High Score Competition (April: Starfort)

[digdugnate]

Wondering if arcadeshopper has Gremlin’s Blasto the arcade game from 1978?

 

 

 

 

 

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deja vu!

[+OLD CS1]

[PeteE]

Using Majestyx strategy, got lucky with mine clusters

[Opry99er]

Using Majestyx strategy, got lucky with mine clusters

blasto40390.png

 

[Opry99er]

Best I can do tonight.

 

 

[globeron]

Vorticon: The key is to play on the faster speeds, with trails, and high mine density. There is only a single screen on which you need to clear all the blue mines as fast as possible. This is because the major points are in how much time is left on the timer when you clear all the blue mines (1000 points x amount of time remaining). Typically, you get around 8000 points (give or take about 1000 - it varies) by clearing all the blue mines. So for the scores you see posted, you can deduct 1000 x time remaining to see how many points were scored via shooting all mines.

 

For example, in my high score: 35430 - 28x1000 = 7430 points from destroying screen objects.

For globeron's ridiculously high score: 39490 - 31x1000 = 8490 points from destroying screen objects.

 

What this means is that globeron likely had about 20 additional blue mines than I did, as the blue mines are worth 50 points each. The more blue mines, the higher your potential points from destroying them, not to mention time savings from the chain reactions caused by them.

 

The reasoning for the game choices are:

- speed: the slowest speed, while giving you the most time, isn't offset enough by how slow everything moves. Your tank moves slow and so do the explosions. The other two speeds reduce the time limit but can be made up by how fast your tank moves and explosions occur

- trails: reduces the amount of small (green) mines you have to get rid of which are only worth 10 points. The best strategy is to clear the board as quickly as possible, so wasting time on 10 point targets is bad strategy.

- high mine density: more points due to sheer volume and the chain reactions they set off, again saving valuable time in clearing the board.

 

Hope that helps in planning a strategy.

 

Here is my latest high score, still not touching either of globeron's amazing scores. I am using the RAPID speed, as I get the most consistently high scores this way. Tried FULL TILT numerous times but more often than not I end up with only 10-15 seconds left on the clock, resulting in scores of around 15000-22000.

 

Thanks for the explanation, I did not know that how the calculation worked, but I agree that the density of blue mines is important.

(I also realized that on the Raspberry PI with TI/SIM pressing REDO returned to BACK and had to enter the game play (I need to double check that)

but on the real TI you can press REDO, thus if you are not happy with the mine density then press a few times REDO before playing,

[+chue]

44840

[Opry99er]

Wow....

[+OLD CS1]

I think I might have to fold.

[+chue]

Wondering if arcadeshopper has Gremlin’s Blasto the arcade game from 1978?

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

The Gremlin version of the game is probably decent, if it's anything like TI Blasto. However, the audio in the Gremlin version has got to be the worst of any game I've ever heard. Nails scratching on a chalkboard is more pleasant.

Edited April 15, 2019 by chue

[digdugnate]

this game has brought out some real competition! that's cool to see.

 

I promise I'll try to get a score up by the EOM, even if I have to use Classic99 instead of my beloved TI. *sniff*

[+Vorticon]

Welp this is as far as I can get to date. Are joysticks better than keyboard in this case? I'm also going to try it on real hardware. Sometimes I do better there for unfathomable reasons

 

[majestyx]

Welp this is as far as I can get to date. Are joysticks better than keyboard in this case? I'm also going to try it on real hardware. Sometimes I do better there for unfathomable reasons

 

 

I don't know if this will help, but here's a quick play-through I did, just to give you a feel for how I scored around 30000 points. This was done using keyboard controls in Classic99.

 

[+Vorticon]

You make it look so easy I'm going to try joysticks because the arrow keys on my laptop are not arranged optimally where the up/down arrow keys are squeezed into the space of a single normally sized key.

[PeteE]

You can also move while the mines are detonating and chaining, so use that time wisely to line up your next shot!

[Airshack]

 

First night with Blasto and I’ve got to admit I love this game! One screen and extremely simple gameplay....I’m hooked!

 

“Bushnell's Law or Nolan's Law is an aphorism often attributed to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, on the subject of video game design:[1]

 

All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master. “

 

 

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[digdugnate]

well, 8670 i guess is an ok start.

[+Vorticon]

Hey someone has a lower score than me! I feel better now

[Airshack]

Hey someone has a lower score than me! I feel better now

 

 

 

 

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[+Vorticon]

Progress!

 

[digdugnate]

Hey someone has a lower score than me! I feel better now

Sorry to disappoint you, Vorticon. 32130 now.

[digdugnate]

a couple of things i found helped me were the fact that you can move your tank while stuff is blowing up (just can't shoot more than one at a time, tho), and to stay at least one space away from the mines.

[Airshack]

I tend to clear out the top left corner and then clear out the screen counter clockwise. That worked best for me.

 

Tried shooting from the center outwards but that strategy failed to yield high scores.

 

 

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[+Vorticon]

Getting there! Real hardware with Prostick II joystick.

 

[JB]

I'll throw my hat in the ring. Spent a while in MAME with a gamepad, this is my best. Was gonna be real hardware, but we've got a guest sleeping in the room the machine is set up in.

 

There's a lot of luck involved, since the the board layout has so much impact on speed.

 

 

Biggest non-luck obstacle: Judging how long you have to touch the direction to move versus just rotate in place. I lost a few seconds on several runs to impromptu tank-dancing sessions.