Atari5200 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) We are starting the 7800 HSC over and the first game will be one of my favorite 7800 games..Commando. If you do not own this game, I highly suggest finding a copy, it is very fun. Rules are as follows: Default difficulty or higher to be used. Emulation is ok. Whatever controller you want to use is ok. Screen shots are preferred to show scores, but are not necessary. High score at the end of the round wins the round. The competition will run for roughly 1 month, ending 08/17/2008. Now get blastin' some troops!!! SCREENSHOT: FINAL LEADER BOARD: rockman_x_2002: 634500 gdement: 325500 atomickneedrop: 253800 suaiden: 202000 doctorclu: 169100 HammR25: 148700 Darthkur: 88400 shadow460: 43900 Edited August 20, 2008 by Atari5200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 23,300 expert, 43, 900 standard. This is one of the very few games in which the pro line stick gives me trouble. And, as I found out, for some odd reason it doesn't work in 2600 mode... I wonder why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarifever Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 We are starting the 7800 HSC over and the first game will be one of my favorite 7800 games..Commando. If you do not own this game, I highly suggest finding a copy, it is very fun. Rules are as follows: Default difficulty or higher to be used. Emulation is ok. Whatever controller you want to use is ok. Screen shots are preferred to show scores, but are not necessary. High score at the end of the round wins the round. The competition will run for roughly 1 month, ending 08/17/2008. Now get blastin' some troops!!! SCREENSHOT: CURRENT LEADERBOARD: none yet I must decline entry in this HSC for 2 reasons: 1) I don't own this game 2) I have to assume Atari5200 means to lure us in with the HSC, crush us under a 5200, hide our bodies in the controller ports, and then run roughshod over the 7800 board unopposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aftermac Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 I might be out this month too. I don't have the game and 7800 emulation on the Mac is well... a M.E.S.S... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 (edited) 148,700 - Standard This is the first time I've played the 7800 version. I'm surprised at how good the music came out. Shows what a Pokey can do. Edited July 21, 2008 by HammR25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdement Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Novice: 325,500 I played on novice, since that's the default. The game restarts after beating 2-4, apparently jacking up the difficulty level. I died at the end of 1-3 after it restarted. I never beat this game before now. If I play again I'll try starting on a harder level. In case anybody doesn't know, there are hidden areas that can be found by throwing a grenade at the base of some of the bridges. Maybe all of them, but I couldn't find a hole on some of them. Inside you can rescue POWs which give you 2,000 points each. Hint for 2-1: Mr. Commando can't swim. Even in waist deep water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 (edited) Novice: 88,400 Another game I don't own the cart for. I knew I should have bought it when I seen it on the Chuckwagon. Edited July 31, 2008 by darthkur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomickneedrop Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 253,800 novice (default) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockman_x_2002 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 (edited) Decided to get in on this HSC while it has a fresh start. 634,500 on Novice. Stage 1-4-3 (for third time through). The game really starts to get hairy around 1-2-3 though. "War is hell." - William Tecumseh Sherman Edited August 3, 2008 by rockman_x_2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Novice 169,100 Standard 45,400 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suaiden Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 The Ultimate in Cheap While I decided not to enter this competition until the last day, I noted that one can easily get up to 200,000 and above on the first try. If the HSC for the month was levelled, I'd be out cold, but based on pure score? Ended at 202,000-- and never left the first stage. The reason? Simple. The enemies never stop coming out on level 1-1. There is nothing which forces you to advance. So if you are patient, you can get to my score and higher with little effort. Don't believe me? These screenshots are from my third try-- ever-- at this game. Other trick? use cliffs to your advantage. At the beginning, troops have to avoid cliffs, not jump off them. Limit the space from which they can exit. Final score on attempt 4? And that was with tired hands and a keyboard. I imagine someone with fully awake hands and a rapid-fire joystick could hit 2-3 million point scores easy. Levels might be a consideration on this sort of game. Beef Drop scores destroyed my self esteem. This brought it back up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 Congrats to rockman_x_2002 for winning this round!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 The Ultimate in Cheap While I decided not to enter this competition until the last day, I noted that one can easily get up to 200,000 and above on the first try. If the HSC for the month was levelled, I'd be out cold, but based on pure score? Ended at 202,000-- and never left the first stage. The reason? Simple. The enemies never stop coming out on level 1-1. There is nothing which forces you to advance. So if you are patient, you can get to my score and higher with little effort. Don't believe me? These screenshots are from my third try-- ever-- at this game. That's cheating. I believe the term frequently used is "leaching". I could be wrong. I'm not up on most current terminology. All of the HSC's at AA assume the player to be proceeding in the game as was originally intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 i honestly can't say I dis-agree really. It's a debate no doubt, but normally I defined cheating as using cheat codes. This is the game programming itself. I never really thought about the issue of leeching, it hasn't been an issue until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suaiden Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 The Ultimate in Cheap While I decided not to enter this competition until the last day, I noted that one can easily get up to 200,000 and above on the first try. If the HSC for the month was levelled, I'd be out cold, but based on pure score? Ended at 202,000-- and never left the first stage. The reason? Simple. The enemies never stop coming out on level 1-1. There is nothing which forces you to advance. So if you are patient, you can get to my score and higher with little effort. Don't believe me? These screenshots are from my third try-- ever-- at this game. That's cheating. I believe the term frequently used is "leaching". I could be wrong. I'm not up on most current terminology. All of the HSC's at AA assume the player to be proceeding in the game as was originally intended. No need to accuse (that's why I labelled the trick "the ultimate in cheap"). I was just pointing out a flaw that can be used to inflate a score on my part. According to Twin Galaxies, the score would be disqualified as a result of the discovery: "What If A Bug or Cheat is Discovered After My Score is Approved? Even if your score has already been declared the new world record, please be aware that your score can be removed if it is discovered that a bug or cheat was used in your game -- and, even if you didn't know about the bug. As a game gains popularity, new bugs and cheats are uncovered, quite often to the dismay of the game designers. If you submitted a videotape of your gameplay, and it is later determined by the Board of Scoreboard Editors that your game strategy involved a cheat or a bug, then you will have to replay your game and resubmit your evidence without using the cheat or bug in question. Even though the player may have been innocent, not realizing that their tactics were banned by the Scoreboard, they will still have to replay their game. Also, sometimes new games become popular and high scores are submitted long before the Scoreboard recognizes that a cheat or bug is operation. The Scoreboard reserves the right to declare a world record null and void if cheats or bugs are identified after the fact. