Well with all this talk of "King of Kong",
I figure I'd toot my own horn on the only game that really matters...



Steph

First of all to post score you need a setup standard. I suggest we all use the Twin Galaxies settings.

For Robotron it is as follows:

Variation:        Marathon   [Default]
Platform:      Arcade
Rules:      Extra Men Every: 25000 Points
Turns Per Player: 3
High Score To Date: Yes
Difficulty Of Play: 5
Letters For Highest Score: 3

I was looking at Twin Galaxies to set up my Stargate and give it a go. It looks much easier than what I have in terms of settings since I had max difficulty at 30 but they are using 15! I really think there is a distinct possibility of blowing away the world highscore on these settings.

Anyway it didn't add up. Here is what they posted:

Variation:        Points [Marathon]
Platform:      Arcade
Rules:      Extra Ship Every: 10000
Ships for 1 Credit Game: 5
Ships for 2 Credit Game: 7
Free Play: No
Master Difficulty Control: 3
Initial Difficulty: 5 Moderate
Maximum Difficulty: 15 Moderate
1st Wave of Accelerated Difficulty: 0
Last Wave of Accelerated Difficulty: 0
Difficulty Acceleration Rate: 0 Moderate
Inviso Time Per Ship: 10
Men Needed To Warp: 4
Last Wave Warp Allowed: 10

The problem is Master Difficulty Control 3 does not equate to the Maximum Difficulty default of 15, it equates to 30, which is the way I play it.

You in fact require Master Difficulty of "Custom" to set Max Difficulty to 15.

I will contact them for clarification.

By the way Steph. I am pretty sure I can beat that Robotron score.

Quoted from Steph

I figure I'd toot my own horn on the only game that really matters...

If that is what this is about, your title is wrong. It should have been Defender/Stargate Highscore.

To obtain the record the question becomes whether I have the patients to watch the machine roll 71 times.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

By the way Steph. I am pretty sure I can beat that Robotron score.

Glen, I would love to see you try. You're welcome to give 'er a go on my machine anytime. I've owned a Robotron for a couple of years now and have yet to break even 1 million. (I've had a few 900,000+ games, but get jittery when it looks like I'm gonna hit the million mark and wind up quickly losing all of my lives.)

To get 5 million+ would require, what, over an hour of non-stop frenzied playing time? Excellent score, Steph.

Eugene Jarvis has said he has never broken 1 million either, so I don't feel so bad.

Quoted from cooke

Glen, I would love to see you try.  

I'm pretty good but it was mostly a rub of Steph for a joke. To get that proficient again I would have to have access to a machine and definitely focus. You know us star performers have needs. No Kabbalah water, but a cheeseburger and a couple of Mountain Dews to get the ball rolling are in order.

Without knowing the setup though there really is no baseline to go by and as I am seeing with reference to my Stargate settings, the records are not necessarily being set with the factory settings all defaulted.

would love to see a maaca member kick some a** and get thier name up of all time great!

Quoted from necro_nemesis

First of all to post score you need a setup standard. I suggest we all use the Twin Galaxies settings.

For Robotron it is as follows:

Variation:        Marathon   [Default]
Platform:      Arcade
Rules:      Extra Men Every: 25000 Points
Turns Per Player: 3
High Score To Date: Yes
Difficulty Of Play: 5
Letters For Highest Score: 3

Yes, this is what I have.
It is the default setting for the Blue Rom set

Steph

Quoted from cooke

To get 5 million+ would require, what, over an hour of non-stop frenzied playing time?  

It takes roughly about 20 min per Million points.
So that game was about 1hr 45 minutes.
[ ... it's a better work-out than an hour of hard cardio ! ]

--

The goal I've set for myself is to roll the screen/level counter...

Like many games of that era, 8 bit registers only allowed 255 levels (or screens).
When you got to the 256th screen, some games (like PacMan) would crash.
Others, like Robotron, would "roll-over" back to screen 1 .

It takes me about 35-38 levels to score 1M points.
I figure I'd need a score of about 7.5M to roll the screen...

If I can do that, then rolling the score ( which is  9,999,999 ) should be within reach.

...it's important to have meaningful goals in life !  

Cheers,
Steph

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I'm pretty good but it was mostly a rub of Steph for a joke.

Hmmmm..   rubbing ...  hmmmm

Quoted from necro_nemesis

To get that proficient again I would have to have access to a machine and definitely focus.

Gee, if only you knew someone who had one for sale ....
(..I'd even erase the scores so you could get your name up there !  )





Steph

Quoted from Steph

Gee, if only you knew someone who had one for sale ....
(..I'd even erase the scores so you could get your name up there !  )

Gee, if I only had space.

