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NintendoAge 2014 Weekly Contest Presents: Marble Madness Contest ends Sunday, 2/16/14 at 11 PM NA time

Feb 11, 2014 at 8:46:19 AM
Vectrex28 (130)
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(CD-i Kraid) < Master Higgins >
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125'820 Points!
Got a few wands, but a lot of stupid yet avoidable deaths



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"Energy Tanks, Missiles, Power Bombs... You want it? It's yours my friend! As long as you have enough credits!"


Feb 11, 2014 at 8:59:39 AM
Vectrex28 (130)
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(CD-i Kraid) < Master Higgins >
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Originally posted by: LukeAF24

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

20 deaths eats up 20 seconds, maybe, right?

I had 52k pts when I reached the final leg of the last level, and thought I was doing OK.
Time bonus aside, that only jumps me up to 72k for beating the game. 

So, the question is did they have 100 sceconds left-over at the end?
That just sounds impossible.
 
Maybe closer to 30, depending on which animations you get (sweeping broom would be longer than a second).

Regardless, 52k is fairly solid for where you were (time left, aside). You are forgetting all of the other bonuses, though. You get 6k for going through the gate and a x100 multipler for your leftover time. That's a good swing if you had a really good run, overall.

Then you get 20k for finishing, x1000 mutipler for you leftover time, -1000 for each death.

This is all not factoring in any lucky wands you may have gotten.

I've gotten 130-140k numerous times before. It takes a nice solid run, but it is doable.
 

If you're the luckiest man on earth and you get a ton of wands, you are going to get 9900x5 points (49500 in total) just for finishing the last 5 courses. Add the total for the beginner course (The best I can do is 11250), which makes 60750.
Add the bonus you get for each time you finish a course, which is 21000, which brings us to a total of 81750.
If you don't die uring your run, you're going to be awarded 119000 points at the end of the game. Our total of points is now 200750, which is already bigger than the biggest scores we've had in this contest.
Don't forget the bonuses you get from the pipes (which is 12000), and the bonus you can get from breaking black marbles (2000). The max total of points you can get without the points you simply get by rolling is 214750 points, but to achieve this, you would have to be the luckiest man on earth... But with that said, I believe the biggest scores we got there are all but impossible on a flawless run.



-------------------------
"Energy Tanks, Missiles, Power Bombs... You want it? It's yours my friend! As long as you have enough credits!"


Feb 11, 2014 at 10:08:11 AM
arch_8ngel (68)
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Bonus from the pipes? Can you clarify?
Are you talking about the points from taking the "hard path" on levels that have an option?

Is there a trick to killing the black marbles quickly? That seems like a bad trade for time, in general.

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Edited: 02/11/2014 at 10:20 AM by arch_8ngel

Feb 11, 2014 at 10:21:38 AM
Vectrex28 (130)
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(CD-i Kraid) < Master Higgins >
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Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

Bonus from the pipes? Can you clarify?

Is there a trick to killing the black marbles quickly? That seems like a bad trade for time, in general.


When you go into a pipe, you get a bonus as soon as you get out of it (like the one after the small enemies you can crush for extra time in the Silly race).
As for the black marbles, I don't have a clue. I was just trying to find out what would be the maximum amount of points you can get in the game if you were the luckiest man on earth

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"Energy Tanks, Missiles, Power Bombs... You want it? It's yours my friend! As long as you have enough credits!"


Feb 11, 2014 at 11:12:52 AM
arch_8ngel (68)
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Originally posted by: Vectrex280996

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

Bonus from the pipes? Can you clarify?

Is there a trick to killing the black marbles quickly? That seems like a bad trade for time, in general.


When you go into a pipe, you get a bonus as soon as you get out of it (like the one after the small enemies you can crush for extra time in the Silly race).
As for the black marbles, I don't have a clue. I was just trying to find out what would be the maximum amount of points you can get in the game if you were the luckiest man on earth
Yeah, I've killed the final black marble as a matter of progression with no great time loss, but I can't see how you can kill the initial black marble without sacrificing way too much time to make it worthwhile.

