Intellivision HSC Season 16 - Game 11 - Congo Bongo

[Rickster8]

[ Intellivision HSC Season 16 ]

 

(Game 11)

 

Congo Bongo

 

Congo Bongo by Sega 1983

You're a hunter on a jungle safari. The jungle is full of creatures determined to give you a run for your life, but none of them can match the mischief of CONGO BONGO the Gorilla. 

 

 

ROM Download Link

https://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/21486/intellivision/Congo-Bongo-1983-Sega.html

 

 

Game Manual Link - Click link below then go to 'Games' then 'Manuals' and scroll down for Congo Bongo

http://www.intellivision.us/intvlibrary/index.htm

 

 

High Score Club Record

83,320 m-crew 146,170 CParsley (SET NEW RECORD +3)

 

Game Setting

PRESS BUTTON 1 (FOR ONE PLAYER GAME - LEVEL ONE)

 

 

Game Objective

The object of the game is to get even with CONGO BONGO while collecting as many points as you can.

 

 

Game Scoring

+13 [1st place], +12 [2nd place], +11 [3rd place], +9 [4th place] down to +1 pt for participation. +2 Game Winner Incentive. 

 

Extra Score Bonus: Get a score of 10,000 pts or more and earn +1 bonus point; Get a score of 20,000 pts or more and earn +2 bonus points; Get a score of 30,000 pts or more and earn +3 bonus points. Get a score of 40,000 pts or more and earn +4 bonus points; Get a score of 50,000 pts or more and earn +5 bonus points. Max-out Extra Score Bonus points earned is +5.  

 

Season Theme: Maze Craze and Critters. This game falls into the 'Critters' category.

 

 

Contest Ends
SUNDAY APRIL 17TH 11:59:59 PM EASTERN TIME

 

 

 

(FINAL SCORES)

 

 

146,170 - CParsley [+5 Bonus Points][+13][+2 GAME WINNER INCENTIVE][+3 SET NEW RECORD]

  51,730 - Rickster8 [+5 Bonus Points][+12]

  12,950 - jimblargh [+1 Bonus Point][+11]

-----------------------------------------------------

    5,760 - fakecortex [+9]

    5,710 - Lupovax [+8]

    4,930 - Wolfy62 [+7]

    3,900 - jblenkle [+6]

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Rankings (POINTS)

After Frog Bog

 

 

161 - Rickster8

154 - Mark Griff

138 - CParsley

  96 - Lupovax

  88 - jimblargh

  66 - Wolfy62

  52 - Crade

  51 - IntyFanMatt

  47 - Fakecortex

  41 - Popsicle

  37 - Gar0u

  30 - Player One

  14 - Mr_Me

  12 - Gavvv

  10 - Jblenkle

  10 - m-crew

 

 

 

 

 

Games Won

 

4 - Mark Griff - Tutankham / Mouse Trap / Venture / Sewer Sam

3 - Rickster8 - Night Stalker / TRON: Maze-A-Tron / Frog Bog

1 - IntyFanMatt - Shark! Shark!

1 - Popsicle - Buzz Bombers

1 - CParsley - Super Cobra

 

 

 

 

Sneak Preview:

Safecracker

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Rickster8
Added in scores

[Rickster8]

My First Congo Bongo Entry: Okay first off, this game is BAD. I mean REALLY BAD!!! Probably the absolute worst game on the system. Unfortunately sometimes we have to play the terrible games though and this one DOES NOT disappoint. ?

 

How @m-crew got 83,000+ points on this game is BEYOND me..... ?‍♂️?

 

CONGO BONGO - ONE PLAYER MODE - 11,200 POINTS!!!

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Rickster8
Wording

[cparsley]

Congratulations! Very Good  ARE THREE WORDS never told to these programmers

 

Also 2nd time they forgot to put anything so it's blank and 3rd time Outstanding  like it's quite outstanding anyone's playing this. Died to the red blob on the bridge, assuming it's excuse for trying to draw a snake, can't believe I'm going to say tgis, but damn when you can't draw to Sewer Sam s level that's fed up

 

Score 31,940 and hint don't dawdle on your picture taking as the game restart on its own without button presses.

 

 

[lupovax]

CONGO BONGO - 4,410

[Rickster8]

4 hours ago, cparsley said:

Congratulations! Very Good  ARE THREE WORDS never told to these programmers

 

Also 2nd time they forgot to put anything so it's blank and 3rd time Outstanding  like it's quite outstanding anyone's playing this. Died to the red blob on the bridge, assuming it's excuse for trying to draw a snake, can't believe I'm going to say tgis, but damn when you can't draw to Sewer Sam s level that's fed up

 

Score 31,940 and hint don't dawdle on your picture taking as the game restart on its own without button presses.

