ZX HSC Round 9 - Mikie / Hunchback

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Glad to see that @Juan F. Ramirez seems to have conquered his fear of pits and swinging ropes...

HSCH as a therapy!

New scores!

Mikie: 9,000
hunchback: 18,900

[akeley]

I also have a phobia of swinging ropes, pits and a general gaming vertigo, which is why platformers are my last favourite genre. Unfortunately Hunchback won't be a game to cure me of these afflictions, because I hate it dearly

Out of ~20 tries on that accursed second screen I think I managed to catch the rope in maybe 2. Even though I was actually on it most of the time. Aaarrrghh !!!1! Talk about lousy & unfair collision detection. Next screen after that was not much better so I probably won't be playing Hunchback much.

Thank god for Mikie. Though it does not bode well for my 2nd-place defense...

[R-Tape]

Hunchback 34900. I love this game.



Ropey strategies:

Getting on: stand near the edge, jump when the rope is truncating about halfway along the bottom of the 'B'.
Getting off: when the rope is just about to hit the 'N', jump off. This is harder than getting on.

[clebin]

Mikie - 56,200
Hunchback - 79,500

First scores of the week. Hunchback is kind of crap but also loads more fun than it has any right to be. Mikie has the opposite effect on me - it's a cool game but less fun than I expected. [mention]R-Tape[/mention]'s tip for the swinging ropes in Hunchback helped a bit- the margin of error is ridiculous!

[cmal]

Both games are enjoyable but I prefer Mikie. Hunchback was probably the 3rd or 4th game I ever played on the Spectrum back in 1984 or so. I couldn't get very far. I don't think I ever passed the rope swinging. Not a bad game for an early title but too unforgiving.
I have never played Mikie before. Loaded it up once but I didn't know what to do. Thanks to Youtube I saw what to do this time. Now to get more practice at these.

Hunchback: 18,900
Mikie: 23,400

[Morkin]

Mikie - 56,200
Hunchback - 79,500

First scores of the week. Hunchback is kind of crap but also loads more fun than it has any right to be. Mikie has the opposite effect on me - it's a cool game but less fun than I expected. @R-Tape's tip for the swinging ropes in Hunchback helped a bit- the margin of error is ridiculous!

Great Hunchback score...

Though you appear to have stepped in two fireballs...

[clebin]

Great Hunchback score...

Though you appear to have stepped in two fireballs...

Ha! Yes, Quasimodo's novelty slippers!

[Morkin]

Hunchback is an interesting game for a high-score comp - do you only score points when you complete a screen...?

I'd also forgotten about the bonus if you can complete screens without losing a life. Might push a few people ahead in the scoring if they manage to 'git gud'...

Am still struggling with the ropes. Sometimes I can get over first time, other times I lose every single life. There's a big discrepancy between knowing how to do it and actually doing it...

[akeley]

My strategy for Hunchback is not to play it

Ok,ok, I guess I will have one more stab at it. Just one. Should get on Mikie too...hopefully tonight.

BONUS GAME BONUS GAME BONUS GAME BONUS GAME BONUS GAME BONUS GAME BONUS GAME

This week it's another trip to 1982. And your chance to wreak havoc on, or make Britain Great again.

Great Britain Limited (1982, Hessel Software)



Yes, it's a management sim, probably not as good as Yes, Prime Minister or 1984 but amusing nonethelss. It also lets me mention the fun (to me) fact that I've met the No 10 cat once ='_'=

Let's see how many years will you manage to survive and perhaps the Treasury score?

[Juan F. Ramirez]

"Playing with hair in a mess obligatory"

[clebin]

Mikie - 103,800
Hunchback - 100,200
Great Britain Ltd - Year 5

Some new scores. I don't know why but I'm enjoying Mikie more today.




Shades of 2010 as my Labour administration collapses to defeat in GB Ltd... must. resist. political. commentary.

[akeley]

must. resist. political. commentary.

