Fingolfin

Not sure if I remember how to attach this one for Atari 8bit anymore; I would need to undergo Spock's Brain surgery for a third time, and though McCoy said he's game and has it down stone cold at this point, I am not sure that's a good idea right now. Apologies for the absurdist geek post...“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” -- Gene Wilder > Willy Wonka > Roald Dahl

Super Twin 78 EdLaddin special: 8 bit and 7800 twinstick -- good for what ails ya and a true beast for Robotron and Space Dungeon! Thanks again Ed!

Hello to all in AA 8 bit land! I hope you are all keeping well and having fun! Thought this might be of interest to many in the community here. Recognizing this is off topic in a strict sense, please know I did search all of AA and AA 8 bit forums for anything related to Chris Oberth before posting this. Finding nothing about this, and realizing that Chris's work likely touched some of your lives at some point in his decades as a game developer, here it is! Hooray!!! for fastidious archiving and that safely stored 5 1/4 inch floppies may still yield such gems as a 30 year old NES ROM! https://gamehistory.org/days-of-thunder-nes-unreleased/ Fascinating account of how Chris Oberth's archives were donated and then elements pieced together to reveal a new NES ROM. Take care and be well! Best regards Owen

Yes. What CharlieChaplin has brought up and further clarifiied means I am/was/have been wrong. I apologize to all here: I am sorry for doubting valid, warranted suspicions raised by other AtariAge members. I suppose my stubbornness and previous position was partly about my being in denial about the possibility of some shenanigans regarding the Bruce Lee prototype at Best but that seems frail now. Again with a good deal of ignorance and more than a bit of rashness I have put my foot squarely in my mouth. I have been overzealous and overprotective of Best and Bradley. It appears that the Bruce Lee cart sold by Best is a reproduction and not a prototype. And so I have been unnecessarily and unwarrantedly overprotective of Best and Bradley. That is disappointing but I am glad to know the truth. I was always a bit uneasy about the information for the Bruce Lee prototype cart at the Best site; it seemed odd to not know if the game was complete. And an Atari warehouse in Illinois also seemed a bit odd but then as I've said I bought it all -- hook, line and sinker. I wanted to believe and did believe Bradley. I still want to believe in Best and Bradley but will be more cautious about being so trusting in the future. As most of you know I still have much to learn about the greater Atari community. Thank you for understanding my mistakes here and I hope you all will and can accept my genuine apology.

I am concerned about the direction this thread seems to be going. I may be wrong but it seems some folks are questioning the prototype being a prototype; the implied suggestion seems to be that the Bruce Lee cart sold by Best is in fact a reproduction and not a prototype. I have no idea whether that is the case or not: my only interest is/was trying to determine if the cart sold by Best as a prototype is/was fully functional. Over the past two months I have gone back and forth on dealing with the Bruce Lee proto issue several times. The reason for my hesitation has always been: I never wanted to deal with how this could negatively affect Best Electronics or Bradley's business or reputation. I don't know A8 and various Atari communities' perceptions of Best and Bradley and I do not wish to get into that. Bradley was very helpful to me when I was getting restarted in purchasing and acquiring real Atari gear: I bought my 130XE and XF551 new from Best back in '12 or '13, I bought a fair amount of software (cart and disc), some controllers and eventually a refurbished/modded 7800 and a new Jaguar. I think Bradley's a good guy -- he has always been friendly, polite and generous with me with his time and knowledge; additionally, he and Best's service department/tech folks have been very helpful with a few minor Atari repair issues over the years. I think we Atari geeks and freaks need Best and Bradley and others like Bradley and the few business left that have real, original Atari stock on hand; Best not only meets this criteria but it also continues to develop new improvements for old gear and replacements for lots of different Atari hardware needs. And folks from Best always seem like polite, friendly people to interact and communicate with. I still think that Best and Bradley believe these to be authentic prototypes and not reproductions. There would seem to be a big difference between these two conclusions: the Bruce Lee carts sold by Best are defective reproductions vs. prototypes that are not complete. If I am wrong or have misunderstood or misconstrued the posts of others I apologize but I am not comfortable with my involvement possibly being connected with even a hint at Best and/or Bradley being anything less than forthright and a good business and good Atari businessman. Bradley has always struck me like the kind of person, businessman, human being who tries to explain -- or even over-explain -- as much as he can online on Best's website so that his phone time/order processing is more/most efficient. In the case of this Bruce Lee cart there is a small section of the webpage (link above in a previous post of mine) that details what is/was known about the Bruce Lee cart that Best sells as a prototype. I may be being naive or just ignorant or uninformed but boldfaced deception and trying to fool others does just not seem like either the Bradley Koda or Best Electronics I have come to know.