 

 

How the heck are you scoring this high? The controls for this game are soooooooooooooooooooo bad and you're playing with a keyboard right? I make what seems like a good jump from one obstacle to the next and the guy just dies. ??‍♂️

Edited April 4, 2022 by Rickster8
Wording

[jblenkle]

Congo Bongo - 3,900

[cparsley]

Havent played anything this season on a keyboard... Im down to having to use a 360 controller with the bumper (left) the only jump button working....

 

[cparsley]

As for jumps yes quite insane especially from red fish to right side platform

[cparsley]

Got by the snake but failed on the even level bloody fish flipping me.

 

38,910

 

 

[Rickster8]

My Congo Bongo Update: Slight improvement. More of the same jumping failures though. I actually lost all 4 guys trying to jump from the 2nd red fish to the platform. Well done Sega, GREAT programming, UGH!!!! ?‍♂️?

 

 

CONGO BONGO - ONE PLAYER MODE - 12,630 POINTS!!!

 

 

[cparsley]

There are either 2 spots to go for a fish to platform jump... Either the middle jump (closest to the path for the monkey), or the bottom right corner. That is the easier one to land on but then requires of course a further path to get to the monkey. 

[Rickster8]

2 hours ago, cparsley said:

There are either 2 spots to go for a fish to platform jump... Either the middle jump (closest to the path for the monkey), or the bottom right corner. That is the easier one to land on but then requires of course a further path to get to the monkey. 

Doesn’t the rhino smash you that close to the corner? ?‍♂️ 

[cparsley]

There's a trick for that...  Also move quickly

[Rickster8]

Chris do you take the far right path the whole way or do you take the middle path and then jump from the 2nd fish to the far right platform? The far right hippo doesn’t get close enough to anything so I always have to take the middle route.... 

[Rickster8]

My Congo Bongo Update: Just got my all time 'PB'... Finally had a breakout game... ??

 

 

CONGO BONGO - ONE PLAYER MODE - 33,980 POINTS!!!

 

 

[cparsley]

Let's raise the bar.

 

85,610

 

 

[Rickster8]

Increased my 'PB' a little more on this one.... ?

 

 

CONGO BONGO - ONE PLAYER MODE - 37,230 POINTS!!!

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Rickster8
Wording

[fakecortex]

This game sounds like a Game & Watch. Too bad it doesn't play like one. Ok, I'll stick to positive comments only.

 

...

 

JK. Here's what I like:

- The name

- The box art

- The scrolling screen and music it plays then

- This commercial:

 

 

- And the brutal intro cutscene

 

Good Ol' NGO BON - 5,760

 

Would've been nice to beat the second screen, but once it went from challenging to frustrating, I called it quits. I did watch some gameplay footage and realized that I needed to jump on the platform to get the fish to appear. I thought maybe the manual was just reusing copy from another version b/c the fish weren't there at first, haha. In fact, at first I had actually made a jump from the hippo to the ending platform, got up to the top, didn't know what to do, walked around, and died.

 

The manual also has what looks like completely doctored screenshots b/c they are definitely not from this version. I checked out a comparison video on youtube and they don't match any version there. Might've just been the programmer's pipe dream.

[cparsley]

No argument there, graphics do leave a lot to be desired... You made it from hippo to right side??? Might have to try that myself (feel Im in for more torture this weekend)

[Rickster8]

16 hours ago, fakecortex said:

This game sounds like a Game & Watch. Too bad it doesn't play like one. Ok, I'll stick to positive comments only.

 

...

 

 

 

 

Would've been nice to beat the second screen, but once it went from challenging to frustrating, I called it quits. I did watch some gameplay footage and realized that I needed to jump on the platform to get the fish to appear. I thought maybe the manual was just reusing copy from another version b/c the fish weren't there at first, haha. In fact, at first I had actually made a jump from the hippo to the ending platform, got up to the top, didn't know what to do, walked around, and died.

 

The manual also has what looks like completely doctored screenshots b/c they are definitely not from this version. I checked out a comparison video on youtube and they don't match any version there. Might've just been the programmer's pipe dream.

Once you get to the end at the 2nd level you have to climb up the 2 stairs and then the guy will take the fire and give Congo Bongo a 'hot foot'.......  

