Golden Era Game of the Week 7/17/04: Elevator Action

Weehawk · Post by **Weehawk** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 5:38 am

Cameron Feltner wrote:Aaarghhh.

End of Line.

At 550 Mhz, you just may be a little too far behind the curve.

I think the majority of us may be over 2 Gig now...

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 6:43 am

Weehawk wrote:
Cameron Feltner wrote:Aaarghhh.

End of Line.
:(

At 550 Mhz, you just may be a little too far behind the curve.

I think the majority of us may be over 2 Gig now...

yeah, even I got a new computer a year ago, after my P2-450 was the subject of much ridicule from certain people in #marp. :)

Back on topic, I'd just like to say that I haven't cussed at my computer monitor this much in a LOOOONNNGGG time.

Cameron Feltner · Post by **Cameron Feltner** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:30 am

Yeah, it's definitely time for an upgrade.

This system's about 5 yrs old now.

Weehawk · Post by **Weehawk** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:54 am

Cameron Feltner wrote:Yeah, it's definitely time for an upgrade.

This system's about 5 yrs old now.

But I see you did upgrade your own score slightly.

Well done!

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:56 pm

Congratulations, Cameron. I don't know how you can manage to maintain enough patience to put in this much time on such an infuriating game.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:02 pm

yeah totally congrats cam, i actually had a 120600 score i was going to put up at the last moment but couldn't beat your 126k :) nice job. I didn't really think to leech points at the bottom elevator, i still feel more comfortable leeching points in the dark at higher elevations, but will keep trying to find a perfect mix of leeching and safety that you have. hope you can break 150k, i'm going to try.

QRS · Post by **QRS** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:02 pm

BBH wrote:Congratulations, Cameron. I don't know how you can manage to maintain enough patience to put in this much time on such an infuriating game.

I fully agree! I quit playing the game yesterday when I hit 100k on my first man... and my final score was arround 103-104k... bleh.. The retarded deaths always comes 2-3 in a row for me on that game

Congratulations to a great score Cameron!

Weehawk · Post by **Weehawk** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:40 pm

Results:
1st: Cameron Feltner
2nd: BBH
3rd: Don Hayes

Well done Cameron, PM me your Paypal email address.

It certainly appears that the game gets incredibly difficult at the point all the experts are dying, but I'm not convinced a breakthrough isn't possible. Maybe someone will pick up the further bounty on this one.

Cameron Feltner · Post by **Cameron Feltner** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:42 pm

Thanks, guys.

Actually I think this game's kind of relaxing. It starts off slow, and the background music keeps a laid-back pace. It's just when there's a deadline to get a score by that it gets frustrating.

As to the leeching, I'm not sure what the best strategy is. I'll have to look into leeching higher up. It may end up yielding more points, with the light-dropping and darkness and all. The bottom is probably the most dangerous place to do it. The main reason I chose that was that I'd be near the exit when time ran out. There's the potential to repeatedly crush agents for 300 pts each, but only if they keep coming out the correct door. If it can be timed properly, and there's enough points available higher up, it's probably safer that way.

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:42 pm

I think on the later buildings it might be a good idea to leech in the dark area for at least a little bit, since enemies come out a lot quicker (and more can be on the screen at one time) so you can pick up a lot of 150/200 point kills in a short period of time. I'd probably only stay in that area for 30-45 seconds max before moving on in the level, though.

Not worth trying to get 300-point elevator kills at the bottom on the later stages, especially since the enemies actually get nastier at the bottom of the building compared to the enemies at the top.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:02 pm

Based upon how much i've practiced just to get a 135k score, it's very unlikely for me to get 143k in the next week, so i'm currently playing the elevator action bootleg clone to try for some "clone hunting" points. However, if i happen to get 143k on the bootleg before Nov 1rst would the bounty still apply or would only scores on the parrent set be acceptable? It's very likely that a game recorded on the bootleg set will play back on the parent set, btw, they are really the same (at least from my determination so far.) This might be a good point to iron out, as i didn't find it in the info page.

I'm also puting together an elevator action stupid death galery, with pictures, nicknames, and descriptions of methods how to die and other misc rarities, if anyone's interested in seeing or contributing.

Weehawk · Post by **Weehawk** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:49 pm

Chad wrote:if i happen to get 143k on the bootleg before Nov 1rst would the bounty still apply or would only scores on the parrent set be acceptable? It's very likely that a game recorded on the bootleg set will play back on the parent set, btw, they are really the same (at least from my determination so far.) This might be a good point to iron out, as i didn't find it in the info page.

The specific ROMset involved is named in each challenge announcement by it's exact MAME ROMname.

In this specific instance, since requested in advance, I will accept a recording made with "elevotob" if it plays back to the same score in "elevator".

The ROMname recorded in the header would, of course, have to be hacked, but I tried it and it seems to work. My short test recording made with "elevotob" played to the same (low) score after I changed the header to read "elevator" and played it back with that ROMset.

Good luck.

Chad wrote:I'm also puting together an elevator action stupid death galery, with pictures, nicknames, and descriptions of methods how to die and other misc rarities, if anyone's interested in seeing or contributing.

I'd very much like to see that.

Weehawk · Post by **Weehawk** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:02 pm

Oh my goodness.

Chad "skito" Hurwitz has just turned in a quantum leap performance on this title.

http://marp.retrogames.com/inp/3/4/5/ce ... olf115.zip

When this was the game of the week, it just just been debated at some length by experts whether the TG record of 143k was really feasible or not.

In 2004 I wrote:It certainly appears that the game gets incredibly difficult at the point all the experts are dying, but I'm not convinced a breakthrough isn't possible.

I had a feeling more was possible; now Chad has proven it. I don't see why higher scores still couldn't made, albeit with great difficulty. This thing really gets tough around this point.

Anyway, great going Chad. Any comments?

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:39 pm

thanks mucho. I had my doubts it was possible as well, since this certainly wasn't a casual effort. At least hundreds of plays (maybe 1k) since elevator action was the gegotw: most ending up in idiotic deaths on the first or 2nd level, Maybe 5% or so getting beyond the 5th bldg. I usualy just hit esc after my first death on early buildings since i know i need as many lives as possible just to escape the impossible to survive moments that always happen on the 5th and beyond. It was just before four in the morning when i made my Imbecilic death in the 150k recording, so for somereason i just kept on going, perhaps too tired to hit the esc so quickly. I do have a feeling there can be more distance made. I've found a really comfortable high floor traversal pattern that used to always give me pains when red doors were up near the penthouse in fast spy buildings. I also got lots of help from Cameron's recording teaching me i don't need to get every spy with a kick to get a high score per level, although i still like to kick, strech and kick a lot!

It was such a relief to get to the 8th building, not as hard as i thought it would be but the timing I perceive is still slightly faster than the 7th leading me to believe if the timing continues to shorten there could be a kill building. But maybe not, so i'll keep trying, but now for a rest!

The_Pro · Post by **The_Pro** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:42 pm

Nice, great stuff Chad!