Thank you all for your support! Any suggestions so far? I will revise the draft A8 Blaster game manual and player's guide over the next few days and post a downloadable text version for hopefully easier reading. I'll assimilate 5200 Blaster manual content where possible and appropriate and use as much terminology to be consistent with Allan's 5200 Blaster manual; also will try to iron out some of the redundancies and inconsistencies from my first draft. The next step will then be to incorporate pics/screen shots of enemies and obstacles and "tactical breakdowns" (consider that term to be trademarked/copyrighted ) of how to try to improve from actual A8 game play and create a .pdf for doing so. Thank you again for sharing your 5200 Blaster manual, Allan. Very, very cool! I am really impressed by the professionalism of the whole thing: layout, graphics, content-- and all the specific elements that make it an official Atari 5200 style game manual. So far my high score in Blaster is 692,000 ending with Robot Grid 9-1. For the sake of accuracy I need to revise my estimated amount of hours played: it is more like over 80 hours so far. I was trying to work out the number last night after posting my last reply here and readily admit it is inflated at 100 hours but probably conservative and safe to say over 80 (5 A8 Blaster sessions a week lasting between an hour or two over four plus months = approximately 80 hours or so). Thank you again to all who read and consider replying to this thread! Best Regards Fingolfin P.S. Please consider joining the AtariAge HSC: it is much fun with a good group of people and players! And as therealbountybob stated now is a good time for getting caught up. Consider joining the fun and dust off the rust in yer hands, fingers and those good old CX-40's and get playing!

Bruce Lee is part platformer, part fighting game and can be annoying and very challenging in both respects. I try to play it as a platformer mostly -- because aside from avoiding or fighting Ninja and Yamo -- most of the game consists of challenging platformer elements. You do need to know how to fight though in order to defeat evil Fire Wizard (at least that has been my experience). SS, I would think you may have bought this cart because it is Bruce Lee and besides the fact the game is a good A8/8 bit action game, Bruce Lee is Bruce Lee...the Dragon and the guy who kicks everyone's ass including Chuck Norris and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in kung fu anyway). The man could knock out lesser adversaries with a quick sneering glance, his signature attack cry or a flick of his thumb off his nose! [bruce Lee kicking ass emoji used here.] Maybe a haphazard software purchasing rationale but that was my reason for trying it in the first place BITD. Thank you for confirming my suspicions: the Bruce Lee prototype carts sold by Best appear to be defective or incomplete.

Thank you so much for sharing the Blaster 5200 manual, Allan!!! Great to have this. If I may ask, where did this very helpful resource come from? Really interesting and helpful resource for another Blaster 8 bit prototype. It looks like I need to change some of my terminology and references with respect to making my draft WIP A8 Blaster manual and player's guide more in line with this resource and its terminology. I had been mostly relying upon my own gameplay experience of the A8 version* and the arcade version in MAME form, its startup, attract mode and player start screens, as well as some information about Blaster from the arcade museum and atariprotos; the latter of which I should already have used for terms/enemies especially for the Outer Space grid/wave/stage enemy names: Xitan Mineships (which resemble space shuttles somewhat), Z-15 Fitershipz ("On an interesting side note, the Fitershipz look suspiciously like Tie Fighters"), Destructor Satellites and Death Riders (which to me resemble Rudy from PeeWee's Playhouse riding a cycle of some kind but as usual I digress...). The Destructor Satellites look like satellites...go figure! Questions for all: Has anyone been to armageddon or paradise in the 5200 or A8 prototype versions of Blaster? Can anyone comment on gameplay or other differences in the 5200 version vs. the A8 or arcade versions of Blaster? Knowing anything more about 5200 Blaster would be very helpful. As you can probably tell I really like the A8 and arcade versions of Blaster. Thanks again for sharing the 5200 Blaster prototype manual Allan! * Not bragging...more like confessing: I've probably managed to play A8 Blaster for nearly 100 hours since finding it over the last 5 months!

