Hey man, how far did you get? I think I only made it to stage 21, but they become a blur after awhile. I wish I'd gotten another perfect bonus so I could have reached 50k.

I made it to stage 16, almost beat it. It was a good run overall, I scored perfect on the first two levels, and then later had two more consecutive perfects starting the Z level. Of course the real bonus comes from the high rate.
 

I can get perfects on the first three levels and some of the later ones. I was happy when I finally cracked level 9, the one that resembles a circular track. I wish I could have figured out level 4 because that would be four perfects in a row, but that level is a mystery to me. I also have no idea how to get a perfect on the Z stage but there is probably some simple trick that I missed.



 

Nice, I got a perfect on lvl 3 a few times but never really knew how I did it, so couldn't replicate. Level 4 is an absolute bastard, one that I would always be relieved to finish.

On the Z stage, what I do is after sinking the bottom 3 balls (easy), I just bank it off the bottom at full power. Then it "climbs" up the diagonal part and has a very good chance of sinking at least one ball (usually the 7, and sometimes multiple balls). If you land in a good spot up top sinking the next three balls is usually a cakewalk.

I employed a different strategy than you and Bea I think, instead of mapping out each shot precisely I sort of winged it and did the best I could if I got a bad shot. But then again, I also got 3rd place.
 

My score came from hours of tedious trial and error. Bea was a bit more precise with her approach.

I'm glad that the game is like Wrecking Crew in that there is a level select for practice. I will not practice any contest game with save states. It has to be as if I'm using real hardware.

As for stage 3, I figured out that if you hit the 1 and 2 balls in the upper left corner at a certain angle and speed, you can usually take out both of those and the 4 ball below in one shot.Then you're perfectly set up to take out the 5 and 6 balls with one fully powered straight shot, and then you're lined up for the 3 ball.  If you don't do this, it's an ordeal trying to knock the balls away from the walls.


 

The level select is a solid feature. I didn't use it this time but by the time I posted my score yesterday I knew I was getting at least third place and I'm happy with that. Had I spent today trying to improve, I would have.

Hmm interesting, I will have to try to master level 3 sometime. I seem to remember sinking 1, 2, and 4 in one shot once. Yes getting the balls away from the walls is a major pain, you basically have to waste shots just to nudge them out.
 

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2016 WEEK 27 SANTA WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE!!! - LUNAR POOL
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Alrighty folks! 
The last bye week before the playoffs is next week, then we enter the home stretch for the 2016 regular season!
Some genres are already locked up while others will be fought to the final minute in the coming weeks.

This week's game was a sports/puzzle hybrid that was absolutely dominated by NA's resident NES Queen Bea_Iank.
Be sure to check out how monumental Bea's score was this week. Her mastery was historic!

Lots and lots to get to this week.
Grab a cup of joe and check out what went down with all your favorite NA contest competitors.


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NA'S BEA_IANK REACHES SCORE NEVER BEFORE RECORDED IN NES HISTORY!!
Math nerds rejoice the world over!

This writer's knowledge of score databases is limited, but after a day of combing the internet to find a higher mark, none were higher than Bea_Iank's.
NA's own Bea posted a monster score of 1,484,830 in Lunar Pool this week after countless days of measuring, calculating and figuring out randomized equations.

Her score towered over the rest of this week's competitors - but for good reason. No other recorded score was even close. Ever.
Scores posted by Krunch (41,920) and mbd39 (48,630) were 3rd and 2nd respectfully - and compared to what's floating out there in the high score universe - these scores were certainly respectfully high as well.

Normally (for fun) we here at the update like to weigh the scores of the NA competitors against sites like twingalaxies.com to see how our crew stacks up, but in the case of Lunar Pool twin galaxies does not have a high score posted (that we could find). 

For a comparasion, check out the best high scores we could find around the internet...

Wounded Turtle   youtube.com            222,960
?????                  youtube.com.           144,090 
Achpile                youtube.com             91,700
Boshyst_Dexter   youtube.com              80,970
cecil                    retrouprising.com       22,680
Kazan                 wii-records.com          13,690
Detacher             highscore.com             4,520
TanorFaux           gamefaqs.com            (reached Level 24 - no score submitted)

Some of you out there might know a place with other scores to add - if you do, please post in this thread and those scores will be added here.
It is very possible that Bea's score is the highest ever recorded.

It's a great day to be a fan of the contests.
Well done Bea and NA!


***********************************************************************************************************
MBD39 FINISHES IN 2ND PLACE FOR HIS FIRST MEDAL OF THE SEASON
After placing 9 times, mbd39 FINALLY gets a well deserved spot on the podium this week!

It has to feel good for mbd39 to finally grab a medal after such an amazing season. Michael has been one of the top competitors all year but he hs been missing 1 thing... a medal!
He isn't missing that from his repitoire any longer as the unofficial results have him scoring a silver for Lunar Pool.

This season has been a highly competitive one outside the top 3 and mbd39 has been a bridesmaid 9 times clapping for those each week finishing on the podium.
Check out how close Michael has come to medaling this year each time he has placed.

Week 5:  1943                        8th
Week 9:  Double Dragon          7th
Week 12: Legendary Wings      6th
Week 13: Yoshi's Cookie          5th
Week 16: Battletoads              5th
Week 23: Ironsword                7th
Week 24: Wrecking Crew         4th
Week 25: Isolated Warrior       6th
Week 26: Rollergames             5th
Week 27: Lunar Pool               2nd

Michael has been a steady and consistent competitor all season long and his drought is finally over.
Well done and congrats mbd39!


****************************************************************************************************
STRANGE SYMBOL KEEPS APPEARING IN LUNAR POOL
Coincendence - or is something more nefarious going on here?

