Season 18 Round 8 of 15 - Circus Charlie

[asponge]

Up next is a fun arcade port suggested by Fakecortex.  We've collectively decided that in order to keep things fair that the collection of coins on the first stage should be be banned.  There's a trick where you can jump backwards over a pot to randomly get a coin to appear.  The coin is worth 5,000 points.  The issue is that they don't appear consistently.  It's pure luck whether or not you receive one.  That doesn't feel very sporting so for our competition we'll forgo the coins. 

 

Having said that, however, you should definitely try it for fun.  I'd be curious to see what kind of points folks can rack up exploiting this trick.  If you're interested feel free post scores you obtained collecting the coins.  They won't count toward the competition, but it'll be a bit of fun and that's the point after all.

 

 

 

Game Rules:

Game A

Do not collect coins on the first stage.

Manual

 

Score Post Deadline: Sunday December 6 at 11:59 PM CST.

 

AtariAge High Score:

None

 

Scores as of 12/6:

bubufubu     182,970
fakecortex   156,830
Razzie.P     153,390
asponge       62,320
roadrunner    16,980
empsolo       16,400
jblenkle      13,530

 

Season Standings:

 

 

General HSC Season Rules:

• To participate, just post a score to the thread. Anyone can join in at any time.
• A picture or screenshot is encouraged when posting a score but not required.
• The season is 15 rounds long.
• Games will be posted on Sundays and run two weeks through Sunday at 11:59 PM CST.
• Do not exploit game glitches, take advantage of 1-up loops or intentionally die in order to replay a level.
• If "point pressing" is not specified in the game rules you should be moving forward in an attempt to complete/loop the game and not "camping" for points.
• No emulator save states, slow-mo, rewind, etc.
• No cheats, e.g. Konami code, Game Genie, etc.
• Turbo controllers are allowed.
• Round points are awarded according to the following chart:
  

[mbd30]

Interesting. I've never played this. I get this game mixed up with Circus Caper.

[fakecortex]

I'll start this off with a score I hope to increase if I can figure out how to do the trapeze stage.

 

48,170 Stage 5 no coins

 

Looking back at my scores and notes from January, I was able to abuse the coins on stage 1 to intentionally die and repeat the stage for a high of around 450k. I might try it again to share here. It's grueling but fun. My notes also showed that I got to stage 11, which means not too long ago I was able to swing on the trapeze like a pro, but today, I was having no such luck.

 

I first came across this game a number of years ago on a Japanese multicart where it was named "Circus Chablie". I have since gotten my own Famicom and the original cartridge, which is my favorite to play on the system, but he will forever be Chablie to me

[Razzie.P]

I don't think I've heard of this one before, so looking forward to it.

[Razzie.P]

Stage 5 seems to be my breaking point as well.  Let's see what the manual has to say about this....

[Razzie.P]

53,400 -- Stage 07, No coins

 

 

Finally made it past stage 5 to loop it, so figured it's a good starter score.

 

[Razzie.P]

111,970 -- Stage 14, No coins

 

It's probably not the "correct" way to do it, but I've figured out how to survive the trapeze level consistently.  Falling straight down to bounce for the next rope.  Takes more time that way, but I can't seem to control the jumps any other way.   

 

Now my new problem is -- I can't get off the damn horse properly at the end of those levels.

 

[fakecortex]

2 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

111,970 -- Stage 14, No coins

 

It's probably not the "correct" way to do it, but I've figured out how to survive the trapeze level consistently.  Falling straight down to bounce for the next rope.  Takes more time that way, but I can't seem to control the jumps any other way.   

 

Now my new problem is -- I can't get off the damn horse properly at the end of those levels.

Nice man! I haven't gotten past the trapeze level yet, but I was earlier this year and I remember being able to consistently jump from rope to rope. The bouncing is a valid way tho, that's why they're there I guess. And man, to survive the entire horse level and die at the end, bummer.