I should add/clarify: my intent is to concur with lbaeza, Loius BQ. I am very glad for his starting this thread as the issue has been a minor curiosity for a couple of months now. Thank you lbaeza, Loius BQ! I'll add I used the Ultimate Cart with a 130XE and 800XL with different file images of what is supposed to be the prototype sold by Best. Listed as repro/reproduction in the files posted above, this is confusing I realize but the source for the bin above is atarimania which identifies the game as a) a prototype and b) from Best Electronics (scroll about half way down the page for the Bruce Lee prototype info at Best). I used this .bin to create .car files to test using the Ultimate Cart and 130XE and 800XL to arrive at the conclusion that in all likelihood a) the existing/circulating dump(s) of the prototype cartridge of Bruce Lee sold by Best are somehow flawed b) .car images of the prototype from Best don't work properly on the Ultimate Cart (might be an issue with the .rom to .car utility but I highly doubt this) or c) the prototype cart is itself defective There could be other reasons for the inability to get the prototype to work for lbaeza, Loius BQ and myself but these seem likely possibilities. And alternatives a) and b) are not convincing at this point with a lot of trial and error done on my end. But again, who knows? Has anyone been able to play the prototype Bruce Lee carts sold by Best all the way to the end, and faced evil Fire Wizard? Very curious to know. For advanced clarification I don't think anything misleading has gone on here with the Bruce Lee prototype not working on anyone's part; at least not intentionally so but there is still the issue with the circulating .bin of the prototype cart not working in emulation and with the Ultimate Cart using .car images -- created from supposed prototype .bin dump(s) -- on real A8 machines. Best Regards Fingolfin

I've been tinkering with the .car version of Bruce Lee that is supposed to be from the dump of the prototype cartridge from Best. SS and I have discussed this some in pms. FWIW, I attempted to notify Bradley at Best but was not able to reach him directly (spoke to another Best employee who said they're aware it might not be complete as it is a proto cart). I believe they think/believe these to be authentic prototype carts as they were found in an Atari warehouse (according to the Best site info). I am not qualified or able to confirm or deny the authentic cartridge nature of the prototype Bruce Lee carts sold by Best. (I would tend to give Best the benefit of the doubt especially as Bradley indicates clearly and directly in the Bruce Lee prototype cart advertisement that he's not capable of getting past the first couple of screens in Bruce Lee). Who knows? Maybe someone here can post definite proof one way or the other. At least I can confirm that every dump and conversion method possible of every dump I have found/tried of the prototype cart crashes at the purple room with three portals or gateways that the player/Bruce Lee must pass through in order to complete the game. This lockup or game malfunction takes place a little more than half way through the game (or playing through the first time). I cannot say for certain if it is the prototype cart that is the issue. I only have an Ultimate Cart and have accessed what cart dumps exist online and made all/many different possible .car formats in order to try to confirm that the proto cart is incomplete or defective as I do not own a prototype cart from Best. We have good working, fully functional versions of Bruce Lee on disk and via .xex -- as well as a .car version from .xex too I believe -- so this is not a huge deal but folks out there should be aware that the prototype cart sold by Best (and others?) may not work completely. I do not know how this affects the value of the prototype carts sold by Best: they would still seem to have some potential or perhaps even significant collector value -- or eventually will or might -- even if they are defective. Not sure about this though; just speculating (with some relative optimism). Attached are a) .bin and b) XEGS .car and c) Switchable XEGS .car files/versions in question that are supposedly from the Best proto carts as well as working d) .atr, e) .xex and f) .car file versions of Bruce Lee. The working .car version -- option f) here -- I believe was made from .xex but I am uncertain; however it does work. Except for the .atr version here I believe all of these versions include the title screen. Bruce Lee (Repro).bin.zip Bruce Lee (Repro) XEGS.car.zip Bruce Lee (Repro) Switchable XEGS.car.zip Bruce Lee.atr Bruce Lee.xex Bruce Lee.car.zip

