2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Discussion about MARP's Time Trial Competition
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net/timetrial

Moderator: giro-X

User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

Here's my "try this!" game... where I place one (or all three?) of my very few high scores I have remaining on MARP on the line. Our final game before the deciding game is going to be Vs. Slalom. Rare started creating video games mainly for the ZX Spectrum back in the day... this was Rare's first console video game (it was released for the NES shortly after it was released in the arcades, and it's very similar), and it's quite a tough one.
I'm not making it easier by making you play on Mt. Nasty either, which is the toughest mountain of them all with speeds exceeding 200 km/h, or 125 mph. You must complete three stages in order to make the grand final. Your game is considered completed when you complete the entire mountain, or eight stages. But this game actually continues back to Snowy Hill... if you beat Snowy Hill's 7th and 8th stages, then beat Steep Peak's 7th and 8th stages, you'll have the regulation record!
To determine your time score, add up all of the times remaining when you complete a course. You can slide in to the finish line after the time expires... that still counts as a completed stage, although you obviously will get no bonus points. Please note that version 138 is allowed and, more importantly, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. This is because there were graphical bugs previous to 138 where the clock wasn't even seen on Mt. Nasty. (MAME says there are still graphical bugs, but they're very minor and will not affect gameplay.) But, if you absolutely have to, you can use version 99 or 106. You can still ski without a big problem in the older versions, you just won't see the clock. Please note that you'll need to update your ROMs if you use version 138... the extra rom is named rp2c04-0002.pal. However, if you find it for any VS. game, you'll have found it for VS. Slalom.
To help you out, I'll tell you that the edge is your friend for the first three stages, but it's your enemy once the fourth stage hits, as it will slow you down. You'll sometimes see flags... you must go through those in the correct direction in order to avoid a speed penalty... but sometimes it's a good idea to take the speed penalty, especially if another skier is in the way. Running into another skier (or a tree... or a snowman... or a sled rider...) risks you crashing into the snow. If you see sled riders, stick to the edge of the path, whether it slows you down or not! If you see trees or snowmen with the riders, you should be OK, but if you see just sleds, you may need to jump over the sleds to avoid crashing.
The more time you have left from the previous stage, the more time you'll have the course to yourself... critical for stage 7, Exterminator! (and it's called that for good reason!) Additionally, you can earn extra "solo time" by free-styling, which is done by jumping a mogul (little blue mountains on the hill), holding the down arrow, then pressing left and right back and forth. But be careful... you will lose speed and time when jumping moguls. Finally, I invite you to watch my recording on MARP... but you can also watch my recordings on HARP using WolfMESS.
I have a feeling that you're going to hate me after playing this for seven days... especially when you see what the other skiers love to do to you... but I assure you that I picked a doozy for the grand final! Good luck!

GAME: VS. Slalom (1986) - Mt. Nasty
GENRE: Racing
DIR: vsslalom
REQUIRED VERSION: 99, 106, or 138
SCORING: xssshh, x = stages completed, m = combined minutes, s = combined seconds of time reserved per stage, etc. h = combined hundreths, etc.
MINIMUM: 3 stages (Cut Loose) Clear
MAXIMUM: 8 stages (Freestyler) Clear
GAME TO SUBMIT TO: *tt2-game4

Click here to see current leaderboard
Click here to see time remaining - Round ends Feb 6 2011 @ 23:59:59 GMT

------------------------------------------ QUALIFIED
XX. +90 sec - 8 stages - 169.76 total sec remain - Gameboy9
01. +90 sec - 8 stages - 130.50 total sec remain - Potante
02. +60 sec - 8 stages - 122.12 total sec remain - TheBSM
03. +45 sec - 8 stages - 109.38 total sec remain - DaLar
04. +30 sec - 6 stages - 092.02 total sec remain - Chronos256
05. +25 sec - 6 stages - 084.76 total sec remain - Rax
06. +20 sec - 6 stages - 077.88 total sec remain - Giro-X
XX. 4 stages - 041.68 total sec remain - Marco Marocco (retired)
07. +15 sec - 4 stages - 039.24 total sec remain - El_Fumador
08. +12 sec - 4 stages - 035.90 total sec remain - JCK
09. +10 sec - 4 stages - 032.92 total sec remain - Sawys
10. +08 sec - 4 stages - 030.24 total sec remain - Agodzilla
11. +06 sec - 4 stages - 029.62 total sec remain - MassimoGaspari
12. +05 sec - 4 stages - 026.04 total sec remain - CrazyKongFan
13. +04 sec - 4 stages - 023.68 total sec remain - Innuendo
14. +03 sec - 3 stages - 022.76 total sec remain - 1up
------------------------------------------ FAILURE TO QUALIFY (0-2 stages completed, or no recording submitted)

