SDA SSS Tournament Results Thread (All Clear!)

2009-06-07 12:05:43 pm

fucking .gif....

dammit.

was being careful, died 3 times at the last stage. still a crappy final boss (stupid homing shots leaving too damn early).

SHADOW JACKY - 30:48 - ALL

this is it for me. probably 3 mintues or so lost due to deaths, but I don't see myself getting into sub 20 anytime soon.

mike89

2009-06-07 09:32:26 pm

SEGA Junkie

mike89 - 21:23 - 6

Flex count: OVER NINE FUCKING THOUSAND

So apparently I'm the only one who can't get a completion. I suck. :/

Enhasa

2009-06-07 09:48:55 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Enhasa - 24:10 - ALL

Blech, I thought at the start of this week I would do a lot better, because I have tons of experience with this game already, but I just didn't have the time. If only we were playing Granada... Wink

Breakdown

Edit history:

Breakdown: 2009-06-08 11:37:48 am

2009-06-07 10:00:35 pm

Haters gonna hate

Week over!

Well, after this.

Breakdown - 21:37 - ALL

Managed to screw up the last 3 boss fights pretty good, and the second to last room of stage 6 didn't go so hot, but other than that not much in the way of complaints. I lack turbo fingers, so I just used the regular autofire.

I did record a replay, and went ahead and uploaded it to youtube.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Week 5 is ready to roll. I will offer a free piece of advice to any keyboard players out there. Do yourself a favor and remap your controls so you're controlling the left and right flippers with your left and right hands, or at least a left and right finger. D-pad is left flipper, B is right, so pad players should have no problem.

ZenicReverie

Edit history:

ZenicReverie: 2009-06-08 11:11:45 pm

2009-06-07 10:22:31 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Time for a too early to matter entry, I got to one bonus stage... I really don't understand what I'm doing, and I didn't change my controls, so I was hitting the wrong flipper almost every time... hehe

ZenicReverie - 2,038,800

~~ZenicReverie - 39,329,700~~
~~ZenicReverie - 41,716,500~~
ZenicReverie - 43,166,100

I really suck at those bonus stages and wish I could chain them together like mike mentions. This score I got because I somehow got three red balls during a game.

Enhasa

2009-06-07 10:30:41 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

This is the best in the series and likely the best video game pinball ever (not a crowded genre), glad you went with Devil's Crush. I've only played the PCE version though. For a dark horse pinball choice, you could have gone with Firestriker, although this is a lot better. Great choice, I think this will go over very well with participants, but variety isn't so important to me that I wouldn't want to play say, Twin Qix or Granada or [other games self-censored in case I ever run another tourney] instead. Wink

I mean, we have more than one shmup already.

RaneofSOTN

2009-06-08 08:28:22 am

I want off the ride....

Quote from Breakdown:

I did record a replay, and went ahead and uploaded it to youtube.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

You should fix part 3 link; its the same as part 1....

Oh and cool selection for this week...

mikwuyma

2009-06-08 12:35:53 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I love how getting high scores in this game has almost nothing to do with survival and everything to do with chaining bonus stages. I don't think I even lasted five minutes this attempt Tongue

I almost had a 40 million score, but I choked the sixth bonus stage when I had the blue ball in one of my attempts. 20 million down the drain :(.

mikwuyma - 26759200

Mickey_Mage

2009-06-08 02:05:49 pm

Glitching EB 1 flying man at a time

Mickey_Mage - 8,774,000

This game is fun, but a lot more unfair than most pinball games I've played... I doubt I'll ever beat this unless I get extremely lucky, or figure out the bosses, which i can only kill 2 about maybe 40% of the time, since that's the only skill in this game is killing those, and that's it (if barely since I've gotten lucky more on the bosses than anything). At least this requires some skill, or I would have quit long ago and just said fuck it.

BDA

2009-06-08 02:14:02 pm

Let's fight to computer!

bsidwell - 38,847,900
No fucking idea how I got this score, since up until now I'd been lucky to break 5 million. I got lucky as hell and kept getting bonuses and extra balls and multipliers for no reason I could understand.

Mickey_Mage

2009-06-08 02:26:56 pm

Glitching EB 1 flying man at a time

Yea, I've gotten a couple of bonuses I couldn't understand either (I got the "last chance" right, and then right when the ball when onto the spring, I got another life added to the other one for some weird reason :P). I still don't know how the ball color changes either... I thought I did, but then I tried and nothing happened.

