Tutankham

[tcgn]

I finally was able to get a new high score today:

298900, lvl 14

using Twin Galaxies tournament setting (1 flash bomb per life)

A hard, unfair and slightly buggy game but once in a while I can ignore all the shortcomings

and have a fantastic game which so far makes up for it. So far..

I hardly ever use the flash bomb in the game since something usually kills me before I can

press the button anyways. So it's only used for the end of lvl 6+4*n and by now I know of a

way to get through there w/o bomb (quite often but not reliable yet), too.

 

[cparsonsuk]

Great score on a hard game... Half way to the world record of on real hardware

 

[tcgn]

hehe, almost half way with R.Barrett at 622040 ..that is one impressive score indeed
but the game reverts back to lvl 1 once you beat lvl 16 so you can pick up a lot

of points in the easy levels again. #5 at 301k must have died at the start of lvl 14 just like me,

#3/#4 @ 366k probably in mid 15 and #2 mid/end of 16.

 

[tcgn]

p.s.
there's a nice description of the #1 tournament high score on-line, based on that #3/4 probably

got to lvl 16. I like the description of how he snuck through lvl 16 - that's very similar to how I got

through the sibling, 12, yesterday - I got through with 2 seconds left and only because I saw

that I ran out of time so couldn't wait for an easier time in the swarm cycle anymore and tried a

last-ditch, hazardous run through the end part. From the write-up very similar to his maneuver.

https://www.twingalaxies.com/archive/index.php/t-110387.html

 

[tcgn]

Slowly but surely getting better at the game, today I changed my strategy at a

particular spot which seems to have helped - I got to lvl 16 for the first time ever

so.. 354760, lvl 16 now - the last level of the game before it reverts to lvl 1..

 

[tcgn]

Finally did it - beat all 16 levels on hardest setting (just one extra life, hardest enemies, one bomb per life).

I've been practicing to hit enemies above/below and been varying strategies to manage the enemies

a bit better for a while and just couldn't get onto the high score table anymore. It's not skill

as such that is missing but something elusive - when I am in the zone I play perfectly but

every so often I drop out for a few seconds or get too stressed and then all goes downhill.

Very fast. And most times I can't get into the game at all and need hours of warmup.

Strange really and frustrating. But. When I am in the zone and play it just feels fantastic,

the right amount of frantic gameplay and calmer parts, no dependable patterns since the enemies

behave somewhat randomly so I am feeling challenged and on the lookout all the time and

in general a very, very hard game.

I definitely played thousands of games now, mostly I kill myself off and restart a game if

I make any mistake in the first 6 levels, since it's a sign that I am not in that zone yet.

Today I finally played a perfect game until lvl 15 where I lost my first life. Then two deaths in lvl 16,

one due to greed to get the 4000 bonus. But with my last life I beat lvl 16 and the game

reverts not only to lvl 1 but also to a much easier difficulty level. So it was easy to grab a lot

of points and increase my score from 350k all the way up to 570k.

In the end I think I died in lvl15/16 because I became way too nervous because I've reached these levels for the first time with a chance to beat 16, not really because the game threw something

at me I couldn't handle, really.

 

[cparsonsuk]

Amazing skills Thomas... second in the world! How long did that game take to do 25 stages? (not including the thousands of games that preceded it!)

 

[tcgn]

Well, I loose track of time when playing but I'd guess a bit over an hour.
So not that long time-wise for a near-record game.

 

[Vamino]

Man, thats a really awesome score mate!

I recently bought this PCB and it's not an easy game at all, once I rotate my monitor I'll be spending some time playing on this game.

 

[tcgn]

started playing in earnest again a few weeks ago and got quite a bit better

and finally just now was able to get to my 2nd goal: beating all 16 levels, twice.

The first goal was already achieved last week, beating the record score. Still two milestones

left: getting to a million to see if it rolls the score and playing a 'perfect' game where I do

not make any mistake whatsoever. In the 895k game just now I still did make one serious

one and lost both a flash bomb and life unnecessarily.

so, thought I should take a picture for posterity since that was one seriously decent game

just now..

tcgn2020-04-28 18:18:55

 

[cparsonsuk]

Amazing score Thomas!

By far the best player in the world, just need to het access to original hardware to make it official!

"Kill screen coming up!"

 

[Vamino]

An amazing score on what is a very tricky game!

I've not yet had any major sessions on the original PCB as I've still not rotated the monitor in my cab.

 

[tcgn]

Small update:

haven't played in quite a while so decided to play a bit today; had no luck whatsoever in the death/choke points in lvl 6 +4*n but was at least able to sacrifice/trade a life for bombs to get past and the few mistakes I made were not catastrophic (but lost a life every time which is better than usual - frequently an entire game can fall apart and end, esp. in lvl 12 or 16 where the time usually runs out, if you make any mistake). The steady erosion of bombs/lives kills me off in the 800k-900k range, seems to be my current score ceiling when I play a good game.

My current hiscore is still only 972k, so was neither able to get to a million nor ever played a 'perfect' game - where I make no mistakes - so far...

 

[cparsonsuk]

So close to the million! Do you know if it just happily rolls over back to zero when you clock it?

 

[tcgn]

No idea but I assume it just rolls the score to zero - I've never played with the demo nor marathon settings so never got to a million that way, either.

and I doubt it'll glitch (well, at least really .hope. there is not another hiccup to handle) since the marathon hiscore is 2.79 million

 

[tcgn]

Finally rolled the score with my first 'perfect' game just now, one where I do not make a single mistake and only die in the 'lvl 6' (and its iterations afterwards) chokepoint. Very, very hard to do for me, I've played maybe one or two evenings each week for >5 hours for a few months to get there. And still am getting better by finding slightly different strategies in some levels.

End result: 1078060, stage 46. Since the game just goes back to zero score-wise it didn't make it onto the high score table but you can see that during gameplay the 'high score' up top was updated to 998020 (the score before grabbing a 4K treasure) which is not the 1st rank of the table, proving that I've really rolled the score

 

[Vamino]

Well done!

Your score is very impressive.

I've got this PCB and struggle to get anything near what I'd consider a meaningful score.

 

[cparsonsuk]

Nice one, at last... had to happen with all the practice you have been putting in.

Probably the only person to have ever rolled it?