73 replies to this topic

[SpiceWare]

28,175

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[supercat]

Goochman, on Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:37 AM, said:

hate those small saucers

One thing which is very helpful is to recognize that while the most dangerous part of the game is shooting a demon that's shooting and you, that's really only something you need to do once per level. Split the bottom demon, then the one above. At this point, focus on avoiding the small demon's bombs and destroying the upper demons. Avoid shooting bottom-row small demons when the middle-row demon is unsplit, and avoid shooting both bottom-row demons too quickly.

There are three 'demon zones' plus the bomb/diver zone. Any time all bombs disappear from the screen, the system will check to see if there is exactly one small demon in the bottom zone. If so, all demon zones will move down one, with that bottom-zone demon becoming a diver. Note that this is the only circumstance where demons will switch zones, and that middle-zone and upper-zone demons cannot shoot nor dive even if the zones below them are empty.

Thus, if the bottom and middle zone contain split demons and you shoot one demon from the bottom row, then after a few moments the other demon will start to dive and the middle-row demons will become the bottom row. Thus, as soon as the diver either crashes or is destroyed, you will come under 'small demon' attack. Note that if the middle row contained a single small demon, it will sometimes fire one attack of bombs before becoming a diver.

If the same situation applied but you shot both of the bottom demons very quickly together, then the bottom row would be vacant but the other rows would not move down. If all eight demons haven't yet warped in, you'd get an unsplit demon on the bottom row (nasty!). If all eight demons have warped in, then you'll be free to get a sandwich or whatever because none of the other demons will ever attack you.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

supercat, on Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:37 PM, said:

There are three 'demon zones' plus the bomb/diver zone.

Upon closer examination Demon Attack seems to be somewhat buggy. More than once I whitnessed the bottom demon disappearing for a moment, probably when the middle demon would dive too deep.

There's also a glitch in the collision detection which is sometimes making a demon explode at the other side of the screen. (Maybe somehow when you hit the explosion/debris of a previously killed demon?)

Greetings,
Manuel

[silverpoodleman]

I've played about 40 games this week and my scores have ranged from 5,140 to 28,680.

Tonight, tonight, tonight.....I leap-frogged to 79,240
I will submit that as my ALL_TIME BEST

[Ze_ro]

RJ, on Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:51 AM, said:

I know some poeple are using emulators & of course using the actual cart is OK. But what if we're playing, say, an Activision cart I dont have- is it kosher to play it using the PS2 Activision Anthology? (or some other collections disc, depending on the game). The games on there are damn near perfect.

The problem here is that a lot of those collections often have rather crummy emulation, or the games are simply remakes with no emulation whatsoever, so it's difficult to tell if they play and score the same as actual cartridges. If it's not the same, then people are not on a level playing field, and you may be at an advantage (or disadvantage). Even suspect emulators (like DCStella on the Dreamcast, which has a lot of slowdown) are frowned upon, and should be used only for practice.

If you don't have the game, I would prefer if you played on a proven, quality emulator like Z26, Stella, or PCAE... if it's the keyboard that's holding you back, there are plenty of USB gamepads and USB-to-PS2/Xbox converters out there to make up for it, not to mention the Stelladaptor.

--Zero

[graywest]

Whew - I was finally able to get past those little guys...

16,310

[khryssun]

5,640

[RJ]

27,350 using the actual cart.

Man, moving the diff switch to "a"ggressive instead of "b"enign REALLY makes a difference. I swear there were times that the big demons (not the diving ones) were like a half-inch from the planet surface.

I've blanked the screen twice before (once 20some years ago, & again yesterday )

Edited by RJ, Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:47 AM.

[Recycled]

RJ, on Sun Nov 20, 2005 9:47 AM, said:

27,350 using the actual cart.

Man, moving the diff switch to "a"ggressive instead of "b"enign REALLY makes a difference. I swear there were times that the big demons (not the diving ones) were like a half-inch from the planet surface.

I've blanked the screen twice before (once 20some years ago, & again yesterday )

yea, playing on setting "a" has got me back into this game. Don't know why I never did it before. It got to the point on setting "b" were it was too easy, so I just quit playing.

[shadow460]

29,095
All my pictures came out better than the game itself, and they are trash.

There's a picture on this useless hunk of plastic and a date of 1982.

Among other things, the collision detection between enemies and my shots badly needs fixed in this sorry excuse for a clone of Phoenix.

As for strategy, well, remove cart, stomp on cart, and toss the remains into a waste receptacle.

