a time. These can be the satellite, towers, miners, the lander ship, surface destroyer, or any combination thereof. Having the lander ship or destroyer on screen reduces the chances that a miner will appear. On yellow moons only, there can be two destroyers on screen at a time. I agree with hitting only the red and yellow moons, although you can still net a few points from the blue and green ones. The surface destroyer fires at set intervals. Learn the timing to be able to slide between the bullets. Also, sometimes it moves in set patterns. Get to the edge of the pattern between shots, then knock out the destroyer. The destroyer's first shot is usually aimed right at you regardless of where you are. Be moving if the destroyer touches down. After the first shot, the destroyer usually does not shoot all the way to the right and left edges of the screen. Get under the lander ship as soon as it appears, even on the blue moons. Start shooting directly at it. Often times you'll nail a few destroyers in a row as they drop to the surface. You might be able to nail the lander ship, too. Often two or three lander ships will appear in the same location, making for easy pickings especially on green and yellow moons. You can skip some accelerator rings when taking off. IIRC, you can destroy them, too. When hunting for miners, line up with the radar if it's near the edge of the screen. When you see something on the horizon, shoot first and ask questions later. If you kill a miner, that sucks, but if you hit a tower instead, you lose a ship and the rest of miners on that moon die anyway. Keep shooting in the orbital screen. It's vital that you score a few hits to make up for the points your shield consumes. Also, at the very beginning there is no penalty for using the shield until you've scored some points. Also, I'm finding that occasionally three enemies will be rendered. One is always a Lander Ship, one is always a Destroyer, and the third is either another Destroyer or a tower. When this happens, the Lander Ship flies away. Don't discount shooting the Lander Ships. They're worth 300 points each on the red moons, and they appear far more frequently than the Patrol Satellites do. That 300 points each adds up really fast. Often times you'll hit the falling Destroyer in the process, and a second shot will take down the Lander Ship for a total of 380 points, then it'll all happen again straight away for another 380 points, and so on. --Zero

