the_wizard_666

This game is starting to irritate me. I keep going on epic (like 10-20 point runs with only a basket or two against), only to have the CPU decide that it can't miss a goddamn shot, while I end up missing fucking dunks. Like not just the odd one, like every goddamn time until they close the gap. It's really annoying. Maybe I've been playing too much, I dunno, but it's really getting to me

I just haven't got around to changing it. I'm just lazy

And now I think I found a team I gel better with than Golden State...San Antonio wiped the floor with Dallas on the first game I ever loaded up with them. Wonder if I'll be able to improve on that, since I seem to have come apart a bit in the second half (went into halftime leading 60-28). Definitely digging the game overall though...may end up playing through a season after the competition is done. Anyway, I think because of the variance in teams, I think if this gets played in the future, @BeaIank should pick the matchup to use, in order to bring more parity to the competition. It may be a bit late now to change things for this time around, but it's pretty obvious this isn't like a black box game where the two teams are always equal...

Managed to pull off a win with Chicago finally (a team that wasn't Golden State...trying to mix it up a bit). Gotta say though, they're absolute garbage outside of Jordan and Pippin...like, everyone else is slow as hell, and they pretty much suck on D, at least compared to what I'm used to. Also, is anyone else getting frustrated about the AI being absolute garbage on D? Like a guy will literally just stand there while the opponent runs around him to shoot. Like completely inept all around. But yeah, definitely not into trying another Chicago game, as it was straight up frustration for me.

That's possible too, but I generally suck at these sorts of games and yet I've gotten pretty consistent. Of course, Denver sucks ass too, so that helps

Sadly not. I'm guessing because they all figure @0xDEAFC0DE is gonna break the game so there's no point in competing. But at this rate, your two points is gonna give you 16 in the standings, so you'd think someone would post something

I've never really liked basketball...only figured it out because the computer would do it, and I was like "oh yeah, I can do that too asshole" I'm assuming it isn't usually done when you have over a 20 point lead on the opponent with 30 seconds to go, but I don't care

I'd agree. Honestly, most sports games on the NES were mediocre at best, unless they were highly arcade-like. Simulations didn't really pick up until EA's 16 bit sports games.

Mutombo was one of the more frequent names I'd see on baskets, so it did make a bit of a difference. That said, I did notice they were even more defensively inept than usual that game

I also got them early on in my collecting days, meaning I actually played every game I acquired, meaning I have nostalgia for them, not to mention that with the limited resources my 15 year old ass had when I got them, I didn't get new games all the time. Either I played and enjoyed what I had or I did nothing.

Hey, I happen to like both Hoops and Harlem Globetrotters...

I just realized that Price played for Cleveland in this game...does that mean you lost in your picture? Cuz according to the rules, you have to WIN your game in order to have a score...

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update since I haven't really given much. Basically, I haven't been gaming as hard as I had been previously, as I have a ton of stuff to do that doesn't involve gaming. As such, I've only finished 14 games of Bases Loaded to this point. However, I've made a LOT of progress on Conflict. Like, stupid amounts of progress. Been playing on the highest difficulty as already mentioned, and I've now knocked off 13 stages. Only two more to get the final password for the last level. Some maps are pretty easy - just take out a few planes and knock off the HQ tank as quickly as possible...however, some (like the 13th map) took a LOT of effort, due to the layout of the map. I basically had to advance my tanks in order to draw out their planes, but with no anti-aircraft or planes of my own, I had to basically get lucky dodging bombs with the big tank while the smaller ones took out enough ground forces and cities to get a bomber or two. It seems that parking on a city gives you better defence against aircraft, as I had much better luck dodging bombs in a city than in open ground, but that could just be my perception rather than anything in the game itself. But yeah, that one should be knocked off soon. Also, my next completion will be #250 for my personal list, so if Conflict on level 3 is that game, I'm definitely okay with that

Go onto the schedule screen and press A. It'll give you a reset option. Then pick the standard schedule and it'll reset the save data. Note that you'll have to select your team again afterward.

