SEASON 3 - Weekly Game Challenge #2 - Astro Blaster!

GackAttack

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SEASON 3 - Weekly Game Challenge #2 - Astro Blaster!

The Weekly Game Challenge - Click Here For The Current Scores



Winter Season 2017!

astrob1.png



Tue November 28th 8:00pm - Tue December 5th 8:00pm (PST)
Dedicated, MAME, ArcadeSD, XXX-in-1, Internet Archive



Settings:

3 Ships To Start

Notes:

There are no Difficulty Settings on this game.

Score rolls over after 99,990 points if you can make it that far!

According to Twin Galaxies and Aurcade high score sites, you can get an extra ship is awarded at 10,000 Points.....but has yet to be proven that is actually possible. If someone has a dedicated machine and proves happens, we will assume that the previously mentioned high score sites have listed incorrectly.

Game play hints/tips:

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Astro_Blaster


Play online at Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/arcade_astrob

A new game every week with an open tournament challenge
The tournament closes on Tuesday Nights at 8:00pm PST where we announce the winner on the Arcade Hangout live on Youtube.

ArcadeHangout.jpg


To enter and post your scores, register for free at www.ArcadeIcons.com

Log in and then...
- Click 'Tournaments'
- Click - Register for Tournament (Big Blue Button)
- Choose the tournament from the drop-down menu and click register (no code needed).

Now you're entered and ready to play and post your scores.
- On your Phone/Tablet/Computer click The Weekly Challenge Banner on the top right of the Home Page.
- Use the 'Submit Score' button at the top of the page to enter your scores.
- Play as many times as you like on whatever system you like, post your scores as you go.
 
Last edited:
The Weekly Game Challenge - Click Here For The Current Scores



Winter Season 2017!

astrob1.png



Tue November 28th 8:00pm - Tue December 5th 8:00pm (PST)
Dedicated, MAME, ArcadeSD, XXX-in-1, Internet Archive

Settings:

3 Ships To Start

An extra ship is awarded at 10,000 Points

Notes:

There are no Difficulty Settings on this game.

Score rolls over after 99,990 points if you can make it that far!

Game play hints/tips:

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Astro_Blaster

Astro Blaster doesn't award extra ships. The only dip switch settings are initial lives, demo speech, cabinet type and coinage.
 
Astro Blaster doesn't award extra ships. The only dip switch settings are initial lives, demo speech, cabinet type and coinage.

Huh, interesting. I couldn't seem to find info looking through the online manual briefly. I posted what I found on Twin Galaxies, and appears to show the same thing on Aurcade:

http://www.aurcade.com/games/format.aspx?id=654

Copy/Paste:

Required Settings
Ships To Start: 3
Extra Ship at 10,000

Anyone else know about extra life?

SlikkNikk has a dedicated machine, maybe he can confirm as well?

-GackAttack
 
Huh, interesting. I couldn't seem to find info looking through the online manual briefly. I posted what I found on Twin Galaxies, and appears to show the same thing on Aurcade:

http://www.aurcade.com/games/format.aspx?id=654

Copy/Paste:

Required Settings
Ships To Start: 3
Extra Ship at 10,000

Anyone else know about extra life?

SlikkNikk has a dedicated machine, maybe he can confirm as well?

-GackAttack

Here's the actual manual and it makes no mention of extra ships
http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Manuals_and_Schematics/Astro Blaster.pdf

I checked the MAME source (drivers\segag80r.c) and there is no extra lives setting. Also I played the game back in the day and I remember it being one of the few games which didn't award extra lives.

There are multiple ROM revisions so it's possible but I'm pretty sure that the revision 2 and 3 ROMs do not award extra lives.
 
Huh, interesting. I couldn't seem to find info looking through the online manual briefly. I posted what I found on Twin Galaxies, and appears to show the same thing on Aurcade:



http://www.aurcade.com/games/format.aspx?id=654



Copy/Paste:



Required Settings

Ships To Start: 3

Extra Ship at 10,000



Anyone else know about extra life?



SlikkNikk has a dedicated machine, maybe he can confirm as well?



-GackAttack



I recorded a couple of scores tonight after setting my machine to 3 lives. Embarrassed to say I wasn't able to cross 10k to confirm lol. Maybe in the coming days.
 
