Due to a naive but understandable lack of foresight on the part of the programming team, DK only set aside 3 bytes, enough for six digits, to display the player's score. As a consequence, once we hit 1 million, the "odometer" under 1UP (or 2UP) flips back to all zeros.
However, as we've all seen, the number displayed under HIGH SCORE freezes near the million mark, without rolling back to zero, and remains frozen for the remainder of the game.
How, and with what specific dynamics, does this occur?
I did some research and testing on this topic, and haven't seen it discussed elsewhere, and I know it might be something that some people find vexing when they see it, so I figured I might as well make a thread to toss it into the knowledge base and satisfy any curiosity.
WHAT "HIGH SCORE" ACTUALLY DOESAfter every point-award, the program polls the active player's current score for whether or not it is larger than the stored HIGH SCORE value. If and when this check returns true, the value is copied over and displayed under HIGH SCORE.
When the player's score reaches one million, his score continues counting without a hitch, but it starts over at 000000.
This is where the HIGH SCORE freezes. It happens because, unlike the player's score, the HIGH SCORE value is not one that is itself
added to, but rather a value that merely
echoes the player's score, should that score be higher than the currently-stored value.
Once the player has rolled to all zeros, the check for a higher score than the stored HIGH SCORE value returns false, because, numerically, the player's score is now lower. So it is not echoed.
But why does HIGH SCORE only sometimes, maybe even rarely, lock up at exactly 999,900, while instead sticking on strange, seemingly arbitrary values like 998,600?
AWARDING POINTSThe answer comes down to the point-awarding routines. While the result of a point award is shown onscreen all at once, the internal calculation for an award greater than 1,000 points actually happens in TWO steps.
Step one adds the hundreds. Step two adds the thousands.
Example: an award of 2,800 to a score of 100,700 will, in step one, add the 800 to the 100,700, bringing the score to 101,500. In step 2, 2,000 points are added, bringing the score to 103,500. Onscreen of course, the score jumps directly from 100,700 to 103,500 and there's no hint that the addition was actually done in two steps.
When the player's score reaches 1 million, the HIGH SCORE value will lock up in accord with this two-step process.
Examples of the players score + a point award, and where it will end up freezing the HIGH SCORE:
1. 999,800 + 300 = 999,800
(300 pushes the player's score from 999,800 to 000,100)
2. 999,400 + 1,300 = 999,700
(The 300 is added first, so 999,400 becomes 999,700. The 1,000, added second, pushes the player's score to 000,700)
3. 996,600 + 5,500 = 997,100
(A little harder to see at first. 500 is added to 996,600, bringing the score to 997,100. The next step, adding 5,000, pushes the player's score to 002,100, therefore the HIGH SCORE stays put at 997,100).
So, if you're at 999,500 and you get an 800 point hammer smash, your score will read 000,300, but HIGH SCORE will stay locked at 999,500 for the remainder of the game, and indeed until the machine is power-cycled, with one exception: playing a subsequent game, and achieving a point-award that lands in that 400-point range between 999,600 and 999,900, will lock in the new value.
A SILLY QUIZNow that you're an expert on the phenomenon of the famous HIGH SCORE lockup, let's waste some more time with a pop quiz! (This, however, is just as much a test of your knowledge of the game as it is of what I just discussed.)
1. What is the lowest possible number at which we can get the HIGH SCORE to freeze during the actual play of a board (that is, not from a timer bonus following the board's completion)?
2. What is the lowest possible number at which we can get the HIGH SCORE to freeze upon the awarding of a timer bonus? For this, assume a timer bonus that is achievable under actual game conditions (ie, no floor-skips, invincibility, or "finish this level now" cheats).
3. What is the lowest score that the player can have such that the highest-achievable timer bonus will roll his score to exactly 000000? What is the exact amount of that timer bonus? Which of the four board-types is it achievable on?
Apologies for any issues with the comprehensibility of these questions. Phrasing them clearly is probably more challenging than answering them!
First correct reponse wins nothing.