------------------------------------------ TIME LIMITS FOR GRAND FINAL (previous ranking in parentheses)
01. 60+25+45+45 = 175 + 4:00 = 6:55 - DaLar (1)
02. 06+45+60+60 = 171 + 4:00 = 6:51 - TheBSM (3)
03. 08+90+20+30 = 148 + 4:00 = 6:28 - Chrono256 (2)
04. 45+60+06+20 = 131 + 4:00 = 6:11 - Giro-X (3)
XX. 04+25+08+90 = 127 + 4:00 = 6:07 - Gameboy9 ("10")
05. 15+08+10+90 = 123 + 4:00 = 6:03 - Potante (12)
06. 90+04+08+15 = 117 + 4:00 = 5:57 - El_Fumador (5)
07. 20+30+30+25 = 105 + 4:00 = 5:45 - Rax (7)
08. 02+05+90+05 = 102 + 4:00 = 5:42 - CrazyKongFan (6)
09. 30+12+05+04 = 051 + 4:00 = 4:51 - Innuendo (8)
10. 25+10+03+12 = 050 + 4:00 = 4:50 - JCK (10)
11. 12+02+25+10 = 049 + 4:00 = 4:49 - Sawys (9)
12. 04+20+12+06 = 042 + 4:00 = 4:42 - Massimo Gaspari (11)
13. 05+01+04+08 = 018 + 4:00 = 4:18 - Agodzilla (14)
14. 03+03+02+03 = 011 + 4:00 = 4:11 - 1up (15)
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

I'll use my sample recording as an example:
I finished all eight stages in times remaining of 23.20, 15.06, 10.90, 4.56, 3.00, 56.08, 7.52, and 18.16. When summed, that gives 138.48 seconds. Combine the stages completed with the time remaining * 100 into your score, so 8 & 13,848 -> 813,848.

Maximum speeds of each stage:
Qualifying Run: 160 km/h (100 mph)
In The Trees: 160 km/h (100 mph)
Cut Loose: 168 km/h (105 mph)
Hot Dog Heaven: 208 km/h (130 mph)
Rad Run: 192 km/h (120 mph)
Paradise: 200 km/h (125 mph)
Exterminator: 208 km/h (130 mph)
Freestyler: 216 km/h (135 mph)

I would assume that Rare, which is English, was considering using english units back in 1986... but I guess they went with the more used metric units.
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Phil Lamat »

Why don't using this simple scoring for Regulation, instead of also counting freestyle points ?
I think it would be clearer and easier to adopt same scoring for Regulation
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

@Phil: Well, you do raise a good point, but it seems to me that Rare gives equal emphasis to freestyle points as well as time in the stage end screen. But, to your defense... the quality of play, at least time-wise, would be better if we did remove the freestyle... not sure which is the better path here.

@All: I should note something... I'm pretty sure that if you have more than 1 minute remaining when you complete Paradise (6th stage), which I think is possible, you will have very little solo time for Exterminator. I think that's something Rare didn't foresee and just used the seconds remaining and didn't account for the fact that somebody might have more than 1 minute left.
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

DaLar wrote:(from recording)... Can't find the uKnowWhat that works with wolf138...
Try searching for rp2c04-0002.pal and hopefully you'll find it. I agree... it's VERY annoying to play without the clock! :(

@All: OK, I stand corrected... I had thought that you lose speed by free-styling after jumping a mogul, but I'm incorrect! Turns out you don't lose more speed by free-styling, but you still lose speed by jumping any mogul... so if you jump, you might as well freestyle and get extra solo time for the next stage, but you're better off not jumping at all.

