I mean that it is possible to do a single combo that takes out 100% of viruses on a level in the early stages.


It is worth a shit-ton of points, since at Hi the last viruses continually rack 9600 pts each in a combo like that.

I can do it every time on Level 0 (but that is only a quad-combo for 4500 pts total)
I have managed it a couple of times on Level 1 (which bumps you up to around 40k)

Never done it on Level 2, and by Level 3 I think there is too much clutter.

Crazy never tried it, the viruses always seemed to far apart when I played. Going to try it now. Thanks.

I am not good at planning a chain for a perfect level. I can do it on level 0, but after that, I can't do it at all. I always seem to screw myself over if I try to plan that out, and end up messing up and losing, so I just play with a survivalist mentality. I have made it to around 300,000 points so far, and that is just about my max. I am gonna try grinding it out for a few more points and combos, but level 21+ becomes pretty damn hard for me.

Hey thanks for the compliment but I think if you watched me play now you wouldn't say the same thing. I can't even break 100K on Hi and I've put in about 2 hours this week. I've played enough that I shouldn't need that much refresh time. Just not used to setting up combos as it's been almost 2 years since the last D Mar contest. I play 2P with my brother once in while which has a combo element but there's no point in comboing more than four pills at once (since that's the max amount of "garbage" pills you can drop into the other player's screen, of course). I would argue it's not really worth it to go out of your way for combos with those play settings, you do better just clearing as fast as you can.

That's where I always go wrong. When I try to waste the pills that I don't need, I end up with a mess at the bottom of the screen that I can't work through. It's either that or the later levels start me off with a half dozen pills of a color I can't use.

It's basically a good way to skew your average score by killing it on Level 0 and Level 1.
And it is probably worth trying to snag a 6+ combo on Level 2 before things just get too cluttered later on to guarantee it.

I had 230k+ yesterday by midway through Level 13, so I was almost pacing a triple-combo average at that point, but topped out after a few mis-drops.



I really need to refine my switch to pure survival, but the Tetris player in me demands big plays.

Tier 3 - 132,700

I haven't been active in the thread yet but rest assured I have been playing much Dr. Mario this week.

I wanted to share my Dr. Mario story that I teased in the tournament thread. It's actually a pretty crappy story that was not worth waiting for, but whatever!

Over the summer my wife and I went to a wedding about an hour out of town. There was a big layover between the wedding and reception so we ventured out for a little shopping and my wife let me take us to a local game store that I had never been to before. I didn't see anything I wanted to buy but before we left I noticed that had a contest set up with an NES and game. The game was a repro of the Nintendo Campus Challenge and the highest scorer that month would win that copy of the cart. We had time to kill and I had never played it before so I gave it a shot. The games were Mario 3, Pinbot, and Dr. Mario. So I hurried to get to Dr. Mario and I got pretty far before time ran out. I flagged the clerk down to check my score and his first reaction after walking over was "Dang!" I guess I impressed him with my score. I asked him if I had the top score and he laughed a little and said "No, not even close." Huh? He pointed to the rule sheet for the contest and there was a disclaimer written on it stating that you might want to do some internet research to learn some tips on how to get the highest scores. It turns out that point racking on Mario 3 is the optimal scoring strategy for the Campus Challenge. But nevertheless the guy was impressed by my score the "normal" way and I believe he said my score was the best playing it that way. But of course that's no good if I wanted to win the cart. So that's it ... no prize for me or anything like that.

Another more brief story/brag. One time I beat my friend on versus mode while I started at L20 and he started at L0. My friend is no gaming slouch ... I just happened to bury him pretty quick and about a quarter of the way through he kind of gave up. But he didn't suicide his run either and I was able to actually clear my entire screen and win that way.

Here is the "Combo Matrix" for anybody trying to benchmark their progress or see what they need to do to beat a given score:

(score values for a given level assume you have completed the level)

HI SPEED		Avg Combo
Level	Viruses	1	2	3	4
0	4	1200	1800	2800	4500
1	8	3600	5400	8400	13500
2	12	7200	10800	16800	27000
3	16	12000	18000	28000	45000
4	20	18000	27000	42000	67500
5	24	25200	37800	58800	94500
6	28	33600	50400	78400	126000
7	32	43200	64800	100800	162000
8	36	54000	81000	126000	202500
9	40	66000	99000	154000	247500
10	44	79200	118800	184800	297000
11	48	93600	140400	218400	351000
12	52	109200	163800	254800	409500
13	56	126000	189000	294000	472500
14	60	144000	216000	336000	540000
15	64	163200	244800	380800	612000
16	68	183600	275400	428400	688500
17	72	205200	307800	478800	769500
18	76	228000	342000	532000	855000
19	80	252000	378000	588000	945000
20	84	277200	415800	646800	1039500

MEDIUM		Avg Combo
Level	Viruses	1	2	3	4
0	4	800	1200	1867	3000
1	8	2400	3600	5600	9000
2	12	4800	7200	11200	18000
3	16	8000	12000	18667	30000
4	20	12000	18000	28000	45000
5	24	16800	25200	39200	63000
6	28	22400	33600	52267	84000
7	32	28800	43200	67200	108000
8	36	36000	54000	84000	135000
9	40	44000	66000	102667	165000
10	44	52800	79200	123200	198000
11	48	62400	93600	145600	234000
12	52	72800	109200	169867	273000
13	56	84000	126000	196000	315000
14	60	96000	144000	224000	360000
15	64	108800	163200	253867	408000
16	68	122400	183600	285600	459000
17	72	136800	205200	319200	513000
18	76	152000	228000	354667	570000
19	80	168000	252000	392000	630000
20	84	184800	277200	431200	693000

