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

• Get as far in the game as possible
• Play as far into your last life as possible.  Do not let yourself get a Game Over.
• If you beat the game, take your picture when it shows Round 6-2 Clear.  Take your picture after the bonus points tally up, but before the screen disappears to the end movie sequence.  Be ready to take your picture.
• Furthest progression wins with low score taking precedence
• Participation: Get to Round 1-2
• GENRE: Action/Platformer

The contest ends Sunday, 7/29/18 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  

1st	skinnygrinny	Game Complete (575,800)
2nd	bertsampson	Game Complete (584,500)
3rd	Gloves	Game Complete (589,500)
3rd	mbd39	Game Complete (589,500)
5th	tablew/chairs	Game Complete (601,900)
6th	arnpoly	Stage 6-2 (1,208,000)
7th	smick	Stage 3-2 (268,000)
8th	Yoshi	Stage 3-2 (355,500)
9th	Seppatoni	Stage 3-1 (213,900)
10th	Krunch	Stage 2-2 (91,800)
11th	laddersandcakes	Stage 2-2 (103,800)

NASTYNAX!!!!

Tapeworm strike!!!

game complete


575800

https://imgur.com/gallery/qrO9zo1

Bring it on Glovsie!!!

I think arch is always talking he's good at nastynax too.

Ultimate NA Nastynax challenge...... hit me with your best shot. It's a game, it's a challenge, it's a time to prove your worth. Step into the squared circle of jaleco! Can you even handle the first level? Bah! Rookie! Grow some hair on your nuts 🥜 then carry your sword!!! Carry it strong, straight and unsheathed that it may strike the veins of though enemies!!! And carry the blood of evil on thy blade!!!! Go. Save yourself from this nightmare. Do it. Do it before it’s to late. 

so sounds like you've been practicing

I've only ever beaten this with continues. I've never 1cc'd it.

This will be a challenge. And low score to boot.

Chairy!. You... better bring your A game partner! Cause the grinder has been working on this gem since he was a weeeee tapeworm! Skinny’s got history with this one. 

Lets go! Here’s some chum for the sharks!!! 


 

1 life for the podium this week mike! 
 

Nasty naaaaax......

Lol you like this game I take it?

If the Tapewom's hyped then I'm hyped. Nasty naaaaax mafks!

Pro-tip: If you wanna go for low score, I'd suggest using the spear (2nd weapon) rather than the sword (3rd). It's basically your "mage" weapon, and makes Bind cost 3 bars. You can also cheese the mana system, as chests will have Cutie in them whenever you are low on Mana (1 per level). So just Bind... Bind... Bind... Cutie... through the level, and then Fireball on the bosses. You'll do less damage overall, but you'll also spend the levels (arguably the hard part, with the flying enemies being the primary exceptions) not even really USING your weapon.

This game is very similar to The Legendary Axe for Turbografx. Same play mechanic.

Oh hell ya! Whoooooo! 

 

I don't know about any fancy tricks bind bind bind cutie but I have tried low score. But we will try this chest trick glovsie.

First attempt. Come on now Skinsie.

I did die a few times as I was focusing on low score. Plus side, when you go through the levels not killing anything it hardly matters anyway.

Progress: Clear
Score: 748,300

Oooohhh. Skinsie gonna have to get better! Our best so for is barely under 900,000.

i think I can get the little fairy trick down. 

Just make sure to open every chest, don't skip the ones you "don't" need. If you do, you'll get a weapon when you need a fairy.

Oh and open them from the right side, so you don't accidentally pick up a weapon upgrade.

I'm gonna just aim for a 1cc this week because I've never done it and not worry about my score.

Same here, its so easy to get hung up on score during progress contests, but really if you cant beat the game the score generally doesnt matter anyway.  Personally I cant just pick up a game and beat it within the first week of ever playing it.

Improved my score by a good chunk. At this point I just have to play riskier and riskier, which really isn't an issue. There's a few thousand points on the table. It might be possible to get a lower score by like 50k tops, by my estimate. Mostly it's letting yourself take damage to bosses beyond this; I got myself to 1-3 health and 0-2 mana on MOST bosses, but it's very risky to do on bosses that have a mini-boss preceding them. If you kill a miniboss you get a ton of points, so dying to a main boss afterwards is a reset.

Score: 654,000

Glovsie! You dog you! I had been purging health and mana t bosses too. I need to use the bind spell more efficiently to get through levels with a lower score.

Part of it is knowing when to upgrade and downgrade your weapon. Also being ok with killing yourself at key levels to do so. The Tower level, for instance, I kill myself right away at the start to downgrade to the Axe weapon, so each mini-boss will take only 3 hits, and the Black Dragon will take like... 5 maybe?

Every single level it's totally possible to beat it without killing a single enemy, save for the boss; there might be like... 5 enemies tops that might be "mandatory" kills, and even then it's probably still not absolutely mandatory if you have enough health. It's all timing. 
 

I had the same thought about not destroying any enemies. It seems like it is possible. 

Your like 300k lower than my best right now! 

Oooooooohhhhhhhh the grinder has got his work cut out for him. But you know what?! The grinder is ready to battle this week and at the end of the day, when the dust settles and one silluete is left standing... the sun will shine down with glory to reveal the greatest Nintendo player of all man kind!!!!! Wwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
 

Stage 3-1, 213900