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Post by Mayhem on Jul 9, 2018 17:40:31 GMT -5
Mine arrived in good condition, but that might be because the box also had a normal copy of the game in it, so neither really moved about much.
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Post by 50tbrd on Jul 9, 2018 18:28:46 GMT -5
Just registered here to let you know that my copy #43 arrived last week damaged. It was loose in the box with no padding whatsoever. Also the cart was loose and dented the game box. The box has a tear and is also not glued very well. Also, the overlay is too big to fit on the console, it looks like it has not been trimmed properly. The game itself plays ok. In all, for the price, I expected better. I have two copies of Big Blue which are top quality, plus one copy of Stramash Zone which is also of top quality. I was really hoping this would match them. Quality is always going to differ from developer to developer. These are people who don't always have the resources to make a professional product. That having been said, your comment is indicative of the expectation that other developers have made for Vectrex releases in general. The bar has been raised by Vector Republic, Binarystar, Clockwork Robot and Tutstronix. Luchs-softs most recent release was very polished and his first foray into making a GCE style/sized box with screenprinted overlay.
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Post by kokovec on Jul 9, 2018 19:04:54 GMT -5
I just received Stramash Zone and am loving it. Awesome packaging and the overlay really adds to the game's appeal. Nice work!
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Post by kurtori on Jul 9, 2018 23:13:24 GMT -5
Received my order of one limited edition copy. Mine arrived the way most others have described: oversized, thin shipping box with no padding. The cartridge was floating loose in the game box, which ironically did the most damage: the manual inside was bent, and the loose cart had caused I’ve of the two top flaps to open, even through the plastic protective cover. The overlay didn’t have a slip cover, so the sliding of the cart against it caused some scratches to it.
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Post by lordinnit on Jul 10, 2018 7:43:52 GMT -5
Just registered here to let you know that my copy #43 arrived last week damaged. It was loose in the box with no padding whatsoever. Also the cart was loose and dented the game box. The box has a tear and is also not glued very well. Also, the overlay is too big to fit on the console, it looks like it has not been trimmed properly. The game itself plays ok. In all, for the price, I expected better. I have two copies of Big Blue which are top quality, plus one copy of Stramash Zone which is also of top quality. I was really hoping this would match them. Quality is always going to differ from developer to developer. These are people who don't always have the resources to make a professional product. That having been said, your comment is indicative of the expectation that other developers have made for Vectrex releases in general. The bar has been raised by Vector Republic, Binarystar, Clockwork Robot and Tutstronix. Luchs-softs most recent release was very polished and his first foray into making a GCE style/sized box with screenprinted overlay. I admit that my expectations were somewhat raised by the quality of other releases. My real gripe is that the packing was not good enough. Had that been better, I think I would have been more forgiving with the rest. I've trimmed the overlay where there was a bit of clear plastic beyond the colour border, and now it fits.
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Post by VectorX on Jul 10, 2018 8:23:12 GMT -5
^Plus Martijn's been doing this for a while, so it seems like this would've been improved.
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Post by Mayhem on Jul 10, 2018 13:08:32 GMT -5
Just to clarify, my box was okay, my overlay was okay, my manual was a bit squished. Yeah, definitely needed more content in the box to stop movement.
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Post by TrekMD on Jul 11, 2018 17:19:41 GMT -5
OK, got mine today. The box it came in was crushed in one side, thankfully not the side where the game was entirely. The top corner of the plastic protector and the box were crushed a bit. The manual was fine but the overlay did get some scratches. Nothing too terrible but it would have been nicer had there been some kind of packing material to keep the movement down.
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Post by Mayhem on Jul 12, 2018 6:07:36 GMT -5
Well the cart was in a plastic bag, so that should have reduced contact. Except if the cart came out of the bag in transit I guess...!
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Post by TrekMD on Jul 12, 2018 6:24:15 GMT -5
The first thing that I took out of the game box was the empty bag. The care, sure enough, had come out of it in transit.
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Post by 50tbrd on Jul 12, 2018 15:22:59 GMT -5
My copy of the Limited Edition arrived today. Could have been ugly had I not also bought the standard version. The box protector took a small divot and the box itself had a slight swell that just needed a little massage.
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Post by lordinnit on Jul 12, 2018 17:35:16 GMT -5
Has anyone had problems getting the overlay to fit on the console? Mine was about 2mm longer than the standard overlay size, and the corners needed rounding off more too.
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Post by 50tbrd on Jul 12, 2018 19:48:57 GMT -5
Mine was fine.
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Post by kurtori on Jul 13, 2018 0:11:32 GMT -5
Well the cart was in a plastic bag, so that should have reduced contact. Except if the cart came out of the bag in transit I guess...! My cart was fully out of its plastic bag from having been jostled during shipping. Even then I don’t think it would have offered any protection. I’m thankful the condition wasn’t worse though I don’t understand why these were packed the way they were.
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Post by pcenginefanx on Jul 28, 2018 9:14:05 GMT -5
After reaching stage 16 and finding out that there are a grand total of 20 stages to play through, the later stages are quite hard to solve (but in a good way). There were times when I got to the final stage 20 and came close to solving it (but not quite as a single vehicle was blocking the exit to finally beat it once & for all). At first, I thought that stage 20 was an impossible stage to complete/finish, but it's solvable indeed (it's just a matter of finding the correct vehicle placement to be able to exit properly) -- it's quite devilish as it is (with plenty of swearing inducing moments -- but with a clear head, it's doable).
I'm not sure about being able to solve stage 10 within just the 10 moves limitation to earn the "Solve stage 10 with just 10 moves" award achievement (although I managed to solve it within just 12 moves). Hmmm...
I've earned the Gold award by "Solving all 20 stages" and earned the Silver award by completing the "Solve 5 stages in a row" challenge. Just have to see how to attempt earning the Bronze award by solving stage 10 within the 10 moves limitation to finally unlock it. Makes me wonder if there is another hidden mini Vectrex game within the Rush Hour gaming engine or not -- could there be one?
I also managed to solve the first 15 stages in one shot before being stumped by stage 16. It helps to take a pic of the correct vehicle orientation to successfully exit each particular stage with a digital camera for helpful reference the next time it's attempted.
My current high score is 810 pts. for the first run into solving stage 15 in one puzzler scoring run (starting from stage 1 on forward) and proceeding with stage 16 (and deciding to quit at this point in time). Unfortunately, there's no high score screen nor a high score initials entry screen whatsoever within Rush Hour -- would've been nice if they had been included/implemented from the get-go though just to give RH that slick overall arcade puzzler vibe & feel. (As a helpful suggestion, perhaps in a future revision of RH, this could be implemented.)
Upon successfully completing each stage, a new password is revealed for the next "unlocked" stage (making it quite handy/easy to play the current stage and trying to see if you can complete it in the fewest moves as possible). So therefore, there are 20 stage passwords to write down for posterity/safekeeping should you want to revisit a particular stage at a later time. I won't reveal the stage passwords for those of you currently still trying to work your way through the entire game itself. (Could a Vectrex port of the classic Atari Games' arcade puzzler, Klax, be done/successfully pulled off nowadays?)
A real-time self-playing demo that alternates between the main title screen & the high score initials/high scores screen for that polished arcade puzzler feel/vibe going on would make RH truly shine.
Perhaps a simple cutscene that takes place between stages to entertain/enlighten the veteran arcade puzzler gamer for a job well done would be a cool/nice perk for a future revision of RH.
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