23 replies to this topic

[Jibbajaba]

Welcome to round 6 of the 9th season of the Atari Age NES High Score League!

The first 9 games have been pre-selected and entered into a random list generator. So you guys know the games, but not the order.

Let's try 1-week rounds this season.

This round ends on Sunday, May 27th.

Title: Double Dragon
Developer: Technos
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: June, 1988 (US)



Rules:

Play "mode A".

Scores so far:

Current standings:

1. Austin 36
2. peculiarsatyr 33
3. asponge 15
4. atarilovesyou 11
5(t). roadrunner 5
5(t). jblenkle 5
7. theKLT 2
8(t). Jibbajaba 1
8(t). cparsley 1
8(t). mihcael 1
8(t). LarcenTyler 1

[Austin]

Oh noooooo, not again!

[Jibbajaba]

You guys picked it... We haven't played it since the season before last, so it's not too bad.

Chris

[PeculiarSatyr]

So I've never really seriously played this game.

Anyone able to answer a couple questions?

Can you loop this game like Super C? I looked at some previous mentions of looping individual stages as in going back and fourth I'm imagining?

I'm assuming going anything but forward is frowned upon?

[Jibbajaba]

That would be point-pushing or whatever they call it. Definitely frowned upon.

Chris

[PeculiarSatyr]

Jibbajaba, on Mon May 21, 2012 5:24 PM, said:

That would be point-pushing or whatever they call it. Definitely frowned upon.

Chris

Cool, can you loop this game as in finish it and keep on going from the start with your score?

[Jibbajaba]

Definitely.

Chris

[atarilovesyou]

I seem to recall a loop in Stage Four where if you bypass the cave entrance, you can keep doing the level over and over. I remember from a long time ago how we couldn't figure that part out, lol!...there was tons of game left at that point, but we were used to the arcade and though we MUST be close to the end! Lol.

Fun game, but I've never played it for score either. I don't think it loops, though. And with a finite number of enemies, the only way to max your points would be to use less powerful attacks so as to ensure the most points-per-death, lol. But this game can get really tough (lots of cheap sections) so to proceed further as quickly as possible would allow more enemies to appear in the first place.

It's a time sucker, though...takes a while to beat, which I'm not certain I have. Damn you, Machine Gun Willy! (we actually gave this guy that nickname before we even knew that was his 'real' name, lol...somebody MUST have beaten the game and saw his name during the credits roll, that's just way too lucky).

Scores to follow!...I need me a nice 2nd place!

[Austin]

atarilovesyou, on Tue May 22, 2012 12:48 AM, said:

I seem to recall a loop in Stage Four where if you bypass the cave entrance, you can keep doing the level over and over. I remember from a long time ago how we couldn't figure that part out, lol!...there was tons of game left at that point, but we were used to the arcade and though we MUST be close to the end! Lol.

There are multiple points you can do it on Stage 3 as well. Once outside the caves, then there are two instances when you are inside the caves. Not much point to do it outside, because you don't have enough time to get back to the cave to replenish the clock, haha. Likewise with Stage 4, there's not much point because you will end up back at the infamous push-out blocks that are almost guaranteed to kill you.

Speaking of those damn things, I had a perfect game up until those blocks, then I lost two lives. I most-likely would have beaten the game if I didn't die there. Ended up failing at the last boss with no extra tries left.

49,750

[asponge]

To get on the board: 37,270

[atarilovesyou]

31,840

Yikes, I'm terrible! Forgot about how easy it is to die when you get even somewhat close to an edge...or the timer! Better luck tomorrow, I'd say.

[atarilovesyou]

Austin, on Tue May 22, 2012 12:15 PM, said:

atarilovesyou, on Tue May 22, 2012 12:48 AM, said:

I seem to recall a loop in Stage Four where if you bypass the cave entrance, you can keep doing the level over and over. I remember from a long time ago how we couldn't figure that part out, lol!...there was tons of game left at that point, but we were used to the arcade and though we MUST be close to the end! Lol.

There are multiple points you can do it on Stage 3 as well. Once outside the caves, then there are two instances when you are inside the caves. Not much point to do it outside, because you don't have enough time to get back to the cave to replenish the clock, haha. Likewise with Stage 4, there's not much point because you will end up back at the infamous push-out blocks that are almost guaranteed to kill you.

Speaking of those damn things, I had a perfect game up until those blocks, then I lost two lives. I most-likely would have beaten the game if I didn't die there. Ended up failing at the last boss with no extra tries left.

49,750

Yup, those blocks are some of the worst enemies in all of Nintendo-dom...Nintendom?...anyway! Yeah, they suck. But they were cheap as hell in the arcade, too...and the spears, but I can't recall if the NES version has those. Either way, they suck! So far, it's the ledges that chap me. I used to use a trick back in the day on the second level where you can max out your hearts, but playing within the rules allows you to do it far faster than usual if you use punches a lot. I can't even remember how to do an elbow, once it becomes available! Been forever since I fired this one up, but my ROM is a bit glitchy for some reason. Think I'll just try the original from now on.

[atarilovesyou]

Multiple finishing of the game?...

