Finally had the opportunity to hook up the console again, so after some initial starting difficulties (due to dust somehow getting onto the cartridge’s contacts again despite the fact that I keep it stored in its clamshell case at all times), I sat down for another attempt.
Died once each to the bosses from stage 2 and 3, so that run was off to a very wobbly start already. I did surprisingly well in stage 6, though, all things considered. Sure, I still ended up continuing, but I only had two deaths total. I’d say the right mindset definitely helps.
Stage 9, on the other hand, was a trainwreck. I lost count of exactly how many times I died in it, but by the time I got to stage 10, I’d already used a second continue and was down to my last life for the current credit. Nevertheless, despite my previous complaints about stage 10, I somehow got through it pretty smoothly, no deaths whatsoever. I did end up using my third continue in stage 11, though, and my run ended very early into stage 13.
I was a bit disappointed, but reading back on my previous notes, this is only the second time I actually got to the second bonus stage, which makes this one of my best runs to date — possibly even the best run, since I finished with a score of about 12 million. Still no second extra life, though… I wonder if you get that at 15 million, but if so, that wouldn’t be until nearly the very end of the game.
That said, in order to see whether or not I was really improving, I used the data from my journaling in order to create some graphs:
…and overall, I’d say that what I’ve got here so far does actually hint at some improvement.
Starting with the graph for my overall progress. Ignoring the valley where I got an early Game Over in stage 2 and pretty much just gave up on that run, you’ll notice that I started off using my first continue fairly early on (generally stage 3), but it’s been fluctuating pretty wildly ever since, with the usual trend being a Game Over in stage 6, though at one point I lasted as long as until stage 9. It is my assumption that, as I continue making attempts, this blue line will start converging further up the graph, signifying that I’m becoming more consistent with the first half of the game.
Interestingly, I seem to be a lot more consistent with where I use my second and third continues, given how the red and yellow lines look. The current range seems to be around stages 8 to 10, so it’s the middle of the game especially. You’ll also notice that usually not a lot of time passes between the second and third continues being used, with me always using them within 1-2 stages of each other, as opposed to the amount of time I can potentially last before or after using my first continue.
Obviously the goal at the moment is to spread those credits out as much as possible. It’s readily apparent looking at the orange bar chart right next to the one we just looked at that this might take a while, though: The biggest takeaway from that is that stages 6 and 9 are the biggest difficulty spikes so far, with the Game Over counts gradually increasing from stage 7 onwards.
Time will tell if I’ll be able to overcome those spikes eventually. After today, I’m cautiously optimistic with stage 6, at least. Mastering stage 9 might be much further off still, but I’ll consider it a victory for myself if I can get to a point where I don’t lose most of my first continues until then.
Cheesecake’s Gaming Journal 