One other thing... although it looks like the clock is running in real time, it's actually running 20% faster than real time. The game was originally written for 50fps... and Rare really didn't change the programming to adjust for the NTSC, hence the 20% faster speed and the 20% faster clock.
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Chrono256
Button Masher
Button Masher
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:42 am
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Chrono256 »

Too many stages and too much difficult for a TIME trial, AGAIN. :|
This tournament is made of pain. lol
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

Chrono256 wrote:Too many stages and too much difficult for a TIME trial, AGAIN. :|
This tournament is made of pain. lol
This may be something I(or, again, the next coordinator should I lose elections :) ) need to work on next year... shorter time trials. I'll be doing a full post-tournament evaluation when the tournament completes in 12 days.
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Phil Lamat »

For me, time trial is good for games where the scoring force you to play longer than you should to pass through the levels.
Examples : Puzzle Bobble ; Rastan (or any other game concerned by leeching).
Vs Slalom doesn't really fit in this category i.m.o.

Question: what do freestyle points give to you ? are points for solo bonus useful for something ?

GB, if you change your regulation scores without counting freestyle points, I will edit special rules
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

Well, I can see where you're coming from... but, under your definition, that would pretty much rule nearly all racing games out for the most part... thing is... I would think that racing games SHOULD be in a time trial. Maybe I should have picked a better racing game... but I'll leave that to the post-tournament discussion.

Freestyle points give you extra solo time for the next course. So if you score 10 freestyle points, you get 10 more seconds to avoid those pesky opposing skiers... which would probably improve your time for the next course. Of course, doing freestyle reduces your speed and, therefore, increases your time used in the current course, so there's a little trade off there.

I guess I'll change it without the freestyle points... but place into the record that I disagree, as I feel like I'm being pushed into that change...
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Phil Lamat »

gameboy9 wrote: I guess I'll change it without the freestyle points... but place into the record that I disagree, as I feel like I'm being pushed into that change...
We can do a vote if your prefer, I don't know the game as well as you.
I'm just thinking about confirmers : harder the scoring is, longer the inputs stay unconfirmed
gameboy9 wrote:Freestyle points give you extra solo time for the next course. So if you score 10 freestyle points, you get 10 more seconds to avoid those pesky opposing skiers... which would probably improve your time for the next course. Of course, doing freestyle reduces your speed and, therefore, increases your time used in the current course, so there's a little trade off there.
If I understand correctly, if freestyle points give extra time for the next course, so it will be reflected in the remaining time.
So building a score with freestyle pts + time remaining, isn't counting freestyle points twice in a sort of way ?
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

Phil Lamat wrote: We can do a vote if your prefer, I don't know the game as well as you.
I'm just thinking about confirmers : harder the scoring is, longer the inputs stay unconfirmed

...

If I understand correctly, if freestyle points give extra time for the next course, so it will be reflected in the remaining time.
So building a score with freestyle pts + time remaining, isn't counting freestyle points twice in a sort of way ?
I'll address this backwards. Freestyle points add one second of solo time per point earned. I would say that if you get 99 freestyle points, which happens a few times in my recordings, I could probably save about 10 seconds of racing time... which is why I originally scored it the way it was scored... freestyle earns a lot more points than just trying to get a good time.

Then again, I do agree that the confirmers should enjoy a little more simplicity when confirming recordings... so you're slowly convincing me that your way is the way to go. :)
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Phil Lamat »

One more point is that it's easy confirming using F10 : you can see time remaining, it stays enough time on the screen.
But freestyle points don't stay enough (at least for my old eyes).
All confirmed, special rules edited, thanks
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

You're welcome. :) And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled time trials. :D
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
gameboy9
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 683
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 3:31 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Contact:

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by gameboy9 »

@MassimoGaspari - For your most recent recording, you played on Snowy Hill instead of the required Mt. Nasty, so this run, unfortunately, will not count. :(
Gameboy9 - Founder and coordinator of MARP Time Trials and Olympiad
Founder - Home Action Replay Page - http://www.homeactionreplay.org
http://gameboy9.marpirc.net
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: 2011 Time Trials - Round 4 - Vs. Slalom

Post by Phil Lamat »

gameboy9 wrote:@MassimoGaspari - For your most recent recording, you played on Snowy Hill instead of the required Mt. Nasty, so this run, unfortunately, will not count. :(
Moved to regulation
Post Reply