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted. "Whoowhee! If the folks back home could see me now! When I joined the Vanguard expedition I never thought I'd be flying through the tunnels of Aterria looking for a mythical City of Mystery." "It might not be a myth." "Captain, do you mean to tell me you really believe there is such a city, paved with silver and ruled by a giant called Gond?" "Why not? It's right here in the flight log book we found in the Aterria excavations. That's pretty convincing." "But that book's dated 1983. People believed in all sorts of weird things back then...flying reindeer, egg-laying rabbits..." "When you've been on as many expeditions as I have, you'll believe anything can exist. This whole planet is pretty unreal. Take these tunnel walls, for instance...every color of the rainbow! I'd swear I was in heaven if it weren't for the rocks... "Hey! Watch out! You almost speared us on that stalagmite. I know our spaceship has five live, but we still have a long way to go and we're going to need all the lives we've got. If this log book is telling the truth, these tunnels are full of dangerous flying objects: hovering Mist ships, Harley rockets, Helm balloons." "Yeah. Garimes waiting to tear us with their tentacles and that other cozy customer, the flying Kemlus snake." "Seriously, what do you think the log book means by 'Watch out for the rain of Romedas in the Bleak Zone'?" "I think the pilot that kept that log book was out of his mind, that's what I think. Probably bitten in the head by a Kemlus snake." "Well, if there is anything in this tunnel, we should be sighting it pretty soon. According to our tunnel map, we're entering the Mountain Zone. How's the fuel supply holding out?" "Getting low. We'd better infuse energy pretty quick or we'll crash." "I certainly hope the log is right about energy pods growing in the Mountain Zone. Pod energy is supposed to make us indestructible for 10 seconds. Why, if that's true, we won't need to fire out lasers." "Oh sure, Just run headlong into an enemy ship and POW! down it goes. Listen, I don't believe in pod power any more than I believe in Mist ships. If there is anything like that on Aterria, I'll eat it." "Well, I hope you have the stomach for it. Look what's coming!" "Great Gonds! Mists as thick as hornets and twice as mad." "And they're all yours. Fire at will...and while you're at it, keep an eye out for energy pods." "Roger! City of Mystery, here we come!" Game Information Game Name: Klax Released By: 1982, Atari Left & Right Difficulty: Your choise: A/A - Press the red controller button and move the Joystick in the direction you want to fire. Release the button to stop firing. A/B - Same as method 1 except that you do not have to move the Joystick forward to fire forward. The forward laser gun fires automatically when the red button is pressed. B/A - Move the Joystick in the direction you want to fire. Press the red button to stop firing. B/B - Same as method 3 except that the forward gun fires automatically. Game Mode: Game 1 Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday June 23rd at 1:00 AM (CST). Current High Scores 418,970 (oyamafamily) [+11] 235,130 (shadow460) [+10] 166,270 (toymailman) [+9] 157,190 (Zoyx) [+8] 141,410 (SpiceWare) [+7] 130,170 (keilbaca) [+6] 114,590 (Chuck D. Head) [+5] 89,040 (Jifremok) [+4] 83,350 (Scrabbler15) [+3] 41,320 (zylon) [+2] 39,340 (roadrunner) [+1] 34,700 (SekOner) [+1] 9120 (Tr3vor) [+1] 7180 (LarcenTyler) [+1] Best Tips oyamafamily [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 1, Difficulty B)999,990 (Todd Rogers) 527,720 (Marc Cohen) 239,800 (Todd Smith) Current Standings toymailman [427] Zoyx [311] roadrunner [228] oyamafamily [218] darthkur [218] shadow460 [162] LarcenTyler [119] Cebus Capucinis [107] JacobZu7zu7 [99] Deteacher [92] zylon [89] Atardi [84] vjames [71] aftermac [70] Mister VCS [62] Captain Beard [61] keilbaca [58] godzillajoe [56] katana [51] SpiceWare [46] 4Ks [40] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] homerwannabee [26] Tr3vor [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] HatNJ [14] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] LoneWolfSeth [10] Scrabbler15 [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Chris Leach [5] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] SeaGtGruff [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Vanguard Mist - 70 points Harley - 50 points Helm - 80 points Ammo - 80 points Garime - 100-400 points Barrier - 800 points Base - 100-400 points Kemlus - 100-400 points Romeda - 100 points Dock with Kemlus - 1090 points Destroy Gond - 1000-8000 points Bonus life at 10,000 and 50,000 points Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Here is the hint it provides: FIRING SLOWS YOU DOWN. Your spaceship moves twice as fast when you aren't firing. Hold your fire when you're passing barriers or diving for energy pods. MISTS AND HARLEYS. Keep the spaceship moving up and down to avoid missiles and lay down a barrage of lasers vertically, against the enemy's line of flight. A Mist can only fire once, so you can dodge its missile and then go for it. HELMS AND AMMOS. Try to hit these with your starboard and port lasers before they cross your path. Avoid getting caught between two balloons, since it is hard to fire without moving into them. KEMLUS AND ROMEDAS. Fire horizontally across their line of flight. STRIPPED ZONE. Don't try to shoot everything you pass; think mainly of surviving. Fire at barriers and Garimes through crevices in the rocks, but take care not to crash into the rocks. Don't fire at Paynes. You can't destroy them, and firing slows you down when you need a burst of speed to pass safely. CITY OF MYSTERY. If you want to earn lots of points, hold your fire until the last minute. The trick of course, is to dodge the missiles. Gond aims directly at you, so keep moving. As soon as you enter the city, move up to avoid the first missile. When it passes, move down. Keep changing your position until you run out of room, then fire. We have played this game twice before in the HSC, check it out here. oyamafamily To decrease the risk of collision with the enemies and missiles, I often use the following tactics: Mountain Zone / Stick Zone: Ship positioned at the left side of the screen. Rainbow Zones / Bleak Zone: Ship positioned at the center of the screen. Stripped Zone: I always move the ship to the right because it's the side more confortable, with less risk of collision. City of Mystery: Sometimes I destroy Gond immediately; it's better to get 2000 bonus points than to lose a life. In the Bleak Zone, I often dock with Kemlus THREE TIMES per tunnel in order to earn 3270 bonus points. --Zero

Well, this is very strange. For the hell of it, I tried it again today, and it now works fine. The picture still seems a bit jittery (like, on a scanline basis), but at least the picture on the whole is stable. Maybe the cable I used just isn't high enough quality. I still can't really do anything with the ST anyways, since I don't have a mouse --Zero

