Wow, what a difference it makes to get the fast lazer. I doubled my score and now I think I'll be able to beat the game by Sunday. Thanks for the tip Tom.

38,800

Quick participation point

Score: 120,500

Another weekly contest first for me. I warped for the first time last night after level 1. That alone bumped my score way up. I will post the picture when I get home tonight. It is crazy that after 30 years there are still thigs to be learned about these games.

Just a participation week for me.  Life for me right now is just nuts so no time for games.

59,000

441,600

This game gets crazy, and I'm on the second loop! Is the third loop difficulty ramped up more?

I didn't notice any futher increase after loop 2.

Score update

Does anybody else take a few shots in order to get a fresh force field?

It's tricky to pull off sometimes.

Yup!  Didn't need to in my last attempt, but if the force field goes red, it's time to get a new one.

Good to know.

I died twice in my first loop in my last attempt.  I'm getting pretty good at getting through the game without being at full power, but it's a lot harder with the extra bullets flying around.

Yeah, if my shield is red, or I just know I've taken some hits, I'll do that.

Usually I'll only do it on safe areas, like if I'm at the beginning of a level with nothing else to spend pods on, or anytime in level 2 really, since that one isn't too tough.



Just as a followup:

There is a Gradius video by rdrunner on YouTube that says the 3rd loop is the highest difficulty, so that's probably your answer since I'm sure he knows the game better than I do. From my experience though, it just didn't really feel different after 2.

Before my million point run,I died on the last stage and had to get through the level with nothing but a speed up power up. I managed to beat the game,but holy crap you have to do a lot of dodging in some tight spaces.

Originally I was going to just reset the game since I was way below my (at the time) high score,but I just wanted to see if I could get through that level (or at least a portion of it) with basically a stock ship.

Nice job on the million, gutsman004, especially getting it in level 5/6.  One time I hit it was late in level 7, and the most recent one didn't happen until the "Congratulations" bonus.

Just beat the game for the first time and it was with a stock ship no less. I'm gonna post my score tomorrow probably. As of now I'm just shy of 600k.

Thanks! Picking up the 5000 point bonuses help. Took me while to get this run. Not sure how much I'll be able to improve. May just stay pat. Again,the quick fire trick Tom talked about earlier is a must.

I just looped the game for the first time! I'm getting a little better.

282,100

29100

94,000 Not going to miss anymore

Minor score update to original post

12,800

Woo participation. Didn't get to play very much this week.

818,400

Scores updated.




Please check your score and the spelling of your screen name.  Let me know if anything is incorrect.

Score: 1,078,200

I just realized that I took a really crappy picture. Sorry if it's difficult to read. The score I posted is correct though.