High Score Competition #180: Time Pilot

[mnewt]

High Score Competition Rules and Scoreboard

------------------------------
Game Name: Time Pilot (Konami)
ROM Name: timeplt
------------------------------

Settings:
    Lives 3
    Bonus Life 10000    50000
    Difficulty 4

Controls:
    Joystick: 8 Way
    Buttons: 1 (Fire)

This game has the player travel through five time periods, rescuing stranded fellow pilots. The player must fight off droves of enemy craft while picking up parachuting friendly pilots. Once 56 enemy craft are defeated,
the player must defeat the mothership for the time period. Once she is destroyed, any remaining enemy craft are also eliminated and the player time-travels to the next level.

Last day: Sunday, Dec 13th 2015 midnight Pacific
--------------------------------------------



- 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!

[DeLuSioNal29]

Oh Snap!  I'm in on this one!  Love this game...

D

[opt2not]

Damn, can't believe we went this long without choosing Time Pilot!  Great game.

[RTyper56]

Looked it up on youtube, and kinda reminds me of sinistar lol
Looks fun tho
Ill give it a try once i can get the mame list to reappear in maximus, since it disappeared when refreshing

[wp34]

This is one of my all-time favorites.  I'd love to have a dedicated cabinet someday.

Is using a spinner legal?   
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81745.0

I'll get us started with 108,100.

[RTyper56]

Really enjoying the game so far, but could do better without being frustrated with maximus arcade. When i force a scan, it completely removes mame from the list, when all i did is add the new rom in

Anywho, 59,800

[yamatetsu]

Is using a spinner legal?   
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81745.0

The game isn't properly geared for someone using a spinner and it's much easier, but I think it's much more intuitive.

If you call cheating by using a control device that alters the game's difficulty to your advantage legal, yes, it's perfectly legal.  While you're at it, you might add autofire, too 

[yamatetsu]

152,800.

[BGoulette]

Oh look, another game I'm not good at! (58,500):

[Token]

Oh look, another game I'm not good at! (58,500):

The best I've managed is 54k. I'll have to take a picture and post so you'll feel better about your score. 

I will admit that I have never played Time Pilot before last night. Ended up getting two of the kids and the wife into it. We even decided to see how many points we could score in "pacifist" mode-- no shooting, just rescuing.

Really a fun game!

[BGoulette]

Yeah, sadly, somehow I missed this game until now. The controls take some getting used to (still not there!), but it does keep you playing!

[opt2not]

I highly recommend an Octo-gate or or Circle-gate joystick for this game.  Playing it on a square-gate is still possible, but the game is really set-up for the ability to go from diagonal to cardinal directions easily.

[BGoulette]

I'm playing it on a Logitech F310. Still haven't built my fight stick (though I have all the parts now!: that has an LS-56 with an octogate. The gamepad is fine: it's me who's...not

[jasonbar]

It's clobberin' time!

239,900 after 1 try. A bit rusty. Note the high score from some previous efforts (which was made on difficulty level 3, which is the default on my MAME installation--I've updated it to 4 for this comp).

It's been a while. A game I like...and that likes me back.

-Jason

[wp34]

Damn you Jasonbar!   

 

[DeLuSioNal29]

No worries...  Haven't had a chance to get a crack at it just yet.  But when I do...

D

[jasonbar]

Hey, considering how poorly I'm doing this year, I don't feel one bit bad for this brief moment of awesomeness!

-Jason

[RTyper56]

this will be an interesting competition lol
im really liking the game so far
74500

EDIT: 100600

[BGoulette]

Heat-seeking missiles?! (69,500)

[Token]

95,400

[RTyper56]

Heat-seeking missiles?! (69,500)

Yup. Stage 3 and 4 has em. Idk about 5, havent gotten that far yet.
I find stage 2 is the best place to rack up on points.

[opt2not]

Stage 5 (UFO's) have them as well, but they're heat-seeking energy blasts.

[Token]

Stage 5 (UFO's) have them as well, but they're heat-seeking energy blasts.

