VGS Christmas Contest 2023 [ENDED]

[SuperJimtendo | 1,125]

Murray Christmas @ZeldaFreak thank you for this wonderful contest!

[a3quit4s | 4,124]

I only managed to put up like 46k the couple times I was able to play it today. I can see what the others are saying about the lack of “polish” in the game but am happy to get another year of 8 bit Xmas. 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,017]

Anyone know why this isn't playing on my powerpak? I keep getting an error message. 

[SuperJimtendo | 1,125]

4 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Anyone know why this isn't playing on my powerpak? I keep getting an error message. 

Must of us switched to mesen because it's been working there other than the other standards for some reason 

[JamesRobot | 5,821]

5 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Anyone know why this isn't playing on my powerpak? I keep getting an error message. 

You probably need one of the homebrew mappers, 30 or 111.

Mapper 30 V4:
http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?p=236715#p236715

 

Mapper 111:

https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16631

[ndsnfr | 14]

I don't know if I should update my previous post or make a new one, but I did a new score : 

19,743,710

[RH | 4,957]

5 minutes ago, ndsnfr said:

I don't know if I should update my previous post or make a new one, but I did a new score : 

19,743,710

It's requested that you update your last one because it's easier for the contest manager to track.  That said, we do sometimes repost our latest scores if they are brag-worthy.

I got to ask, how are you getting scores that high?  Others might be up there as well and holding back, but I find this quite impressive.

[ndsnfr | 14]

26 minutes ago, RH said:

It's requested that you update your last one because it's easier for the contest manager to track.  That said, we do sometimes repost our latest scores if they are brag-worthy.

I got to ask, how are you getting scores that high?  Others might be up there as well and holding back, but I find this quite impressive.

Thanks for the info, I updated my original post. I am new to participate in those contest. ^^

It becomes easier once you've played it for hours so you can find the best patterns to hit the ball that work for you. My main strategy is to just keep aiming the ball to the four holes at the top of the board to generate the most points which is relatively safe also relying heavily on the hole that will lock the ball to the right. It pretty much acts as an extra lives. Always try to get the ball locked in that hole and be sure not to let another one enter while its in there otherwise both will be in play.
after that it's just gaining points and extra lives to survive as long as you can.
It also helps to take some time to figure out exactly how to keep the flippers work in this game (they can be a bit weird at times). But for example if the ball is coming in fast towards the flipper on the left, sometimes you can play it safe by just holding the flipper in the up position before the ball hits it so it then the speed causes it to rebound off the back wall behind it and become caught behind the flipper so you can then let it slide down to make a more accurate or safe hit.

[SuperJimtendo | 1,125]

Great now Someone else break my score before the end of the night.

[BlackVega | 583]

I just fired this game up and OMG it's super atrocious. This is easily the worst pinball game I've ever played in my life. The presentation LOOKS GOOD but the programming literally is Action 52 level and it feels horrid. The ball goes through the flippers CONSTANTLY and doesn't make any sense whatsoever, sometimes after hitting the ball 10 times in a row it doesn't register and goes through the flipper like a ghost as if nothing happened....... Seriously did Shrek program this or what?? Thank goodness it's just a demo so at least I know I will not be wanting full version of this. Also I think I heard that theme song in a porno somewhere

[CT | 98]

9 hours ago, ndsnfr said:

I don't know if I should update my previous post or make a new one, but I did a new score : 

19,743,710

Wow I didn't think someone would get that high of a score. Congrats!

[BlackVega | 583]

I originally wanted to go higher but oh my god I hate this. I hated playing every single second of this crap and this is the prime example how NOT to program a game. Whoever programmed this should be banned from making any future games. Seriously I've never played a pinball game this unresponsive where flippers barely push the ball or often times they don't even register anything at all. Nintendo Pinball literally looks like an Oscar masterpiece in comparison. I once got a score that was a little over 3 mil but meh fuck it. Also I don't want to be included in the raffle, meaning I don't want to get the cart with this game

[Gloves | 11,818]

43 minutes ago, BlackVega said:

I originally wanted to go higher but oh my god I hate this. I hated playing every single second of this crap and this is the prime example how NOT to program a game. Whoever programmed this should be banned from making any future games. Seriously I've never played a pinball game this unresponsive where flippers barely push the ball or often times they don't even register anything at all. Nintendo Pinball literally looks like an Oscar masterpiece in comparison. I once got a score that was a little over 3 mil but meh fuck it. Also I don't want to be included in the raffle, meaning I don't want to get the cart with this game

That's all pretty needlessly harsh, man.

[Richardhead | 2,817]

55 minutes ago, Gloves said:

That's all pretty needlessly harsh, man.

 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,603]

11 hours ago, ndsnfr said:

I don't know if I should update my previous post or make a new one,

RH is right that it's more convenient for me if you update the original post, but you're not required to, it's not an outright rule. You can update your original post or make news posts, either way the score will be counted.