I think you hold the world record for owning the most of the same game of anyone title at the same time.

Still don't understand why these original dedicated games don't have a good following. I don't see the slump lasting forever on them. It would be like saying a photograph is better than a Picaso when comparing them to newer games. Better technology doesn't equate to better playability. They are definitely different from the modern game. The movie once again makes a point of stating that.

It would appear that a guy named Brian King is your nemesis. 348,691,680 is the starting point. If you do the math using your 20 minute analysis, that would be 4 and a half days of playing.

Anyone heard of a John McKeever? He's from Montreal and holds the number two spot on Mr Do!.
Here's anouther Canuck; Mr. Kelly R. Flewin of Winnipeg, MB. Best Time Pilot tournament score. "Mr." that's a laugh "I won at Time Pilot so you better call me Mr."

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I think you hold the world record for owning the most of the same game of anyone title at the same time.

At my "peak" I had 3 dedicated U/R's, 1 cocktail, and a Multi-Williams .

I sold one U/R, but still have two, plus the cocktail, and a "newer" Multi-Williams.

The only person I know who's owned more of the same game than me is Marty (SpaceCadet)
who's owned 7 different TZ pins, .... but not all at once...

Quoted from necro_nemesis

It would appear that a guy named Brian King is your nemesis. 348,691,680 is the starting point. If you do the math using your 20 minute analysis, that would be 4 and a half days of playing.

Yah, I saw that.   348M .... that's just nuts.

I assume he was likely far more proficient at scoring than me,
but still, even if he could get 1M in 10 minutes  (...which would be incredible ..),
that's still over 2 days of playing ....

I'd sure like to know how he did that....


Steph

Hence the expression MARATHON playing... I could never get into that though... makes no sense to me playing 48+ hours on one game.

watched a guy do the astriods record in trenton way back in the day.  it was nice to have the arcade open all night long.  i played arabian http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=6899 for most of one night (acid hmmm).  i think it was over 6hrs and i finished the book quite a few times.  don't know anything about score keeping back then (acid hmmm).  

  i do really enjoy all the video game talk and hearing the scores.  need more of it.  like how glen said that dedicated machines should make a come back.  that makes me happy.  trenton just got a new arcade open downtown.  i haven't been there yet.  but others have come to the shop and told me.  i found out thursday when they opened and i haven't been back to trenton since.  can't wait for tuesday to go see what they have.  

The way i would like to play Robotron in a competition is level 9 and bonus at 50,000 with the blue rom set of course !!

Quoted from Steph

The goal I've set for myself is to roll the screen/level counter...

Like many games of that era, 8 bit registers only allowed 255 levels (or screens).
When you got to the 256th screen, some games (like PacMan) would crash.
Others, like Robotron, would "roll-over" back to screen 1 .

Although I haven't payed real close attention, and my Robotron is prone to resetting because I haven't properly gone over the headers and connectors,  I'm almost positive that the screen counter resets back to 1 after screen 99.  I was playing a game a couple months back and ended up around 4.5 million when the retaining clip on the left stick fell off and the joystick popped up a bit and wouldn't work properly any longer.

Anyhow, I could swear that the screen count had started over back at 1 after reaching 99.....

Quoted from MarkToo

I'm almost positive that the screen counter resets back to 1 after screen 99.  

To be honest,
I can't remember if the screen counter DISPLAY show 100+,  (I'm pretty sure it did... )
but the game PLAY level goes to 255 for sure.

After level 255, the game logic starts back to screen 1 , ie. easy levels.

I was pretty sure the level DISPLAY went to 100+,
but it's been awhile so I can't honestly say for 100% certainty.

I guess I need to have another good game...  

Steph
  

Quoted from HAL-9OOO

The way i would like to play Robotron in a competition is level 9 and bonus at 50,000 with the blue rom set of course !!

Just like you, I'm always up to a good challenge. I remember rolling the machine on level 10/30,000 per free man. Talk about 2 hours of non stop hecticness. But what stands out even more is the fact that a friend and I used to roll the machine on level 7/25,000 per free man using one hand each. I would move and he would fire.
The level of co-dependency had to be very high or... you die. I still play it regularly on my mame cab. I get about 4 million, tire out and let my 40 guys in memory go to waste. I also have a Robotron machine that we rebuilt using the original factory guts, but it's been on the fritz for at least 10 years.
Aahhh, the good old days.

Quoted from Ace

I also have a Robotron machine that we rebuilt using the original factory guts, but it's been on the fritz for at least 10 years.

What's wrong with it ?

Those Williams games all have pretty common
(...and well documented )  failure points.  ( power pins, ram ...)