Vugmer

2009-06-08 05:12:44 pm

Cigar Man

Quote from Breakdown:

Also, I'd like to say that if there was any way possible to rig it up so we could all be playing on an actual pinball machine, we would be. Probably would've gone with The Addam's Family, my all time favorite. If any of you have the chance to play it, do yourself a favor and put some quarters in.

I also used to love The Addams Family pinball machine. Another favorite pinball machine of mine is Jurassic Park. I haven't seen one in several years, though.

I know you are saving the best for last, Breakdown. (Hint: an NES game.)

Breakdown

2009-06-09 01:55:24 am

Haters gonna hate

Rane: Thanks for pointing that out, it's fixed now.

Breakdown - 107,945,000

Pretty good credit, though I only got one extra ball (last chance). Could've been a good deal higher but I choked on the last couple bonus stages, one being level 6 with a blue ball (bye bye 20 million). I think I have the table mostly figured out now, though there are a few things that remain a mystery to me. I might post a mini FAQ in a few days here but there's still a couple things I want to nail down before I do.

ZenicReverie

2009-06-09 02:02:30 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

Since Breakdown already beat my secret high score, I'll post it:

ZenicReverie - 61,475,100

secret tech, the 109 bonus ball can be gotten multiple times.

mikwuyma

2009-06-09 08:00:20 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Getting the 109 bonus ball is so time-consuming though. Sad

Also, I can't complete bonus stages 3 and 5. Now five is just bullshit so I don't expect to beat it, but I'm sure there's a strategy I can use for bonus stage 3.

Also, I fuck up stage 6 way too much despite knowing how to beat it.

dex

2009-06-09 08:07:31 am

Invisible avatar

4th try...

dex - 76,047,400

Was 1 kill away from an extra ball *sigh*.

mikwuyma

2009-06-09 08:25:48 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

ARGH WHY IS EVERYONE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME AT THIS GAME AND THEY'RE HARDLY TRYING

Oh yeah, twinkle tale review:

Mickey_Mage

2009-06-09 10:31:13 am

Glitching EB 1 flying man at a time

Still low, but what the hell. I agree with Mike on stage 5, too. I swear I was in there for 5 minutes, destroyed that middle door even, but still nothing happened... I've gotten to the stage 3 boss' second form once, but can't find any way to do it.

Mickey_Mage - 20,421,800

mikwuyma

2009-06-09 10:48:35 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I actually know what you're supposed to do in stage 5, it's just incredibly stupid and nearly impossible to do.

You have to destroy an enemy while it's on top of a blue dot. If you're successful, the dot will turn red. To beat the stage, you have to turn all of the blue dots red. YES, ALL OF THEM.

Mickey_Mage

2009-06-09 01:34:54 pm

Glitching EB 1 flying man at a time

Oh great... Thanks for that though, Mike.

Breakdown

Edit history:

Breakdown: 2009-06-10 02:06:56 pm

2009-06-10 03:17:27 am

Haters gonna hate

Breakdown - 131,561,100

This was a looooooong credit. Didn't get much in the way of big one shot scoring things, had 1 blue ball bonus stage clear for about 10 million, but not much else aside from that. Nickel and dimed my way to this score and got about 7 extra balls to help in the effort, no last chance this time though. If I get a run where I can put the scoring tricks together along with the extra balls I could probably triple this.

I need to sleep now, but I'll probably throw up some strat and mechanics stuff tomorrow. For now I'll just say that while luck is definitely important it isn't nearly as big a factor as some of you guys are making it out to be.

Edit:

Ok, strat and mechanics stuff.

Extra Balls:

1. Last chance match thing. Can be gotten once.
2. Get your B.T. up to 109 (kill 109 beasties without cashing in your bonus in other words). Can be gotten multiple times.
3. Kill one of the dragon babies released from the dragon eggs on the lower board while in the launch chute either by getting back in from the right gutter save thing or dying (usually the former as there generally isn't time for the latter). Can be gotten multiple times.
4. Turn all 3 of the blobs above the woman's head in the middle board red. Can be gotten multiple times.

Multiplier Balls:

Blue 4x ball: Clear any bonus stage.
Red 6x ball: Wish I knew definitively how to get this one, all I know for sure is you get it after knocking the ball into the top of the woman's head on the middle board. Don't have any specifics outside of that. It might have something to do with the skeletons either with their formation or color, and I've only ever gotten it personally from the left side of the head, these might both be red herrings though.

