Barnstorming for the Atari 2600 ------------------------------------- 1. Why a FAQ? ------------------------------------- I just bought myself an Atari 2600 and Barnstorming was one of the games included. I thought it was a pretty cool game, and since I saw no FAQ posted for it on GameFAQs, I took it upon myself to write one. ------------------------------------ 2. What is the game? ------------------------------------ It's an Activision "classic", more or less. It was released around 1983, I believe. I could be wrong about that year, but it's close. Barnstorming is a game about...flying a biplane through barns. Barnstorming can also be found on the Playstation collection Activision Classics. ------------------------------------- 3. Basic tactics ------------------------------------- The game is fairly simple, as are most Atari games. As I said above the object of the game is to fly a biplane through barns. The game has four difficulty settings. These are the four settings: 1 - Hedge Hopper 2 - Crop Duster 3 - Stunt Pilot 4 - Flying Ace The difference between these four settings are not too drastic. On the first level you fly through 10 barns in the shortest amount of time. On the second and third you fly through 15 barns in the shortest time possible. On the fourth you fly through 25 barns. The other differences are the courses themselves. The first three are fixed courses and they are the same each time you play them. They are different from each other though, so number 2 and 3 aren't the same, but number 2 is the same each time you play it and so are 1 and 3. The fourth one is generated on it's own each time, so it's never the same. There are three things on screen with your biplane. The barns are at the bottom of the screen and you must fly low to pass through them, or you'll either hit the top of the barns or the weather vanes on top of the barns. There are also geese flying through the sky that will fly in front of you and you will try to avoid them, or hit them. If you hit them, they move forward, so you have to just try to avoid them again. The final thing on screen are the windmills. These take up about half of the screen. If you fly too low, anticipating a barn, you'll hit the windmill instead. The joystick is used for this game. The button on the joystick is your throttle. You press this to speed up and release to slow down. You will not crash by completely releasing the button. The plane will continue moving as long as you have pressed the button once. The stick controls the plane's movement, either up, down, left, or right. Pretty simple. By the way, the time will never run out. I don't believe so anyway. The object is NOT to hit anything and just to make it through the level in the fastest amount of time you can. The most basic advice I can give you is to keep your plane in the middle of the screen, just above the windmills. This will keep you high enough to avoid windmills, yet low enough to make a drop for the barns. Be sure to fly as low as possible when passing through the barn. Also, the geese are easier to avoid if you move below them and drop between objects and then make a quick turn up and fly over the windmill. ----------------------------------------------- 4. The first level - Hedge Hopper ----------------------------------------------- Object of this level - Move through 10 barns in the shortest amount of time possible. Key = B = Barn W= Windmill The geese are free flying and scattershot. No way to measure exactly where they are in any levels. Below are the locations of the barns and windmills. I listed just up to 18 barns. The thing is, if you miss one or two and don't get the first 10, then this will cover a few after the 10th one. Also, if you'll notice, near the end of this little listing are nine straight barns. I'm also aware you can't pause this game, so looking at this page to know what is coming up will be tough to do, but if you try to memorize the patterns using this list before you play the level, it might help. W B W B W B W W B W W W B W B W W B B W B W W W B B B B B B B B B W -------------------------------------------- 5. The second level - Crop Duster -------------------------------------------- Objective - Fly through 15 barns as fast as possible. You'll notice the third level also asks you to fly through 15 barns, but the courses are very different. Key - B = Barn W = Windmill W W W B B B W B W B W B W W W B W W W B W W W W W W B B W W W B W B W B W B B W W W B W W W B B B B B W That covers the area leading up to just after the 21st barn. ----------------------------------------- 6. The third level - Stunt Pilot ----------------------------------------- Objective - Fly through 15 barns in the shortest amount of time. The second level is also 15 barns, but the courses are different. This one being more populated with windmills than the others. Key - B = Barn W = Windmill B B W W B B W W W B W W W B W W W W B B W B W W B B W W B W W W B W W W B W W W B W W W B W W W B W W W B W W W B W This covers the area up to just after the 19th barn. -------------------------------------------- 7. The Fourth Level - Stunt Pilot --------------------------------------------- Objective - Fly through 25 barns in the shortest amount of time. This course generates anew each time. I'm not sure I can write down a list of barns and windmills that will be definite for that reason. The only thing I can do is remind you of my basic advice. Just keep your plane around the middle of the screen, just above the windmills. This way you'll be high enough to miss those, but low enough to drop for a barn. --------------------------------------- 8. Final Notes --------------------------------------- I triple checked these listings. I went through the game three times and wrote them down and as far as I could see, there were no errors. If you find any though, email me at the email address listed at the bottom of this FAQ. Also, most of the Atari games I bought didn't come with an instruction manual, but this one did. One thing in this manual is something old now, but you could try to beat one of the best scores and submit a picture of the screen to Activision. They would then call you one of their "Flying Aces". This is of no use now, but I thought it would be kind of cool to include it in this FAQ. Below are the scores to beat: Level 1 - 33.3 seconds Level 2 - 51.0 seconds Level 3 - 54.0 seconds ----------------------- 9. Thanks ----------------------- -- Atari 2600 One of the best systems ever. -- Activision Made some great games over the years -- Barnstorming manual This is where I got the titles of the levels, and other various things about the game. -- If any sites post this site, thanks. -- Jessica T. Thanks for a lot of things. -------------------------- 10. Contact info -------------------------- If you have any questions or comments about the game or my FAQ, or if you want permission to post this FAQ at your site, below is how to contact me. Email: donner@freeze.com