0xDEAFC0DE

Fair enough. I don't really have a whole lot of useful info to share on this one. I'll go over what there is. The power meter is actually split up into sections that are of equal power. The first four half ticks (so full left to between 2 and 3) are max power. From there every five half ticks are another power level (so the next one would be 3 to 5 then 5.5 to 7.5 and so on). The one exception is the 1W has a special super shot if you hit full power and no curve. For curve, it maxes out at 5 either direction. So, you can actually hit very consistent shots with max curve one way or the other. Also, there seems to be a slight programming error in the lower clubs where their no curve range is slightly bigger than is show by the white ticks. Another good resource is watching the speedrun. It's amazing and you should definitely watch it. The guy gets -21 in under 7 minutes (which means he doesn't have time to set up his shots). That's way more impressive than my -25 (I wonder how good he'd be if he takes his time). Anyway, he gives a good tip in the video description. You can get 0 wind on the first hole every time by holding start after powering on the console. This means you can follow hisset up to get an eagle. Combining that with the info above, the first shot needs the power to be between the 3rd and 5th ticks with max left curve, and the second shot needs to be full power with four right curve (note: that hitting that curve is frame perfect, so it'll take some practice to get it right). If there's anything else you want to know about in particular feel free to ask. I mean nothing is stopping you from reading the code too... Lol, I kid I kid. I'm a programmer by profession, so yeah it's definitely an advantage. If the mods decide it's an unfair advantage, then I'm fine with it being banned. It's probably too late to change anything for this year (I've been open about the fact I look through the code all year, so I don't think it's fair to change things just for the finals). But, in the next year's planning thread, we can definitely continue the discussion.

Yeah, Dr. Morbis and Doug are correct. I was playing on real hardware (well using an everdrive, but close enough). The script is set up to allow me to enter the hole and wind direction. So as I beat a hole on the console, I would enter in the new data into the script on my laptop and then executed the shots on the console again. As far as the theoretical minimum strokes, that would be -40 (as seen in the TAS). For what it's worth about the sports category thing, this one was in my favor but it looks like Macross is a shooter, which I'm horrible at. So, my chances in the grand finals don't bode well. If looking at the code was banned I would stop doing it. If I really wanted to cheat, there are a billion easier ways then to reverse engineer the code. The reason I do it is because I find it fun to dig into the game and figure out how it really works, but if it's made against the rules I would stop.

$69 Sorry to the childness, I couldn't help myself, lol.

$52

Total: 22 (24 + 0 - 2) Golf: -24 Soccer: 0-0 Tennis: Lost (-2) You guys are going to hate me for this, but I seem to have broken Golf. I may have reverse engineered the stroke system and come up with a script that gives me the best shots to make. I will say this still requires a lot of skill. The script doesn't automatically give me hole-in-ones on the par 3s and two strokes and the rest. Like I said earlier, a good number of times this isn't possible due to the wind. And even if there is a way to get an eagle, the vast majority of time it requires one or two shots with frame perfect curve. I only hit a couple of those past the first two holes where I kept resetting until I got eagles there. Also, the script isn't perfect and doesn't take in to account bunkers and whether the shots on the fringe of OOBs or the water are in or not (it would take too long to reverse those systems fully).

All of the par 3s are possible to hole in one and all the rest are possible in two strokes but none of them can be hole in one'd. Most times it requires favorable winds. Getting two strokes on a par 5 will net you a double eagle as the game calls it (which I believe is the American term for an albatross).

I'll open at $50

$61

Fun fact there is a clock on VGS too, but it's only in the dark theme desktop version (hence why wiz probably has never seen it if he uses light mode). EDIT: I checked light mode and apparently it is there now. It didn't use to be though. Anyway, I'm glad I get to stay undefeated in the puzzle game. Even bert's update was still a couple thousand short.

I've seen other long plays from this channel before. I'm convinced they at least use save states. Well you got close-ish to my score at least. I assume you probably missed at least one of my tricks otherwise I would have expected you to be a bit closer (or you just accidently skipped a heart stage).

Yeah that has to be an emulation issue. It should kick you back to the stage selection screen. It's a shame because it's where you get the most points. When I was testing the game before it arrived, I know FCEUX wouldn't work at all. Bizhawk did and I would imagine Mesen would work as well.

Huh, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check out that concert poster speculation blog, and their back up of the forum has now completely vanished. But don't worry, if you wanted to know what the top 2 active sellers are it's BotW for WiiU and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

202,600 Finally got around to performing the run that I planned yesterday. There may be a few places where I missed a couple points, but this should be pretty close to optimal (unless I missed some other way of getting more points). This was a lot of fun. And if anyone's curious it's 203,800 after 8-8's bonuses.

I will say the more you look, the more places there are to scrape some more points. The pineapple and lemon levels do eventually get hard(er) but it does take sometime to get there.

Yeah, I think part of it is hardly anyone else here cares about most puzzle games, so I think I'm one of the few giving it my all when they come up. Whereas way more people enjoy Tetris and have been playing it for years.

To be clear, can we finish it and then take the picture right after the bonus points are added? Or should we just take the picture before completing the last level?

Grape stages are a bit boring and I can see the apple stages getting old, but they are both quick to do. The pineapple and lemon stages make for pretty good puzzles that require a bit of thinking to figure out.

Like I posted previously, I'll be taking Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken. @mbd39 your turn. Just Chase HQ is gone.

You done need to speak Japanese. Just select the first option for both choices on the options screen (New game and 1 player I think) and the rest is fairly easy to pick up. Or I guess use the translation. It's pretty simple. I'll start with the general stuff. The candies give bonus points. Ice cream cones add an ice cream to the timer on the right. Hearts open up a bonus level. Clouds give you a sort of cheat action that depends on the level (Press B to use). In addition to standard movement, you can jump a space with A. There are four types of stages. The apple stages are just a maze with conveyor belts, switches, tunnels, and invisible teleports. The cloud gives you full ice cream cones. The grape stages are just remember the path. The cloud shows the path again. Pineapple is more interesting. To walk/jump onto a pink platform it has to have a bit pointing to you. When you land on it, it will turn 90 degrees clockwise. The cloud turns the pink piece you are on into a lily pad. Lemon also is interesting. To walk/jump on a tile it must be the same color as the one you are currently on. When you land on one, it follows colors and the tiles in each direction change like Othello (every tile between the one you're on and the next one of the same color gets flipped). Additionally, if you land on a star it flips every tile in the row and column instead. The cloud flips the color of the tile you're on. For the heart bonus stage, just pick the right slide to reach the end 8 times in a row.

Another bad photographer here. I was on a run two weeks ago and saw a deer on the path. I took a couple pictures as I approached before it returned to the woods. Then a bit further down the path, I came across another two deer (pictured below). Also there was a beautiful sunset over the river that I took a picture of later in that same run.

We are still waiting on @PII to pick. Although, if you want Challenger or Ninja Hattori-kun, they haven't been picked yet and therefore PII can't take both picks. The other three all have one pick left so as long as PII doesn't pick one of those they are free as well to you.

Definitely legit. @JamesRobot did it for the special break week Videomation contest last year.

No one can pick a game more than twice. The idea being that Bea doesn't want everyone to pick the same game. So, with 8 people and 5 games, this will leave two slots open.