2023 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Spy Hunter

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

37 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

DWI I assume? I thought you may be able to solve that with an expungement if you ever wanted to check out the great white north, but it looks like even a dwi 1st is never expungeable in Ohio, (per a quick google search only, this is NOT legal advice).  Pretty harsh

Equally harsh is spy hunter. I played for 10 minutes last night and rage quit. I was angrier than a Jets fan

I was in Buffalo a few years back and heard Toronto was a good time, but I didn't try to go over. Honestly, I don't have any real reason to go to Canada, but I probably would have to consult with an attorney on my legal status.

[mbd39 | 2,030]

86,505

Edited September 16, 2023 by mbd39

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

DWI I assume? I thought you may be able to solve that with an expungement if you ever wanted to check out the great white north, but it looks like even a dwi 1st is never expungeable in Ohio, (per a quick google search only, this is NOT legal advice).  Pretty harsh

I've had various issues that require having an attorney on retainer that's licensed in Ohio and Kentucky since I've got records in both states (sounds like a followup @Reed Rothchild interview in the making so I might beat @Gloves for most depressing interview). The Ohio River is the only thing that seperates Cincy from KY so it's just a quick trip across the bridge from one state to the other and easy to get in out of state trouble since Newport is pretty awesome. I've got a clear record now, but I don't know what Canada's lookback period and how they treat felonies vs misdemeanors.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Bearcat-Doug

[mbd39 | 2,030]

This game is a nice change of pace from Yo Noid.

 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

4 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

This game is a nice change of pace from Yo Noid.

 

That it is.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 hour ago, mbd39 said:

This game is a nice change of pace from Yo Noid.

 

Hopefully I can win this week. I wore myself out last week for no real reason other than I think I passed @PII for 2nd on the overall leaderboard.

[PII | 1,897]

4 hours ago, Richardhead said:

The letters O,S and M appear on the top right of the screen. When you have more than one you can switch weapons with select. If you blow up you lose all of your secondary weapons.

Looks like you are right except its the upper left.  I don't know why I felt like it wasn't working, oh wells.  So I was just trying to get into a weapons truck when a chubby blue came and bumped into me from the side and glitched my ride to a stop.  I'm totally locked out, there's a helicopter perpetually hovering just in front of my car and the weapons truck keeps going by over and over.  I can pause and unpause but that's it.  This game is so strange at times....

[mbd39 | 2,030]

I'm not updating again until I get at least 50k. I came so close and had a stupid death. This is gonna be a fun week!

[G-type | 2,525]

19 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I'm not updating again until I get at least 50k. I came so close and had a stupid death. This is gonna be a fun week!

I broke 53k playing til game over… but I’m only at 31k going by the 1 life rule

[NESfiend | 1,515]

3 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I've had various issues that require having an attorney on retainer that's licensed in Ohio and Kentucky since I've got records in both states (sounds like a followup @Reed Rothchild interview in the making so I might beat @Gloves for most depressing interview). The Ohio River is the only thing that seperates Cincy from KY so it's just a quick trip across the bridge from one state to the other and easy to get in out of state trouble since Newport is pretty awesome. I've got a clear record now, but I don't know what Canada's lookback period and how they treat felonies vs misdemeanors.

I have a pretty thorough brief on what prohibits entry. If you ever did decide you want to go up there, I could send it to you.

Again not officially legal advice, but one of the things that generally makes entry discretionary (meaning you wont know until they say yes or no at the border) or prohibited are offenses punishable by ten years or more under CANADIAN law. Thats why DWIs are most commonly the problem.

A DWI 1st offense w/no aggravated factors like accident, injury, etc is a misdmeanor in the US, and gazillions of people from all walks of life have them. But that offense apparently carries up to 10 years in Canada, so it makes you criminally inadmissible. 

I seriously doubt people get that on a first offense without injury there, but it is in their range of punishment. So its a really common problem for a people who need to go to canada on business but will likely be denied entry because of a DWI they got in their youths. 

[mbd39 | 2,030]

8 minutes ago, G-type said:

I broke 53k playing til game over… but I’m only at 31k going by the 1 life rule

I was having one heck of a run that then choked. I hate when that happens.

 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

I have a pretty thorough brief on what prohibits entry. If you ever did decide you want to go up there, I could send it to you.

Again not officially legal advice, but one of the things that generally makes entry discretionary (meaning you wont know until they say yes or no at the border) or prohibited are offenses punishable by ten years or more under CANADIAN law. Thats why DWIs are most commonly the problem.

A DWI 1st offense w/no aggravated factors like accident, injury, etc is a misdmeanor in the US, and gazillions of people from all walks of life have them. But that offense apparently carries up to 10 years in Canada, so it makes you criminally inadmissible. 

I seriously doubt people get that on a first offense without injury there, but it is in their range of punishment. So its a really common problem for a people who need to go to canada on business but will likely be denied entry because of a DWI they got in their youths. 

Me trying to enter Toronto just for the strip clubs:

[NESfiend | 1,515]

23 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

Me trying to enter Toronto just for the strip clubs:

I used to go to Windsor in college some because you could drink and gamble at 19 instead of 21. Got stuck at the border coming back once because a buddy had used my car and smoked weed in it the day before. Dog hit and they kept us for what seemed like eternity. Seperated us and grilled us. 

