Cynicaster

I was on a roll with this one! I can't believe I missed a half-mil by only 375 measly points... 499,625

Another minor improvement 230,400

Realized I've never submitted a score for Centipede! 59,616

139,730 This game almost reminds me of a bad iPhone game, but for some reason, it's a lot more fun than it should be.

I regret that I was unable to participate in the Halloween tournament, but I did manage to get a new high on DK the other night. 228,600

This is tough for me because during this tourney I've already been away on a week vacation, and I'm about to leave on another in a few days. Plus, I just sold my house and am in the process of moving. Plus all the other busy-busy summer stuff like taking care of yards and home projects. Plus work. It doesn't help that I'm pretty much starting from ground zero on almost every single one of the games in the list. Fun as they may be, it's hard to give all of them a real go. I know, excuses excuses. Asteroids - 20,120 Strikers - 360,100 Star Force - 288,500 Mustache - 209,620 Triple Punch - 13,830 [it's not letting me post the rest of my photos, saying they're too big... even though they're only 150k or so]

275,700

Yes, all scores get saved (on games that support hiscore.dat, anyway), but I've got two different MAME rigs. I'm in the process of moving, and the full-sized cabinet used to achieve the older score is still not setup at my place. This score (and all other recent ones for me on here) was done using a smaller "pedestal" rig I built that has an X-Arcade tank stick as the controller.

248,210

The "bonus! bonus! bonus! b-b-b-b-bon-bon-bonus! bonus! bon-bon-b-b-bon-bonus! bonus! bonus! bon-bo-b-b-bon-bonus!" thing is hilarious. I'm always confused when stuff like that ends up in games. Didn't they play test it with a test audience? And if they did, did the audience really not raise the complaint about how annoying that is? It's the FIRST piece of feedback I would provide. Anyway, peculiar Japanesey elements notwithstanding, it's a superb shooter. 1,299,770

Decided to have a random run on DK a few days ago and managed to eclipse my previous personal best by a whole 1000 points! 221,700

310,860

181,260 Fun game, but the controls are pretty slippery.

I've never really understood why this game gets the love that it does, but after a session with the game it was starting to grow on me a little bit. 62,850

I know I can do better, but this'll have to do for now. 52,700

466,700 Haven't played this one in a long time... forgot how great it is. One of the best shooters out there, IMO.

UPDATE: With 5 minutes of research I was able to confirm what I suspected about Asteroids REV 4. Not only do the mini-UFO shots wrap around, but the little guy also fires at you immediately upon entering the screen, rather than waiting until he gets 1/6th of the way across the screen as in earlier versions. From the MAME history.dat (rev. 1.41a):

Donkey Kong - 194,000. I had 190k with THREE lives left. My personal best was clearly in my sights. Then, I died THREE times on the same L7 barrel board. So frustrating! Asteroids (5 lives) - 29,910 I'm a 50k player on Asteroids, but here it took me quite a while to even get this score. I hope everybody is actually using the correct ASTEROIDS (REV 4) rom and not just artificially limiting themselves to 5 lives using REV 2 or, even worse, REV 1. I bring this up because my romset did not contain REV 4, and I had to go out on the net to find it. No question, there are more differences in REV 4 than just the 5-life limit. It is considerably harder than REV 2, most notably because the mini-UFO's are smarter. In REV 2, the mini-UFO's always fire directly at you, meaning that if you don't have a clear shot at one, you can still survive by letting him fly by, while you hide on the side of the screen opposite the direction the UFO is heading. Since the UFO's bullets only go part way across the screen, eventually they will not have enough range to hit you, and you're safe. Not so in REV 4. The same range limitations apply, but the UFO is smart enough to aim the other way and wrap his shots around the screen to hit you. Needless to say, this pretty much doubles the difficulty; I had several games where I was struggling to even get the first free life at 10k, and it took me a while to figure out why.

Finally got around to snapping that photo (not that this score is worth much anymore). 304,660

Naw, it's cool, rules are rules. I think I just formed some bad habits by posting so many scores at AtariAge where they aren't very particular about what constitutes proof. I totally missed that discusssion with TiF. If I'd seen it, I probably would have taken more care. I don't doubt he got those scores, but for whatever reason, he decided to play loosey-goosey with the burden of proof and a judgment was made accordingly. Fair is fair. Personally, I think anybody who feels inclined to "cheat" in a competition like this has some serious issues. But, if you participate on sites like this long enough, you will see it happen eventually. I can tell you right now that if videos were required, I'd probably stop participating because it's just not worth the hassle to me. A screenshot with initials is quick and easy, but it provides some level of proof. That's a good balance, IMO.

@GC--here you go. The Bomb Jack score is on my other machine at my other place, will get that one next time I'm there.

No problem... I did enter my initials after taking the pic, and fortunately, my cab saves high scores so the proof is still available. Actually, M.O. was present when I got that score, as we were having a mini-tourney in person. I know that doesn't count as proof, but just thought I'd mention it.

95,010

Fun game, but a little too pattern-based for me. 304,660

Man, I just can't seem to figure this one out. 77,060