Gradius

[Mame Offender]

My target is in sight.....

 

152,800

MAM

[hansolo77]

Wow nice score!

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[hansolo77]

So here's my (LATE) entry... I'm off work today, so I spent some time last night researching a bit of strategy for this game.  Since I always seem to have difficulty getting past the "bullet" hell section (about 2/3'rds through Stage 1) I wanted to see if I could do anything to help that.  I found a good strategy guide here (link) and used it fully.  After some trial and error, I was finally able to get a past that part.  For the most part, this game pretty close to the NES.  Once you get to the 2nd stage, things get interesting.  The game screen actually pans with the player, and if you just hold in one direction (up or down) the screen actually rotates itself.  So you can clear a lot of room out by going UP at the "top" of the screen and basically be at the bottom.  Nice thing to know.  Especially when you get up to the Moai stage (by far one of the hardest).  I lost my last guy multiple times here.  But I did finally manage to get to the next stage before drying by some stupid little ship.  I never made it back there, and turned off my computer for lunch.  Came back and tried again.  For some reason my high scores didn't save.  So I started over again (I ignorantly didn't grab a screenshot).  This score I'm posting is the highest I've been able to get after lunch (unfortunately I wasn't able to get past the Moai...)

Score: 266,100
Initials: HAN
Stage: Moai (3)

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[Mame Offender]

Damn kid.  Awesome score!!  

 

Looks like I have a challenge on my hands.

 

 

 

 

MO

[smario]

I'm also not done yet

But damn is that inverted volcano level hard!

 

[hansolo77]

"Inverted Volcano".. sounds like a bellybutton outie, or an erect nipple that goes in instead of out!   I've not had a chance to come back to this yet again.  I'm off tomorrow though, so I might post another score.  Gradius is the ONE game I excelled at on my friend's NES.  I suck at all the SMB games, to the point where I still suck today trying to play it emulated.  But Gradius is my game.  The arcade version is really a different beast but the core stuff is still there.  To get a good score, you really gotta try and get all the bonus's you can get your grubby hands on.  Things like the 5000 point bonus and hidden 1-ups (link)  I knew of the NES warps because I found them I think maybe twice the whole time I played when I was younger.  But I don't know if they exist in the arcade.. Might be something to try and look for next time I play.

[smario]

12 hours ago, hansolo77 said:

"Inverted Volcano".. sounds like a bellybutton outie, or an erect nipple that goes in instead of out!  

Well I hadn't thought about it that way... interesting!

For me, that, ahem ... second volcano level is quite tough. The instant an enemy is on-screen it starts to spill bullets which very quickly amounts to a bullet hell kind of scenario. The only chance you stand is to get rid of every single enemy as fast as you can which requires exact memorization of flight paths. Since this is the only level I use "doubles" instead of lasers, the constant button tapping adds to the general sense of hectic and loss of control. After that, the game cools down considerably in terms of difficulty, even in the last level, the enemy base.

So here's my latest entry - 343,400 (loop 2 stage 1)

 

[hansolo77]

OH ho ho... so that's how you wanna play it huh?  Tough guy? (punches fist into his hand) - Ok that's a Toy Story reference...

Now I DO have to play again.. I've only won one of these GOTM's...

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[rtkiii]

Love the back and forth of the scores this month.  Cmon Han I'm pulling for ya, nooffense Mario  

[Mame Offender]

I little improvement:

 

172400

[hansolo77]

A little is better than none!  Thanks for continuing to try and post scores.  Even if you're not #1, you gave it your best.  The score is set and will always be here for you to come back and try and beat in the future!

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[millerbrad]

I don't know what my horoscope symbol is.

42,300. For now.....

[hansolo77]

I think I used the wrong one!  I used the one for Cancer.. I'm actually Gemini.  So does that make my score invalid?

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[millerbrad]

Holy moly, I didn't realize how much of a gap in scores there was between you guys and us mere mortals.  I'll just leave this here...

83,300

[hansolo77]

Most of my difficulty comes from about 2/3 through the first stage, after that, I have no problem until around stage 3 with the Moai's...  It just takes practice.

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[Cynicaster]

122,100 (2nd score on list... the top one is old)

Not a fan of this game at all... I tried to like it, but I'm kind of glad a new game is coming. 

[ExedExes]

It's something!

ExedExes - 171,700

Also, apologies for my signature possibly appearing funny. Photobucket is allowing a very limited amount of bandwidth for 3rd party image linking. If you want unlimited, it's $400 a year! (how about no) so I changed my signature host to imgur. It should look better now.

 

[hansolo77]

Thanks for the enthusiasm, and last minute entries.  So here's the deal... I have to work every day for 10 days straight due to the holidays and my grocery store deli job.  So I won't actually be updating the threads with the new GOTM until Friday.  I hope this is ok with everybody.  So if you guys want to try and get some more last minute entries in with the long weekend, feel free.  I'll get everything updated then!

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[hansolo77]

Thus ends another great GOTM.  I'm glad we were able to play a game a lot of people were familiar with.  Got some great competition this month.  Alas, nobody was able to topple smario's killer 343,400 score.  I was close, but never got a chance to play more.  Just like to take a quick moment here though and apologize for not updating the thread sooner.  10 days straight without a day off (Tuesday - Thursday) during a holiday week at a grocery store deli/bakery.  Not exactly ideal for somebody like me who has to deal with stress and anxiety on a daily basis.  I finally have a day off today so things can get back to normal.  Here's to another great month!

[Luigimaker]

[hansolo77]

That's really not a bad score Luigi.  Considering all the other scores you've posted recently, I'm sure you could do better with time and practice!

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[Floyd Turbo]

 

.

[Floyd Turbo]

16,300

[hansolo77]

Hey!  Gets you on the board!

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[rtkiii]

Not last place