High Score Competition #137 Jr. Pac-Man

[kixfan]

Previous winners:

#001 thru #099 - For list of winners for those competitions  please refer to this link
#100: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Winner - Gray_Area, Second - Tafoid
#101: Marvin's Maze: Winner - Kixfan, Second - Hammerfist
#102: Rally-X:  Winner - Tafoid, Second  djm858
#103: Lock 'N Chase:  Winner - Kixfan, Second - Jasonbar
#104: Space Fury: Winner - Gray_Area, Second - kixfan
#105: Pig Out: Winner - Kixfan, Second - Gray_Area
#106: Carnival: Winner - rick6668, Second - Kixfan
#107: Rastan: Winner - popsicle, Second - rick6668
#108: Peguin-Kun Wars Winner-dancawar, Second - Popsicle
#109: Blood Bros.* Winner - harveybirdman, Second - Jasonbar *scores reflect use of game features considered cheats
#110: Rabbit Punch: Winner - jasonbar, Second - mimic
#111: Alien Syndrome: Winner - mimic, Second Comtek
#112: Block Hole: Winner - Comtek, Second - idsane
#113: Pepper II: Winner - Comtek, Second - Kixfan
#114: Break Thru: Winner - jasonbar, Second - mimic
#115: Ninja Baseball Bat Man: Winner - mimic, Second - Tafoid
#116: Shao-lin's Road: Winner - mimic, Second - Kixfan
#117: Scramble: Winner - Kixfan, Second - jasonbar
#118: Lost Tomb: Winner: Jasonbar, Second: mimic
#119: Green Beret: Winner: LeapinLew, Second: popsicle
#120: Lady Killer: Winner: Comtek Second: Mimic
#121: Qix: Winner: Comtek Second: sorhp
#122: Halley's Comet: Winner: Jasonbar Second: Mimic
#123: Cyber-Lip: Winner: Jasonbar Second: epetti
#124: Lode Runner: Winner: JDFan Second: kixfan
#125: Snow Bros. - Nick & Tom: Winner: Comtek Second: JDFan
#126: Bosconian: Winner: Cynicaster Second: kixfan
#127: Eggs: Winner: Cynicaster Second: kixfan
#128: Eyes: Winner: kixfan Second: Comtek
#129: Galaga '88: Winner: jasonbar, Second: opt2not
#130: Final Fight: Winner: opt2not, Second: Comtek
#131: Hammerin' Harry: Winner: lettuce, Second: kixfan
#132: Battle Circuit: Winner: lettuce, Second: jasonbar
#133: Giga Wing: Winner: edekoning, Second: spoot
#134: Osman: Winner: edekoning, Second: lettuce
#135: Surprise Attack: Winner: Comtek, Second: edekoning
#136: Anteater: Winner: Kixfan, Second: Comtek

Competition #137: Jr. Pac-Man

Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jr._Pac-Man

KLOV: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8246












ROM Name: jrpacman

Settings: Default
   Lives: 3
   Bonus: 10,000
   Difficulty: Normal
   Unknown: Off

Last day: Sunday April 6, 2014, midnight Pacific Time.

Description: You are a hungry 6 year old yellow sphere with a drug problem and a fear of ghosts.
 
General Rules:
- One Credit, No Continues.
- Highest score wins.
- No savestates, savestate practices, etc. during the round.
- MAME INP recordings are encouraged but optional.
- A screenshot is required to enter a score (press F12 to save screenshot showing your final score) or take a photo of the game screen.
- If you're a MARP competitor on this title, keep in mind this is just a friendly competition among forum members, so maybe you shouldn't enter. However, if you're a forum member and this is a game you're good at and nobody knows about it, this is your time to shine!
- Even if you don't have a competitive score or if you don't *think* that you have a competitive score, please post it anyway to keep the thread fun & to give everybody a good sense of score ranges.
- Please make sure your scores are from games that take place during the competition period (no posting your best score from last year, etc.).
- Use of autofire or other non-standard hacks within MAME or your PC's OS are not allowed.  No program or other person or entity of any sort may manipulate your controls during your game.  Coaching & back-seat driving is fine as long as the party doesn't directly influence the game or controls.
- If you can beat any of the high scores from the previous competitions, you can submit your score to the BYOAC High Game Scoreboard.

