I just looked on an FAQ and apparently there is a problem with the prize bomb on level 42. I never played that high, so I wasn't familiar with it.


Looking at a map of the level, I see what the problem is, though. It's the same reason you can't get a 1-up in that level.

Basically if you break a "T" support, then the underlying secret (prize or letter) doesn't move WITH the breakable surface.

Don't multiply by 8.  You have to ADD 8's to the number of swings.

^^ oops thats what i ment..

ahhh ok thats why i cant get it on 42, the prize is stuck up in the air!! and i have never got that high either, just picked some random levels to try the equation on..

i have only made it to 28, but thats with looseing all of my lives but 1 on level 6.. so if i played straight through without any purposefull dieing i would get much higher...

arch are you still playing hardcore to get an unreal high score?

Nah. I haven't played since the last score I posted to win the contest.

I'm definitely going to go back and play this game some more, in the future, though. It really is a great game.


Well, in theory, if you practice enough to the point that you don't frivolously lose lives in later levels, your strategy regarding racking it up in Phase 6 is pretty solid. Mathematically, it probably worked out pretty similarly to me dying repeatedly in one of the levels in the mid-30's (since it was ALL tall ladders, and I had an assload of lives saved up).

I think ideally, I would like to get to the point that I can repeatably beat any level without dying. Since, if a level is beatable at all, it can be beaten without dying.


EDIT to add:  one of these days, though, when I'm finished renovating my house I do intend to sit down and tape a high score run for this game, AND Kid Icarus, since I could qualify for Twin Galaxies on either one.

^^ yeah i totally plan to get a higher score than i have and ill video tape it too.. but like you said thats in the future..

and yes im sure every level is beatable without dieing, its just a matter of doing it..

Yeah, I guess my point was, I've only played up to a Level 39, and after a couple of tries, on one level in that batch really gave me trouble and caused me to die repeatedly. I'm sure the other 61 levels are just as beatable, assuming you can solve the puzzle.

The game was really tough the first time I played since it was just a slug-fest attempt to survive.
Then after a couple of games, I figured out that nothing was random, and everything could be controlled. Then, I figured out the "solution" for most of the levels.

I would have to do a ton of training and mapping in advance to not need to pause the game at all to figure out what to do next.

I can't believe this contest is still getting talked about, Wrecking Crew really made an impact. I still haven't taken it out of my NES, but it looks like I probably won't end up playing again though, not in the mood afterall. I sure hope the next contest after the current one is a game that I have, as well as one that I will enjoy, Wrecking Crew was okay, good challenge, but I barely enjoyed it, puzzles games are something that I need time to sit back and plan, to map out and solve, guess my problem is I was playing it strictly like an action game, I need something that's more pure action but still involves platforming.

I thought Wrecking Crew was a really beautiful combination of puzzle and action. The puzzle aspect is optimizing the scoring and survivability of each level (and sometimes figuring out how to actually successfully beat the level at all). The action aspect was about accurately implementing the solution to the puzzle itself.

You can't play it as a straight action game, since there are so many move you can do that will completely ruin the possibility of finishing a phase. Spotting those moves is part of the puzzle.


The only thing that REALLY burned me a couple of times, was when Spike trapped me in a barrel while I was trying to trap enemies. Once I was stuck in the barrel, NOTHING could kill me...how the hell do you resolve this problem without pressing "select"? This issue burned my second best score attempt after about an hour and a half of gameplay.

Like you guys, I've really enjoyed playing Wrecking Crew seriously for the first time in my life. I remember enjoying it while I was a kid, but I was playing it like an action game. Solving the puzzle, getting extra lives, Prizebomb and maximizing points made me realized how it is a genius game after all.

We should bet $5 each and extend the contest to another week!

^^1 agree. wrecking crew is a great game, but i have all ways been a puzzle type gamer....

yeah i hate spike sometimes too... lol

Sounds like I really missed out on this one, my math background might have actually been put to use

To the math comments: If anyone cares enough, many password functions in NES games are mathematically modeled as well. That means, there are many functional passwords that you cannot unlock in the game. However, once you "break the code" you can create your own passwords that work!

One example is the NES Mike Tyson Punch-Out password for 99 Wins 0 Losses and 99 KOs. No game genie necessary, just a good understanding of bits and checksums

So, no thoughts on overcoming being trapped in a barrel?


Guillavoie - I'll have to pass, this week, since I really only have time to play a few games a week right now, and I would like to keep up with the larger high score contest.

Well, that's like the dumbest move I was consistently making in my first few games. I don't know why the programmers didn't think about letting the fireball kill you in the barrel. This move is like an instant Game Over.

Yeah, i also was unable to figure out a way to get out of the barrel/die trying

Guess you suffer the same fate the enemy you put in there gets. But ask yourself this, you can destroy a brick wall in 2 swings, but you can't lift a barrel, or the very least tip it. At least there's eye holes.

