January gaming competition - Super Mario Bros.

[Slothy]

Hello folks. Like I said, I wanted to hold a gaming competition this year, so let's get things started since it's January 1.

This months game is none other than:

35408

What better way to kick things off than with one of the most popular games of all time? Well, I actually wanted to start with something multiplayer, but with limited time to get that set up we'll kick things off here.

The rules:
Pretty straightforward. The winner will be decided by whoever can get the farthest in the game before running out of lives and without using warp pipes. We'll be on the honour system here obviously, but I do want screen shots/pictures of your game over screens to confirm the level you made it to. If we have any ties, they will be decided by scores.

You can enter as many times as you want, so if you provide a screenshot and then top it later you can enter the new one. In the interest of announcing a winner before starting next months competition, I want entries in by midnight on January 30. The winner will be announced on January 31, then we'll get the next competition thread going on February 1.

The Competition:
For those who missed the previous thread, the competition will involve a new game every month, presenting a different challenge and victory conditions. Each month the scores will be tabulated for the top 5 people in each game; 5 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 5th. These scores will carry through the entire competition, and the person with the highest score when the final game is done at the end of December will be the winner.

The prize:
Nothing except for bragging rights, and my undying affection. Come to Canada and I may be able to throw in a firm, open palmed, slap on the ass.

Don't want to go it alone:
You don't have to. Like the previous gaming challenges that we've had in the last few months, I'd like to have a get together whereby a bunch of us can play the game while chatting over skype. Currently I'm planning to do it on Saturday, January 21 at 8pm EST. But if no one can make that time and another day would work better we can change it. For those who can't make the planned time, feel free to coordinate something amongst yourselves.

What's coming in February:
I got a fair amount of people wanting multiplayer games in my last thread so next month will be the classic Starcraft: Broodwar. The system requirements are low, and the battle chest can be had cheap these days. For those who don't have and can't find a copy locally, Blizzard sells digital only copies on their website for $14.99 here: Starcraft Anthology (http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=110000124)

A pittance for such a classic I say.

The plan for next month is to do a free for all on the map Big Game Hunters. If we have enough people interested we may have to do two or three to get everyone in and decide a final winner. I also want to make videos of the replays as well with me doing commentary if I can manage to get that all figured out. So since next month will obviously require more excessive planning than this month I want to get started on it now. I know it's difficult to commit to a game so far off, but I'll set a tentative date for the game to be February 18th at the same time, 8pm EST, if only so we have something to shoot for and discuss in advance. Ideally I'd like to get an idea of who wants to participate in it this month, and hammer out a firmer date if we can, especially if we do have to host more than one game.

I believe that's it for now. I'll update this post later with the Skype names for anyone who can participate on the 21 so that we can have a handy list on the front page. I'll also update the dates as needed.

Have fun! :kakapo:

[Madonna]

Sounds fun and straight-forward enough. Is it time to announce I have never played the original Super Mario Bros.? I may or may not be available for Skype on the 21st, but it is a weekend day and should work for a lot of others.

Also, yay, Broodwar.

[Pike]

Sounds like enough time for me to set up an emulator and configure my 360 controller :jess:

[Slothy]

Not to mention get Brood War working Pike. I don't care if you have to sell a kidney (preferably someone elses), you better be ready to play come February. :doublecolbert:

[NorthernChaosGod]

Ooh, yay. Time to brush up on my Mario skills. :cool:

[Pike]

Not to mention get Brood War working Pike. I don't care if you have to sell a kidney (preferably someone elses), you better be ready to play come February. :doublecolbert:

Oh it. Is. ON. /rarity voice

I need to brush up on my skills, though. And decide which race to play. Probably Protoss. WE'LL SEE.

[Levian]

Coolies, I'll probably do it this week.

[Del Murder]

Maybe my psp emulator will actually work for a change.

[Psychotic]

I have never played this game in my life. My intention is to avoid humiliation. I think I will not succeed.

[Del Murder]

I could probably beat Worlds 1-1 and 1-2 of this game blindfolded. The game isn't really a challenge until World 8. I hope I remember the order of Bowsers final castle.

[Bolivar]

I absolutely refuse to participate, but I might crash your Skype party anyway. And I gotta get ready for Starcraft!!!

[Slothy]

I absolutely refuse to participate, but I might crash your Skype party anyway. And I gotta get ready for Starcraft!!!

You're always welcome at the Skype party. Though I'll need Skype names before that happens.

