Nice job, Megan. You've been kickin' some serious ass at tough NES games lately. I would never be able to beat this game without losing a ton of lives. Speaking of Ninja Gaiden, I haven't even given it a go yet, as I've been playing my PS3 lately. I'll have to give this a try over the next couple of days.

Holy crap! That is EPIC! I doubt many people can say they 1-lifed Ninja Gaiden!

I reached the 3rd boss earlier, but admittedly, I've never spent much time playing Ninja Gaiden.

Congrats Megan! You accomplished something impressive here!

I played a few games, and can't figure out if I'll be able to make the complete run with a single life for Sunday. I have not played much Ninja Gaiden over the years, only when I was a young kid, and I can't remember if I ever beat any of the three. That's cool to give it a go now, I enjoy it so far.

Well, looks like I'm able to average 50k per level over the first couple of levels...

Maybe I'll be able to eek out a 2nd or 3rd place, at this rate

Great job Megan! You decimated the score that I got on the recording I made of going through this game:

http://playthenes.com/1Life2Live/...

That's an old recording, but still, I didn't pass 300k at all haha Good stuff!

At first I thought your run through the game was a speed run the way you were quickly rushing through the first couple stages, then I saw you playing with those running guys in stage 2-2, what sillynes. Hmm, interesting, didn't know the invincible fire wheel was still good for a few moments even after the fire disappears from it, was startled when you made a jump after it appeared to wear off but somehow still popped the enemy, I thought for sure you were a goner. I only managed a higher score because I pretty much killed everything I came upon, but you definitely know the game much better than I do, I wouldn't be able to go through as fast as you did and not screw up and die a few times because my brain and hands get out of sync sometimes when rushing. And at least you got past that difficult cliff the way they intended you to, not the glitchy way of jumping up through the wall like I did. Perhaps I could've made it the normal way, but wasn't going to take any chances, that's easily the most difficult spot in the game, at least for me, and I probably would've failed and died. Took out the Demon the hard way, head first instead of tail first, I didn't dare make it harder on myself. Awesome run anyway, even if an old one, but seeing how you played that, if you wanted I'm sure you can still do a no death game as well as topple the score I got. Probably got a few of you that have already beat my score but are holding out to the last minute to post it, I wouldn't doupt it.

First death at a little over 390,000. Accidentally jumped in a SMALL hole. Did the ol' facing the wrong way before jumping technique. >_<

Won't bother with a pic right now, as I will get a higher score.

Respawning enemies are your friends when it comes to racking up score.

^^^ Yup. If you find the places where the timer resets, you can camp and kill the dogs/jaguars/whatever over and over again.

"where the timer resets"

Hm? Could you explain this to me, as I've never heard of a place where the timer resets?

Basically each "sublevel" change (like the door that goes from stage 2-1 to 2-2, or the door that leads to the boss) resets the timer to the full 150 second count.

Ah, okay I get what you mean now. Thanks Nathan ? : )

That's eventually something you need to figure out in a gaming routine, specifically in a highest points contest. Going through the game without losing a life is honorable in every sense, but going through the game while racking points is another challenge.

Well, none of the "camping" spots are particular dangerous, so as long as a good player knows where to find them, flawless play at the rest of the game is still the bigger challenge.

In this particular game, it is true on many "camping spots". But that's not that easy in every game.
Personally, I choosed a few spots in the game that are no way easy to camp, but worthy to rack.

I just wanted to underline again the fact that we're not playing free games, but games oriented in a direction due to the highest points contest, which should modify the gaming strategy.
Someone could come up and beat the game while only killing a minimum of enemies, I will think the exploit is remarkable, but not fitting at all in the contest.

I know every good spot to rack points in this game, already checked them all out last night just to get an idea of the point difference that I would have (coarse I died a few times, not feeling good, got the fucking flu), but this type of gaming, frickin' bores the hell out of me, standing in one spot for several minutes at a time doing the same thing, so repetitious and the only skill involved in that is making sure that your time and timing is good, that you are still able to make it to the end of the stage before it runs out, and still must be able to get far into the game without dying if you are to amass really big points, but again, I ain't got the patience for this kind of game playing (I did it for Snake Rattle n Roll, didn't like it), I have trouble enough just sitting through the cut scenes.

Haha! I think nobody actually enjoy more the 'racking motion' than the 'advancing in the quest motion'. that's the part of suffering that goes with the contest I guess.

Your opinion is clear and define some essential aspects of the racking point technique in Ninja Gaiden, but sincerely,  I think you're only showing, with a lot of emphasis, only one side of a medal that is definitely double/sided. I won't argue anymore about this, mainly cause I respect proufondly your negative vision of the racking technique, since it annoys my gameplay as well. But I just can't pass over the idea in a highest point contest with a non-looping game.

