2024 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Special event

[NESfiend | 1,565]

I had 150k tonight and goofed on the boss. I'm not getting the pattern to get to 200k. Been lots of fun trying though, but it has kept me out of the north pole. This challenge is kicking my butt

[PII | 2,067]

19 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

had 150k tonight and goofed on the boss. I'm not getting the pattern to get to 200k. Been lots of fun trying though, but it has kept me out of the north pole. This challenge is kicking my butt

You need a king drop on the first zombie w/basket.

Try watching the demo for a while...

[BeaIank | 1,707]

4 hours ago, PII said:

You need a king drop on the first zombie w/basket.

Try watching the demo for a while...

Err... no?

You have to start from a fresh reset. Watching the demo moves the drop list. You can get several kings to drop if you figure out how to manipulate it by picking certain weapons when they drop.

[PII | 2,067]

1 hour ago, BeaIank said:

Err... no?

You have to start from a fresh reset. Watching the demo moves the drop list. You can get several kings to drop if you figure out how to manipulate it by picking certain weapons when they drop.

Started from a fresh reset every time.  You gotta flesh out these rules better from the get go.

[guillavoie | 1,235]

15 hours ago, PII said:

Started from a fresh reset every time.  You gotta flesh out these rules better from the get go.

I get the misunderstanding, cause you did in fact start from a fresh reset every time, but I think it would be fair to not put this on Bea's fault for not wording out in the rules that the demo have an impact on the drop count. Cause when you think about it, if you can use the demo to move the drop count, why would it matters in the first place to start from a fresh reset? The point of the rule was to have every player's attempt to start at the same point of the drop list.

I totally get how you thought you were going by the rules, 100 % honest mistake. But forgetting the demo role in the drop count is such a tricky blind spot for the person responsible to word out the rules. I played G&G in competition for scores many times, playing with the drop count, and I did not even remembered that the demo had an impact on the drop list. We have to give her a slack on this man, lol!

This said, it is true that the rules can be clearer about it, so I'll amend it to mention that you can't use the demo to move to drop count.

[PII | 2,067]

4 minutes ago, guillavoie said:

Cause when you think about it, if you can use the demo to move the drop count, why would it matters in the first place to start from a fresh reset?

Yeah, in retrospect I realize that this is implied and I suppose I shot past that because as far as I had figured, getting an early king drop was the only way to advance the score enough to get that 2nd extra life at 150K before running out and thus the only way to crack 200K.  I guess I just wish it had said something additional like: "You have to press start as soon as the title screen comes up."  Oh well.  I did not mean to imply any hard feelings...

[guillavoie | 1,235]

11 minutes ago, PII said:

Yeah, in retrospect I realize that this is implied and I suppose I shot past that because as far as I had figured, getting an early king drop was the only way to advance the score enough to get that 2nd extra life at 150K before running out and thus the only way to crack 200K.  I guess I just wish it had said something additional like: "You have to press start as soon as the title screen comes up."  Oh well.  I did not mean to imply any hard feelings...

Yeah I totally agree with you, but trust me, this is SO the kind of thing you tend to forget when making rules, I see myself making this mistake 100%. I'm sure she didn't take it bad though, I just thought it was an opportune moment to remind us that perfect rules are hard to nail because of details like this. It is also a good thing that the rules clearly state it from now on.

This is also why we like to have players' input on the rules whenever it is needed, cause the REAL experts of the week are the ones that are actually playing the game with the rules. It is easy to miss some subtleties that you guys actually ran on while playing extensively.

[NESfiend | 1,565]

45 minutes ago, guillavoie said:

Yeah I totally agree with you, but trust me, this is SO the kind of thing you tend to forget when making rules, I see myself making this mistake 100%. I'm sure she didn't take it bad though, I just thought it was an opportune moment to remind us that perfect rules are hard to nail because of details like this. It is also a good thing that the rules clearly state it from now on.

This is also why we like to have players' input on the rules whenever it is needed, cause the REAL experts of the week are the ones that are actually playing the game with the rules. It is easy to miss some subtleties that you guys actually ran on while playing extensively.

