1up

Hi there,

I beat the record for the coin-op version of Contra last week, but I have some questions about the point pressing in the game.

Twin Galaxies grandfathered the original scores for the game as it was discovered that you could point press indefinitely with the stock settings. With stock settings you gain an extra life every 70.000pts and at one point you could score more than 70.000pts before the timer runs out. The new settings allowed for only 1 extra life at 70.000pts and eliminated this problem. So it allowed for only point pressing with 3 lives and the completing the game on the last life.

What I did was maximize my scoring in the tunnels and escape before the timer ran out. But in this way you can get nowhere near the TG WR. But then again the TG WR is on different settings.

On RU we play on the stock settings, and I know the rules state that excessive point pressing is not allowed, but "how much is too much"?

TodayIsForgotten

There is an in-game timer where there is no timer?

There are other area's you could milk if you feel confident in your skills. Like the 2nd tunnel boss. Which would be legit if there is a timer.

But aside from the final boss i would assume the mid boss on the last level is another good one.

1up

Yes. In the tunnels there's a timer counting down but in the other areas there's a hidden timer. If you take too long a football looking missile will swoop in and kill you.

Football missile will also do this on the 2nd boss.

I know the leeching spots in each level, where the football missile will get you if you take too long. All these areas are legit as you can't leech indefinitely.
But in tunnel 2 there's a visible timer and no football missile. When the timer reaches 0, you lose 1 life, and the countdown starts over. Problem is, you can gain an extra life before the timer runs out and this let's you leech indefinitely. So what is the ruling on this?

Just want to bring it up now before everyone starts leeching to hell and back and throws a fit because of the rules not being clear.

Barra

Basically, just leech as much as you want but try to finish the stage on the same life that you used to leech. Otherwise it gets complicated. Even if you gain less than 70k points from leeching, it can be rejected.
Games like this should incur a 5 life rule or (as in this case) a change of settings.

Kong

Short answer is no, you can not use that trick here.

You can point press once in each "unique" timer. If a timer gives you an extra life and you use that extra life to reset the timer then it is no longer unique.

I think you understand but it is hard to word in a way that makes sense in every game to users new to game competition.

Contra dip settings can not fix this problem. The dips change when you get extra life but there is not an option to turn off.

---------- Post added at 12:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 PM ----------

An exception is games that have NVRAM/battery saves/cart saves enabled. We do not enforce rules as heavily in those games.

1up

You can't turn off extra lives BUT you can set the dips so that it grants an extra life at 50,000pts and you will only get that 1 extra life. So you cant leech indefinitly in tunnel 2 as you won't gain extra lives and will eventually run out and get a game over.

default dipswitch bank 2 switch 4+5 is set to off = Bonus Life 40,000pts and every 70,000pts

Change dipswitch bank 2 (SW2) switch 4+5 set to on = Bonus Life 50,000pts and it should be solved, IF that's the route to take.

Kong

Is that the default at MARP and TG?

Barra

It is at TG
MARP is default with the special rules: "No leeching when you can gain more men than loose."- There is a discussion about it Here

1up

From what I can gather looking at the scores on MARP, their special rules mean that you can use up the lives you start with +1 extra man.

You start the game with 1 active man and 2 in stock. On your way to tunnel 2 you gain 1 extra man. Meaning you reach tunnel 2 on your first man with 3 men in stock. You use up these 3 men to leech in the tunnel and move on after that to finish the game on that 4th and last man.

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