Well, most of you have probably experienced the frustration of trying to get a good recording of your score in this game, or being hit by invisible scenery/enemy fire. Here's a question: how many people have made it to the fifth stage? I just got there, and was killed with FIVE invisible hits. I couldn't dodge, defend myself, or do anything. The game effectively ends after stage 4! This is starting to get silly, people. I'm aware that this game was voted in, but I don't think anybody foresaw the amount of problems with it. It should be removed from the tournament. Random chance is not how arcade games were meant to be played (well, with the exception of Do's diamond :) ) This is a SERIOUSLY flawed game. At the very least, a new clause should be written into the rules about the possibility of removing games after they were voted in. I'm tired of trying to improve my score at a game that won't let me. It's basically come down to 'hit the hedron in the first level', and I find this irritating and a poor challenge of skill. This will be my final comment about this, for those of you that I have seriously irked, so please take note of what I am saying and respond with your position, and not just a simple 'it was voted in' comment. I don't care if you write back just to tell me off, I'd like to know people's position on this game and what I have to say. Thanx for your time.

-- Quinn A.C. Nicholson (qan@home.com), July 20, 1999

Answers

If you playback the players who have made it pased the invisible ship level, you'll notice they are very carefull to get as many hedroms as possible, so that it's not so bad getting hit 5+ times. I think if you move around more on that invisible ship level you will die less. It is a lame graphics game with out the laser disc, but it is playable and you don't have to die at the invisible ship level if you gather enough shield points.

-- Chad (churritz@cts.com), July 20, 1999.

I have personally had a problem with this one on many different levels (and I'm not talking about game levels). I said it at the outset and I'll repeat it again in case it wasn't heard the first time around..."Don't vote on games that are not working!" You now see the error of letting this one in - not to mention how it got in.

I'm all in favor of booting this one out, but will deal with the current status of usvsthem as the gates are already up and the horses are running down the track. Best thing we can do in the future is to pay attention to notifications that a particular game is not working or properly functional! Don't wanna say "I told you so", but...

JoustGod

-- JoustGod (pinballwiz1@msn.com), July 20, 1999.

Believe it or not, I actually threw out that game at one point for the very reasons you all explained. Then we had massive controversy, and then Pat decided that the quirks were not enough for it to be thrown out - it was a level playing field. All this means is that I wanted it to be thrown out. I can see this reasoning, which is why I didn't say much after the ruling.

This issue will be SEVERLY alleviated, corrected, and demolished(I know... I'm using a couple harsh words :) ) come our next tournament - the hidden deadline rule will probably give us at least one week to get TG settings and check for broken games before the tournament starts. If we do find games broken, I can give you your vote back and you can take 24 or 48 hours to revote.

-- Gameboy9 (goldengameboy@yahoo.com), July 20, 1999.

Like it or not, I stand behind my original decision and as I told you earlier, the game will not be removed. I agree that Xed out games should not have been considered, but enough players voted for this game and it sneaked in through a loophole. As I recall you joined the tourney a couple of days after it started so you were not part of the voting process and more importantly not fully aware of the delicate situations at hand. Recordings had already been made AND it would have been a HUGE hassle to throw out the game and then get everyone to decide which one to replace it with. As Gameboy stated, the game selection process will be examined and corrected in the future.

Regarding the "unfairness" issue, I've played enough video games in my lifetime to know that skill isn't everything. The ability to control the most random aspects of a game coupled with a little luck goes a long way. It is an important element of video games, so don't discount that fact. If these things don't all side in your favor, you are not going to get the top score, period. Also, since you're the current tourney leader, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. It's going to take several additional recordings to only gain marginally better scores. I say, keep working on stage 5 and good fortunes will soon come from it!

-- Pat (laffaye@ibm.net), July 20, 1999.