mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Just now, Bearcat-Doug said: It looks like there were 13 scores posted this week so that's pretty good for this late in the season. True, much more active than last year. Overall much better selection of games and shorter season helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 8 minutes ago, mbd39 said: True, much more active than last year. Overall much better selection of games and shorter season helped. Just looking at overall leaderboard, it looks like we only have about eight regulars, but the more popular games seem to be good for another 5 scores or so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 (edited) triple post edit Edited September 18, 2023 by PII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Stuff I noticed: The aforementioned glitch that froze the game Once I got picked up by the red truck on the left side of the screen just as the wide street was transitioning back to narrow and the truck didn't move to the right but rather dropped me off on the left side of the screen. Another time I got hit as I was entering the red truck and it immediately dropped me off in the middle of the road. Trying to shoot the helicopter was best avoided 90% of the time as doing it successfully w/o dying in the process required a straight stretch of road, a precise distance away from it and no additional simultaneous molestation from other vehicles. Avoiding the Boat launch was absolutely mandatory for this contest. It's slow, the river is narrow and you're immediately boxed in between enemies front and back for usually a quick death. Maybe the most frustrating death came from being held up with 2 or more cars in front, so having to drive slow and being low on the screen when a switchblade car or limo shows up from behind, then dropping an oil slick only to have that car slide to either side and up a little and then regain it's traction and promptly expunge my boxed in ride. The snow wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, mainly just required slowing down and avoiding hasty movements, but it is possible to avoid that section for quite a while, perhaps indefinitely based on Left/Right decisions. The Smoke was best saved for certain areas where cars would come from behind in rapid succession, like the narrow stretch that has beach on one side. Otherwise there is a tendency to take out a lot of civilian cars as well which impedes scoring. Great Music Great Sound FX - especially that creepy sound made by the Switchblade Cars. More Fun than expected. I think the initially high challenge brought on by the compulsion to simply drive as fast as possible all the time is dissuasive to most gamers when first encountering this game... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,780 Administrator · Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 7 minutes ago, PII said: Stuff I noticed: The aforementioned glitch that froze the game Once I got picked up by the red truck on the left side of the screen just as the wide street was transitioning back to narrow and the truck didn't move to the right but rather dropped me off on the left side of the screen. Another time I got hit as I was entering the red truck and it immediately dropped me off in the middle of the road. Trying to shoot the helicopter was best avoided 90% of the time as doing it successfully w/o dying in the process required a straight stretch of road, a precise distance away from it and no additional simultaneous molestation from other vehicles. Avoiding the Boat launch was absolutely mandatory for this contest. It's slow, the river is narrow and you're immediately boxed in between enemies front and back for usually a quick death. Maybe the most frustrating death came from being held up with 2 or more cars in front, so having to drive slow and being low on the screen when a switchblade car or limo shows up from behind, then dropping an oil slick only to have that car slide to either side and up a little and then regain it's traction and promptly expunge my boxed in ride. The snow wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, mainly just required slowing down and avoiding hasty movements, but it is possible to avoid that section for quite a while, perhaps indefinitely based on Left/Right decisions. The Smoke was best saved for certain areas where cars would come from behind in rapid succession, like the narrow stretch that has beach on one side. Otherwise there is a tendency to take out a lot of civilian cars as well which impedes scoring. Great Music Great Sound FX - especially that creepy sound made by the Switchblade Cars. More Fun than expected. I think the initially high challenge brought on by the compulsion to simply drive as fast as possible all the time is dissuasive to most gamers when first encountering this game... I found that getting two cars of any type which move at the same speed as you in your mid-range speed and keeping them on-screen can give you long stretches of unimpeded scoring. I'd easily get 10k+ points just slowly cruising along with two pals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 4 minutes ago, Gloves said: I found that getting two cars of any type which move at the same speed as you in your mid-range speed and keeping them on-screen can give you long stretches of unimpeded scoring. I'd easily get 10k+ points just slowly cruising along with two pals. I had some longer moments like that following a chubby blue enemy car, I think. I'll have to give that some more attention at some point... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 4 hours ago, Gloves said: I found that getting two cars of any type which move at the same speed as you in your mid-range speed and keeping them on-screen can give you long stretches of unimpeded scoring. I'd easily get 10k+ points just slowly cruising along with two pals. I knew about this. I used this strat to get a high score in the 2017 contest. It works especially well with the motorcycles. I think you only need one on screen. I didn't use it this time and tried playing normally, probably to the detriment of my score. It feels kind of cheap to me and also takes forever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,904 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 4 hours ago, Gloves said: I found that getting two cars of any type which move at the same speed as you in your mid-range speed and keeping them on-screen can give you long stretches of unimpeded scoring. I'd easily get 10k+ points just slowly cruising along with two pals. So, early on I crashed 4x times in quick succession trying to see if I could simply have more car's sprites on screen so that enemies would never show up. It didn't work. I was cruisin' for quite a while, then a blue enemy came in from the bottom super-fast and popped his spikes as soon as it drove pass me. I swear it felt like it was coded in the game to prevent cheating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 I gave SpyHunter on ColecoVision a go this evening and spent an hour or more playing around. The scrolling of course pales in comparison to the NES port and it's not as fast but overall it's pretty good and the best thing is that it's different. The enemy behavior is quite different. The Limos wait for you on the side of the road and try to shoot you before taking off in pursuit if you pass successfully. And the switchblade cars are considerably more evil. The game has 4 skill levels to choose from and oddly has the function of the 2 fire buttons switched around for the easiest skill level. I also realized while playing that this game is designed for the "Super Action Controller" which has 4 fire buttons. I did not feel like digging mine out this eve. so I just played with a regular controller and couldn't use either the smoke bomb or the missiles just the oil slicks and the guns which shoot rainbow bullets. Interestingly I would sometimes get a warning flashing in the sidebar that the bridge up ahead was out and should detour. This would happen right before the path to the boathouse. Sometimes the warning wouldn't come and the bridge would be out anyway. But the best thing by far was the fact that the boating portions are actually immediately playable unlike the NES version. The whole screen is water so there is plenty of room to move around. There were mines to avoid which may have been in the NES version too but I probably never lasted long enough in that boat stage to find out. Best of all a bunch of Krakens show up to either entangle your boat or get shot with rainbow bullets. In spite of all differences it was very nearly as addictive as the NES port so I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 11 hours ago, PII said: I gave SpyHunter on ColecoVision a go this evening and spent an hour or more playing around. The scrolling of course pales in comparison to the NES port and it's not as fast but overall it's pretty good and the best thing is that it's different. The enemy behavior is quite different. The Limos wait for you on the side of the road and try to shoot you before taking off in pursuit if you pass successfully. And the switchblade cars are considerably more evil. The game has 4 skill levels to choose from and oddly has the function of the 2 fire buttons switched around for the easiest skill level. I also realized while playing that this game is designed for the "Super Action Controller" which has 4 fire buttons. I did not feel like digging mine out this eve. so I just played with a regular controller and couldn't use either the smoke bomb or the missiles just the oil slicks and the guns which shoot rainbow bullets. Interestingly I would sometimes get a warning flashing in the sidebar that the bridge up ahead was out and should detour. This would happen right before the path to the boathouse. Sometimes the warning wouldn't come and the bridge would be out anyway. But the best thing by far was the fact that the boating portions are actually immediately playable unlike the NES version. The whole screen is water so there is plenty of room to move around. There were mines to avoid which may have been in the NES version too but I probably never lasted long enough in that boat stage to find out. Best of all a bunch of Krakens show up to either entangle your boat or get shot with rainbow bullets. In spite of all differences it was very nearly as addictive as the NES port so I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point... Check out this unfavorable review of Spy Hunter. He complains about how you run into enemies when going too fast or enemies coming up from behind when going too slow, but I think that's where the challenge comes from and part of the fun. Not that this is a perfect port by any means. It's very glitchy and not as polished as usual for Sunsoft. https://videogamecritic.com/nesss.htm?e=28863#rev1803 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,780 Administrator · Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 6 minutes ago, mbd39 said: Check out this unfavorable review of Spy Hunter. He complains about how you run into enemies when going too fast or enemies coming up from behind when going too slow, but I think that's where the challenge comes from and part of the fun. Not that this is a perfect port by any means. It's very glitchy and not as polished as usual for Sunsoft. https://videogamecritic.com/nesss.htm?e=28863#rev1803 Sounds like the kind of person who gets mad that you have to slow down to do turns in racing games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,904 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 6 minutes ago, Gloves said: Sounds like the kind of person who gets mad that you have to slow down to do turns in racing games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 1 hour ago, mbd39 said: Check out this unfavorable review of Spy Hunter. He complains about how you run into enemies when going too fast or enemies coming up from behind when going too slow, but I think that's where the challenge comes from and part of the fun. Not that this is a perfect port by any means. It's very glitchy and not as polished as usual for Sunsoft. https://videogamecritic.com/nesss.htm?e=28863#rev1803 I like reading game reviews a lot even if I don't agree with them. That said, this guy is something else. I did agree wholeheartedly with one thing he said about SpyHunter: 'Crashing into the Motorcycles is infuriating.' Usually while trying to escape an enemy behind or quickly pass one in front and just like real life its because you never saw it coming... I read his