Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests!  This week’s game will take us all the way across the ocean to Mother Russia, where the citizens drink vodka like it is water, Tetris is the national pastime, the women are either beautiful and blonde or hideous and hairy, and vessel is pronounced “wessel.”  And the best part about traveling all the way to Ivan Drago’s homeland: you get to play as a very special guest this week!  Comrade Bimmy, you say, who ever could you be talking about?  Well comrades, you get to play as the mascot for Data East, who is also bald, has facial hair, and breathes fire.
Zangief??
Nope, wrong game company.
Soda Popinski??
Nope, he is off getting “punch drunk” hehehe (don’t groan at me, you know it’s funny).
Vodka Drunkenski???
Um, he’s the same person as Soda Popinski.
Deathrock83????
Close, but no cigar.  This week, you guys get to play as everyone’s favorite Russki, Karnov.  Just remember, in Mother Russia, you don’t play Karnov.  Karnov plays you!!!  Here are the rules:

• Play until Game Over
• To get your score, select Game Over, start a new game, and take a picture of the screen prior to the start of Stage 1.  Your score will be in the High Score spot (If you miss taking the picture, reset your NES and your score will remain in the High Score spot)
• Infinite 1 up loops are forbidden
• Make sure to take a picture of your score if you get to the final boss, as you cannot see the score after beating him
• Highest score wins
• GENRE: Action/Platformer

The contest ends Sunday, 5/4/14 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

Is point racking allowed?

We post pics in this thread?
SOrry new to this site still, but very interested in this contest. I used to play Karnov all the time!

Yep.

Here goes:



I've had this game for Famicom for a while but never tried it, so this seemed as good a time as any. Unfortunately I learned that the Western version is a lot easier with its unlimited continues. I'm going to beat it anyway, even if I have to resort to the obscure stage select code.

EDIT: Whoa, just beat it with no codes, easier than expected. Great game. despite its numerous flaws!

Karnov is not Russian. He's from Central Asia (Wikipedia:"Karnov is a strongman popularly illustrated as being from an unspecified part of the Soviet Union's Central Asian republic as shown on the original arcade flyer and again in Karnov's Revenge.")
Also, if you look at some of the original art for the arcade game (Found on Google Images), he looks more like an Asian than he looks like a Russian. The central asian people that resemble him the most are Kyrgyz people, so it's most likely that Karnov comes from Kyrgyzstan. Also, Kyrgyzstani culture has been influenced by Russian culture since Krgyzstan was part of the Russian Empire (And then the USSR) so he's definitely Kyrgyz.

Also, I think I'm going to play with this on this week! Long live Karnov (And of course Kyrgyzstan)

I've never given this game a proper go about. Guess this contest is a good reason to try for a 1cc at the very least.

Since there is a strict timer I would expect it to be part of the contest (like in Kabuki).

updated score: 137,970

34,120. busy this week so not alot of time spent on this one. Rented this once years ago 'cause I thought the main character looked like the Iron Sheik. Like MattyJ said, have to get use to the controls (esp. the flighty jump mechanics). But, not a bad game for this week.

Sorry, had to save that one for posterity

Here's an improvement from earlier, I'll play again when someone tops it. The saddest thing about this game is the (lack of) music.

46,670

ok

so you HAVE to take a pic before the end boss, as after you beat him, you CANNOT see it

I wasnt sure, so luckily (and smart of me of course) I did this

After you beat the boss, you get the "Congratulations" Screen and it sits there...so, make sure you take your score RIGHT BEFORE the last boss

137,970

the last boss is pretty easy too

I beat the game in 2 lives....not too shabby for a game i havent played since i was a kid

WTF is the deal with Karnov committing suicide if you hit A + B at the same time?

you can do it as a way to get out of glitches that are in the game

occassionally (or rarely) you will end up in a wall or other object and cannot get out

rather than fix the bugs, data east gave you a suicide option

Too bad they made it something you accidentally press during boss fights!

Impressive!
This never happened to me, I guess there's no reason to press the buttons at the same time in the first place?

You never jump while rapidly shooting?

I do, but I don't hold A down while doing it.

EDIT: Well, it seems suicide doesn't work in the Famicom version. I guess I just picked up a whole bouquet of oopsy-daisies.

I am amazed that I am the only one that seems to think this is bad control design for an action game.

I agree, see my edit.

OK... so on the point-racking thing... I can do well over 40k PER LIFE on the first stage.

But given the shoddy enemy generation mechanics in so many locations, I don't think we can viably eliminate point racking from the contest, as a rule.
It is definitely integral to the game, itself.


So I would propose a 1-life rule, on this one, otherwise, there is a huge incentive to just camp on the first level until you die.

I haven't had a chance to really find prime point racking spots,but I did see a few places in the first level where you could rack up lots of quick points.

I just stumbled onto this one.  Previously I thought I was doing well in that level to break 15k on my way through.

But this one is consistently worth 30k - 40k+ per life.

Being able to do that for more than one life sort of breaks the contest scoring in my opinion.
But you can't legitimately restrict it, because experiencing SOME point racking is almost unavoidable in this game.