by RD Novo

Swoop High Score Contest
The Swoop High Score Contest has come to an end, and we’d like to thank all the participants for their tenacity and swooper-stomping skills they exhibited!

Disclaimer: Ambrosia Software, Inc. is not liable for carpal tunnel syndrome, damaged keyboards, lousy GPA’s, and/or marital strife that resulted from playing Swoop 24-7.

The top 50 scorers listed below all get a cool Swoop/Ambrosia T-shirt.  The top three scorers get cash prizes of $300, $150, and $50 for first, second and third place, respectively.

If youπve won, congratulations!  Your prize has already been sent out via US mail and should be at your doorstep shortly.  Now onto the results!

Cajun, the envelope please...

1.    1,555,280      
Michael
Garrison
2.    1,411,960      
Dave
Wiley
3.    1,240,120      
James
Hall
4.    1,207,400      
Jamie
Bass
5.    1,023,820      
Tim
Seufert
6.      819,720      
  Paige
Winkler
7.      758,000
     
 Alex
Metcalf
8.      713,660
     
 Chuck
St. Charles
9.      664,860     

 Nic
Poole
10.     657,660     

Thomas
Roeser
11.     559,100     

Cheryl
Puterbaugh
12.     555,820     

Klaus
Schuster
13.     554,080     

Chris
Greene
14.     542,960     

Jonathan
Hall
15.     518,740     

John
Smit
16.     507,620     

Alan
Feitelberg
17.     453,840     

Robert
Hancock
18.     439,780     

Peter
Bocala
19.     435,800     

David
Alligood
20.     435,500
     
Tracy
Miller
21.     413,860     

Alan
Houser
22.     403,940     

Jose
Delfin
23.     403,120     

Jim
Tang
24.     398,560
     
Lee
Starlin
25.     397,740     

Bill
Rankin
26.     388,100     

Timothy
Huang
27.     387,060     

Richard
Stewart
28.     380,760     

Brian
Petit
29.     366,600     

Ben
Iseman
30.     359,100
     
Erik
Lindstrom
31.     355,980
     
Bruce
Baldwin
32.     349,680
     
Lara
Sirota
33.     340,660
     
Willie
Pettway
34.     334,920
     
Jeremy
Cohen
35.     327,360     

Barbara
Shinn-Cunningham
36.     319,000
     
Eric
Weng
37.     314,840
     
Peter
Polke
38.     312,880
     
Zak
Klobucher
39.     310,520     

Michelle
Petit
40.     298,060     

Phil
Hubbard
41.     297,180
     
Brett
Circe
42.     296,520
     
L
Tamaroff
43.     289,100
     
Guy
Klaassem
44.     287,940
     
Jon
Hodge
45.     277,540
     
Richard
Steed
46.     273,940
     
Brian
Flaherty
47.     260,320
     
Matt
Lee
48.     260,300
     
Paul
White
49.     253,180
     
Joe
Hendrickson
50.     244,400     

Mark
Laniewski

Starplay Pinball Scores
We’ve got some catching up to do, what with the holidays. First we bring you the October high scores for both Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth. We regret to inform you that the best score in the 1995 Crystal Caliburn contest now belongs to a... a Windows player. 

     Crystal Caliburn
     for October 1995:          Ricky Andreoni of Milano, ITALY              1,483,089,470
     for Juniors in Oct:          Evan Williams of Los Alamos, NM                138,899,850
     for 1995 (so far):         Stuart Pollack of Philadelphia, PA           2,348,183,150
     best Windows player:     Mike Hammontre of Wheat Ridge, CO       2,957,215,050

     Loony Labyrinth
     for October 1995:          Stuart Pollack of Philadelphia, PA        21,474,836,470
     for Juniors in Oct:         Brian Lipson of Lexington, MA                 1,620,498,610
     for 1995 (so far):        Stuart Pollack of Philadelphia, PA        21,474,836,470

     LL Time Travel
     for October 1995:          Stuart Pollack of Philadelphia, PA                    26003 AD
     for 1995 (so far):         Shunsuke Kanda of Matsudo-Shi, JAPAN           26287 AD

Starplay 1995 Contest ends, and the winners are...
The best Crystal Caliburn player of 1995 is Mike Hammontre (see above) who won using a Windows machine. The runner-up was Stuart Pollack, using a Mac, bushwacked in that last month of competition. Congratulations to the winners.

