HSC Season 6 Week 25: Subterranea

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

 

The hideous HEXUPLEX guards the dark tunnels. Its evil genius tracks your Ranger, wherever you fly. The creature sends up lethal Aerobots, one after the other. Grab the Treasure Crystal and slide into the underworld. You're in for an unforgettable adventure!

 

If you survive flocks of flying enemies, escape through the high powered flash pulses of the Electro-Gates. It takes steady nerves to make it! Then, go even deeper to more wild battles. Keep shooting, and never give up!

 

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Subterranea
• Released By: Imagic, 1983
• Left Difficulty: N/A
• Right Difficulty: N/A
• Game Mode: Game 1 - Standard Game
• Chosen By: Ze_ro

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 February 25th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 46,874 (shadow460) [+11] 31,921 (darthkur) [+10] 22,898 (toymailman) [+9] 21,684 (Deteacher) [+8] 7321 (Jred) [+7] 6621 (Kurt_Woloch) [+6] 5679 (aftermac) [+5] 5293 (Impaler_26) [+4] 4833 (MrBeefy) [+3] Best Tips shadow460 [+2] Challenges None yet TwinGalaxies Top 3 115,701 (Douglas C Korekach) 13,166 (Dan Mowczan) 11,209 (Robert Macauley) (Emulator) (Game 1, Difficulty B)

Current Standings toymailman [243] Deteacher [229] darthkur [164] aftermac [164] DarthCalvin [117] Kurt_Woloch [110] Impaler_26 [102] jjd [87] Mister VCS [68] Hornpipe2 [55] SpiceWare [52] the 5th ghost [47] LarcenTyler [44] shadow460 [43] Nathan Strum [33] Jess Ragan [26] homerwannabee [22] Zoyx [22] Spector [20] Omegamatrix [19] ClassicGMR [18] iangamer [14] Jred [13] Shannon [12] LoneWolfSeth [12] MrBeefy [11] midnight magicman [11] ed1475 [10] Random Terrain [10] IHATETHEBEARS [9] maf [9] vdub_bobby [9] DtY [8] godzillajoe [8] missioncontrol [8] SeaGtGruff [8] chuckwalla [7] LS_Dracon [7] LaserHawk3000 [7] lucifershalo [5] phaxda [5] doctorclu [4] vintagegamecrazy [4] rheffera [2] ratfink [2] Lendorien [1] roadrunner [1] theKLT [1] Yar76 [1] Artlover [1]

 

Scoring Points in Subterranea

• Shoot an Aerobot - 100 points
• Flying enemies in the caverns - 25 to 99 points (increases as the game continues)
• Capture a Treasure Crystal - 1000 points
• Touching the side of the tunnels deducts points.
• Clear a tunnel without being hit - Extra life (max 7)

 

Hints and Tips

The Manual

As always, you really should read the manual. AtariAge has a typed copy available online. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any real hints, but it does give a good description about what you're expected to do in the game.