Yep. It's a completely proprietary drive. You'll just have to live with it. --Zero

Rumor has it that GPH already has a new system that they're about to release... though it basically just a Wiz with an analog stick instead of the D-pad, more memory, and accelerometers. So who knows what's going to happen. This also likely means that Wiz distribution will probably dry up in favor of this new unit. --Zero

In fact, they've already ordered the parts for the 2nd batch, and they're supposed to be taking pre-orders sometime next month, with the units shipping sometime around September. Everything has gone wrong with this project as far as delays are concerned (and I do mean EVERYTHING. How many other projects can claim a volcano as a legitimate setback?), so I highly doubts that the 2nd batch will happen any time soon. Hell, at the snails pace that they're managing to make the first batch, I'd be amazed if all 4000 are out by the end of the year. There's something like three people and a few volunteers assembling them by hand. It's going to take them forever. This isn't meant to compete with Sony and Nintendo... far from it. It's a niche product aimed at hobbyists and the kind of people who bought the GP2X and Wiz. And if you told the developers they were going to sell 250,000 of them, I think they'd be absolutely ecstatic. --Zero

Well, even if they had all gone over to the 65816, where do you go from there? There was never a successor to the 65816, so it would have just been another dead end. I think maybe a better option would have been for each company to include a "halfway" computer, that used a 68000, but also had a 6502 for compatibility with the previous generation. Apple actually did this via an add-on card. (Also, you might want to check out the C-65... it was never released, but there are some protos out there, and MESS can emulate it. It's a very advanced C-64 with some features that bring it awfully close to the Amiga line!) I think the bigger problem for all three companies was trying to advance their 16-bit machines. Apple was the only one with a clear upgrade path. The Amiga kept throwing up roadblocks with incompatible expansion ports, and different graphics architectures that forced you to buy a whole new machine. The Atari ST seemed to hit a wall trying to grow beyond the 68000, and even when it did, the TT and Falcon seemed to only attract the hardcore fans of the platform. The fact that so much software was written directly for aging hardware made it much harder for the platforms to grow, while PC stuff was standardized enough that you could often just swap out a single part without affecting your older software, and without having to junk the whole machine and start over. --Zero

The connector on my 1084S only has 6 connections: R, G, B, HSync, VSync, and Ground... so no composite sync option at all (I realize some models use a 9-pin connector that only supports composite sync). Does anyone have any official pinout to go by? Like, something scanned from the manual or technical specs or something? The only pinout I found online that even has a basic drawing of the strange connector is this one, and it doesn't specify the orientation, so I had to search out the +12V pin with a multimeter to be sure I had things right (I sure as hell didn't want to get THAT pin wrong!). I did some fiddling around with my multimeter, and it seems that there is a direct connection between ground and cable shielding inside the ST, so I guess I'm safe there. Changing my cable would be completely pointless. --Zero

Alright, so I recently built a cable to hook my ST up to a Commodore 1084S monitor (The kind that uses a 6-pin DIN socket). Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Take a look: These are the opening screens for Dungeon Master, the FTL logo and the title screen itself. Colours are fine and all, except it seems pretty obvious that I've lost vertical and horizontal sync. I've gone through my cable thoroughly, and all my connections are good, and nothing is short circuiting. So what's going on here? The monitor works fine with an Amiga computer, as well as with my Jaguar via an RGB cable that I made years ago. Does the ST use different voltage levels or something? Also, the 1084S end of the cable also has a mono audio cable sticking out so I can get sound through the 1084S. For some reason when I was building the cable, I hooked the audio ground to the cable shielding when it should have been hooked to the actual ground line of the cable (Not sure why I did this... momentary lapse of judgement I suppose). Despite this, the audio works anyways... and I suppose it should, since the shield should theoretically be connected to ground inside the ST as well (or at least at the same potential as ground). Since this is technically wrong, should I fix it, or just be happy that it works anyways? --Zero