Especially considering that every second you carry over cascades from one level to the next, so a second saved in "beginner" is worth A TON over the course of the entire game relative to a second saved in a later level.



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Feb 11, 2014 at 2:07:23 PM
KHAN Games (89)
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(Kevin Hanley) < Master Higgins >
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Felt good to play a few rounds today.


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gauauu: look, we all paid $10K at some point in our lives for the privilege of hanging out with Kevin


Feb 11, 2014 at 2:23:27 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?



(I know a screenshot is not an official entry, so I will get a proper photo later, or hopefully, beat it again with fewer deaths)

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Edited: 02/11/2014 at 02:24 PM by arch_8ngel

Feb 11, 2014 at 2:25:37 PM
guillavoie (125)
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(Der Graue Kasten) < Master Higgins >
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Originally posted by: Vectrex280996

Originally posted by: LukeAF24

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

20 deaths eats up 20 seconds, maybe, right?

I had 52k pts when I reached the final leg of the last level, and thought I was doing OK.
Time bonus aside, that only jumps me up to 72k for beating the game. 

So, the question is did they have 100 sceconds left-over at the end?
That just sounds impossible.
 
Maybe closer to 30, depending on which animations you get (sweeping broom would be longer than a second).

Regardless, 52k is fairly solid for where you were (time left, aside). You are forgetting all of the other bonuses, though. You get 6k for going through the gate and a x100 multipler for your leftover time. That's a good swing if you had a really good run, overall.

Then you get 20k for finishing, x1000 mutipler for you leftover time, -1000 for each death.

This is all not factoring in any lucky wands you may have gotten.

I've gotten 130-140k numerous times before. It takes a nice solid run, but it is doable.
 

If you're the luckiest man on earth and you get a ton of wands, you are going to get 9900x5 points (49500 in total) just for finishing the last 5 courses. Add the total for the beginner course (The best I can do is 11250), which makes 60750.
Add the bonus you get for each time you finish a course, which is 21000, which brings us to a total of 81750.
If you don't die uring your run, you're going to be awarded 119000 points at the end of the game. Our total of points is now 200750, which is already bigger than the biggest scores we've had in this contest.
Don't forget the bonuses you get from the pipes (which is 12000), and the bonus you can get from breaking black marbles (2000). The max total of points you can get without the points you simply get by rolling is 214750 points, but to achieve this, you would have to be the luckiest man on earth... But with that said, I believe the biggest scores we got there are all but impossible on a flawless run.

 

I understand where you're coming with these numbers, but your estimation of the best run possible is incorrect. Things to consider, you can't get wands more than once in a stage, you can't get a wand in the last stage. So taking in account that you can finish the courses with 99 seconds left is impossible, no course can be finished with 99 seconds left. And after playing certainly more than a thousand complete game of Marble Madness on NES, I never got 4 wands in a run, maximum seems to be 3. If anybody ever got 4, speak up!

I don't have all the number at hand right now, but the best someone could get at this game if he get the best combination of wands, and he's lucky enough to smack off the black marble in the last stage without losing time, with otherwise a flawless run, would probably be around 181k-182kish.


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Edited: 02/11/2014 at 02:35 PM by guillavoie

Feb 11, 2014 at 2:39:00 PM
BriGuy82 (25)
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I can finally buy Study Hall?! Sweet!

Feb 11, 2014 at 2:41:19 PM
gutsman004 (126)
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Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?



(I know a screenshot is not an official entry, so I will get a proper photo later, or hopefully, beat it again with fewer deaths)





So your completion bonus was completely voided by the deaths....nice. Good job completing the game!

Feb 11, 2014 at 2:46:04 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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Originally posted by: gutsman004

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?
 



So your completion bonus was completely voided by the deaths....nice. Good job completing the game!

Pretty much!  Probably 6 of those were on the last run with the disappearing blocks

So take those out and you'd have at least 5 or 6 seconds more on the clock AND less of a penalty, go figure!


