Played 5 games last night. Best I could do was 53k. Won't bother with a snap, b/c I'm sure that won't last long!
It sure seems as if Namco concentrated on style & graphics more than gameplay. It seems awkward to not be able to shoot while jumping in the air, & using a 4-way joystick makes it hard to change directions while you're crouching.
What's the downside of running out of bullets? When I did, they kept getting replenished as I used my last one, and at a rate fast enough to keep shooting the bad guys. I don't see a bonus for having bullets remaining at the end of a level.
What almost kills this game for me is the jump from catwalk to another on level 2, just after ascending a pile of boxes. I miss that about 5 times out of 6, so most of my games end there.
I did get far past that spot once & died when 3 ninjas materialized on top of me. Then the game put me back to 3 inches before that darn catwalk jump for my next guy. That's just mean.
Oddly, on that game where I got the farthest, my score was much lower than my other attempts, so I think the points are to be had from the time bonus not from killing guys...
-Jason