Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests!  This week, I want to get serious with everyone for a moment.  It was on the evening of February 14, 2016 that NintendoAge learned of the passing of a long-time and beloved member.  doner24 sadly learned and reported that evening that member JD (also known as Elijah) had passed away in the summer of 2014.  Information regarding the news can be found here:
 
http://vintage.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=7...
 
The news shocked and saddened the community as a whole as JD was an incredibly nice and helpful individual.  He was always available to help out, including time spent as a moderator on the site, and prided himself on making NintendoAge a happy and fun place for all.  He was also an incredible gamer, excelling at Donkey Kong and the current game of the week, 1943.  His scores on both games always left others in awe and very impressed at his awesome skill.  This week’s contest is dedicated to the late, great JD.  Surely he would have loved playing along with us this week and sharing his knowledge of a game he loved to play.  JD, you may be gone, but you will never, ever be forgotten and you will live on the in hearts of your entire NintendoAge family.  Rest easy, friend.  Here are the rules:
 
 

• Play until Game Over
• Take your picture on the Game Over screen
• If you have to re-start a level or boss because you did not destroy enough enemies, that counts as a Game Over.  At this point, you must stop playing and take your picture.  Anyone suspected of playing more of the game in the event you have to re-start a level or boss will have their score disqualified.
• Highest score wins
• Participation: 50,000
• GENRE: Shooter/Shoot ‘Em Up

 
 
The contest ends Sunday, 3/20/16 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
1943 (Shooter)
Mod	1,458,500	bearcat-doug
Place	Score	Username
1	2,534,200	bertsampson
2	2,391,000	skinnygrinny
3	2,224,800	Stryphos
4	1,554,100	Brock Landers
5	1,346,600	Jandrem
6	938,400	arnpoly
7	871,000	TWarwick07
8	863,400	mbd39
Participation
9	821,800	Commander Santa
10	789,400	Philosoraptor
11	730,700	JamesRobot
12	673,500	gutsman004
13	460,500	MegaMartyr
14	263,200	Richardhead
15	252,700	Mega Tank
16	252,100	zobber
17	241,800	dirk12121212
18	239,800	laddersandcakes
19	230,200	ne$_pimp
20	201,500	smick
21	175,700	barrelsAndRivets
22	149,900	SuperJimtendo
23	123,700	Double0seven
24	122,600	Kawaii_kills
25	65,400	EgasKrad
26	51,100	Fluffy

Noob questions; is it apparent how many enemies need to be killed, and is it obvious that you're re-starting a level?

1,458,500 (Contest Moderator Score, Does Not Count Towards Leaderboard)

 

I'm not 100% sure on the first part, but I think the game tells you if your percentage was too low and you have to try again.

 

863,400



 

239,800

Not my week, yo.

I might be playing the game wrong, but I don't even bother to use my points on anything besides upping my offense, and I try to only collect items for boosting my energy rather than my weapon. One thing that annoys me about this game is the small time limit for weapon upgrades. Might as well not bother with them.

Edit:Yeah I was wrong. Now I always go for weapon upgrades.
 

252,700!

I've never made it past Mission 9.

For JD, I'll give it my best this week.

It's a tough game for sure. I've beaten it with continues, but to 1cc it would be an amazing feat for anyone that can do it. I'll probably be tied up most of the week, but if I get any free time, I'll do my best to put up a better score.

First try, going in blind.  Not even sure what killed me... some sort of lingering explosion.  I'll have to read an faq to understand what was going on too

128,800
248,200
289,600
623,400
874,700
1,461,900
1,554,100



 

This game is definitely tough, but still fun. After the contest I might try to beat it with the password feature.


 

That's what I ended up having to do over the course of a few days. The last level is extremely difficult. From what I remember, it doesn't have it's own password, so you have to beat the previous level each time just to get to it.

 

Sorry For the shitty picture, I had to kill myself at 8:58pm so I could hurry and take this picture with my girlfriends help because the walking dead was coming on! haha

Will hopefully be posting a better score soon!

I managed to get a slightly better attempt in this morning. I'm not sure how much time I'll have this week, but hopefully I can give it a better shot.

249600
286400
289000
289800
293100
716500
1808700
2224800



Update 2
-----------------
Making it through the Level 8 boss was another stopping point for me.  Once I did I made it to Level 18's boss before some (insert profane/vulgar term here) kamikaze green flyer flew into me from the side of the screen.

Update 1
-----------------
That 3rd level boss is really a stopping point.  If you can get past that stage your score will change dramatically as you'll inevitably stay alive for several more stages.  So many deaths at that Level 3 boss!

I'm still shocked I scored as high as I did ... I honestly thought I'd struggle getting the participation score ...
 

263200





What a great game. My thumb hurts after that run. I fully expect JamesRobot to put up a sick score and beat me this week, even though he's having a baby today. I'll be out of town for the next two weeks and away from my NES, so after today I'll be playing on my PSP. Good luck everyone and I hope to see some awesome scores😀

Where the hell did that cow come from and what did it do for me?😳

  It's a magical flying cow. In addition to giving you flying cow's milk,it gives you points I believe.

haha I know, right? I didn't manage to get past 58% on the first boss, apparently. A quick look at GameFAQs tells me that I wasn't using the charging capabilities of the main weapon, and that I probably should have upgrades some of the powerups by shooting them a bunch.

Me + vertical shooters = laughable failure. I'm just hoping to be able to pony up the participation score myself

EDIT: finally got to level 3. 

67,300, 118,100
175,700



 

I struggle with shoot 'em ups too for whatever reason. I can usually get the hang of it after awhile, but they take a lot more effort for me just to get a solid score. As much as I don't care for them, I seem to even be better at puzzle games than auto scrolling shooters.

 

Dude, I know your pain. I'm such garbage at shooters almost always, but of all games, I want to be good at them. It's almost the lamest tragedy ever written. 

Also, thanks for those little bits of info. Swear I didn't realize you could charge or upgrade those drops, ha. Big help. 

Third level is brutal! So many things on the screen.

 

I didn't even know that you can charge your weapon. That makes taking out the larger enemies so much easier.

I've been trying to get over the hump of beating the stage 3 boss. I have trouble dodging its spread fire. I won't get a much higher score without making it past that boss.

The cow replenishes a lot of health.