Cartridges Still Left to Play in Astrocade HSC

[ballyalley]

Season 4, Round 4 is over. I have to post the final standings for Sneaky Snake and Caterpillar. I have been trying to decide which game to play in Round 5. I made a list of all of the cartridges we haven't yet played yet. Here are the Astrocade cartridges left to choose from for the upcoming rounds of the Astrocade High Score Club:

 

Cartridges Still-To-Play

Games - One Player (or More)

1. Amazing Maze / Tic-Tac-Toe (1979)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
2. Black Jack / Acey Deucey / Poker (1979)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
3. Bowling (198x)(Astrocade Inc.) (proto)
4. Checkers (19xx)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)(proto)
5. Conan The Barbarian (1985)(Astrocade Inc. and Dave Carson)
6. Grand Prix (1981)(Astrovision Inc.)
7. ICBM Attack (1982)(Spectre Systems) (Requires Special Controller)
8. Pirate's Chase (1982)(Astrocade Inc.) - w/ The Gate Escape
9. Seawolf / Missile (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
10. Soccer (1985)(Astrocade Inc.)
11. War (2012)(Riff Raff Games)

Games - Two-Player (or More)

1. Artillery Duel (1982)(Astrocade Inc.)
2. Dog Patch (1980)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
3. Football (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.) - w/ Baseball by Dave Martin
4. Red Baron / Panzer Attack (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
5. Tornado Baseball / Tennis / Hockey / Handball (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)

Non-Games

1. Biorhythm (1981)(Astrovision Inc.)
2. Coloring Book (198x)(Astrocade Inc.) (proto)
3. Letter Match / Spell 'n Score / Crosswords (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
4. Life (1985)(Richard Degler)
5. Machine Language Manager (1982)(The Bit Fiddlers)
6. Music Maker (1985)(Astrocade Inc.)
7. Speed Math / Bingo Math (1978)(Bally Mfg. Corp.)
8. Video Story Book (19xx)(Unknown Author) (proto)

 

Games we have played in the Astrocade High Score Club

 

Season 1 Games:

 

HSC01 Round 1: Astro Battle

No Bonus Game

HSC01 Round 2: Space Fortress

Astro Zap 2000! by George Moses

HSC01 Round 3: Cosmic Raiders

Exitor's Revenge by L&M Software

HSC01 Round 4: The Incredible Wizard

LT (Little Terrestrial) by WaveMakers

HSC01 Round 5: Clowns/Brickyard

Brick 'N The Wall by WaveMakers

HSC01 Round 6: Mazeman

Candyman by L&M Software

HSC01 Round 7: Bally Pin (aka Astrocade Pinball)

Avalanche! by Steve Walters

HSC01 Round 8: Treasure Cove

Castle of Horror by WaveMakers

HSC01 Round 9: Crazy Climber

Missile Defense by New Image

HSC01 Round 10: Sea Devil by L&M Software

The Pits by Rex Goulding

HSC01 Round 11: Galactic Invasion

Outpost 19 by WaveMakers

HSC01 Round 12: The Adventures of Robby Roto! by Bally/Midway

Q-B2B by WaveMakers

HSC01 Round 13: Blast Droids by Esoterica

Haunted House by New Image

HSC01 Round 14: Catch-Up Round

 

Season 2 Games:

 

HSC02 Round 1: Solar Conqueror - 1983, Astrocade, Inc.

Space Gauntlet - 1982, The Tiny Arcade

HSC02 Round 2: Star Battle - 1979, Bally Mfg. Corp.

Down the Trench - 1979, Sebree's Computing

HSC02 Round 3: Muncher - 198x,

Nam-Cap - 1982, New Image

HSC02 Round 4: Sneaky Snake - 1983, New Image

Caterpillar - 1983, Thadd*Pro (Kevin O'Neill)

HSC02 Round 5: 280 Zzzap! / Dodgem - 1978, Bally Mfg. Corp.

Super Slope - 1982, Esoterica Ltd.

HSC02 Round 6: Ms. Candyman - 1983, L&M Software

Mummy's Treasure - 1981, L&M Software

 

I have to choose the games from this list. There are quite a few cartridges that we'll probably never play because they're not games-- although if anyone needs an excuse to try Music Maker or Life, than maybe using them for the HSC might be a good idea.

 

Adam

Edited May 31, 2017 by ballyalley

[ballyalley]

I have not yet picked a main game for Round 5 of the Astrocade High Score Club. I'd like some feedback from other Astrocade players. Please help me to choose the next main game (and possibly the bonus game too).

Feel free to make suggestions for next round's game(s) in this thread.

 

I'm also curious about what we should do about the five two-player only games. Should we play them at all? What about the non-games?

Adam

[tripletopper]

Here's a "non-game" cartridge that, if you dig deep, is an actual game. But it requires 2 people to be a game, single player I believe is trivial. Bingo Math. I believe it can be a legal game of Skill, a legal game for money to be run by an establishment for profit in Ohio and other jurisdictions for money, but ONLY if the Bingo Board is either identical, or possibly horizontally, vertically, or diagonally mirrored, The game works like this. All answers are a digit 0-9, and your bingo board is filled with single digits of 0-9. Solve a problem: "24+13=3?" the correct answer is 7 because 24+13=37 and all answers are a digit between 0-9.. Find a 7 on the board and claim it before your opponent. If you claim it first, you mark it on your board and lock out your opponent, but don't be overzealous, a wrong answer gives your opponent a free square anywhere. First one with a row of 5 wins. Questions can be as easy as 1+2 = ? or could be harder, but you're both working on the same question, so it's a game of skill. In easier levels it makes more sense to claim the first square you see with that answer, but on more complex problems, you might want to scan the whole board and look for the "best" square.