Perhaps adding a week would be in order since there has been so much confusion. Not for me, but I like the game and still suck. So let's keep er going

[guillavoie | 1,235]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

Perhaps adding a week would be in order since there has been so much confusion. Not for me, but I like the game and still suck. So let's keep er going

That is something we can consider, if no one has strong objection against it. What do you think @PII?

[PII | 2,067]

40 minutes ago, guillavoie said:

That is something we can consider, if no one has strong objection against it. What do you think @PII?

Honestly, I've been kinda Ghosts N Goblins'd out after a couple of weeks.  I tried cycling through the weapons as much as possible earlier tonight and it didn't manifest any kings but I'll probably try it again at some point regardless of whatever is decided.

[BeaIank | 1,707]

I will add two extra weeks for this, so it ends on the 17th. More time for GnG scores and... more time for SPEEDY PENGUIN action!
And also drop in a hint for the first king manipulation: 1st torch drop till you get a knife drop.

[PII | 2,067]

Score Updated.  Previously I hadn't thought it possible to hit 150K for a 2nd extra life on the 4th life without having that initial king drop right at the beginning, but I discovered otherwise today.  It is possible but def. requires getting the first part of level 1 down to a science particularly with the timing of the ghouls repeated emergence to make sure they are manifesting on top of the hill as much as possible when Arthur is on top of the hill and not down below.  So I've managed a run that's similar but 10k less than what it would have been with one more king drop due to an advanced drop.  I also had an odd thing happen on the second wave of ghost knights.  A flashing red Yashichi dropped either from a ghost knight I shot or from Arthur jumping at a particular point.  Either way, I'd forgotten that that one is bad and it subtracted 30 seconds from my time so maybe something closer to 210K is possible this way...

[NESfiend | 1,565]

On 11/1/2024 at 9:33 PM, PII said:

Score Updated.  Previously I hadn't thought it possible to hit 150K for a 2nd extra life on the 4th life without having that initial king drop right at the beginning, but I discovered otherwise today.  It is possible but def. requires getting the first part of level 1 down to a science particularly with the timing of the ghouls repeated emergence to make sure they are manifesting on top of the hill as much as possible when Arthur is on top of the hill and not down below.  So I've managed a run that's similar but 10k less than what it would have been with one more king drop due to an advanced drop.  I also had an odd thing happen on the second wave of ghost knights.  A flashing red Yashichi dropped either from a ghost knight I shot or from Arthur jumping at a particular point.  Either way, I'd forgotten that that one is bad and it subtracted 30 seconds from my time so maybe something closer to 210K is possible this way...

I am terrible at this. Maybe I am cheating without knowing it. I'll let the expert decide. I can only consistently manage 1 10k king drop. I go up the first set of stairs. Then I hop on the first grave and jump left. Triggers the 10k king drop. From there, I pound the smaller style graves in a particular order to call the ghosts out. In the meantime, I usually find one other 10k king at random during the course of the 4 lives firing knives at zombies. 

I usually get to the last life with 90-105k. From there, I can get to the first boss around 120-125k. But I have never finished a good run. I usually blow it on the second part of the level marching to the boss. I've never gotten good there because I'm too focused on point racking and finding a better strategy, but I've never gotten anywhere with that

[PII | 2,067]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

I am terrible at this. Maybe I am cheating without knowing it. I'll let the expert decide. I can only consistently manage 1 10k king drop. I go up the first set of stairs. Then I hop on the first grave and jump left. Triggers the 10k king drop. From there, I pound the smaller style graves in a particular order to call the ghosts out. In the meantime, I usually find one other 10k king at random during the course of the 4 lives firing knives at zombies. 

