Most liked posts in thread: Commando High Scores

I had many a chat with Robert, he sent me his old amiga 1200 with a HD and ram card, needed a wee fix. He almost was to the point of publishing issue 6(?) but personal stuff started to happen which overshadowed every thing. Not spoke to him in ages, I hope he's well and all the stuff is sorted.

I hope one day we see the 'lost' issue, Robert always sent me a free one as he said my little stories about the times inspired him to do the mag, obviously amongst other stuff.

 

I'm sure Roberts ok, I can't really go into detail as it's his business but if I use the word 'split' you can work it out.

And yeah, the mag was amazingly good, the work in it was just fantastic. The Amiga he sent just came out of the blue, I think it was our second chat and he just said that he had an old 1200 that would not boot, did I want it. 2 days later it was here. So kind of him..

 

Hi Alex/Dave/Dazza!

I hear you, mate - Commando can be very very tricky - opponents and deadly bullets/grenades flying in all directions on the EXPERT level and age/time/rusty reactions are against us!

Do please have a go - even if it's just to try out the old Atari 8bit, boot up an old classic and just "experience" that rush you get from meeting an old friend...see if you suffer from the same old "age old" problems as me - my 1st score typically per session ends up being my best score and all the rest are hopeless and in fact get WORSE!!!

Guys, there must be a term for this condition - is it merely "First Time Lucky" syndrome or basically we get crapper as we get older?!

Here we go in words and pictures:


Baz getting "in the mood"

First go and it's a CORKER!


Blasted those gooks to kingdom come and scored a very nice 26,200.

But after this, things went from bad to worse...



19,200 - and lots more lower scores until finally...


5,500... and worse - they got so bad that the air turned blue with expletives and I had to switch off before Bev booted my ass out the front door and into the night...

Guys - a new high score just a little higher than Al's but I sense that it's very beatable - I only reached the "rocks" section after the 1st round when the door opens and there's a road bridge above which a motorcycle comes along but I can not as yet hit it with a grenade... we need a Commando Chief to come on here and give us some EXPERT hints n tips.

Could that guy... BE YOU?!

JOIN US (Daz, Manu, Rich, Matt & co) and let us know how YOU get on.

 

Dang you Andy!

"I'll be back"

 

Commando was C64 first Alex, it never came out officially on the Atari, the folks at Elite decided the Atari wasn't up to it (I know, I asked Mr Wilcox at the time), and they were moving away from the Atari (not that they did hardly anything for it, I think Airwolf was their only contribution). The job was handed to Chris Butler, he was the go-to guy for arcade ports and produced superb versions (considering). Along with a stunning Rob Hubbard soundtrack made Commando an instant C64 classic.

That said, the Atari version is a work of art, it makes me compare it to Space Harrier (oddly another game converted to the C64 by Chris Butler) which was decided to be too much for the Atari, well Sheddy on AtariAge proved them wrong with a simply mind blowing arcade port that knocked spots off the C64 version. Ok, Sheddy had years of coding on the Atari and extra memory to play with that Chris didn't, but the Atari version is amazing.

I sadly, am also rubbish at the game..Now my playing is harder I'm reverting to historian mode

 

Been very busy with work since I got back from my holiday but this weekend I'm going to load up Commando and get my joystick wagging!

 

What you do in the comfort of your home is your own business, my mate. A Labour government may look to tax you on joystick waggling but if you wiggle shrewdly you may get a new high score, qualify for tax credits and be entitled to keyboard chaos and trackball bashing. Be bold, grab those grenades and as you pull the pin think of storming those sassenachs. Good luck, Marine!

 

I still can't get above my own 'high score' on Commando. I'll keep bashing that joystick though....

 

Just had another dozen or so cracks at Commando and the scores/feedbacks are in...

Officially I'm shite.

Most games I couldn't get more than 4-6k.

Only twice did I manage a 20K and a 24K:





As Al reports, I can't beat my previous best either (26,200).

