BeaIank

A score of zero is most impressive indeed, but remember, it is progress first, lowest score second.

1 minute ago, mbd39 said:

That's probably best possible rules for Commando.

Would be even better if we could start at 4-1, but alas. This will do.

Commando is now progress then lowest score. Have fun with not point pressing it.

I am inclined to allow unlimited use of double ships since we are playing till stage 31 and there is some risk involved in getting it. We will be playing till game over or stage 31 since on death the enemies don't respawn on death and you can't burn lives to point press.

I will add a score bonus for each extra ship (including double ship) you have at stage 31 on the rules.

3 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Just for the sake of complete clarity, if you get double ship and then get hit and lose one of the two ships, does that count as a death or do you actually have to "die" in the sense that it resets the enemy formation and respawns your ship?  Which is it:

A - Double ship down to one ship is when you stop and take a picture, or
B - Double ship down to losing both and respawning is when you stop and take your picture?

Either way, reserved for score...

Losing both and respawning is when you stop and take your picture. You have to die and pause after the "ready" for your next life, 

10 minutes ago, RH said:

@BeaIank Can we get the double-ship in Galaga and if so, what counts as losing your first life? The loss of your first ship or the loss of both AFTER obtaining the double fighter?

You can get the double ship. You need to stop playing after you die for the first time.

Commando

Galaga

TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with pleasure that we present you the SECOND ROUND OF THE 2023 VGS NES WEEKLY CONTEST TOURNAMENT!!!

@guillavoie and I will be your host through this round!

Our 8 brave warriors below proved that they have the smarts for puzzle and the mettle to beat opponents to a puddle in our first round.

@PII
@mbd39
@Richardhead
@Dr. Morbis
@NESfiend
@BlackVega
@SuperJimtendo
@RH

For this round, they will have to show their flying skills at GALAGA and shooting skills at COMMANDO!!!

For this tournament round, each game will award points in the following fashion:

1st: 7
2nd: 5
3rd: 4
4th: 3
5th: 2
6th: 1
7th and 8th: 0

The rules for Galaga are as follow:

• Play till stage 31 or till game over
• Pause the game when you game over or when you reach stage 31 to take your picture
• If you reached stage 31, add 30,000 points to your score for every extra life you have, and 30,000 for the double ship if you have it.
• Getting the double ship is allowed
• Highest progress wins. Highest score will be the tie breaker
• Highest progress will be defined by stage number.
• Genre: Shooter

And the rules for Commando are:

• Play 1 player mode
• Play till stage 2-1 or till you lose your first life
• Pause the game when you lose your first life
• Highest progress wins. Lowest score will be the tie breaker
• Highest progress will be determined using the following maps: https://nesmaps.com/maps/Commando/Commando.html
• Genre: Arcade

Best luck to our valiant competitors!

The contest ends Sunday, 12/03/23 at 11 PM VGS time.  Your user name MUST be written or typed on a piece of paper and be in the picture for your score to be valid.  The entire TV screen, or computer monitor if you are playing on an emulator, MUST be in the picture for the score to be valid.  No partial screenshots will be considered or accepted.  No screenshots by hitting "print screen" on a computer will be allowed.  You must take a picture of your computer monitor.  There may be instances where this will be acceptable, but it will be at the discretion of myself and the contest organizers.  Also, the use of turbo controllers is forbidden, as well as any cheat codes, Game Genies, slow motion functions, or save states if playing on an emulator.  Also, we will only be using NTSC systems for the contests.  The use of PAL systems will NOT be allowed.  Good luck everyone and have fun.

I will put the thread on later today.

I will let you guys decide if you want do 4-1 to 4-4 with continue and code or 1-1 to 1-4 without code.

Either will be one life only.