Don't get any ideas, PS! Your wife is gonna kill you, lol!

Edited by atarilovesyou, Tue May 22, 2012 11:47 PM.

[PeculiarSatyr]

It sounds like scores don't stack if you loop the whole game. Anyways looking at previous times this game has been played I'd put my money on Austin.

[PeculiarSatyr]

28,450

[Austin]

atarilovesyou, on Tue May 22, 2012 11:45 PM, said:

Yup, those blocks are some of the worst enemies in all of Nintendo-dom...Nintendom?...anyway! Yeah, they suck. But they were cheap as hell in the arcade, too...and the spears, but I can't recall if the NES version has those. Either way, they suck! So far, it's the ledges that chap me. I used to use a trick back in the day on the second level where you can max out your hearts, but playing within the rules allows you to do it far faster than usual if you use punches a lot. I can't even remember how to do an elbow, once it becomes available! Been forever since I fired this one up, but my ROM is a bit glitchy for some reason. Think I'll just try the original from now on.

I am going to look at a couple of YouTube videos to see if there is some kind of pattern. In the arcade version, there is a way to get by them without triggering a single block. On my third life on this last one in the NES game, I waited for a block to come out, then bolted forward immediately afterwards. It seemed to work, but I don't know if that's a guaranteed thing--the blocks have always seemed to come out randomly to me.

As far as the ledges, in typical platformers I try to get as close to them as I can, and in cases like Castlevania or Mega Man, I usually don't jump until my character is halfway-on/halfway-off. In this game, that doesn't work--AT ALL. I try to jump just slightly before the ledge, because it seems you can slip off extremely easily in this one.

Elbow--to do it, put your back towards a character, and I believe you just push "A". Should do it automatically as long as you have earned it.

Realistically though, the kick is the safest move in the game. Likewise, the jump kick is excellent as well as long as you don't over abuse it (enemies will start ducking it as the game progresses).

[asponge]

68,380

Austin, on Wed May 23, 2012 2:20 PM, said:

atarilovesyou, on Tue May 22, 2012 11:45 PM, said:

Yup, those blocks are some of the worst enemies in all of Nintendo-dom...Nintendom?...anyway! Yeah, they suck.

I am going to look at a couple of YouTube videos to see if there is some kind of pattern.

For the first set of blocks I haven't noticed any particular pattern yet. I usually wait for the middle block to come out and then go straight through. I normally get hit once or twice. For the second set, wait for the leftmost top block to come out and then run straight through. I've done this two or three times tonight and didn't get hit once.

[atarilovesyou]

Giggity, that's a great score asponge. How am I supposed to beat that?!?!?...giggity, I say. Giggity goo!

[Austin]

atarilovesyou, on Thu May 24, 2012 2:40 AM, said:

Giggity, that's a great score asponge. How am I supposed to beat that?!?!?...giggity, I say. Giggity goo!

Try to punch every enemy as many times as possible. Super risky, but you get more points that way.

[jblenkle]

Double Dragon - 13,660

[atarilovesyou]

Austin, on Thu May 24, 2012 11:43 AM, said:

atarilovesyou, on Thu May 24, 2012 2:40 AM, said:

Giggity, that's a great score asponge. How am I supposed to beat that?!?!?...giggity, I say. Giggity goo!

Try to punch every enemy as many times as possible. Super risky, but you get more points that way.

I was doing this as well, but it's tricky because if you're able to health up either mid-level or end the stage, the points aren't worth losing a life I suppose. I always wondered what the AI was for something like Double Dragon...if you go toe-to-toe with enemies, be it kicks or punches, certain enemies will always beat you to the punch or at least take you down. The kick-and-run technique works alright, but not as many points. And the good ol' dropkick...I'll have to try again this weekend.

[Austin]

atarilovesyou, on Thu May 24, 2012 5:03 PM, said:

The kick-and-run technique works alright, but not as many points.

Yep, kicking doesn't yield nearly as many points. I punched for most of the first level, but after that I was focusing on survival and kicked for the rest of the game (a lot of times when you are kicking, you will grab the enemy and get to knee them in the face, or throw them. Not sure how the point differences are with those attacks, but I did it a lot, haha).

[asponge]

My original strategy was attempting to punch my way through the levels. I scored decently the last time we played this, but this round I was just taking a beating and was left with a crap score on top of it.

As an experiment I played three games last night where I didn't punch at all. The score I posted was from the last of those games. You don't score very well in the first two missions, but once you get to the 3rd you're score will start building faster. At that point you should have four hearts which gives you the throw attack. The throw gives you 250 points (I believe), plus three knees (not sure of the points) if you do it right. So, it's pretty significant. The jumping roundhouse kick, once you get it, is worth 500 points a pop.

By the time you hit mission four the points should rack up pretty fast. There are a lot of enemies there. Just throw or roundhouse kick each opponent. The throw, by the way, is three knees and then throw for maximum points.

Your mileage may vary with this strategy, but it seemed to work for me. I'm hoping to get one more night to try this out myself before this round is over.

[roadrunner]

23,730

I died 3 times trying to cross that darn bridge.

Attached Thumbnails

•