118-68 = 50 point differential Fifth Score: Well, after some more research, apparently the Spurs were one of the best defensive teams in the league that year, so I gave San Antonio a spin...and goddamn, did I ever wipe the floor with Dallas Robinson was defensive player of the year that year, but I never really felt he was much of a factor...rather, the entire team was great defensively. Offensively, Cummins had a 42 point game, and Elliot had 37, so the scoring wasn't as well rounded as Golden State was, but I felt I played a tighter game overall with San Antonio. Going the other way took a bit of getting used to, but it wasn't THAT big a deal. Still trying to figure out the tip-offs though. Fourth Score: No change in differential, but I improved the tie-breaker so I figured I'd post it anyway. 25% beats 8% any day of the week Third Score: So after a bunch more games, I think the key is to be aggressive on defence. I've tried being a bit more conservative, but if you do that they seem to score more. Also finding no luck with any team other than Golden State for some reason...I can't even win a game with another team It seems strange, but even with what should be better teams in better matchups, I just can't seem to even begin to have success. On the plus side, I managed another 5 point spread. One trick I've found is to use the time-outs, especially near the end of a quarter. If you have possession and are in your end, and there's under 30 seconds left in a period, use a time out and you'll start in their end. I've squeaked out a few quick points that way when I really shouldn't have. Also, if you go on a bad run, where you just can't seem to score a basket to save your life, use a full time out. Seems to give your guys a second wind. You get 7 full timeouts and a pair of 20 second timeouts, so you can do this 9 times in a game. That's potentially 18 points at times when they can't answer. On an unrelated note though...has anyone ever actually WON the tip off? I've only managed to win it once, and I have absolutely NO idea how I managed it. It seems the AI gets pixel perfect timing every time and there's shit all you can do about it. Second Score: Man, this game has a few frustrating points...fouls seem to hit far too frequently, considering the AI doesn't give you a chance to move around them if they decide to stop in front of you, and the flicker makes it really tough to follow what is going on in a crowd. I'm also getting annoyed by the passing...the cursor is over the player I want, but for some reason the player passed to is a completely different dude, which causes me to occasionally run out of bounds when I expect to be running to mid-court. Still, it's a pretty good game overall, though definitely not as pick-up-and-play friendly as some other basketball games out there. This game also had one of Denver's top players (Mutombo IIRC) to get a groin pull in the first period, meaning I should have had an advantage. Indeed, his replacement had a whopping 6 points to his 4 in part of one period)...but an awesome game from Liberty offset that advantage. Billy Owens was the star of this game, with 26 points, although only Mario Elie (14) had fewer than 20 points...total team effort all around. All told, this game is pretty sweet, though flawed...makes me wanna try the SNES version though, as I feel this version was scaled back a bit. First Score: So I did some digging into the various matchups...since the rosters were based on the 1991-92 season, I researched the final standings that year, and found various favourable matchups. Trying several teams out, I found I had my best luck with Golden State against the Nuggets. While the Nuggets weren't the worst team or most favourable matchup by a long shot, I found that Denver's combination of inept defence and mediocre offence coupled with the well-rounded roster of Golden State to be the key for me. I'm sure others may find better matchups for them, but if it ain't broke, why fix it? Though I'm digging the game...may give the Bulls a spin now that I've got a feel for the game As an aside, it does feel weird to me that I'm digging a basketball game (a sport that I really couldn't care less about), yet couldn't stand Pipe Dream, which on paper should check all the boxes for me. I dunno, just seemed a bit odd to me.

At 11-2 and cracked a million. Still two lives to go too...some lucky shit, including this last level where I got a whopping 200K bonus At this point I may have to kill off my run to make the deadline though...bloody hell. EDIT: In fact, that's what I did. I just don't wanna play this slog anymore.

At 7-2, died once, score is at 440K. Still boring as fuck. Taking a mental break for a few minutes and then going back at it. With luck I'll beat Krunch, but even if I don't, I'm not playing it again. Bloody hell.

Well, now that I've restarted a LEGIT run (I killed off an entire run just to make sure I could hit Game Over...playing it safe now), I'm done 4-4 with a legitimate no-death run, and 253,000 points. So realistically, I should be able to get around my previous score without too much trouble. But man, this game still suuuuuuuucks!

Hmmm...well, maybe I'll loop it legit to see what happens Probably absolutely nothing different, but why not, right? I gotta scratch it off my personal list eventually, might as well make it an epic run

So after some checking, it's not the ROM, it's the result of a botch on my part. I had at the start of my run tried to use the cheat to freeze the water to see if there was a way to spot it. There was, in fact, no way to detect it, however, what I didn't realize was that resetting wasn't enough to get rid of the effect. Reloading the ROM on Mesen got rid of the effect, while simply resetting it did NOT. Meaning that even though I didn't run the cheat on the run I was actually playing, it was still in effect as I was playing, making it so that I actually couldn't die. As such, this would make my entire score invalid. I'm going to delete the picture as soon as I make this post, as it is no longer acceptable, and I'm gonna start from scratch and try and get a good, LEGIT score to post. Let this be a warning to anyone who tests these things out in the future, as had I not actually had a death that I noticed, I would've never known that my run was invalid to begin with. Also, because of the fact that the cheat code would make it impossible to go game over (as you don't die, and you skip ahead on a failure), I would suggest that @BeaIank make in-progress scores invalid. I'm extremely sorry that this actually happened, and I'm glad to have figured this out in time to post a valid score.

Well, like I said above, now I'm wondering if there's something wrong with the ROM I'm playing anyway, since I should have lost a wrench and didn't...wondering how many times that may have happened already that I just didn't notice on my "no death run" that may not actually be a no death run. I know I've never repeated a level, and I've still got three wrenches, so unless I've gained wrenches somehow (which I can't find anything about in the manual), my run may technically be illegal at this point anyway. I've gotta do some digging to see what's up here.

Okay, having just played a few more levels, it seems maybe some of those close calls may not have been so close after all. I may very well have died and not noticed, as I should have died on 10-3 (remaining distance needed was 7), but it advanced me to 10-4 anyway, and I still had 3 wrenches showing. Does the game give bonus lives or something? That would explain it if it won't display more than 3 wrenches, as I may just be gaining more lives than I've lost. Also, I feel like I played another 45 minutes, but it seems it was only 10. God damn this game sucks! EDIT: It may be that I advanced because I connected the "end" pipe to the chain despite not making the minimum distance. Normally you'd lose a wrench and replay the level if the minimum isn't attained...can someone confirm this? I'd really like to know if my ROM is fucking up on me at this point, because I may still be able to dig up my cart and NES to play it without an issue. This is baffling to me why I didn't lose a wrench OR restart the level, despite having a whopping "7" left on my minimum distance.

It honestly bores me to tears. 10 minutes can feel like an eternity if you can't stand what you're doing. I even told you on the phone how long it felt to me, and to prepare for it. I honestly thought it WAS taking me half an hour to beat a level until I actually looked at the clock. It's that boring. I can't pause shit and see what's coming any more than you can. It's seriously just that dull for me. Now, in fairness, there were a few lucky breaks along the way, where I would just edge out the distance requirement by a single piece, preventing death. But there's no shenanigans going on, just plain mind numbing boredom on my part.

How exactly did you get the walls to change that quickly to exits? Still, you just saved me a shitton of work...although I may still loop it for my personal list at some point regardless.

I definitely got lucky on that level...the speed isn't terrible honestly, except that early speed-up on the route. Got a bit hairy, but a few lucky drops later and I got far enough ahead to keep going. That level was actually one of my best score-wise...the loops just don't come out like that as often as I would like, but I try and use them whenever they come up. Honestly, I don't think I had another level with THAT many loops come up that I could work with. It really was just a perfect level drop. Honestly, the last time I played the game I remember getting a killer score too. The game's just, well, easy. Especially on the low speed setting. Sadly, according to AdamL I'd have to get the high scores on the other two modes to count it, which just means more tedium before I can add it to my personal list. But it's entirely doable, as the default scores are smaller on the higher settings. Also, I'd gladly try this out on a real console at some point. Not sure if I'd be able to duplicate or not, but it'd be fun to try. I don't know about the time frame though...it honestly seems like hours going by when I play even a few levels...though maybe it's just boredom rather than actual time passing. I really just find this game to be straight up tedious to play.