ZX HSC Round 3 - Commando / Rainbow Islands

[akeley]

Here you can vote for one of the two games for the next round. This selection is made by picking the first game submitted per each active player.

The second game of the round will be drawn from the pool of the remaining ones using RNG.

This round will start on Sunday afternoon.

DEAR LURKERS! You can still join in at any time! Please do! There will be a chance to submit scores for previous rounds later in the season, but in any case competing in single rounds is fun too.

[R-Tape]

All these are better than a kick in the bollocks (i.e good). Voted for Commando. Not played that in ages.

[Morkin]

Voted for Chuckie Egg but then changed it to Arkanoid.

Was going to go for Arcadia but I remembered there's a 'leave-one-alien-and-let-the-clock-tick-down' tactic. Also the buggy Kempston thing.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Commando for me. Back in the day I got a lot of points.

[akeley]

Arcadia is my submission, but I voted for Commando...our port might be lacking that sfx from Commie, but it's supremely playable.

Let's say I'll "close" this poll today at 10pm. So you can still change your mind and vote Chuckie or Beret in If the votes are equal I'll toss a coin.

[GreenCard]

I voted for Commando. It was either that or Green Beret, but I reckon I could do better with Commando. Tactical vote.

[akeley]

So be it. Commando (1985, Elite, picked by Juan F. Ramirez) has edged out Chuckie Egg. The losers of the vote might still come up in the future rounds of course.

The RNG game this round is Rainbow Islands (1990, Ocean, picked by PeterJ).

This week we have two AAA heavy hitters. A supremely playable arcade port of the proto run-and-gun game, and another supremely playable* arcade port of the Bubble Bobble sequel. Good luck!

This round ends at midnight, Sunday 16th of August.

Watch out for a BONUS GAME, appearing on Wednesday. Because the rounds are short now, and we have 2 games already, the bonus game is just that - a bonus. Each player who posts a score - any score - will get 3 points for the leaderboard, regardless of how big it is. So it's just about participating, not competing - though this is also welcome, if you have time and can stomach the game. It will be picked by me, on a whim, from outside the pool, so you can expect some unknown & bizarre (crap? ) stuff there.

*(hopefully - I haven't played the ZX version before)

[smurphboy]

A full on mainstream games round, but both great playable games. I'm hoping the Bonus is something new - Patrick Paddle - cough...

Thanks for organising. I'll get playing!

[clebin]

Looking forward to playing Commando but I’ve always been properly rubbish at Rainbow Islands. Just can’t get to grips with the mechanics. Based on last week’s scores, the better a game is the worse I am at it!

[Pegaz]

These two games are not my favorites, but I tried my luck:

Commando: 23400
Rainbow Islands: 28610

Commando is harder, but more playable.
Didnt much enjoyed in Rainbow Islands, tbh...

[Morkin]

I was fairly average at Commando, but an enjoyable game, happy to give it a go.

I used to play Rainbow Islands loads... On the Amiga..! Used to like it, though I found some of the bosses a bit tricky. I'm not sure if i ever played the Speccy version at all, or at least very much.

Will probably have a go tomorrow, or later in the week.

[akeley]

I used to have similar feelings (WTF) about RI but once you "get" it, it's a really amazing game...well, at least the arcade version

The trick is to master the rainbow use. Just be careful so you don't climb it when you don't want to, that's how I lose most of my lives. Also, if a baddie gets a rainbow dropped on it then it turns into a special item. You get score multipliers for killing multiple enemies. There are also some complex item-collecting reward tables but I just tend to blast everything in sight.

[R-Tape]

Had a blast on Commando this morning. It must be a sign of age when you read the instructions and want to know why (and indeed - if) the rebel forces are the bad guys!

You are Super Joe the crack combat soldier of the eighties battling against all
odds to defeat the advancing rebel forces. Equipped with only an M60 machine
gun and six hand grenades you carry out your lone crusade, forcing your way
into hostile territory.

