Krunch

39 minutes ago, BeaIank said:

Why are you trying to loop 2-2 when you haven't reached 5-1 yet? Reaching 5-1 is mandatory. Use the boxes.

I'm not trying to cause not enough health to even beat it.  Although I did actually fall thru accidentally once or twice.  I found some health that I missed on level 3, but it still hasnt been enough to keep me alive...

I'm struggling on Batman...I just dont have enough health to keep the run going.  Cant loop 2-2 either cause not enough health.  I havent got to Stage 4 yet

3 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Wow my times were really shitty and I know I can get them down much more. But at least I got a score!

A Winner Is You!!!

8 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I recommend playing on emulator to get the times, or recording a video. Unless I'm missing something, you only have a moment between matches.

 

Yeah its seeming that way, I had to snap these pics fast, if this format works then I might stick to playing on an NES, but i dont have Batman Returns so I have to emu that one anyway.  

5:24

Sorry that my damn pics are sideways

9 minutes ago, BeaIank said:

Yes. All at once.

Okay ty thats cool, that makes it a nice challenge.  I just completed a run so ill post what I have and see if its posted properly, since I only got the Winner is You screen for all the fights.

Do our Pro Wrestling times all have to be on one run? @BeaIank

Worked for me now

4 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

The only thing I can think of is maybe since you already voted in the original poll, it won't let you vote in the new ones? That would be pretty dumb, but if that's the case I can just remove the original poll anyway and hopefully that would resolve the issue, the tiebreaker polls are what matters right now anyway.

That was my best guess as well

Ooh interesting I almost voted Makar first time instead of one of the two leading so gotta go with that.  And I think painted pumpkins are cool.

---- Seems like it won't let me vote on the new polls though

I'm in!

19 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

Good job on the win and to @Krunch on the great score! I did get a perfect run on the first stage, but I played the next two straight so I didn't pad my score as much as I should have.

Thanks!  I thought maybe I'd pull it off but ultimately the score proved to not be enough of a cinch, Pii had all the tools at hand to make a nice comeback

29 minutes ago, PII said:

Thanks!  Glad you showed up.  My runs were also level 1 heavy.  I didn't perfect level 1 by any stretch, but was leaving it with around 68,000 at best.  That last run, I was finally able to get some big points on level 3 as well.

And thanks to @Bearcat-Dougfor setting an early bar to aim for.  I figured I had a decent shot this week to begin with, but wasn't really expecting to top your score.  Now I feel like I could do yet a bit better...

Glad I could make it interesting near the end there!  Though I was able to technically get it perfect out of level 1 I only did it a few times, falling anywhere from 4000 to 32000 under the max, so not many runs to tack another part of a run onto.  Getting level 2 more thorough would have been what was needed but just not enough tries.  I was able to corral the level 2 spawns a bit to get them together but couldnt lead them without splitting them up, the placements you wanna be at at certain times is hella finicky.  

Nice win @PII!  I just could not break 145K.  Most of my points were just from maxing the first level

21 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I remember his video explaining how to group the enemies, but I think he only did the first two or three stages. I guess the contest still ends at 11:00 EST, so there's about two more hours.

Noice.  I liked the sequencing of the enemies he did.  Just put up a 3,500 improvement

11 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

He probably remembered how we got our high scores last time and is more tolerant of the long and tedious process that is involved.

Pretty much.  I'm using rdrunner's tutorial as well because that's what opened my eyes last time.  Still, it's pretty hard but I'm gonna keep playing cause it's fun.  In how many hours does this contest end?  It was daylight savings today eh

144,350

I was playing yesterday and was pretty rusty but now I got it going.  Got a 30,000 just under mbd now.  Gotta get it more consistent though

Respect my authorita!!  

Lol I found a huge pumpkin that was perfect for Cartman, this is copied by hand since I couldn't print a stencil large enough.  I might update or add more pics later once it's dark outside but yeah that's one more submission!!

Stage 6

Got thrown off here... could have got to stage 6 I think.  

Improvement here, got to Stage 6.

Bit of competition on the lower end this week eh... I died stage 4 on my first attempt.  I assume from the leaderboard progress within stages doesnt count 

Level 1 - 171,310

I did a bit better than whats showing as level 2 Mothra, but then died bringing Godzilla over.  Not too bad a game  

34 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

For me, one major facet was the idea of playing less popular games at the same time as other people, kind of like watching a movie or sport together, to make the experience more interesting.  Like, for example, this week is Top Gun, a game I would literally never be interested in playing myself, outside of my goal to beat every game on the NES.  But playing it in this setting spices up the experience, and I almost always learn something about the game that I wouldn't have learned playing alone, like with this week's example of the extra screen in Top Gun that you get for beating the high score but not finishing the game.

That's a neat idea, and takes the current participation badge (the one you have) a step further by making it an actual accomplishment.  I don't even know if they're keeping up on the participation badge for any "new" players who've come along in the last few years as it is...

I agree, the playing it live with other people is what does it for me, and why I dont really participate in the beat every NES game threads which is basically the inverse - im more interested in playing when everyone's temporarily playing the same game.  And of course that the contests make you play specific games some of which are not that popular.  I've gained appreciation for a wide variety of NES games that maybe wouldnt have been as vibrant without the context of the contest.

Who knows, the badge thing could be a decent idea, I'd even be okay with starting it from scratch next season so you have to get a '23 season or later to get a badge - no retroactive badges. 

On 10/11/2022 at 6:39 PM, Dr. Morbis said:

No, all points are as normal except for dead last.  So under the current scheme, if only five people posted scores, the points would be, from first to fifth: 20-16-13-10-01, and this is assuming no minimum score required at all...

I think this could help balance the point system in case of a lower turnout, like now.  Could create some more flurry since you now don't wanna get last.  I mean I'm still fighting for glory but my M.O. this year has been a lower-effort approach where usually I only play on the final day, and I'm still in 4th overall (missed 2 weeks as well).  If I knew I was getting 1 point for dead last in these smaller comps I would probably be forced to pick up my game a bit.

The thing I wonder on the whole is: outside of enjoyment ,what motivates anyone to play?  It's well and good and necessary to have a balanced leaderboard but not everyone is ultimately gonna care about actually getting a good rank for the season.  So the point system working for the diehards is important, it has generally seemed to work, and it also seems like for the genre leaderboards it's worked since there's multiple contenders for some genres, chances to come back with a big point gain on genre leaders (although I'm not following that genre side too closely - it might look more lopsided in some cases since we don't have a high turnout, so there aren't others placing in between to make them bigger swings).

Maybe to increase interactivity with the larger site, we should try to get a new VGS Award (badge, icon) for getting a single win in the comps?  Just get a win in any week and you get a badge?  The best comps are when everyone's really truly going for the win.  I think it increases the glory incentive, but that's me.

I think anyone who's nervous about playing and wants to try oughta just go for it, everyone is totally welcome here.  I always love seeing new faces or people who haven't participated, or even ones who just don't participate often.  It's great being put in the hotseat when exploring the library.  Even if no tremendous score comes out of it, it's fun anyways - I've played like 9 or 10 seasons now and I still only have like 4 wins.  But I'm beginning to see some improvement!

8 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Yeah. Level 18 starts are gonna be super hard if you're not already a Tetris junkie.

You can try playing on 19 for awhile to warm up.

 

That's a good tip that I considered doing at the outset, but I might have already used up all my gas getting this score.  I wanted to beat Dr Morbis and conceptually it doesnt seem difficult to get three Tetrises but it just is, and it hurts my head