- Quest for the Bronze Joystick! The most successful competitor of each calendar year will possess & display the BYOAC Bronze Joystick Trophy. See this thread for details:The BYOAC Bronze Joystick.
Happy Gaming!

Scoring Table

Kixfan               62,680
Popsicle            50,410
Jasonbar          49,820
DeLuSioNal29   47,270
Comtek             43,880
Epetti               27,050
JDfan                21,260
pbj                     9,020

[kixfan]

As far as I can tell there are no patterns for this Pacman game.   There is a pattern for which power pellets the toys go after.   

[Comtek]

26,140

[DeLuSioNal29]

40,530  Let the games begin!

D

[popsicle]

1st attempt

[Ginsu Victim]

Wow, I can't believe this game never appeared in the competition until just now.

[jasonbar]

Hey, let's go from a 4-way joystick dot-eating maze game to.....a 4-way dot-eating maze game!!! :]

I kid. I love Jr. Pac-Man. Perhaps the best one-handed game out there. I played a lot when my boy was born & I was holding him while he slept in one hand & Jr-Pacced with my other hand.

I got 49,520 sometime in the last year or two, but 35,760 is the best I've mustered for this competition.

Thanks,
-Jason

[kixfan]

Dang, we are already past my personal high.   Right now i'm around 30k.

[thomas_surles]

Im at 19 right now. Farthest ive made was the 3rd level.  More tomorrow.

[epetti]

Somehow I've never played this before. Got through a chunk of the second level. 23,760.

[epetti]

Up a little but to 27,050.

[kixfan]

I finally got a decent start and only made one stupid mistake.

51,770

Included screen shots at the end of each round.   I have a feeling 60k might win this.   It gets pretty busy at level 5.
Not sure how much time I will have to play and or update thread this weekend as I will be at Pinburgh!

[kixfan]

hmm...

[epetti]

After a pretty active start, I'm surprised no one's posted new scores this weekend.  Unfortunately I haven't had any time to play.

[Generic Eric]

After a pretty active start, I'm surprised no one's posted new scores this weekend.  Unfortunately I haven't had any time to play.

I played last night, but I am neither placing nor showing.  I did get to the 2nd screen though, so I've got that going for me.

[jasonbar]

Had a little time to play tonight. A little better, barely besting Delusional. Don't think I can top this.

41,400

-J

[Comtek]

43,880
finally got some time to play

[DeLuSioNal29]

This game is HARD. On my cab I usually have it set to 5 lives for normal speed (set to only 3 for this comp of course) just because it's so hard. On the fast hack I set it to 3 men.

I had to walk away for a few days since I kept doing worse. I did have a good game when I got back into it though:  47, 270

DeLuSioNaL29

[jasonbar]

I got better! So close to 1st & 2nd!  :\

49,820!

-Jason

[pbj]

I can't crack 10k or even come close to clearing the first screen on this one.

 

[epetti]

You should post. I'm in last but I think it's just because I have the highest tolerance for posting low scores. 😄 There's safety in numbers.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I can't crack 10k or even come close to clearing the first screen on this one.
 

The trick is to not stay in the same place for too long.  It's tempting but just go to the opposite end of the maze and when then chase you, you can head back later to finish the pellets that you missed.

D

[kixfan]

With Jasonbar getting closer, I thought I'd better get moving.   I was going to post a 52k score but then had this beauty.   I believe this is a perfect first level score.    I didn't lose a man till level 4.    Level 5 is crazy!   DeLuSioNal29 is right, you have to move from area to area, don't try to clear a section.

62,680

[kixfan]

I think I have the scoring table updated properly.   

[pbj]

9020!   

