Scoring platformers?

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:32 pm

Was wondering if people ever bothered doing high score runs for games like the Contra series, etc. where you have infinitely spawning enemies.

Is there a way to have score competitions for these games in the first place? I mean in Super Mario Bros. 3 as example, you have a score, but it's very easy to break it via some infinite loop or other.

Anyone ever try putting time restrictions on levels in games like these and seeing who can score the most and complete the level within that time? I know this is a shmups board but was just curious.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:41 pm

Moved to off-topic.

TNL has a nice score attack section for all kinds of games, you could try there also.

crithit5000 · Post by **crithit5000** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:41 pm

IN BEFORE THE LOCK/MOVE.

Anyways, some forums I've seen have had tables/competitions for non-shooter type games like Contra and stuff (I've run Pac-Man comps at one of my old forums). There's also sites like CyberScore who are supposedly putting together a RetroScore site, but it's still not up yet.

Edit:Goddamn it, Ghegs is fast.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:49 pm

Some Contra games like Shattered Soldier and III (I think) don't assign point values to respawning enemies. I've noticed I always get my lives at the same exact spot in every CSS run.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:45 am

Demon Front has a nice DDP like combo scoring system, and you are forced to keep moving or it will time out and kill you. BTW cheap plug: I'm selling my extra Demon Front cart here

:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6538

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:00 am

the early contras are no good as they loop infinetley and dont really get any harder.. ive done 8 loops of the first on for NES before i got bored and turned it of.. also it has a counter stop..

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:50 am

I do wish this forum had an non-shmup hiscore area. I know this has been talked about before, and decided against. It'd still be fun though.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:53 am

sven666 wrote:the early contras are no good as they loop infinetley and dont really get any harder.. ive done 8 loops of the first on for NES before i got bored and turned it of.. also it has a counter stop..

Actually there is a second loop for both NES Contra and Super C, it's just hard to notice since all it adds is that enemies can come on screen from the left side and they shoot more often. Only really has an effect on Hangar in the original Contra and in Level 3 of Super C since the first levels of Contra have so few enemies to begin with.

Jackal had a second loop too but again, not noticeable if you're good at the game since several enemy placements on the early levels would vary depending on how powered up you were. So if you were doing well you were already seeing all the first half of the game had to offer. Though aircraft are much more aggressive and frequent your second time through Jackal.

Anyone one-life second loop of Castlevania?

I can almost do the first loop without being hit but there's just too many bats in the second.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:59 pm

Not a platformer, but NiGHTs seems to be great for scoring. Haven't played it for over a year since my 3D pad broke, but I remember lots of chaining elements in addition to finishing the laps ASAP.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:43 am

Neo Rasa wrote: Anyone one-life second loop of Castlevania? I can almost do the first loop without being hit but there's just too many bats in the second.

Yes, definitely. Back in the day a buddy and I would spend hours playing Castlevania. I don't remember how many loops we got up to. But the game was no longer a challenge.

We did the same thing with Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, Double Dragon 2, Super Mario 3 (even though none of these loop),.and Zelda 2. It was just routine to play em over and over again.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:26 am

I remember I could get to the third loop in Super Castlevania IV. Got challenging because your secondary items were now completely useless due to the raised vitality, except......................................

...........Little known fact, the monsters don't get tougher in the CV games, your weapons get weaker. In SCV4 though the dagger, while being weak to begin with, never ever gets worse no matter how many times you beat the game, so you end up using it constantly. It's a very interesting experience.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:02 pm

A big problem with the older Contra series is that there's no timer in the sidescroll stages. You can just camp out and keep on shooting respawners, much like Commando.

Konami did drop the respawning enemies' point values to 100 a piece for Super Contra, but they still didn't add a timer.

In Rastan you can leech without much risk. Bats will come out occasionally if you are taking too long on a level, but they are very easy to dispose of. The 7-figure scores for this game that I see on MARP (from 1M-2M) apparently come from leeching. The only good thing Taito did in Rastan 2 was to add a timer.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:44 am

Demon Front has a pretty intense scoring system.