As some people may have noticed, the curser in Lunar Pool looks like a swastika.

This also lines up with the shape of a particularly difficult stage (Stage 3) that was verbally panned by numerous contestants this week including (mbd39, SuperJimtendo, Jandrem and barrelsAndRivets).

Stage 3 shares the shape with the cursor and stands out as an early roadblock to any who attempt to best the game.
Was this done on purpose, or was it a simple oversight instead?

More investigating may be needed to uncover the truth.


************************************************************************************************************
THE MYSTERY OF RICHARDHEAD DEEPENS
NA's thoughts turn to Colorado as everybody's favorite head is still missing

Late this week the update uncovered some more information regarding one of the contests' top players Richardhead.
Mr. Head was just starting to pick up steam on the leaderboards after winning a bronze medal Week 17 for Adventure Island II... then he disappeared.

Richard was involved in a serious cycling accident 2 weeks before posting that score. We have not heard from him since.

Crosstown rival SuperJimtendo broke into the Head residence (again) today to check on him and discovered something foul was going on.

 After locking some unidentified dogs in a side room - Jim noted that all of Mr. Head's belongings was packed up and being stored in a back room. His game room - which at one time had many happy trinkets on display - was now barren and in it's place was a single filthy bed.
What's more was that there were strange unidentified women occupying his home and they appeared to be watching WWE.

All we know at the moment is that Richardhead entered the contests this year with the explicit goal of defeating JamesRobot.
WHICH AT THE MOMENT HE IS DOING!!!!!!!!

Is James invoved in the Head disappearance?
Investigators are on a plane to Colorado at this moment to uncover more details.
Stay tuned. 


*******************************************************************************************************
CURRENT MEDAL COUNT
Here is a list of everyone who has finished top 3 this season

Including the current "unoffical" scoreboard for Lunar Pool, here is a list of everyone who has managed a Gold, Silver or Bronze this year, along with their medal count.
71 people have participated this year.
28 people have been able to score a top 3 medal

Check out how they did below...

1. bertsampson            1st: 7     2nd: 4     3rd: 3     total:14
2. skinnygrinny            1st: 5     2nd: 3     3rd: 0     total: 8
3. Brock Landers          1st: 2     2nd: 2     3rd: 4     total: 8
4. ToxieRules               1st: 0     2nd: 4     3rd: 1     total: 5
5. Bea_Iank                 1st: 3     2nd: 0     3rd:1      total: 4
6. erizisto                    1st: 1     2nd: 0     3rd: 2     total: 3
7. gutsman004            1st: 0     2nd: 2     3rd: 1     total: 3
8. arnpoly                   1st: 1     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 2
9. TWarwick07            1st: 1     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 2
10. Krunch                 1st: 0     2nd: 2     3rd: 0     total: 2
11. UncleTusk            1st: 0     2nd: 2     3rd: 0     total: 2
12. Richardhead         1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 2     total: 2
13. Alder                   1st: 1     2nd: 0     3rd: 0     total: 1
14. cleure                  1st: 1     2nd: 0     3rd: 0     total: 1
15. Seppatoni            1st: 1     2nd: 0     3rd: 0     total: 1
16. Teknoskan           1st: 1     2nd: 0     3rd: 0     total: 1
17. dra600n              1st: 0     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 1
18: mbd39                1st: 0     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 1
19: Red                     1st: 0     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 1
20. smick                  1st: 0     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 1
21. SuperJimtendo     1st: 0     2nd: 1     3rd: 0     total: 1
22. BriGuy82             1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1
23. GameboyRicky     1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total 1
24. Jandrem              1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1
25. kamakaze-ekun   1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1
26. killerkobra          1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1
27. Stryphos            1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1
28. tablew/chairs      1st: 0     2nd: 0     3rd: 1     total: 1

Pairity this year in the middle of the pack has been outstanding.
Participants are biting and scratching to secure a spot in the playoffs.
With the last leg of the season approaching, who will be the final folks to snag a medal before the curtain drops?


****************************************************************************************************
NEW PARTICIPANTS
NA Contest Participants still in need of their coveted contest icon

To be awarded the contest badge...

Zaam:  5,180


*************************************************************************************************************************

That's it for another mystery filled update!

- Is Richardhead OK?
- Was Bea_Iank's score the best in world history at Lunar Pool?
- What happened to ToxieRules this week? Did he get gamenapped too?
-  When will thre next epic by bimmy_lee surface?

Keep tuning in to the contests to find out!



 

 

Cool write-up, Santa. It's funny that I started the contest complaining about not even being able to get participation. It's a super low scoring game unless you're racking up shots in a row and getting perfects, so at first it seems daunting.

It's the kind of game that would probably be most entertaining when played casually by two people. Just having fun competing and trash talking like a real game of pool. As a single player game doing it for high score, it takes a lot of patience and dedication to grind this one out. Because of how points accumulate, it only takes one little mistake to spoil your score.

Another fun update from Santa.
Well done on the scores, guys. This game can be fun to crack, but it is entirely too long for it's own good.

I will continue to debug it just so I can write a proper guide on it and because I am curious about the inner mechanics, and I will use this bye week to record a video of my run and another for my Paperboy run as well.
I will post them during the week.

Edit:
Btw, this is how ridiculous 10 perfect games look:




As soon as I finish recording my video, I will post it here.

Most of that video is point tallying!  

It gets much worse when your rate is 99.  
Most of my game time was point tallying too!

 

I notice extra balls go up like crazy the more perfect games you get. After awhile you can choose to play through all 60 stages or turn it off from boredom.
 

It caps at 99 too around stage 20 or something, so yeah...
That is how I got that first 270,000 score. I had so many extra lives that I had no other option but beat the game.
It takes a lot of time to burn through 99 lives.