Yeah, I guess I'll chock it up to a design flaw, like the unobtainable items/letters that don't move with the walls/bombs when their supports are collapsed.

lol. yeah i guess just a flaw... i could not firgue out how to get out either.. but that only happend to me 1 or 2 times..

Yeah, it's not like it happens often, or anything. In fact I think it only happened to me once from Spike, and once to myself the VERY first time I played and had no idea what anything did.

The time Spike trapped me, I was in one of the mid-20's levels and had mid-300,000's score. I was a little irritated by the time wasted from not seeing it coming.

I've cracked a bunch of NES games password systems, but for me, barely any math was involved other than adding and subtracting while working straight from the password screen and recognizing the patterns, once you find how its patterned then you solved it. Some passwords were easy (Simon's Quest, Metroid, Metal Gear), others crazy hard (Faxanadu, Kick Master). Its been a while since I last worked on something like this, last few I'd done were Solar Jetman, Ironsword and to an extent Deadly Towers (boy is that one hard). Sometimes I cracked all or most of the password system, but for many just certain parts of it. I need to finish scanning all of my pages that I wrote out (typing them in is way too much of any undertaking). I understand hex, as well as binary, and figured out years ago how to add up the numbers on a bar code to see if the check sum is accurate, all those are rather easy math, but when people start throwing complex terms around and letters in place of numbers, I'm totally lost.

I remember way back when I was young to Gamefaqs and I went on the Metroid board, there was this topic about the password system, particularly focusing on the Justin Bailey password, I had typed up how I came about cracking the password system, I was shot down by an ass whom thought he was smarter than everyone else because he sounded smart, yet he couldn't get it with my solution, guess it was too simple, no complex terms, no unnecessary long extended sollutions, just a pattern put out before your eyes if you can see it, he didn't so he tried to make me look stupid. All I've ever needed was my NES, a pencil and some paper and lots of trial and error until I find something, and lots of testing to make sure you get everything that you're supposed to with each password. This is where if anyone ever looks at my passwords (got that stuff here in my profile), for almost every password that I get for a game, each one is in small increments, getting one item at a time, or weapon, experience, event, whatever, also, every password whenever I can has to follow the same exact pattern as many times you'll have up to as many patterns as their are different characters used on the password screen, and by keeping them the same you can easily find what's different between each one. I actually rather enjoy doing this from time to time, its a rather different kind of challenge.

I've always loved passwords, and the first time I started with trying to crack them, I gained even more of an appreciation for them, what you can do with passwords, you don't get that with battery saving, you can start anywhere, have anything, and it don't die.

Clawful, I'm sorry if I turned you off with the algebra, but for being so good at decoding a cipher I'm surprised you weren't adept at algebra as well.

I'm impressed as hell that you have the tenacity to decipher the password systems the old-fashioned way!

Algebra always confused me, as well as most math that I'd taken in school, all that unnecessary writing out of a problem that could be solved in simpler steps, by the time I got finished writing it all out I already done forgot what the hell I was doing, plus hand hurt like hell from all the writing, that's probably what I hated most about math back when I was in school.

As for the passwords thing, anything can be easy if you really take an interest in it, plus I was doing it because I was enjoying it, passwords are kind of like puzzles, I may not big on puzzle games, but I don't mind solving patterns and organizing things, and I have all the time that I want to spend on it, so I take as long as I need until I tire of it. I still gotta do some scanning, then perhaps I can share what I'd done.

Oh, with the barcode thing, quite some years back while I was working at Purplepotamus Video, I didn't have anything else better to do, it was a quiet night with very few customers, so I started wondering if there was a way to manually figure out how those numbers underneath a barcode add up.

In order to do so I used what I knew about checksums with many NES passwords (this was back when I used to crack a lot of passwords manually for various NES games...why, because I was trying to increase my knowledge, and thought it would come in handy) as a springboard to better myself in the world (so I figured). Though not always the case, the last digit would be the checksum, this is the number (or letter) which decides whether everything before it is legit, though sometimes this digit is unknown at first, as when I was working with NES passwords, but most standard barcodes do display it.

Here's an example of a real barcode, taken from my Battleship NES game box:

The Barcode (standard size seems to be 12 digits, though it can vary):

0 50047 11139 9

Add up every number starting from the one closest to the checksum (the last digit to the far right is the checksum, which in this case is an 9) going to the left, skipping over a number each time:

9+1+1+4+0+0=15

Multiply the answer of this set of numbers (the 15) by 3 (not sure why, its just what I found that makes it work):

15*3=45

Then you'll add up the next set of numbers, starting from the '3' closest to the right (10th digit), skipping over the digits which you've already used (but you will not multiply your answer by 3 as you had with the first set's sum):

3+1+7+0+5=16

Add both sums from both sets of numbers up:

45+16=61

Then add your checksum to it. If the checksum (which in this case is a 9) makes it add up to the next tenth (which for this barcode, it'd be 70), then it is correct:

61+9=70

The checksum of 9 is correct, therefore the barcode is able to be read correctly.

