Journey Escape (Atari 2600) FAQ
copyright 2006 by Andrew Schultz schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net
Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. If you
try to, you won't get much, anyhow. However, if you write a polite e-mail to
me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if
I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. It's
just that GameFAQs has been so great for hosting my silly obscure guides like
this one over the years.
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OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING
3. STRATEGIES AND OBSERVATIONS
4. WALKTHROUGH
5. VERSIONS
6. CREDITS
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1. INTRODUCTION
Journey: Escape is a very bad game. It was one of those Atari games loosely
based on a very good video game, called Journey, where you had five band
members go through five different mini-games to pick up their musical
instruments and return to the Scarab space shuttle, "made famous by Journey's
Escape album" or something. I remember getting it for two bucks, saying "at a
quarter a play it's a bargain" and shutting it off in the middle of an
apparently successful game. The difficulty doesn't ramp up but I consider
that a pitiful plea to the player to keep playing.
Of course I thought the programmers would have the integrity to make the game
kind of interesting, given how cool the arcade game was. Then I played for a
few levels to see if maybe I just needed some spiritual harmony to enjoy the
game. Then the excitement of knowing what the band's initials stood for wore
off. Ah, youth. Ah, innocence. But it's not like I've grown wiser with age. I
not only downloaded the ROM but ALSO PLAYED THROUGH A FEW TIMES JUST TO WRITE
THIS FAQ! Penance for other ROMs downloaded, I guess.
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING
You can wait to start the actual level--it doesn't go until you push fire.
Thus you can get a nice start. But don't try to wait for roadies/managers.
They won't appear. Just look for a clear path.
You can move around the bottom half of the screen with the joystick. Holding
fire makes you go super-fast and is necessary to shake off a monster catching
you so it does not zap you double. You can also move diagonally. The game
scrolls quickest if you are at the top of your moving area whether you're
pushing forward or not. You want to move away at a bottom diagonal if an
enemy gets you, or they can push you all the way back.
You start out with $50000. The game doesn't end if you run out of money, but
you'll probably run out of time soon due to all of your collisions.
--If you pick up a Mighty Manager, which looks like a flat orange cookie with
a stupid smile, you get $9900. Two or more may appear in any one scene. Then
you get another $9900. Sometimes none will appear, but it's a stupid idea
either way. Too much relies on chance. You can finish a tough level very
easily if one pops up early. Once you have a Mighty Manager there's no excuse
not to stay at the very front. Even if the Scarab slightly passes you by,
hold finre and go back diagonally.
--If you pick up a roadie(robot thingy) you are immune to the effects of all
things except a Mighty Manager for the next five seconds. Sometimes you'll
get a few in a row, but you're only invincible until five seconds after the
latest one. Remember to start actually watching your surroundings after four
seconds of staying forward to see where to run. Roadies give no money(and you
ignore them if you've got a Manager) but are obviously helpful.
--A stage can push you all the way back if you run into it. It's wider than a
wide-monster(below) but easier to spot. Enemies can run through it.
All the monsters below can be wide(and alone) or narrow and in groups of 2/3.
The groups are more dangerous as they zigzag more. They hinder your movement
equally. You can maybe slip through two guys far apart but if they're close
by, forget it.
--photographers cost you $600 and change status(gone/there) every 1/2 second.
--groupies cost $300 but are always there. (walking hearts)
--money managers cost $2000 (Weird unsmiley face)
The Scarab generally appears after 50 seconds, or fewer if you do better on
an advanced level. Once you get Steve Perry to the vehicle(5th guy) you get a
$50000 bonus and $100 for each remaining second.
3. STRATEGIES AND OBSERVATIONS
--Move quickly to the side and down if enemies come zagging at you, then move
to the top. Also, don't worry about losing money so much as losing time.
--You should be able to pick up 10 seconds for the first 3 guys, considering
par to be a minute, so you can lose a little when the enemies really start
weaving in the last two rounds.
--Always use the fire button to move away from enemies whether or not they
hit you. Stay in the center until you see someone coming, and never go too
close to the edge--that only allows one way back. You should be at the very
front whenever possible.
--It's worth swerving to pick up roadies. Sometimes you can chain them
together.
4. WALKTHROUGH
This is on easy difficulty. On hard difficulty it's insane enough that you
can miss the scarab with Steve Smith after making just a couple mistakes. In
general a perfect game takes fewer seconds with each guy, but you'll run into
more enemies. I'd say subtract 3 seconds for each level-up as a best time,
but expect to tack on a bit too.
--Steve Smith is the first level(you can only see his initials, but oh well.)
The enemies come straight down. If you run into any, you should probably
stick to Parcheesi or FreeCell in the future. The Scarab takes a while to
show up--around 50 seconds.
--Jonathan Cain is the next level. Enemies bounce off the side of the screen.
Predictable but you may have to swerve a bit more. Instead of running away
from some enemies you may want to run under them.
--Ross Valory is next. Enemies zigzag back and forth at a sharper angle.
--Neil Schon is next. Enemies zigzag back and forth in nonuniform angles but
still always bounce against walls.
--Steve Perry is last. Enemies really jiggle around. You will take hits--
don't worry and just swerve if something's in front of you and go back to the
center. Oh, if you find a Mighty Manager it's all over.
Usually you'll be able to get through if you get a couple Money Managers, for
which the odds seem in your favor. But eventually you won't. The game doesn't
seem to get appreciably harder but eventually you'll snooze and miss the
Scarab(fatal in any case) or just get a bad string of luck. Unless you give
up because it's pointless--which I heartily recommend. I don't even know if
you can roll the score over, but I suspect my time would be better spent
learning to edit save states to put the starting total at 999900 than
actually playing through to get that. And a note on save states--you won't
always get the same items coming down at you if you reload and save. The
randomness appears based on your position.
End of FAQ proper
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5. VERSIONS
1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs 8/7/2006, the last excuse ever to play this game
expunged from my list of wretched ideas. I hope I don't start playing SuDoKu
to fill in the void again, though.
6. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should,
too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer,
falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul,
BSulpher(thanks for the encouragement on this particular guide) and others I
forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board
incarnation.
Thanks to KayBee Toys, I guess, for having this game so many years ago. I
could've bought a Lego Rover with that $2 you know!
Thanks to the folks who programmed Stella, the best Atari emulator out
there(love the save states,) and the folks at AtariAge for having information
about every Atari game under the sun(or under the blacktop, as X million
copies of E.T. are.)