Important Note: There is no more time for Klax. You've selected your level, and now the colored tiles start to tumble down the ramp. you zoom your paddle back and forth to catch the tiles and flip them into the bins to create rows of same colored tiles, The rows can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal, and three or more tiles in a row create a Klax. Sounds Easy, right? It is, until the tiles speed up and tumble down the ramp so fast you can barely keep up! Faster and faster, your paddle becomes a blur as you struggle to keep up with the pace. Will you ace the wave or are you destined to fail? Either way, you'll find yourself quickly addicted to the good klean fun of tic-tac-KLAX! Game Information Game Name: Klax Released By: Unreleased! Developed by Atari Left Difficulty: N / A Right Difficulty: N / A Game Mode: Your choice of starting wave. Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday June 16th at 1:00 AM (CST). Current High Scores 91,225 (oyamafamily) [+11] 52,960 (Scrabbler15) [+10] 44,780 (Zoyx) [+9] 34,390 (Mister VCS) [+8] 30,860 (roadrunner) [+7] 28,705 (zylon) [+6] 22,100 (keilbaca) [+5] 20,200 (SpiceWare) [+4] 5450 (LarcenTyler) [+3] Best Tips oyamafamily [+2] Challenges None TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 1, Difficulty B)89,090 (Nathan Page) 55,765 (Mr. Kelly R Flewin) 34,550 (Ron Corcoran) Current Standings toymailman [427] Zoyx [302] roadrunner [221] darthkur [218] oyamafamily [205] shadow460 [162] LarcenTyler [116] Cebus Capucinis [107] JacobZu7zu7 [99] Deteacher [92] Atardi [84] zylon [83] vjames [71] aftermac [70] Captain Beard [61] godzillajoe [56] Mister VCS [54] keilbaca [53] katana [51] SpiceWare [42] 4Ks [40] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] homerwannabee [26] Tr3vor [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] HatNJ [14] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] LoneWolfSeth [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Chris Leach [5] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] SeaGtGruff [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Klax Vertical Klax3 tiles - 50 points 4 tiles - 1,000 points 5 tiles - 1,500 points Horizontal Klax3 tiles - 100 points 4 tiles - 500 points 5 tiles - 1,000 points Diagonal Klax3 tiles - 500 points 4 tiles - 1,000 points 5 tiles - 1,500 points Sometimes placing a tile will result in a multiple Klax. For example, you could complete both a vertical and a diagonal Klax with the placement of a single key tile. If this occurs, you receive multiple Klax bonus points in addition to the points for each Klax. Multiple Klaxs are also worth more than one Klax towards the completion of certain waves. Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Here is the hint it provides: Try for complex Klaxs on lower level waves to increase your score. Go for chain reactions and simultaneous Klaxs. Don't throw too many tiles back up onto the ramp. You can get into trouble very quickly! Try for more complex Klaxs on Points Waves. Get the big points quickly - you probably will not be able to complete the level with simple, vertical Klaxs. Sometimes simple Klaxs work best. Don't get cocky on a high level Tile Wave, or you will end up with five full bins and a bunch of tiles with nowhere to go. Use wild tiles to complete multiple Klaxs. We have played this game twice before in the HSC, check it out here. oyamafamily On Wave 01, try to get the following formation: [c] === === |[a][b] [d][a]| |[a][b] [d][a]| |[c][c] [c][c]| |[a][b][c][d][a]| |[a][b][c][d][a]| +---------------+ [a], , [c], and [d] are the tile colors (Example: [a]=white, =red, [c]=blue, [d]=yellow) If you do this, you will score [(2x1050)+(6x4000)]=26,100 points by getting 1 horizontal "5-KLAX" (1000 pts), 1 vertical "3-KLAX" (50 pts), and 4 vertical "4-KLAX" (4x1000 = 4000 pts)!! Also, you will earn more empty bonus (2500 points maximum). WAVE 02 (Five tile colors -> [a]=white, =red, [c]=dark blue, [d]=yellow, and [e]=light blue) - Try to get multiple KLAXS according to diagram showed below: [c] === === |[a][b] [d][e]| |[a][b] [d][e]| |[c][c] [c][c]| |[a][b][c][d][e]| |[a][b][c][d][e]| +---------------+ RESULT: [(2x1050)+(6x4000)]=26,100 points, plus empty bonus (until 2500 points). At the end of Wave 05, DON'T tap the fire button. Try to choose Wave 16 in order to get 20,000 points (which is called "COURAGE BONUS") by finishing this chosen wave. --Zero