The best Loony Labyrinth player of 1995 was... Stuart Pollack. Second place went to Shunsuke Kanda, who seems to have taken it as a sign that he should redouble his efforts. (See below) Congratulations to the winners.

Starplay Loony Labyrinth Pinball Scores for 1996 Contest
Starplay has begun the 1996 Loony Labyrinth contest with the results from November, 1995. To be considered for the 1996 Loony Labyrinth contest you must use version 1.02 of that game.

     Loony Labyrinth
     for November 1995:     Shunsuke Kanda, from Japan                 17,599,516,540
     for Juniors in Nov:       Brian Lipson of Lexington, MA                 1,620,498,610
     for 1996 (so far):        Shunsuke Kanda, from Japan                 17,599,516,540

     LL Time Travel
     for November 1995:      Shunsuke Kanda of Matsudo-Shi, JAPAN           40764 AD
     for 1996 (so far):         Shunsuke Kanda of Matsudo-Shi, JAPAN           40764 AD

The Update Files
Updates are new versions of programs that provide bug fixes or game enhancements to older versions. Sometimes an updater will fix a critical bug, sometimes it fixes something that has no bearing on your computer. You can come right here to find out what’s new and what it does. Then you can find the updaters you need on the IMG CD. If there’s a Read Me file included, do. Sometimes they give very good advice.

• Realmz 2.4.1 The people at Fantasoft have put together a very cool new version of Realmz, the premiere shareware fantasy role-playing game. This version features the return of the unique item (character were getting too powerful) and the introduction of fumbling during combat. Spell preferences have been changed, hard drive access has been quickened, and item identification has been improved. Among the major bugs fixed: missile weapons will finally work correctly, and NPCs won’t just walk out of your life. Lots of other bugs have been fixed, and they assure us that one or two have probably been introduced, too. The 2.4.1 update to 2.4 is available on the CD-ROM, and you should use it, it fixes a few small bugs.

• Onslaught 1.0.5 This new bug fix update makes the game a lot more stable, and fixes several inconsistencies, as well as beefing up air attack damage. Well worth the update, and we included four different update routes for you on the CD!

• Dirt Bike 3.1 Small changes have been made to Dirt Bike, including some bug fixes. You’re also allowed to play two tracks before registering, and the game is PowerPC native! It’ll still run on 68K Macs.

Updated this Issue
Blood Bath 1.75 - unmentioned changes here, must be minor
Dirt Bike 3.1 - Power PC native!
Exile 1.0.2 - unspecified, bug fixes, I imagine
Gopher Golf 3.0.3 - fixes crashes, course name displays, other stuff
Harpoon Classic 1.57j - minor fixes... will these folks never get it right?
Realmz 2.4.1 - major update, new scenarios (see below)

More for Your Game: Scenarios, Cheaters and Add-Ons
We’ve collected all the new cheaters and scenarios we could find, and anything else we thought might help Mac gamers get as much enjoyment out of their games as possible. Cheaters can diminish your game experience if you’re not careful, but we trust you to know when to say when. Scenarios are usually made by our readers or others out there with the itch to create. We won’t take responsibility for their quality, but you’re sure to find some gems in what we bring you. The following is what we’ve found this month to give you more for your game.

• Marathon 2: Durandal seems to be competing with plain old Marathon now that it’s out. If you’re a Marathon fan, and you just started playing Durandal, but you wish you had the map editors, shape editors, and generally funky stuff Marathon has... look no further than your IMG CD! This month we bring you Phorte 2.0a8, Steve Israelson’s map-making utility for Marathon 2 (only), DOPE 1.2, the Object Placement Editor for Durandal, the Marathon Sound Copnverter 0.3beta, the Marathon Cheater 4.0 (which works with all known versions of Marathon), and Alchemist, the (still in beta) physics model editor for Marathon 2: Durandal. And right behind this last are the first physics models for M2:D. Got a thing for Bobs? Well, they’ve got one for you in the Bobs of Death. Stay out of their way. We also bring you a film showing where to find a shotgun in Waterloo Park, a few untested models and maps, and a fabulous model where you’re one foot tall! Looks like it’s time to put away the homework, kids.