It might be an easy fix.

LMK,
Cheers,
Steph

That may be true, but I know very little about how to go about it. I probably could hire somebody to fix it for me, but I'm not in any rush. I've got my kick a** mame machine with more than enough games to please. For your viewing pleasure.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62244.0

Quoted from Ace

I've got my kick a** mame machine with more than enough games to please. For your viewing pleasure.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62244.0

That thing is "obscene" !!!  

Very cool CP.

I hope you never have to move it out of your basement !


Steph

[PS. I'd offer to buy your Robotron, but that would extend my stay in the doghouse
for another few years !     ]

Grassy a** senior.

It easily comes apart into 3 pieces. The CP, LCD frame and base. 2 nuts and bolts for each. I read horror stories about people building themselves into a corner (so to speak). I'd probably never sell it anyways. It's my baby with so many memories.

Squeeze no mores
Nine wave Specials (with meltations )
Save Mikey
One man wave
One man wave with style
In the middle, in the middle of danger.
...
...

Each loaded with loads of personal nostagia. Praise be to Eugen Jarvis.

When is was young Robotron was definitely my favourite game. I remember a few things. I am pretty sure getting to Level 100 came back to Level 1. The game effectively started again but I recall was harder than the first time around - could be because I was a little stressed by then but actually I think it really was. There were some other interesting milestones but I can't recall all of them.

Level 24 is definitely one of them. It is the first set where Spheroids and Quarks appear on the same level. After that level Quarks appear on the levels ending in 9.

I definitely recall hitting a score of 15M+. I just got a MAME machine so started getting into the game again over the last week. I can hit 1M pretty easy so it won't be long before I am reaching the big scores. The point is once you get past 1.5M - 2M you should be able to reach 10M+. The hardest part is around 700K and then 1.8M.

After that you have reached stability (7 men+) and should be able to continue to big scores. So if you aren't there don't give up!

A little story... One time I was playing Robotron at the local Dairy (Kiwi's call the local grocery stores Dairies) and I needed to go to the loo really badly. So I decided to sprint home and sprint back. Amazingly I had one life left when I got back and kept playing! Incredible really. I think I must have had 20+ lives when I took off. Boy 20c was worth so much back then

Well I had been off the old Robotron for the past while and after three games hit 1,141,125. Now I know that is well shy of Steph's stratospheric 5 million score but it was the highest I have recorded on this cocktail.

This is one game I like to play on a cocktail. The thing is beastly and you feel like your sitting at the helm of a futuristic ship, glowing with all the brilliant spectrum of colours. Makes me feel like Pavel Chekov at the navigation station trying to plot a coarse through the milky way, less the phony accent . Built at a time when they thought this thing would be "it" forever so they built it to last forever with no apparent expense spared.

In fact for a 5 mil game I really think I would prefer to sit down and attempt it.

Long game on a cocktail give pain in back and legs. 10,000,000 at Robotron is 4 ½ hours of play.
First million take about 20 min.
Believe me, the best way to play Robotron is   :


Hope you make more millions soon and when you are ready, play with tournament settings.

Quoted from HAL-9OOO

.................

ok, ca m'prend une stargate............... damn!

Quoted from beatmaster

ok, ca m'prend une stargate............... damn!

Hi hi une chance qu'on ne voit pas les autres sur la photo!
Stargate c'est un must, une fois que ton corps fait la fusion avec la machine, c'est une sensation divine  
Au début c'est très difficile et il faut pratiquer ½ a 1 heure par jour pendant 2-3 mois avant d'avoir la machine ''dans le sang''  
Aucune chance d'avoir cette sensation avec presqu'aucun autre jeu video moderne;) c'est pratiquement unique aux game de Eugene Jarvis et autre de l'époque.

Quoted from HAL-9OOO

Hi hi une chance qu'on ne voit pas les autres sur la photo!
Stargate c'est un must, une fois que ton corps fait la fusion avec la machine, c'est une sensation divine  
Au début c'est très difficile et il faut pratiquer ½ a 1 heure par jour pendant 2-3 mois avant d'avoir la machine ''dans le sang''  
Aucune chance d'avoir cette sensation avec presqu'aucun autre jeu video moderne;) c'est pratiquement unique aux game de Eugene Jarvis et autre de l'époque.

t'as bien raison, lorque la machine avait sorti j'étais dans l'arcade a jouer qu'avec cette machine la, ca pris du temps mais je figurais dans les hi-scores, c'est vrai qu'il y a une certaine façons de bouger avec cette game la.

en tout cas té bin chanceux dans avoir une...    un jour j'aurai la mienne!