Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

419, 300 is my current highest run on AERO FIGHTERS 2 High-Score challenge. Currently 59th on the in-game Top 100 list. Just marginally ahead of brethren @zkibu

We are now halfway through the first month of the challenge and it's time for a quick update on how things are going.

High score challenge 1 | Aero Fighters 2 | High score mode
The in-game leaderboard of AF2 is currently being invaded by us and we already have 6 spots in the top 100. Even more if we are counting older entries.
It's nice to see everybody is close together in the 400k - 500k range with @GFoyle taking a comfortable lead.
Tips: Coins give more points based on their position on the screen. Higher = more points. This can go up to 10k per coin and this makes a huge difference. Learn the pattern where the coins appear and make sure you are there to pick them up as soon as they appear. Also make sure to destroy all the parts of the boss before taking it out completely, these parts also give extra points. Using these methods you should get around 95k at the end of level 1.
@riccyjay Any progress beating your old score?
@Tatanak Are you joining us for this challenge? You already have a great highscore in Aero Fighters 2, just behind @GFoyle

High score challenge 2 | Pac-Man | High score
It's been a bit quiet in this challenge. Maybe everybody was blown away by the monstrous score set by @Zkibu getting all the way up to the top 50 in-game leaderboard.
Tips: Pac-man actually isn't that hard for the first couple of stages. It is possible to learn a few simple patterns which you need to follow and this will help you to clear out half the field, eat some fruits and set you up for some easy ghost eating. More importantly, it will also make you look like a total badass while playing Pac-man.
The patterns (and others tips) are described here

Survival challenge 1 | Gunbird | Default settings (3 lives, 2 continues, normal difficulty, 400k extend)
With two continues it's possible to get to stage five without much trouble. This is where things get a bit more tricky. From that point on, if you use a continue you start at the beginning of that stage. @GFoyle has gotten up to the final boss using default settings. Most of us are stuck in level 6 though.
Tips: Not much for this game. Be sure to experiment with the different characters as they all behave differently. You can also do some practice runs with more continues to get some practice in the later stages of the game.

Survival challenge 2 | Metal Slug | Complete the game using a total of 5 continues
It seems 5 continues was a bit generous for the first Metal Slug game. Metal Slug is not that difficult at all once you memorize levels and boss patterns. Reaching level 5 or 6 very doable and this is where most of us are at. Nobody has beaten the game yet using 5 continues, it's going to be interesting to see if someone manages to do this during this challenge.
Tips: Practice, practice, practice. Know where the enemies are, know the levels, know the boss patterns. Make sure you use your grenades. Don't die in stupid places.

Arcade Challenge Season 1, 1st Month Leaderboard
Check everybody's progress during this challenge. Every time someone posts their progress, it will be updated in this leaderboard. You can see how well you are doing compared to others and in what game you can score some extra points. Points can also drop if someone beats your score in one of the highscore challenges.

Arcade Challenge Highscore Leaderboards
Check the current highscores of Aero Fighters 2 and Pac-man. See how you are doing and who you need to beat next.

Voting for the next month challenges
Voting is up for the games for next month. Pick the games you would like to play next month. Voting ends 16th of February.

You can also have a look at the Adult Switch Gamers Discord where we have our own little corner where we also discuss these challenges.

Have fun!
Anybody of the old crew joining us again? @monkeyspasm @OorWullie @CroRock @DashKappei @masterLEON @Tatanak @CW13

@Corneel is it possible to add Thunder Forve IV as one of the games in voting or are we saving some gamed for later in the season?

Edit. Nevermind. Just scrolled some more. Silly me

@Zkibu Thunder Force IV is already in there. There are two voting questions. One for highscore and one for survival. Thunder Force IV is part of the survival vote.

I'll try to mix up the list every month.

@Corneel Just added my votes for next set of challenges. Nice one mate 👍

@Corneel Sure, I´m joining this great challenge. I bought Aero Fighters 2 and Metal Slug. Today I have improved my score in AF2 - 783800, fifth place on the leaderboards.

@Tatanak Great to have you join us again! And off to a good start with that amazing high-score.

@Tatanak wow, amazing score!

