48 replies to this topic

[jblenkle]

Well, so much for going to bed early...I've played the 16k rom five times with no lockup so far...I'll play it another five tomorrow and then try the 32k rom.

Posted my best score to date: 49,208...pic to follow tomorrow

p.s. - I think THE FORCE has to be with you to play this game. I start zigging and zagging with no real regard to what I'm doing...and somehow when I open my eyes I'm still alive with my finger quivering on the fire button...

jblenkle, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 12:17 AM, said:

Thanks...I will play both tomorrow and report back. Although I don't get the lockup every time I play, it happens on a consistant basis...maybe 1 out of 5 times I play.

Ikrananka, on Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:06 PM, said:

Interesting issues around the Beamrider rom. The original CV rom collection I have from many years ago shows a [!] in the name which I believe signified that the dump was possibly bad (although I don't have the key to the naming convention any more so can't be sure what it means).

Anyway, I dumped my Beamrider cart and it highlighted a few differences between the rom in the wild and my dump:

1. The last two bytes at the end of 16k are different. The public rom has "00 20" while my dump has "FD 77".
2. My dump has some odd data between 16k and 32k which would signify that there is more than 16k of eprom in the cart.

So, I have created two versions of my cart dump (i) cut down to the supposedly correct size of 16k and (ii) my original full 32k dump.

Try out both and let me know if the bug appears.

Edited by jblenkle, Wed Feb 1, 2012 2:42 AM.

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 49,208



Got bored...had to post this!!! I can't quit playing this game!!!! Ack! It's almost 1 a.m.

Edited by jblenkle, Wed Feb 1, 2012 2:58 AM.

[Ikrananka]

jblenkle, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 2:56 AM, said:

Got bored...had to post this!!! I can't quit playing this game!!!! Ack! It's almost 1 a.m.

I have always loved this game - it's one of those simplistic games in terms of controls (left, right and fire) combined with a limited set of fixed positions you can be in, and yet has an enjoyable and sadistic "one more go" quality to it.

Glad to hear that the 16k rom I posted is behaving itself. I'd be interested to know what the 32k one does. It does seem that there are an awful lot of bad dumps out there. One day I may attempt to dump all of my carts and compare to those in the public domain.

[jblenkle]

OK, I've played the 16k redump 10 times with no lockups...I will try the 32k one now...

[jblenkle]

The 32k dump locked up on my fourth play of it. I'll go back to the 16k now and keep playing it, but it played flawlessly for 10 games yesterday and earlier this morning.

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 54,622

[jblenkle]

Shoot...so much for the 16k redump not locking up....it just did...it seems to be less prone to it than the original though...

[skosh]

Has it locked up for you without shooting the ship between stages? For me it has only occurred when the ship is shot and the sound gets cutoff then freezes on the next screen. Would like to get a hold of a cart and play that to see if it exists there. I believe it may just be a bug as I imagine the program used to dump is fine.

I have a sealed copy of Beamrider that I would like to avoid opening if possible.

[jblenkle]

Possibly...but I don't recall for certain if the ship was shot or not...I will pay closer attention on future plays...

skosh, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:52 PM, said:

Has it locked up for you without shooting the ship between stages? For me it has only occurred when the ship is shot and the sound gets cutoff then freezes on the next screen. Would like to get a hold of a cart and play that to see if it exists there. I believe it may just be a bug as I imagine the program used to dump is fine.

I have a sealed copy of Beamrider that I would like to avoid opening if possible.

[jblenkle]

OK, just had another lockup...but this one happened only once before -- not just a between the level lockup -- I was down to one white enemy saucer, but it never appeared so I couldn't shoot it. I had to give up a life by letting something else run into me...then on the next go round it appeared and I shot it. I destroyed the Sentinel ship and the game locked up between levels.

Usually the missing white enemy saucer doesn't happen - just the between level lockup. This is only the 2nd lockup using the 16k rom in about 20 plays, so it's not quite as bad as it was before (I was getting about a 1 in 5 lockup)...annoying, but still playable.

I, unfortunately, don't have a Beamrider cartridge so I can't see if this lockup is actually a bug or just a result of the rom dump.

skosh, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:52 PM, said:

Has it locked up for you without shooting the ship between stages? For me it has only occurred when the ship is shot and the sound gets cutoff then freezes on the next screen. Would like to get a hold of a cart and play that to see if it exists there. I believe it may just be a bug as I imagine the program used to dump is fine.

I have a sealed copy of Beamrider that I would like to avoid opening if possible.

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 59,554



My wife thinks I'm foolish for playing this...but who will they call to defend the planet when the real aliens attack???

Edited by jblenkle, Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:05 PM.

[Ikrananka]

jblenkle, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:04 PM, said:

My wife thinks I'm foolish for playing this...but who will they call to defend the planet when the real aliens attack???

You've got my vote Capt. Joe.

[JacobZu7zu7]

11,628

[ed1475]

12,638

[Ikrananka]

This game gets manic as it progresses. Great fun. 45,426

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[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 59,990

[Mangia-Boy]

71,520
This time I had more success in shooting the sentinel ship.

[skosh]

Nice scores guys!

[Ikrananka]

Slight improvement - 46,864

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[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 64,388

[jblenkle]

Beamrider - 68,420

[skosh]

69230

[mc#4]

ARGHH! I can't believe I missed this! I'm new to the forum but have been searching for anything beamrider related on and off for years. I have had an unhealthy obsession with this game ever since my dad told me how he beat this game and a message popped up on the screen saying about joining the official beamriders. After much research I'm sure that wasn't really the case but I still love the game. There is a note in the instruction manual about becoming a beamrider by scoring 40,000 by sector 14. I'm sure that's what he is remembering. Although I don't have any proof, I did score just over 150k and reached sector 31 on one occasion. I feel confident that the coleco version will NEVER be "broken". I mean no one will ever reach sector 99. The coleco version is waaaaay harder than others, it has more enemy types, mainly the very difficult ones. If any one has any cool tidbits about the game or info on the highest coleco score let me know!

Here is a pic of my run up to sector 14 to join the official beamriders. Yeah my submission was a little late but oh well. I'm not looking to be a part of this finished tournament, just friendly competition and info about the game.

Also a note, you can have more lives than are displayed on screen. If you destroy a mothership with more lives than shown, it will still count them in your score.

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[Ikrananka]

mc#4, on Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:19 PM, said:

The coleco version is waaaaay harder than others, it has more enemy types, mainly the very difficult ones.

I'm glad to hear you say this - I find the difficulty on this game ramps up very quickly with the appearance of the magnetic enemies. Love the game though and sorry that you were too late to compete. Please join in our normal HSC rounds though - it's a lot of fun and new players are most welcome