12 replies to this topic

[moycon]

I remember back in the day my friend letting me borrow his Vetrex system.
I'd play that sucker well into the night when I was supposed to be sleeping.
One of the games he had was Scramble.
To this day I can remember always dying in the same spot.
There were no enemies...Just a series of very narrow horizontal tunnels that would then cut very steeply vertically.
No matter how I approached it...I never made it past these...
Does anyone know what I'm talking about? And have they ever gotten past that part in the game?
I always wondered what might lay beyond those tunnels.

[NovaXpress]

Same as in the arcade game as I recall, an insignificant little blob of a main base must be blown up.

[tiggerthehun]

Moycon... wow... the serindipity of your post is amazing... Yeah, I remember getting stuck in THAT SAME DAMNED EXACT SPOT, oh so long ago.


Well, actually, it was yesterday - the first time I ever played the game. (See "IT - FINALLY - ARRIVED" in the ebay forum.)
I've gotten good enough that I don't die till that point, but, no matter how I try "speeding up" then slowing down, staying back - moving as far foward as possible - whatever... no luck...
Hopefully I'll get it over the break. I love a challenge.

[NovaXpress]

When going down a tunnel stay as far to the right as possible, just before you hit the wall pull back and diagonal (SW or NW as appropriate). The joystick action you must make feels s little counter-intuitive to what your eyes tell you. Your moves should look something like: R, UL, R, DL, R, etc . . .

It's a rhythm that you must get into. At the end of the tunnels will be a small dome that must be bombed. Rather anti-climactic but its a great game anyway. The sequel, Super Cobra, also had some nasty tunnels to deal with.

[moycon]

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The sequel, Super Cobra, also had some nasty tunnels to deal with.

Was there a sequel to this released on the Vectrex?
Just curious, Have you gotten past this point in the Vectrex version NovaXpres? Or are you just commenting on the arcade version?

[NE146]

Hey I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. That was one of the most difficult parts of scramble. The thing to realize is this...

You can NEVER go backward.

So knowing this, do what NovaXpress says and go all the way to the right. Then, once the back of your ship passes the edge of the wall, push down (or up) and BACK. You can never back up into the wall, so you'll have lots of space while your ship moves to the left of the screen to manuever up and down as needed.

I remember when I was a kid.. I would imagine how the end of Scramble was but I could never reach it to the point where I'd lose sleep and dream about it . So I had my mom buy me the Tomy tabletop version and that satisfied it somewhat.. but it took me years before I actually did it myself

[moycon]

I haven't played in awhile. But yes I remember you could go all the way right. Push left while going up/down to clear the vertical tunnel. But then once clear... Your ship was all the way to the left. During the brief horizontal run before the next vertical, you could never get your ship far enough to the right before you were having to move your ship back to the left and up or down again. Therefore you couldn't clear the next vertical tunnel. Or at least I never could
So you're saying you did clear this part NE146??? And was there some sort of base you had to bomb after this??

[NE146]

moycon said:

But then once clear... Your ship was all the way to the left. During the brief horizontal run before the next vertical, you could never get your ship far enough to the right before you were having to move your ship back to the left and up or down again.

Yes you can. You are not doing it fast enough. I forgot to mention that once you clear a vertical tunnel.. you IMMEDIATELY push again all the way to the right. And you have to do it FAST. Believe me it's possible to clear all the tunnels. I do it all the time

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So you're saying you did clear this part NE146??? And was there some sort of base you had to bomb after this??

Yes! Of course there's a base you have to bomb. It's just a small little thingy that lies in the bottom of a hard to reach ravine. Usually your ship crashes after bombing it, but as long as you kill it.. that doesn't matter.

Actually I just realized you're talking about the Vectrex version. I was talking about the arcade version, which of course you can play also via Mame as it's emu'd very well. I played the vectrex version a couple times but not for very long. I only recently acquired one too... so when I get home in January I'll try it out again and let you know if it's possible

[NovaXpress]

I kicked the crap out of the arcade version repeatedly, only played the Vectrex a few rounds but I understand that it's exactly the same.

Super Cobra isn't available for the Vectrex, but Parker Bros made it for pretty much every other system in exiistence (I think even for the Odyssey 2). I beat the 5200 version every time but never got into the other home versions.

[Fellow Atari Man]

moycon said:

I haven't played in awhile. But yes I remember you could go all the way right. Push left while going up/down to clear the vertical tunnel. But then once clear... Your ship was all the way to the left. During the brief horizontal run before the next vertical, you could never get your ship far enough to the right before you were having to move your ship back to the left and up or down again. Therefore you couldn't clear the next vertical tunnel. Or at least I never could
So you're saying you did clear this part NE146??? And was there some sort of base you had to bomb after this??

There's a slight difference between the arcade and the Vectrex version: the base in the arcade version is right before a mountain, which you have no choice but to crash into the mountain and lose a life...but you automatically get a new one when the game starts over. (kinda weird) In the Vectrex version, you can bomb the base with no problem and you are nowhere close to crashing into a mountain or anything. (kinda easy )

[Rob Mitchell]

Hey Fellow Atari Man .. I like your avadar!

moycon said:

Was there a sequel to this released on the Vectrex?

No .. Dang I always sucked at Vectrex Scramble.

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA
(Join the Vectrex discussion at rec.games.vectrex)

[Fellow Atari Man]

Rob Mitchell said:

Hey Fellow Atari Man .. I like your avadar!

Thank you! I've gotten quite a few kudos on it I'll have to check out that Vectrex forum, although I don't know if I have time for another forum

To Moycon and everyone: below is a shot at the base, which is the diamond at the bottom center...nothing fancy, and I liked the way it looked better on the arcade game, since it had a few mounts/legs/something and it looked like it was really dug into the ground to protect it or something. Oh well, it was a decent port anyway ("all your vector base are belong to us?" )

BTW, does anyone know about a supposed secret on the arcade original, during the meteor storm, where you supposedly shoot one five times and it'll explode? Pretty difficult, since they move so fast, plus you can only have four shots on the screen at once, so I've always wondered...

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[NovaXpress]

I remember hearing the same rumor but i was never able to hit a meteor five times either. I don't think there's anything to it.