6 hours ago, RH said:

I'm about to load and test these now.  Also, can I get some clarification on Galaga?  I assume it's a1-life game.  If so, does that mean we can get a double-ship and that counts as one?  If we lose the second fighter, is that when we pause and take a picture?  I mean, if you never pick up the double-ship, you die with one-life. If you pick up the double ship and then play til you die, that's sort of two lives.  How does this pan out for the rules? 

EDIT

Also, the GG patches didn't work.  Specifically, I seemed to start on stage 1, regardless of the codes, but the second 1 life code worked.  However, when the heli lands and the player jumps out, I can't see the sprite plus it's stuck.

I have a ROM named Command (U).nes, which I assume is the US version.  The Japanese version has Japanese at the title screen but mine is in English.

I hate to ask but... can I get a ROM?  I can try to patch it on my own.  Sorry for this hassle.  If I can't get it to work, I'll just sit that game out.

 

 

With or without the GG codes, the stage select code only sends you to the stage you picked if you had a game over and selected the 1P cont option on the title screen, not the 1P option.

Whence I added the 1 life only code. So you can game over faster.

But if even that doesn't work for you, we will do stage 1-1 to stage 1-4 only then.

On 11/20/2023 at 10:26 AM, RH said:

Is there any  way to enter the code for Commando without a second controller?  I don't own this game and the best way for me to play is on my Analog Pocket.

OK, you can patch your rom with the following codes so that the cheat is always activated.

OZTGVS
PATGNI
SATKES
EGTKOS
GATKXI
ATTKUI

Also add the 1 life game genie code to speed things up as the level select only works when 1P cont is selected:

AEKKIILA

For people playing on an NES or emulator that have access to a game genie, I recommend using the following codes:

AEKKIILA - 1 life only to be able to select 1P cont faster
SKAGNS - changes the cheat code from Left, Right, A, B, A, Down, Up on the second controller to Left, Left, Left, Left, Left, Left, Left on the second controller

I will post this code on the rules this weekend.

SKAGNS

This game genie code changes the cheat code from Left, Right, A, B, A, Down, Up on the second controller to Left, Left, Left, Left, Left, Left, Left.

I am trying to come up with codes that make the first controller being read instead of the second one. I have found most of where that happens, but I am yet to find where in the code the first left input is triggered to branch to the cheat code to run.

So, I found the address that is set when the cheatcode is inputted, so now I am looking to find the code that checks for that cheatcode in rom so I can change it to only be up in the P1 pad and generate a gamegenie code for that.

I will have updates through the week.

7 minutes ago, RH said:

Thanks, then just to be fully clear and covered, can I use this utility to patch the ROM? 

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1054/

There's no Game Genie interface on the NES cores, but I can patch a GG code into a game with that application.

 

Of course you can.

Also, I just found out that the most that you can go on the NES version is stage 4-4, so I will provide a code to start at 4-1.

7 minutes ago, RH said:

Is there any  way to enter the code for Commando without a second controller?  I don't own this game and the best way for me to play is on my Analog Pocket.

Iirc, there isn't, but there should be a game genie code to start at stage 7.
I will check it and post here.

I will update the final standings later today.

Next round will be posted on the 26th so the US folk can enjoy Thanksgiving.

The games for it will be Commando and Galaga if you want to start practising.

Current standings posted.

2 hours ago, Richardhead said:

Bea, you’re a monster!!

I am uglier than Godzilla, so your assessment is correct.

Have fun mastering Boulder Dash through the week to find an edge over your other opponents!

Toxic Crusader

Boulder Dash

TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD

After a whole year of fierce battles, bantering, mad gaming skills, we have reached the 2023 VGS NES Weekly Contest TOURNAMENT!

@guillavoie and I will be your host through this incredible journey!

8 brave warriors stood up to the challenge that is ahead:

@PII
@mbd39
@Richardhead
@Dr. Morbis
@NESfiend
@BlackVega
@SuperJimtendo
@RH

They will have to prove their mettle in 2 rounds of tournament and at the grand final to prove who is the gamest player of them all here!