Hello all! I am trying to write the beginnings of a game manual and player's guide for A8 Blaster by Williams. As an unreleased prototype, A8 Blaster has no documentation (of which I am aware). What follows is a rough draft and WIP of an A8 Blaster combo game manual and player's guide: Blaster is a unique 3D-like shooter on A8 and in the arcade made by Williams back in the early 1980’s. Though programmed before the release of arcade Blaster, the A8 version was never released and what we have is considered a prototype but seems a complete and very polished A8 game. Blaster is unique because: ai) whether arcade or A8, the graphics are effective in creating a 3D-like play field; impressive for early 1980’s games* aii) it creates a definite sense of depth of field that seems consistent and uniform within the context and "rules" of the game; both arcade and A8 versions have good/fair/accurate collision detection b) gameplay offers much randomization and variations in how each game plays: there are patterns to enemy attacks but the types of enemies and their numbers vary from level to level, stage to stage, game to game so it is truly a game that is a little different every time played (depending on how you may wish to define different/how different) c) the game is an interesting early hybrid of first person 3D shooter and a sort of simple flight simulator: you can opt to stay on the ground in the Robot Grid levels but elsewhere in the game you’re flying in space; even in the Robot Grid levels it can be useful to use vertical as well as horizontal evasive maneuvers to avoid losing energy/shields d) the colors are very distinct, and well, weird…but at least in part this is due to Blaster’s lineage: Defender, Stargate, Robotron 2084 are its “parents,” so the color palette comes from those games. Williams used super bright neon or neon-like colors for all of these games that involve saving humans from various, varied and multicolored alien attackers. *especially considering this was before 3D specific software engines were programmed/created and 3D dedicated hardware customizations allowed computer rendered 3D take the next steps in creating more realistic, bit mapped and textured true® 3D. To my brain and senses only Tempest in the arcade comes close to creating as vivid, colorful and consistent, “real” depth of field gameplay in early 80’s games as Blaster, A8 or arcade. Williams arcade Blaster has 11 different levels, 9 of which are repeated, for a total of 20 levels. The levels are: Planetoid Waves, Robot Grid Waves, Saucerland Waves, Vampire Waves, Time Tunnel Waves, Outer Space Waves, Enduro Waves, Cat World Waves, and Mastermind Waves. There are also 2 unique waves that occur only once: Armageddon level 19 and Paradise level 20. In the arcade version, players can select their starting wave at the start of the game; choosing from Planetoids, Robot Grid, Saucerland, and Vampires. Williams A8 Blaster is organized a little differently from the arcade version. Enemies look a bit different too and they’re are fewer varieties of them. Interesting to note is that the sound for capturing/saving floating spacemen — and racking up those bonuses — is identical in both versions. The Williams A8 game consists of 4 different waves (at least) all of which are repeated in sequence: Level 1 Wave 1 or 1-1 Robot Grid: Fly Thru Magic Arches Wave 2 or 1-2 Time Tunnel: Capture Floating Spacemen Wave 3 or 1-3 Outer Space Wave: Destroy Enemy Fleets (“fleets” are groups of the same enemies) Wave 4 or 1-4 Planetoid or Saucerland Wave: Avoid Planetoids and/or Saucers and Dock With Energizer to Restore Energy Shield (i.e. collide/connect with the the big blue E floating in space near the end of the wave) Level 2 Wave 1 or 2-1 Robot Grid: Fly Thru Magic Arches Wave 2 or 2-2 Time Tunnel Wave 3 or 2-3 Outer Space Wave Wave 4 or 2-4 Planetoid or Saucerland Wave A8 Blaster levels repeat these 4 waves in order with the pace of the game increasing by each level completed. In arcade Blaster these waves/levels are all identified by name; in the A8 version there is only 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, etc and no names are used to introduce or identify the waves/levels. Note: A8 Blaster Wave 4 is either a Planetoid or Saucerland Wave; usually it is a Planetoid Wave but every 3rd or 4th level 4 will be a Saucerland Wave. Planetoids are harder to avoid but Saucers can shoot at you. Planetoid waves will include “wandering”/random Saucers that fly into your field of vision but only one or two Saucers attack in Planetoid waves at a time. After a few levels, saucers will also show up in Wave 3 or the Outer Space Wave. Having been playing a fair amount of both A8 and arcade Blaster via MAME, my suggestions so far would be: For every wave try to shoot enemies and their weapon-fire, evade enemy fire and avoid colliding with any object on screen (enemy or fortification and even the Magic Arches: you have to fly beneath them). For the Robot Grid waves try to make flying beneath the arches your primary objective and destroying/evading enemies the secondary objective. Staying alive and as “unharmed as possible” always comes first but the key to bonuses and scoring for the Robot Grid waves is flying beneath the magic arches. When possible always try to capture/save as many floating spacemen in a row in waves 2 and 4; this will really add up for bonuses and scoring higher. The A8 version is fairly challenging, especially after level 4 or 5. The screen becomes pretty hectic with obstacles, arches, floating spacemen, enemy movement and enemy fire. Like all shooters there are patterns; however with Blaster enemy AI patterns can and will change depending on what the player is doing. Player movement/choices of direction cause the enemies to respond in slightly different numbers and in different attack groups. Additionally the stages seem to change every time as well -- or at least there are enough variables in enemy types which attack and the "physical" layout that each time playing through a stage seems different and unique or never the same twice. To be clear, attack patterns are the same but the way the physical layouts change/presentation for each wave changes and the enemy attack formations change. One thing about Blaster which is really cool is that you can shoot enemy fire and block it/take it out in this way; when you're firing away aim for enemies and obstacles that can be destroyed but also try