Battle of the Arcades

[johnmcallister]

DK3 Unique game in that there are two ways to clear the screen, but later in the game only 1 way and that is to clear all the enemies.  The score Wag put up was and is very impressive.  2 Years ago I could do that scoring pace  on easy and I thought Med would only be a little harder, hmmm oooops that show's it's not the case in my score
303k

EA Owned this game in the early 90's.  Used to play with friends and get to around 80-90k not sure what the settings were.  I do like the game although it is a little slow.  I just couldn't get into it again this year just like last year, but I did increase my score to around 52k.   Wag again   wooof

Frenzy  Played this game to 100k at home at 3k bonus and just barely made it to 100k.  Thought that I had enough play to let my mind figure out how to play.  Didn't go so well as I couldn't even get an extra man.
I'd like to play this game more as it's a fun and challenging game.

Gravitar  Played this a bunch when I was a kid, could get to the last invisible reg gravity and then would die.  Figured that took about an hour to do so I didn't even practice.  Took around 40 minutes to reach that solar system of planets but I couldn't remember the levels anymore so just gave up and said that's enough to be
in top 5.

Crappy  Yeah I didn't, don't, won't, will, ever want to play this game again.  It's not a bad game, it's just a game
I don't enjoy what so ever.

Millipede  I wan't to be more like Don, relax, smile, have some fun playing Millipede.  But I still tense up, stop breathing, sweat and cramp trying to stay in control.  Much better game than Centipede and I'd like it to be in
more tourney's or events.

PP  I blame my vision or lack of when I wear glasses.  Not being able to see upcoming cars or take your eyes
off the road to see other stuff makes this game much harder.  Just couldn't get a good game and gave up and
just went for a finish with no crash.  I like PP2 better though

Rally X  No I didn't play this game over and over again, it was playing me.  Finished the 1st challenge stage with no men lost and 30-40k in score at least 20-30 times.  But I just couldn't make it to the next one.  This game on these settings was just too hard for me.  Those that did make it ":#@%#$

Robo  I can't beat that clown BBH.  He just laughs at me when I play Robo.  I'm thinking that he is going to steal my patterns so I don't play as well   Not playing this game on a regular basis sure shows off the rust that will gather if you don't play.  Still the best game out there for a tourney or event.  Quick and fun, scores are all over the map.  You can have some of your best games and it makes your day.

Super Pac   Mazes are not fun, I get lost easy, and I'm scared of ghost.

Zaxxon  3d screw that we have 4d and 5d nowadays.  I've never liked this game.

Q-Bert   Never have learned how to play this game, was amazed that I could do an hour, well 4 minutes short of the hour.  Watching the pros like George though gave me enough info to know how to do some stuff to keep me going. 
 
Had a good time.  Sam's wife brought teriyaky chicken over for dinner and for lunch on Sunday she brought spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, yuummmmy thank you Sam's wife.  BC's wife made my favorite brownies, no special ingredients people.   Ken did a great job of hosting and all games were wiped down and cleaned, he did forget to take out the (Mappy) trash though.  Hector and his wife flew in from LA to be on our team and we all had a good time.  Some Alaskan fellow flew in and caused some fun too.  That Kasper guy learns his games very well, and then goes on and shows his skills, nice job being number 1 again. 

[DiggingInNY]

I'll throw in my two cents.

I felt that this year's competition was a lot more competitive than last year. I underestimated the Midwest team. I guess it was because I did not know anyone on that team aside from Ben, so I assumed that collectively they were not going to be as tough as the Kencade. Of course our team had some great competitors, so I assumed it would be a close race between us and the Kencade.

Now on to the games:

Q*bert - I had practiced one hour runs for quite some time, so I was happy with my score, (518,000+, it was the first game I played and did not need to play it again) though I wanted to shoot for a 525,000+ point game. It didn't matter, because fellow team members Don and Steve finished ahead of me. Going for a higher score would not have helped the team's rankings.

Millipede - I did a personal 5-man high of 180,000+ points. What surprised me was that for most of the game, the graphics had that double vision effect, but it did not hinder my performance. I might be in the minority, but I enjoy Millipede much more than Centipede. I would like Millipede to be a fixture in the Battle of the Arcades.