I need to get ready for Brood War as well. Not so much in the sense that I need practice as much as I need to get the damn thing to work on my desktop. It kept crashing on me last time I tried to install it and connecting to battlenet to update was as useless as melee upgrades on a Mutalisk.

[Levian]

Was Mario always this hard to turn around in mid-air in this game? :|

edit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/levia/mario.png

So that was the first try. :D It was nice playing through world 2 and 3 for once, I always warped through them.

Anyhow, are we allowed to play any version of the game? I don't know if any version plays differently than others, but I imagine if All-Stars Mario Bros controls better, then I'd go for that on my next run through. :D

[Psychotic]

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e373/photobucketamazingness/mario.png

Psy "Better than Levian" Chotic :aimsun:

You don't want to know how long it took me to just get that. Or how many times I died to the first one of these. :goomba: Or how long it took me to realise I could fire lasers when Mario's colours swap. Or how to swim properly. I thought the squid would pick me up and carry me over the seaweed... :|

Still this was my first time playing a Mario game and the 5th NES game I've played (if you're curious, Zelda, FF1, 2 and 3 - yeah the originals, I am hardcore like that) so I can't complain.

[Bubba]

I am definitely up for this on the 21st. There's a chance I might be slightly inhebriated as it will be 1am here in the UK... but I reckon that will just add to the challenge!

[Levian]

I love competition. I'm going to pull the rest of my hair out trying to beat 4-3 in a few hours when I get home. :D

[Slothy]

Still this was my first time playing a Mario game

I thought I was just running a competition. I had no idea I'd correct a terrible injustice in the world. :D

Glad to see some good runs. I'll try and post my first run this weekend. I was too busy and tired (from not sleeping nearly enough) throughout the week.

As for the question of which version to play, unless someone can tell me otherwise I have no problem with playing the All-Stars version. I can't remember there being any real difference in terms of controls or anything, so anyone who would prefer can play that one. I'll probably be playing that one as well since the NES emulator I downloaded lags a bit for some reason and I'd just rather not dick around trying to get it to work better.

[Pike]

I'm having a terrible time getting the ROMs I downloaded to work. They keep putting me in the Minus World as soon as I load up. And because fate is cruel, I no longer have access to my Super Nintendo and Mario All-Stars.

I'll keep trying...

[Ultima Shadow]

I'm playing on the All-Star SNES version, if that's okay. It's the exactly same game, but with updated music and graphics.

My first score:

35434


And yes, I have played the game before. Though it was quite a while ago. :p

[Levian]

There actually is a significant difference between the All-Stars version and the NES version. In the All-Stars version you start with two more lives than the NES version. other than that it seems the game mechanics are pretty much the same.

I suppose we should either encourage people to play the All-Stars version or ban it. I vote for encourage. :D Even though one of the only things that annoys me more than the standard mario theme are remixes with modulations of it. Gawd.

[Slothy]

Ah, didn't realize that. I haven't played it in years. I don't want to disallow either game though, but people playing the original should be aware they're playing with a bit of a handicap compared to All-Stars players.

[Levian]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/levia/42.png

got slightly further.

[Ultima Shadow]

There actually is a significant difference between the All-Stars version and the NES version. In the All-Stars version you start with two more lives than the NES version. other than that it seems the game mechanics are pretty much the same.

I suppose we should either encourage people to play the All-Stars version or ban it. I vote for encourage. :D Even though one of the only things that annoys me more than the standard mario theme are remixes with modulations of it. Gawd.
Oh, had no idea. =O

Two additional lives can make a significant difference, so maybe those who play the All-Star version should have some kind of handicap - like "minus one cleared level". So if you make it to world 5, stage 2... it actually counts as world 5, stage 1? :p

...or everyone can just play the All-Star version instead. The graphics are so much more flashy! =D

[Del Murder]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/delmurder/SuperMarioBros8-2.png

Only the original for me. Got held up in 7-4 because I couldn't figure out the order. I lost my last life right when I was about to get a 1-up. :(

Full disclosure: This was my third attempt. The first two were without a gamepad and on a crappy emulator and I sucked horribly. Then I figured out how to use my PS3 controller as a gamepad!

[Slothy]

Look at Del setting the bar obscenely high.


I'm having a terrible time getting the ROMs I downloaded to work. They keep putting me in the Minus World as soon as I load up.

