graywest

Yeah, I'm sort of curious to know exactly what the new programmer changed that fixed the punching issue. Was it just the size/shape of the Popeye sprite? His forearm is much bigger in this arcade version, but I don't know... Was it the timing of the collision detection between Popeye and the bottle? A change to the hit detection area? I haven't played the original in awhile, and I never went frame-by-frame, but it seems that you would often punch a bottle successfully but there was only a frame or two when a hit would register. Outside of that brief window, Popeye would die.

Popeye Arcade: 115,020 (Round 9) SO much easier to punch the bottles in this version! They were the bane of my existence when I was a kid...

Hot lap improvement: 50"31 Now I understand why you recommend doing more than one lap... the rolling start helps a lot the second time around.

Small 1-lap improvements: Malibu 1 lap: 27,950 Namco 1 lap: 27,700 Atari 1 lap: 25,800 Also, best practice run 1 lap: 54"11

I was definitely not playing on Atari GP level for the 8 lap race before - this is the best I've been able to do so far: Pole Position (Atari GP, 8 laps): 57,850 (Lap 4, DNF)

EDIT: Scratch my 8 lap score, please. I don't remember for sure, but now I'm thinking I was playing on Malibu, 8 laps. I'll have to redo that one and play on Atari GP. Sorry!!

1 Lap Series Malibu 26,450 (64"67) Namco 23,100 (65"52) Atari GP 24,400 (60"41) 2 Lap Series Malibu 37,150 (120"83) Namco 34,750 (121"02) Atari GP 33,300 (126"45) 8 Lap Pro Challenge Atari GP 100,250 (Lap 7 - DNF) I'm playing the NTSC version from the multi-disk image in the first post. Let me know if that's not right and I'll switch. My dad was always the expert on this one - too bad he's no longer with us or I'm sure he'd want to join in and post a score. I remember him saying "Now you have to shift into high gear when you're between 70-80 mph! Okay, there's the black sign, slow down or you'll crash into the red sign on the curve!" When I was young I usually played the practice run because I was no good at dodging the other cars. We also had a hacked version with no signs that I played a lot. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of that one, let me know. I haven't seen it floating around on the internet, but I always wanted to try it again for old times' sake.

Chuckie Egg: 369,660 Super Bunny: RAGEQUIT 🤣 Seriously, I do not possess whatever superhuman skills are required to make these ridiculously precise jumps. A great looking game, though. Beautiful.

Chuckie Egg: 53,970 Super Bunny: 595

Galaxian: 12,310

Dig Dug: 29,940 First level challenge: 4,760 Wow, I'm not sure I've ever given this version a serious try. It seems much more difficult than the other ones! (Or maybe I'm just not used to it.) I don't remember the version that I played when I was a kid having a title screen. I'm having a hard time getting into the pumping rhythm in this one... normally you can kind of walk toward the enemy and continuously tap fire to blow them up quickly, but that doesn't work very well here. They also seem to "ghost" and converge on you VERY quickly. Why are there so many (slightly different) versions of this on the 8-bit? Was there a version with no title screen, multicolored enemies, AND the dirt texture? That's what I thought I remembered playing in my youth, but now I can't find it. Maybe I'm just getting old and conflating different versions in my tired brain...

You guys are posting some killer scores. I've had a hard time breaking through my previous best, especially on fast. Parker Brothers (fast): 15,380 Parker Brothers (slow): 61,850

Parker Brothers - Fast: 14,560 I played the John Harris version too and scored about the same on fast. The only difference I can see (besides changed graphics and music) is the little otter that shows up in the higher levels. Does it hurt you somehow? I don't remember getting hit by it at all.

Parker Brothers - Slow: 31,295 Parker Brothers - Fast: 9,300

Thanks!! Yes, feedback is great - I like the idea of changing the music when the obstacles become deadly. I've got to get back to finishing this game up. There isn't much more to do, but I've been feeling lazy lately. 😋