Mappy - I actually struggled throughout the first day, maxing out at 254,000. I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve a personal high in this game. I expected only Don and Ken to put up much higher scores than me. On the second day, I noticed Mike Kasper had passed me in the standings with a 293,000+ point game, so it motivated me to try again and I wound up with a personal best of over 355,000 points. As with every big game, I had some insane near death moments, only to lose my last life on a simple bump into a cat. I was shooting for a score between 350,000 to 400,000, so I was very pleased. I give serious props to Don. I saw him do a 660,000+ point run on Friday night and he made it look so easy.

Elevator Action - I've taken a liking to this game and I scored a personal high of 72,700. I hope this game remains a fixture in future events.

Robotron 2084 - For the second year in a row, there was a game that I expected to do very poorly in, but ended up with a decent score. Robotron was that game. I did a personal best of over 202,000 points, which is shocking, because I could never score that many points even with extra lives at every 25,000. It took me dozens of tries to get that score, so for someone who is god awful at this game, I'm happy.

Pole Position - Driving games are not my thing. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm 36 and have never gotten my driver's license, so I am somewhat inexperienced in driving. I blame living almost my entire life in the Big Apple on that. I did 47K on it, which was a lot better than last year.

Rally-X - This game suplexed me, put me in the camel clutch, broke my back, fucked my ass, and made me humble. On Friday night, I scored 80,000, so I thought that I was going to kick ass during the competition. Wrong!!!!!! I suspect that the game was set on easy on Friday and switched to normal afterwards. I ended up scoring over 56,000 points, which I did during the final hours of the contest, which helped boost my ranking in the game 8 spots. The Galloping Ghost did a great job in this game and Dan, from our team rocked with a 76,000+ point game.

Super Pac-Man - I remember before the competition there was confusion as to what romset was supposed to be used on MAME for practice. I remember a lot of you guys were disappointed to find out that you were using the wrong romset, which has a great impact on scores. I thought that the scores weren't going to be that high, but I was wrong. Many of you guys kicked ass. I had a solid 152,000+ points. Don, Robbie, and Sam kicked serious ass in this game.

Frenzy - I had very little experience in this game prior to the competition. I've taken a liking to this game. I was practicing Berzerk at Barcade before the event, but after playing Frenzy, the two games have a very different feel. I scored just under 14,000 points.

Zaxxon - This was one of the games that I knew I was going to be lousy at and I was right. I could never get accustomed to the controls.

Gravitar - See comments for Zaxxon

Donkey Kong 3 - I suck at this game and I hope I never have to play it again.

Of course I have to thank Mr. Richie Knucklez for setting everything up. He puts in countless hours bringing in the machines and setting them up for the event. I thank everyone on the team for their enthusiasm and effort. We will take the crown next year. So Kencade, WHATCHA GONNA DO, WHEN TEAM KNUCKLEZ RUNS WILD ON YOU!!!!??

I look forward to the 2015 event. I would like to make two early suggestions: Ladybug and Swimmer.

[SanTe]

I look forward to the 2015 event. I would like to make two early suggestions: Ladybug and Swimmer.

Swimmer not likely, as it's pretty hard to come by.  Ladybug is on the 60-in-1 so that is much more do-able.

We should probably start a BOTA4 wish list thread.

[D.B. Cooper]

I'd like to thank Ken for opening up his home to allow us to do this contest and Sam's wife for bringing the food.  I'd also like to thank everyone on the PNW team for allowing me to be part of the team.  It was an honor to be in a contest with so many great players.

I went into this contest with three goals.  Have fun, don't finish last and help the team win.  At the end of Saturday, I was doing good on only the first of those goals.  I sucked bad and was worried my suckness was gonna cost Kencade a chance to win.  I went into Sunday with some personal goals and did much better accomplishing goal number two.  I'm not sure about goal number three but at the least, I didn't cause the team to lose.  Most importantly, everyone on the team is super cool and I had a great time.

