What do you want to play for our test round?

[BBH]

I was thinking that Contra would be a good game for time attack purposes. It is pretty short (around 10 minutes to finish) and isn't too unreasonable to finish. Just takes a little practice.

what?!?

Since when can you go through a whole loop of Contra in only 10 minutes?!?

Contra doesn't have a second loop, dude.

I just played a game for fun right now and got through it in a little over 9 minutes, I think.

Arcade version is a lot shorter than the NES one, ya know.

[QRS]

As far as I have heard, Contra can be finished faster than 10 min. Even 9 min seems possible

Edit: Damn! Old news already hehe

[MrBunny]

Another vote for Contra!

1. 0-1 hour

2. No penalty for continuing... the time trial will be close for the best players, and a penalty would discourage other players trying it. Game automatically limits continues to 4 credits.

3. Game to completion, because it is short enough already.

4. Not infinite. Game starts when coin inserts, and ends when last boss blows up. (you need to say this so when people submit they are using a common start / stop point).

5. Play on default settings, first player only.

[Francois Daniel]

My opinion - allow Power up and/or Super, but not original game as you already said no warping. Power up makes it easier and fairer, but it's still not all that easy, especially if you still have to go through rounds 51-69.

I'm not for use Power Up, because items are permanent. If you loose them when you lost live, it will be ok.

Why not for Super but normal game is difficult enough, no ?

Francois

[Francois Daniel]

Anyways, I was thinking that Contra would be a good game for time attack purposes. It is pretty short (around 10 minutes to finish) and isn't too unreasonable to finish. Just takes a little practice.

Yes but Contra is very easy, and a little too short for me

Francois

[Francois Daniel]

How about Camel Try (Special Course). No "warping" through walls, best time wins. It's a short game, and after a few tries you are guaranteed to be able to always finish the game. so...

Game: Camel Try (Special Course)

Good idea, good game... but we play it for T7.

Francois

[Francois Daniel]

what?!?

Since when can you go through a whole loop of Contra in only 10 minutes?!?

I think it's possible, the first time I finish it in Arcade is in 15 minutes. And I'd not search how optimized the time.

Francois

[mahlemiut]

what?!?

Since when can you go through a whole loop of Contra in only 10 minutes?!?

I think it's possible, the first time I finish it in Arcade is in 15 minutes. And I'd not search how optimized the time.

BBH has already produced an INP that finishes Contra in under 9 minutes. And I would be pretty certain that it can be done faster too.

[BBH]

Yes but Contra is very easy, and a little too short for me :)

That's the whole point. An easy and short game for testing purposes at least. You don't want to have games that are difficult to finish like Bubble Bobble, that end up taking way too long to play.

I would attach the .inp I made but I'm not sure if I should. :D My test play of it definitely wasn't optimized either.

[LN2]

Contra doesn't have a second loop, dude.

yes, I realize that. it's still a "loop" though...1 time through.

I was thinking of console versions that do loop back when I first typed that. I realized afterward the arcade version only has 1 cycle then ends...but didn't really matter so I didn't edit it.

Arcade version is a lot shorter than the NES one, ya know.

Oh, I didn't know that. I was thinking the NES-Contra cuz the first few stages seem the same as arcade version...so I assumed it was similar all the way through.

Plus a score like 1.7 million is about what I would get for 1 cycle through NES-Contra I think(been 12-15 years so can't remember those details). I remember having 1 game where I went through it 4 times, had 7+ million and stopped with like 13 men left. I had had enough.

I haven't played the arcade version enough to get used to it..and the differences....especially in MAME. Looking at the MARP scores for it it doesn't seem prudent to play through it anyway...as I wouldn't want to leech just to get ranked higher....although as often as I would likely be dying and replaying through parts I might end up high anyway. hehe

[mahlemiut]

I haven't played the arcade version enough to get used to it..and the differences....especially in MAME. Looking at the MARP scores for it it doesn't seem prudent to play through it anyway...as I wouldn't want to leech just to get ranked higher....although as often as I would likely be dying and replaying through parts I might end up high anyway. hehe

Sounds to me like you haven't played it at all.

[BBH]

Contra doesn't have a second loop, dude.

yes, I realize that. it's still a "loop" though...1 time through. :P

I was thinking of console versions that do loop back when I first typed that. I realized afterward the arcade version only has 1 cycle then ends...but didn't really matter so I didn't edit it.

nice try, but I NEVER hear people refer to games that have regular endings (i.e. ones that don't start back at the beginning) as doing a "loop".

Oh, I didn't know that. I was thinking the NES-Contra cuz the first few stages seem the same as arcade version...so I assumed it was similar all the way through.

similar but not exact. The last 4 stages on the NES version are basically one long "stage" in the arcade. Which ends up making the game much shorter. You make too many assumptions.

Plus a score like 1.7 million is about what I would get for 1 cycle through NES-Contra I think(been 12-15 years so can't remember those details).

...um. I have a relatively crappy recording up for the PC10 version where I got 1.52 million in two loops. And you were getting more than that in one loop? That's a lot of leeching...

I remember having 1 game where I went through it 4 times, had 7+ million and stopped with like 13 men left. I had had enough.

Sorry, but that's sorta impossible and all, seeing how the game maxes out at 6,553,500. I did that back on my NES a long time ago, and even though I couldn't remember the number of loops I did, I knew it sure as heck was more than 4. Seriously man, if you can't remember these things, don't make up numbers.

[LN2]

Seriously man, if you can't remember these things, don't make up numbers.

Well excuuuuuuuuse mmmmmmmeeeeee!

I said my memory wasn't clear on it...being it was 12-15 years ago I had done it. Maybe it was 7 or 8 loops then. Frankly details like that don't really matter.

The point was given I had never played the arcade one to the finish, and looked at MARP scores and saw they were more than what I would get for 1 loop in the NES game I did briefly assume it looped.

However, I then noticed looking at the MARP scores that show the description that the top several were playing it to an end....so it only goes through the stages once and ends.

Fine....big freaking deal. Let's move on.

It's just yet another game where converting it to a time-based of completion would result in a better competition versus based on score.

[destructor]

Yes but Contra is very easy, and a little too short for me
Francois

Then choose Kyros for 20 (and more) hours playing

I agree with BBH: Contra.

[LN2]

Sounds to me like you haven't played it at all.

Beyond the first couple bosses I haven't played the arcade version....so as I said above I didn't know it ended and that it was shorter to get through than console versions like the NES version.

It hardly matters cuz it's not like any macmamer is going to be able to participate in this contest regardless of the game etc.

I only commented on Contra cuz it's yet another game where for the scoreboard(not just this contest) it should perhaps be based on time of completion instead of the actual game score.