Ok, my [delayed] comments on the recent MARP tourney.
<p>
First of all, yes, I was greatly disappointed that after three
straight 6th-place finishes, I wound up in 7th. Unfortunately, QRS and
Boxster had similar scores which made it hard for me to get my
6th-place goal... I was hoping my last-minute Pnickies score would be
enough, but too little, too late. One lousy point shy. Sigh...
<p>
I must say that yes, after all is said and done I did enjoy the
selection of games more than the previous tourneys. But my usual
"burnout" kicked in, why buck tradition?
<p>
Arkanoid II - I said it going into the tourney, I was going to suck
hard on this game because of my inability to find a good control
scheme for this game. Sure enough, it happened. To me it seemed like
the key to high scores was some idiotic point-leeching trick on Stage
5. I guess nobody expected this to happen. But the people who couldn't
get to Stage 5 (like me) were screwed, plain and simple.
<p>
Bobble Bobble - Man, who woulda thought there'd be so many problems
with playing back recordings on this game? I'm sure some people were
already sick of this game after playing it in Deca, but I like Bubble
Bobble. It's a shame that Bubble and Kuhaku didn't qualify, as their
incredible scores went to waste. I really feel like I didn't deserve
to get 1st.
<p>
Gaplus - I played this game maybe half a dozen times, and I ended up
in 2nd? Huh? Seriously, I'd never spent much time on the game, and was
surprised to get one good game, going from the 100k range to 334k.
Maybe I should spend a little more time learning it...
<p>
Green Beret - Stupid, stupid, stupid. The most repetitive and
frustrating leech-fest I've ever had to play. I got a decent score
just from taking my sweet-ass time on each level. Dumb.
<p>
Pnickies - I actually sorta enjoyed the game prior to the tourney, and
now I'm downright sick of it. The game relies a little too much on
getting one big-ass blob. The game doesn't really award "longevity" as
much, except in the game's strange "ranking" title.
<p>
Rally X - Crap maze game. Nuff said. To those who like the game,
sorry.
<p>
Solar Fox - An interesting game that I did fairly decent on without
much effort, so it's okay by me.

Gets kinda boring quick tho.
<p>
Street Fighter II - Of course I was happy about this making it in, but
I don't really think it's a good idea for a tourney game - two months
is just not enough time to learn the intricacies of the game if you
have no experience with fighting games. Those of us who HAVE been
playing fighting games have no doubt had experience in this, and have
a definite advantage over the other players... and it's pretty obvious
that there are quite a few people on MARP who hate fighting games.
--
lordbbh@aol.com