As for the games, when Ken told me the 12 games we would be playing, I knew it was going to be a struggle because I'm not good on any of those games and some of them I had never even played before (Frenzy, Mappy, Super Pac) or never played on an actual cabinet (Millipede, Elevator Action, Rally X).  And a couple I just don't care for (Zaxxon, Q*Bert).

Before this contest, I didn't really care for Gravitar either but after watching others play this game and seeing how it's supposed to be played, I like it a lot better now.  I'd like to put some more time into this game.

Robotron is a game that I never played much before but what an awesome game.  I plan to continue playing this game with the hopes that maybe someday I'll be good enough to get a million but it's also an ass kicker so it's going to take some major effort.  Too bad getting good at a game isn't as easy as watching someone else's play like some others think  , cause I just watched some of the best players in the world kick this games ass.

I remember playing DK3 as a kid and thinking it was ok.  I practiced this game a fair amount and enjoyed it but probably not enough to go out of my way to play this game again.

Pole Position is an awesome game that I played plenty as a kid.  I'm disappointed I didn't get complete run in but once I scored the 50k, it made more sense for me to try and improve some of my other scores.  I feel like I've got some unfinished business with this game and my local arcade (The Coin Jam in Salem) has one of these so I'll continue to play.

Thanks again for letting me play and a huge congrats to Mike Kasper for being the number one individual player and congrats to us for winning the team battle.

[kalel]

  Ok my turn. LOL

First of all BIG props to KEN HOUSE and richie knuckles and doc. and everyone else involved with this great tournament!
and thank you to jean mcnear for bringing over the best teriyaki chicken i have ever had. and a dam good spaghetti and meatballs also .
 
   I was very worried this yr. when i first heard the game list i thought i had no chance to repeat as individual winner again. 3 games i had never played in my life. 2 games very very very little. and 2 games i just was not good at .  even with 2 weeks to go i was sure i would finish 4 or 5th. but pep talk from ken. and a couple of AHA  moments. on a couple of games during the last week before the event pushed me over top !

  so now onto the games .

RALLY X .  i actually like this game. it was just the settings were a joke. and not cause it was so hard. but because. it was hard and became a crap shoot. you had to just play over and over until you got good variations of flags and got the special flag right away on a couple of boards and a big sac of. during practice i had a game of 86 K. on these settings. during the tourney 72 K and died in the exact same spot. so a diff of 14 K. THATS HUGE for a short game . i would have spent more time and tried for 1st but mccalister was on this game all weekend LOL

millipede. i barely practiced. cause i knew i had reached a threshold i wasnt going to pass. and i thought 150K would still be good for top 5.   got 158. which was 6th. so my estimate was pretty close.

elevator action. i knew going into this one. i would be second or 3rd. no way was wagner losing on HIS game for a second yr in a row. 135K wow. great job wags.  i really wanted to put up 100k +. but when i saw that 95 would be 3rd i didnt bother playing anymore . matt put up a very very good 115 k too.

robotron.   I used to think i was the effing man on this game. obviously i can marathon it ( and roll my lives LOL    )   but 5 man. im no match for KEN <MATT AND JOHN. im pretty damn good maybe 5th best in the world and these guys make me look like a chump. i barely practiced . cause i pretty much knew i was/am as good as im gonna get. my goal was 4th. i got 3rd only cause ken only played like 5 times. matt hall put up another 800k like last yr. WOW.

POLE POSITION. never played it much as a kid. didnt really like it. i was into other driving games like TURBO> ( would love to see this in the BOTA)  . had never even finished the race before. and until 2 weeks before the contest still hadnt. and i practiced a lot in those next two weeks and couldnt get anybetter. and was just going to settle with a 60k score and call it good. but then i watched matt hall and had an AHA moment. and on sat upped my PB 3 times. finally settling with 63750. which i thought would be 6th 0r 7th. but in the last 4 hrs. like 5 guys went around me WOW.

super pacman. i actually thought i was going to win this game. until with 1 week to go found out i was practicing on the wrong setting. DOH> IDIOT!!!   scrambled to get good enough in a week to do 200k. and thought that would still be top 5.  ended up with 202. and got 6th so agin my estimate was close. WOW this game gets so effing hard after level 24. anyone who can even make it 3or 4 levels after that. WOW. you rock .