shadow460

Each of the tunnel enemies has a particular line it stays primarily on. It'll venture off that line as it moves up and down. Find the primary line and sit there following said enemy until it comes back to that line, then blast it. This holds true in the final tunnels before the next Heuplex as well. There are two lines of the screen that you can stay on and blast enemies. The enemy at the top will never venture into the bottom third of the tunnel, and the enemy at the bottom will never venture into the top 2/3 of the tunnel. If there's only one enemy, it will venture all over. Enemies shoot in the direction they are traveling. Learn which side is the front. When you're following an enemy, it is highly unlikely that another enemy will venture into the line your target is traveling in. In other words, if you're following something, you are usually safe. In the Hexuplex screens, I generally circle with the Aerobots, turning and firing on them periodically. Enemy shots are guided in many cases. You will get fired on a few times, especially at the beginning of each wave. Try to memorize which waves you get shot at during. Here's a short list from memory... Tunnel 1: no enemies shoot in here Tunnel 2: The rainbow birds in the first wave shoot, the red things in wave 2 bounce but don't shoot, also the eyeballs in the third wave shoot unguided bullets. Tunnel 3: The brown guys in wave 2 shoot, the red birds in wave 3 shoot. The eyeballs in wave 4 do not shoot but they do bounce. Tunnel 4: The white coins bounce but don't shoot in wave 1, the blue mouths in wave 2 shoot, the orange birds in wave 3 shoot, and the eyeballs in wave 4 shoot unguided bullets and they bounce. Tunnel 5: The Apple Jacks in wave 1 shoot, the arrowheads in wave 2 do not shoot, the mini Joust mounts in wave 3 shoot and bounce, the white fish in wave 4 shoot and the eyeballs in wave 5 shoot. Tunnel 6: The Seaquest goldfish in wave 1 shoot, and that's as far as I've got. The most enemies I've seen on screen at once is four, and the most enemy bullets I've seen on screen at once is one. Oh, and if you're curious, here's a rundown of what the Aerobots look like: 1. Red spiders 2. Brown spiders 3. Monkeys 4. Baby Demon Attack birds 5. Burnt ham patties 6. Pig heads Starting in tunnel 5, the electro gates bounce on the first wave. You can't sit between them anymore, you have to time your moves through the whole thing. When you defeat the third Hexuplex, you can shoot the crystal and it will--oops. That's supposed to be a secret. Oh, yeah. Remember the idea of flying backwards in Defender? It works here, too. Simply tap the stick in the opposite direction and start blasting. Your ship will drift to a stop if you don't apply thrust, but if you just tap, shoot, and reverse to the original direction, you should be fine. Works well if you can get an enemy to follow you (one that doesn't shoot, I hope!). Anyone who has trouble killing the Aerobots in the non scrolling stages needs to set the game to the hard level. Turn it on, the hit select once and the display should say 2 1 at the top right. Hit reset, and Hex will give you lots o' practice. Clear the stage, reset, clear the stage, reset, repeat until your head implodes, then play the normal game. Notice in all the eyeball stages that the eyebals each have a set area of the screen they travel in. The idea is to get at the top or bottom of that area so you can line shots up on them. They will stay at the very top or bottom of their area for a split second. If they are not shooting, you can get them to follow you, then turn quickly and blast them. When you kill an eyeball, it's replacement will always enter the screen coming toward you. So after you kill one, move in the direction you want the next to appear from. What you have to do is stay in two lanes throughout most of the battle. When the eyeballs show up behind you, run from them to give yourself more time to avoid their shot. Get behind the eyeball. If you let it bounce, run again and repeat. Once you're behind it, get to the top or bottom and blast the eyeball. You will have a split second before the next one appears. During that time, slide into another of the two or three "zones" behind a different eyeball and blast that one. When the first one re appears, get behind it and blast it again. Repeat until you're done. The are times I modify this strategy a bit. On the first and second tunnels, where I get behind the eyeballs and just time my shots into them. On the third tunnel I usually get in front of the top eyeball, then turn and zap it when it gets to the bottom of its zone. I save the bottom eyeball for last. Also, the noises you hear in the tunnels kind of warn you before enemies show up. During stages where you're getting shot at, never sit around in the same vertical lane. You need to move up and down and keep shooting. I dunno how many times I've had a wall of enemies coming at me, knowing I was about to die, and a stray shot picked off the middle one giving me a chance to escape. Another Hexuplex trick: When there's no aerobot on the screen, move to the middle and wiggle the joystick around. It seems to cause Hex to launch faster. Never, ever get cornered on the Hex screens--the aerobots will home in from above or below and kill you while you're trying reverse. Imagine a diamond on the screen that just fit within the borders. Stay within that imaginary diamond and you will be OK.

 

--Zero

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here's my best so far... 6621.

[shadow460]

19,324.

 

Each of the tunnel enemies has a particular line it stays primarily on. It'll venture off that line as it moves up and down. Find the primary line and sit there following said enemy until it comes back to that line, then blast it.

This holds true in the final tunnels before the next Heuplex as well. There are two lines of the screen that you can stay on and blast enemies. The enemy at the top will never venture into the bottom third of the tunnel, and the enemy at the bottom will never venture into the top 2/3 of the tunnel. If there's only one enemy, it will venture all over.

 

Enemies shoot in the direction they are traveling. Learn which side is the front.

 

When you're following an enemy, it is highly unlikely that another enemy will venture into the line your target is traveling in. In other words, if you're following something, you are usually safe.

 

In the Hexuplex screens, I generally circle with the Aerobots, turning and firing on them periodically.

 

In the third Heuplex screen, you can--

Edited February 19, 2009 by shadow460

[shadow460]

27,595. The bouncing electro gates after the fifth crystal are a new one on me...