2 hours ago, BlackVega said:

I originally wanted to go higher but oh my god I hate this. I hated playing every single second of this crap and this is the prime example how NOT to program a game. Whoever programmed this should be banned from making any future games. Seriously I've never played a pinball game this unresponsive where flippers barely push the ball or often times they don't even register anything at all. Nintendo Pinball literally looks like an Oscar masterpiece in comparison. I once got a score that was a little over 3 mil but meh fuck it. Also I don't want to be included in the raffle, meaning I don't want to get the cart with this game

I'm not sure why you participated at all if you didn't enjoy the game and didn't want to be included in the raffle but alright

[BlackVega | 583]

Just trying things out. Nobody said everyone is obligated to only talk good about everything, I don't participate in modern anti-social media. This game is originally sold for money so I have 10000% right to talk good or bad about this. The graphics and music are good but the controls and physics in this one are very bad and nobody wants to address this. Once anyone plays it for at least 10 minutes will agree with me

[Gloves | 11,818]

3 minutes ago, BlackVega said:

Just trying things out. Nobody said everyone is obligated to only talk good about everything, I don't participate in modern anti-social media. This game is originally sold for money so I have 10000% right to talk good or bad about this. The graphics and music are good but the controls and physics in this one are very bad and nobody wants to address this. Once anyone plays it for at least 10 minutes will agree with me

The "demo" is the whole game for entirely free, it just has a splash message that suggests you can buy the game as a cart if you want to support the dev.

You can feel free to talk about the downsides of any homebrew but you really don't have to be a dick about it.

[OptOut | 8,892]

41 minutes ago, BlackVega said:

anti-social

You said it, Mr. Grinch. 

[RH | 4,957]

3 hours ago, BlackVega said:

Just trying things out. Nobody said everyone is obligated to only talk good about everything, I don't participate in modern anti-social media. This game is originally sold for money so I have 10000% right to talk good or bad about this. The graphics and music are good but the controls and physics in this one are very bad and nobody wants to address this. Once anyone plays it for at least 10 minutes will agree with me

I talked about its issues without making it personal toward the dev.  In fact, I made the exact same observations.  I do agree that this is a for-sale product so some proper context AND critique should be allowed.

That said, I’d never say that the dev should never make a game again. Heck, they are providing this ROM for free so by all means, if you hate the game that much, don’t buy it. But I think for many people these games are a tradition and after some 15 years of Christmas titles, I can see why some might lack the polish of others.

Is it a cash grab? I guess that depends on perspective.  It is a tradition but if you want to participate in the collecting of these, that costs money.  But just because it’s a traditional annual product, that doesn’t mean the dev doesn’t have passion for it. In all likelihood, they probably just didn’t have the time they desired to let this one receive the testing and updating it deserved before having to ship it out the door.

And it does function.  With enough practice, you can learn the oddity of the flippers.  Yes it’s pure frustration and one may ask why you’d even bother apart from a competition.  I think it’s a fair critique. But with that said, again, it’s free and maybe next year will have a better engineered title.  Check out the other historical entries and you should see that some of them, made in one year, (assumed by one dev) are actually quite good.

[spacepup | 2,410]

Honest critique can be fine, but consider the tone, and also consider the time and place.  This isn't a FS or general thread, it is supposed to be a fun Christmas contest for the community, where the dev provided the game for *free* for everyone to play, and in addition, is generously donating a physical copy for the event.  The comments made were overly negative and completely unnecessary given the context of what this event is about.

Just because you *can* do something, doesn't always mean you *should*.  

Moving on, let's enjoy the rest of the contest and move forward!

[SuperJimtendo | 1,125]

[multiboot | 21]

I enjoyed the game and I super appreciated the contest, even though I was well outplayed.

[Richardhead | 2,817]

23 hours ago, BlackVega said:

Just trying things out. Nobody said everyone is obligated to only talk good about everything, I don't participate in modern anti-social media. This game is originally sold for money so I have 10000% right to talk good or bad about this. The graphics and music are good but the controls and physics in this one are very bad and nobody wants to address this. Once anyone plays it for at least 10 minutes will agree with me

You’re just mad because you couldn’t find a way to cheat. Happy Christmas.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,017]

19 hours ago, RH said:

Heck, they are providing this ROM for free so by all means, if you hate the game that much, don’t buy it. But I think for many people these games are a tradition and after some 15 years of Christmas titles, I can see why some might lack the polish of others.

I just want to point out here that most of the games are secondary to the cartridges blinking lights. The best one by a mile is 2019 Study Hall 2 and 2013 the space shooter. I never even figured out how to play crazy queen and actually skipped the Excitebike hack, this current release since I have the other pinball game and only picked up last year's bc it had the Grinch who's my all time favorite Christmas character.

I understand the negativity should be curbed but my man is clearly burnt to a crisp dominating the game and never wants to do it again. We've all been there. Trudging through a game, show, or book just to get to the end just to be disappointed at every turn. You hate to see it.

I am ever grateful for these tournaments and really wish I had a chance to participate. Some of these tournaments put me onto games I never played before and some made me never consider playing the game again. It seems like @BlackVegajust got the latter.

[CT | 98]

33 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

blinking lights

I have the 2022 cartridge with the grinch as well. The lights look amazing! I had it set up during our Christmas party with my top loader and it was a big hit. It's a really cool item and I bring it out every year now.