I actually shoot at whatever demon is easiest to hit. The middle and upper ones jump around so blasted much that I understand why the collision detection is so bad--the game itself probably doesn't know where they went when my shot passes by! This strategy has evidently landed me a decent score. I, therefore, shoot at the lowermost demon most of the time, and when they're split, I go after the half that isn't trying to use the bathroom on me. I try to go after other demons when the lone half is diving at me, then either kill or dodge the diver. Ideally, I'll have three divers in a row.
Killing divers is easy. Just sit in one spot and watch how the little wussies fly back and forth. Time a shot, and if you're lucky, it'll hit.

Now for the bane of my existence, the guided droppings. The first two waves of these ain't bad, which is a good thing after wave 12. Most of the waves' poop is guided the same way.
To kill any enemy that has guided droppings (even the oo ones):
First, slide just to one side of three or four loads of refuse if drops. After that, slide under the next one and do not stop. When you're sliding under one, time a shot. The demon dung will barely miss you and you have a better chance of scoring a hit than if you didn't shoot at all. After a while this becomes easy.

Now if you're killing most demons, you can usually peg them on the wing.

The oo demons are different. Instead of pegging their wings, get dead center under the one that's firing. I know that's crazy, but it works. Get dead center under him and let fly. In order for him to crap directly on you, he must remain still. This allows you shot to hit him, and then the demon dung simply falls straight. Either get out of its way or get out some Charmin.

Is it just me, or did Imagic really want us to think their fearsome enemies were trying to poop on us? Are we defending Toiletstan here?

Edited by shadow460, Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:33 PM.

[LarcenTyler]

Man I really need more practice at this game.

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[video game addict]

You're not the only one.

I can't quite get over the hump. I assume it resets and cylces through the sets of demons after you pass the small ones? I have yet to make it through the 2nd wave of the small demons.

Increased my score to a paltry 9,500

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[shadow460]

It does. Try sliding underneath the small (I call em oo) demons and shooting that way.
You let 'em drop two or three times, sliding away from the stuff, then slide under the stuff (and demon). While underneath them, peg 'em.

Also do try sitting still underneath the "shooter". Since the stuff is guided, he's gotta remain stock still in order to hit you. Your shot connects first (or you move), then you just slide away.

I also found that the more you move side to side, the more likely it is you'll get trapped by sweeping demon dung. It seems they move around with you, so keep the movements to a minumum--couple of cannon widths max, or just a pixel or two away from the stuff they drop.

[Omegamatrix]

My pitiful token score for now: 5850

[SpiceWare]

172,570

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[the 5th ghost]

SpiceWare, on Sun Nov 20, 2005 9:03 PM, said:

172,570

Nice score!

328,580 for me though...I can go forever on this but I had to eat dinner

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Edited by the 5th ghost, Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:19 PM.

[SpiceWare]

Thanx! You as well.

I've been creeping up in the 20Ks for a while. Got 36K this evening, followed by a couple more games back in the 20Ks. I decided one more game for the night and got in the groove!

Edited by SpiceWare, Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:56 PM.

[Fellow Atari Man]

Recycled, on Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:27 PM, said:

yea, playing on setting "a" has got me back into this game.  Don't know why I never did it before.

Yeah, that happens a bit with the HSC Good thing, too!

Made the attached score a few nights ago, but hadn't gotten back into it since; probably be my final...

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[Dan Iacovelli]

ok, I'm back in the grove so here is my score: 1850
I'm going try again tomarrow.

[Recycled]

Ze_ro, on Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:55 PM, said:

the 5th ghost, on Tue Nov 15, 2005 7:19 AM, said:

Be advised that there are two different roms out there. The most common version out there will freeze after the 84th wave I think. But, apparently there is another version that won't freeze up.

Interesting... does anyone have ROMs that are confirmed to lock up (or NOT lock up)? Is there any way to tell if an actual cart is one that would lock up? I'd hate to see someone lose out on a long run just because their copy locked up and someone else's didn't.

--Zero

It happened to me on my best run. Somewhere in 130,000's the screen went blank. Shoot.

I guess I'll take a final score of:

130,000

[scogey]

6210

Well...no one can say I picked this one based on my expertise at it.

[video game addict]

scogey, on Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:07 PM, said:

6210

Well...no one can say I picked this one based on my expertise at it.

It's a fun game! I just have never played it before. I still can not get over the hump. I did play a few rounds with the controlled missiles and I was able to up my score over 27K, I actually like that version a little better, but this default setting with A difficulty is tough.

[supercat]

I think I may have had the difficulty switch on the wrong setting with my earlier score; I haven't quite managed to beat it. So 10530 is my best score where I'm certain of the proper difficulty.

[Ze_ro]

Well, that's the end of this week's edition of the High Score Club! Congratulations to everyone on their scores and I hope you had fun with Demon Attack! Join us next time when we'll be fighting dragons with vaccuum cleaners!

--Zero