Shmup Club December 2018 - Demon Attack VS Spider Fighter

[louisG]

Here's my latest on Demon Attack. We also need to decide if we're playing on difficulty A (harder) or B (normal). I realized my Stella score was B (I think?) and my physical Atari score was on A. The manual lists A as "Aggressive Action" and B as "Basic Bombardment"

I think we could probably play on any difficulty, as long as you denote which game mode and difficulty you're playing on. When I get home from work tonight, I might look through the manual, since I have a boxed copy, and look at what it's doing. Right now, I'm literally just booting up the game and playing on the default game mode, and default difficulty, whatever that works out to be. Speaking of which...

I got into the zone last night, and had a really good run! I didn't quite get close to this again, capping out around 22K another time, but whatever the default game mode and difficulty is, if you can get into a rhythm with it, it's possible to score a lot, because every 2 levels, the number of points increases for each enemy destroyed, and after a few levels, you get additional points because enemies split in two, and then you get additional points for destroying each of those 2 enemies, so the scoring goes up considerably after 5 or 6 levels.

Here's a link to a text version of the manual, via AtariAge:
https://atariage.com/manu...e.php?SoftwareLabelID=134

And here's a high quality scanned version, via Games Database:
http://www.gamesdatabase....ttack_-_1982_-_Imagic.pdf

I'm playing this on my Atari 7800, which doesn't have all the levers and switches, but has some ability to provide those functions. As to which mode is default, I think it's probably Game #1 (Demon Attack). I don't know whether or not it's A or B type, A being "Aggressive Action" and B being "Basic Bombardment" but it sure feels aggressive enough to me


To your point about Spider Fighter getting "bananas" (nice one), you're absolutely right. That game gets insanely fast fairly quickly, so it's partially a matter of luck, and also being really aggressive about making sure that you're taking out enemy spiders and bugs as quickly as possible when a wave starts, so you can avoid having to deal with being rained down upon by heavy fire, and also the possibility of losing fruit. It gets very fast and frantic.

Ack! I forgot that about the 7800. It looks like it's the switches are under each controller port, and left is normal, right is hard:
http://atariage.com/forum...7800-difficulty-switches/

I think I'll continue playing on hard because I'm really enjoying the challenge, and it's not a setting I've played a lot.

Yeah, I should bust out the 7800 again. I love that system. I thought it was a shame that it didn't enjoy much 3rd party support because it seems pretty capable! You must've seen those unreleased shmups for it, right? They reminded me of C64 shmups like Armalyte. The thing would've been a beast if it just had a better sound chip. Filling up the screen with sprites with no flicker? Yes please!

[Dingo]

I love those difficulty descriptions haha

[louisG]

Breakthrough! Difficulty set to A still. Once you get through the orbs, the game loops, more or less. The enemy speed seems faster, but because the enemy type goes back to a simpler one, the game backs off a little in difficulty for several rounds. I wish past that stage they'd start mixing it up more. It would've been neat to see levels with multiple enemy types! But I think this game rocks pretty hard for a 1982 home console Space Invaders clone.

[MetalFRO]

@louisG - wow, great score! I haven't managed to get that high on A type difficulty. And yes, I did verify that I was previously playing the B type, hence my much higher score. I plan to explore the other game modes as well, since games 3, 5, & 7 are all a little different. And you're absolutely right about the difficulty dropping off again after the orbs! That's one reason I was able to get so far on B type. If I can keep my lives at, or near, the max of 6 until reaching the orbs, I often blow through them quickly, but after that, you earn an extend for every level you complete without dying, so on the easier enemy types, you can use that to your advantage to quickly build back up your life stock.

@Dingo - you going to jump in this time, or are you just making an observation? 

[MetalFRO]

I started playing Spider Fighter last night, and ended up on the "expert" difficulty, because I was playing Demon Attack the night before, and never changed the left difficulty switch back. Despite that, I got in the zone, and had a pretty spectacular game, coming up just shy of 100K points!
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/Gbnn8nr.jpg[/img]

Turns out, all it took was to earn 40K on the normal difficulty to earn the Activision "Spider Fighters" badge:
[img width=700 height=518]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/291945693562-0-1/s-l1000.jpg[/img]

Part of me is tempted to buy one from eBay, for the novelty value, but they're not exactly cheap

[MetalFRO]

I'm on fire!141,980 points!!!
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/eFqGxHv.jpg[/img]

Again, this is on A or "Expert" difficulty, and the right difficulty switch is set to the left setting, which is "Straight Pellets" - that means when an enemy shoots a bullet, it doesn't track their movement, from what I understand.

[douglie007]

Do I post may crappy scores or do I have to be better then the top scores?

[MetalFRO]

Do I post may crappy scores or do I have to be better then the top scores?

It's up to you. I don't necessarily consider it a competition, as more just for bragging rights, or a way for you to help chart your own progress, and for us to help motivate one another.

I managed to get to nearly 30K on Demon Attack in the "A" difficulty:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/IX5gGyL.jpg[/img]

[louisG]

29k! Very cool. I've been slacking (playing lots of Yoku's Island Express instead).. I gotta get back to Atari!

[MetalFRO]

Anyone else going to challenge my scores on either game?

[douglie007]

I'm givin all she's got! I just suck at shumps. Lol if anything I'll post a crappy score next time I play.

[MetalFRO]

I'm givin all she's got! I just suck at shumps. Lol if anything I'll post a crappy score next time I play.

Don't worry about your score. That's a good rule when you're playing a game like this, until you master it. Posting scores in the thread can be a matter of bragging rights, but ultimately, it should be about charting your progress. With shmups, I find myself getting frustrated, because I have a mental block where I think I should be better at the games than I am. This leads me to getting upset when I die, or make huge mistakes, because my natural affinity to the genre should somehow intrinsically equate to being good at them. That's not the case, however. Just do the best you can, try to have fun while playing, and post whatever score you want, knowing that we're all coming in at different skill levels. I'm here to encourage you to play and get better, not to shame you for a low score, or make you think you shouldn't play, because you don't have the skill.

[louisG]

Yikes! That Demon Attack score is hard to topple Still working at it.

Re: not feeling like you're good enough to compete: I'd say just do it! Like MetalFRO said, it's about the fun of it. I'm generally someone who hates competitions, but I think here it's not ultra-competitive so we can just play and relax a bit, hang out, and share our experiences on the games.

On Demon Attack: I find on the later levels that it's crucial to move underneath the enemies when it's safe. Otherwise, they'll corner you. If you time it, you can move underneath them and get off a shot. It's one of the only ways to get them to stop moving for a split second, so it's great if you're finding them hard to hit. It's almost like in platformers where you're timing pistons so you don't get crushed by em.

[MetalFRO]

On Demon Attack: I find on the later levels that it's crucial to move underneath the enemies when it's safe. Otherwise, they'll corner you. If you time it, you can move underneath them and get off a shot. It's one of the only ways to get them to stop moving for a split second, so it's great if you're finding them hard to hit. It's almost like in platformers where you're timing pistons so you don't get crushed by em.

Yes! I found this crucial with the "pulsating" enemies that change in size back and forth. Those are the most aggressive and unpredictable, I think, so dashing under them right after a volley and launching a shot is key to splitting them up. The resulting pair of single enemies are easier to deal with, because it's easier to dodge and avoid a single laser than a wide-ranging double laser.

[louisG]

Last week! I'm gonna do some Atari tonight. Spider Fighter is also growing on me.