These multipliers are key to getting a good score as they apply to just about everything (if not everything) on the table. They're on an invisible timer when you get them, so act fast. This timer stops when your in a bonus stage, however, so don't rush those as you really want to multiply that perfect bonus stage bonus. Also note that losing your ball doesn't cost you your colored ball, just waste some time on it. There is some good stuff to hit on the main table as well, but more on that later.

Special bonuses:

Skill Shot: Get the ball from the plunger directly into the woman's head (can't hit a blob on the way): 2 million (credit to bsidwell for pointing this one out to me).

On the top table stopping the wheel at V and killing all the cultists before it starts spinning again is worth 2 million.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's more of these, but I haven't found any.

Main bonus points:

These are the numbers tracked on the right side of the screen, and whenever you cash in on them it's calaculated as B.P. * B.T. * B.M. Here's a rundown on the differnt categories and how to get them.

B.P.: The number things will be multiplied by. Caps at 9900. All sorts of ways to increase this, the most common being killing complete formations of enemies and entering the different launchers around the main board (not sure if the bonus stage launchers work or not).

B.T.: Your primary multiplier. Caps at 109 (at which point you're awarded an extra ball). Increases by killing most of the little beasties and targets on the main board. Not everything increses this though, exceptions include the spider things at the bottom, dragon babies (though the eggs do increase it), the blobs in the top chute, and the knights. I'm pretty sure when you break a bumper at the bottom the larvae things increase it while the flies don't, may be wrong there though, usually not paying that close attention to the side on the bottom table.

B.M: Your secondary multiplier. Caps at 9x, and it's the trickiest one to increase. Ways to do so include:
1. Breaking a bumper on the bottom screen.
2. Turning all the blobs above the woman's head pink.
3. Killing certain formations of skeletons. Not exactly sure which ones, pretty sure it's based on color.
There's likely more, but I can't name them definitively.

So if you max out all three of these when you cash in on your bonus points it's worth a little over 9 million. Throw a blue or red ball into the mix and it's suddenly worth 36 or 54 million respectively. This is one of those big score opportunities on the main table I was talking about (and it's definitely the most lucrative).

Ways to cash in:

1. Lose all your balls (certainly the least desirable method). Should you hit your last chance your bonus will be reset.
2. Lose a ball down either side gutter at the bottom taking out the little spider on the way. Resets your bonus. Note: it's possible to kill the right spider and have your ball saved, this won't cash your bonus then or if you lose the ball down the center later.
3. Get your ball in the walled in launcher on the middle board. Resets your bonus.
4. Get a shot in the skulls mouth on the bottom board. Does NOT reset your bonus. Open the mouth by breaking all the dragon eggs.

Proper bonus management is key both to good scoring and good survival via multiple 109 extra balls.

Bonus stage access:

Top level:

It's all about the rotating circle. When it's spinning breaking the two skulls on one side of the big skull in the center will stop it, breaking the two on the other side will speed it up. Which side is which I think is determined by which way the cultists walk around it. When stopped, unless it's on V, a bonus stage will be opened. Where and which depends on the number.

I: Top center skull, bonus stage 4.
II: Top right hand launcher, bonus stage 2.
III: Right worm chute, random bonus stage.
IV: Bottom right launcher, bonus stage 5.
VI: Bottom left launcher, bonus stage 1.
VII: Left worm chute, random bonus stage.
VIII: Top left hand launcher, bonus stage 3.

These remain opened until either accessed or a certain amount of time has passed (not sure if it's actually timed or based on cultist cycles, but pretty sure the former).

Middle board:

First off, before the face is activated (i.e. still grey) the upper right launcher is always good for a random bonus stage.

The walled in launcher that gives you your bonus points is also always a random bonus stage.

Activating the face and completely uncovering it (full on dragon looking thing) opens access to bonus stage 6 through its mouth.

Lower board:

Opening the dragon head on the left grants access to bonus stage 1. Hit it a bunch of times to open it.

Shooting your ball through the castle in the middle 5 or so times turns it red, hit it through again for access to bonus stage 5.

Some strategy:

Always get protection! On the top borad shooting your ball through the top chutemakes the blobs from the middle board block for you. You almost have to try to lose your ball to the lower table at that point.

On the bottom board the first shot you should try for is through the castle for the center protection. Killing either of the spiders on the chutes leading to the flippers opens the two side protections.