I'm starting to think farming the first two stages is going to be the way to go for high scores.

[opt2not]

Had a little time last night to play. Man I'm rusty...

195,900

I'm coming for you, jasonbar! 

[jdevane]

Only played about 4 times and have around 65,000...  but its a fun game...  never played it before but will enjoy it more going forward...

[popsicle]

237,300 194,900 with the proper difficulty setting (4).  Assumed the default was 4, but nope.

[opt2not]

This is going to be a good battle. 

[wp34]

Wow.  I need to up my game.

[yamatetsu]

228,100.

[vorghagen]

Loving this game but I think I've hit my limit. A few days of on/off playing nets a fairly consistent high score table, but still well short of a podium.

153,900

[BGoulette]

Finally broke 100K (104,700):



It's still little league compared to the heavy hitters, but hey...

[DeLuSioNal29]

So I'm assuming "Parachute Hunting" is allowed?

[wp34]

So I'm assuming "Parachute Hunting" is allowed?

I tried that and it totally messed up my rythm.  Seems like a good strategy though.

[BGoulette]

I try parachute hunting, but I'm too trigger-happy for it to be a long-term strategy. Hence my abysmal scores :-(

[RTyper56]

I find stage 2 is the best place to farm, since the enemies dont have a secondary attack (bombs, missiles), but have the large planes instead
And i always have a habit of becoming kamikaze on the motherships

Edit: 116800
Cant seem to go over 100k anymore, and stage 3 really gets on my nerves

[DeLuSioNal29]

Great game nonetheless!  Which is the purpose of these competitions IMHO:  To raise awareness of games.

Circus Charlie is next right?  Lol.

[kixfan]

I'm Back!

I happened to check forum yesterday and saw Time Pilot and had to give it a go.  I LOVE this game!   My default was set to easy, 4 is a bit tougher.  Thought for sure I was going to clear 300k but lost 3 times in a row.

277,900

[Diet_Pepsi]

Same here -- haven't been on in awhile and just saw this -- one of my favorites.  Not sure if I'm in the 300k league, but I'll post what I have done so far...

[mnewt]

Umm..my default was set to 4 and it certainly is a bit harder than I remember. Neither can I help crashing into the boss ships at the end of each level....every time without fail....

169,200

[Diet_Pepsi]

Woke up this morning and had a really good run.  I made it through the UFO's in really good shape and thought I was going to run up a really big score, but then was absolutely destroyed by the second helicopter level.  I think I lost 4 lives on that level.

[leapinlew]

Is using a spinner legal?   
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81745.0

The game isn't properly geared for someone using a spinner and it's much easier, but I think it's much more intuitive.

If you call cheating by using a control device that alters the game's difficulty to your advantage legal, yes, it's perfectly legal.  While you're at it, you might add autofire, too 

I wouldn't call it cheating, but I'd say it's definitely not in the spirit of the competition.

I mean, if you played Donkey Kong, I would assume you could use any 4 way joystick and not just the standard crappy nintendo 4 way joystick. If you played Centipede, I also assume you'd let someone use a joystick and not just a trackball?

[yamatetsu]

I mean, if you played Donkey Kong, I would assume you could use any 4 way joystick and not just the standard crappy nintendo 4 way joystick.

You would still be using the same control device, not a completely different one that is much more precise and much better suited to play the game. The spinner is much more precise than any joystick and makes the game easier. So, if you are playing the game at an easier difficulty level, you gain an unfair advantage.

If you played Centipede, I also assume you'd let someone use a joystick and not just a trackball?

If using a joystick makes the game easier for you, no.

[leapinlew]

I mean, if you played Donkey Kong, I would assume you could use any 4 way joystick and not just the standard crappy nintendo 4 way joystick.

You would still be using the same control device, not a completely different one that is much more precise and much better suited to play the game. The spinner is much more precise than any joystick and makes the game easier. So, if you are playing the game at an easier difficulty level, you gain an unfair advantage.

If you played Centipede, I also assume you'd let someone use a joystick and not just a trackball?

