High score competition #141: Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu)

[JDFan]

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
#137: Jr. Pac man: Winner: Kixfan, Second: Popsicle
#138: Chelnov: Winner: Popsicle: Second: Comtek
#139: Berzerk: Winner: Popsicle: Second: Kixfan
#140: Mystic Marathon: Winner: Popsicle: Second: JDFan




Game Name = Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu)
  ROM Name = mooncrst

Settings: Default (Extra Life 30,000)
   
Last day: Friday, June 7th 2014 midnight Pacific

Description: Aliens swarm at the top of the screen, swooping down on your spacecraft. Your craft begins with three segments, one deployed at a time. After the "insect" and "fireball" levels, you are able to attempt docking the segments together. A successful dock gives you more firepower for the upcoming levels.

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 updates -- Thanks to Generic Eric for starting to track them ! ( Will try to keep updated daily ) :

Kixfan               044710
jasonbar           039910
JDFan               027690
popsicle            027520
DeLuSioNal29    010800
danny_galaga    009890
Generic Eric       006840
pbj                   006040

[pbj]

BYOAC's worst player checking in at 6,040.

I briefly owned a really unusual knock off of this game called Star Fighter.  It was in a weird almost cabaret cabinet and was stamped with some mortgage company or insurance company or something.  I uploaded the pics several times to KLOV before they put them online - click on the additional pictures links and you'll see it.  I wasn't able to find a monitor for it, so ended up trading it to a now dormant BYOAC member for a 60% scale PacMan cabinet he made for me.  Still have and regularly enjoy that cabinet.... and I don't believe those Star Fighter boards have ever been dumped for MAME. 

 



 

[popsicle]

12,280

Annoying fanfare music, but perfectly playable.  I finished the first two (three?) different waves where you end with a dock, then lost all three ships on the second go round. 

[kixfan]

18,540

Made it to the 2nd level  with the disappearing ships and died with 1 enemy ship left to kill.   I then preceded to get whacked 2 more times where the ship never really appeared on the screen.

[JDFan]

The audio on this one seems to be louder than other games (or maybe it's just the soundtrack like popsicle mentions) -- was originally going to pick GORF which is another game I remember playing years ago but it had already been chosen and then came across this one which I haven't played in years but remember it being fairly challenging (esp. once you lose the second level ship as the third one is sooo big and bulky that the game usually ends quickly after it is the only ship left)

Guess I better post my score from the first round of games now before it is one of the bottom scores -- 22,180

Managed to keep all 3 ships for 1 full round -- One tip for those playing on the meteor round stay to the right side of the screen and only move out to shoot and you will not get hit.

[Generic Eric]

JDFan          022180
Kixfan          018540
popsicle       012280
Generic Eric  006840
pbj               006040

[jasonbar]

Responsive controls, no lag, high frame rate, smooth animation, clean scrolling, no cheap shots...although this game is a bit annoying, I love it 328x more than Mystic Marathon! :]

20,680 after a few games. I got the triple docked ship on my last game. Exciting...but then it goes away shortly thereafter...  :\

For you guys, do some of the enemies fade out & go invisible? It looks like a feature, not a bug...

-Jason

[JDFan]

For you guys, do some of the enemies fade out & go invisible? It looks like a feature, not a bug...

-Jason

Yep that's part of the way it is programmed they can still be shot while invisible but can also run into you which is kind of annoying when doing well only to be killed by an invisible object (kind of like getting caught in the middle of the screen on the meteor level since those things are hard to outrun by the time you see them !)

[jasonbar]

Winning: 23,040.

Notes:

- Odd that this game starts with a high difficulty & then backs off. The first 2 levels, with a 1-shot ship against the erratic eyelashes, is by far the hardest for me. If I get over that hump, things get way easier.

- You guys are using 2 buttons for left/right, for authenticity, right? I know I am!

-Jason

[popsicle]

- Odd that this game starts with a high difficulty & then backs off. The first 2 levels, with a 1-shot ship against the erratic eyelashes, is by far the hardest for me. If I get over that hump, things get way easier.

100x this.  At least when I rage quit in this game it's within the first 14 seconds.  I'm glad I made my cocktail control panel hardy

[JDFan]

100x this.  At least when I rage quit in this game it's within the first 14 seconds.  I'm glad I made my cocktail control panel hardy

Only problem with this is that the intro music track is soo bad that the rage quits are even worse when you listen to it 100 times in a few minutes

[jasonbar]

That's why I have a throttle button on my cp, to fast forward through annoyances like this!

J

[popsicle]

Update : this game + gin equals hulk smash.   

[popsicle]

27,520

[kixfan]

35,930

Being the first person to get to a bonus "life" I will let everyone in on a little surprise.   The bonus life is actually 3 lives.    It appears that when your 3rd ship is toast, it starts the you at the beginning of a new round with 3 ships.   Needless to say, my 3 ships did little to my score since I was on the 3rd round (more on that below).