I was having the same problem at first actually, when all I was searching for was a Super Mario Bros. rom. Plenty of ROM hacks and -1 world ROMS but none of them worked. I did find a working one when I searched for Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt instead though. If only that damn NES emulator weren't a laggy piece of shit.

[Del Murder]

I'll give you guys a few days to catch up. It's all come back to me now. The only obstacle now is how to navigate blasted 8-4. I'll probably get at least that far next time I play if I don't beat it outright. :D

[Ultima Shadow]

Look at Del setting the bar obscenely high.


I'm having a terrible time getting the ROMs I downloaded to work. They keep putting me in the Minus World as soon as I load up.

I was having the same problem at first actually, when all I was searching for was a Super Mario Bros. rom. Plenty of ROM hacks and -1 world ROMS but none of them worked. I did find a working one when I searched for Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt instead though. If only that damn NES emulator weren't a laggy piece of tit.This is actually the very reason I started playing All-Star. I already had a working SNES emulator, but couldn't be bothered to find a NES one. =O

...darn it, I gotta get back to playing some more now it seems. I've beaten the game before, but... I probably did jump over a few worlds back then. :p

[Jiro]

I won't be taking part in this because goddammit I suck.

[Del Murder]

I'm using the FCEUX emulator and it works great.

[Slothy]

Thanks Del, that one is working far better for me. I think I'll stick to the NES version myself in that case just to keep the challenge up.

[Pike]

Downloaded ZSNES and Super Mario All-Stars. This one works a lot better than the NES version, and this was the SMB of my childhood so it's even more nostalgic for me. Got to 4-2 on my first try. Terrible :( I kept making dumb little mistakes. I'll try again later!

[Slothy]

Argh, I'm embarrassingly out of practice, though I'm doing better since I switched to All-Stars. I was going to do this with the original game, but even with the emulator Del pointed out, which is admittedly better than what I was using before, I was getting some slight frame lag while running and especially while jumping it seemed that was getting me killed. The best I managed on the original was world 3-3 then I died. Switched to All-Stars and immediately things felt better as far as controls, though I ended up dying on 3-1. Go figure. I think my preferred Mario play style may be part of the issue. I tend to subscribe to the Sandra Bullock school of Mario playing which says that if you slow down you'll probably die. But if I do try to be careful, I'm actually worse because I'm not used to it.

[Ultima Shadow]

7 - 4 is such a stupid stage. It makes absolutely no sense at all! =(

[Levian]

Died in 7-1 on Sunday. I'd post a screenshot but it still wouldn't put me in the lead. >;o

[NorthernChaosGod]

Argh, I'm embarrassingly out of practice, though I'm doing better since I switched to All-Stars. I was going to do this with the original game, but even with the emulator Del pointed out, which is admittedly better than what I was using before, I was getting some slight frame lag while running and especially while jumping it seemed that was getting me killed. The best I managed on the original was world 3-3 then I died. Switched to All-Stars and immediately things felt better as far as controls, though I ended up dying on 3-1. Go figure. I think my preferred Mario play style may be part of the issue. I tend to subscribe to the Sandra Bullock school of Mario playing which says that if you slow down you'll probably die. But if I do try to be careful, I'm actually worse because I'm not used to it.
Don't worry, I subscribe to the same school of Mario playing. Which probably should be readily apparent from the Super Mario World event.

I need more practice on this fucking game. :mad2:

[Del Murder]

7 - 4 is such a stupid stage. It makes absolutely no sense at all! =(
It really is. I've already forgot the order.

8-4 is 10x worse.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I might dust off the old xbox and try it, but it's clear Del and a few others already have me beat. :p

[Del Murder]

Don't worry, you all will school me at Starcraft. I've never played Starcraft and it doesn't look like a 'pick up and play' game like Mario Bros.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I've never played Starcraft! :tongue:

[Slothy]

So about the Skype play session on Saturday; I won't be able to make it on Saturday anymore. Basically only Friday would work for me I think. If Saturday is more convenient for everyone though then I'm fine with everyone proceeding without me. Thoughts?

[Hollycat]

I have it on my 3ds, but honestly, it isn't that hard to get all the way to the last level if you have played it enough. My problem comes in when you add the boo races.

[Pike]

I'm working Friday and Saturday, but it's okay since I can't seem to get past world 4-2 all in one go anyway. My new goal is to find my Starcraft discs, which disappeared a few years back.