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted. A beam matrix of iridescent blue engulfs the distant blackness of Earth-Space. You stand watching. First mesmerized, you now realise 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, 1984 Left Difficulty: B / Novice Right Difficulty: N / A Game Mode: Game 1 Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday June 9th at 1:00 AM (CST). Current High Scores 273,798 (oyamafamily) [+11][+1] 67,356 (keilbaca) [+10][+1] 53,100 (toymailman) [+9][+1] 52,614 (darthkur) [+8][+1] 40,370 (SpiceWare) [+7][+1] 30,886 (Mister VCS) [+6] 29,384 (roadrunner) [+5] 22,830 (LarcenTyler) [+4] 20,970 (zylon) [+3] 14,690 (Zoyx) [+2] Best Tips oyamafamily [+2] Challenges Patch Challenge - Beamriders - Score 40,000 points or more and you will receive 1 bonus point! TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 1, Difficulty B)999,999 (Todd Rogers, Douglas C Korekach) 131,828 (David B Yancey) 106,060 (Troy Whelan) Current Standings toymailman [417] Zoyx [300] roadrunner [216] darthkur [209] oyamafamily [191] shadow460 [162] LarcenTyler [112] Cebus Capucinis [107] JacobZu7zu7 [99] Deteacher [92] Atardi [84] zylon [80] vjames [71] aftermac [70] Captain Beard [61] godzillajoe [56] katana [51] Mister VCS [48] keilbaca [42] 4Ks [40] SpiceWare [34] brandondwright [30] Vectorman0 [29] Carey85 [29] NML32 [27] homerwannabee [26] Tr3vor [26] Impaler_26 [26] Hornpipe2 [25] Wickeycolumbus [22] devwebcl [21] pis [19] chuckwalla [17] HatNJ [14] Pioneer4x4 [13] Nathan Strum [11] LoneWolfSeth [10] LaserHawk [10] vintagegamecrazy [9] joeypsp [9] Lendorian [9] littleman jack [8] kote [8] Animan [6] Player 3 [6] Chris Leach [5] MIKE5200 [4] Skaarg [4] JayWI [3] Shannon [2] jeremysart [2] sloth713 [2] jjd [2] SpaceInvaders [2] ChrisKoopa [1] SeaGtGruff [1] Nati [1] disjuakifa [1] Scoring Points in Beamrider Points are scored each time an enemy saucer, chirper ship or Sector Sentinel is destroyed. Point values increase as you progress to higher sectors. Also, if you manage to destroy the Sector Sentinel, you'll receive an additional bonus for each ship in your fleet. See this post by oyamafamily for more details. Hints and Tips The Manual As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Here is the hint it provides: Maintain precise control by learning to TAP the Control Stick to move your ship a single beam at a time. And stay near the centre beams so you won't get boxed into a corner with nowhere to run. Zap the white enemy saucers as early in their approach as possible. And check this out: You can hit them when they're slightly off the beam, before they can drop their missiles. When you see a yellow rejuvenator, don't abandon all caution as you move to catch it or you'll likely wreck your ship. If an enemy object is blocking the rejuvenator, you can use a torpedo to blast it out of the way. Then, catch the rejuvenator. But remember, you only have three torpedoes and they're your only weapon against the Sector Sentinel. And while we're on the subject, when the Sentinel is about to approach, don't sit on the beam you plan to shoot from. Green Blockers will swarm on to it immediately! Instead, wait on a beam you're not going to shoot from (like the one nearest the Sentinel's first sighting). As soon as the Blockers are `locked' onto that beam, zip over to an unblocked beam and torpedo the ship. Last, but not least, take time to notice the enemy attack movements. They generally follow a pattern of motion that allows you to anticipate many of their moves. We have played this game twice before in the HSC, in Season 2 and again in Season 4. oyamafamily 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. --Zero

If you have a PSP, check out the Pinball Hall of Fame releases. There are two collections, Gottlieb and Williams, and they both recreate several classic pinball tables that your dad might actually remember playing when they were in the arcades. I haven't tried the PSP version, but the Wii and Xbox versions are very good. --Zero