If using a joystick makes the game easier for you, no.

You live by a complex set of rules. For the record, just about any 4 way joystick is more precise and better suited for a game than a Nintendo joystick.

So, if playing sitting on a bar stool is easier for me, it sounds like that would be against the rules. What about wearing glasses? That could make it easier for some people. Oh, what about doping? I assume that's illegal - should be.

I get not using the spinner for Time Pilot. Just giving you a hard time since you took such a hard line "NO THAT'S CHEATING!" stance on a friendly competition. 

[yamatetsu]

Is using a spinner legal?   
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81745.0

If you call cheating by using a control device that alters the game's difficulty to your advantage legal, yes, it's perfectly legal.  While you're at it, you might add autofire, too 

I didn't take that too seriously. wp34 put a smiley after his question so I knew he was not serious. Hence my reply also had smileys.

[wp34]

Yeah my point was really just to advertise what I've thought was a really cool hack for one of my favorite games. 

[kixfan]

331,600

A helicopter represents level 10 (upper right)

[Xiaou2]

It IS cheating, because the games skill challenge comes in the fact that you can not spin around instantly.  You need to calculate the time it takes to turn around... and often, you risk / gamble your judgements.

 Look at the vids posted of the hack.  You can literally spin around on a single point, and at speeds that are impossible on the real game.


 The Pacman 4 way example is completely different.   That is allowing the game to operate the same way it was designed to operate.  Any controller used that is inferior... is your loss of control.     Using a Speedup hack, is a far more similar example.  The speedup hack will allow pacman to move faster... the same way that the spinner hack will allow the ship to spin faster than it should... and on a point of reference that it shouldnt.

[BGoulette]

119,000. Feels like I hit a plateau.

[yamatetsu]

305,500.

[yamatetsu]

1.  kixfan              331,600

2.  yamatetsu        305,500

3.  Diet_Pepsi       304,700

4.  jasonbar          239,900

5.  opt2not           195,900

6.  popsicle           194,900

7.  mnewt             169,200

8.  vorghagen       153,900

9.  BGoulette         119,000

10. RTyper56        116,800
 
11. wp34              108,100

12. Token               95,400



edit : updated the scoreboard since popsicle's 237k have been done on difficulty 3.

[opt2not]

Is it over?  I thought we were going till the 13th?

[yamatetsu]

Nah, this is far from over. Just a reminder how the scoreboard looks at the moment.

[kixfan]

So, LeapinLew

HYPOTHETICALLY what kind of score can a spinner produce on this game?    I watched the short video and while it does seem like an advantage, I have to say my strategy involves going in a fairly straight line for most of the time (at least on the first 4 screens).   I usually get in trouble when I make sudden direction changes.

[yamatetsu]

370,300.

[leapinlew]

So, LeapinLew

HYPOTHETICALLY what kind of score can a spinner produce on this game?    I watched the short video and while it does seem like an advantage, I have to say my strategy involves going in a fairly straight line for most of the time (at least on the first 4 screens).   I usually get in trouble when I make sudden direction changes.

It's like fast shoot Galaga. Total advantage, for me at least. You can outmaneuver everything. The game sucks with a joystick, lol.

In my opinion, a few games definitely needed a spinner but for whatever reasons didn't (cost most likely). Asteroids, Gyruss, Star Castle, and a few more games would have been great with a spinner. It adds a whole new dimension of complexity to the games. Unfortunately, these games were programmed with the fixed move rate that a joystick gives instead of the variable speed you would get from a spinner. I mean, imagine trying to play Arkanoid or any driving game with a joystick - it's do-able but you wouldn't do very well since it's a fixed rate of speed. So, using a spinner with a variable rate of speed makes games that were designed with a joystick much easier.

I get it, it's a hack. It's the only way Time Pilot and Gyruss are enjoyable to me though. I only enjoy Track and Field with a trackball, and that's not even a hack, but it does make the game much easier.

[Diet_Pepsi]

@yama - nicely done!

[leapinlew]

370,300.

