weekly contest VGS NES Weekly Contest - Battletoads!

[Krunch | 303]

3 hours ago, RH said:

Well I hate it, but I didn't get the chance to play any more than 5 minutes this past weekend.  I tend to play at night once the house has gone to bed, but I couldn't these last few nights. My health has been having issue flair ups lately.  Not a big deal, but the first thing it disrupts is my sleep.  So, I went to bed early the past few nights exhausted.  Oh well.  This was a really fun challenge, and I'll likely play Battletoads a few more times before moving on to Silk Worm.

Bummer!  Hope you’re starting to feel better!  Thing is with Battletoads, especially on 1 life, is that it requires a gargantuan amount of time to learn, so even like 20 hours in a week is only a relatively small incremental improvement.  Consistency is huge. I’ve never seen anyone come in and get good in a week (except maybe one dude from 8-ish years ago who isn’t around no more and I always thought was probably cheating) - it always comes down to prior experience.  You’re best just learning it outside of the gauntlet of the week.  And it is worth it - the satisfaction boosts of steady improvement don’t leave.

(I’m not saying I practice what I preach, hadnt played in years.  My best ‘Toads leaderboard ranking, but improvements were scant: bird farming of all things and other minor walking-about points, and I’ve now seen Intruder Excluder and played in a tiny bit on practice continues.  That’s after a modest 15+ hrs - some solid precursory practice the days before and then a 9 hour session yesterday - that aint much!!!)

[mbd39 | 2,017]

4 minutes ago, Krunch said:

Bummer!  Hope you’re starting to feel better!  Thing is with Battletoads, especially on 1 life, is that it requires a gargantuan amount of time to learn, so even like 20 hours in a week is only a relatively small incremental improvement.  Consistency is huge. I’ve never seen anyone come in and get good in a week (except maybe one dude from 8-ish years ago who isn’t around no more and I always thought was probably cheating) - it always comes down to prior experience.  You’re best just learning it outside of the gauntlet of the week.  And it is worth it - the satisfaction boosts of steady improvement don’t leave.

(I’m not saying I practice what I preach, hadnt played in years.  My best ‘Toads leaderboard ranking, but improvements were scant: bird farming of all things and other minor walking-about points, and I’ve now seen Intruder Excluder and played in a tiny bit on practice continues.  That’s after a modest 15+ hrs - some solid precursory practice the days before and then a 9 hour session yesterday - that aint much!!!)

Games that people probably won't learn in a week: Battletoads and Tetris.

So I'm happy when they come up.

 

[RH | 4,895]

@Krunch & @mbd39  I'm not upset with my results, I just know I could do better.  With a little more time, I could have definitely made it one one life and warps to stage 5 because I've been able on multiple tries do it in 2 lives.  Usually I get to the last or second to last check point in Turbo Tubes.  If I had managed to get to stage 5, I was going to start hammering stage 1 and 2 to improve my score.

Another thing about getting better is I'm not afraid to make use of save states for practice.  On an emulator, I've mapped a button for a quick save and then another button to reload from that save point.

I'll play a level until I beat it, then I'll play it again until I've mastered it.  Transitioning to the NES takes some adjusting but then I play on the NES now for my photo, if I have the game.  By playing this way, my incremental improvements are faster and many "impossible" games are feeling doable.  I should probably do this with Batman.  It was definitely a top 5 game for me, but it was also way tough for me to get through.

[BeaIank | 1,617]

Happy to hear that you guys enjoyed this rule set.
I will try to get more creative with rules for our most common games from now on considering this feedback to try to freshen things up.

[Krunch | 303]

12 hours ago, RH said:

@Krunch & @mbd39  I'm not upset with my results, I just know I could do better.  With a little more time, I could have definitely made it one one life and warps to stage 5 because I've been able on multiple tries do it in 2 lives.  Usually I get to the last or second to last check point in Turbo Tubes.  If I had managed to get to stage 5, I was going to start hammering stage 1 and 2 to improve my score.

Another thing about getting better is I'm not afraid to make use of save states for practice.  On an emulator, I've mapped a button for a quick save and then another button to reload from that save point.

I'll play a level until I beat it, then I'll play it again until I've mastered it.  Transitioning to the NES takes some adjusting but then I play on the NES now for my photo, if I have the game.  By playing this way, my incremental improvements are faster and many "impossible" games are feeling doable.  I should probably do this with Batman.  It was definitely a top 5 game for me, but it was also way tough for me to get through.