C'mon, fellas - this comp is ripe for someone else to come in and show me and Al how to do it... and nick the bragging rights

 

Sorry I couldn't join in the fun fellas, my Atari's are down atm. But trust me, it wouldn't be a contest. I've finished the game multiple times on expert. I can't say I'd be as good at the C64 version, as I've never played it. My history starts with the 7800 version in the late 80's and I became an expert at Commando, Xevious, Xenophobe, Ikari Warriors, etc. Later I didn't own a 7800 but I did have Commando and Xenophobe on the Atari 8-bit which play pretty much the same, just a slight drop in graphic goodness. And, of course, I used to play the arcade versions before they were home versions. Shooters being one of my favorite genres.

 

;-) !!!

 

Hey, hey, hey.... just spotted on a restaurant wall not 5mins from where we inhabit the biome...

THIS:



Yer not telling me whoever is responsible for this wasn't playing Commando (on the Atari of course) not 5mins before commencing his piece de resistance?

Comments, please...

PS> Not sure why Mr Wimpy/Mario appears bottom right. Again, maybe some member on here can enlighten us?

 

There you go - Ray's Place or Commando?

You decide:


ABOVE: New level for Commando discovered not 5mins from ere.

 

A week to go, I believe, I'm sure we mentioned something about deadline being 31/10/23 for this one when I was away with Bev in France... just saying - a week to go - get yer Atari and this game booted up nice and sweet tonight / today and let's see you HIT THE TOP OF THE SCORE TABLE - 26,200 to beat - a very beatable score.

 

I'll be back....

 

You came too soon, bud...

 

Premature gaming, never suffered from it, I was always one for a long sesh

 

Bloody sore on the wrist though!

 

Just don't take my hand, it might be a bit sticky

 

Unlikely, you scots don't give anything away for free...

 

Just give it a wrist guys....

 

I don't know how you will pull that off...

 

Well I've spent more time tonight and can't get anywhere near my original high score. Now I'm even struggling to get near 10000 points! So Andy, unless there are any last minute entries you will be the King of Commando very shortly. Congratulations mate

I have found it fun playing the game and it's nice to have some focus on our A8's so hopefully we can do more like this.

As an aside, also tried in Beginner and Normal modes and can now do way better in those than I have ever managed in the past. Even getting regular scores around the 50k mark in normal mode so pretty pleased with that.

 

Lol, one of the all time goodies ported from the apple...good old Lode Runner..I'll even add that it's the hacked UK version to make it colour as the original US version uses artifacting. Can't remember if Apple Panic or Lode Runner came first but it's fair to say I'm rubbish at both

Make's me laugh, I have to write down my shopping list as I can't remember it, but if you show me a game from the 70's onwards I can give you chapter and verse about it..

Talk about getting your priorities wrong

PS Well done to the pair of you re the game. Sorry I could not take part, but this thing I have gets in the way of everything. Sat here with a blinding pain down my neck and all I'm doing is LOOKING at the new PC. IE It's not just gaming that is truly a pain, it's every thing and any thing. I'm just grateful that I'm walking and talking, pain I can deal with (no choice really ) Still, I'm a happy bunny and that's what counts.

 

I'm just the same as everyone on here, a kid at heart...

As for the artifacting, it's just a trick the Americans found to use the high res mono colour mode to display 2 colours plus the white and black because of the difference in scan lines on their NTSC screens. Because of the odd phasing across TV models you could get different TV's displaying different colours (most likely where the pun on NTSC, which stands for National TV Standards Committee, being changed to Never The Same Colour (twice)).The hack that the UK used on games like Drol was to go back to a slightly chunkier mode by changing the display list.

The actual true colour that artifacting created was meant to be blue and a reddy orange (as seen in A.E. and it's box art screen shot), but it could be purple and green (yuck) or other variants, as said.

But enough of the boring tech crap...Enjoy the games...