to hit enemy fire too. Doing so can really help. The AI isn't particularly tough for each of the three waves though with enemies (waves 1, 3 and 4), especially once you get a feel for the patterns of the different enemy or obstacle types. As with most games from this time period, enemies don't get smarter in higher waves/levels, just faster. In the first of the four waves in A8 Blaster going under all of the arches -- objects that look like gates from Tron -- is key to getting scoring bonuses for this wave. Fire away and try to make it through all of the arches/gates! Shoot enemies attacking as much as you can but stay focused on the making it underneath the arches/gates. You'll hear a tone when you get the bonus; each arch/gate you get strings the bonuses together and if you miss one the bonus string is snapped/broken. You don't need to worry about avoiding enemies too much on wave one until you are a couple of levels in; for 3-1 or 4-1 and higher consider trying lots of left to right/right to left lines of movement and occasionally throwing in some quick up and down vertical movements as needed can help avoid enemies and stay on track for nabbing the arches/gates. Flying enemies on this wave start showing up starting in 2-1. The big obstacle to avoid in wave one are those fences or small wall sections. Slamming into any enemy or obstacle needs to be avoided at all cost in Blaster because of the toll such damage takes on your shields/energy. Though there are bonuses for killing enemy "fleets" or groups (vs. just the score for killing individual enemies), sometimes its just better to avoid contact with angular movements -- wiggle the stick a bit left/right/up/down/diagonally -- then to take the direct attack approach. Take out enemy groups and reap those bonuses when it is possible to do without taking too much damage/being subject to risk of too much damage by colliding with enemies or obstacles on any of waves 1, 3 or 4. In wave two you can rescue humans -- floating spacemen -- and catch them all to string together and maximize bonus points here too. You cannot be hurt in wave two and this is a good time to practice capturing humans and getting better at controlling your Blaster without fear of damage. In the third wave there are no bonus objects: you just have to shoot to kill and try not to take too much damage. Consider trying hard diagonal banking to avoid enemies and their weapon fire. After a few levels you will notice enemies from wave one in wave three and vice versa. Some alien ships -- or saucers -- that look like they're bases from Star Raiders will also show up in the third wave after a couple/few levels; these Star Raider base enemy ships are quite common in wave four, in addition to all those planetoids! In the fourth wave -- 3D, 1st person asteroids anyone? -- you need to shoot at the planetoids and avoid damage as best you can and wait for that great Big E to show up! You have to get the E for maximizing bonus points, revitalizing energy/shields and for being temporarily indestructible...and it always feels good to hit that Big E after slogging through wave 4 at the end of each level. You can also collect/save humans and string bonuses together for doing so as well but it can be hard to work saving human bonuses on this wave after level 2 or 3 because this wave is the hardest to not sustain damage: you can stay on the sides or border in this stage but there is no way to completely avoid the planetoids (or saucers) the way you can avoid enemies by fierce dodging tactics in waves 1 and 3. You have to blast your way through. Hope this helps. Consider giving Blaster a try and have fun! I am no expert at Blaster, just a die-hard fan: I thought it and Tempest were the best games BITD in the arcade (with Missile Command and Centipede close behind). I didn't even know Blaster existed for A8 until a few months ago. General Warning: for those who like super or even hyper colorful and blinkfest oriented programmed pyrotechniques, then Blaster is a game you will probably enjoy at least watching if not playing. Others may not like Blaster though. This game —both arcade and A8 — should probably have epilepsy warnings and I am not kidding/being sarcastic in the slightest. Much high rate blinking occurs in both versions and this could genuinely and most definitely make some people a bit overwhelmed or at least annoyed or slightly uncomfortable (if not sick or potentially triggering a seizure). Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this text and its possible use as a game manual and player's guide for A8 Blaster. Please considering adding suggestions or recommendations for improving this draft. Thank you very much in advance. Please ask any and all questions regarding Blaster or the WIP game manual and player's guide for the A8 version. After adding to, editing and revising this draft more I want to create a .pdf and include screen pics from A8 Blaster and possibly arcade screen pics (if they might prove to be useful). At the moment I am uncertain if Armageddon and Paradise are included in the A8 version. In order to complete this manual and player’s guide I need to beat the A8 version and find Armageddon and Paradise, if in fact they’re present. Thus far I have only gotten to level 9-1 Robot Grid. I still need to add enemy point values, enemy "fleet" bonus values as well as other game manual type details. I am not certain it makes sense to name the A8 enemies that are unique to the A8 version and not present in arcade Blaster. That would be just making stuff up; I prefer not to do so. Where appropriate and possible I have extrapolated names, terms, etc from the arcade version and its on screen documentation in order to try to fill in info that is not available/not officially identified for the A8 version. Attached A8 XE/XL friendly .car version of Blaster (does not require OS-B). Best Regards and Blaster away! Fingolfin Edit/addition: FWIW I did not mean to make my reference to true 3D trademarked/registered. The text/font chosen and online text processor seem to have decided that for me. Also I know I already need to iron out remaining inconsistencies in grammar, spelling, terms etc as well as reduce the overall subjectiveness of the text. It is a bit informal even after some revision and moderate editing. The next draft should take care of some of these issues and add missing point values for enemies and enemy "fleets" or groups. Blaster.car.zip