[fakecortex]

3 hours ago, cparsley said:

No argument there, graphics do leave a lot to be desired... You made it from hippo to right side??? Might have to try that myself (feel Im in for more torture this weekend)

Yeah, but I feel like that was a glitch bc...

 

3 hours ago, Rickster8 said:

Once you get to the end at the 2nd level you have to climb up the 2 stairs and then the guy will take the fire and give Congo Bongo a 'hot foot'.......  

...when I climbed the stairs nothing happened. So must’ve been a glitch. 

[Rickster8]

The dumbest aspect to this game is the the red fish that just out of the blue will turn orange. Ofcourse that's a death knell for the player as you have literally 1 second to get off (and there's absolutely nowhere to go) before the guy dies. Once again GREAT programming Sega.... UGHUGHUGH!!!!!!! ?‍♂️??

[wolfy62]

I am trying really hard to like this game enough to make it through the second level.

I will probably come away with the conclusion that most people have.

That this game sucks,at least it does on the Intellivision!

[cparsley]

Rickster you don't know how true the orange fish syndrome is... by the time of my ending all 4 were orange nearly 100% of the time LOL

[cparsley]

First off I must give thanks to the horrible frog bog to make me go after the next game on the list.

 

So as many  have noticed that the major difficulty the game possessed is the fish on the back half of the x-2 levels. These in themselves are not too horrible but for their potential to turn orange and flip on you tossing you to your death is extremely magnified.

 

By the layer x-2s they are almost always orange - flip - half sec of normal and then repeating the process, making normal fish play virtually impossible. So a new strategy had to be sought out or just give up, after all I did have the HSC mark already. But I wanted more, to actually know if there was more. In the odd x-2s (1-2 3-2 etc) you got a word after the Congratulations! and after 7-2 it was just HMMM . Not a great word lol considering very good, and incredible were some of the previous ones (even x-2s we're blank after the Congratulations!)

 

So I really was curious as to if there was a 9-2 phrase or if the Hmmm wasted the last bit of memory they had, but the fish problem remained. So I started on three different potential solutions to the problem. They were :

 

1. Skipping the fish altogether - this was a thought due to user fakecortex's post on post #19 . He thought it was a glitch but I figured it was worth a shot and after many many deaths couldn't replicate the result. 

 

2. Jumping the flip of the fish.  Now this was a lot more wishful thinking than anything but I did give it several gos before giving up on it as a viable way forward as it would require you to be exact at the front of the fish leap right straight up and immediately upon landing start placing yourself at the front to do it again ( or get over to the other fish if the opportunity was there)

 

3. Finding an alternative route to the right. This I first thought was impossible as moment you landed on a mid land the lily pads and hippos were gone for the fish ( normally had gone from the top available land to middle lily to middle hippo to middle land to start the fish sequence).  What the problem was from there is you had to take some riding time with the fish ?? to get to the other side. That time was just no longer available from the game. So what's finally ended up having to do was go middle lily to middle hippo to top lily to top hippo ??? to the rectangular land strip. This wasn't easy as you had to be as far up as possible without falling into the water to make the jump. I was ecstatic the first time made it there, not knowing if it would amount to anything. Now I still had to face the fish ???? flop of doom, but now could wait for a time in which could triple hop without riding. That took several more playthroughs and now had the faithful moment as to whether this would pay off or amount to nothing as if could get down to the steps.

 

I was then shocked that 9-2s animal pattern was only a single beast on a normal speed movement, expecting a lot more. While it took three trips, it was possible to go top to top middle to platform level dig out and then after one final pass go up the stairs!!!! At that point I was like I did it I'm done, but was shocked by the game into not being done.

 

the message was "NEVER GIVE UP!" which just rubbed me the wrong way and the game started up level !-1 So I pushed forward to complete !-2 using the same strategy and then getting the same NEVER GIVE UP and the game repeating !-1 made me consider this game BEAT and I'm done. (except for if I decide to Livestream doing it (just shivered thinking about that)

 

Final score is 146,170

 

 

 

 

Edited to fix grammar/spacing as typed on a mobile phone. Shocked the hippo emoji doesn't transfer to the computer website.

 

The full message list is..

 

1 = Very Good

2 = BLANK

3 = Outstanding

4 = BLANK

5 = Incredible

6 = BLANK 

7 = HMMM

8 = BLANK

9 = Never Give Up!

! = Never Give Up!

 

Level ! repeats nonstop at this point.  

Edited April 9, 2022 by cparsley