 

Also I had a lot typed before, but I wasn't logged in so it was lost. Remember, Log in BEFORE you go on a text tirade.

[ranger_lennier]

Well, Speed Math does give you a score. Any nostalgia for math races on the blackboard?

 

I could see throwing in two-player games as a bonus point, but I'm not sure how they would work as a main game.

 

Of the main carts you mentioned, I'd say my favorites are Pirate's Chase, Ms. Candyman, War (need to be careful about the A.I. bug in the original version), and ICBM Attack (probably best played on an emulator due to the controller). Of course, we probably want to space out the best games a bit.

 

Some good tape games include Super Slope by Esoterica, Quadron by The Tiny Arcade, Tomb Pirates by WaveMakers, and Planet Mongo by Fred Rodney.

 

[ballyalley]

I could see throwing in two-player games as a bonus point, but I'm not sure how they would work as a main game.

 

I take this to mean that Paul is suggesting replacing BASIC bonus games in some rounds with games that are two-player only games. That seems like it would be giving short shrift to many cartridges, especially to important games like Panzor Attack and a few others. That would be like not playing Combat on the Atari 2600-- just unthinkable.

 

Of the main carts you mentioned, I'd say my favorites are Pirate's Chase, Ms. Candyman, War (need to be careful about the A.I. bug in the original version), and ICBM Attack (probably best played on an emulator due to the controller). Of course, we probably want to space out the best games a bit.

I completely agree with Paul on those four games; they're all great. War is okay as a one-player game with the A.I. bug fixed in the second version, but is transformed into one of the best Astrocade games ever released with four players (as Paul can testify to-- as we played it together). Pirate's Chase is another game that is pretty good as a one-player game, but much better as a two-player game. Also, for some reason Ms. Candyman is often compared to Pac-Man, but they are not much alike at all (other than they are both, sort of, of the maze genre).

 

I was going to choose Pirate's Chase as the next game if no one put in a vote in this thread, but I need to take Paul's suggestions about spacing games out a bit. Maybe I'll choose a timed game, such as 280 Zzzap! I'm going to post the new Astrocade HSC tomorrow, so I'll make up my mind by then!

 

Some good tape games include Super Slope by Esoterica, Quadron by The Tiny Arcade, Tomb Pirates by WaveMakers, and Planet Mongo by Fred Rodney.

 

Super Slope is pretty buggy, plus I've begun to wonder if the version that we have is the final release, as it works so much differently than the instructions describe it. Yet, despite these bugs, there is something neat about this off-the-wall skiing game. I don't have much experience with the other games mentioned, though I seem to recall the Tomb Pirates is a two-player game only. Maybe I'm mistaken on that point?

 

As an aside, but something worth noting because of the BASIC bonus game potential, over the last couple of weeks I've been working on the Arcadian "AstroBASIC" download area of BallyAlley.com:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/program_downloads/2000_baud_programs/arcadian/arcadian.html

 

Now every "AstroBASIC" game has a description, and often the documentation for the program. This is a huge change from usually having no description at all except for the title, author and in which issue the program was printed. Next I'll be adding screenshots to all of these games in this area. Maybe, over the next several months, I can make that area a little more use friendly for newcomers to the system.

 

Does anyone else have any game suggestions before I choose the game for season 2, round 5 of the HSC tomorrow?

 

Adam

[ranger_lennier]

What are the issues with Super Slope? It looks to me like it's been archived from two separate commercial tapes, so I believe it's correct. I tried playing it again and there are some graphical glitches, but I didn't see any gameplay issues. The only inconsistency I noticed with the instructions it that the scores seem much higher than what the instructions describe, so that may have changed after printing.

 

I also tried Tomb Pirates again. I don't see any two player option.

 

Yes, I was thinking of two-player only carts as a bonus instead of or in addition to the main game. I'm just not sure how you would use them as the main game in a high score competition, unless we literally all get together and have a tournament. Do you have another idea?

 

I looked at the Arcadian program page. It's pretty neat scrolling through the screenshots.

[ballyalley]

What are the issues with Super Slope? [...] The only inconsistency I noticed with the instructions it that the scores seem much higher than what the instructions describe, so that may have changed after printing.

It's been awhile since I've played Super Slope, but I recall that your skier can crash and then his "sprite" will stay on the screen. Also, sometimes your skier will break in half. I remember that the scoring seems to work completely differently than described in the manual.

 

I also tried Tomb Pirates again. I don't see any two player option.

If it's not a two-player game, then that one can't be bad, as it's like Entombed on the Atari 2600, which is a pretty fun game.

 

Yes, I was thinking of two-player only carts as a bonus instead of or in addition to the main game.

 

I'm still not sure what to do about the two-player only games. I'll figure something out about them.

 

I looked at the Arcadian program page. It's pretty neat scrolling through the screenshots.

 

It has been fun taking screenshots of each game. I'm starting to work on the AstroBASIC L&M software download area, but I've not taken any screenshots yet.

 

Adam