Living the High Life

Video Game Diary:

Yes! I just played a little Atari and SNES tonight while talking to my friend Steve Smith. We were talking about challenging each other's scores and it reminded me of a great video game staple... Twin Galaxies!

Twin galaxies is the official high score database and has been so since the golden age of the arcades. In this report, I will include the high scores on the titles I played when possible.

Whoa! Look at this big beautiful screenshot! Brings a tear to the eye, I bet. This is Donkey Kong Junior for the Atari 2600. It was a port of the popular arcade sequel to Donkey Kong wherein you controlled a monkey on a quest to save your father from the evil Mario! The player must jump and climb through three screens all while dodging enemies called trapjaws. Boards are cleared by getting to Mario alive. This version's gameplay is a little stiff and didn't port as well as Donkey Kong. There is no high score registered for this game. You can be the first!

And now, another arcade port on the Atari... Solar Fox for Atari 2600 looks sharp and has great sound effects. The goal is to collect all the dots on the screen while dodging bullets from passing spacecraft. If you do it before the SKIP-A-RACK timer expires you can skip ahead a stage and get a big bonus. The current high score on this version is held by Robert T Mruczek. It's 1,678,000, wow! This is the king of cartridge that you will keep in your system and play over and over. Taking turns with a friend in a high score contest could result in hours of fun. Find this game if you could enjoy an addictive game requiring quick reflexes and a good joystick-one of my must have titles.

This is another game that every 2600 owner should have. The graphics do not hold a candle to its arcade equivalent, but the feel is divine! The car has a heavyness that feels authentic when gearing down for tight turns and narrowly avoiding other cars. There is only one variation and one track, but mastering the track and beating your last high score is a pleasure. The high score for this the Atari version using the actual hardware(not an emulator) is 60,910, shared by several players. Could this be the highest score possible?

It's time for a little Super Nintendo Action! The arcade version of World Heroes is a game I got so hooked on I could beat it with one quarter. It had a unique control scheme for a fighter in that tapping the button resulted in a quick attack while holding it longer dealt a powerful blow. This was different and, best of all, simpler than Street Fighter but still produced some great combos and strategy. The sequels dropped this control pattern in favor of something closer to SF. Another notable feature is it's deadly booby traps like the spikey wall and electrified wrestling ring ropes. The SNES port is a bit slower and missing some animation, but still a great game for one, and especially, two players. There is nothing like comboing your buddy onto a wall of spikes, I suggest you try it.

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot