P-47 Aces

A forum for saving and showing off all your hi scores
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Macaw
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P-47 Aces

Post by Macaw »

Image Image

One of NMK's last games, published by Jaleco. Superb atmosphere and music, very difficult and AWESOME BATTLESHIP BOSS STAGE.

I'm doing the high score table the same way the game does it, which is more lively and fancy than just having a normal table, so yeah.

Code: Select all

Format = Name - Ship - Stage - Score

Code: Select all

STARRING 
     1:  ShadowWraith - BlackWidow  - ALL     - 3,682,850
     
CO-STARRING
     2:  saucykobold  - BlackWidow  - ALL     - 3,139,610

AND
     3:  Plasmo       - BlackWidow  - ALL     - 2,851,180
     4:  Aquas        - BlackWidow  - ALL     - 2,533,150
     5:  Macaw        - BlackWidow  - Stage 7 - 2,065,150
     6:  Hibou        - Thunderbolt - Stage 7 - 1.690.250
     7:  Fu           - Spitfire    - Stage 5 - 1,289,460
     8:  Enhasa       - Spitfire    - Stage 5 - 1,120,670 
     9:  crithit5000  - BlackWidow  - Stage 4 - 838,270 
     10: Skyrandia    - BlackWidow  - Stage 4 - 822,820
     11: Ed Oscuro    - BlackWidow  - Stage 4 - 604,340
     12: shoe-sama    - BlackWidow  - Stage 4 - 699,380 
     13: Dale         - Spitfire    - Stage 3 - 501,110

Last edited by Macaw on Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:49 am, edited 23 times in total.
Skyrandia
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Post by Skyrandia »

Heres my score!

Skyrandia - BlackWidow - stage 4 - 681 200

Hopefully I can get promoted to STAR of the show when i actually put a decent amount of time into this game.
Skyrandia
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Post by Skyrandia »

Skyrandia - BlackWidow - stage 4 - 822, 820

On this run I had lost no lives right up to the stage 4 boss. Then he evaporated them all. What a bastard.

Still though, a very fun game and one of the fastest shooters i've ever seen!
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Skyrandia wrote:Skyrandia - BlackWidow - stage 4 - 822, 820

On this run I had lost no lives right up to the stage 4 boss. Then he evaporated them all. What a bastard.

Still though, a very fun game and one of the fastest shooters i've ever seen!
I can beat the Battleship without dying as long as I have 2 bombs. the bosses from stage 5 onwards just go out of control though. Crazy hard.
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Updated my score. Stage 5 boss can be dealt with easier than I thought, although his final pattern is insane and requires a bomb (until I figure out a way to dodge it)

Stage 6 boss is tricky but becomes easier when its cheap patterns are learnt.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Macaw wrote:cheap patterns
You admit it.

I'll post a lame score later.
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Post by Hibou »

Hibou - Thunderblot - Stage 3 - 434 110

Just discovered this game today thanks to this thread, which reminded how I loved the ST conversion of the first opus...

So here, after a few tries, I managed to reach stage 3 boss. 2 lives were lost in stage 3 itself, and the last one was taken by the boss almost immediatly. :(

I find this game really hard, but really fun. Nowadays in modern shmups I always get the impression to die because of a mistake (by lamely flying in a forgotten 2 km/h bullet all by myself, or things like that). In this game you really have the impression that the ennemies DID get you ! :D

Hope I will survive this vintage fight a bit longer next time...
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Rob wrote:
Macaw wrote:cheap patterns
You admit it.
HOHo!
Hibou wrote: I find this game really hard, but really fun. Nowadays in modern shmups I always get the impression to die because of a mistake (by lamely flying in a forgotten 2 km/h bullet all by myself, or things like that). In this game you really have the impression that the ennemies DID get you ! :D
Yep, this game gives you no mercy.
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Post by Hibou »

Survived a (little) bit longer this evening, and finally found stage 3 boss easier than the stage itself. This time I was killed in stage 4 while trying to pick the 1up... :?

