Wonder Boy Leeching

[Chad]

This leeching is not quite infinte because mistakes can loose lives but it's pretty close

http://marp.retrogames.com/r/wbmlb
http://marp.retrogames.com/inp/b/5/5/pj ... olf106.zip

Probably should be dqued for not making normal progress. Infinitive leeching games should all be converted to quickest finish scoring...

[mahlemiut]

If it's where I think it is (I haven't watched yet, I presume on the final round, killing grey fireballs, loop back to same screen so that the timer doesn't run out), then yes, it's drop dead boring to watch. The only thing that stops it from being infinite is that you can't replenish energy at all, so it becomes how long you can last without making a mistake.

Whoever the bright spark was that decided grey fireballs should be worth 30k, ought to be shot.

[Chad]

indeed gray fireballs are the culprit. bbh?

[MJS]

I haven't watched either but yes, fireballs are worth 30,000 (the equivalent to 30 gold).
Maybe we can change the scoring to "gold left"?
I don't know which is best in this case.

Please note this problem is not present in the parent set wbml because the timer doesn't reset when you exit a screen in the last round. I suggest we change the rules for all clones but leave the parent set as is (infinite leeching is impossible in this set).

[BBH]

Maybe we can change the scoring to "gold left"?

This seems a bit silly to me, because the amount of gold you have at one time can obviously fluctuate because of the shops. That and it would put even more focus on getting those high amounts of gold pickups from each coin, which I don't know the exact method for... either take a hit or wiggle the joystick when you grab it? Something like that.

Please note this problem is not present in the parent set wbml because the timer doesn't reset when you exit a screen in the last round. I suggest we change the rules for all clones but leave the parent set as is (infinite leeching is impossible in this set).

The timer doesn't reset in any of the clones? Eep...

If possible I think it's best to avoid changing the scoring system if we can. But the possibility of infinite leeching is obviously a problem.

Best proposal I can think of for now - forbid the player from passing through the same room more than twice solely to kill enemies. If you wind up in the same room a third time, you must not kill anything and make forward progress, stopping to fight enemies will result in instant DQ.

This sounds kinda harsh, but the way I see it - anyone that can progress far enough into the game to the point where the 30k fireballs come out, should know the game well enough to be able to finish it. Thus nobody should be trapped in these loops, as if they're "lost" and don't know which direction to go to make progress. Admittedly I don't know this game completely - are there any points where backtracking through already visited rooms is mandatory?

I'll give this some more thought.

[MJS]

Either that or allow the leeching... I mean, there is one version of the game which doesn't allow you to leech (the parent set which is a later revision, probably with more bugs fixed)... so let's play that one.

I wouldn't mind allowing leeching for the sets which let you do that as long as there is one set that doesn't let you do it.
If there wasn't a later revision and the problem was present in all the sets then yes, I would change the scoring or the rules to prevent good replays from being hidden among the silly leeching ones, but this isn't the case.
Or ban the clones and leave just the parent, but I think that is not necessary...