I usually get to the last life with 90-105k. From there, I can get to the first boss around 120-125k. But I have never finished a good run. I usually blow it on the second part of the level marching to the boss. I've never gotten good there because I'm too focused on point racking and finding a better strategy, but I've never gotten anywhere with that

Sounds like you're on the right track more or less.  The main goal you need in order to reach for a bigger score is to make it to 150K before your 4th life expires so that you'll get a 2nd extra life (1st is at 50k) and be able to run the first part of the level a total of 5 times.  You'll get the king drop from the jump off the slanted grave stone you mentioned 5 times + one more from a Zombie carrying a basket when you're up on the hill during the 3rd run IIRC + one more from a ghost near the end of the level on your fifth run = 70K.  Kill all 4 ghosts from the slanted grave stones a total of 5 times for 2K each = 40K.  On each run just before you expire you'll want to run to the right in order to kill the red devil + a bird + pick up a money bag.  You get 1K for the devil so that's another 5K.  There are 5 money bags worth .5k each = 12.5K.  There are also five birds, 4 of which you will shoot + two man-eating plants all of which are worth .1k = 3K.  So:

70K + 40K + 5K + 12.5K + 3K = 130.5K

So, doing it this way leaves somewhere in the vicinity of at least another 80K, most of which is going to come from zombies (.2k) and the regular non-flashing "king" drops (.2k) they leave + (in the later half of the level) a couple waves of ghost knights (.1k), three more money bags, a regular red Yashichi (5K), the regular ghosts (.1k) and their drops, a couple more man-eating plants, the boss unicorn (2K) and beating the level (1K).  

(The drops from the Zombies and Ghosts are (.2k)  I think I read somewhere that they are sometimes (.5k) but I'm not sure off-hand so don't hold me to that...)

In order to make it to 150K by the end of your 4th life you will need to be very efficient about making sure the zombies keep manifesting when you are up on the hill so that you'll get the points for killing them and picking up their drops rather than having them continually manifest down below where you can't get them.  Before going up the first ladder I always make sure the last wave of zombies I kill is one carrying a basket.  When I go up the ladder I try to do it fast enough that I'll reach the top quick enough for the next zombie wave to manifest up there rather than down below.  If I'm not fast enough at least the wave I miss isn't carrying a basket.  I'm not perfectly certain but I think the zombies will continue to manifest on top of the hill as long as Arthur is standing on the ground or on top of a gravestone, but if you're in the air when the next wave manifests I think that triggers them to manifest on the lower level instead.  Additionally, it seems that once you push far enough to the right while on top of the hill they will stop manifesting at their usual 3-at-a-time up there and either manifest down below or give you a single zombie up top on the right side.

Always try to land your torch on the slanted gravestone so that it flares up at the right time to kill the ghost and prevent it from hurling its spell at you and turning you into a frog.  If you do get turned into a frog, always take the next available enemy hit so that you can turn back into Arthur.  Otherwise a fair bit of time passes while you try to survive in frog-mode and you'll miss out on a few waves of zombies.

You'll need to run a tight, well oiled machine in order to hit 150K shortly before you expire on your 4th life.  I wouldn't say that it's easy but it's def. easier than it sounds.  As always it just takes practice until that rote sense of familiarity sets in.  

Finally, I'm not really sure how "Bea's-super-secret-collect-the-weapons-in-the-correct-order-for-additional-king-drops" works, but I'll probably give it a shot here at some point...

 

Ps. Just in case you are not already aware: There is a suit of armor for a naked Arthur if you jump to the right, right after jumping off of the raft.

 

PPs. Some point values to aim for:

End of 1st life: 35K

End of 2nd life: 70K+

End of 3rd life: 115K+

End of 4th life: 150K+

5th Run just before taking off to reach the check point: ~ 187K

 

And don't forget to wind down the clock, killing ghosts before the end for that 2nd King drop...

Edited November 5 by PII

[BeaIank | 1,707]

You are missing the magicians on the grave stones that you summon by hitting them tons of times. 2k per mage, 4 stones, 8k per life.

And sitting on the ground, on the screen with the last gravestone makes it so much easier to get the zombies. You don't have to force the zombies to spawn on the top of the platform.

At a post here I show the mages:
https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageviewa72c.html?StartRow=76&catid=31&threadid=161054

I had a list of drops manipulation there too, but it didn't get archived.

I also remember manipulating the drops from a fresh start to get an extra king and get almost 250K on stage 1. Need to see if I still have info and footage on that.

[BeaIank | 1,707]

Reminder that the special event ends tomorrow!

[BeaIank | 1,707]

Participation was... lacklustre, but @PII is our 2024 Special Event winner! Congratulations!

The VGS NES Contest will return in 2025 and hopefully we will be able to bring back people in.