VGS Christmas Contest 2023 [ENDED]

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

@PII @Gloves @Bearcat-Doug @mbd39 @Richardhead @Dr. Morbis @NESfiend @docile tapeworm @BlackVega @SuperJimtendo @G-type @RH @Red @8bitdontquit  @wongojack @a3quit4s @Murray @Krunch @TriHart @Abner Stomps @TWarwick07 @Kguillemette @Scrobins @Deadeye @Aguy @spacepup @drxandy @TDIRunner @Mega Tank @Splain @nesmaster14 @RegularGuyGamer @Gaia Gensouki @Jicsan @ZeldaFan042 @darkchylde28 @DefaultGen @Brickman @the_wizard_666 @JVOSS @koifish @acromite53 @KokiriChild @Jeevan @Bonanza125 @Lago @Avgn Gamer @CT @multiboot

------------------------

(If any of you would like to be removed from this ping list for future events, please let me know and I'll take your name off the list! Or, likewise, if you'd like to be added to the list, let me know as well! For these events, I ping people who have participated in previous events, and/or people who I think would be generally interested in future events.)

------------------------

8-BIT XMAS 2023 CART WINNER

ndsnfr

------------------------

1ST PLACE WINNER
ndsnfr - 19,743,710

2ND PLACE WINNER
SuperJimtendo - 10,187,430

3RD PLACE WINNER
NESfiend - 7,311,710

------------------------

Heya there everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all once again! For this year's Christmas contest, we're going to be playing 8-bit Xmas 2023 on NES!

If you don't already have it, you can download the ROM for free here!

For those of you who haven't played it... it's pinball! The D-pad controls the left bumpers, the B & A buttons control the right bumpers, and the start & select buttons control the... according to Google it's apparently called the "plunger," but, y'know, the thing that propels the ball on to the playing field over on the far right. I think it's a fairly safe assumption to make that we're all familiar with pinball, yes?

With that said, the rules for this contest are very simple: Boot up the game, try to get the highest score you can, then submit your score! Doesn't get any simpler than that!

Or... so I thought, until I was once again contacted by... sigh... @The Grinch. Yup, he's back yet again, rambling about his usual nonsense about ruining Christmas for all of us! Here's the deal this time around:

In addition to the standard 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes, everyone who participates and submits any score at all will automatically be granted two entries in to a raffle to win a physical copy of 8-bit Xmas 2023, very kindly donated by RetroUSB for the contest! @The Grinch will be submitting his own scores for the event as well. He will update his currently submitted score if and when he improves it, just like all of you. By the end of the contest, should your score be lower than that of @The Grinch's final score, he'll steal one of your entries to the raffle and use it himself to try and get his own green, greedy, grubby little mitts on the cartridge, leaving you with only one entry in to the raffle, cutting your chances of winning the cart in half! This goes for every participant who doesn't manage to surpass his final score, so he could really rack up a lot of entries if you all don't fare so well against him!

This will have no bearing on the standard 1st, 2nd & 3rd place prizes, this is simply a bonus prize in addition to those other prizes, same as last year.

So, with all that said, here are all the prizes up for grabs:

1st Place:  $25 Amazon gift card or cash equivalent
2nd Place:  $20 Amazon gift card or cash equivalent
3rd Place:  $15 Amazon gift card or cash equivalent
Participation: 8-bit Xmas 2023 cartridge raffle entry x1
Participation + Surpass The Grinch's Final Score: 8-bit Xmas 2023 cartridge raffle entry x2

The only further stipulations to the contest are as follows:

1. As you would expect, no save states, cheat codes, slow motion, turbo controllers, etc. are allowed. Anything that would give you any kind of advantage over playing the base game on real hardware is not allowed. If it feels like cheating, consider it not allowed.
2. In-game exploits/glitches which allow you to increase your score in a way that wasn't intended are not allowed. If you're unsure about whether or not something would count as an exploit, feel free to PM me and ask about it.
3. When you submit your score, make sure your VGS username is visible somewhere within view of the photo/screenshot of your score. It could be a slip of paper with your VGS username written down on it, or a text document displaying your VGS username. Use whatever method you like, so long as your username is clearly visible alongside your score.
4. In the event you roll the score over, take a pic of your score once you hit around 90 million, before the score rolls over. Best time to do this would be after losing a ball. Continue as normal until you game over, then take a pic of your final score as well, and submit both pics. If you roll the score over multiple times, take pics every 90 million or so until you game over, then submit all of those pics in addition to your final score pic. I don't actually know if the score does roll over, but for now let's play it safe and assume it does. If it rolls over at a higher number (or if it doesn't roll over at all) let me know and I'll update this rule accordingly!
5. Only scores that have been achieved after this contest has started will be accepted.
6. If you've already submitted a score, and you end up getting a better score, you may of course submit the better score, and it will simply replace your previous score.

This event will last from now until 12/26/2023 at 11:59 PM EST, a little over 1 week and 1 day from now. Same as last year, I decided to give you all an extra day over the usual 1 week length, since I imagine many of you are going to be quite busy over this next week, so I figured you all might be able to use the extra time. Once we make it past that deadline, that'll be the cutoff point for new score submissions. I'll tally everyone's final scores up, and deal out prizes accordingly!

Good luck, and I hope you all have fun! Remember that there are real prizes on the line here, so try your best!