One of the better scoring opportunities on the main table is the blobs in the top chute. There's 7 of them up there worth 100k each, so that's 700k a trip, or 2.8 million with a blue ball. If you happen to stop the wheel on either of the worm numbers you can keep your ball up here a long time and keep cashing in, plus you can kill a bunch of the cultists for easy B.T.

Chaining bonus stages together with the blue (or red if you get it) ball is big points. The top board is a good place for this, as is the middle before the face is activated via the right launcher.

I tend not to bother with the skill shot at all and instead try to get the ball directly to the top table. After launching the ball hold the right flipper button and unless the right blob jumps at just the wrong time you'll slide right up there. On your first ball wait a couple seconds before launching as the blob will block you if you launch right away.

I think that's plenty. I'm sure some of this falls into the "well duh" category, but hopefully at least some of that's helpful to some of you.

[img]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn35/Breakdown777/DevilCrashMDJ_003.jpg[/img]

Breakdown - 131,561,100

This was a looooooong credit.  Didn't get much in the way of big one shot scoring things, had 1 blue ball bonus stage clear for about 10 million, but not much else aside from that.  Nickel and dimed my way to this score and got about 7 extra balls to help in the effort, no last chance this time though.  If I get a run where I can put the scoring tricks together along with the extra balls I could probably triple this.

I need to sleep now, but I'll probably throw up some strat and mechanics stuff tomorrow.  For now I'll just say that while luck is definitely important it isn't nearly as big a factor as some of you guys are making it out to be.

Edit:

Ok, strat and mechanics stuff.

Extra Balls:

1.  Last chance match thing.  Can be gotten once.
2.  Get your B.T. up to 109 (kill 109 beasties without cashing in your bonus in other words).  Can be gotten multiple times.
3.  Kill one of the dragon babies released from the dragon eggs on the lower board while in the launch chute either by getting back in from the right gutter save thing or dying (usually the former as there generally isn't time for the latter).  Can be gotten multiple times.
4.  Turn all 3 of the blobs above the woman's head in the middle board red.  Can be gotten multiple times.

Multiplier Balls:

Blue 4x ball:  Clear any bonus stage.
Red 6x ball:  Wish I knew definitively how to get this one, all I know for sure is you get it after knocking the ball into the top of the woman's head on the middle board.  Don't have any specifics outside of that.  It might have something to do with the skeletons either with their formation or color, and I've only ever gotten it personally from the left side of the head, these might both be red herrings though.

These multipliers are key to getting a good score as they apply to just about everything (if not everything) on the table.  They're on an invisible timer when you get them, so act fast.  This timer stops when your in a bonus stage, however, so don't rush those as you really want to multiply that perfect bonus stage bonus.  Also note that losing your ball doesn't cost you your colored ball, just waste some time on it.  There is some good stuff to hit on the main table as well, but more on that later.

Special bonuses:

Skill Shot:  Get the ball from the plunger directly into the woman's head (can't hit a blob on the way):  2 million (credit to bsidwell for pointing this one out to me).

On the top table stopping the wheel at V and killing all the cultists before it starts spinning again is worth 2 million.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's more of these, but I haven't found any.

Main bonus points:

These are the numbers tracked on the right side of the screen, and whenever you cash in on them it's calaculated as B.P. * B.T. * B.M.  Here's a rundown on the differnt categories and how to get them.

B.P.:  The number things will be multiplied by.  Caps at 9900.  All sorts of ways to increase this, the most common being killing complete formations of enemies and entering the different launchers around the main board (not sure if the bonus stage launchers work or not).

B.T.:  Your primary multiplier.  Caps at 109 (at which point you're awarded an extra ball).  Increases by killing most of the little beasties and targets on the main board.  Not everything increses this though, exceptions include the spider things at the bottom, dragon babies (though the eggs do increase it), the blobs in the top chute, and the knights.  I'm pretty sure when you break a bumper at the bottom the larvae things increase it while the flies don't, may be wrong there though, usually not paying that close attention to the side on the bottom table.

B.M:  Your secondary multiplier.  Caps at 9x, and it's the trickiest one to increase.  Ways to do so include:
1.  Breaking a bumper on the bottom screen.
2.  Turning all the blobs above the woman's head pink.
3.  Killing certain formations of skeletons.  Not exactly sure which ones, pretty sure it's based on color.
There's likely more, but I can't name them definitively.