Oh, and if you don't have this game, definitely pick it up. It's worth what you will pay for it. I can't vouch for emulation, as I've never played it under emulation, but I know on actual hardware it's a lot of fun to play.

 

@the 5th ghost...I am going to break that 68K score you got five years ago... heads up!

 

EDIT: 35,100. It turns out that the only bouncing gates in the fifth cave are in the first level after Hexuplex. Also, in the last part of that cave, the eyeball like enemies attack in threes, and each stay in its own third of the screen.

Edited February 20, 2009 by shadow460

[darthkur]

13,569

 

 

This is a pretty good game. I've never played this one before. I need to get my hands on the cart one of these days.

 

[shadow460]

new high! 41,276. BTW, I do have screenshots but I'm probably only going to post the highest one.

 

I've been chased by the fish from Seaquest, the baby demons from Demon Attack, Apple Jacks, arrowheads, Pac-Man like enemies, monkeys, ham patties, pig faces, and miniature Joust characters. I wonder when the enemies begin to repeat?

 

Oh, yeah, I have the book if anyone needs a scan of it. One thing it doesn't mention is that the flying bonus enemy is worth 1000 points.

Edited February 21, 2009 by shadow460

[toymailman]

Another new game for me thanks to the HSC. This'll be a fun week.

 

10,603

[toymailman]

It gets really tough IMO when the enemies begin shooting. The shots are spot on and too fast to dodge (for the most part).

 

I've improved just a tad.

17,267

[shadow460]

Enemy shots are guided in many cases. You will get fired on a few times, especially at the beginning of each wave. Try to memorize which waves you get shot at during. Here's a short list from memory...

 

Tunnel 1: no enemies shoot in here

Tunnel 2: The rainbow birds in the first wave shoot, the red things in wave 2 bounce but don't shoot, also the eyeballs in the third wave shoot unguided bullets.

Tunnel 3: The brown guys in wave 2 shoot, the red birds in wave 3 shoot. The eyeballs in wave 4 do not shoot but they do bounce.

Tunnel 4: The white coins bounce but don't shoot in wave 1, the blue mouths in wave 2 shoot, the orange birds in wave 3 shoot, and the eyeballs in wave 4 shoot unguided bullets and they bounce.

Tunnel 5: The Apple Jacks in wave 1 shoot, the arrowheads in wave 2 do not shoot, the mini Joust mounts in wave 3 shoot and bounce, the white fish in wave 4 shoot and the eyeballs in wave 5 shoot.

Tunnel 6: The Seaquest goldfish in wave 1 shoot, and that's as far as I've got.

 

The most enemies I've seen on screen at once is four, and the most enemy bullets I've seen on screen at once is one.

 

Oh, and if you're curious, here's a rundown of what the Aerobots look like:

1. Red spiders

2. Brown spiders

3. Monkeys

4. Baby Demon Attack birds

5. Burnt ham patties

6. Pig heads

 

Starting in tunnel 5, the electro gates bounce on the first wave. You can't sit between them anymore, you have to time your moves through the whole thing.

 

When you defeat the third Hexuplex, you can shoot the crystal and it will--oops. That's supposed to be a secret.

[Impaler_26]

5,293

[aftermac]

5,679

 

Finally got a score almost worth posting...

 

[MrBeefy]

Its fun but I suck 4833

[Jred]

Wow I am horrible at this one. One I think that a joystick would benefit. Great game though!

[IHATETHEBEARS]

When you defeat the third Hexuplex, you can shoot the crystal and it will--oops. That's supposed to be a secret.

 

I shot the crystal and nothing happened. What am I missing?

[IHATETHEBEARS]

Ah... nevermind. I got it now.

[shadow460]

After shooting the crystal, open the instruction book and read the credits. You'll see. It's an easter egg, and the trigger is very deliberate.

[the 5th ghost]

@the 5th ghost...I am going to break that 68K score you got five years ago... heads up!

 

Good luck!

 

The score rolls at 100K and eventually the difficulty returns to easy and cycles back. With practice, you'll get there shadow460

 

One of my goals was to reach 1 million points, (which is very possible!) but I have retired from gaming.

[homerwannabee]

I have retired from gaming.

What on earth?!!! You make it sound like a job instead of something you go out and do for fun.

