Hi,

I want to submit some scores on Bomb Jack + clones, but am weary about the default settings which are too easy ? It`s relatively easy to score 10m or so, or whatever on these settings. There was a point raised a while ago about this. Has any descision been agreed to ? I`d prefer the TG settings, which are a lot harder. Ideally , I`d like to see scores using easy settings deleted, but as their within the rules of MARP, i.e ' default' , it`s a bit tricky.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks, ALEX

-- Alex Weir (alexweir@indigo.ie), April 06, 2000

Answers

Hi Alex.

Bombjack is a real marathon game to play, and I agree that 10 mil is not a great highscore om Marp. But I don4t agree that it is easy to get 10 mil if you are not quite good at the game on the Default settings. Changing to TG settings doesn4t change soo much on the gamplay cause there is no difference om the dificulty settings only Bird speed and special(and extra) coins.. Players like BeeJay would score 40mil+ even with the TG settings i think!

But if you change the dificulty to hard (or even easy!) It is like playing another game! The monsters don4t appear on the same stages etc.

Just my opinion of course Alex.

Regards

QRS

ps what is your score on the default settings? I have scored 7mil+ on our local arcade, but have one score on marp (only 2mil..)

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), April 07, 2000.

I agree with you QRS, I have scored 12 million in the arcade with harder settings. The game needs to be put on the very hardest settings for it to become a different game (round 12 is particularly hard, that snail always gets me). I'm not sure whether I could marathon the game at this level or not, I've never really persevered.

I would however prefer TG settings for Bomb Jack and delete my scores but it would mean having to enforce Bomb Jack as an exception to the rules of marp. Marathon games are partly a battle of wills in any case.

-- LordGaz (garyjlee@hotmail.com), April 07, 2000.

Default setiings...@ 5m, and just ended. TG , @ 2M , hardest settings?...don`t know. I`ll not submit a score on default and/or easy, and because the current high scores are set on easy, I won`t bother submitting on anything harder. I mean, why break my balls playing on very hard, when in fact all the current highs` are set on easy ? I don`t think I`d get to 10m on very hard, but I`d be able for unlimited millions playing on easy...( with a few dozen cups of strong coffee on board ).

Then again , being ever the hypocrite , I`ll probably submit a score on 'easy', and then delete. Why?.....why not...

p.s guess who`s a wee bit drunk....? ( You are Alex, and you`ll regret it in the morning )

Sigh....

-- Alex Weir (alexweir@indigo.ie), April 07, 2000.

I brought this very topic up a few months ago with LordGaz, I believe, when the first 10mil scores started rolling in for Bombjack. Generally the top players automatically switch to TG and play until they beat the top non-TG score. In Bombjack, this seems somewhat unlikely to ever happen.

So, if between the group of you who hold high scores (or can post higher scores), you wish to vote on whether or not to make the game TG- specific only, I see no reason why not. I'll edit the other scores if the vote passes, provided the MARP community is OK with this, as soon as I get my damn cable back.

Hopefully this will encourage more competition on a good game.

And btw, I DON'T think that BeeJay is capable of 10-20mil on this game with TG settings. It was in T1, and the top scores were nowhere near that. 'Course, I love to be proved wrong. :)

Cheers, Q.T.Quazar

(writing from a Mac)

-- Q.T.Quazar (qan@home.com), April 08, 2000.

Yes you may bee right Q.T Quasar.

I have only played on the TG settings on the Mame version a few times (scored only 1 mil or so) but i didn4t found it much more difficult...

One thing to add: The bird speed on Bombjack doesn4t make the game more difficult (my opinon) the only thing that is harder is to get more extra lives..

But when BeeJay scored his 70 mill record (unofficial) he killed 66 spare jacks he was forced to get rid of (he was playing for 24 hours non stop) I think that it was default settings.

If Beejay had played on the TG settings maybe he only had to kill about 35-40 jacks at the same spot!

BUT of course this is no fact! I may bee wrong.

Glad to hear your opinions!!

Cheers

QRS

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), April 08, 2000.

Since I've been mentioned here I'd better respond as well.

Were the MARP Tournaments % points based then I would probably have invested a little more time into Bomb Jack to try to recoup the little bits of finesse that were/are still missing from my Bomb Jack gameplay. For my 24 hour marathon, I suspect the only setting I had different from TG was the extra life counter as I prefer the enemy patterns you get on the TG settings to those on the Easy setting.

Could I ever get to 70 million on TG settings - I would expect the answer to this is yes as per QRS's comments re number of lives wasted after 24 hours but I had spend 6 months learning the game prior to my 24 hour fund raising event for Telethon back in '84 (or was it '85). However, I think in order to get there I would definitely need a proper arcade Joystick setup so I can use my right hand for flapping instead of my left hand as I'm much quicker flapping or firing with my right hand (years of practice with arcade machines setup for left- hand joystcik right hand buttons I guess).

Does anyone else remember going to a machine setup the wrong way around and crossing their hands/arms over to play the game with the usual joystick and button hands?!

BeeJay.

PS: There used to be a recording at MARP that was done on the very hardest settings and reached around the 5 million mark so I think a 10 million recording on TG settings would definitely be possible.... eventually.

-- BeeJay (brianjohnstone@jade.co.nz), April 09, 2000.

Yes BeeJay I have played a lot of games swithing my hands/arms to play "the right" way.. It is hard to play this way!!

But one thing that is strange is that I got my Bombjack score a couple of days agao (7mil+) playing on a coctail machine with my hands "crossed".. Maybe it is a matter of training.

I will try to play some Bombjack on the TG settings and see what happens in the future.

Cheers

QRS

ps BeeJay I would love to see you getting a score on Bombjack! If you got another 24 hours to spend, do it on a Bombjack recording!! I am still amazed over your performance BeeJay! Great stuff!!

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), April 10, 2000.

QRS,

I may just look into honing my Bomb Jack skills on TG Settings.....

but not until after I reclaim some lost percentage points on Tapper at Deca2000......

Of course, then I will have to work on the other 9 games to try to catch that darn Phil guy again - and to think a couple of weeks back I was only 20 points behind him and now I'm 200 points adrift... :-(

BeeJay.

-- BeeJay (brianjohnstone@jade.co.nz), April 10, 2000.