Hibou - Thunderbolt - Stage 4 - 521 260
Hibou
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Post by Hibou »

I survived longer again !

The depressing thing is I don't get the impression to have improved. For me, stage 3 green planes still seem a matter of luck, and stage 4 battleship a matter of bombs... :?

Hibou - Thunderbolt - Stage 5 - 894 440

By the way, it seems there is points for constant shooting in stage 1 and 3, isn't it ?
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Hibou wrote:The depressing thing is I don't get the impression to have improved. For me, stage 3 green planes still seem a matter of luck, and stage 4 battleship a matter of bombs... :?
Point blanking is an important part of the game from stage 3 onwards. When the larger enemies appear, go right up to them and take off most of their damage before they even start firing their shots. Also the Thunderbolt is a hard ship to use, the you will have a much easier time using the Black Widow.
Hibou wrote:By the way, it seems there is points for constant shooting in stage 1 and 3, isn't it ?
Shooting the ground gives points, so if you go really low more shots will hit and you will get more ground points. A better tactic though is to directly move your ship into the ground or any other non-hazardous obstacles, as it gives you 100 points for each ram.

So for example in the first stage when the mountains appear, start madly ramming your ship into them (doing it diagonally at the corners of the mountains is faster) and you will see your score go up quite a bit.

The point gain from this isn't really high enough to make this tactic worthwhile beyond stage 1 though, unless you can easily 1 credit the game and need to increase your score...
Hibou
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Post by Hibou »

I have improved a lot this week!

Hibou - Thunderbolt - 1.289.290 - Stage 6

Now I can 1-life to stage 5 with some regularity, and reach stage 6 (sometimes). OK, I need some regularity in bombing too: usually one bomb in stage 3 and three in stage 4. :?

For the moment, the last waves before stage 5 boss take me a life everytime, and the boss itself usually takes me... two more lives. :shock: :shock:

Macaw, your always point-blank advice helped a lot. But, as ennemies have no blind zone at all, it requires a very precise timing. Especially with Thunderbolt, with which efficient point-blanking really means scratching. It took me the whole week to do it properly in the 4 first stages (with, as you see, still a lot of bombs needed).

I've completely gived up the crash-in-the-ground trick, as for now I'm more concerned with discovering and getting the most possible points bonuses and hidden power-ups from the background. As you told me, there should be a lot more points available there than by hitting the ground (and, however, I can't do it at all after stage 1 without dying).

I will have some spare time this week, so I'm wondering if I will be able to steal you the starring place for a couple of hours while you and all others are busy with other games? That would be a funny and unexpected steal! :D

By the way, as I found a hidden power-up in the first 3 stages, I assume there's at least one in every stage. Am I right ?

Edit - To put score in the required format.
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Nice score.
Hibou wrote: For the moment, the last waves before stage 5 boss take me a life everytime, and the boss itself usually takes me... two more lives. :shock: :shock:
Here is a hint for the 5th boss. Before it takes off, stay underneath it to avoid its starting shots.
Hibou wrote: I will have some spare time this week, so I'm wondering if I will be able to steal you the starring place for a couple of hours while you and all others are busy with other games? That would be a funny and unexpected steal! :D
Go for it!
Hibou wrote: By the way, as I found a hidden power-up in the first 3 stages, I assume there's at least one in every stage. Am I right ?
I am not sure if there is one in stage 4 yet, but certainly there is a secret powerup in most stages.
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Post by Hibou »

Hibou - Thunderbolt - 1.690.250 - Stage 7

First time I reached stage 7 I was completely amazed. I don't know why I thought stage 6 was the last one (somehow I must have thought Macaw had completed the game) and I had my hands of the stick waiting for an ending screen!

However, after near three more weeks playing, I've reached stage 7... four or five times. I'm stealing Macaw's first place for a couple of hours, but I really feel somewhat discouraged about how I could improve more.

