Cynicaster

264,510 I generally don't get the allure of video game pinball simulations, but this one is decent I guess.

400,160 This game is pretty awesome; I like it a LOT more than the original.

This game doesn’t work in the version of MAME I have running on my cabinet. Can somebody recommend a confirmed working version?

Well Han, keep your head up and take support from your family when things get rough. That sure saved my ass when things got rough for me. As for Alien Syndrome, I never played this one in the 80s but I did play it in the AtariAge high score club 7-8 years ago, so I'm not totally green with it. Actually, I just checked; the score I got in that competition is significantly higher than what I've posted here. That's the problem with games like this - so much of it is memorization that if you go a long stretch without playing, you lose it all and have to almost start over. In digging up the old AA thread, I was reminded of a play tip I posted back then that I had completely forgotten about, regarding how to handle the 2nd boss that throws those blobs at you. I was really struggling with that boss the other night because the blobs are very difficult to avoid. What you can do is grab the flame-thrower weapon (not the fireball weapon) and when the monster lobs the blobs at you, just stand still and let them land around you. When they land, mash the button and spin around in a circle. The flamethrower will nuke the blobs around you and give you a chance to attack the main monster.

167,400

101,700

Continuing on my streak of games I suck at... just to get on the board here. 42,000

80,060 Can't seem to figure this game out.

Saw this game come up and realized I hadn't played it. I had heard it was crushingly difficult, and it did not disappoint. It makes me wonder how a game like this would have made any money in an 80s arcade. The gameplay is fun in concept, but constantly getting killed by super bats that fly 10x faster than you can move is very deflating. It's hard to picture myself continually paying for such punishment. 32,120

317,460

Go Go Vertical Smile - 278,680 The "hey, you'll need this" gets a bit annoying but it's a pretty fun game. Pay attention to how the scoring works; there is a risk/reward system that enables you to rack up lots of points if you're willing to push your luck. The value of the items goes up for each one you grab on an excursion, but then resets on the next excursion. In other words, there are lots of points to be had by trying to string together as many items as you can without retreating back to safety.

There are lots of "secret points" in this game, so if you want to play it, take a few minutes to watch a quick Youtube video to see where some of them are. It's been so long since I played I can't remember, myself.

Small improvement, but doesn't move me in the standings. (haha, I was wearing my Brian Kuh "There's a potential Donkey Kong killscreen coming up" t-shirt, you can see his reflection in the monitor) 69,670

I will! 244,400

Han, When the baddies grab you, to break free you have to shake the joystick back and forth almost like you’re playing Decathlon on Atari 2600. It usually works within 2 seconds or so.

189,420

Ugh, that version blows. I think that was the last “new” game we ever got for 2600 before moving to 7800 (which, incidentally, has its own crappy version of Kung Fu).

351,570

I'm on top for now, but I'm feeling like the universe wants to keep me down. Yesterday I had not one, but TWO MAME computers crap out on me in the span of an hour. The first one just stopped showing an image (probably a bad mobo or video adapter), and the second one suddenly froze and started making a hideous clanking sound from the harddrive and would not boot up. Oh, the joys of 10 year old computers. I took the harddrive out of the first computer and put it in the 2nd and surprisingly it actually booted into Windows after some churning, but now it is saying my copy of Windows is not activated. Here is the last score I squeezed out before the harddrive crash: 275,570

258,960

Bosconian 101: + The green space stations can be destroyed either by shooting all 6 pods, or by landing a single hit to the center opening. The pods are 200 points each, and destroying a station is I believe 1500 points. So if you shoot all 6 pods you get (6 x 200) + 1500 = 2700 points, vs. only 1500 if you go for the quick kill. Obviously, going pod-by-pod is more dangerous, so there is a risk/reward tradeoff. + A good beginner strategy is to go pod-by-pod for the first 2-3 stages when the game is still at "starter" difficulty so you can rack up some points, then focus on simply surviving in the levels after that. In later levels you have to work quickly to clear the level to avoid the dreaded "condition red" + shooting the spikey mines and space rocks gets you so few points it is not worth your time for that purpose. However, when you're coming up on a green station, sometimes it's worthwhile to clear some of that stuff out to give yourself some space to maneuver + It's easy to fall into the habit of focusing on a single green station, destroying it, and then moving on to the next one. That's fine when the stations are spaced far apart. When they're bunched together, a better strategy is to shoot at all stations on the screen to take out all pods that are in shooting range. Remember, the stations use the pods to fire at you, so clearing out as many as possible means fewer bullets to dodge. + You might have the tendency to always shoot up/down/left/right, which is fine for many situations, but you really need to learn to take advantage of shooting on the diagonal to take out pods and enemy ships from a wider range of angles. This seems like it should be obvious but there really is a tendency to stick to the cardinal directions, especially with some joystick styles that favor those directions. + Always look at your radar to plan your route so that you waste as little time as possible just flying around (remember, "condition red" happens to slow pokes). Sometimes, the quickest route to the next station is to "wrap around" the screen Asteroids style (i.e., fly off the left side of the radar to appear on the right, fly off the top to appear at the bottom, etc.) This can save you a lot of time. + When you hear the game say "battle stations" and the squads of ships attack you in a formation, there is always one ship that is a different color than the rest. If you take out that ship, the formation will break up and retreat, which can save your life. You do get a nice bonus for killing all of the ships in a formation, though, so it's something to try if you have a clear shot. + The little yellow ship that flies by and says "fighter sighted" is spying on you. If you let him get away (i.e., fly off-screen) then your threat level changes. For example, if you're at condition yellow and a spy spots you and lives to tell about it, you'll find yourself in condition red. So, it's often worth it to try to chase those guys down and take them out, even though they're only worth a measly 200 points. + yes, a pint is required

224,640

Only tips I have to offer are: - when you circle the sections that contain a pitchfork thingy, don't bother trying to chase down the enemies to get points. Just use that time to clear as much of the board as possible - try not to "waste" your pitchforks by circling one while you are already invincible. If you space them out just right, you should be able to clear most of the screen freely while invincible - there is no need to complete individual screens before moving on. If you get in trouble, just retreat to one of the other mazes and come back later

Small improvement 261,140

245,850 I'm glad this game is the GOTM because I haven't played it in years and it's been fun to re-discover. This score is my new personal best, as far as I can tell. The game does have some rough edges. I like the Hitchcock sounding intro music but it gets annoying. The little ditty that plays when you close a section with a prize gets very repetitive. I don't like how enemies spawn right on top of you, that seems like clunky design. I don't like how when you clear a set of 4 mazes, the game just abruptly re-starts with your guy sitting out in the open (if you know about this ahead of time it's OK, but it's pretty much guaranteed to screw over unsuspecting newcomers). With the gripes out of the way, I absolutely love the basic concept of the game and think it is really underrated for the era.