ZX HSC Round 1 - Bomb Jack / Penetrator

[R-Tape]

Nohzdyve 1320.

There comes a point when you get in the zone and everything seems to slow down. Then you glance up at the score, and if it's anywhere near your personal best then it suddenly becomes a jittery nightmare.

[smurphboy]

Nohzdyve 1320.

There comes a point when you get in the zone and everything seems to slow down. Then you glance up at the score, and if it's anywhere near your personal best then it suddenly becomes a jittery nightmare.

I did that. I looked at my score and died as I lost the zone.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I'm out so I tried to play Bomb Jack (24,060) and Penetrator (2,110) with my phone, you know, touch screen controls, ... terrible experience, as you can imagine...



I can't even reach level 2 in Penetrator!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Nohzdyve - 920 (new!)

920???

Tsk, tsk!

[R-Tape]

I'm out so I tried to play Bomb Jack and Penetrator with my phone, you know, touch screen controls, ... terrible experience, as you can imagine...

Oh hell yes. Nohzdyve must be a bit better I presume?

[R-Tape]

Nohzdyve 2860



I got nearly all the points on the first life. I was getting worried it was never going to end!

I think once you've worked out a strategy, no impossible situations can arise, so—gulp—in theory, you can keep going forever.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

[mention]R-Tape[/mention] 's current mood:

[Freespirit]

Nohzdyve 2860



I got nearly all the points on the first life. I was getting worried it was never going to end!

I think once you've worked out a strategy, no impossible situations can arise, so—gulp—in theory, you can keep going forever.

Great score, you are now one with the game.

[Morkin]

Flippin' eck..! Some scary Nohzdyve scores going on.

...Having said that, I just beat my record, and the thousand point barrier... 1160.

[Mousey]

Current scores:

Bomb Jack - 1,423,260 (unchanged)
Penetrator - 37,070 (unchanged)
Nohzdyve - 1,250

I was determined to get over 1,000 and wouldn't you know that I'd die on 990? A few goes later I managed to beat it though.

[SCREENSHOT TO FOLLOW - can't seem to upload images at the moment?]

Nohzdyve 2860

I got nearly all the points on the first life. I was getting worried it was never going to end!

That's an absolutely awesome score R-Tape, well done!

[akeley]

Scores are all great and good (keep'em coming) but we were supposed to chat about the games too. It's in dem rules folks!

So, do you know any interesting trivia & tidbits about these games?

I've been trying out Bomb Jack on other formats. C64 version was godawful: lurid colours and everything big and silly looking. Amstrad one I think is the best, because the controls are supertight, you can stop on a dime and walk on air. The gfx is also better than C64. Spectrum one compares very favourably to Amstrad gameplay wise, but also gfx is great because it has so much detail, even if less colour, and it's cleverly composed.

I did try arcade too but only briefly. It is, unsurprisingly, best overall, but the gulf is not as big as in other cases.

[Mousey]

I've been trying out Bomb Jack on other formats. C64 version was godawful: lurid colours and everything big and silly looking.

There is an updated version of Bomb Jack being developed for the C64 (Bomb Jack DX) which looks fantastic, but there haven't been any updates since Dec 2019, so I'm not sure if the project has permanently stalled or is just on hold for now:
https://compidiaries.wordpress.com/

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Comparing Penetrator with the game it was inspired from, Scramble, the original arcade has a fuel counter that must be fed by shooting fuel deposits or the counter reaches zero and you lose a life.

Fortunately Penetrator doesn't have this feature!

[Morkin]

Nohzdyve - 1,250

Grrrr...! Going to have to have another go now..

So, do you know any interesting trivia & tidbits about these games?

The main bit of trivia (I think) I know about Penetrator, a landscape editor was used to create the levels, and the author decided to leave it in the program, meaning that users could create their own landscapes. Inspired idea IMO. Had lots of fun designing levels back in the day.

[akeley]

Comparing Penetrator with the game it was inspired from, Scramble, the original arcade has a fuel counter that must be fed by shooting fuel deposits or the counter reaches zero and you lose a life.

Fortunately Penetrator doesn't have this feature!

It does, in a way. You are supposed to destroy the radars, or otherwise the game will get harder (has to do with rockets starting frequency/accuracy?) which is represented by the "Danger" meter.

