BREAKING NEWS!!!

[RCorcoran]

 

ATARI 2600 ASTEROIDS RECORD SMASHED

Reported by Ron Corcoran - Worldwide Atari and Intellivision Editor

Saturday, August 17th, 2002

 

As most of us were sleeping this past Saturday when the clock struck midnight and Sunday began, Mike Morrow was quite awake... albeit extremely tired... After all, he had just finished playing Atari 2600 "Asteroids" for 33 hours 7 minutes straight on game 1B!! In the process, he achieved a final score of over 10 million points, more than 6 times the previous world record of 1.6 million.

 

Each million points took approximately 3 hours to achieve, and Mike estimates that he pressed the fire button roughly 300,000 times during this marathon stretch, a calculation that comes down to about 2.5 presses per second, enough to induce a hand cramp at the very least !! Oh yes, for the mathemeticians out there...this averages approx 84.175 points per second.

 

Mike used an original 2600 "Woody", and a commercial Asteroids cartridge for this achievement. The entire event is captured on four 8-hour videotapes at SLP speed, plus a little over an hour on a 5th tape. All materials will be sent for final validation prior to his record being posted on the Twin Galaxies online scoreboard and in the Book of Records.

 

This marks Mike's first completed venture into the "marathon realm" of gameplay, and in doing so he has joined a small but intrepid and dedicated group of gamers who have burned the midnight oil and then some while on the same gaming credit. Mike told us that "ships were sacrificed in order to rest my hands for a few seconds, eat, drink, and to visit the restroom. This is risky as you can never have more than 9 ships, so breaks may only be as long as 30 seconds or you can lose your game."

 

Mike also explains..."I'd like to dedicate this record to the memory of Scott Safran", who we know to be the recognized arcade Asteroids world record holder who had passed away a few years back while attempting to save his cat.

 

Mike is also the officially recognized and verified world record holder on quite a few important gaming records, including the world's only sub-60 minute completion of "Resident Evil" from the more modern PS2 system, and is hard at work at Atari 2600 "Xenophobe", already achieving a score of 1,084,285 and trying for more.

 

Congratulations Mike, on an awesome and inspiring achievement in the world of vintage video gaming !!

[ATARIPITBULL]

33 hours playing asteroids, that is unbelievable, Mike is the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[King Atari]

and is hard at work at Atari 2600 "Xenophobe", already achieving a score of 1,084,285 and trying for more.

 

AY YIE YIE YIE YIE!

 

[Lemmi]

damn, my butt and thumb hurts just thinking about it

 

way to go

[CrazyImpmon]

That joystick got to be smoking after all that playing. I can't imagine being on the same game 33 hours straight, let alone trying for the record.

[StanJr]

That is totally INCREDIBLE.

 

Rock on, dude.

 

there is NO WAY I could play Asteroids for that long. Wow.

[moycon]

Will a box set of the tapes be available?? Maybe you could fill in the remainder of the 5th tape with an interview and some bloopers or something.

 

Thanks!

 

Oh BTW. WAY TO GO MIKE!!!!

[JCroniger]

Congratulations Mike!! That is quite a feat!

[oesii]

Will a box set of the tapes be available?? Maybe you could fill in the remainder of the 5th tape with an interview and some bloopers or something.  

 

Thanks!

 

Oh BTW. WAY TO GO MIKE!!!!

 

 

I'll wait for the DVD.

[MattyXB]

 

Congartulation to Mike.

 

[Atari2600Lives]

First congratulations are in order...is there anyway i can read about the "cat story" geez...what happen to the guy?

[liveinabin]

Thats incredible. Just one thought though.. what about when you need to pee? What the heck do you do about that? 33 hours??? wow

[ROBERT]

Hello Mike:

 

Hope you're recouperated by now...playing an Atari 2600 game for that long must have been extremely tiring, and you chose a venerable and respected title to boot.

 

Your dedication of the effort to the memory of the late arcade Asteroids champion was very poignant and respectful...I'm sure gamers everywhere feel the same.

 

Speaking on behalf of Twin Galaxies, that was an "Over the Top" performance !!

 

Robert T Mruczek

Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee

Star Wars classic arcade champion

[email protected] (work E-MAIL)

 

*****************************

[Miles Tails Prower]

Man. And I thought I played Centipede for a long time.

[DeV0]

Man, amazing acheivment that one. Cant imagine spending more than 3 hours on one game of anything

[RCorcoran]

First congratulations are in order...is there anyway i can read about the "cat story" geez...what happen to the guy?

 

This story ran on several sites, but here is the one I refer most people to:

 

http://www.twingalaxies.com/cgi-perl/news_..._champ_found.pl

[NE146]

That's amazing how he played for so long.. But on game 1B?! Man that's:

 

1) an extra man every 5000 pts and;

 

2) "Slow" Asteroids... which as I'm sure we all know, is that 2600 variation where the asteroids simply go up and down.

 

Yeah the marathon aspect is extremely amazing (I could never do it ) but it would have been that much more impressive if he could do it at at least a life every 10k, and with the 'fast' asteroid variation.. which as we all know at least gives a little more varied angled movement to the rocks.

[FirebrandX]

Nobody has been able to do a 30+ hour marathon on fast angled asteroids, so I don't fault Mike for that. Besides, feel free to beat the score if you like. :-)

[RCorcoran]

If you really want a challenge on VCS Asteroids...

 

Game 32, Diff A

 

This is the variation I play most often as it offers the greatest challenge. Two years ago at CGE I ran a tournament for 32A with a 15 minute time limit. Here are the results:

 

http://www.twingalaxies.com/cgi-perl/searc...latformSelect=5

[Thomas Jentzsch]

If you really want a challenge on VCS Asteroids...

 

Game 32, Diff A  

Ha, for a real challenge try my own Asteroids DC+ hack

[RCorcoran]

Nobody has been able to do a 30+ hour marathon on fast angled asteroids, so I don't fault Mike for that.

 

Agreed. In fact, most people couldn't last the entire 15 minutes in the live challenge we (TG) ran at CGE.

 

Besides, feel free to beat the score if you like. :-)

 

No way, no how...

[RCorcoran]

Ha, for a real challenge try my own Asteroids DC+ hack

 

Thomas, I have and I love it!

[Goochman]

As for the Video Tapes being available, watch your local Blockbuster for:

 

"Asteroids: Hours 1-5" to be released along with a gift box set of Sex in the City Season 4

 

Watching 33 hrs of Asteroids is not my idea of fun!

[NE146]

Besides, feel free to beat the score if you like. :-)

 

If you read my post a little closer you'd see I already answered that challenge

 

(I could never do it )

[FirebrandX]

I read your post close enough, but felt you were dissing on Mike and using that as a means to get away with it. I expected you to understand this aspect and hoped you wouldn't use that as a retort. I always get surpised when people do it anyway...