Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests!  This week’s game is going to be Break Thru.  Here are the rules:
 
 

• 1 player only
• Play until Life-1.  You may not play any of the game on Life-1.  Once you get to Life-1, you must stop playing the game and take your picture.  Anyone suspected of playing the game on Life-1 will have their score disqualified.
• No looping of the game allowed.  If you loop the game, you must stop playing once you get back to stage 1 and take your picture.  Anyone suspected of playing the game after the loop will have their score disqualified.
• Highest score wins
• GENRE: Shooter/Shoot ‘Em Up

 
 
The contest ends Sunday, 10/4/15 at 11 PM NA time.  Your user name MUST be written or typed on a piece of paper and 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, slow motion functions, 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

OFFICIAL SCOREBOARD
Break Thru (Shooter/Shoot Em Up)
Place	Score	Username
1	179,800	bertsampson
2	131,200	ninjistar
3	125,300	BriGuy82
4	119,200	skinnygrinny
5	91,100	NESMASTER14
6	74,300	bearcat-doug
7	57,100	Arguro
8	27,900	barrelsAndRivets
9	18,500	arnpoly
10	16,700	floydfan38
Participation
11	16,500	TWarwick07
12	15,100	zobber
13	14,200	ne$_pimp

Just got this game. Speaking of the lives rule, I noticed that the game over screen is like 3 seconds then your score disappears for good. To clarify, do you want us to stop playing on life 1 or try to get a picture of our score during the short game over?

91,100

Do we stop playing on Life 1? The game goes to the continue screen once you hit Life 0.
 

74,300

 

131,200
57,900
19,400
12,500

I'm guessing a lot of people will beat the game this week with a little practice since it's so short. I watched a no death run on YouTube and it only took the guy about 8 minutes from start to finish. My neighbor had this game when we were kids and he could run through a loop about that fast.

Right, you need to stop playing when you reach Life-1, cause Life-0 is actually Game Over.

27,900

I cannot get past that helicopter on the bridge.

I speed past him.  You have to go full speed at him, jump when he shoots the homing missles, and manage to not land on his bullets. If you do that, you can keep speeding on and should be able to make it.  There's more badness ahead though, as there are armored cars, then two big tanks. It's not super terrible, but I think I will be using a few runs to get that part down   Good luck!

 

I played this again and I may be mistaken. There are tanks before the helicopter. I haven't made it back there yet to see what comes next again

 

Here's mine

If it makes you feel any better I couldn't get past the second tank......
 

I spent some time on the second tank myself. My first thought was to take out the guys shooting at you above the tank and ignore the tank altogether, but it works much better to do it the other way. Ignore the guys and focus entirly on the tank.

As for the helicopter, I tried speeding past it on my last couple runs but the homing missiles come at me from behind and I don't see them until it is too late. I guess I will have to keep at it. I had the hardest time getting by the four guys shooting you when the bridge angles but I eventually got past it, so the helicopter should be passable.

On the plus side, I am getting really good at the first level and a half! I have been consistently able to get to the helicopter without taking a hit.

First try this morning I make it past the helicopter....

score updated.....
 

I somehow made it by that damned helicopter. That extra life at 20k is pretty crucial

Good to know!  I need to play more.
 

I haven't spent any time playing this week but I plan to get in an attempt or two tonight.

I'll say though that my cart copy of this game is very appropriate to the title.

Haha that's awesome! If it makes you feel any better I have a complete copy of the game which I obtained from eBay.....it was in a fire at one time,....the box has water damage and smells of smoke but the game plays great lol

 

Update score. Damn that helicopter!

125,300

Once you get to the city you can start piling up the extra lives. I think I was up to around 7 or 8 lives at one point.

179,800