review of Stanley as well which is one of my favorite games. He gave it a D-. I don't expect the average gamer to like it as much as I do, but he clearly indicates that he only played 5 to 10 minutes tops into the game. Weirder still, in the first sentence he claims that he can only review this game in Summer for obvious reasons. ????? Are you an overly busy school teacher or just a weirdo? He gave Silver Surfer an F = I don't think I could game with this guy for even an evenings time. All of this might be forgiven as everyone should be entitled to express their own opinion, but he gave "Snake Rattle & Roll" one of the greatest games ever made a lousy C-. If that weren't bad enough he claims that "it's heavy emphasis on platform jumping is its downfall." Yes the controls are a bit loosey-goosey which only makes the play more fun once you get the hang of it, but this statement is like saying a tub of chocolate ice cream is bad because of all that damned chocolate. I can't wait to read his review of Super Mario Bros. for him to claim that the game would be pretty good if all that running, jumping, climbing and shooting didn't bring it down so much. Oh well. Like I said, I like reading these regardless of whether I agree with them. I used to scour the internet for reviews of Milon's Secret Castle (another favorite) just so I could laugh myself silly over the descriptions from people who loved to hate it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 1 minute ago, PII said: I like reading game reviews a lot even if I don't agree with them. That said, this guy is something else. I did agree wholeheartedly with one thing he said about SpyHunter: 'Crashing into the Motorcycles is infuriating.' Usually while trying to escape an enemy behind or quickly pass one in front and just like real life its because you never saw it coming... I read his review of Stanley as well which is one of my favorite games. He gave it a D-. I don't expect the average gamer to like it as much as I do, but he clearly indicates that he only played 5 to 10 minutes tops into the game. Weirder still, in the first sentence he claims that he can only review this game in Summer for obvious reasons. ????? Are you an overly busy school teacher or just a weirdo? He gave Silver Surfer an F = I don't think I could game with this guy for even an evenings time. All of this might be forgiven as everyone should be entitled to express their own opinion, but he gave "Snake Rattle & Roll" one of the greatest games ever made a lousy C-. If that weren't bad enough he claims that "it's heavy emphasis on platform jumping is its downfall." Yes the controls are a bit loosey-goosey which only makes the play more fun once you get the hang of it, but this statement is like saying a tub of chocolate ice cream is bad because of all that damned chocolate. I can't wait to read his review of Super Mario Bros. for him to claim that the game would be pretty good if all that running, jumping, climbing and shooting didn't bring it down so much. Oh well. Like I said, I like reading these regardless of whether I agree with them. I used to scour the internet for reviews of Milon's Secret Castle (another favorite) just so I could laugh myself silly over the descriptions from people who loved to hate it... He reviews so many games that he can't spend much time with them which is reflected in the reviews. It's basically first impressions of a bunch of games which is fine, but I wind up disagreeing with him often. I wish he'd revisit NES Gyruss and actually try to beat it before giving an opinion. It looks like he only spent about five minutes before concluding that it's too easy. https://videogamecritic.com/nesgg.htm?e=28863#rev1710 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 And to be fair, his opinion of Silver Surfer is the general consensus. This is what happens when even a well made game starts so hard. Most players give up when they can't even beat a single level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 13 minutes ago, mbd39 said: It's basically first impressions of a bunch of games which is fine That is fine and it's not unentertaining, but my practical side just has to scream: How do you review something of which you've only experienced a tiny percentage? Does one go to a restaurant, have a look at the decor, sniff the soufflé, leave and declare the whole menu unworthy? 15 minutes ago, mbd39 said: And to be fair, his opinion of Silver Surfer is the general consensus. This is what happens when even a well made game starts so hard. Most players give up when they can't even beat a single level. This is true. I could be off, but I've gotten the vibe over the last few years that people had started to come around somewhat on Silver Surfer. We played it last year and I recall people having a good time (not average gamers, I know), it costs 3 times what it did when I picked it up a few years ago and I've since seen a yt video or two present a more favorable impression of it. But yeah, I guess old outlooks die hard. Reptyl stage one is a really easy way to power up if one just stays low. Just don't try to shoot the ducks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,502 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, mbd39 said: Check out this unfavorable review of Spy Hunter. He complains about how you run into enemies when going too fast or enemies coming up from behind when going too slow, Um, what? The original arcade version did that, too. It was a notorious quarter muncher until you got the hang of how to work the throttle. The NES port isn't super great visually, though it is adequate, but it was the most functional home port of the game until those PS2 arcade classics compilations came out. Boat section is relentless, though. Edited September 19, 2023 by Tulpa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd39 | 2,024 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 30 minutes ago, Tulpa said: Um, what? The original arcade version did that, too. It was a notorious quarter muncher until you got the hang of how to work the throttle. The NES port isn't super great visually, though it is adequate, but it was the most functional home port of the game until those PS2 arcade classics compilations came out. Boat section is relentless, though. He gave