[JDFan]

Since it isn't the lowest score (thanks PBJ) I guess I should post a score before this ends -- 21,260

[kixfan]

I don't know where Popsicle went after posting that 50k score but it is his pick.      Also, for clarity I am going to switch Jasonbar's score back to his previous score.   I was reviewing the thread and realized there was no pic for the last score.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Just curious... What did you guys play this game on?  For me, I played it on my Arcade (dedicated 4-way), on my Keyboard on my laptop and even a few times on my modded iCade mini cabinet (iPad) running MAME with an octagonal restrictor (plays decently and feels like 4-way).

DeLuSioNaL29

[Generic Eric]

I played on a 8 way stick in my wide-lowboy.  It seemed this game was either more forgiving of diagonals, or that the maze was so large that there was another opportunity ahead.

I ended up clearing the first board, and right around half of the second.  I think I yielded 16k.  The time for the power pill to be effective got to be ridiculously short.  I never did figure out what the dots with the blue circle around them were?

[epetti]

I played on a U360 mapped to 4 way. I've played other games with it, but this one, with all the short turns in the maze, made me remap it a bit with a bigger center dead zone and smaller diagonal transition regions to avoid a lot of misturns I was making. By the end it was working well.

On a side note, thanks to everyone who posted. This was a hard game and I was pretty happy with the score I got after putting in a lot of time on it, until I saw I was in dead last. As the rules state, it's great to see everyone's scores, even if they're not first or second, to know what the range is, and maybe compare notes with other people around the same level. It can also give a feasible goal to reach.

[jasonbar]

Played on a ServoStik.

Not sure why my final score pic didn't submit--I thought I'd attached it.

Here it is.

-J

[DeLuSioNal29]

I never did figure out what the dots with the blue circle around them were?

Those bigger dots are when the "object" that bounces around encounters normal sized dots.  It turns them into those bigger dots which will slow you down when you eat them.  So it's best to clear them quickly or to eat the object as fast as you can before the bouncing object:  a) Destroys the power pellet  b) Turns the normal dots along it's path into bigger dots.

DeLuSioNaL29

[jasonbar]

But the fat dots are worth more points! Dilemma!!!

[Generic Eric]

I don't suppose the blue circled dots slow down the ghosts do they?

[jasonbar]

Negative--ghosts don't slow down on fat dots.

Eating skinny dots slows you down a little, but eating fat dots slows you down even more. That's the dangerous trade-off: let the bonus item run around & make more fat dots to get more points but risk it destroying a power pill, or eat the bonus item ASAP & don't get extra points from fat dots but don't risk losing a Jr.

-J

[JDFan]

Negative--ghosts don't slow down on fat dots.

Eating skinny dots slows you down a little, but eating fat dots slows you down even more. That's the dangerous trade-off: let the bonus item run around & make more fat dots to get more points but risk it destroying a power pill, or eat the bonus item ASAP & don't get extra points from fat dots but don't risk losing a Jr.

-J

Also -- it will not destroy the 2 inner power pills until the 4 outer ones have been destroyed or used.

[pbj]

I was playing this game on a lousy Xbox game pad.  I'll revisit it on the turtle box when that's running, as I feel joysticks would play much better.

[Comtek]

Last day: Sunday April 6, 2014, midnight Pacific Time
whats the new game

[JDFan]

Last day: Sunday April 6, 2014, midnight Pacific Time
whats the new game

Since Kixfan chose this one the next selection is for 2nd place (Popsicle) to choose - Not sure if he knows or will check 

Figure if he doesn't stop by in a day or so maybe move to Delusional to choose.

[kixfan]

IMPORTANT!

Jasonbar posted score before comp was completed but for some reason the pic wasn't attached.   He has since posted the pic so I put him back in 3rd.   Initially I didn't think that putting him back to 3rd was going to be a problem but now with Popsicle AWOL the next pick might land with him.   I don't think we have a set number of days to wait for a pick.   I would say if Popsicle doesn't show by Thursday morning then we should let 3rd place pick.   I sent Popsicle a message but if he may not see it.   I do find it strange that he posted a 50k first attempt and never posted after that.   

Please let me know if anyone feels this is not fair.

Kixfan