[shadow460]

When is "eventually?" Certainly it's more than 25 years, because I have played this game a lot since I was a little boy. If I've got the cart, it gets played.

 

Oh, yeah. Remember the idea of flying backwards in Defender? It works here, too. Simply tap the stick in the opposite direction and start blasting. Your ship will drift to a stop if you don't apply thrust, but if you just tap, shoot, and reverse to the original direction, you should be fine. Works well if you can get an enemy to follow you (one that doesn't shoot, I hope!).

Edited February 24, 2009 by shadow460

[shadow460]

Man I think I may have hit the wall on this. I can't get past the brown eyeballs at the end of the fifth tunnel. I tried the "hard" game, wondering what the difference was. It simply puts the max number of enemies in the first few stages and that seems to be it.

 

Anyone who has trouble killing the Aerobots in the non scrolling stages needs to set the game to the hard level. Turn it on, the hit select once and the display should say 2 1 at the top right. Hit reset, and Hex will give you lots o' practice. Clear the stage, reset, clear the stage, reset, repeat until your head implodes, then play the normal game.

[darthkur]

31,921

 

 

I've discovered why the "brown eyeballs" are such a pain. When I got to the board they're on I summarily lost all three remaining ships I had.

 

[shadow460]

Notice in all the eyeball stages that the eyebals each have a set area of the screen they travel in. The idea is to get at the top or bottom of that area so you can line shots up on them. They will stay at the very top or bottom of their area for a split second. If they are not shooting, you can get them to follow you, then turn quickly and blast them.

When you kill an eyeball, it's replacement will always enter the screen coming toward you. So after you kill one, move in the direction you want the next to appear from.

What you have to do is stay in two lanes throughout most of the battle. When the eyeballs show up behind you, run from them to give yourself more time to avoid their shot. Get behind the eyeball. If you let it bounce, run again and repeat. Once you're behind it, get to the top or bottom and blast the eyeball. You will have a split second before the next one appears. During that time, slide into another of the two or three "zones" behind a different eyeball and blast that one. When the first one re appears, get behind it and blast it again. Repeat until you're done.

 

The are times I modify this strategy a bit. On the first and second tunnels, where I get behind the eyeballs and just time my shots into them. On the third tunnel I usually get in front of the top eyeball, then turn and zap it when it gets to the bottom of its zone. I save the bottom eyeball for last.

 

Also, the noises you hear in the tunnels kind of warn you before enemies show up. During stages where you're getting shot at, never sit around in the same vertical lane. You need to move up and down and keep shooting. I dunno how many times I've had a wall of enemies coming at me, knowing I was about to die, and a stray shot picked off the middle one giving me a chance to escape.

 

Another Hexuplex trick: When there's no aerobot on the screen, move to the middle and wiggle the joystick around. It seems to cause Hex to launch faster. Never, ever get cornered on the Hex screens--the aerobots will home in from above or below and kill you while you're trying reverse. Imagine a diamond on the screen that just fit within the borders. Stay within that imaginary diamond and you will be OK.

 

Those are just my hints, though. They got me to 41,276 points, so if you want to score higher than that, don't pay any attention to them.

[Deteacher]

This was a fun week! But the best I could do was 21,684. It does get hard...and quick!

Edited February 25, 2009 by Deteacher

[toymailman]

Best I could do this week.

 

22,898

[shadow460]

44,815

 

I have reached the point where enemies begin to show up with palette swaps. In the sixth tunnel, the first enemies look like the sharks in Seaquest. They bounce, shoot, and move vertically. I do not think their bullets are guided. The second set of enemies looks like the guys in the second stage of the second tunnel, but they are white and they shoot as well as move vertically. I found out the hard way that they do shoot at you. the third level has the enemies from tunnel 3 level 3, but they are palette swapped and they bounce. They behave in the same way as they did before.

 

I also got through the brown eyeball level without losing a single life using one of the patterns I described above. For some odd reason, the Aerobots in tunnel 1 and tunnel 4 are very tough. Yes, the first stage's Aerobots get difficult fast, but during the normal game you don't get to shoot enough of them down to see it.

 

Here's the screenshot, but I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.

 

up again! 46,874

 

Oh yeah, I hate to admit I've had problems with it in the past, but none of the tips I have posted here are to be posted on GameFAQs at all.

Edited February 25, 2009 by shadow460