No pics but scored 43,000 plus on the new A8 Time Pilot yesterday; great game and wonderful port from the arcade. Controls are similar to arcade: small left to right and right to left or top to bottom and bottom to top joystick movements might be easiest and best when getting used to moving in different directions from which you are flying (regardless of direction/course). Small adjustments and movements of the stick left to right/right to left or top to bottom/bottom to top are effective for adjusting the player plane's direction; the joystick also functions as a clockwise/counterclockwise positional controller -- or a compass of sorts -- but it may be easier to try to move the plane in different directions with small adjustments vs. going to 270 degrees or 135 degrees etc. At least to start off; hopefully these observations and this suggestion will help others get used to Time Pilot's controls. Will have to practice Star Raiders applying DeTeachers scoring rules. My Star Raiders skills are a bit rusty: need to get back in the groove of joystick-and-keystroke-synched game play; also need to improve my warping from quad to quad on difficulty levels other than Novice!

Peter Gunn theme in Spy Hunter too...that track/riff is probably in a few other games as well...always makes me think of the Blues Brothers and Elwood parking the Bluesmobile in the CTA transformer shed by the tracks.

A8: Jet Set Willy 2007, Mr. Do!, Ghostbusters, Beef Drop and Rainbow Walker All time favorite in-game music 3DO Return Fire One of the better shooter/shmups put to music: classical music kicks in during intense gameplay and really helps drive the pace with extra adrenaline. Incredibly destructive battle fields & enemies with little enemy soldiers you can run over! edit/addition You wind up destroying enemies and buildings to the pace and driving rhythms of the classical music. Different and I don't really care much for fighting games but 3DO Way of the Warrior with White Zombie soundtrack! The game was a MK clone and parody but the music matching the fighting and overall mood and tone of the game: really good fit! Angry, dark, weird, scary and more than a little goofy. I have stated elsewhere in a few different posts and replies that good, appropriate music that is rhythmically matched to the pace of the game can really add to the experience. Music can ruin a game and sometimes it makes sense to be able to turn off music and keep on just sfx. Occasionally I'll put on Jet Set Willy 2007 in emulation just to hear the music! Thank you very much Rob Hubbard and xxl!

If I can only manage to stay away from those hard, sharp walls and out of the hospital ...finally broke $250 though! Would like to find more time to a) practice and play more C'est La Vie .xex and b) tinker some with the settings in the .atr version just to see what all can be done with adjusting dates/times/speeds.

Very glad carlsson survived the night and the encounter with the spider/beetle did not result in our HSC comrade's demise! Hooray for the coming of the dawn and the light of day! (unless you're looking to go play A8 games, then you're better off finding some shade!)

