Chapter 81: Beamriders in the Sky

You and Tron have both suffered multiple crashes. The announcer calls out “THIS IS LOOKING PRETTY CLOSE FOLKS! BUT THE FIRST ONE TO TEN POINTS WILL BE THE NEW CHAMPION!” You then hear him make a side comment to someone near him. “Ten points? Is this arena rated for double digits?” Your cycle is going faster and faster and suddenly with a massive CRUNCH, Tron’s blue cycle crashes into the wall, blowing a hole in it! You get your tenth point! But… things aren’t right… the bright pink and green are replaced with dark, weird colors, and the announcer’s voice and crowd sounds trail off into weird echoes. But your cycle doesn’t stop, it’s heading straight toward the wall! You try to steer it, but the controls are frozen up! You are heading at the same spot where Tron crashed, and you go sailing right through hole in the wall, out of the arena, into a large, dark space.

“Melvin, what happened?” you ask.

“Stack overflow, I think,” says Melvin, looking back at the now eerie arena. “That place was never rated for two digits!”

“Well, where are we going?” you ask, as you race forward across what seems to be an endless blue grid.

“We have to get to the MCP,” says Melvin. “Look, there it is, in the distance!” He points to a huge structure on the horizon, and you steer the ship in its direction.

“This looks like smooth sailing,” you say.

“Don’t be too sure,” says Melvin. “Something is headed our way.” And he’s right… on the horizon, what look like digital flying saucers are coming your direction. Your screen starts flashing: ENTERING BEAMRIDER MODE. The light cycle starts to expand back into something much more like the original Proteus. Your handlebars are replaced with a flightstick with red fire buttons, and a loading chamber appears. It is a relief to have some space again – that light cycle was a little claustrophobic. You look at the distant saucers, and they seem to be closing in. The Proteus starts flashing from yellow to pink in a distressing way.

“How far is it to the MCP, Melvin?” you ask.

Melvin studies the “Beamrider Orientation Guide,” which has appeared on the screen. “Uh… about fourteen sectors,” he says, scanning for information.

“Will we have to fight those white saucers the whole way?” you ask nervously.

“Definitely not,” says Melvin.

“Oh, good,” you say.

“We’ll also have to deal with brown debris, yellow chirpers, green blockers, bounce craft, blue chargers, orange trackers…”

“Blue diamonds and purple horseshoes?” you ask sarcastically.

“No…” he says, still scanning, “but… red zig bombs or magnetic mines, for some reason… and there will be Sector Sentinels… save your torpedoes for those!”

“Oh, great,” you say, “to survive this, I’ll need to be part warrior, part astronaut, and part daredevil. How do we fight all these things?”

“With… LASER LARIATS!” shouts Melvin excitedly. A loading chamber has appeared, and he climbs in. “Give it a try!” his muffled voice calls from inside. You fire, and a red ring flies into the distance, blasting a white saucer. Melvin reappears in the chamber.

“That was awesome!” he shouts. “I am become the red ring of death!” he continues, and you wonder if he's ever been on other game consoles. “We’re going to have to shoot a lot of stuff,” he says, “because each ship you blow up will gives us energy units, and we’ll need 40,000 of them to stand any chance of getting into the MCP!”

You see a yellow craft appear in the distance. “Is that a… tweeter?” you ask.

“You mean chirper,” says Melvin, “and no… it’s a rejuvenator! Don’t shoot that, try to navigate to it!” But many white saucers are in front of it. “But shoot those first!” calls Melvin, climbing back into the chamber. “We’ll be at that MCP in no time!”

You fire away, and hope he’s right!

Place the Beamrider cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set the difficulty switches to b. Play until you get to sector 14, and have at least 40,000 points. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.