Hints:
1. MOST of the time if you stay to the very far left or right you USUALLY don't get hit.   This does not apply to the ice cycle enemies.
2. Docking is EXTREMELY important to scoring.   It can be almost 1/2 your score in a round.   Losing a ship early is probably going to doom your chances of a high score.
3. At the ends of the enemies that lead to the docking phase, try your best to be at the center of the screen.
4. On the enemies that phase in and out of existence, when you get down to 1 it actually goes invisible for a time.  You want to wait at the far left, as soon as he passes move to the center and aim to the right of the last ship as that is his first movement when he reappears.
5. Rounds 1 and 2 are basically the same.  Round 3 the last enemy of each bunch is super fast and very difficult to kill. 

Good Luck!

[jasonbar]

Was doing great, then lost I & II ships around 27k. Without docking, point accumulation is sloooooow. Couldn't creep up to 30k.

28,000.

-Jason

PS--it took about 30 started games this morn to get this. I finished maybe 3 of those games that I started...  :\

[jasonbar]

39,910.

Expected cacophonous fanfare at 30k free guy. Very subtle noise--hardly noticed over the normal din.

After losing ship III, the game says "ENJOY ANOTHER GAME." Sounded like an invite to play something else. Rather, it was a full set of I/II/III ships, & it seemed to bump me back to the first full set of eyelashes--I was on the 2nd set of eyelashes when I lost my first III ship.

-Jason

[DeLuSioNal29]

Here's my measly score of 10,800.

[big10p]

Sounds like it's only me that likes the music/SFX in this game? I've even caught myself humming the docking fanfare tune, before!. Maybe it's just a nostalgia thing. 

[kixfan]

44,710

I had to be perfect for 3 rounds to score this.   I was one enemy away from the docking stage which would have given me a couple thousand more points.

[kixfan]

I was on Twin Galaxies to get the high score (~150k) which is crazy!   That's on the Sega/Gremlin roms.   Also noticed there is a Super Moon Cresta.   

[JDFan]

I was on Twin Galaxies to get the high score (~150k) which is crazy!   That's on the Sega/Gremlin roms.   Also noticed there is a Super Moon Cresta.

Yep - never really cared for Super -- It's pretty much like this one but with a fast shoot hack and the enemy can shoot at you. And the fast shooting kind of ruins it.

[danny_galaga]

Will give this a go, although it's hard as nails.

I believe this Friday is the 6th.

I see it's still only to two places. Even the olympics has three spots 

[JDFan]

Will give this a go, although it's hard as nails.

I believe this Friday is the 6th.

I see it's still only to two places. Even the olympics has three spots 

We could always do like all the schools etc. have done for the kids these days and switch to giving everyone a Participation ribbon so that no one feels like a loser !!

Finally improved a bit (just enough to pass popsicle for third) -- 27,690
made it to the third round without losing a piece and then the final enemy speed up of the third round knocked me out just before the docking stage costing me a chance to pass 30K and get a new set of ships 

[kixfan]

@JDFan - You did mean Friday the 6th right?

[JDFan]

@JDFan - You did mean Friday the 6th right?

LOL - Yeah I looked at the wrong date on the calendar but meant Tonight (Fri 6th) since I was setting it for 2 weeks after the last one ended -- So looks like your score is gonna be safe unless someone sneaks in in the next few hours. (I still can't get to the 30K mark as everytime I get close it's those darn fast moving last ships that nail me every time !)

You might want to start thinking of a game for the next round since it looks like it might be your pick.

[kixfan]

@JDFan - You did mean Friday the 6th right?

LOL - Yeah I looked at the wrong date on the calendar but meant Tonight (Fri 6th) since I was setting it for 2 weeks after the last one ended -- So looks like your score is gonna be safe unless someone sneaks in in the next few hours. (I still can't get to the 30K mark as everytime I get close it's those darn fast moving last ships that nail me every time !)

You might want to start thinking of a game for the next round since it looks like it might be your pick.

I don't know,Jasonbar is darn close.  I may take a few runs at my score.   It was total luck that I got past the speedy ones.

[danny_galaga]

Will give this a go, although it's hard as nails.

I believe this Friday is the 6th.

I see it's still only to two places. Even the olympics has three spots 

We could always do like all the schools etc. have done for the kids these days and switch to giving everyone a Participation ribbon so that no one feels like a loser !!

I find it hard to believe you are really that simple. Your impersonation of a tosser is impeccable. Do you really think the scoring in something like say F1 is a 'special ribbon' system? Even just counting the first three scores, instead of the first two would make it more interesting, and I'm not the only one here to to think that. Anyway, I won't go on about it, it won't change anything. 

Here in the future I've had a couple of goes so I might still sneak into the comp. If the finish date is the 7th, then I've got plenty of time 

I dedicated the second score to you, my 'special' friend

[JDFan]

Final Scores :

Kixfan               044710
jasonbar           039910
JDFan               027690
popsicle            027520
DeLuSioNal29    010800
danny_galaga    009890
Generic Eric       006840
pbj                   006040

Thanks to everyone who participated ( and sorry for any confusion caused by my getting the date wrong on the ending but it did say Friday so hopefully it did not cause too much confusion) Hope you all enjoyed the game. Looks like Kixfan got the win on this one so the next choice is his.

EDIT :

Kixfan was ready to go and has the new game selection posted and ready to go - Good luck all on the next round "STARFORCE"  --- ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139606.0.html )