Yes, it would seem the .xex versions won't/can't allow customization of gameplay parameters. Grabbed the attached .atr from atarimania and checked it in emulation; just started it up to see if it works and it allows for time and date to be adjusted as well as speed. Using/keeping existing high scores from .xex file(s) C'est La Vie play seems like the easiest and most uniform way for HSC Season 15 Round 9 to proceed; that is, I am not sure if we want/need to throw a curve into the mix by adding customization of gameplay date, time and speed to the current round but I thought some might like to try using carlsson's detailed game instructions fully with C'est La Vie. I need to get cracking and go try to rack up some big green myself but $2000+ ...I am still trying to crack $250+ C'est la Vie.atr

Welcome Mr. Trust!

Thank you very much for making and sharing this solo/ng! Classic arcade game brought to A8. Wonderful graphics, sfx, music and most importantly game play. Looks, sounds and plays like the arcade! Thank you very much to all involved in making and sharing Time Pilot!

I believe the bank is always in the upper left quadrant, Wall St. in the upper right, loan sharks bottom right and hospital lower left; the layout of the maze does change/vary so the locations of bank, Wall St., loan sharks and hospital-- or how you arrive at/find each of these four buildings -- is a little different each game based on maze layout randomization. Home is always in the center but although you start from there you can never enter: it would be good if you could escape taxman and mugger by dodging them here as well as the other 4 buildings: bank, Wall St., loan sharks and hospital can all be used to escape the clutches of these greedy pursuers. You guys have all beaten my top score (a little over $200 once so far, a few more with very small positive balances but with most games ending in the red). Off to a great start but hopefully there's some fun in it too... questions: 1) Do you find C'est la Vie humorous or even a little goofy?/Can you smile and play C'est la Vie at the same time? 2) Is C'est la Vie growing on you at all? Even a little? 3) Has anyone taken out a loan from the loan sharks yet? 4) Why are the months chosen the months that are chosen for the game's completion??? What is unique about October 1st to March 31st? Good luck, beware the taxman ("beware the pennies on you eyes"), the mugger (aka Frankenstein) and all those sharp, hard walls!

I'm amenable and game for either adding Star Raiders or replacing C'est la Vie with Star Raiders, especially as the folks who have tried C'est la Vie don't seem to care much for it. I like it and think it is funny, well made and an interesting if not resoundingly successful mix of a few game types/genres. C'est la Vie is funny looking and playing, with the different characters -- taxman looks like a robber/thief and robber/thief looks like a monster and player looks like a strolling while money collecting fool -- and their animations, especially the wall collision requiring a trip to the hospital animation, are great. C'est la Vie reminds me of Spare Change a little, though less action oriented and less frantic; and maybe correspondingly a little less fun than Spare Change. With that stated, C'est la Vie is not in any way on par with Star Raiders: they're very different games in terms of game play. Could not be more different. Also very important is Star Raiders is an A8 A/A+ title while C'est la Vie is more like a good B game at best. Star Raiders is Atari legend while C'est la Vie is (to me) a bit of a lost gem but nowhere near the gameplay masterpiece that is Star Raiders! For what little it is worth, atarimania rates C'est la Vie at 7.4 / 10 with 7 votes and over 800 downloads; Fandal's site doesn't rate but identifies C'est la Vie as having over 2500 downloads. atarimania rates Star Raiders at 7.7 / 10 with over 6,000 votes and over 10,000 downloads; Fandal sites indicates over 1980 downloads of Star Raiders. I voted twice: for both of these games and in spite of the fact that Infiltrator looks really cool too.

Give it a try...you may like it...and maybe not... Cool, simple sfx; much less intense than the two games just being played. Kind of like Pac-Man -- distantly -- meets a little bit of very light stock market/banking/home and personal financing simulation. Ya gotta like the way the guy strolls about town/the maze rocking his arms without a care in the world...or again maybe you'll hate that. And it is goofy, light hearted and even ridiculous. It is kind of hard too to get a good score/make a lot of money by the end of the game. Thank you for the game instructions carlsson. Suggestions for gameplay: Try to stay away from the walls and both the taxman and robber (who, being green and blocky looks like Frankenstein a little). Try to stay out of the hospital by staying away from the walls. The maze/layout changes slightly every time (at least there are many variations). Edit/addition: For my limited experience playing C'est la Vie any positive money total at the end is a good thing; great score and start carlsson. A couple edits/revisions.

