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I could have been the King of Astrosmash on Intellivision
Posted on 10/21/16 at 1:52 pm
Posted on 10/21/16 at 1:52 pm
I feel like I have been cheating this forum by not coming forward with one of my greatest achievements of my youth.
The year was circa 1981. I would lock myself up in my room for hours. Intellivision had some sort of challenge/promotion going and once you got your highest score...you take a photo of the screen and send it in to their HQ.
I played for like 5 hours straight and scored in the millions. The exact score escapes me. I took a photo with my parents Polaroid and sent it in. A month later I received a letter that I qualified and invited to Houston for the Championship. 20 invitations were handed out. My parents said 'hell no', we are not traveling to Houston so I can play a video game so I didn't go. I missed my chance. I couldn't have been the 1981 Astrosmash World Champion.
Youtube Link
The year was circa 1981. I would lock myself up in my room for hours. Intellivision had some sort of challenge/promotion going and once you got your highest score...you take a photo of the screen and send it in to their HQ.
I played for like 5 hours straight and scored in the millions. The exact score escapes me. I took a photo with my parents Polaroid and sent it in. A month later I received a letter that I qualified and invited to Houston for the Championship. 20 invitations were handed out. My parents said 'hell no', we are not traveling to Houston so I can play a video game so I didn't go. I missed my chance. I couldn't have been the 1981 Astrosmash World Champion.
Youtube Link
Posted on 10/21/16 at 2:09 pm to Nativebullet
I still have all my cartridges and a working Intellivision II.
I played the shite out of triple action, bomb squad, dungeons and dragons, and b-17 bomber. Never was big into Astrosmash, but I had it.
Football and Baseball were good when I had friends over. I didn't get the ones with AI opponents til later. My cousin had basketball, I may have it now don't remember. I got a big shoebox full of them.
I played the shite out of triple action, bomb squad, dungeons and dragons, and b-17 bomber. Never was big into Astrosmash, but I had it.
Football and Baseball were good when I had friends over. I didn't get the ones with AI opponents til later. My cousin had basketball, I may have it now don't remember. I got a big shoebox full of them.
This post was edited on 10/21/16 at 2:10 pm
Posted on 10/21/16 at 4:00 pm to Nativebullet
I Would have smoked your arse in Intellivision NFL football or MLB Baseball though.
Posted on 10/21/16 at 4:06 pm to crash1211
quote:
I Would have smoked your arse in Intellivision NFL football or MLB Baseball though.
Young man. I played that football game so much I still remember one of my plays. :lol: I believe I pushed 4411 or 4417... something like that and it was a quick pass. 5 yards to TE. My brother smashed a lot of controllers because he would say " you keep running that same fr#$King play, thats all you do!!"
Posted on 10/21/16 at 4:07 pm to Nativebullet
I found this, looks like they had to invites lot more than they thought.
You should of gotten a patch, if you would of went you could possibly have one of 3 known carts out there for the tournament version sitting on a goldmine of a video game find.
quote:
From March until August 11, Intellivision owners were invited to send photographs of their TV screens showing their high score in Astrosmash. Just for entering, they would receive an Astrosmash Shootoff patch, and it was announced that 16 regional high-scorers would be flown to Houston to compete for eight cash prizes. Over 13,000 people entered, and quickly it became obvious there was a problem. First, because of the scoring bug, many of the pictures showed scores made up of seemingly random ASCII characters. John Sohl had to review the photos and, with an ASCII table, decipher the actual scores. Second, it turned out that no one in Marketing realized that Astrosmash, like many Intellivision games, can be played at slower speeds simply by starting the game by pressing 1, 2, or 3 instead of the disc. (This is a feature programmed into the EXEC.) There was no way of telling who had legitimately obtained a high score and who had played at the easiest speed. There were reports of competitors who literally played for days at the slowest speed, pausing the game (pressing 1 and 9 simultaneously, also programmed into the EXEC) to sleep or go to school. Unable to decide who was legit and who wasn't, instead of the announced 16, Mattel Electronics wound up flying 73 entrants to Houston for an all-expense paid weekend, September 11 & 12, 1982. There, the entrants competed in 1 hour of timed play. 18-year-old Manuel Rodriguez of Stockton, California won the $25,000 top prize with a score of 835,180.
You should of gotten a patch, if you would of went you could possibly have one of 3 known carts out there for the tournament version sitting on a goldmine of a video game find.
This post was edited on 10/21/16 at 4:13 pm
Posted on 10/21/16 at 4:19 pm to Dam Guide
quote:
You should of gotten a patch, if you would of went you could possibly have one of 3 known carts out there for the tournament version sitting on a goldmine of a video game find.
Wow. Dam Guide. Excellent find. I never thought of googling that. I would have never imagined there would be something out there on it. I was unaware of the speeds. I just played it on the 'default' speed. And I am certain my score of in the millions. Definitely higher than 800 thousand. Very interesting. I don't remember the "patch" but I do remember they were specific with times and hotel, etc. Good stuff. Thanks.
Posted on 10/21/16 at 6:33 pm to Nativebullet
quote:
Definitely higher than 800 thousand.
The tournament cart was limited to an hour play. 800000 was what the winner scored in just an hour.
Posted on 10/21/16 at 9:01 pm to Dam Guide
quote:
The tournament cart was limited to an hour play. 800000 was what the winner scored in just an hour.
Ahh, i understand now. Yeah, I played for several hours. Not sure what my score was around an hour.
Posted on 10/21/16 at 9:54 pm to Nativebullet
i remember trying to attain certain scores on Atari games, to get a patch.
I think i got like 3 or 4.
Plaque attack u were the toothpaste
keystone capers
Pitfall
Jungle hunt
me and my cousin played the hell out of those games, trying to get the patch, for sending in a Polaroid of a certain score being beat.
I think i got like 3 or 4.
Plaque attack u were the toothpaste
keystone capers
Pitfall
Jungle hunt
me and my cousin played the hell out of those games, trying to get the patch, for sending in a Polaroid of a certain score being beat.
Posted on 10/22/16 at 10:01 pm to stlslick
quote:
i remember trying to attain certain scores on Atari games, to get a patch.
Activision used to do this for their 2600 games. I sent a couple of pics but never heard back.
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