MAPPY. i had originally wanted to unviel my masterpiece on this game for the bota. but the pattern practice is just going to slow. i fig its going to at the rate im learning. take 3-4 mths. of solid 3 hrs every day. to finish what im doing. and didnt have time for the bota. i fig i could easily do 300k. and that would be 3-5. got 298 and finished 4th. again another good estimate.good thing i finished this high or i think ken would have punched me LOL  ( btw a mappy WR will be happening in the next yr ). 

donkey kong 3. i actually practiced this one more than any other game . mostly cause of marinomitch on the forum saying this is the easiest of the 3 kongs to get a million. WTF i think he is high. cause. i  practiced a ton and my best game was 440. and only got over 400 2 other times. i fig 350375 would be right around tenth and thats what i shot for. got 388., and got  7th. i really didnt think i would finish that high on this one. more proof that marino mitch is drinking the bong water HEHE.


gravitar. i hated this game as a kid. played it like maybe 5-8 times. never played it at kens until practice for the BOTA> this is now one of my all time favs. with 1 week to go my best was 98 k. and i just kept at it. practiced this one second most of any game. and managed to get good enough for a 200k. this was a shock. i really thought i would finish low on this one. and finished 3rd. this is the one that made the difference i believe in winning.

frenzy.   still cant believe matt hall did an hr at 15k a man . what a beast.  my goal was 40 k. thought that would be top 5  got 39 k and finished 5th. again another good estimate. i very much enjoyed this game. i like it better than berzerk. probably in the minority on that one.

Qbert. man i dreaded this one going in . when i heardit was in the bota i thought this game would be the death of me . like it was for matt hall . sorry matt.   but all it took was watching a video on youtube. and it was like OHHHH DUH> thats easy. if not for a kasper meltdown. i had 7 guys at 320 and ended at 350 LMAO . i would have played for the hr. but stll would have been 70k behind donald . what a 1 hr pace. wow.

lastly . zaxxon. this game pisses me off like no other. i feel like i have it mastered but yet dont at the same time. GRRRR..  i was hoping to have the game of my life and beat donald. but only played it twice. 2nd was good enough for me.  the 2nd time was only cause mcnear beat my first score of 440. and i was like no cant have none of that LOL. sorry sam.

  So who is going to step up next yr and stop my 3peat ?     

[marinomitch13]

donkey kong 3. i actually practiced this one more than any other game . mostly cause of marinomitch on the forum saying this is the easiest of the 3 kongs to get a million. WTF i think he is high. cause. i  practiced a ton and my best game was 440. and only got over 400 2 other times. i fig 350375 would be right around tenth and thats what i shot for. got 388., and got  7th. i really didnt think i would finish that high on this one. more proof that marino mitch is drinking the bong water HEHE.

Mike, DK3 is gonna be one of those games that is over quick if it gets under your skin and causes you to rage (like I've seen you do on other games, so I'm just saying ). I've only played the game a few times and I can tell that if I take my time and chill out and don't try to play beyond my ability and skill set my scores are way better -even moreso than when I apply this rule to other games. Just play patiently and all those saved lives will add up super quick, baby! Ben Falls is super good at this sort of mentality, so watch some of his gameplay. Patience actually goes a long way to coming up with/developing/noticing sound and consistent patterns.

[SanTe]

Just play patiently and all those saved lives will add up super quick, baby! Ben Falls is super good at this sort of mentality, so watch some of his gameplay. Patience actually goes a long way to coming up with/developing/noticing sound and consistent patterns.

I'm convinced this is why Ben beat me to a million on Mario Bros. when we were (unofficially) racing on that about a year ago and we were neck and neck for quite a while. I'm just too damned impatient and play very aggressively.  Doesn't work for big scores in Mario Bros. and it won't work in DK3 either for most people.  I'll get back to playing MB one of these days.  I'm going to have to make time for it somewhere.