Anybody got any gameplay tips for this one?
Today was my first time playing it.

purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Master-Video-Games-Hirschfeld/dp/0553201646/ref=sr_1_1

In the 1981 book, "How To Master The Video Games" by Tom Hirschfeld, pages 8-12 provide these tips for Astro Blaster:

- after the 6th sector, the game repeats itself
- everything occurs in a predetermined order
- fuel is consumed as time passes (not as a result of moving or shooting)
- if you hear "fuel status critical. use extreme caution", you have 9 seconds before your fuel runs out!
- warp can only be used once per sector and slows enemy down for 10 seconds

- some secret bonuses are:
#03: 1000 points for shooting without missing throughout Fuel Status Marginal
#04: 700 points for demolishing an entire horizontal attack before it can reach the right edge of the screen
#09: 400-1500 points for accuracy in docking without using the buttons at all; also, 1500 by the "paint-scraper' bonus, given for brushing against one of the docking arms
#13: 700 points for finding the right sequence in which to shoot any attack (left to right, top to bottom, etc)
#15: 1500 points for shooting any Sector Three attack in order
#16: 2000 points for shooting the amoebas in Sector Four as they appear at top; when 2 appear at once, the player must hit the left one first
#22: 600 points for going through an entire sector without hitting Laser Temperature Critical
#25: 500 points for keeping a ship through an entire sector

- the rest of the bonuses are set along the same lines

- fuel is more important than individual ships
- save the warp for horizontal attacks
- learn to dock smoothly before you try for the paint-scraper bonus
 
Last edited:
purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Master-Video-Games-Hirschfeld/dp/0553201646/ref=sr_1_1

In the 1981 book, "How To Master The Video Games" by Tom Hirschfeld, pages 8-12 provide these tips for Astro Blaster:

- after the 6th sector, the game repeats itself
- everything occurs in a predetermined order
- fuel is consumed as time passes (not as a result of moving or shooting)
- if you hear "fuel status critical. use extreme caution", you have 9 seconds before your fuel runs out!
- warp can only be used once per sector and slows enemy down for 10 seconds

- some secret bonuses are:
#03: 1000 points for shooting without missing throughout Fuel Status Marginal
#04: 700 points for demolishing an entire horizontal attack before it can reach the right edge of the screen
#09: 400-1500 points for accuracy in docking without using the buttons at all; also, 1500 by the "paint-scraper' bonus, given for brushing against one of the docking arms
#13: 700 points for finding the right sequence in which to shoot any attack (left to right, top to bottom, etc)
#15: 1500 points for shooting any Sector Three attack in order
#16: 2000 points for shooting the amoebas in Sector Four as they appear at top; when 2 appear at once, the player must hit the left one first
#22: 600 points for going through an entire sector without hitting Laser Temperature Critical
#25: 500 points for keeping a ship through an entire sector

- the rest of the bonuses are set along the same lines

- fuel is more important than individual ships
- save the warp for horizontal attacks
- learn to dock smoothly before you try for the paint-scraper bonus

Cool man, thanks.
I find this game surprisingly hard.
 
I just played Astro Blaster revision 3 in emulation on my PC and got 23,450.
 

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Second try, 28,460 (reached sector 4)
 

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Here's the actual manual and it makes no mention of extra ships
http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Manuals_and_Schematics/Astro Blaster.pdf

I checked the MAME source (drivers\segag80r.c) and there is no extra lives setting. Also I played the game back in the day and I remember it being one of the few games which didn't award extra lives.

There are multiple ROM revisions so it's possible but I'm pretty sure that the revision 2 and 3 ROMs do not award extra lives.

All good points, very interesting!

I updated first post, until someone proves otherwise...I'll consider BOTH Twin Galaxies and Aurcade to have that info incorrectly listed :)

Update:

Settings:

3 Ships To Start

Notes:

There are no Difficulty Settings on this game.

Score rolls over after 99,990 points if you can make it that far!

According to Twin Galaxies and Aurcade high score sites, you can get an extra ship is awarded at 10,000 Points.....but has yet to be proven that is actually possible. If someone has a dedicated machine and proves happens, we will assume that the previously mentioned high score sites have listed incorrectly.

All of the known secret bonuses are listed here:
http://donhodges.com/astro_blaster_secret_bonus_01.htm

By the way the order of the enemy swarms are different depending on the revision of the game, see here: https://tcrf.net/Astro_Blaster

Second try, 28,460 (reached sector 4)

Nice!

Sign up on the sight linked in first post and submit your score, you'd be in first place right now!

Anybody got any gameplay tips for this one?
Today was my first time playing it.

I try to add some links in the first post also, not sure how much in detail they go....but a starting point anyway :)


-GackAttack
 
One issue that might have caused the confusion is that Astro Blaster shows the number of lives you currently have (including the active one) instead of just the number of lives you have in reserve. For example when you start with 3 lives most games show 2 lives in reserve, Astro Blaster shows 3.
 
Played couple more games today and will play some more when I get home tonight.
Very clear I need to get a better feel for the gameplay.
Really dig the sounds on this.
 
Haven't quite made it to 10k yet :(
I find this game quite challenging, but like it.
Its starting to grow on me.
 
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