Haven't found any major use for this info yet, but a few people I'd shown it to while I was working at that video rental place were impressed, whom in turn wanted to show their friends just to show off.

You can make some of your own, create the first 11 digits, follow the steps, til you must find out the checksum, which would be whatever number that brings the sum of all numbers preceeding it to the next tenth. Enjoy, show off this unneccessary knowledge to your friends, impress your math teacher, show your parents that videogames aren't just mindless fun (being that I used whatever I knew about game passwords towards figuring out about the barcodes).

Not sure about letters in barcodes though, I would think they can be used, I know 'X' is used in place of a '10', I suppose they'd represent a number, just haven't come across any aside from 'X'. Also, its kinda difficult to figure out the width of each vertical band, I'd think they were representing binary (zeroes and ones) but haven't ever explored it fully.

Couple more examples:

Red Asphalt (random PS game I picked for another example)
0 40421 89153 5
3+1+8+2+0+0=14
14*3=42
5+9+1+4+4=23
23+42=65
65+5=70

The Wizard (decided to watch it now)
0 25192 93242 7
2+2+9+9+5+0=27
27*3=81
4+3+2+1+2=12
81+12=93
93+7=100

But sometimes for odd reasons a barcode don't seem to add up right, very few though, as most of them I've ever tried do work when I've applied this math to them, but this one for Happy Camper doesn't add up (unless I keep messing up my math; is this a real legit barcode or just a mock up? I'm curious now):

0 32281 81308 0

8+3+8+8+2+0=29

29*3=87

0+1+1+2+3=7

87+7=94

94+0=94? (the nearest 10th should've been 100, but that would mean the checksum would've had to be a 6, not a 0)

When I learn things I've always done so at my own pace, typically much slower than those around me, but I have to have complete interest in it, as well as be in the mood to tackle throwing new info into my brain, otherwise its just a waste of time and I end up frustrated, possibly with a headache too, and I learn nothing. Most things, as screwed up as it seems, have been a result of playing videogames, as I don't always just flat out play them as a form of mindless fun, but when I can I try to get something extra from them that I could use elsewhere, as was the case of the barcode thingy that I had learned that day, a result of my interest in solving NES password systems, which also got me to understand binary and hex as well. So when some parents back in the day used to say, "Videogames will rot your brains", or that they are mindless entertainment, they didn't have a clue. But thankfully of all things, I did not learn engrish from videogames.

Minor point, but in your example above you used the "15" in place of the "45" when doing the math for your checksum. Since 5 multiplied by an odd number always ends in another 5, the math still worked in this example.


EDIT to add:  Other than the Happy Camper box, do you have any real world examples of bar codes that don't work?

I wouldn't be surprised if the HC barcode is just made up randomly and doesn't really "work".

Doh, thank you, messed up, typed the wrong number. I found I was doing that with all of them, they didn't work and I found out I was adding the wrong number, this one did work, so I didn't think to check again. Fixed it.

I came across a few movies back when I was working at that video rental store then, they were ones that didn't work when scanned, had to type in the info into the computer/register, and when I had free time I had tried to add them up, the check sum didn't match what I was getting, makes sense being that they didn't scan. But its been many years, don't remember what titles they were.

Oh, and that's what I was figuring for the Happy Camper barcode, just a bunch of random numbers to make it look legit in appearance only, not functionality.

So Happy Camper has a real barcode?

And therein lies the beauty of algebra and math.  Your post inspired me to look up UPCs, and this simple formula summarizes everything you just typed:

Assume the 12 digits are d₁, d₂, d₃, ..., d₁₁, d₁₂. In a valid UPC barcode, d₁₂ is so selected as to make the following identity true:

 

(1)	3×d1 + d2 + 3×d3 + d4 + ... + 3×d11 + d12 = 0 (mod 10).

To put it differently, let S_odd and S_even be the sums of the digits in the odd and even positions, starting with 1. Then, for a valid UPC-12 code

 

(1')	3×Sodd + Seven = 0 (mod 10).

Note that (1) and (1') (' = "prime" in math lingo) are identical formulas just written differently.

I''ve noticed that a lot of people who have problems with math just shut down with they see variables.  I think this formula is much more eloquent and concise than your step by step analysis, although you would argue that your way is simpler because there are no variable numbers or strange signs.  When you see the word "Mod or Modulo" just think "remainder".  I.e. if something = 0 mod 10, that means the remainder would be 0 when you divide by ten, i.e. the number is a multple of ten.  100 = 0 mod 10.

Either way, nice find.  I don't know if it is a touchy subject, but I'm not sure why you are unemployed if you possess sound mathematical thinking and exercise good grammar usage in writing.

just nitpicking Jonas, but your equation should be (stuff)mod10 = 0

0 modulo anything is always 0