But I am pretty stoked that I beat the game.  This one has thwarted me for a long time, and I've never really done what it took to learn how to even play the last level.


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Feb 11, 2014 at 2:49:36 PM
SwiftFrost (200)
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Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?
 
Wow, nice! I honestly didn't think it was possible. With 3 seconds to spare as well! I presume you got a few wands along the way?


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Feb 11, 2014 at 3:19:52 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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(Nathan ?) < Mario >
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Originally posted by: LukeAF24

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?
 
Wow, nice! I honestly didn't think it was possible. With 3 seconds to spare as well! I presume you got a few wands along the way?
 
Don't recall if I got 1 or 2 wands that game, but it was at least 1.
I think most of my deaths were "quick deaths" that regenerated in less than a second.



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Feb 11, 2014 at 5:01:05 PM
gutsman004 (126)
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Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

Originally posted by: gutsman004

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

What was that about not being able to finish the game after dying 20 times?
 



So your completion bonus was completely voided by the deaths....nice. Good job completing the game!

Pretty much!  Probably 6 of those were on the last run with the disappearing blocks

So take those out and you'd have at least 5 or 6 seconds more on the clock AND less of a penalty, go figure!


But I am pretty stoked that I beat the game.  This one has thwarted me for a long time, and I've never really done what it took to learn how to even play the last level.






That's awesome that you finally beat it. Remains to be seen if I can,but either way I'll take my participation point.

Feb 11, 2014 at 5:27:01 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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65,600

Managed to beat it again with only 19 deaths this time! The hammers ripped me up bad on this run.



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Edited: 02/11/2014 at 05:47 PM by arch_8ngel

Feb 11, 2014 at 5:30:35 PM
KHAN Games (89)
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(Kevin Hanley) < Master Higgins >
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All my perfect runs come with no wands and all my wand runs come with stupid deaths. Arg. Done for the day.

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gauauu: look, we all paid $10K at some point in our lives for the privilege of hanging out with Kevin


Feb 11, 2014 at 6:44:35 PM
SONIKtheHEDGEHOG (119)
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Decided to give this a couple attempts.. I've hit the 180's before... Not sure if I'll have enough time to really try though (It's a matter of wands at the right time).. We can update scores right?

Feb 11, 2014 at 7:18:22 PM
bimmy_lee (78)
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Originally posted by: SONIKtheHEDGEHOG

Decided to give this a couple attempts.. I've hit the 180's before... Not sure if I'll have enough time to really try though (It's a matter of wands at the right time).. We can update scores right?


Yes, you may update your score as many times as you would like during the course of the contest.

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Feb 11, 2014 at 9:43:29 PM
The-retro-shop.com (12)
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36,320 



Edited: 02/13/2014 at 10:22 PM by The-retro-shop.com

Feb 11, 2014 at 10:07:49 PM
arnpoly (110)
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137,130 (updated 2/14)

Well I think this is as good as it gets for me if I want to keep my controller in one piece!


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Edited: 02/14/2014 at 11:53 PM by arnpoly

Feb 11, 2014 at 10:30:21 PM
etrainstyles (38)
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Still waiting for that perfect run - died 3 times and 1 wand




Edited: 02/11/2014 at 11:03 PM by etrainstyles

Feb 11, 2014 at 10:44:21 PM
dataz722 (58)
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Damn, and I was really thinking that if I could hit 75k I would be in decent shape.

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My WTB - mostly N64 stuff

Feb 12, 2014 at 8:16:32 AM
arch_8ngel (68)
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(Nathan ?) < Mario >
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Originally posted by: dataz722

Damn, and I was really thinking that if I could hit 75k I would be in decent shape.

It is going to be pretty intense if beating a game like this only nets a participation point!


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Feb 12, 2014 at 10:44:09 AM
dataz722 (58)
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I wish I didn't hate emulation so much so that I could just keep playing the last level over and over until I get it figured out.

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My WTB - mostly N64 stuff

Feb 12, 2014 at 10:51:10 AM
SONIKtheHEDGEHOG (119)
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Just the tiniest bit better..