The point is I managed to get some positioning, bombing and timing strategies up to stage 7, but it has to be so accurate that I still can't do it regullary without little mistakes there or there. Plus, each mistake blows up the whole pattern so there's no real recovery. So I can reach stage 7 every 100 runs maybe.

It's a bit like I perfectly knew what to do, but were not able to "maintain the accuracy" needed to do it myself all the way long. It's really frustrating, and further progress seems... very very far away. :(
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Yeah getting through certain parts is tricky. I generally try to avoid using bombs, its possible to get through most areas without them, and saving them for the later, more insane stages pays off.

And theres actually 8 stages in total (like all NMK shooters)

Stage 8 is really, really, really hard...
Hibou
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Post by Hibou »

Macaw wrote:Yeah getting through certain parts is tricky.
Well, I found some reliable ways for the firsts 6 stages, but things are really a matter of 1 pixel position and 1/10 second timing. And too often I'm 1 pixel wide, or 1/10 second late... :?
Macaw wrote:I generally try to avoid using bombs, its possible to get through most areas without them, and saving them for the later, more insane stages pays off.
I'm trying to use my bombs in a preemptive manner in some precise places. That is, in this game I have no real use for them as panic-bombs: if I find me surrounded then everything suddenly goes too fast for me, and I'm often dead before having shot my panic bomb. :shock:
Macaw wrote:And theres actually 8 stages in total (like all NMK shooters)
Stage 8 is really, really, really hard...
Then your real personal best is higher than the score you posted for the moment, isn't it ? :D Does the game end or is there a second loop?
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Hibou wrote:Then your real personal best is higher than the score you posted for the moment, isn't it ? :D
8)
Hibou wrote:Does the game end or is there a second loop?
No idea. The world record for the game though is 5.063.820, so its possible there is a 2nd loop. If there isnt, then I have no idea how they are scoring so high...
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shoe-sama
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Post by shoe-sama »

shoe-sama - Blackwidow - Stage 4 - 699,380

ifail

Everything was fine until that 3rd boss was like SURPRISE SHOTGUN
<Sidwell> TSS is manlier than a jet figher made of biceps.
Hibou
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Post by Hibou »

Pfff... One month more spent on this game, and no real progress at all. :?

I have the strange feeling that this game would definitively be easier if it had checkpoints! At least I could elaborate a precise strategy to recover from each checkpoint, even if it would take time. Here I generally can't find a way to survive and recover my firepower after a death in later levels.

However, a little question about score...
Macaw wrote:The world record for the game though is 5.063.820
The only time I reached stage 8 I couldn't help it, and credit fed to see the end of the game. Apparently there's no bonus at all for spare lives or bombs, and no second loop (and I've been told there also wasn't even if you 1cc'ed or 1-life'd in the first place).

But I've also been told there was a way in stage 7 to slide between the boss and the road, and stay there for some time. Doing this you apparently would automatically crash into the boss and into the ground at a very rapid rate, and could get a good 1.5 million from that.

Has someone heard about this ?
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

I've often tried abusing the crashing system to get points. I one got trapped INSIDE the 2nd boss (Gigah) and my score went up pretty fast but after a couple of seconds I eventually got nudged out of him.

Trapping yourself between the 7th boss and the bridge sounds like its very likely the explanation for getting huge points.
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Post by Hibou »

If you can get trapped on some other bosses, even briefly for only a few hudred-thousands of points, then it really could be it.

At least, the counts more or less match: I usually get around 1.600.000 points when stage 7 boss appears (and kills me). So let's say there's around 2.500.000 points for a regular ALL run. 2.500.000 points + 1.500.000 points for crashing trick in stage 7 = 4.000.000 points.

If for example two (or three) other bosses allow you to trap yourself inside them for 300.000 or 500.000 points like you say stage 2 boss does, that would do the count. However, I suppose the gaps you have to take to trap yourself are hard to find and hard to take without beeing shot. And perhaps they're only "opened" for a very short time...

Could you lend me some skill on this game so I could try it, please ? :D
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Getting trapped inside the 2nd boss only got me a couple thousand points, wasn't in it very long.