 

Yeah that is always a drag when you don't hit your personal mark and due to circumstances too.  I kinda feel the same with my short score, but it was starting late and playing too close to the time limit that cut my own potential, as always, the skills were there but needed re-earthing, and so I hardly did anything new.  That was probably still only 1 competition point left on the table though; irrationally enough, I'm more pissed about my Marble Madness score, not even close to my best or even close to my prior run-of-the-mill score.  And I got second against mbd's impossible top score, so that shit didn't even cost me a point!  Doesn't matter - still pissed.

I'll never procrastinate again!!  ...yet here I am, haven't even touched Silk Worm

[mbd39 | 2,017]

5 hours ago, Krunch said:

 

Yeah that is always a drag when you don't hit your personal mark and due to circumstances too.  I kinda feel the same with my short score, but it was starting late and playing too close to the time limit that cut my own potential, as always, the skills were there but needed re-earthing, and so I hardly did anything new.  That was probably still only 1 competition point left on the table though; irrationally enough, I'm more pissed about my Marble Madness score, not even close to my best or even close to my prior run-of-the-mill score.  And I got second against mbd's impossible top score, so that shit didn't even cost me a point!  Doesn't matter - still pissed.

Yeah, I was disappointed that more people didn't get over 170k that week. Of course nobody was going to beat me, but I still felt like I won too easily.

 

[NESfiend | 1,514]

8 hours ago, mbd39 said:

Yeah, I was disappointed that more people didn't get over 170k that week. Of course nobody was going to beat me, but I still felt like I won too easily.

 

The other competitors didnt put up enough of a fight when I won? Talk about champagne problems. Ill take every win no questions asked. To that effect, this silkworm game really sucks. Everyone should just take the week and rest up for vice project doom

[mbd39 | 2,017]

15 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

The other competitors didnt put up enough of a fight when I won? Talk about champagne problems. Ill take every win no questions asked. To that effect, this silkworm game really sucks. Everyone should just take the week and rest up for vice project doom

Silkworm seems like a good game but really hard, especially with one life rules, and I suck at shooters. It'll probably be participation time again.

 

[Jeevan | 8,909]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

To that effect, this silkworm game really sucks. Everyone should just take the week and rest up for vice project doom

You take that back you dirty filthy......wait, no, everyone take a week off, maybe i will be first   I love it I played for several hours yesterday, and I generally hate shooters!!!!!  This one seems easy enough to me, through the first 5 bosses no problem.  Time to fire up silkworm again   

[NESfiend | 1,514]

1 hour ago, Jeevan said:

You take that back you dirty filthy......wait, no, everyone take a week off, maybe i will be first   I love it I played for several hours yesterday, and I generally hate shooters!!!!!  This one seems easy enough to me, through the first 5 bosses no problem.  Time to fire up silkworm again   

Joking aside, I agree its a really good shooter. I didnt get as far as you, but almost half way through the game day 1 (though I also played plenty) means its an easier shooter. If I can go that deep that quickly, I imagine @docile tapeworm, bert, and the other Juggernauts have it beat fairly quickly 

[mbd39 | 2,017]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

Joking aside, I agree its a really good shooter. I didnt get as far as you, but almost half way through the game day 1 (though I also played plenty) means its an easier shooter

 

The Mexican Runner completed every licensed NES game and gave Silk Worm an 8 in difficulty (it's game 636 on this spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDNGI76HoMNyYLL6RqWu4PqUbw-lI920tf7QTclnLLE/edit#gid=0). It's also still waiting to be beaten in the "complete every NES game" thread on this board.

The last level is supposed to be really hard.

 

 

 

[Jeevan | 8,909]

Just now, mbd39 said:

 

The Mexican Runner completed every licensed NES game and gave Silk Worm an 8 in difficulty (it's game 636 on this spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDNGI76HoMNyYLL6RqWu4PqUbw-lI920tf7QTclnLLE/edit#gid=0). It's also still waiting to be beaten in the "complete every NES game" thread on this board.

The last level is supposed to be really hard.

 

 

 

what level is the last level?  I didnt even look, just kinda played lol

[mbd39 | 2,017]

According to Gamefaqs there's 9 levels.

 

[NESfiend | 1,514]

5 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

According to Gamefaqs there's 9 levels.

 

I think level 9 is just an extra boss. Our game ends at end of level 8 before the boss because thats the last time you see the score. @Jeevanmake sure you don't go on to wave 9. No coming back and that would me maddening 

[Jeevan | 8,909]

1 minute ago, NESfiend said:

I think level 9 is just an extra boss. Our game ends at end of level 8 before the boss because thats the last time you see the score. @Jeevanmake sure you don't go on to wave 9. No coming back and that would me maddening 

Ya, i read dem rulez   Thanks tho.

