Denial

A few years ago Sven Michael Klose “pixel” released Pulse. This side-scrolling space shooter brings the intense action similar to Gradius and R-Type to the VIC.

Pulse Pulse High Scores
817 …… Ola H
763 …… hasseapa
583 …… akator

Pulse can be obtained via pixel's GitHub archives and via Itch, where it is also available for purchase/donation and download.

Play, discuss, have fun! And remember:

hasseapa wrote:... posting in the old threads should be encouraged. Old players can update their score, new players can post scores, and anyone can leave comments on the games.

Looking forward to this one

After many, many attempts I've been able to score 583. Those tracking bombs eventually get me every time. I'm certain this score will be crushed

I love horizontal Shoot 'em ups and Pulse is an amazing technical achievement. So in other words - I'd love to play it to death. I just don't have the time though, but I'll try to squeeze in some time before the end of the month.

I'm hard pressed for time too but I'll try to get at least one session before the month is over. I'll doubt that I'll surpass my score from last spring, though. I played it a lot with a good joystick and eventually managed 817. From what I can remember it took me quite a while to score as high as 583, so I am certainly not sure that I will be able to beat it for the Game Club.

The tracking bombs are indeed fiendish! And the game is altogether a marvellous feat of Vic 20 game design and coding

Finally a first shot (or more like a million). 281 points. Will give it another go during the weekend! I love the starfield! The only other VIC-game (IIRC) that has a really lovely starfield is Bandits.

485p, 1 life left, then my Vic suddenly hung and I couldn't get the game to load again.
I'll try again tomorrow, or so, with another tape deck .

The record is above 3,800pts. It takes a British breakfast to get to that area. Wasn't me btw...

I improved a bit - to 763. It's not that hard thanks to the amazing fire power at your disposal. The all-destroying waves are very satisfying to execute!
While I do appreciate the subtle change of game play and corresponding increase in difficulty that is in place, an 8K or 16K sequel with more enemy types, varied backgrounds and maybe even some kind of boss fight could be amazing. I can also imagine a Defender-like game to be absolutely fantastic with this kind of speed, smoothness & fire power.

555 but my Vic hung in the middle of a session again

I find it pretty easy to reach above 500 on my first ship, but once i lose my first ship, and consequently all the power-ups, I find it very hard to get back on track again. I tend to lose the two remaining ships without amassing more than a few points. 3800+ is astounding!

Seems like Pulse is getting too intense for my poor Vic... 562 on my first ship and I'm thinking I'm on my way to a fine seasonal best. Then all of a sudden my Vic hungs again.

Seems like it mostly happens when I play well, racking up points without losing any lives. No idea why. Last summer my Pulse sessions all went smoothly.

Uh? Overheating VIC!?

One can actually make it to +2000 with just one life.

I'm such an idiot... A while ago, after a thorough inside-out cleaning of my Vic, I put plastic (kitchen) film over it as a dust cover. When I loaded Pulse I didn't think about it as I didn't really need the keyboard. I just plugged in the joystick and let film stay wrapped around the Vic... I didn't think about until now and now I'm scared that I indeed have overheated and perhaps damaged my dear first computer

I brought out my back-up Vic and after much fiddling with the tape azimuth got Pulse to load. Played very well for two trial rounds and then I thought it was time to get serious, time to break my seasonal best - but at 513 p my backup Vic hung too... This was actually a relief as I consider it a sign that my original Vic wasn't overheating.

But it is still weird. I don't remember my Vic hanging even once last summer when I played it every day for a week.

Well, will switch back to my main Vic again (now without plastic film!) and try once more for a high score before I go to bed