LO SPEED		Avg Combo
Level	Viruses	1	2	3	4
0	4	400	600	933	1500
1	8	800	1800	2800	4500
2	12	1200	3600	5600	9000
3	16	1600	6000	9333	15000
4	20	2000	9000	14000	22500
5	24	2400	12600	19600	31500
6	28	2800	16800	26133	42000
7	32	3200	21600	33600	54000
8	36	3600	27000	42000	67500
9	40	4000	33000	51333	82500
10	44	4400	39600	61600	99000
11	48	4800	46800	72800	117000
12	52	5200	54600	84933	136500
13	56	5600	63000	98000	157500
14	60	6000	72000	112000	180000
15	64	6400	81600	126933	204000
16	68	6800	91800	142800	229500
17	72	7200	102600	159600	256500
18	76	7600	114000	177333	285000
19	80	8000	126000	196000	315000
20	84	8400	138600	215600	346500

A couple of us have shown our hand, or at least mentioned a score if we haven't posted pics yet.

Don't be coy.  Give us a clue to how you're faring.

Tier 1 - 381,900 (L20)

I should not have lost right at the end of the level.  But still, a good score!

Score posted above.  Happy now? 

I had been off work this week until today and I didn't have much computer time.  My wife is really weird about me sitting down in front of the computer but fine with me playing hours of Dr. Mario. 

Yes, thanks.

Interesting, again, to see how basic survival is worth so much, since you are nearly at 400k, but averaging less than a double-combo over the course of the game.  (probably around a 1.7-combo kill rate)


Definitely makes me reassess my obsession with the big combos, since there is so much more basic progression scoring potential in this game than a game like Tetris which is the sort of puzzle I'm accustomed to.  And knowing when to "make the switch" always feels like I'm a few pills too late and then I'm hosed.

My theory is that you can only get so many points by milking combos before it gets out of hand, but if you can consistently beat levels in the teens and up then scoring is virtually limitless.  That's not to say I ignore combos altogether ... I will get them when it makes sense.  But I would rather sacrifice points by blowing through early levels quicker so I have more attempts at the higher levels.  Points per level reach the 30K-50K range in the upper teens.

Points per level only reaches 50k if you're averaging triples. (at Level 17)

Points per range reaches 30k at level 16 if you're averaging doubles.

It only gets into the 20k range averaging singles. (at level 16+).

Assuming Level 21+ are the same virus count as Level 20, then all-singles maxes at 25k per level and doubles max at 38k per level.




But yes, I see your point, and looking over the 2013 contest thread, progression was obviously key for most of the high scores.

I just don't want to leave upwards of 100k+ on the table by averaging doubles instead of triples+ through level 12 or 13  Just seems like too big of a score advantage to give up if I can pull it off.




EDIT: 

Looking back over that thread the scores were pretty insane.  Dra600n basically beat the world record by cracking 1MM, though he had a technical glitch that prevented him getting a picture.

Definitely makes me adjust my focus to pure survival at > Level 10.

I have played individual levels in the 18-20 range just for practice and I have gotten 50K in those levels just by chance.  With "normal" play it is usually around 32K-35K in my experience.

To recalibrate my approach at this point in the contest would really harm my chances of getting better scores through my theory of level progression.  I'm okay with leaving points on the table early on if it means I have a better shot of getting into level 20 and beyond.  I haven't even tried to do a perfect level or set up any big combos or anything like that in any of my runs.  If I start thinking like that I'll fall into the same "problem" as you when I don't know when to quit! 

I've definitely seen clumps of viruses where quad-clears are "easy" to do in the later levels, so I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that in certain level layouts you might chance into average triples (and especially doubles).


In terms of play-style, yes, I know, I need to just force myself to do a "speed" play to just see how far I can get rather than getting so fancy wtih the combos.

Big combos are meaningless if you can't clear level 20 or 24 (whichever the highest the viruses go up to) on a consistent manner.

203,000 - Tier 2

I know I can beat this score,it's just a matter of actually doing it. I can usually get up to level 16-18 range as long as I don't make a bonehead error near the top of the playfield. My biggest weakness right now is pulling off the big combos. I do get a few 3 or 4s along the way,but most of the time it's singles and doubles.

Upadate: Tier 1 - 41,100 Thanks to everyone for the pointers. They're not doing me a lick of good though.

Since ookii_risu decided not to play in the tournament and so we could have an even number of participants in Tier 3, bearcat-doug is going to take her place as a last minute replacement. If anyone has any issues with this, please voice your concerns here.

No issues with it whatsoever! I'm glad he's back and I wish he'd unretire. Would love to see krunch back playing in these too.

One other note for all participants: The prize pictures are now posted in the Winter Tournament thread

Tier 3 - 113.100



Hoping to get another run in as I know I can do a lot better.

I keep getting stuck on level 17 for some reason. Hopefully I can do better before tomorrow night.