I think Kev is done with the contest. I think Tracy's family is in town for the weekend.

Yep, I knew I wouldn't be on top for long. Awesome Randy. Once again I have to up my game. I'm good with that. 

After seeing all these high scores...holy bajesus I'm not touching my copy with a 10-foot pole. Nicely done.

Oh come on, you should at least give it a good attempt, only way to get that good, seriously. I sucked at this game when I first played it last year, and look at my scores now, massive improvement gained only by playing it over and over again. A game like this, and pretty much most any game, to be the best that you can be, you just have to play the hell out of it, for all you are worth.

Long night of madness, yeah really, it was maddening, 6 hours straight, don't know how many attempts because unlike all the previous nights this time I opted to reset every time I messed up really badly, afterall, I knew it be rough to pass my previous high score, and beating Randy's, ugh, I need some serious luck. About when I was going to give up and take a break I managed to finally beat my last high score, a small amount, but at least its something better to show for, but still a bit off from the leader. Damn, you Randy. Joking. Giving me a workout beyond anything else I'd ever gone against.

Marble Madness
08/29/09
146th game: beat it with 7 deaths, Score 157480
147th game: beat it with 9 deaths, Score 157480
148th game: beat it with 5 deaths, Score 162090
149th game: beat it with 5 deaths, Score 155680
150th game: beat it with 5 deaths, Score 162100
151st game: beat it with 3 deaths, Score 156780
152nd game: beat it with 3 deaths, Score 162520
153rd game: beat it with 2 deaths, Score 154910
154th game: beat it with 5 deaths, Score 151440
155th game: beat it with 5 deaths, Score 158490
156th game: beat it with 3 deaths, Score 167690
157th game: beat it without dying, Score 174150

Alright, tired of updating with so many pics, so top score only from now on:

well i actually finally beat the game yesterday. i had 20 deaths and 58K.. so im done with this one.

Well, you beat it, that's something to beat proud about. Good job. If you played it more it'd most likely get even easier each time. But if that's all you're going to do for now, well at least you gave it your best shot to at least finishing the game.

Nah, I think I'll still stay clear of this one. Although I have beaten the game (last year), my score was a joke! lol. Its much more fun too see all the ridiculous high scores that you guys atttain.

How in the heck do you get past the end of the second level? I don't understand how the blue thing (ice mountain/hole??) works. The only way I seem to make it is just by luck. I can't do the same thing twice.

Try going straight alone the outer left edge MrMiniMog, easiest way past this part.

Oh ya, that's it. Thanks!!

Finally beat it too!! woo!!! Died 11 times though, real dumb deaths. 21 secs left at the end. Score was 90,740

2 in a row! 10 deaths still. Started the Ultimate race with 73 secs, my best yet. 107,940

Nice! And you shown improvement too.

OMFG!!!!!!!



Here's me shaking like I have the Parkinson while taking a picture of my score and holding the Nes.



And here's me taking another shot after a couple of deep breathes.

Two things piss me off right now:
First: Yes, this score beat the crap out of Scott Kessler's Twin Galaxies score by 640 points, but I did not record it!!! I was recording all my scores until Yesterday, cause my Bro had to take the camcorder with him. I asked him to give it back to me as soon as possible, but, looks like he did not...
The best score recorded I have right now is 172, 810.

Second: It would have been possible to do 1100 point more, cause I finished the Ultimate race with 77 seconds left, and I finished it at best with 78 seconds left up to now. So 1000 points more for times left when finishing, and 100 points more for finishing the ultimate race.

I seriously don't think I will play again, but I might once I have the camcorder back with me and try to beat the record again. The thing that really discourage me of doing this is cause I've been a lucky-ass on the magic wands. I had two of them very well placed in the run. One at the begining of course 2, and another one in the middle of course 4. Players that score in the 150k+ know how rare it is to just get one of them when making the run at full speed. Getting two of them, and so well placed in the run... I don' know if I have the patience trying to do it again, certainly not today.

Final, I want all the high rollers to be aware that this score is beatable, so good luck to everyone!

(Edited for correcting my English.)

^^^ amazing......but I am rooting for Miss Clawful since she started with the lowest scores and came out of no where getting better and better........go miss clawful...go

Thank you, but I've been killing myself over this contest, I'm near dead right now. Most I was able to do today was get just a couple hundred points beyond my last highest score. I think I may be missing some extra point gaining strategy here, either that or I'm just not quite good enough. I am so f'in tired. Did my best but not sure I can last putting myself to so much stress for another day.

My latest records, edged out my past highest score by a teenie bit, that's it.

Marble Madness
08/29/09
158th game: beat it with 1 death, Score 169.160
159th game: beat it without dying, Score 174.360
160th game: beat it with 3 deaths, Score 169.010
161st game: beat it with 3 deaths, Score 167.170
162nd game: beat it with 2 deaths, Score 161.470
163rd game: beat it with 1 death, Score 169.560

Guile (can that be your new nickname Guillavoie? The french name is just a pain-in-the-ass to type ) -

That score is EPIC! That sucks that it wasn't recorded, but WE all know you're the best now!

LoL! You can call me Guile if it suits you Arch, I know the french nickname sounds awkward to you guys.
Blarky has resolved the problem easily, he just call me "G".

I can't help myself and still kick my ass for not being able to record the score, but frankly, I feel the most important is that I know for sure I did it, and I know you ladies and gentlemen from NA know it.

I'm still a bit nervous cause someone else could chime in with a better score, but whatever, I'm still proud of what I've achieved so far!

I can't wait to see what will be the next contest!

The thing that needs investigating is what triggers the wands. I suspect they're not truly random.

I emailed the programmer hoping to score an interview so I could ask about what triggers the wands (because, let's face it. nothing is random in NES games. there is SOMETHING that it looks for to determine when to give one) but he hasn't written me back yet.

Man, I think they're not totally random as well. I noted that I got a certain wand in certain very similar circumstances. The hard task would be to combine the fast running strategy with the getting the wand strategy.
At a time, I thought it could be randomly deserved at a specific time defined at the start of the course. I ran an emulator to test it, and it was negative.

i did a search a few days ago trying find out about the wands as well, but I came up empty handed.

Maybe there are hidden spots that randomly appear, or move around the level every few seconds. I've gotten the wand in some weird spots, like while standing still, just after falling off and reappearing. So that would make since, I think.

^^^ maybe I once got a wand after i got onto the catapult. after which it made me get frozen onto the catapult and had to reset my game.

I know with the fceux emulator there are lots of debugging features that let you monitor hex values in the game in real time, as well as the machine code being executed I believe. Its possible if you messed around with some of these features you may be able to figure out what hex location was acting as a "timer" for wand appearances. There could be a location in hex that also acts as a counter which is responsible for the wands. I messed with it briefly, but I'm not too hardcore about MM to care that much. Perhaps I will check into a bit more later.

I wish I knew how to trigger the wands and whether they are random or not, because when I'm doing really good at the game, they rarely ever give me even a single wand, I may go sometimes up to 20 games with no wands at all, most of my high scores in the 150-160k range have been done without any wands, frustrates me not knowing how or even when they will choose to appear, I hate this kind of randomness, because then its only luck. Their appearance usually ends up happening either when I don't really need them, too early in the game, or such as has been the case a couple times when I already had 99 on the timer, what a waste of a wand that was, too bad any extra time beyond 99 doesn't go towards your score, or at points when I'm carefully weaving through a dangerous spot, hate that, has gotten me killed sometimes by throwing my timing off balance. I have gotten wands ever in only 4 of the stages, has anyone ever gotten any in the first and last stage?