Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests!  This week's game is going to require you to think.  Yes, that's right, your old friend Puzzlemaster Bimmy is going to make you use your noggins this week for a puzzle game, so I hope you get a kicks out of it.  The action will be fast and furious, so you will have to think quickly.  And if you're quick enough, you should come out of this alive and kicksing.  If not, well then you're gonna be kicksing the bucket.  Without further wordplay, let's jumpskicks right to the rules so you guys can get your kicks playing Qix:

• 1 player only
• Play until Game Over
• Be quick to take your picture, as the Game Over screen does not stay up long
• Alternately, you can take your picture on the High Score screen as long as you score enough points to register a high score
• Highest score wins
• GENRE: Puzzle

The contest ends Sunday, 6/1/14 at 11 PM NA time.  Your user name MUST be in the picture for your score to be valid.  The entire TV screen, or computer monitor if you are playing on an emulator, MUST be in the picture for the score to be valid.  No partial screenshots will be considered or accepted.  No screenshots by hitting "print screen" on a computer will be allowed.  You must take a picture of your computer monitor.  There may be instances where this will be acceptable, but it will be at the discretion of myself and the contest organizers.  Also, the use of turbo controllers is forbidden, as well as any cheat codes, Game Genies, or save states if playing on an emulator.  Also, we will only be using NTSC systems for the contests.  The use of PAL systems will NOT be allowed.  Good luck everyone and have fun

****NOTE****

There has been an update to the game list for the first half of 2014. Due to potential major rules complications with Renegade, it has been replaced with Battletoads & Double Dragon. I apologize in advance for any inconveniences this may cause, but switching to Battletoads & Double Dragon will make for a much smoother contest that week.

Dang, looks my hiatus from the contest will stretch from 3 to 4 weeks now. I will say though, restrictions on Renegade would have been more ridiculous than with Double Dragon, since Renegade is even more exploitable score wise. Wish I never traded my copy of Ballon Fight now...

Play on emu! I would like to play every game in the contests on a console,but I don't have the money to spend buying them all so I have to do what I can to compete. Like it will matter this week though....I suck at puzzle games.

I gotta hop back in on this madness!

Qix! I'll def try to get a score in this week, Qix is awesome!

I might, but I really don't like using my wired 360 pad, what with its terrible D-pad and all.

I would like to think I have made a consistent strong showing with my mechanical keyboard...

193803 POINTS!
I love this game, one of my favorites on the NES

Qix?... You kidding, Qix is BETTER than awesome!

465,309

Ha neve heard of it based on the replies looks like i am missing out! Judging by the screenshots posted, the name and the fact ive never heard of it how many kids do you think said mom i really want qix..... No not mario not contra or zelda but qix for christmas! Haha anyone actually have this as a kid?

Really interesting game. I've never tried it before today.

But now I have to unprogram all of my jezball experience since it is SIMILAR but different enough that jezball strategies are a good way to die rather than survive.

Could somebody who "knows" this game answer the question of what is considered a really good score?

Also, in terms of level progression, what is good?

I really have no frame of reference for this one.

^Yeah I'm also wondering what is a considered a decent score. Having played it off and on the last 2 days I feel like I might be able to hit 300k.

If you make it to the 4x multiplier (Level 7, I think) you should cross the 300k mark.

I was testing in an emulator earlier and made it to Level 9 with a score of around 350k and the speed of the Qix was obscene. (also the sparks went purple in 10 seconds or so... it was nuts)

My current normal play is around the low 200's.

Seems to be all about getting the multipliers and closing out your walls with the "slow" line for double points.

Ah, didn't notice the double score value for the slow line close outs.  I was wondering why there were two speeds.  Also, If you really dig this game then you should check out Volfied/Ultimate Qix, the best entry in this series.

There's no way I'm competing with you all this week with these kind of scores already. My current best is 128K and that was a true outlier. I'm getting better slowly though. I had the GB version of Qix as a kid and I played it quite a bit, but the NES port just seems so much more difficult than I remember on GB. It seems like I have good strategy but bad results and honestly some bad luck.

Also, isn't name entry the slowest of any game ever? With "ARNPOLY" having letters mostly in the middle of the alphabet it takes forever!

Yeah, the name entry is terrible.