• Marathon still good enough for ya? Good thing! We’ve got a new set of models for you, including tougher Bobs and a wildly unwieldy architectural design (just find the doors, we dare you). Wait, did we say tougher Bobs? We meant to say killer Bobs! Lots and lots of Bobs! Bobopolis ‘95 has levels and levels of Bobs to shoot, while the Buffed Bobs will give you a run. There’s also more Carnage, a Coolness model, a new set of challenging Deamon maps, the good Reverend’s maps, and a bunch of others. We’ve also included the latest version (1.4) of OPE, the Marathon Object Placement Editor. Plus, Shadowphas created a sound resource switching app that lets you switch sounds in and out. Included are sounds for the Betty Bobs patch. Haven’t tried this one, but if it works as advertised, it should be a fine addition to the stable of Marathon editors.

• Dark Forces rebels take a deep breath. Sure, Marathon 2 is out, but who cares? We’ve got your Escape from Mos Eisley (unfortunately unfinished!), an assault on a Star Destroyer, and your Showdown with the Dark Trooper! Oh, and how could we forget... with the Boba Fett .GOB, you can play the part of the bounty hunter himself, complete with jetpack! And finally, as a treat for those of you that haven’t seen it yet, Dan Shay’s Lightsaber .GOB is here... intrigued? Check it out!

• Doom II players relish two things: first, that Doom II is available for the Mac, and two, that all those PC .WAD files are also available for the Mac. This month we bring you over six megabytes of .WAD files for your enjoyment. Now go blow up the demons, like a good little marine, but don’t forget to take your copy of the Doom II Guide with you. Or if you’re a little beyond the basics, maybe you should check out the latest issue of the MacDoom Review, which includes a Macintosh .WAD creator!

• Wolf 3D is still holding on, even in the face of the aforementioned competition. New this month are a number of scenarios, as well as a new version of WolfEdit (1.1) and WolfMaker (2.0), both used to create your own Wolfenstein levels. Check out some of the custom levels we’ve included in the Scenarios folder.

• Realmz is back, and with it come the four scenarios, updated and cool lookin’. (Just check out the new folder icons!) City of Bywater, Assault on Giant Mountain, Castle in the Clouds, and the new Destroy the Necronomicon are all up to date. Destroy the Necronomicon is an adventure wherein your party must discover the source of the evil hordes flooding the kingdom, and put a stop to them. Installation and registration guides are included, be sure to read them! We’ve also included a little gem called RIFLE 2.4, a package that tries to improve upon the Realmz interface and graphics. To each their own, and we thought we’d let you decide. And, to top off your Realmz feast, you’ll find the new version of the Realmz PC Editor, version 2.3 is compatible with version 2.3 (and later, we presume) of Realmz.

• Power Pete Cheater 1.3 is a small update from the previous version, and it will now work on Power PC computers.

• Walkthrus and Codes. Can’t hack it? Need to be led through by the hand? Need an extra life, an extra bit o’ cash? This month we’ve got codes for Descent, Syndicate, Rebel Assault II, and Warcraft, as well as a strategy guide for Burn Cycle, tips for Destroying the Necronomicon (Realmz), a walk-through of Prince of Persia II, and a strategic plan for winning at Wing Commander. Oh, and add to that a set of saved games for Full Throttle that are sure to get you past any problems you’re having.

• Saved Games and Scenarios. We’ve got as bunch of add-ons above and beyond what we outlined above: a number of Dirt Bike tracks, a couple of Glider PRO houses, some Gopher Golf greens, Offroading courses galore, and a few select SimCities for your fun. Don’t tell us we don’t work hard for ya!

Help Us
If you are updating your game, please send us a note with the changes you’ve implemented. A copy of your Read Me file would do fine. That way we will be sure to include you in our next issue. E-mail us at GameBits1@aol.com

Disclaimer
All of the shareware files or free updaters listed above are available on this CD-ROM. Always apply patches, hacks, or updaters to a copy of your program! Nobody but you is responsible if you mangle your original.