Season 19 Round 3 - BreakThru

[asponge]

It's a bit tricky to capture your score with this one.  After you've used up your last life the score disappears quickly and never returns.  Screenshots aren't required so you if want to just jot down the score that's fine.  If you want a screenshot, the best way is to quickly pause the game as the vehicle explodes while your life count is 1.

 

  

 

Game Rules:

No Continues
One Playthrough Only

Manual

 

Score Post Deadline: Sunday May 30 at 11:59 PM CST.

 

AtariAge High Score:

136,700 by bubufubu posted on 3/18/2015

 

Scores as of 5/22:

Razzie.P       137,600
mbd39          124,600
asponge         34,300
Lauren Tyler    11,200
roadrunner       8,900
RuySan           6,200

 

NES Arcade:

Below are 10 arcade ports we're playing alongside the regular games. You may post a score for any title, during the current regular season round.  Score improvements are always accepted as well.  Points for these games will be awarded at the end of the season.  Each game will be scored like a regular season round, e.g. first place will receive 25 points, second 20 points, etc.  All points earned here will be added to your season total.

 

Click here for the Arcade Scoreboard

 

Bad Dudes                                    Bump 'n' Jump                               BurgerTime

                 

Manual                                         Manual                                          Manual

 

Donkey Kong                                 Donkey Kong Jr.                            Gyruss

            

Manual                                         Manual                                          Manual

Game A                                        Game A

 

Palamedes                                    Popeye                                          Q*bert

                

Manual                                         Manual                                          Manual

Start at Level 1                             Game A

 

Shinobi

  

Manual

 

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:
  

 

 

[mbd39]

Good choice. I've never beat this without using a bunch of continues. There's a lot of tricky jumps.

 

 

[Razzie.P]

Breakthru -- 58,600

 

Made it a ways into Round 3.  No pic, though, as I didn't know I was on my last life.

 

This one's gonna require a lot of memorization, as I'm not fast enough to speed up for the long jumps unless I know it's about to happen.

[bubufubu]

5 hours ago, asponge said:

It's a bit tricky to capture your score with this one.  After you've used up your last life the score disappears quickly and never returns.  Screenshots aren't required so you if want to just jot down the score that's fine.  If you want a screenshot, the best way is to quickly pause the game as the vehicle explodes while your life count is 1.

Like Legendary Wings, this one has infinite loops and the score carries over.  I believe the difficulty remains the same, as well.

[Lauren Tyler]

11,200

[bubufubu]

Donkey Kong Jr. - 308,500

 

I got this score yesterday for another site but neglected to take a picture.  Here's a link for some proof:

 

https://retroachievements.org/leaderboardinfo.php?i=4675

[Razzie.P]

BreakThru -- 119,500

 

Not sure how I missed out on this in real time, but I'm really diggin' this game!  Played pretty much all afternoon evening  friggin' day.  Haven't been able to beat it yet, but got pretty deep into 5, which I think is the last, unless it pulls a surprise afterwards.

 

 

How do you guys play it?  Going for speed, or nice n' slow?  I hang back as slow as possible until it's time to speed up for a jump.

 

Also, anyone know how to kill the helicopters?  Or even if you can?  My strategy at this point is to speed up, zig zag, scream like a little girl, and pray I don't get shot.  But I'm sure that's not right.

 

 

 

[Razzie.P]

2 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Like Legendary Wings, this one has infinite loops and the score carries over.  I believe the difficulty remains the same, as well.

 

We looping this or is it a one and done, like the others?  Generally, I like the 1 and done approach we've been doing, but this one seems like it's gonna be pretty short (15 mins or so) so either way's cool with me.  I'm confident I'll kick its butt Tuesday, since that's my next day off.  ?

[bubufubu]

2 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

How do you guys play it?  Going for speed, or nice n' slow?  I hang back as slow as possible until it's time to speed up for a jump.

 

Also, anyone know how to kill the helicopters?  Or even if you can?  My strategy at this point is to speed up, zig zag, scream like a little girl, and pray I don't get shot.  But I'm sure that's not right.

 

I also play it slow until it's time for a jump.  That's the best strategy for points.

 

As far as I know, you cannot destroy the helicopters.

 

3 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

We looping this or is it a one and done, like the others?  Generally, I like the 1 and done approach we've been doing, but this one seems like it's gonna be pretty short (15 mins or so) so either way's cool with me.  I'm confident I'll kick its butt Tuesday, since that's my next day off.  ?

 

I'm ok with looping it.  This is a sub 10 minute game if you don't ever die.

[mbd39]

I've been taking it slow except for jumps. This one is a real memorizer. I'm still working on stage two.

 

This would be one of the tougher NES games to beat if it had very limited or no continues.

 

[asponge]

47 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

3 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Like Legendary Wings, this one has infinite loops and the score carries over.  I believe the difficulty remains the same, as well.

We looping this or is it a one and done, like the others?

It doesn't appear that the difficulty increases.  Let's just do one playthrough.

 

[Razzie.P]

BreakThru -- 137,600

 

Barely made it (on my last life) but I did it!  Missed a lot of points just trying to survive, but will probably do a couple more run throughs later to see if I can snag a bit more.

 

 

 

[mbd39]

Okay I'm getting to stage 4 now, but I want a decent score before posting.

 

This isn't a great game to play for points because the score disappears way too quickly at game over, and it isn't great to play just to beat the game because the unlimited continues and checkpoints make it way too easy. The game would be so much better with just a couple minor changes, namely showing the top score and having limited continues.

 

 

I do have a lot of nostalgia for this game though. It's one of the first NES games that I completed as a kid.

 

 

 

[roadrunner]

Breakthru 8,900

 

[mbd39]

124,600

 

I also missed a lot of points just trying to survive but I'm happy to have beaten the game. I was scared shitless near the end because I was on my last life and just wanted to beat this.

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by mbd39

[Razzie.P]

33 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

was scared shitless near the end because I was on my last life and just wanted to beat this.

 

Same!   Those helicopters, man ...  Then a jump right into 2 tanks

[RuySan]

6200

 

As it was said, this is pretty much mostly memorization. Not much of a fan of this one.

[Lauren Tyler]

For the arcade competition:

 

Shinobi: 519,000

 

I was so close to one credit clearing this game, but the final boss got me!

[asponge]

BreakThru - 34,300

 

Bump 'n' Jump - 77,370

 

BurgerTime - 7,700

 

Is it just me or are there more enemies in this BurgerTime than the arcade version?

 

 

[mbd39]

I have a new found appreciation for BreakThru after playing it for this contest. It's a _much_ better game when playing for high score and trying to beat it without continues. Continue abuse completely ruins it.

 

[asponge]

I just updated the all-time high scores site.  I've done away with the separate competition/exhibition lists and merged all of the scores together.  Some additional stats have been added to the home page for fun.  If you've recently visited the site you may need to refresh to see the updates.  As always, suggestions are welcome.

 

AtariAge NES HSC Scoreboard

 

[bubufubu]

49 minutes ago, asponge said:

I've done away with the separate competition/exhibition lists and merged all of the scores together.

 

How come?

[jblenkle]

BreakThru - 3,200

Any tips on getting through that first big pile of rocks?

[mbd39]

9 hours ago, jblenkle said:

BreakThru - 3,200

Any tips on getting through that first big pile of rocks?

 

 

Yes. You just need to be moving fast enough to jump over it.

 

This game is all memorization knowing when to go faster or slower and when to jump.

 

 

 

 

[bubufubu]

191,700