[Slothy]

So I'm thinking that I'll get on Skype at around 9 pm EST on Friday for at least an hour or two if anyone cares to join me. Anyone who wants to do it on Saturday instead can coordinate something while I will be racing to see how drunk I can get before I'm totally bored out of my skull at a boring professional function. Then I get to play the game of not making a complete ass of myself in front of a fair number of people I may know.

But I digress. My Skype name is v1v122.

[Slothy]

Didn't make it on Skype last night due to my wife being sick and throwing up a lot. Might be making a trip to the hospital this morning depending on whether she can keep anything down when she wakes up.

But here's my first real entry. Better than my last few attempts, though I know I could top it. Just a matter of whether I'll get the time and have a bit of luck on my side before this ends.

35501

[Madonna]

I played, but never really got anywhere. 1-3? I totally lacked any drive, and I am sorry. I will try a few more times tonight.

[Hollycat]

I tried again last night, got to 5-4. I'm assuming we aren't allowed to use warp pipes right? I think I could go a bit further if we did.

[Slothy]

You're correct HC, no warp pipes.

And for a friendly reminder: this months competitions ends in just under a week. Get those entries in folks. Even if you don't come out on top in this round, you may get points which carry through the entire competition until the grand champion is named at the end of December.

[edczxcvbnm]

I guess I will do this. Last time I played I only got to world 4-3. I can smoke world 8 no problem (years of warp pipe practice) but getting there is a whole new story. Now I just need to dust off the ol' NES because that is the only real way to play this monstrosity!

Also, I have starcraft and can't play it for tit in multiplayer but that isn't going to stop me from attempting a zerg rush on some poor individual before I lose.

[Hollycat]

6-1 kicks my butt, that's my record since we started and I'm not playing through the first 5 worlds again, so if anyone goes past that, congrats, you are a better marioer than I, and I salute you.

I found I had to keep restarting because I kept unintentionally using the first warp pipes to world 3 (world three has always been my favorite world, I feel like it easier to farm for coins.

my final records

1. 6-1
2. 6-1
3. 5-4
4. 5-2
5.4-4
6. 4-4


those are the ines I remember.

Good luck to all of you! (someone beat the game plz)

[Del Murder]

No one beat it yet? Fine, I will go put you all out of your misery.

[Ultima Shadow]

Died at the final stage. This will probably be my final score.


35516

[Bubba]

Right. I should have attempted this long before now but as no-one has beat this yet then I will have to show you all how it is done. I ate, slept and breathed this game when I got my original NES

In exactly 12 hours from when I post this, I will return from band rehearsal and proceed to kick the arse out of this game. I will not fail... so anyone who is attempting to top Ultima Shadow's current commendable effort... you have exactly 12 hours.

Your time starts... now!

EDIT: My rehearsals was cancelled so I had plenty of time to whiz through this when I got back. See post below!

[Hollycat]

Died at the final stage. This will probably be my final score.


http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-gaming-discussion/35516-january-gaming-competition-super-mario-bros-smbscore.png
Good job!

[Pike]

Good word you all are making me feel small time.

If I'm feeling it I'll give it another shot but I don't think I'm going to get much farther than I have previously.

[Bubba]

Unusually for someone on forums, I'm actually rubbish with computers so there's a chance that me posting these pictures won't work... lets see...

Victory is mine!!!

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-gaming-discussion/35519-january-gaming-competition-super-mario-bros-img_0041.jpg

[Ultima Shadow]

Unusually for someone on forums, I'm actually rubbish with computers so there's a chance that me posting these pictures won't work... lets see...

EDIT: Nope, can't do it. I'm such a pleb. Completed the game without using warps and got a score of 726850. I took a picture on my phone and now it's saved to my Mac Book. It says it exceeds the limit for me to post it. Anyone got any ideas?Just press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard to take a screenshot, then open paint or some other image-edit program and "CTRL + V". Then save image.

If you want to go with the phone picture, then you can always scale down the picture and/or upload it to an image-hosting site such as Imageshack.

[Bubba]

Unusually for someone on forums, I'm actually rubbish with computers so there's a chance that me posting these pictures won't work... lets see...

EDIT: Nope, can't do it. I'm such a pleb. Completed the game without using warps and got a score of 726850. I took a picture on my phone and now it's saved to my Mac Book. It says it exceeds the limit for me to post it. Anyone got any ideas?Just press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard to take a screenshot, then open paint or some other image-edit program and "CTRL + V". Then save image.

