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Oh no! This was supposed to be a fun trip to the Hoover Dam, but as you look over your shoulder, you see your sweetheart standing oblivious at the bottom of the Black Canyon! And worse yet, it seems the dam has sprung a leak! You have to get Mary out of there, and FAST! You quickly get to the crane controls and start moving blocks around to help her escape the flood waters, you must Save Mary!
Although this game was never released, AtariAge has a copy of the ROM available for download so you can play it on an emulator or on a real 2600 with a Cuttle Cart.
Game Information
- Game Name: Save Mary
- Released By: Atari, 1990 (Never released, but copyright date is 1990)
- Left Difficulty: B / Novice
- Right Difficulty: B / Novice (Not sure what the switches do here, but lets at least stay on the same page here)
- Game Mode: Advanced (Choose this from the title menu)
- Chosen By: Dones
As before, next week's game will be chosen by the next person in the member list, which happens to be Dones! Please send me a private message with your choice of game for next week!
If you are not a member of the High Score Club, but would like to be, then all you have to do is post a score for this week's game, and I'll add you to the list!
Current High Scores
- 63,190 (SpiceWare) [+11]
- 38,350 (Dones) [+10]
- 36,805 (vdub_bobby) [+9]
- 31,975 (Mordax) [+8]
- 25,165 (supercat) [+7]
- 21,045 (scogey) [+6]
- 13,915 (khryssun) [+5]
- 7205 (bjk7382) [+4]
- 6160 (keilbaca) [+3]
- 3860 (LarcenTyler) [+2]
- Dones [+2]
- None yet
- 18,705 (David B Yancey)
- 15,540 (Micheal Garber)
(Default Settings)
Coming Soon |
Member List
- Gamemaster_ca_2003, awsomo3000, Voch, Stingray, scogey, Bubbledragon, video game addict, pitfallaimee, Blackjack, racer raul, SpiceWare, Robert M, Lord Helmet, Lord Thag, Mad Scientist, Dan Iacovelli, iguana, Luigi301, Gateway, Damon Plus, gospeedde, Kepone, internetotaku, panda_racer, KaeruYojimbo, cyberneticimplant, bjk7382, davepesc, neotokeo2001, xeex, bmlbytes, Omegamatrix, the 5th ghost, Xebec's Demise, khryssun, vgcollector666, chadtower, moycon, Malc74, shadow460, Atarifever, Keir, supercat, FireTiger, Philflound, Fellow Atari Man, keilbaca, brendano, Cybergoth, durden26, sku_u, mitsubachi, arlo, Recycled, LarcenTyler, silverpoodleman, 128bytes, Goochman, Thomas Jentzsch, Christophero Sly, D.Yancey, mrppv666, Mordax, Numan, vdub_bobby, Dones
- Coming Soon
The Manual said:
As always, you really should read the manual. Of course, since this game was never actually released, that's not quite possible in this case. However, the gameplay is nicely described over at AtariProtos.com
Dones said:
Ok I got some tips:
* Take the freeze water powerup whenever you can. It will buy you some time. To get a powerup you have to pick it up and drop it on the top ledge on either side.
* Ok the shape of the power up descriptions at atariprotos can be quite different of the actual sprites. For example the "plug" actually looks like a flower pot (at least to me). I didn't know it was a plug until I read the manual. The "oil can" doesn't look at all like a can (actually it looks like a smaller version of the crane). Gold block is on spot however. The "stop sign" is just a brown circle and looks more like the rock from jungle hunt. BTW this is the most cryptic power up in the game because (unless you have read the manual) its effect isn't obvious.
* Depending on your skill sometimes it's better not to take the speed powerup. Granted speed makes you travel faster, but will make it harder for you to align the pieces. Better to be slow and accurate than fast an slippery.
* Do not throw away bad pieces! You get points for every piece standing at the end of the level. Better to leave an area of the well for those bad pieces to form a column even if you don't plan Mary to use it.
* Plan your column building. Building a column in the middle of screen might work fine for beginners, but try looking for other ways to build (and maximize well usage).
* If you got Mary high enough to save her and still have time to spare (water level is still low) then keep stacking pieces to rack up points.
