weekly contest 2022 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Tournament Round 2

[docile tapeworm | 4,262]

8 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

What exactly is the double hit glitch anyway? I remember people discussing it in the 2017 thread but a lot of pages are missing from the archive and there's nothing about it on the internet.

 

5 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Maybe that's what skinny used to hit 300k on a single play-through.

Ya it was a collective effort to figure out the double hit glitch. I had noticed a strange point differential in my runs, that seemed to have to do with the options. I had an idea but was keeping it to myself. I had pm’d @rdrunner but he didn’t know anything. I just knew that if I was extremely close to an enemy while destroying it I gained more points.
 

then @Gloves noticed it to. He did some major digging and with the side of compruter technology found that while destroying an enemy if you place your options (with missiles) inside the sprite the game will glitch giving you double, sometimes triple the point value of that enemy. You can do it on bosses as well, so instead of just 10k for the brain you can get 20k etc. From what i remember the game thinks you killed the enemy twice. It works with lasers too. 
 

an elite score would be 400k+ on one loop. I was trying to get 350k but I only made a few runs this week. 

[docile tapeworm | 4,262]

13 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Also a combination of killing more enemies and getting more of the hidden 5k bonuses that are strewn around.

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Life_Force/Secrets

 

I actually found a 5k bonus I haven’t been able to find any documentation on.

[mbd39 | 2,092]

1 minute ago, docile tapeworm said:

 

Ya it was a collective effort to figure out the double hit glitch. I had noticed a strange point differential in my runs, that seemed to have to do with the options. I had an idea but was keeping it to myself. I had pm’d @rdrunner but he didn’t know anything. I just knew that if I was extremely close to an enemy while destroying it I gained more points.
 

then @Gloves noticed it to. He did some major digging and with the side of compruter technology found that while destroying an enemy if you place your options (with missiles) inside the sprite the game will glitch giving you double, sometimes triple the point value of that enemy. You can do it on bosses as well, so instead of just 10k for the brain you can get 20k etc. From what i remember the game thinks you killed the enemy twice. It works with lasers too. 
 

an elite score would be 400k+ on one loop. I was trying to get 350k but I only made a few runs this week. 

Thank you. I remembered it being something like that, but I didn't remember the specifics.

Man fuck GoCollect. So many old threads lost (or partially lost) forever.

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

4 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

 

Ya it was a collective effort to figure out the double hit glitch. I had noticed a strange point differential in my runs, that seemed to have to do with the options. I had an idea but was keeping it to myself. I had pm’d @rdrunner but he didn’t know anything. I just knew that if I was extremely close to an enemy while destroying it I gained more points.
 

then @Gloves noticed it to. He did some major digging and with the side of compruter technology found that while destroying an enemy if you place your options (with missiles) inside the sprite the game will glitch giving you double, sometimes triple the point value of that enemy. You can do it on bosses as well, so instead of just 10k for the brain you can get 20k etc. From what i remember the game thinks you killed the enemy twice. It works with lasers too. 
 

an elite score would be 400k+ on one loop. I was trying to get 350k but I only made a few runs this week. 

That's all pretty crazy!  If the leaderboard was super tight I would've been all in on this sort of thing, but as it is, I spent a couple hours on Life Force and then moved on to the real challenge: getting to 4-1 of Q*bert with a decent score...

[docile tapeworm | 4,262]

3 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Thank you. I remembered it being something like that, but I didn't remember the specifics.

Man fuck GoCollect. So many old threads lost (or partially lost) forever.

 

I know. That was really cool information we found together that had never been documented.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

4 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Man fuck GoCollect. So many old threads lost (or partially lost) forever.

Are you using this resource or are individual threads totally gone now:

https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageview0d82.html?catid=31&threadid=168510

[mbd39 | 2,092]

Yeah I knew most in the tournament wouldn't be able to no-death Life Force so I was happy just to beat it and get a score.

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,262]

1 minute ago, mbd39 said:

Yeah I knew most in the tournament wouldn't be able to no-death Life Force so I was happy just to beat it and get a score.

 

Always nice to 1LC a classic. Notch on the belt for sure. I’m looking at you AI

[mbd39 | 2,092]

Just now, Dr. Morbis said:

Are you using this resource or are individual threads totally gone now:

https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageview0d82.html?catid=31&threadid=168510

I am, but sadly many pages are missing and give a 404 error, such as in the 2017 Life Force thread.

 

 

 

[PII | 2,029]

2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Great Q*bert score, @PII.  It took me hours to beat your originally posted score, but after seeing your post about playing the actual arcade cab, I knew you'd have a better score up your sleeve...

Thanks, but I'm a little surprised you didn't top it.  I was kinda hoping to crack 100k but did not spend enough time on it this week.  This week made it into a nice little training program though.  This and arcade are almost completely different games.  Having to play Q*bert with a D-pad is practically offensive.  It's really easy in a tight situation to just completely hit the wrong directional, but maybe the most obnoxious consideration is when you're in the middle of a jump and then an enemy directly behind you jumps after you do and catches you in mid-air somehow.  Still its pretty unique among Q*bert ports and probably the fastest one I've played which can be pretty fun.

[docile tapeworm | 4,262]

@mbd39 who even keeps track of the high scores anymore twin galaxies?

