Season 19 Round 7 - Jackal

[asponge]

This is another title that loops so please let us know if you want to loop this one or just do a single playthrough.

 

 

 

Game Rules:
Manual

 

Score Post Deadline:  Sunday August 1 at 11:59 PM CDT.

 

AtariAge High Score:

1,004,430 by bubufubu posted on 8/3/2020

 

Scores as of 8/1:

bubufubu       1,448,760
mbd39            770,990
fakecortex        83,900
Lauren Tyler      34,500
roadrunner        11,400

 

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]

Awesome it's Jackal I love this game.

[bubufubu]

The difficulty increases so I vote in favor of loops.

[mbd39]

If it's one loop then you're more forced to maximize score by shooting everything and rescuing prisoners. But I'd be fine with either.

[mbd39]

Bump n Jump

 

[mbd39]

Broke 300k!

 

[bubufubu]

Bad Dudes - 840,800

 

 

[VectorGamer]

Popeye 29990

DK 28300

Jr 5700

Gyruss 25350

[VectorGamer]

I played Jackal but the screen never came back to tell me what my score was.

 

Popeye 31090

Jr. 6900

[mbd39]

19 minutes ago, VectorGamer said:

I played Jackal but the screen never came back to tell me what my score was.

You have to get your score on life 0 or else it disappears. Really stupid and a lot of NES games were like this.

 

 

[asponge]

Go ahead and loop this one if you want since there isn't a ton of opinion on the matter.  All of the scoreboards are now up to date.

[bubufubu]

Donkey Kong - 104,400

 

 

[Lauren Tyler]

Just BARELY got my snapshot in time for Jackal: 34,500

[VectorGamer]

Gyruss 82750

DK 54500

Popeye 55890

[VectorGamer]

It's no wonder nobody is playing BurgerTime. Chef constantly getting stuck on the ladders or stops dead in his tracks. I don't have problems playing this on the ColecoVision.

 

8450

[bubufubu]

1,448,760

 

 

[fakecortex]

12 hours ago, VectorGamer said:

 

It's no wonder nobody is playing BurgerTime. Chef constantly getting stuck on the ladders or stops dead in his tracks. I don't have problems playing this on the ColecoVision.

Yes, totally agree. The NES port takes some getting used to, but doesn’t feel right. I like the CV version too and am partial to the one on Intellivision, even if it is pretty different. I believe I voted for BT this season tho bc I wanted to get better at it. I better sink some time into these arcade games. 

[fakecortex]

I like running over and squishing the soldiers, reminds me of TMNT, not too odd since that was also by Konami. I also like getting power ups for rescuing POWs and points for dropping them off at the helicopter. Here’s a game I own and don’t remember getting...or playing for that matter. 

 

Jackal - 58,900 lvl 2

[fakecortex]

Quick update. Made it to the level 2 boss this time, but wasn’t doing any damage. 

 

Jackal - 83,900 lvl 2

[mbd39]

Is it my imagination or are the lasers faster in stage 3 of second loop? I couldn't get through the first one without a death. Or maybe I was getting tired, dunno.

 

606,560

 

[bubufubu]

2 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

Is it my imagination or are the lasers faster in stage 3 of second loop? I couldn't get through the first one without a death. Or maybe I was getting tired, dunno.

The first time I played the second loop, the only difference I could discern was the difficulty of the tank.  There was either an uptick or its pattern had changed.  Further runs, it seemed as if the bullet speed for the soldiers was faster, rate of fire had increased, and they fired sooner.  I think those grey cars that chase you might be a tad faster, too.  About the lasers, I can't say.

 

During yesterday's run, I figured out that the game stops awarding you free lives once you reach the third loop.  My left hand was in shambles by then anyway.

[mbd39]

2 minutes ago, bubufubu said:

The first time I played the second loop, the only difference I could discern was the difficulty of the tank.  There was either an uptick or its pattern had changed.  Further runs, it seemed as if the bullet speed for the soldiers was faster, rate of fire had increased, and they fired sooner.  I think those grey cars that chase you might be a tad faster, too.  About the lasers, I can't say.

 

During yesterday's run, I figured out that the game stops awarding you free lives once you reach the third loop.  My left hand was in shambles by then anyway.

It's possible fatigue was setting in. Died a couple times to the lasers and then had more stupid deaths. I think this game is harder than Contra. It sucks because I had 7 lives going into stage 3 and left with 0 lives, and i usually have no issues with stage 3 at least on the first loop.

 

 

 

[mbd39]

Another thing I noticed in second loop was no more hidden stars unless the the locations changed.

 

[bubufubu]

52 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

It's possible fatigue was setting in. Died a couple times to the lasers and then had more stupid deaths. I think this game is harder than Contra. It sucks because I had 7 lives going into stage 3 and left with 0 lives, and i usually have no issues with stage 3 at least on the first loop.

I had a bunch of stupid deaths on the third loop.  I sacrificed about six lives to the tank on the first two loops, thinking I'd easily get those lives back through points.  Found out I was wrong the hard way.  I would agree that it's harder than Contra.  Jackal beats up your hand in a way that Contra doesn't and it has a limit on total lives.  As far as AI behavior, I'm not sure.  Contra really throws out those enemy soldiers at you from both sides on successive loops and either your weapon is weaker or some enemies have higher HP.  When I make points runs with Jackal, I tend to take it real slow.  No use rushing it.  It also helps to have some effective strategies for those choppers on the final stage.

 

1 hour ago, mbd39 said:

Another thing I noticed in second loop was no more hidden stars unless the the locations changed.

I think they're just gone for good.  I've never read about them moving locations.  It's possible but it makes more sense for them to be one-time grabs.

 

[mbd39]

770,990