2024 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Back to the future

[PII | 2,020]

33 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

I got so freaking close it's painful. One more swarm of flies or whatever those things are. 30k is a really fun challenge with this. Ill be interested to hear how you got to 36. I would think a near perfect run would yield a little less than that. Wondering if you figured something out to gain some extra points or just had a perfect run 

I had a really good run with that one.  I think it's possible to hit 38k or maybe 39k with a perfect run but doing literally everything flawlessly is much easier said than done.. and I'm presuming I haven't missed anything of course....

[NESfiend | 1,553]

19 hours ago, PII said:

@NESfiend ¡Get That 30K!

At the expense of my left thumb and too much of a Saturday, I finally did it. Cant tell you how many 29k and change scores I had. I wanted to see that high score bar get topped in the time alotted and it finally happened. Id say it's all for you pii, but I really enjoyed this once I got the scoring gist. Let's see @Gloves give it a sunday go. Im sure he could put up a monster on this with some work, but I don't think that monster would hit 36k. Nicely done 

Edited August 4 by NESfiend

[BeaIank | 1,676]

Current standings posted.

[a3quit4s | 4,323]

4,210

 

[PII | 2,020]

@NESfiend My last run today I had a potential 38K+ going but I got hit by a zig-zag bully and lost the ball for the duration of 4 bees (and a few other targets) and finished at just under 36k.  Other than that blunder I missed 2 possible bees so theoretically that makes 39k+ possible and with ideal level layouts I have little doubt that 40K is technically possible.

Nice improvement!  Fun week!! 

[NESfiend | 1,553]

2 hours ago, PII said:

@NESfiend My last run today I had a potential 38K+ going but I got hit by a zig-zag bully and lost the ball for the duration of 4 bees (and a few other targets) and finished at just under 36k.  Other than that blunder I missed 2 possible bees so theoretically that makes 39k+ possible and with ideal level layouts I have little doubt that 40K is technically possible.

Nice improvement!  Fun week!! 

I would love to play this one again. The learning curve is steep. On top of having no idea what to do (it should have occurred to me that I have heard it categorized as a shooter), getting the rhythm and learning to control the bugs movement is not easy. Even knowing just what to do, the game finds a way to stick shit it your natural shooting or running path. Totally different kind of challenge and it's really fun when you get into it. Playing this a second time and knowing what to do from day 1, I think I could get up into the thirties and that would be fun. 

I was so unfamiliar, I spent some time skating thinking shaving time might be the name of the game. Now that it's over, I am going to see how far I can get on one board for shits and giggles. 

@mbd39 reserved early, but never posted. Thought he might have one up his sleeve. Too busy getting that monster super punch out score

Edited August 5 by NESfiend

[NESfiend | 1,553]

@PII would love to hear some of your overall strategy. I was generally trying to stay toward the top of the screen on the stretches where you get bug swarms one after another. Seemed like that was the only way to reliably keep them from disappearing really fast. 

[PII | 2,020]

2 hours ago, NESfiend said:

would love to hear some of your overall strategy. I was generally trying to stay toward the top of the screen on the stretches where you get bug swarms one after another. Seemed like that was the only way to reliably keep them from disappearing really fast. 

Of ultimate importance, I suppose, is simply playing enough that you eventually know exactly where you're going next which is just a little harder than typical because there are a few different level layouts.  For a while I was getting to stage 4 with barely any picture left and needing to focus constantly on staying high on the screen and getting 25 - 30 clocks to revitalize it rather than being able to focus on points.  As of a few days ago I've been able to hit stage 4 with the middle face entirely still visible and only needing around 10 clocks or so to hit a 100 for a fresh start on the photograph.