* Avoid killing Mary! Don't throw pieces on top her (easier said than done [specially on harder levels]).
* Mary likes to jump a lot. Use that to your advantage! Instead of one long platform for Mary to step to better break it into two or more columns parallel to each other. If you make them close enough, it will force Mary to jump from one column to the other. This slows her down a bit, giving you time to drop a piece without risking dropping it on her.
* Sometimes when the columns are high enough, you will be able to catch Mary with your rope while she is at the top of her jump.
This I haven't confirmed, but sometimes if you camp out at one side waiting for a piece to come out, the piece won't show up. I don't know if this is a rule of the game when in harder levels (you know, force you to alternate sides), if it's a programming perk or just myself being impatient. I don't recall seeing this behavior at novice level though. If anyone can confirm please let me know.
Setting Blocks 101:
Bottom blocks of the pieces must be supported or they will break. Depending on the piece:
* Two-block pieces never break. They only need the bottom block to be supported.
* Three-block pieces need at least two blocks to be supported.
* Four-block and Six-block pieces need two blocks to be supported.
Blocks will break if parts of them fall on the left and right edges of the canyon or if you try to place them above full water level.
* Take the freeze water powerup whenever you can. It will buy you some time. To get a powerup you have to pick it up and drop it on the top ledge on either side.
* Ok the shape of the power up descriptions at atariprotos can be quite different of the actual sprites. For example the "plug" actually looks like a flower pot (at least to me). I didn't know it was a plug until I read the manual. The "oil can" doesn't look at all like a can (actually it looks like a smaller version of the crane). Gold block is on spot however. The "stop sign" is just a brown circle and looks more like the rock from jungle hunt. BTW this is the most cryptic power up in the game because (unless you have read the manual) its effect isn't obvious.
* Depending on your skill sometimes it's better not to take the speed powerup. Granted speed makes you travel faster, but will make it harder for you to align the pieces. Better to be slow and accurate than fast an slippery.
* Do not throw away bad pieces! You get points for every piece standing at the end of the level. Better to leave an area of the well for those bad pieces to form a column even if you don't plan Mary to use it.
* Plan your column building. Building a column in the middle of screen might work fine for beginners, but try looking for other ways to build (and maximize well usage).
* If you got Mary high enough to save her and still have time to spare (water level is still low) then keep stacking pieces to rack up points.
* Avoid killing Mary! Don't throw pieces on top her (easier said than done [specially on harder levels]).
* Mary likes to jump a lot. Use that to your advantage! Instead of one long platform for Mary to step to better break it into two or more columns parallel to each other. If you make them close enough, it will force Mary to jump from one column to the other. This slows her down a bit, giving you time to drop a piece without risking dropping it on her.
* Sometimes when the columns are high enough, you will be able to catch Mary with your rope while she is at the top of her jump.
This I haven't confirmed, but sometimes if you camp out at one side waiting for a piece to come out, the piece won't show up. I don't know if this is a rule of the game when in harder levels (you know, force you to alternate sides), if it's a programming perk or just myself being impatient. I don't recall seeing this behavior at novice level though. If anyone can confirm please let me know.
Setting Blocks 101:
Bottom blocks of the pieces must be supported or they will break. Depending on the piece:
* Two-block pieces never break. They only need the bottom block to be supported.
* Three-block pieces need at least two blocks to be supported.
* Four-block and Six-block pieces need two blocks to be supported.
Blocks will break if parts of them fall on the left and right edges of the canyon or if you try to place them above full water level.
supercat said:
Re: Four-block and Six-block pieces need two bottom blocks to be supported.
Any two blocks will suffice, though in the case of the six-block pieces only the bottom ones are possible. It's possible to build rather crazy structures with the four-block pieces
In the picture above, one could drop the "X" piece on the "#" one, and then drop the "Y" piece on top of that.
Any two blocks will suffice, though in the case of the six-block pieces only the bottom ones are possible. It's possible to build rather crazy structures with the four-block pieces
....Y.Y.
.....Y.Y
..X.X...
...X.X..
#.#.....
.#.#....
In the picture above, one could drop the "X" piece on the "#" one, and then drop the "Y" piece on top of that.
--Ze_ro