[Morkin]

This round ends on Sunday the 2nd of August, 00:00 GMT. Please submit your final score by then.

...Just to clarify, is that midnight on Saturday night, or midnight on Sunday night...?

[smurphboy]

I'm hitting a wall with the games. I think two weeks might just be the right time for a round. Lots of time to improve, but frustration hasn't set in yet.

[Freespirit]

Scores are all great and good (keep'em coming) but we were supposed to chat about the games too. It's in dem rules folks!

So, do you know any interesting trivia & tidbits about these games?

I've been trying out Bomb Jack on other formats. C64 version was godawful: lurid colours and everything big and silly looking. Amstrad one I think is the best, because the controls are supertight, you can stop on a dime and walk on air. The gfx is also better than C64. Spectrum one compares very favourably to Amstrad gameplay wise, but also gfx is great because it has so much detail, even if less colour, and it's cleverly composed.

I did try arcade too but only briefly. It is, unsurprisingly, best overall, but the gulf is not as big as in other cases.

I just tried the C64 version of Bomb Jack

It's Probably why:
Crash - 92%
Zzap - 47%

[Morkin]

...So out of interest, is there a tactic for collecting sparkling bombs in Bomb Jack?

I've been finding that I collect a few in order, then the next one will be where an enemy is patrolling (often in the top left of the screen). It'll just walk to and fro on the platform, making it impossible to collect the bomb.

By the time I've waited around for it to walk off the platform, a bunch more enemies have reached the bottom of the screen, morphed into more dangerous enemies, which makes it even harder to collect the bombs in order.

Question for you expert BombJack-ers... Are there certain screen layouts where you think it's worth going for a full chain, and some screens where it's not worth it..?

[akeley]

This round ends on Sunday the 2nd of August, 00:00 GMT. Please submit your final score by then.

midnight on Sunday

That's the one.

[Mousey]

Question for you expert BombJack-ers... Are there certain screen layouts where you think it's worth going for a full chain, and some screens where it's not worth it..?

To quote myself from page 6 of this thread:

"One strategy I have is that on some later levels I just don't bother going for sparkling bombs at all because I know (from long experience) how very hard it is to collect enough for a bonus, no matter what order you try."

For me personally, I "usually" get 50K on stages 1-7 and 10, and sometimes on 8 & 9, but then we get to stage 11 - my nemesis. I'm not sure about Alessandro, but on this stage I just don't bother anymore - I get the bombs as quickly as possible and then move on (still taken from YouTube):

[Morkin]

OK, I'm going to have to try again with this then... If I can somehow do the first four levels in perfect order I should be able to automatically beat my score, though it's easier said than done..!

On the whole, I'm otherwise largely done with my scores now as I think I've given each game a decent go, and am rarely beating my own scores when I replay them. I might give each game all one final go on Sunday evening before the deadline ...

I reckon a week might have been enough for me for all 3 games, but I appreciate that people have time constraints, holidays etc. so two-weeks is cool with me. There's also been more chat than I thought - perhaps partly because it's the first challenge where enthusiasm is high, but 18 pages of comments when the challenge isn't actually finished yet is pretty encouraging..

[akeley]

Interesting, about the BJ strategy, I thought getting at least some chains even on later stages is crucial to get mil+ scores. My problem is that I usually get so hung up on doing it in first stages that I lose all my lives attempting perfect combos. Greed=/=good.

Yes, it's a very lively response, I have never seen a HSC that busy and chatty yet, and it's very nice. But it will probably die down a bit in next rounds, because of the games drawn or time/enthusiasm constraints. So, spread the word if you can, we could always use some more participants!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

New personal record in Nohzdyve: 320 wow!

My points so far:

Bomb Jack: 85,130
Penetrator: 29,940
Nohzdyve: 320

[Morkin]

Interesting, about the BJ strategy, I thought getting at least some chains even on later stages is crucial to get mil+ scores. My problem is that I usually get so hung up on doing it in first stages that I lose all my lives attempting perfect combos. Greed=/=good.

The other thing is that if you lose a life when going for the combo, I think it turns off the sparkle from the next bomb you were about to collect, which effectively reduces your potential bonus by 10k (I'm sure the Bomb Jack experts can confirm/refute this). So in effect, punishing you for being a bit crap..