One thing you want to be doing, if you can, at the beginning of each run is this:  There are 3 bees that come at you and you can't shoot them because you don't have the ball yet.  But you can shoot the last one in the bunch if you manipulate it properly.  You get it to move way to the right without leaving the screen and then you have to make sure it's arch is large enough so that it will ultimately pass in front of you rather than behind, which means moving forward some, but then you have to move back and hold position even as you're trying to get up and left as fast as possible to reach the ball before the bee passes.  If you do this, shoot the rest of the bees/targets and have an optimal level layout its possible to have 8500 points or so by the end of the first stage but you'll more typically clock in at around 7500.  End of stage 2 I think 20k is probably possible but I only maxed this week at around 19k.  End of Stage 3 I was finishing around 29k on my best runs but 30 or more should be possible..

Always knowing where/when the bees are going to launch from is everything.  I always shoot them (if possible) as soon as they fly at me which often means moving left to get into position and just managing to shoot it right in front of Marty without being hit.  A fair bit of the time though it's impossible to shoot the incoming bee because it's just too far behind Marty.  There may be some luck of the draw in this regard, or I just didn't fine tune enough to better manipulate them.  But I'm generally in the middle-ish of the screen when bees are coming and then holding back as soon as I hear it launch.  In the later portion of the game the bees will stay on screen for multiple passes and swirl around Marty making life much harder but in the first level they rarely do that (Now I want to go back and see what happens if I try to stay at the top of the screen all the time....)  Seems like that might help (sometimes) to keep some of the otherwise impossible to shoot bees on the screen longer but then it's hard to know if a given bee coming from the same point in a level is going to be hittable or not as it changes from play through to play through, and like I said, if it has something specific to do with Marty's position on screen then I didn't quite get it down to a science yet.  But positioning does matter a lot.  Sometimes a bee can launch from one of two positions and that will determine which way the bee flies and so its a simple enough matter of making sure Marty is far enough left or right to get the launch-direction you want.  Occasionally a bee will launch and move more or less straight down the screen at Marty on a sort of wobbly path which is something you want to avoid because it's a trickier trajectory to hit - So always knowing where/when they're coming and making sure you are left/right enough and low enough on the screen.  In some instances you'll be tempted to go for a clock or something right before a bee launch and if you do your positioning will be off.

There are a few spots in the level where you have an option like, move left and shoot a hula hoop girl, bully etc or move right and collect 4 clocks.  Clocks are 50.  HH girls are 100, bullies and glass carrying guys are 200, so you go for the 4 clocks because it's more, or at least the same points plus you get 4 more clocks, though generally you sacrifice clocks to go after targets.

Regardless of whether you're walking or skateboarding, you can jump over a fence but not a park bench (makes perfect sense.)  Important because there's a spot where you need to get 2 bees and the second one is coming over a latitudinal fence with a park bench right next to it.

Also, you cannot shoot over a manhole (again, makes perfect sense.)

If you shoot something right in front of you it's quite easy to accidentally fire off a second shot.  This can result in shooting a clock or sometimes getting lucky and hitting something beneficial.  Important because you don't want to get too much in the habit of accidentally shooting clocks.  Also, because sometimes a bee will be flying right in front of a clock that is right in front of Marty and the only way for you to hit it is to shoot the clock and because you're holding "A", as opposed to simply tapping it, immediately shooting the bee right behind the clock as well.

Not terribly pertinent to what we were doing this week but, the crack and the oil slick, Marty can walk over but if you hit either on the skateboard you'll wipe out.

Incidentally, if you get on the skateboard, bowling pins will appear and you can hit them for 500, but it will not yield anything comparable to walking and shooting bees.  You also miss a lot of clocks on the board but don't need them as much either since you're arriving at your destination that much quicker.

This is turning into a general guide....

On a random note, if you ride the skate board through a level from beginning to end the timer at the end will always be on 116.  This is one of the many odd relevancies with bttf that Joe six-pack will always refuse to understand...

..and now we're way past general guiding principles

I feel like a bee, just when you think i'm going to zig, I zag...

Oh, and at the end of each stage you want to jump just as the bottom of the screen crests the mid point of the last bush/tree on the left so that Marty is at the height of his jump when the stage ends and you'll receive a 900 bonus.

 

[BeaIank | 1,676]

Final standings posted.
Thanks to everyone who participated!