^I think you're both right. Two different types of gameplay, but they do help each other out. I wouldn't underestimate the point racking though - a lot of games did require a lot of thought and practice to figure out where was the most optimal places to get points vs. time, etc. Obviously playing the game straight through is much more fun, but doesn't quite work with competitions like this. The boring factor does play into the equation as well. I know, in Jackal, I found one spot that was great for racking up points (the ship boss in the third level I believe where tanks kept respawning). Sure, I could have done this and flipped the score, but after estimating it would take around 8 hours of constant b pressing, i passed and just went for looping the game.

Note - a few minutes in Ninja Gaiden is nothing compared to 8+ hours in some games like Sqoon and Boulderdash

Note 2 - Super Awesome feat Ms. Clawful. That is something I would brag about forever!

The tanks at the 3rd boss in Jackal stop coming after a while

Also, camping in this one is a little dangerous becasue you have to know when to stop so you have enough time  to finish the level. If you are cutting it real close like I do, one hit when running to the end can casue you to run out of time.

Lol! Wanna know more guys?

The tanks at the 3rd boss in Jackal do not give any points!

The only enemies in boss battle that gave points were the 3 foot soldiers jumping out of the Helicopter, 4th boss. But they were giving 10 points each instead of 100 points each (like in the rest of the game), so it was pretty useless to rack point there.

no, the tanks on level 2 didn't give any points, but the ones on level 3 did - 500 points each to be exact.

also, if you set up shop on the right of the ship, they don't stop. at least they didn't for me after 30-45 minutes.

Really? I probably thought this because of those in level 2. Good thing everybody restrain racking from it, anyway, it was pretty boring to rack points in Jackal.

EDIT: Hmmm... I don't know why, but I'm expecting a rain of BIG highscore within the last few minutes.

Played a bunch of games of Ninja Gaiden yesterday, attempting to 1 life the game again but this time also spending time racking up points too. I've already stressed how much I really do not like playing games this way, standing in one spot for prolonged periods of time doing nothing but killing the same foe over and over again, monotonous and boring as hell, I don't have the patience to deal with it, not usually, and usually refuse to play a game this way. But, in spirit of the contest, and having lost too many of them because of my stubbornness to play most of the games the way the contests require, and because this is how everyone else is playing it, if I expected to rank in there, was going to have to get with the program and play along, and so I did.

Totally felt like crap, got the flu a couple days ago, sore muscles, fever, coughing, ugh, has been making it difficult for me to concentrate and be at my best (especially with my eyeballs burning and trying to suppress coughs during stages so as to not mess up), even so, with plenty of rest prior to playing, and letting the cut scenes roll between acts, I was able to somehow pull through. While I spent time racking points through much of the game, somehow, after defeating Malth, I forgot my intentions and reverted back to normal game playing mode, forgetting to collect points from respawns on the last several stages, didn't realize what I had done until I beat the game and saw my final score, oops. I hadn't been paying attention to it for those few stages and it wasn't as high as it was supposed to be, I done f'ed up. Oh well, it was an awesome game with a nice high score, despite me being ill, but still there is much room for improvement, possibly exceeding 600.000 points.

Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 342400


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 388800


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 353500


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 447700


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 405000


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 403100


Ninja Gaiden-score upon no death finish 546700


But, update, oh god I felt like shit when I woke up today, throat was so sore, but come mid afternoon, once I got my chance I hit this game again, afterall, my score because of my absentmindedness yesterday, left much room to be beaten, I couldn't have that, especially if it weren't me. I've never enjoyed Ninja Gaiden as much as I have in this past week, and really I wasn't yet ready to put the game aside. Looks like I may have another favorite right up there with Castlevania. Anyway, it still took me a bit of tries, damn cough kept messing me up at the most inopportune times, but eventually I managed to yet again beat the game without dying. This is my third time ever beating Ninja Gaiden without dying. My goal was to exceed 600.000, I had hoped that I could, unfortunately, due to burning eyes and trying to suppress a cough with this flu that I got which sometimes caused me to take unnecessary damage I fell short several thousands of points, which again, leaves this open to be beaten even better. But, that's all for now, I'm way; too exhausted to play anymore, as was shouldn't have been pushing myself as hard as I have been, but I really wanted 1st place victory with this one.

Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 421200


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 490100, final score 603900 with 1 death


Ninja Gaiden-score upon 1st death 378300


Ninja Gaiden-score upon no death finish 594000

Nice score Megan, mine is coming up, need to transfer the picture. only a few minutes left!!!

EDIT:
So here's my score.
It took me so much practice to be able to get that far in the game, I would have been able to get to the final bosses, but time was too short this week.

With only two hit points left, I had to take a decision, get to the boss, or rack to death. I choosed rack to death. I'm standing here, with less than a second before the big sleep.

Knowing you, probably well exceeded the 600000 mark.