If you want to go with the phone picture, then you can always scale down the picture and/or upload it to an image-hosting site such as Imageshack.

Cheers for that Ultima, managed to scale it down in the end so it was small enough to upload. Thanks anyway, it should be there for all to see now :jess:

[Slothy]

Last chance for entries folks. Tomorrow I'll be announcing the winners and starting the February thread on Wednesday, so if anyone wants to take one last crack at it, today is the day.

I'm going to try and get at least one or two more runs at this challenge in this evening. Don't know if I'll be able to get to world 8, let alone beat the game, but I'm going to give it my best.

[Bubba]

Can I just confirm something?

Are we just counting scores up the end of the normal difficulty setting? Once you complete the game then (rather annoyingly) the princess sends you back to the start of the game for a more challenging quest. However, your score is carried over and you can attempt to beat the game again.

Are we allowed to just keep going until we die or are we just stopping at the end of the game the first time round?

[Pike]

I think Bubba wins.

Also, the more I try this, the worse I get. :( I'll give it a final shot tonight but I'm not holding my breath.

[Hollycat]

Got to the last level, then failed. I give up.

[Ultima Shadow]

Got to the last level, then failed. I give up.
You should still post your score, since not only the winner get points. If you got to the last level, then you'll come in second or third place as things stand right now, depending on your score. :p

[Hollycat]

78something.
I don't have a screenshot, so I can't prove it.

I got every mushroom and coin along the way, and then lost all 6 lives I had on the last level.

[Slothy]

Can I just confirm something?

Are we just counting scores up the end of the normal difficulty setting? Once you complete the game then (rather annoyingly) the princess sends you back to the start of the game for a more challenging quest. However, your score is carried over and you can attempt to beat the game again.

Are we allowed to just keep going until we die or are we just stopping at the end of the game the first time round?

Wow, can't say I even anticipated this question, though it's been so long since I beat the game I didn't even remember this. I'll have to tentatively say just beat the game once unless there's some indication (other than a ridiculously high score) that you beat it more than once on the game over screen. I'm thinking you'll probably win anyway though, and this probably isn't going to be an issue for us mere mortals.


Also, the more I try this, the worse I get. :( I'll give it a final shot tonight but I'm not holding my breath.

I know that feeling. Just learn to 6 pool and you'll probably make up for Mario next month.

[Bubba]

Right, this is my final total on my last run through. Managed to rack up a load of points on 3-2 by dying few times and knocking shells through a load of Goombas.

I didn't know if there was gonna be any late entries so hopefully this will be enough.

35544

[Slothy]

Well folks, it's results time.

It was a surprisingly close race for first. Or at least I think it would have been had Del beaten it and posted a screenshot, and if Bubbaforever weren't an inhuman monster at this game. The final standings and their score for the entry were:

1. Bubbaforever - 8-4 completed with 955,450
2. Ultima Shadow - 8-4 683,400
3. Del Murder - 8-2 500,600
4. Levian - 5-2 307,500
5. Vivi22 - 5-1 336,000

If I happened to miss a photo entry that would have changed the standings feel free to point it out so that you can crush my tiny achievement and knock me out of the top 5.

The standings after month 1 are (obviously):

1. Bubbaforever - 5 points
2. Ultima Shadow - 4 points
3. Del Murder - 3 points
4. Levian - 2 points
5. Vivi22 - 1 point

Next up we've got Starcraft: Brood War. I'll make the thread, probably late tomorrow. So dust off your old install discs, learn how to 6 pool like a jerk and be ready for a free for all extravaganza later in February.

[Del Murder]

I tried it again and only got to 8-1 this time. Died a bunch on 6-4 due to some timing issues. Congrats to Bubba for the victory! Well deserved, especially since you played the original on what appears to be an actual NES.

[Pike]

Bah, forgot to post my screenshot!

Oh well. I wouldn't have even made it into the top five anyway. I feel so terribly small-time. :(

[Slothy]

Don't feel too bad Pike. If this experience taught me anything it's that I really suck at this game when I actually try to play the whole way through. I'll chalk it up to not really owning it during my childhood so I'm not that practiced at it. In stuff like Mario World and Mario 64 I can absolutely kill at them, but the severe lack of lives compared to later games does not treat me well since I don't know how to not be completely reckless in a Mario game.

[edczxcvbnm]

OH fiddle sticks...I forgot XP Doesn't matter. I suck at Mario and platformers in general. I doubt I would have made the top 5. I will make it up eventually >.>