I hope somebody experienced with Qix can correct any misperception I have about this game's difficulty, but it seems like you really need to do the bulk of your scoring before the 3rd set of twin-Qix (on Level 7).

I have managed to eek out the 4x multiplier from those guys, but then Level 8 and Level 9 the combination of Qix-speed, the fact that sparks go to super-sparks almost immediately, and the fact that the apparent "gravity" of Qix pulled toward your cursor/stix increases dramatically seems to make the game almost instant-death from that point forward.

Granted, my strategy has been extremely aggressive (managing 95-98% clear on level on Level 1 and Level 2, for instance, and always trying to split the twin-Qix for the multiplier) so I play really close to the Qix meaning death comes quickly if I'm not careful.

^Arch... Looks like we have the same strategy going on. I wonder if at some point you have to just stop trying to split the twin-qix and go for points on those levels. All I've really done so far is split them up as quickly as possible and I'm sure that I'm leaving a ton of points on the table. Isn't there somebody called Qixmaster on NA? They should be contractually obligated to participate this week and explain some shit for the rights to use that moniker.

I try to eat up 1/3 to 1/2 of the screen, first, on those levels, then split the two Qix.

It costs a lot of time, though, so massively increases the likelihood of death from super-sparks.

Also, on Level 3, that only gains maybe an extra 10-15k.
It's worth a bit more on Level 4, since you already have a 2x multiplier, at that point.

But really, it's all about having your deep life-count (combined with a 3x multiplier) on Levels 5 and 6, so you can go back to 85-95% slow-closure rate.  (though based on my recollection of scoring, I don't know for sure if the multiplier is working correctly)



EDIT: genuinely reached level 9, and the "gravity" of the green Qix if fucking insane.  Almost impossible to draw because he camps on top of you the entire time.

Emulator-spammed to get to level 10... and the single pink Qix in that one is even faster and more unpredictable.
I definitely get the impression that you aren't intended to be able to survive beyond that level.

We played this in 2011 (my first contest!):

http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

TL;DR Top 2 scores were 420K, and third 330K (guill, Megan and Mog). Guill got to level 10, Megan to level 12.

Based on this plus your analysis I'd guess that 350K is a good score, and about 450K is exceptionally good.

But really in the end what matters is how good everyone else does this week.

Personally I am having trouble even breaking my old score of 70K, but I haven't put a lot of time in. Though I really like this game, I have a hard time playing for over 20 minutes or so because it's just too frustrating. The Qix's physics are so damn unpredictable...

This is probably not it, but I'll take a shot in the dark...

http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/Fillit/

...yeah yeah I know it's a flash game and probably isn't it. But worth mentioning because it's freakishly similar.

I used to play this way back when like alot, and I still think it's fun. Like Qix, it's about drawing lines to fill in the area and progress levels, but unlike Qix there's uhh... no Qix. Instead you have to trap spaceships (or aliens?) which follow a deterministic path, which I guess would be more analagous to the Spritz in Qix.

Already some good scores posted. As always,a majority of you guys destroy me when we play puzzlers. This week I'm sure will be the same result.

Wow!  420k+ is pretty insane.

I haven't quite broken the 400k mark, yet. (though I have emulated up to Level 12 just to see it... absolutely nutzo)

So far the level progression I've seen is:

Level 1: single Qix
Level 2: single Qix
Level 3: double Qix
Level 4: double Qix
Level 5: single Qix + sparx
Level 6: single Qix + sparx
Level 7: double Qix + sparx
Level 8: single Qix + sparx
Level 9: double Qix + sparx
Level 10: single Qix + sparx (insanely fast Qix)
Level 11: double Qix + sparx (insanely fast + very high magnetism)
Level 12: single Qix + sparx (the guy just rides you the whole time)

I am guessing that it alternates single/double from there on out.

I also have the impression that the game designers didn't expect you to reach level 10, let alone beat it.


EDIT:  well, I'll get a score posted later today, but I managed to beat guill's top score from last time... (by a couple thousand points only)  not sure I have it in me to do much better than that unless I managed to have enough lives to clear Level 10 (once I had the 5x multiplier from Level 9)




Interesting side-note... it is worth strategizing WHEN you will get 1-ups, since the life count tops out at 4 lives (so it is possible to get to level 3 with over 100k points and already "wasted" an extra life that would have been useful playing dangerously in Level 3)