I totally agree with you guys, and its a shame that so many awesome games have such randomness in terms of scoring. But with that being said, even if you had everything go your way, the one thing you still have to do is finish the game without messing up! One of my absolute favorite games is Marble Madness. You can have the most perfect of runs and still come up short in terms of score because of the absolutley ridiculous and completely random wand blessings. But then when you are having one of those perfect runs and your lucky enough to get one or maybe two wands, the pressure gets ratcheted up about 100% more and you find yourself making the dumbest mistakes. I just finished a run of this game and I was lucky enough to get up to 7 lives, and I felt a ton of pressure on that last level (not as much as when I play Marble Madness) but was still able to no death it up to the final boss. So to me, I think that still takes alot of skill but in a different kind of way.

^Oh most definitely. Lots of skill involved with this game,I just wish the fairy situation was incentive based and actually didn't penalize you for being powered up. Seriously,wtf is up with that? It's like hey,because you kicked so much ass,I'm not going to refill your health. (Stares blankly).......thanks.....

Yeah, I don't know what the hell they where thinking. Maybe they where to focused on making 8-bit money shots instead of practical game play.

So were you ever able to see the money shot? Man you killed it this week....reminds me of this...

I couldn't agree more about Marble Madness, once you're blessed with wands, you know it could be THAT run you've been waiting for, and the pressure is making things so much complexier.

Damn, nice score!

Did you have a sense of whether it was possible to scrounge up the other points to break 500k?

Well I made it to the final boss with 256K. But with the 5K point bonuses being so random both before and after that point its hard to say really. Even if I made it to the final boss with 280k like Guillavoie, theres know way to guarantee that I could of had a higher score...

What I'm really interested in is finding out if there is a way to consistently "unlock" the extra life bonuses you get from destroying certain enemies. On that run, I hit for one fairy, and 4 hearts. Now I've noticed that on at least those 4 stages there is one dedicated enemy that holds the heart and it is the same each time you play. That would be really lucky for me to hit 4 in a row like I did, unless there was something that I was doing which made the enemies activated to give the hearts...

Oh wow, so we know of 4 1-ups plus the two fairies, then, meaning you were actually down a life from a perfect run, at least.

Definitely implies that 500k+ is possible.

I've noticed that too,such as the blinking enemy that comes out of the water on the left at the end of stage 1 and one of the clams on stage 7. I think I've gotten four hearts once or twice.

Yup, now that I think of it I know 5 stages that do... 1,4,6,7, and 8. So maybe it could be possible to get up to 9 lives in this game, if not more...

I really dislike the randomness of this game. I almost had a 500K run today, earning 3 extra lives plus 2 from the stage 3 & 5 fairies. Unfortunately I lost a life on the Underwater sea stage which threw that possibility out the window. Now, each time I play it will be a waste of time unless I can get a reserve stock of 7 lives or more. On top of that, the 5K bonus orbs were very generous that playthrough.

This game should go back to a 1 life only contest if it's ever brought back again.  It's easy enough to clear on 1 life with a little bit of practice.  As it is, it all boils down to who got the most 1-ups to re-loop the final stretch and milk the 2 boss fights before the finale.

I could go for a one life rule next time,although the randomness of the drops will still be a factor either way. But yeah,the randomness does suck for the sake of this competition.Playing it casually though,it's not an issue.

I've yet to actually beat this game without continuing as I always seem to make dumb mistakes,especially on stages 5,6,and 9. Most often I die due to going after power-ups since often you have enemies or projectiles directly in the way to get to them. May give this game one or two more tries before calling it.

119,760



Randomness aside, I'm still glad I was able to play this game again. I grew up with it and I've got a bit better too (I never got past Area 4 before, this run ended on area 5). I still suck overall at shmups, so I wasn't going to be disappointed this week anyway. I'll try to play more, but I'm going to be busy tomorrow. Great scores overall to all you guys.

Also, just to add on to what everyone else said, it's great to see you back again in the contests Gutsman.

Thanks man! I've missed the contests and competing with everyone! I don't plan on having any more hiatuses,so I should be able to compete every week from now on.

And thinking about this game further,if we want to factor the randomness out of it the next time we play it,it will have to be a low score contest. It takes both the 5k bonus randomess and the extra lives randomness out of the equation....unless there's something else I haven't accounted for. (Definitely possible.) Food for thought.

Wow! You guys did some kickass scores! Mine seems puny in comparison, but I still beat this game. After all, why shouldn't I beat a game that features three-headed dragons

FInal Score : 351920

Great game! If you played it on an emulator, there's no excuse not to have it. It's dirt cheap, get yourself a copy NOW!

My line of thinking was that 1 life would reduce the monotony of point racking the final section for those that are able to clear the game.  Your suggestion could work, but it would be really hard to play a shmup as a pacifist.  Not saying it can't be done, I just have a trigger happy finger and don't think I could resist not shooting anything other than bosses.

Hey did you guys find any of the secret bombing spots? I only found one, on a mountain in the Glacier level. When you bomb it you get an exclamation power up... I couldn't even tell what it did when I got it though...

Per a gamefaq:
"Exclamation Mark - Gives you small, invincibility, and White Dragon in one. Not found in enemies."

Score updated in previous post ... I (barely) joined the 400K club!

I was off work this week so not much computer time for me and that kept me from joining in the conversation here more. Also I got Smash Bros. and Captain Toad this week so I've been playing them a lot too.

I'm done for this week. My usb controller is crapping out on me as you really have to mash on the right and down buttons to get them to respond. I used the analog stick for a bit,but it's not that great to use,especially in stage 5. Luckily I bought Cobra Triangle while I was on vacation in Mufreesboro.

I did it, it was a pain in the ass and took around a dozen retries, but I finally got a "perfect" run.  Actually, it was probably far from perfect, but I got five 1-ups again.  I 1-lifed the game all the way, then point racked the final stretch with all my reserve lives. I broke 500K by quite a margin.


Game completed score: 533,120


I'm just speculating, but I'm starting to think the items might appear based on what dragon you currently have.  When I was using the small dragon w/ two options on the sides, I was getting jack for 1-ups, but when I switched it up on my last run to staying 3 headed, green, blue, or white dragon, 1-ups were fairly generous.  Probably just got lucky, but I was having bad luck with the small dragon w/ options.

Yeah, I already had the white dragon so I guess thats why I didn't notice...



Nice score, I had one run with 470K which I choked and died twice. I estimated that my score would've been right around 530K. As far as the hearts go, I'm almost certain that I've gotten them with every type of dragon...

78,250

wow i had never heard of this game, what an awesome shooter.  I ended up playing through it with continues of course

great game!

47,990

Score: 419,110 (Game Completed)

As I mentioned before, this is a very enjoyable game and a great quick sit down shooter, but a lot of RNG goes into the scores for contest purposes. Not the best score but it was the best I was given.