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 but it's neither a cheat nor a bug in my opinion. if the game is programmed intentionally to respawn, well that's not your fault and nor are you causing the game to do so. Now if you were doing something to cause the respawn, well mabye it would be different. It no different than playing a game like Contra and just letting the grunt enemies keep coming to you. Yeah it's tedious as hell, which is probably why nobody does this, but you could eventually rack up points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarifever Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 but it's neither a cheat nor a bug in my opinion. if the game is programmed intentionally to respawn, well that's not your fault and nor are you causing the game to do so. Now if you were doing something to cause the respawn, well mabye it would be different. It no different than playing a game like Contra and just letting the grunt enemies keep coming to you. Yeah it's tedious as hell, which is probably why nobody does this, but you could eventually rack up points. Whatever rule you settle on regarding it, I hate leeching. There is no skill in leeching, so it has no place in a skill competition like this. It's like bragging that you sank 100 baskets in basketball, so you must be great, even though to reach the 100 mark you actually threw 2500, from on a ladder, 2 feet from the basket. Does the hypothetical person I just referenced deserve an MVP award? Neither does a leecher deserve a spot on the high score list. I am of course not judging anyone here, as the person originally pointing out the cheat himself has said it is cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I noticed the same thing when I was playing. I noticed that they respawned forever and that if I wanted to I could stay on the first level indefinitely. It's not something I'd do though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 I'm going to give it some thought, but please keep providing your opinions and feedback. right now here is what I think about it. Yes it's a crappy practice, but it's really not a cheat. On the other hand I very highly agree with AtariFever regarding the issue of skill, I'm a big fan of skill, and there's no skill in leeching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suaiden Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I'm going to give it some thought, but please keep providing your opinions and feedback. right now here is what I think about it. Yes it's a crappy practice, but it's really not a cheat. On the other hand I very highly agree with AtariFever regarding the issue of skill, I'm a big fan of skill, and there's no skill in leeching. While I'd hate to lose my spot (I am ok with it, though I think I deserve it for at least catching the cheap move) I must say a great deal of patience is required at the least- It's not like I just sat there collecting points, ok it is like that, but not exactly that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdement Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Lots of games have leeching opportunities, although maybe not so many in the 7800 library. I just took for granted that it isn't allowed, but to be fair that point wasn't mentioned in the rules. suaiden explained his methods openly so he obviously wasn't trying to deceive anybody, but leeching shouldn't be allowed as it undermines the contest. This is a constant problem with NES style games. In the NES HSC I had some occasions where my score was inflated due to taking longer to get through a level. It can happen without even being intentional. For games like this, it might be better to score them by level progress rather than score. But that isn't perfect either, because it removes the incentive to go for bonuses (like rescuing POWs or killing the green guy in this game). If two people reach the same level then the score could at least be used as tiebreaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 well after some thought. The score will stand, since the controversy didn't come until after the round was over. I'm not going to post a rule of NO camping, basically the question is how do you tell if someone actually camped or not, especially if the person decides not post a screen shot? So with that, and since it hasn't been an issue before, I'm going to leave it to the honor system. Camping is frowned upon. I will ask that it never be done, just know that if you do camp and post scores knowingly as a camper well, may god have mercy on your soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarifever Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 may god have mercy on your soul because Atari will not. And that is a fate worse than death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockman_x_2002 Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 I actually hadn't thought of sitting still picking off enemies one after another on the very first stage, but now that you mention it, yeah that would be a problem for games like this. On the other hand, standing there picking off drones one after another would be maddeningly tedious work, if not just a little unethical in this kind of contest. Then again, on the other hand (the third one), this isn't Twin Galaxies. To me, though, leeching is an early form of spawn-camping, only you're doing it to the computer and not to another person. But in a contest, to be frowned upon for sure. Satisfying to do it to a computer when it hands your butt to you repeatedly, yes. But it kinda sucks to be on the business end of spawn-camping in a multiplayer game... and I've been there on many occasions (Halo PC, for example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted August 22, 2008 Author Share Posted August 22, 2008 spawn hunting and camping are two totally different things. Even with spawning drones it's still camping. Spawn hunting, in my opinion, is completely limited to online play. Spawn hunting from my experience is usually scored as kills, where as camping you gain score by killing for score. I know it sounds weird, but I assure you there is a difference. As far as I know there's no 7800 game that tallies scores by kill. where 1 kill = 1 point. So camping in that case shouldn't be a problem. I also agree that camping would be a totally tedious activity, which is why I don't believe it will ever be a problem. Is someone really going to spend 5 hours to camp and kill enemies that score 50 points each to break a 500,000 high score?? probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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