the Colecovision version a glowing review though. Maybe he was having a bad day when he reviewed the NES version. https://videogamecritic.com/colecoss.htm?e=28863#rev3921 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,502 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 (edited) Colecovision version is decent, but speaking as someone who has played enough Spy Hunter arcade to be considered legally married to it in some states, the NES was the closest port from that era. Edited September 19, 2023 by Tulpa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wongojack | 215 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 22 hours ago, PII said: I gave SpyHunter on ColecoVision a go this evening and spent an hour or more playing around. The scrolling of course pales in comparison to the NES port and it's not as fast but overall it's pretty good and the best thing is that it's different. The enemy behavior is quite different. The Limos wait for you on the side of the road and try to shoot you before taking off in pursuit if you pass successfully. And the switchblade cars are considerably more evil. The game has 4 skill levels to choose from and oddly has the function of the 2 fire buttons switched around for the easiest skill level. I also realized while playing that this game is designed for the "Super Action Controller" which has 4 fire buttons. I did not feel like digging mine out this eve. so I just played with a regular controller and couldn't use either the smoke bomb or the missiles just the oil slicks and the guns which shoot rainbow bullets. Interestingly I would sometimes get a warning flashing in the sidebar that the bridge up ahead was out and should detour. This would happen right before the path to the boathouse. Sometimes the warning wouldn't come and the bridge would be out anyway. But the best thing by far was the fact that the boating portions are actually immediately playable unlike the NES version. The whole screen is water so there is plenty of room to move around. There were mines to avoid which may have been in the NES version too but I probably never lasted long enough in that boat stage to find out. Best of all a bunch of Krakens show up to either entangle your boat or get shot with rainbow bullets. In spite of all differences it was very nearly as addictive as the NES port so I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point... I like the Coleco version, and I think some of those things you mentioned make it feel a tiny bit more like the arcade version - to me anyway. The fact that you sometimes MUST do the boat stage (bridge is out) is a nice change of pace, but I'm thankful they left out that detail in the NES version. Also - I know it is designed for the super action controller, but I remember using the keypad buttons to activate the special weapons. If you play it again, push some of them and see what they do. The C64 version of the game is pretty different in the look of the cars and enemies. I also remember there being a lot more cars on the screen and the scoring is different. That was the first version of Spy Hunter that I ever played, and the core elements are all there, but I think you have to reach up and push the space bar to smoke out the bad guys - lame. Still it is a pretty fun little game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wongojack | 215 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 6 hours ago, Tulpa said: Um, what? The original arcade version did that, too. It was a notorious quarter muncher until you got the hang of how to work the throttle. The NES port isn't super great visually, though it is adequate, but it was the most functional home port of the game until those PS2 arcade classics compilations came out. Boat section is relentless, though. The arcade throttle really is quite difficult to deal with, and for new players, shifting up into high gear is almost always instant death. The real issue for me with the stand up arcade cabinet (I have never played the sit down) is being able to vary speed with the gas pedal. It takes a lot of strength for me to physically support myself on my left leg and work the pedal at various speeds with my right. I had the game in my house for a while, and I would sit on a stool and slip on a sandal to which I had attached a piece of styrofoam to help. The alternative is to always just leave the pedal floored and only shift up into high gear when you need a burst, but then the game tends to be kinda slow and you don't score as many points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,886 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 23 minutes ago, wongojack said: Also - I know it is designed for the super action controller, but I remember using the keypad buttons to activate the special weapons. If you play it again, push some of them and see what they do. The C64 version of the game is pretty different in the look of the cars and enemies. Didn't seem to do anything, but maybe I just need to give it another go... Somehow I missed this on the C64 in spite of having played a lot on the Commodore.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-type | 2,482 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 my first impression of this game wasn't too far off from the critic guy. I also thought that it was too easy to crash... it took me a few tries before I realized that it wasn't intended to be played at full throttle; that's just something to be used sparingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wongojack | 215 Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 On 9/19/2023 at 8:52 PM, PII said: Didn't seem to do anything, but maybe I just need to give it another go... Somehow I missed this on the C64 in spite of having played a lot on the Commodore.. Hmm, maybe I was playing a hack on Coleco. I'll check it out again this week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaIank | 1,621 Events Team · Posted September 24, 2023 Author Share Posted September 24, 2023 Final standings posted. With this result @PII secures the 2023 VGS NES Weekly Contest Arcade championship with 22 points, over @Gloves and @Bearcat-Doug 17 points. @wongojackdebuts in the VGS NES Weekly Contest with a very solid 3rd place! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now