Sikor, please consider yourself added! I am sure it was a simple oversight. therealbountybob's burning the candle at at least three ends of which I am aware: busy A8 coding (like yourself Sikor), hosting A8 HSC and playing and competing with all the A8 HSC games he hosts! Hope this update is okay therealbountybob. final tables Blaster 1st Fingolfin 692,900 12pts 2nd therealbountybob 370,700 11pts 3rd McKong 319,500 10pts 4th carlsson 297,700 9pts 5th Deteacher 191,900 8pts 6th Sleepy 133,300 7pts 7th RedThunder 49,000 6pts 8th slx 46,400 5pts 9th jblenkle 31,100 4pts 10th Sikor 22,100 3pts Atari Blast! (Normal) 1st Deteacher 81,560 12pts 2nd therealbountybob 46,320 11pts 3rd McKong 38,080 10pts 4th carlsson 29,580 9pts 5th RedThunder 23,020 8pts 6th slx 14,670 7pts 7th Sikor 11,760 6pts Edited mistakes after carlsson's reply below; apologies to all.

Hi xxl, thank you for making and sharing Minotaur 16k. I enjoy it: it's fun and challenging. The opening screen using maze patterns to form the Minotaur head is great. ​a) Since you're referring to Ariadne's thread (in your reply above) with the return to start aspect of Minotaur 16k, maybe add/mention Theseus as the adventurer/player? Add to the mythology aspect of the game that is already present/inherent? Simple text of some kind might identify Theseus and Ariadane with her helping Theseus in the maze against the Minotaur. Context can help conjure and add to imaginative element of gameplay; for me a little context or simple reference to a/the greater story can be interesting and add depth/dimension to games. Especially stuff like classical mythology, classic fantasy/sci-fi, etc b) The fog of war seems like a good fit for adding difficulty. Perhaps as an option? As an inexperienced and slow maze game player I already have trouble making it all the way to the Minotaur and back to the start within time allowed. c) Would it make sense/be appropriate to add an option for different times for completing each game? Add handicapping with both increases and decreases of time allowed? d) Would it be possible to add joystick control as well as keyboard? At least for me, I am a complete fumble fingers, even with just four keys. I can use a keyboard for playing games but being a bit less than super dextrous, I would always rather use a joystick, gamepad or mouse, when possible. e) If 16k allows perhaps add sfx for beginning of round/game, moment of finding the minotaur and at completion of retracing back to start; if possible three different chimes or tones. f) Also wondering about a simple tone based sound track; suspenseful and just a few or even a couple of bass notes like Peter Gunn but more scary. Maybe as long as it is public domain use the beginning of Beethoveen's 5th? Just four notes, or just two an octave apart (not a musician)? Or some other apt bullfighting/Minotaur-vanquishing simple tones? For suspenseful atmosphere like it is frightening to approach...the Minotaur! All suggestions here are made with due respect to your interests and hopes for the game, xxl, and the limits of 16k; I am not suggesting all of these be followed/implemented only considered. I will likely always suggest adding/considering sfx or simple music: when possible and appropriate, both/either can add so much to gameplay from any era on any platform. Only wish to offer suggestions; I am not asking for changes (well maybe the joystick control option). Thank you xxl for making, helping to make and sharing so many great A8 games and for all you do for the A8 community. Best Regards Fingolfin Edit/adition Always liked the Pink Panther movies -- especially Peter Sellers as Clouseau -- and the Pink Panther theme. Always liked Peter Gunn theme as well but never realized both PP and PG themes were written by Henry Mancini... both have similar composition/theme/music but never realized same composer until tonight.

sramirez2008 "Who can I buy this from? My son could use one of these." You can buy CX-24, CX-40 and CX-52 couplers from amiman99. For this thread, check pages 1 and 2 for CX-52 coupler info and pics, page 2 and 3 for CX-24 coupler info and pics and page 4 for CX-40 info and pic. Or you could just message amiman99. I have a CX-24 and CX 52 coupler from him; the couplers are well made, durable/strong and comfortable. Fans of Robotron 2084 have any of you all seen/tried/played A8 Blaster? Not as detailed as arcade Blaster by Williams but an amazing A8 shooter, unreleased and identified as a prototype, it seems complete although reduced in scope, some enemies and levels from arcade version are not present. Kind of hard to determine if anything is missing due to the fact A8 Blaster was programmed/made before the arcade version. Regardless it is a great A8 game, a longtime missing gem and an amazing 8 bit shooter. Attached car. file version of A8 Blaster is XL/XE compatible; original needs OS-B, this does not. Blaster.car.zip