I'm not getting anywhere near your scores, guys, but I'll participate in the challenges anyway, because I'm excited about it. Problem is I'm trying to focus more as a 2019 resolution, and I'm currently playing Dragon Quest Builders and want to finish Chapter 2 before I switch to other games. Chapter's boss is the only thing left, and after that I was planning to spend 2-3 weeks playing arcade games, so it will be the time to take part on these challenges.

@RetroGamerAndrew Thanks! I was lucky. I defeated Australian stage 6 boss with my last life and got to the second bonus stage. Now I´m playing Metal Slug, I´m able to get to the last boss but I have not defeated him yet.

I started today and got to 250K in Aero Fighters 2. Obviously I will be last in NL ranking, but I aim to get in World's Top 100. For an unexperienced player like me it would be something. Now I'm 238th I think.

It's nice to see some familiar nicknames in the Top 50, guys.

I'm really enjoying this Aero Fighters 2 challenge, it's really different from playing the arcade mode, because I'm under the pressure of having one credit only and trying to do it the best I can, and it's helping me getting better (I hope this reflects on the arcade mode later).

For now I'm about 350k and placed 115th in the World.

By the way, is there any restriction about which character we can use? Because I notice differences in my performance depending on the character. I do especially better with characters that once powered-up have homing missiles.

@Moroboshi876

hadn’t read your most recent post above

Use the Ninja Pilot Ship, make sure you collect the coins/collectibles as soon as they appear at the highest point up the screen as you can. And be sure to he fully powered weapon wise going into the bonus stage. You can score big in that stage. As a guide, you can achieve a score starting with a 9 by the end of the very first level (Japan).

Also, if you get Paris second. Let the game screen progress all the way to the in-game leaderboard and the game reset screen auto-pops up. Select reset and you should now get a different order of levels. Japan is al always first.

Good luck, you can crack the Top 100.

@Lroy Thanks for the advise (I don't know if it was you, but I already read the one of getting the score items as soon as possible in order to receive 10,000 for each of them, and it really helps). I usually end the first level 90,000+, but didn't know every time the second stage is different! I thought it depended on the character, and yes, I try to use a different one each time.

But is Paris supposed to be very difficult for you to give that advise?

Anyway, I'm glad to know this challenge allows to use any character.

The Bonus Stage is a blast, although it bothers me that if you get killed you really lose a life, unlike what usually happens in bonus stages in other games, that you just lose the chance to keep getting points and return to a normal stage.

Moroboshi876 You are making great progress already. Should be seeing you pop up in the top 100 leaderboard soon. The one credit pressure is exactly what makes these challenges great. You really get to know the game, instead of just credit feeding your way through it.

No restrictions in what plane you use. Whatever suits you best and get the best results with.
Edit - Lroy was faster in replying to your question

@Corneel Thanks! By the way, I can't browse through the leaderboards, I just can see my page and the top one, but not the ones in the middle or after mine. What am I doing wrong?

@Moroboshi876 You are not doing anything wrong. The view of the leaderboard is limited. You can just browse the top 100 and see your own score and the people around you.

@Moroboshi876 The levels get more difficult as you go. E.g. the game increases the difficulty. So for example, Jungle level has some collectibles which increase score and are more easy to collect if you get the Jungle earlier in the sequence. Whereas Paris has viewer opportunities for points and is therefore preferable later in the order. Not game changing but just something we noticed when doing the Caravan challenge way back and now again for this High-Score challenge.

I’m a mere novice myself as @tanaka and @Gfoyle and @RetrogamerAndrew have HUGE scores, so i’ll bow to their greater wisdom on how else to improve your score.

Ninja or F14 are best bets to get decent score if you aren't experience in the game. I think you can do well with other's too, but you would need to get much further in the game (F15 has powerful powered up main shot, which helps killing bigger enemies, bosses and such much faster, has fastest speed but is not a good as others in the bonus stages which give you a lot of points).

@tatanak you have really good score, how far did you got, I presume Mexico? I will try to get close to your score still, but I have my doubts will I beat it. I just need to get my run together and get pass Australia boss, then I should get closer to the score because of that second bonus stage between Australia and Mexico.

59th. Definitely Cindy and Ellen.