For the tournament round, each game will award points in the following fashion:

1st: 6
2nd: 4
3rd: 3
4th: 2
5th: 1
6th and over: 0 points.

On the final round, there will be more points to be gained.

For this week, our players will prove their skills at two games:

Representing the beat'em up genre, we have TOXIC CRUSADER!
The rules are as follow:

• Start on stage 5 using the password 7011 or a game genie code
• Play till you die the first time or you reach stage 6
• Point pressing is allowed
• Highest score wins.

And for the Puzzle genre, we have Boulder Dash!
The rules are:

• Play the Volcano World on quest 02 using the password 827100 
• Play till you lose a life or beat Volcano World
• Highest score wins

For thanksgiving weekend, there will be no tournament round. Round 02 will start on the 26th of November.

May the gamest gamer win!

The contest ends Sunday, 11/19/23 at 11 PM VGS time.  Your user name MUST be written or typed on a piece of paper and be in the picture for your score to be valid.  The entire TV screen, or computer monitor if you are playing on an emulator, MUST be in the picture for the score to be valid.  No partial screenshots will be considered or accepted.  No screenshots by hitting "print screen" on a computer will be allowed.  You must take a picture of your computer monitor.  There may be instances where this will be acceptable, but it will be at the discretion of myself and the contest organizers.  Also, the use of turbo controllers is forbidden, as well as any cheat codes, Game Genies, slow motion functions, or save states if playing on an emulator.  Also, we will only be using NTSC systems for the contests.  The use of PAL systems will NOT be allowed.  Good luck everyone and have fun.

I will be sending the invites to the eligible players starting on the 15th to confirm your participation on the tournament.

For the games, we will be using the following ones:
Arcade: Commando, with the use of the level select code to start on stage 7 (one life only) (https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Commando/NES_Walkthrough#Secret_codes)

Shooter: Galaga - Play still stage 31 (one life only)

Beat'em up: Toxic Crusaders - Starting on stage 5 - Password 7011 (one life only)

Puzzle: Boulder Dash, Quest 02 - Volcano World - Password 827100 (one life only)

Sports: Capcom's Gold Medal Challenge '92 - Events: 100 metres dash, Triple Jump, Javelin Throw, Shot Put, Weight Lifting,

Action & extra game for finals: It is a secret for everbody.

May you training commence!

It is definitely good that we postponed this. Work has been even more busy than I expected.

There is a national holiday coming this week. I will be able to double check videos of the games I picked up to see if the rules I have in mind will work and post the details next weekend.

It seems that the time between Thanksgiving and xmas is the preferable one.

And we will have time to do 4 rounds for the tournament. This is nice.

I already have a list of games in mind, but I will have to proof of concept the rules I am considering for them. I would run them starting next week, but I was dropped a truckload of new features to develop at work, so that would get in the way of running the tournament.

I will keep you guys posted and I will post the list of games we will run this weekend.

Hello worthy players!

We should be moving on with the tournament, but I will be super extra busy in the next weeks and won't be able to run it properly.

So, I would like your feedback on this.

Should we run it between the end of US Thanksgiving and Xmas, run it in January 2024 or just go on and try to run it in the next three weeks?

The qualified players are:

@PII @Gloves @Bearcat-Doug @mbd39 @Richardhead @Dr. Morbis @NESfiend @docile tapeworm

On the call list, we have @BlackVega @SuperJimtendo @G-type @RH

Awaiting your feedback on this.

~Bea

Final standings for Geral and Genre scoreboards have been posted.

@PII takes the 2023 VGS NES WEEKLY CONTEST championship at the last round, with a meagre 3 points lead!

And all hail our 2023 genre champions!

Puzzle: @mbd39

Action: @PII

Shooter: @docile tapeworm

Beat em up: @Bearcat-Doug

Arcade: @PII

Sports: @Bearcat-Doug

Thank you all for partaking on this and making it special. We had a total of 24 who posted scores through the course of this season!

We will be back in 2024 for more.