Playchoice-10 Issues

Discussion about MARP's regulation play

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BBH
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Playchoice-10 Issues

Post by BBH »

some thoughts concerning what should be done with some PC-10 games:

Castlevania - leeching REALLY needs to be banned in this game. If you look at Moreno-DF's recording, you'll see that he does a good deal of leeching using the holy water on zombies on Stage 1... they award a bonus of 1K + 2K + 3K when multiple zombies are killed. The game awards extra lives at 30k, 80k, and then every 50k after that, and the timer gives PLENTY of time to rack up 50k and another free life. So what's to stop someone from doing this forever? Very lame. He does a similar thing using the holy water on red skeletons on Stage 13 or so. I don't think it's fair that he got a higher score doing this shit, when cso2040 was pretty much always making forward progress and finished the game THREE TIMES. (Moreno died on Stage 17, no loops finished at all) cso2040's recording is clearly superior and deserves 1st place.

Metroid - no clear-cut scoring system. If one was desperate for a scoring system, I would recommend scoring it by number of "major items" picked up (the ball at the beginning, missile maximum extensions, energy tank extensions, other weapons, etc.). But you would have to make sure you counted each item correctly since nothing is displayed. Personally I'd recommend archiving it.

Rygar - no clear-cut scoring system, really. Archive it.

Fester's Quest - no clear-cut scoring system. Archive it.

Thoughts, anyone?
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Post by seymour »

I haven't played any of those in MAME, but from what I remember about the NES games, I agree with you on all of those points.
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Re: Playchoice-10 Issues

Post by MDenham »

BBH wrote:Metroid - no clear-cut scoring system. If one was desperate for a scoring system, I would recommend scoring it by number of "major items" picked up (the ball at the beginning, missile maximum extensions, energy tank extensions, other weapons, etc.). But you would have to make sure you counted each item correctly since nothing is displayed. Personally I'd recommend archiving it.
I'd recommend changing the settings for this game only to infinite time allowed, and then base scores as follows:

1,000,000 points for finishing the game
-2,500 points for each minute taken (so a full game taking over 6:40 is worth 0 points)
25 points for each energy point remaining at the end of the game
10 points for each missile remaining at the end of the game
250 points for each missile pod collected
500 points for each energy tank collected
-1 point for each missile restored (not including when missile pods are collected)
-2 points for each energy point restored (not including when energy tanks are collected)
10,000 points for each non-necessary item collected:
  • Beam powerups
  • Spin attack
I believe this would make the maximum possible score:

1,000,000 - (95 * 2,500) + 250 * 20 + 500 * 7 + 10,000 * 5 = 796,000 points.
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Post by BBH »

Would you REALLY be willing to set aside a few hours of your life to watch a Metroid inp from beginning to end to verify the length it took, and all the items that were picked up? If people were really itching to "compete" on Metroid, I'd think there would be some inps finishing it by now. That's why I think that if people want to finish it, let them... but archive it so we don't have to worry about a convoluted scoring system.

Oh, and let's not forget that the game starts over from the beginning. That'll be a fun marathon! :roll:
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Post by sikraiken »

Ugh. Metroid. One of the few Nintendo games I am not good at (besides puzzle games and Arcade conversions). I still cannot figure out how to beat the game. I usually end up falling down a long long hole then get stuck down there or get stuck in some place where I can't figure out what to do.
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Post by cso2040 »

Hi everybody!

I have a question about PC-10 games, what happens if the score resets itself after certain number? (some PC-10 games only have 5 digit score counter). I think this should be clarified.

Regards.
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Post by mahlemiut »

cso2040 wrote:I have a question about PC-10 games, what happens if the score resets itself after certain number? (some PC-10 games only have 5 digit score counter).
If the score rolls over, then keep counting the score as if it didn't. It's usually like this for any game that rolls over at a certain score, not just PC-10 games, though.
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Post by MDenham »

BBH wrote:Would you REALLY be willing to set aside a few hours of your life to watch a Metroid inp from beginning to end to verify the length it took, and all the items that were picked up?
IIRC (it might only be the two later games in the Metroid series, which would figure), it'll show the time taken to complete the game at the end of the ending sequence.

And then, as far as determining what items were picked up, that can be done while watching the recording unthrottled... there aren't THAT many items to check for.
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Post by QRS »

Just put a "*" in front of them. That´s my opinion :)

QRS

ps BBH:why do you have to be so good at Guerilla war?? *joking* Great job man.
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Post by Phil Lamat »

Well. I'm not against archiving, but I just remember that I've lost my way a few months ago in pc_rygar's mountains and I never found my road to continue ; I would have been happy to get an inp showing me the way then ...

Just my 2 cents, I'm not very specialized in this type of games

PS anders : and why do you have to be so good at deca2002 games, man ? :))
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Post by Kale »

I'm interested to see cleared Metroid & Rygar inps but exactly how many hours they will take?
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Post by BBH »

MDenham wrote: IIRC (it might only be the two later games in the Metroid series, which would figure), it'll show the time taken to complete the game at the end of the ending sequence.
Guess what? It is only the two latter games.

QRS: I'm not that good at Guerilla War, really. That game is so cheap. :evil:

Kale: Rygar would take a few hours... at one point I used to "leech" on these robots to quickly build up power. The only problem is that one bad jump can equal Game Over... I guess if there's interest in seeing a complete recording, I may do one when I get some time.
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Post by cso2040 »

mahlemiut wrote:If the score rolls over, then keep counting the score as if it didn't. It's usually like this for any game that rolls over at a certain score, not just PC-10 games, though.
OK, thanks for the info, in the rules section it's never mentioned.
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Post by BBH »

Okay, for anyone interested, I've made an .inp showing the Playchoice-10 Rygar from start to finish. Surprisingly, it only took an hour to do... I've always remembered the game as being longer than that. Go figure. Anyway, since the game hasn't been archived yet, I've decided not to upload it to MARP yet (unless a scoring system is devised, but I doubt that)

http://bbh.marpirc.net/bbh_pc_rygar_clear_m37b10.zip

recorded with DOS MAME 37 Beta 10. there were no deaths in that recording either.
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