[mbd39 | 2,092]

Just now, PII said:

Thanks, but I'm a little surprised you didn't top it.  I was kinda hoping to crack 100k but did not spend enough time on it this week.  This week made it into a nice little training program though.  This and arcade are almost completely different games.  Having to play Q*bert with a D-pad is practically offensive.  It's really easy in a tight situation to just completely hit the wrong directional, but maybe the most obnoxious consideration is when you're in the middle of a jump and then an enemy directly behind you jumps after you do and catches you in mid-air somehow.  Still its pretty unique among Q*bert ports and probably the fastest one I've played which can be pretty fun.

 

The worst thing about NES Qbert is that it clears your score when you game over. Why would an 80s arcade port do that???

I suck at NES Qbert but I also played a ton of Atari 2600 Qbert as a kid so the controls are almost second nature. That doesn't mean that I'm not terrible at it.

 

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

1 minute ago, mbd39 said:

 

The worst thing about NES Qbert is that it clears your score when you game over. Why would an 80s arcade port do that???

If it didn't clear your score on Game Over, then your score would be useless as a measure of skill since you wouldn't know if continues had been used.  Trust me, it's a very good thing to clear the score on a Game Over...

[mbd39 | 2,092]

6 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

@mbd39 who even keeps track of the high scores anymore twin galaxies?

Probably.

But it seems like high scores have become almost entirely irrelevant except for old arcade games and Tetris. It's all about speedrunning now.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by mbd39

[mbd39 | 2,092]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

If it didn't clear your score on Game Over, then your score would be useless as a measure of skill since you wouldn't know if continues had been used.  Trust me, it's a very good thing to clear the score on a Game Over...

No, that's not what I meant. I mean that it doesn't show your score after a game over. No high score screen. No top score shown. It's gone and that's it.

Which is why Qbert contests always have you play until your last life instead of to game over.

Columns on Sega Master System is the same way and I thought that was really stupid too.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by mbd39

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

6 minutes ago, PII said:

Thanks, but I'm a little surprised you didn't top it.

Way too frustrating with jumping the wrong way and such (like you said: D-pad shit) and getting hit by enemies all the time even though I was mid-jump getting away from them.  My goal was to top your Sunday score, knowing that I'd get second even if you had a better score in your pocket.  Of course Krunch almost knocked me down a peg, also getting a 70k score, and only missing mine by a few hundred points...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

1 minute ago, mbd39 said:

No, that's not what I meant. I mean that it doesn't show your score after a game over. No high score screen. No top score shown. It's gone and that's it.

Which is why Qbert contests always have you play until your last life instead of to game over.

 

Oh, I see.  Yeah, there are a bunch of NES games that do that.  Usually it doesn't matter, but for an arcade port, scoring is literally the whole point!

[PII | 2,029]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Oh, I see.  Yeah, there are a bunch of NES games that do that.  Usually it doesn't matter, but for an arcade port, scoring is literally the whole point!

I don't disagree, but unlike most this port actually has an ending.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

Just now, PII said:

I don't disagree, but unlike most this port actually has an ending.

So I've heard.  If we didn't have one more round of tournament games I would probably try and get all the way through 9-4...

[PII | 2,029]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

So I've heard.  If we didn't have one more round of tournament games I would probably try and get all the way through 9-4...

Lol.  You do not have time for that tonight or this coming week.

Also, you have to get through 11-4 for some reason.  

[Dr. Morbis | 2,120]

16 minutes ago, PII said:

Lol.  You do not have time for that tonight or this coming week.

Also, you have to get through 11-4 for some reason.  

Adaml's FAQ says 9-4; is that wrong?  And no, I don't want to spend the time because I'm assuming that the puzzle element of changing colours multiple times over and over heats up, and puzzle games are easily my weakest genre, meaning it would take me many many hours over possibly many days to actually beat the game...

[PII | 2,029]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Adaml's FAQ says 9-4; is that wrong?  And no, I don't want to spend the time because I'm assuming that the puzzle element of changing colours multiple times over and over heats up, and puzzle games are easily my weakest genre, meaning it would take me many many hours over possibly many days to actually beat the game...

I could have sworn it was 11 but I just checked and yeah, I guess it's nine.

[guillavoie | 1,225]

Second Round Results :

Life Force :

1st   docile tapeworm   329,990 = 5 points
2nd  mbd39                  276,670 = 4 points
3rd  Dr. Morbis              238,390 = 2 points

Q*Bert :

1st  Pii                    77,660 = 5 points
2nd Dr. Morbis      70,800 = 4 points
3rd Krunch            70,130 = 2 points

Tournament Standing :

1st  Dr. Morbis           = 16 points
2nd the_wiz_666       = 8 points
3rd Pii                         = 7 points
4th docile tapeworm = 5 points
5th mbd39                 = 4 points
6th Krunch                 = 3 points
6th NesFiend             = 3 points
8th JamesBlowbot    = no point

 

[the_wizard_666 | 1,332]

Wait, I'm still in second?  Damn, maybe I'm gonna have to try after all...

[rdrunner | 444]

Wow, first I've heard of this Life Force scoring glitch.  Wonder how far it can be exploited?

Hopefully not too far.  I hate seeing silly things like this factor into a contest (thankfully it looks like it didn't).

It's kinda like scoring 700 points for head-butting people in NES Double Dragon.  The game's weakest move should not also be the highest scoring move.

Edited November 28, 2022 by rdrunner