I didn't get much further than area 1 back in the day, but today, after a bit of battling managed to get a decent way into #3 (and a score around 50,000). You'd think it'd be a good game for cheesing (new word for me - like it), but you're actually better off keeping moving, otherwise you end up in a right old melee.

Just like Ikari, I still get fixed on one particular soldier, "you, no you, I'll 'ave you", missing lots of other scoring chances, and then being gutted when they wander off the screen unshot.

I used to play Rainbow Islands loads... On the Amiga..! Used to like it, though I found some of the bosses a bit tricky. I'm not sure if i ever played the Speccy version at all, or at least very much.

Same here with the Miggy, but you're in for a treat with the Speccy. It's a really good port.

[clebin]

Commando - 35400
Rainbow Islands - 390750

HSC is a bit quiet so far this round, so here's some scores. You're right R-Type, the Speccy version of Rainbow Islands is excellent (despite the monochrome rainbows!).

I did better than I expected at RI, but Commando was way harder than I remember. I don't know where this came from, but in my memory the game just looped round the same level and you could keep going and going, so I was in for a bit of a rude awakening. I did manage to get to the end of the second level somehow. Good game though - graphics are a bit basic but it plays well.

[smurphboy]

I've got time later today to get some scores in. I've played Commando recently, but not played RI on the Speccy in a long time. I've played the Mame version a lot so I'll have to work out if my strategy for the arcade version (its all about diamonds, canes and powerups) works on the Speccy.

[smurphboy]

Commando: 76050

Got a bit of time over lunch to play. Got to the end of Area 4. Not sure I got this far in the 80s!

[GreenCard]

I had a go of Commando at lunch. Wow, this game is harder than I remember! Why did I vote for this?!

Current Rainbow Islands score: 293,180

[akeley]

Latest scores and whatnot. Please check your individual score/standing because I compiled it after little sleep/long workday.

Cannon - Flappy - PSSST



Current Leaderboard: overall score - points from last round



So the points spread is much closer now and anything can happen I guess

[Morkin]

Latest scores and whatnot. Please check your individual score/standing because I compiled it after little sleep/long workday.

I'm just glad someone else is doing the calculations..! Though I think [mention]R-Tape[/mention] got more than that at Flappy.

Wondered whether it's worth posting the 'end-of-round-2' scores & cumulative scores at the end of the round 2 thread (can just copy & paste if it's a pain to move). Might make it a bit easier to check.

[R-Tape]

...I think @R-Tape got more than that at Flappy.

Ta. Well spotted! [mention]akeley[/mention], I got a totally assailable 31 points for Flappy.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

First attempt at Commando and Rainbow Islands:

Commando: 36,000
Rainbow Islands: 14,740




I haven't played RI properly before, so at first I tried to climb just by creating rainbows, then I discovered the jump key...

[akeley]

Thanls for spotting the error, I know there are some. I will adjust it accordingly, though at a quick glance it does not make difference to current leaderboard.

Wondered whether it's worth posting the 'end-of-round-2' scores & cumulative scores at the end of the round 2 thread (can just copy & paste if it's a pain to move). Might make it a bit easier to check.

You are right, probably better idea. Thought it maybe could be more noticeble in the active thread, but will just drop a mention/link next time.
Ideally we would have it in the first post, but selective editing is apparently not possible.

[GreenCard]

I'm sure I can remember a time when I would make it to level 4 of Commando fairly easily. I'm now barely making it to level 2!

Commando: 36,700
RI: 302,870

[akeley]

Rainbow Islands - 282,800

It's a weird feeling, playing ZX's RI so soon after spending time with arcade version.

[Freespirit]

I didn't realise Nigel Alderton wrote 'Commando' i thought he just wrote 'Chuckie Egg' and said 'That's me done, you wont write a better game than that. See ya!'. I'll have to do some reading.