[roadrunner]

16,980 stage 3 


 

[jblenkle]

Circus Charlie - 13,530

[fakecortex]

There's nothing quite as thrilling as hitting those trapeze consecutively. Maybe jumping double blue monkeys.

 

89,070 Stage 9 no coins

[mbd30]

I'll try to put in some time this week. I'm also competing in a NES tournament on another board.

 

[empsolo]

16,400

[bubufubu]

116,630

 

 

[fakecortex]

New stage, new high, can't complain. Tho when I hit 100k I'll be pretty happy

 

92,820 Stage 10 no coins

[fakecortex]

Pretty happy

 

131,060 Stage 14 no coins

[bubufubu]

149,920

 

I didn't think it needed to be mentioned (since asponge covered this in the first post) but both this and my previous score were achieved without any of the 5,000 point coins.

[bubufubu]

182,970

 

 

[fakecortex]

3 hours ago, bubufubu said:

182,970

Oof. Had the high for a few hours...awesome score!

[asponge]

34,110

 

[Razzie.P]

153,390 -- Stage 19 (I think, I was too busy yelling at the horse and missed it) and no coins

 

 

[fakecortex]

I was staying at a consistent score at stage 14 for a few goes (the changes in the horse round are hard). Then I found a good pattern for myself and was able to get ahead  Of course, that loop's trapeze was having me swing out of sync ? Next loop had me losing my last two chablies on a fire hoop and a blue monkey of all things. Normally the tightrope is a freebie round, but in this loop, the blue monkey snuck up out of nowhere when I was doing a standstill jump. I was pretty surprised.

 

156,830 Stage 17 no coins

[bubufubu]

8 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

153,390 -- Stage 19 (I think, I was too busy yelling at the horse and missed it) and no coins

 

Stage 19 has that awfully tight space so your jump really has to be on point.  Not a lot of frames to work with.  First time I saw that jump, I thought:  " Why the hell can't Charlie just spring over it?! ".  Poor Charlie just doesn't weigh enough to make it happen.

 

59 minutes ago, fakecortex said:

I was staying at a consistent score at stage 14 for a few goes (the changes in the horse round are hard). Then I found a good pattern for myself and was able to get ahead  Of course, that loop's trapeze was having me swing out of sync ? Next loop had me losing my last two chablies on a fire hoop and a blue monkey of all things. Normally the tightrope is a freebie round, but in this loop, the blue monkey snuck up out of nowhere when I was doing a standstill jump. I was pretty surprised.

 

I remember coming back to the trapeze stage yesterday for my first attempt of the day and it was as if all my knowledge and timing had disappeared.  I had several screw-ups before I got it back.  The first time I ever saw the tightrope stage on the third loop, I thought that was my wall.  I must have gotten an awful pattern or something.  It had multiple really tight jumps at the very beginning.  That stage bothers me because it doesn't seem like the brown monkey will always keep moving when you stand still before jumping it.  I could swear there were times when they stopped even though a blue monkey wasn't on screen.  In any event, that stage wasn't a freebie for me on the third or fourth loop.  As you can see from the picture in my first score from yesterday, I friggin' died on Stage 1.  That was embarrassing.  Such an easy stage.  They let you move backwards and allow you to scroll the hoops off the screen!  There was no way I was sitting on that run.

[asponge]

I still cannot get the hang of the trapeze stage.  Instead, I gave up and exploited the coin trick.

 

42,400 - no coins

 

216,000 - with coins

[fakecortex]

20 minutes ago, asponge said:

I still cannot get the hang of the trapeze stage.  Instead, I gave up and exploited the coin trick.

216,000 - with coins

Haha, awesome. I want to sit down with that again, not sure if I will during the time left for a regular submission, but at least afterwards. I looked back at my old notes and I have written down: If I didn't die from getting tired and messing up, when would I eventually die?
 

The exploit I was doing on stage 1 was letting the clock tick down, which cost me a life, but I would earn another one before the next clock ran out. It was tiring, lol.