Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 14: Hydraulic Lifts

Finally completed it!  Ah, now it's like the old days, staying up late with the Atari, trying not to get caught... sometimes I dream about that old room over there on XXX XXXX XXXXXX Road, in XXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX .... That's what's so great about dreams.  Me, myself, I tend not to question the reality of them.  Must be why I'm such a pushover in real life.  Anyway, as for this level 14, I do hate to spoil the surprise, but what the hell.  See, there are these pneumatic tubes at the top of the screen.  Turns out you don't actually need to use them!  Always love a sleight of hand like that.  The hydraulic lifts here are a little less friendly than that one in... I believe it's Level 7 of regular Bounty Bob, AKA Miner 2049er.  Anyway, I believe I'm on the right track, psychologically, not starting from a saved state to beat this game.  That Robot Factory one?  Different story... strange!  Must've been going through one of my anti-blogging phases.  Perhaps you can relate... I mean, does EVERYTHING have to be blogged about?  ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING?  And do people have time to read, re-read or even edit this crap?  Can't even remember what that game was called.  But one way in which it's different from Bounty Bob: you can bounce off the edge of the screen, and you have to use this game hack in one of the tougher levels.  If memory serves, there's 26 levels, A to Z... and as all you skilled hackers know, I've still got all the saved states!  This is why I get nowhere in life.  Okay, time to get to sleep.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 13: Rest Stop #1

Boy, this level must've been easy or something!  I'll bet you, though, that I'll lose some lives on this one upon future playings.  So as the name implies, the level's not terribly tough... but you do gotta move fast!  Not a lot of time on this one!  Sorry... ***SPOILER ALERT***.  What else?  Thankfully, that double slide wasn't too tough to figure out.  Now, let's see if I can actually remember what to do.

Will You Get Killed (By a Mutant) By Just Standing In Place?  Nope!

Just as a refresher...

Bounty Bob Strikes Back at Atarimania

Bounty Bob Strikes Back at Mushca: Disk #49 (my preference... I'll confess)

Bounty Robert Strikes Back, Level 12: Acid Rain

Hot Ziggety!  I'm doing great tonight.  Probably should try to get to bed soon, however.  You know, I can't think of any popular games on Facebook, let alone the Atari, that has anything remotely to do with the environment.  Well, maybe Farmville 3, if they have Carbon Credits or something.  And if they give thought to importing water for all that stuff you grow, or animals to feed, or Macaroni and Cheese trees that need harvesting.  

Come to think of it, nuclear waste has a rich tradition in Atari games.  Take the James Hague classic Uncle Henry's Nuclear Waste Dump, par ejemple.  And of course, the instant case and its much more beloved predecessor, Miner 2049er.  No, for the most part, video games aren't concerned with the state of the Earth's environment.  They are an environment unto themselves, and you can usually start over from scratch, as with Boulder Dash and others.  And all the while, the eyestrain takes its usual toll.

Guess I'm getting too far afield here.  I think the "acid rain" in this level is my new, favourite obstacle of them all.  Reminds me of this one classic game where you have to guide a space shuttle through a series of moving walls.  Or the walls you have to shoot through in Shamus 1, then try like hell to get out of the way of all the bad guys that INSTANTLY APPEAR AND KILL YOU!!!!!!  And then of course, there's a mini-level in Castles and Keys that's similar.  Otherwise, sort of an ordinary level.  But that's good, right?  Good to have some balance.  And I'm finally starting to develop a little stamina.  I think I finally made it to this level with at least three lives.  That level 5 (Jumping 101) is still a bit of a mother, and of course my favourite way to die: on Level 6.  You're riding the "grain elevator" up, and you try jumping off.  But instead of jumping off, you end up falling off of it!  Making a nice Bounty Bob pancake way down below.  Now, when you jump left or right and make a Bounty Bob pancake, you're probably asking yourself, why, Video Game Lunatic!  Shouldn't the pancake be spread out in said direction?  Alas, it's the mystery of the Atari player / missiles, my friends.  I bet the Commodore could handle such grotesqueries, but not the Atari player / missiles.  No sir.

Will you get killed by a Mutant if you just Stand There?  Maybe.  I didn't check yet.  But it is kind of a good idea to haul ass before the first wave of "acid rain" finally drips down to the bottom of the screen.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 11: The Super Slippery Slide

Whelp, it's true!  This is about as full as one screen can get with the trademark Bounty Bob slides.  Thankfully, it's not quite as tough as Level 8, at least in terms of last chances to eliminate the dreaded mutant baddies.

...you know, it's the damnedest thing!  So I'm up to Level 11 now, and I usually have just enough lives to complete the level... but not the next one.  I don't know what you'd call that phenomenon... other than the fact that I'm a loser.  Procrastination, probably.  Asymptotic success is more like it.  I did mean to keep better track of where I get killed.  Level 5 is still  a pretty nasty place.  Jumping 101?  Please; more like the Jumping 103 midterm.  It makes Level 5 in Miner 2049'er look like child's play.

Will You Get Killed (By a Mutant) By Just Standing In Place?  Just barely not.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 10: The Gravity Lift

Love this one.  I should probably mention that I do like the wide variety of "power pills" this game has.  Even more than Miner 2049er.  For example, the steaming piles of ... I guess they're donkey manure.  What else could they be?  I can't remember the last time I played a game with this kind of lift in it... maybe Zorro.  Or maybe I'm thinking of the lift and pulley system that covers two screens.  I cheated a little bit to get to this level... okay, a lot.  As much as I could, without using saved states.  Also, what's the point of having a Top 10 High Scores board in an Atari game, unless you can save them to disk?  Other than Lode Runner, who else would do that?  But those were the days... ah, those were the days.  You'd have to hook up with other people through a "bulletin board" over a 300 baud modem if you're lucky.  And even then, it's tricky to match high scores.

Will You Get Killed (By a Mutant) By Just Standing In Place?  Yes!  Yes you will.  But we can laugh about it now.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 9: Bonus Level #1

Note: this is not like a Boulder Dash bonus level, where you're almost expected to lose a life.  No, the only bonus here is that it's not so tough, but you do get to practice your long jumps.  No finessing this time!  Also, there's a new gift: the canary in a coal mine.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 8: Luxury Transporters

Sort of an easy one!  Kinda nice for a change.  Helps break up the tedium.  Spoiler Alert: there are five, count 'em, FIVE, numbered transports.  And they're an improvement on the original Miner 2049'er, because there's no longer a time delay.  When you use a teleporter booth in Miner 2049'er, they overheat, and it takes a few seconds for them to cool down.  Also, they could only be on the same vertical strip, due to the limitations of Atari player/missiles.  No limitations this time!  God bless those Display List Interrupts... what else?  What else to say?  I'm kicking ass tonight!  God bless these days off, but I've got a complaint, God... why do the days after a holiday have to be so tough?  Thankfully, we've got a lot of eager employees this holiday season, so if one person quits this time, it might not send the whole office into a tailspin.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Level 7: Yukon's Penthouse

Oh, apparently someone's already done the heavy lifting for me here.  Wait a minute!... MY LINK!  My link is RUINED!!!!  Guess I better get back to work then.  It's taking longer than I thought because I'm trying to pass these levels without using any cheats, like saved states or... basically, just saved states.  After all, for advanced players of Bounty Bob Strikes Back, you get at least one cheat on Level One.  No wonder they use the font from the arcade version of Crystal Castles!