So if you max out all three of these when you cash in on your bonus points it's worth a little over 9 million.  Throw a blue or red ball into the mix and it's suddenly worth 36 or 54 million respectively.  This is one of those big score opportunities on the main table I was talking about (and it's definitely the most lucrative).

Ways to cash in:

1.  Lose all your balls (certainly the least desirable method).  Should you hit your last chance your bonus will be reset.
2.  Lose a ball down either side gutter at the bottom taking out the little spider on the way.  Resets your bonus.  Note:  it's possible to kill the right spider and have your ball saved, this won't cash your bonus then or if you lose the ball down the center later.
3.  Get your ball in the walled in launcher on the middle board.  Resets your bonus.
4.  Get a shot in the skulls mouth on the bottom board.  Does NOT reset your bonus.  Open the mouth by breaking all the dragon eggs.

Proper bonus management is key both to good scoring and good survival via multiple 109 extra balls.

Bonus stage access:

Top level:

It's all about the rotating circle.  When it's spinning breaking the two skulls on one side of the big skull in the center will stop it, breaking the two on the other side will speed it up.  Which side is which I [i]think[/i] is determined by which way the cultists walk around it.  When stopped, unless it's on V, a bonus stage will be opened.  Where and which depends on the number.

I:  Top center skull, bonus stage 4.
II:  Top right hand launcher, bonus stage 2.
III:  Right worm chute, random bonus stage.
IV:  Bottom right launcher, bonus stage 5.
VI:  Bottom left launcher, bonus stage 1.
VII:  Left worm chute, random bonus stage.
VIII:  Top left hand launcher, bonus stage 3.

These remain opened until either accessed or a certain amount of time has passed (not sure if it's actually timed or based on cultist cycles, but pretty sure the former).

Middle board:

First off, before the face is activated (i.e. still grey) the upper right launcher is always good for a random bonus stage.

The walled in launcher that gives you your bonus points is also always a random bonus stage.

Activating the face and completely uncovering it (full on dragon looking thing) opens access to bonus stage 6 through its mouth.

Lower board:

Opening the dragon head on the left grants access to bonus stage 1.  Hit it a bunch of times to open it.

Shooting your ball through the castle in the middle 5 or so times turns it red, hit it through again for access to bonus stage 5.

Some strategy:

Always get protection!  On the top borad shooting your ball through the top chutemakes the blobs from the middle board block for you.  You almost have to try to lose your ball to the lower table at that point.

On the bottom board the first shot you should try for is through the castle for the center protection.  Killing either of the spiders on the chutes leading to the flippers opens the two side protections.

One of the better scoring opportunities on the main table is the blobs in the top chute.  There's 7 of them up there worth 100k each, so that's 700k a trip, or 2.8 million with a blue ball.  If you happen to stop the wheel on either of the worm numbers you can keep your ball up here a long time and keep cashing in, plus you can kill a bunch of the cultists for easy B.T.

Chaining bonus stages together with the blue (or red if you get it) ball is big points.  The top board is a good place for this, as is the middle before the face is activated via the right launcher.

I tend not to bother with the skill shot at all and instead try to get the ball directly to the top table.  After launching the ball hold the right flipper button and unless the right blob jumps at just the wrong time you'll slide right up there.  On your first ball wait a couple seconds before launching as the blob will block you if you launch right away.

I think that's plenty.  I'm sure some of this falls into the "well duh" category, but hopefully at least some of that's helpful to some of you.

mikwuyma

2009-06-10 12:55:52 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Okay you better tell me what to do because I don't enjoy having 1/3 of my attempts die in less than a minute because the ball lands in the gutter while being able to do almost NOTHING ABOUT IT. That seems like luck to me Angry

Shadow Jacky

2009-06-10 01:40:26 pm

fucking .gif....

I'm getting the same frustration as Mike because the same shit keeps happening. I'm also getting shit for these bonus stages. I'm guessing the higher the stage, the better the points? Well stage 1 and 2 don't seem to be any different.

Also I don't even get these special balls or multiple balls and crap everyone else is getting. For some reason, I got 2mil for whatever reason. I'm playing for like 15 mins and I get 7mil total while everyone else is getting 30+mil.

SHADOW JACKY - 7,580,100

mikwuyma

2009-06-10 01:42:00 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Stage 6 gives about 5 million points (4 million from beating it, usually 1 million from playing through it).

Shadow Jacky

2009-06-10 01:44:09 pm

fucking .gif....

is stage 6 that blue worm thing that shoots fire?