Usually I hate using states, but maybe I will save a state at the 7th boss and mess around trying to get stuck between him and the bridge.
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Post by Hibou »

I did some tries the last two days, and tried to get trapped into every boss I met. I couldn't do it on any of the first five, but I managed to get trapped inside the stage 6 boss. More precisely, in the engine's caterpillar (is that the right english word ?)

When it's completely on screen (I mean both parts of it, the "tender" and the "engine"), fly to the right end of the screen then go down to end in front of the engine, at the same height than the caterpillar. If this is done at the right time, you shouldn't hit any parts of it in the process and shouldn't bounce while trying to move to the right place.

By moving left AND keeping the joystick stucked into the left (and sometimes left/down) direction, you can get trapped in the caterpillar for quite some time. As long as you keep the joystick going left and as long as no part of the boss moves of screen, you should not be kicked out of it. The plane bounces like mad, and the scores climbs fast (although for the moment I couldn't get more than a small 60.000 points like that).

The good news are:

- the trick seems to activate some invincibility bug, as I never died while being trapped there, and I certainly was hit several times.
- as you're kicked as soon as you stop trying to move left, it should be possible with some training to decide the exact moment when you go out of the boss.

The bad news is the invincibility bug apparently doesn't activate if you're not "trapped enough" (if your plane doesn't bounce *really* fast), and stops *immediately* when you're released. I found it extremely difficult to not be killed while trying to get a stable position in the caterpillar after the initial trapping, and also quite difficult to not be point-blanked when being kicked out.

For now I've always been killed somewhere in the process. So of course, I haven't tried anything in stage 7 yet (but to say the truth, I'm really not comfortable enough with it to try tricks there).

EDIT - a little precision: when you're trapped as you should in the caterpillar, your plane (at least the P47) shouldn't bounce like usual. It should move only horizontally (so fast from left to right it becomes hard to see), but vertically it shouldn't move at all (everytime my plane did bounce vertically the invincibility was lost and I was killed).
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crithit5000
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Post by crithit5000 »

If you told me a week ago that a shooter exists that gives you bonus points for bouncing off the ground I would have laughed at you. Actually, I'm still laughing because it's generally entertaining to do.

crithit5000 - BlackWidow - Stage 4 - 541,570

Waaaaaaaay too many fast and cheap bullets in this game, but the bouncy mechanic intrigues me plus the music is instant ear drum damage. 7/10
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

A score system that involves abusing the collision detection to try and get jammed inside sprites is indeed far too awesome.
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Post by crithit5000 »

crithit5000 - BlackWidow - Stage 4 - 718,000

Boy, that battleship level is cramped.
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Post by Hibou »

Some progress with the stage 6 boos trick: I managed to get a good 100.000 points from this trick, and I *think* this trick may be done twice as the boss comes back after the first kick-out.

I began to look for the level 7 trapping trick, but couldn't find anything for now (that is, I couldn't try anything for more than 2 seconds and stay alive).
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Post by Hibou »

Found a way to get trapped between stage 7 boss and the bridge.

As soon as stage 7 boss comes on screen, position yourself a few pixels higher than the bridge. Then, by just flying forward, you should be able to trap yourself.

Two things to note:

1. Unlike with the stage 6 trick, your plane should bounce vertically only if you don't want your invicibility to be lost.

2. I never could approach the 1.500.000 pojnts that I was told were available like that. At most I managed to score around 250.000 points with this trick. So perhaps this is not the right way to do it, and there's another way to trap yourself for a longer time...

Macaw, did you find something better than me ?
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crithit5000
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Post by crithit5000 »

crithit5000 - BlackWidow - Stage 4 - 838,270

...
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Macaw
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Post by Macaw »

Hibou wrote:Macaw, did you find something better than me ?
Not yet unfortunately, I haven't been playing the game much recently. I think soon I will get back into playing it though. Experimenting with these sprite jamming techniques is interesting to say the least.
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