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

• LEADERBOARD/Tickets Earned

1. ndsnfr - 19,743,710 - 2 Tickets
2. SuperJimtendo - 10,187,430 - 2 Tickets
3. NESfiend - 7,311,710 - 2 Tickets
4. CT - 7,279,310 - 2 Tickets
5. Link - 6,283,470 - 2 Tickets
6. RH - 4,314,460 - 1 Ticket
7. Gloves - 3,990,220 - 1 Ticket
8. DefaultGen - 3,927,480 - 1 Ticket
9. ZeldaFan042 - 3,506,710- 1 Ticket
10. Multiboot - 3,026,770- 1 Ticket
11. BlackVega - 2,094,010- 1 Ticket
12. spacepup - 1,159,520- 1 Ticket
13. JamesRobot - 1,065,480- 1 Ticket
14. Splain - 73,490- 1 Ticket

 

• THE GRINCH'S FINAL SCORE/Tickets Stolen:
• 6,220,090 - 9 Tickets

[The Grinch | 56]

6,220,090

3,503,000
1,018,260

Edited December 21, 2023 by The Grinch

[Richardhead | 2,813]

I’m always shocked I get pinged in things like this .

I am grateful though.
Thank you @ZeldaFreak 

[The Grinch | 56]

The Grinch is back
This year I will win
And steal all of your raffle tickets
Much to your collective chagrin

Yes, I will steal your tickets
And that Xmas cart will be mine
And when the contest is over
I will have ruined your VGS Christmastime! 

[RH | 4,903]

Score: 4,314,460

Score: 3,109,150

Score: 2,015,840

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by RH

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

OH YES, I forgot to mention by the way that RetroUSB is actually providing the cart prize for this year's Xmas contest themselves, which is incredibly generous of them! So big big shoutout to @retroUSB!

[BlackVega | 583]

I wasn't aware retroUSB was a real user here. Hoping I get enough time to provide at least 1 submission here. Also you're going down grinch

[multiboot | 20]

3,026,770

Merry Christmas!

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by multiboot

[RH | 4,903]

5 hours ago, BlackVega said:

I wasn't aware retroUSB was a real user here. Hoping I get enough time to provide at least 1 submission here. Also you're going down grinch

Yeah, I think he's been a user on here since all the way back to the Nintendo Age days.  I think I got an old Final Fantasy VII Demake cart off of him years ago, but that was around 2107 and I just don't remember.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

5 hours ago, BlackVega said:

I wasn't aware retroUSB was a real user here.

I wasn't aware either until I made that post actually.

14 minutes ago, RH said:

I think I got an old Final Fantasy VII Demake cart off of him years ago, but that was around 2107

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

In the few games I've played potentially everything worth less than 1M is basically worthless (especially the bonus X lane and spinner). I can't find a better strategy than lobbing it up top and hoping for random millions from the max lane score or Christmas Millions from multiball.

• Hitting the double scoring drop target doesn't prevent you from getting double scoring on a Christmas spin
• Light Kickback might do nothing? I drained immediately out the right outlane after getting this.
• You might as well reset until you start multiball in your first two plunges because it isn't that hard and it's one of your only avenues for millions.
  • If you start a game after losing, the lock won't be lit. If you reset the console, the lock starts lit.
• The 3 Extra Ball targets on the right are worth 100k (and a ball!) but every time I tried to control the ball on the left flipper, I eventually ended up rolling it up into the left outlane, so this also doesn't seem worth intentionally going for.

[spacepup | 2,404]

Here is a score to start: 1,159,520

 

[RH | 4,903]

Ooooh muh guh, the hit-box detection for the flippers is killing me!

[Splain | 2,569]

Lolll, All I Want for Christmas is You, 8-bit style. And Feliz Navidad. And Mele Kalikimaka. And Rockin Around the Christmas Tree. Love the soundtrack so far.

Here's a "at least I've got a better score than Splain!" score.

73490

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

18 minutes ago, RH said:

Ooooh muh guh, the hit-box detection for the flippers is killing me!

I agree but I think it plays a little better than 2016.

[SuperJimtendo | 1,121]

Thanks @ZeldaFreak and @retroUSB I won a copy of 2017 on Facebook back then. I think I'll go to ahead and reserve myself a spot right hurr. I'm coming for you Grinch

Score: 625060

Score: 123798

Score: 2653090

Score:3103760

Score : 10187430

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by SuperJimtendo
Score

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

18 minutes ago, Splain said:

Lolll, All I Want for Christmas is You, 8-bit style. ... And Rockin Around the Christmas Tree. Love the soundtrack so far.

I did that once

...Damnit, I'm reminded of how much more I wanted to do with this track. Maybe I should finally finish it, 3 years later, haha.

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

Y’all need the Holly Jolly NES Mix! It’s a dope 8bit chiptune I’ve got it on my shelf somewhere 

[RH | 4,903]

8 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Y’all need the Holly Jolly NES Mix! It’s a dope 8bit chiptune I’ve got it on my shelf somewhere 

I got it. I debate about selling it every year but I never do.

In fact, let me pop it in now.

EDIT

The work day is instantly better now.

Edited December 19, 2023 by RH

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

42 minutes ago, RH said:

I got it. I debate about selling it every year but I never do.

In fact, let me pop it in now.

EDIT

The work day is instantly better now.

What’s with the NESinception you got going on? One for music and one for gaming  

[RH | 4,903]

5 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

What’s with the NESinception you got going on? One for music and one for gaming  

Lol, I like to have options.  The top is a stock NES and the bottom has a BLW.  I need to unload one but I just can't decide which to keep.  I better go check on the price of a NES with a BLW... it might motivate my decision on which one to keep or get rid of.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

Unless something happens after spelling SANTA, it's only worth 1M which is absurd considering how difficult/random it is to hit it. So multiball, Christmas Millions, and Sudden Death Millions (whatever those are?) seem like the strategy.

[Link | 2,712]

6,283,470

3,021,600
2,112,840
1,070,390 
1,005,220 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Link

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

3 hours ago, RH said:

I got it. I debate about selling it every year but I never do.

In fact, let me pop it in now.

EDIT

The work day is instantly better now.

Double Decker?