[RH | 4,895]

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

 

The Mexican Runner completed every licensed NES game and gave Silk Worm an 8 in difficulty (it's game 636 on this spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDNGI76HoMNyYLL6RqWu4PqUbw-lI920tf7QTclnLLE/edit#gid=0). It's also still waiting to be beaten in the "complete every NES game" thread on this board.

The last level is supposed to be really hard.

 

 

 

But, but, but... he said Bump n' Jump is a rated 10 difficulty?!  I'm 90% sure I beat that one as a kid!  It was a favorite though.

[Krunch | 303]

12 minutes ago, RH said:

But, but, but... he said Bump n' Jump is a rated 10 difficulty?!  I'm 90% sure I beat that one as a kid!  It was a favorite though.

Bump n Jump is so fkn hard but damn it’s a good time.  That’s a good value game to own as a kid

[RH | 4,895]

Just now, Krunch said:

Bump n Jump is so fkn hard but damn it’s a good time.  That’s a good value game to own as a kid

I won't say it was easy and it took years of playing that one.  I read his notes after I commented.  There is some seriously broken RNG with that game.  But if you play it enough and memorize the maps, you can get through it.  I'm just saying, Battletoads, to me, was worse and there were games I had like Cybernoid that made me cry, even with a Game Genie.

[Krunch | 303]

4 minutes ago, RH said:

I won't say it was easy and it took years of playing that one.  I read his notes after I commented.  There is some seriously broken RNG with that game.  But if you play it enough and memorize the maps, you can get through it.  I'm just saying, Battletoads, to me, was worse and there were games I had like Cybernoid that made me cry, even with a Game Genie.

Absolutely and yeah I haven’t even put nearly the same time as Battletoads.  I still have my ol CIB never got rid of that one.  Maybe it’s another of those incremental challenge games, unless the RnG is that devastating, i dunno

[mbd39 | 2,017]

38 minutes ago, RH said:

I won't say it was easy and it took years of playing that one.  I read his notes after I commented.  There is some seriously broken RNG with that game.  But if you play it enough and memorize the maps, you can get through it.  I'm just saying, Battletoads, to me, was worse and there were games I had like Cybernoid that made me cry, even with a Game Genie.

I can beat Bump n Jump. I've beaten it three times for the "complete every NES game in a year" thread.

I'd say Battletoads was much harder to beat for the first time, but Bump n Jump is harder to beat consistently due to the rng and very limited number of lives.

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

5 hours ago, mbd39 said:

 

The Mexican Runner completed every licensed NES game and gave Silk Worm an 8 in difficulty (it's game 636 on this spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDNGI76HoMNyYLL6RqWu4PqUbw-lI920tf7QTclnLLE/edit#gid=0). It's also still waiting to be beaten in the "complete every NES game" thread on this board.

The last level is supposed to be really hard.

 

 

 

It's not the last level that's ridiculously hard, it's the final boss; Silkworm is one of the few games I actually gave up on trying to beat after getting so good that I had it completely memorized and could no-death to the final boss and still couldn't beat the game after countless tries... though this was many years ago.  Hopefully I'll have a little time this week to get my mojo back...

Edited June 9, 2021 by Dr. Morbis

[docile tapeworm | 4,194]

On 6/8/2021 at 5:59 PM, NESfiend said:

Joking aside, I agree its a really good shooter. I didnt get as far as you, but almost half way through the game day 1 (though I also played plenty) means its an easier shooter. If I can go that deep that quickly, I imagine @docile tapeworm, bert, and the other Juggernauts have it beat fairly quickly 

i dont know. i havent had time to play yet. maybe this weekend :/ 

[docile tapeworm | 4,194]

ive put in like 40 hours on animal crossings this week though..... bought it for "the girls" (wife and daughter) but dad destroyed the game in two nights.

"you already did everything dad!!!"

whoops lol.

Edited June 10, 2021 by docile tapeworm

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

14 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

ive put in like 40 hours on animal crossings this week though..... bought it for "the girls" (wife and daughter) but dad destroyed the game in two nights.

"you already did everything dad!!!"

whoops lol.

You must have been so into Animal Crossing that you didn't even get a participation score in. You're slipping in your old age! 

[docile tapeworm | 4,194]

2 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

You must have been so into Animal Crossing that you didn't even get a participation score in. You're slipping in your old age! 

i had battletoads intro running for two or three days...never did get around to a participation score :(