They couldn't find anything because there was nothing, but that only seemed to make them more angry. Threatened to take the engine out of my car and not put it back. Then at some point, a door opened up and my car was there ready to go. The guy I was with and I hardly spoke the drive back to MSU. No skinny story, but one I won't forget

Edited September 13, 2023 by NESfiend

[PII | 1,897]

3 hours ago, NESfiend said:

No skinny story, but one I won't forget

Good Skinny Stories have slowed to a drip, drip ... da-ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-------p, so any worthy attempt is appreciated.

[wongojack | 221]

Hey guys - don't know if I've ever posted in any of the High Score competitions, so sorry for jumping in like this.  If that's frowned upon then just ignore my submission.  I really like Spy Hunter.  I've played the arcade game a lot.  Not enough to master it or anything, but I have some experience with it.

Here's my score - first death after timer - 36,150 [obsolete]

Regarding pressing START to call the weapons van, on the arcade machine, you use this if you use up your special ammo and have not lost a life, you can call the van, but only at specific times.  Even in the arcade machine, this button is practically useless for 95% of all players as the vans just spawn in the same locations anyway.  Typically, the center button on the arcade yolk would blink as you approach the weapons van and then change solid once you have collected the weapon.  It stays solid until you die - implying you can call the same van again by pressing it.  I'm sure the mad-scientists use this to their advantage, but I never really have.  I can't seem to make START do anything on this NES version either.

One quirk about the timer at the beginning is that if you don't manage to get 10k points before it runs out then you get zero extra lives.  In the arcade version, I can get the score above 18k before the timer runs out which awards 2 extra lives.  I haven't been able to score that high (before the timer runs out) on the NES version to find out if it works here too.  Something about the combination of speed of the car and the timer countdown speed make it very hard to even get close to 18k.  It helps if you get a bunch of shoot-able cars in the beginning stage (they do award points btw).  Note that at the very beginning before the first van that the small enemy cars (switchblades) and limousines (enforcers) will NOT use their weapons, so you can easily just slow down, get behind and blow them away. 

Someone mentioned the Colecovision version.  I think that version is very good.  It is certainly the best version from the previous generation, and I think has a bit more touches from the arcade game than this NES version.  Thankfully, most of the home versions of Spy Hunter are pretty good.  Even the 2600 version is passable even if they do make you press the other joystick with your toe  (nobody has that double controller holder thingy amiright).

Anyway, here are some high scores from one of my arcade binges of this game from a few years ago: 

Edited September 15, 2023 by wongojack

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

6 hours ago, PII said:

Good Skinny Stories have slowed to a drip, drip ... da-ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-------p, so any worthy attempt is appreciated.

@docile tapeworm used to post one of his crazy stories every Wednesday, but he started slacking.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

6 hours ago, wongojack said:

Hey guys - don't know if I've ever posted in any of the High Score competitions, so sorry for jumping in like this.  If that's frowned upon then just ignore my submission.  

Not at all! We encourage new people to join in on the fun! 

[BeaIank | 1,629]

7 hours ago, wongojack said:

Hey guys - don't know if I've ever posted in any of the High Score competitions, so sorry for jumping in like this.  If that's frowned upon then just ignore my submission.  I really like Spy Hunter.  I've played the arcade game a lot.  Not enough to master it or anything, but I have some experience with it.

Welcome aboard. Always nice to have new people join us in!

Great score and great info about Spy Hunter!

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

@NESfiend why didn’t you guys talk on the ride home?

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

@wongojack play! @BlackVega put up a few decent scores once. I thought he had some staying power and he had a crt.

[RH | 4,974]

7 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

...and he had a crt.

This is an important detail.  I'm pretty sure we all get a +10 play capability when we use CRTs.

[wongojack | 221]

I switch between the CRT and other options.  I've got waaay too many CRTs in my house, including a big (close to) 40' Trinitron.  However, I'm playing right now on an AVS that I acquired recently (after some controversy in these forums), so it is 720p gaming for me ATM.

Actually, my back-up front loader that I would usually play on the CRT went kaput because I used the wrong power adapter on it like a dummy.  I need to get in there and see if replacing the voltage regulator fixes that one . . . Otherwise, I have to use my childhood NES on my CRT and it is all packed up and on a shelf somewhere.

I'm in the market for a NES front loader mother board if anyone has a spare laying around.  Don't care about blinking light or any of the connectors and buttons.

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

@wongojack oh shit I just realized your the avs guy! 
Im just curious why you went through with that sale even though you knew those other two guys ahead of you were interested. 

[mbd39 | 2,030]

2 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

@wongojack oh shit I just realized your the avs guy! 
Im just curious why you went through with that sale even though you knew those other two guys ahead of you were interested. 

I'm familiar with him from way back on Atari Age, he's a good guy.

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

9 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I'm familiar with him from way back on Atari Age, he's a good guy.

 

Well it’s not what me and mother Teresa would have done but your one of my favorite characters on the forum even though you don’t talk much.