Haha yeah, I knew it'd be tough...got the same urges (especially after seeing JFR's brilliant scenario). Think of it as an additional challenge...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Living at 10, Downing St. hasn't been a good experience for me...



No changes in:

Mikie: 9,000
Hunchback: 18,900

[smurphboy]

Mikie: 21200 - just as tough as I remember it. But a great conversion of the arcade game but still has that Joffa style shining through.

Hunchback: 16000 - I never really played this back in the day, despite it being on my first C-45 of 'swapped' games. And I can see why. Controls are annoying and the timing is too exact for my taste. Offset pixel perfect jumps... meh.

GB Ltd: 160 seats but ended up in opposition to a CON / LAB coalition! - this is a great little game. The tune is dodgy AF but the dynamics of the variables is fun to work out. I can keep unemployment down but inflation just spirals... Need to work at this a little

[smurphboy]

Scores in progress....

Mikie



Hunchback



GB Ltd

[akeley]

Mikie - 43,400
Hunchback - 900

Mikie is still cool, though bit less glamorous/playable than I remember. Must try the arcade original, see what's it like. Hunchback, no comment, or perhaps my score is a comment in itself

Have yet to get on Great Britain properly, but now have a mental image of BJ every time I approach it...damn you, Juan F. Ramirez!

[GreenCard]

I probably won't be playing these again over the weekend, so here are my final scores...

Mikie: 181,600 (new)
Hunchback: 43,000 (no change)
GB Ltd: Erm... I lasted 5 days!

[Morkin]

Here we go then. Am making my scores official by using code tags...

Code: Select all

Mikie     - 81,200
Hunchback - 27,700
GB Ltd    - Social Democrats? Social Piranha more like

Mikie



As enjoyable as I remembered. Generally not too difficult a game, I usually lost my lives in the hallway where the janitor is in the centre of the corridor, as I couldn't work out how to pass by him. Or in that room where you start in the top left and have two enemies converge on you instantly, not sure how to avoid that either.

Hunchback



Just when I thought I was getting the hang of the ropes, I died three times at this same level, with the two arrows. Got a bit tired of attaining exactly the same score so thought I might as well give up and submit it. Quite a fun game, though a tad frustrating at times.

Great Britain Ltd



Cripes, is it even possible to survive an election? I had rioting in the streets before being unceremoniously dumped out of office..

[cmal]

Here are my scores for round 9:
Hunchback: 27,700
Mikie: 25,700
Great Britain Ltd: Year 5, 90 seats

On Hunchback I got stuck on the same screen as [mention]Morkin[/mention] and got frustrated replaying many times and dying in the same place each time. And of course with the exact same score. Good game with some sucky areas.
Would have liked to spend more time playing Mikie. I haven't developed a good strategy on the second area. That pesky janitor keeps on catching me when I move to a new room in the corridor section.
I played GB Ltd late last night and almost fell asleep. It was mostly guessing for me.

[R-Tape]

I've only had time for Hunchback this week (34900 no picture), so I'll be relying on the redemption round for these.

[akeley]

GB LTD - year 5, kicked out

This game is impossible. I tried to play it safe and yet was always heavily in the red. Can you actually "win" it somehow?

[Spud]

GB ltd. Year three election, narrow loss:


Mikie: 24,000

Hadn't played this before. Quite enjoyable.

Hunchback: 27,700

Utterly detest this game.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Last attempt at Hunchback (I starting to hate it!!!): 25,200
Mikie: 18,900
GB Ltd: Year 5, lost elections

[smurphboy]

Round 9 scores. Everything can change in the final round!

Clebin is surely unassailable in first? Or do we have someone who will smash out some great scores in the redemption round and change it all...

Mikie



Hunchback



GB Ltd



Overall scores

[Morkin]

...I think if I try all the games again I still wouldn't get close to [mention]clebin[/mention]'s scores.

Though I'm not sure if I should do it anyway, in order to try to preserve my second place, and hope that the random drug tests come up trumps...