Assuming everything is legit, what you're seeing here is some BIG time farming. 350k by stage 7? That's like 65k+ a level?

Your difficult settings there Yamatetsu on 4?

[yamatetsu]

Yep, everything's legit and the difficulty is on 4.

I'm assuming that you have not followed the competetion very closely from january up to now, otherwise you would have known that I'm very good at maximizing points.

Also, it's not like 65k per level, it's more like 200k+ in the first two levels and then declining. And it's not done by parachute hunting either.

[leapinlew]

Yep, everything's legit and the difficulty is on 4.

I'm assuming that you have not followed the competetion very closely from january up to now, otherwise you would have known that I'm very good at maximizing points.

Also, it's not like 65k per level, it's more like 200k+ in the first two levels and then declining. And it's not done by parachute hunting either.

Not parachute hunting? Is that frowned upon? Why not parachute hunting? That seems like a good way to score lots of points. When I played, (using a spinner of course), I parachute hunted until they started lobbing a lot of bombs, and then I bailed on the level to go to the next level. I'd get somewhere north of 60k on the first level. I suppose if I died, I could just stay on the levels as long as possible and take out formations and get parachutes until I got my quota of ships.

[yamatetsu]

There are purists who frown upon parachute hunting, or at farming in general. When I looked up the high scores at Twin Galaxies, I found a link that was discussing opening up a scoreboard just for parachute hunters. Just because you can do so much more points parachute hunting than by blasting everything that moves.

I don't use parachute hunting much because I suck at it. In the first two levels I usually get the cutes until I get 5000 points for them, then I collect 1 or 2 more tops and then I'm at the end of the level. I found that I die a lot more by trying to collect as many chutes as possible, especially in the first level (damn those bombs !).

I suppose if I died, I could just stay on the levels as long as possible and take out formations and get parachutes until I got my quota of ships.

That's the problem. To do some serious parachute hunting, you have got to stay in the level as long as possible, which means you should do no shooting at all, except for saving your life. That, however, is not easy to do.

[kixfan]

I guess my strategy is closer to parachute hunting.   Though I usually only get about 5-6 per round.   When a parachute shows up there is a formation of enemies that if you shoot them all you get 2k.   First 2 rounds I get 40-50k per round and drops off from there.   I tried farming but find that totally boring.   The most frustrating thing about this game is at one moment you have 4 guys and you are almost out of the level and next thing you know you never make it out of the round.   I'm taking my 331k and going to bed.  :-)   Congrats YAM!

[yamatetsu]

I tried farming but find that totally boring.

There's a guy on youtube who made approx. 2.6 million points, getting to level 55. He played for 1 hour, 41 minutes. THAT is boring 

Unofficial scoreboard.

[yamatetsu]

Diet_Pepsi, your turn to pick a game and make a new thread.

[mnewt]

Final Scores (not changed much since yamatetsu kindly updated them)

1.  yamatetsu       370,300  WINNER
2.  kixfan              331,600
3.  Diet_Pepsi       304,700
4.  jasonbar          239,900
5.  opt2not           195,900
6.  popsicle           194,900
7.  mnewt             169,200
8.  vorghagen       153,900
9.  BGoulette        119,000
10. RTyper56        116,800
11. wp34              108,100
12. Token               95,400

What's it to be Diet_Pepsi?

[wp34]

Great competition.  Congratulations yamatetsu.   

[harveybirdman]

Pick a good one, maybe another horizontal shooter...

Chuka Taisen
Hyper Duel
Raiga Strato Fighter
St. Dragon

Or hell get all grandpa's guitars and go with Scramble.

[Diet_Pepsi]

Wow I didn't know the rules were changed such that the third place finisher gets to pick...I'll give it some thought and send out a new thread by the end of today.

Clearly its been awhile since I've participated...

[yamatetsu]

Wow I didn't know the rules were changed such that the third place finisher gets to pick...

That was done so that it's not always the same guys who pick the games. Works like a charm 

[opt2not]

Wanted to take another shot at this, but I ended up getting busy last week and didn't get around to it.

Great comp though, and a good pick.