how to crown the best allround coin-op player?

[1up]

What 10 coin-op games would you choose for a tournament if you wanted to find the allround best arcade player? I've looked around the internet and found a lot of top 10 lists and a lot of tournament lists from Funspot and other Classic Arcade Game events, but they seem to choose a new row of games for each event.

What would be considered the optimal 10 games for a tournament to crown the best allround arcade player?

[Barra]

I dont think any specific list of games would be the best way to "crown" the best player/s.
In my opinion, the best players are those who can adapt to a new game the quickest. The funspot tournaments are a good measure of this, and you will always see the same players in the top few spots. These are some of the best players around. John Mccallister, Steve Wagner etc etc. These guys are in a league of their own.
My opinion of course.

[QAOP Spaceman]

Originally Posted by 1up

What 10 coin-op games would you choose for a tournament if you wanted to find the allround best arcade player?

It's an innarestin' question 1up, and no doubt there'll be plenty of folk weighing in with their top 10s, but for me it's an impossible one to answer.

First problem being timescale. Coin-op games are still being produced today, so to be considered the best all-round player you'd need to be great at Barrier (1978 ) and Super Alpine Racer (2014). Even if you narrowed it down to the best all-round Golden Era coin-op player, dem Caggers will be fighting about when that started and finished. And to have, say, best all-round gamer (1970s), best all-round gamer (1980s), best all-round gamer (1990s) etc... well, there's just no poetry in that.

Next problem is you'd need a top ten which included 10 different genres... the RU Gaming Champ of the year is a good model for this, if you have a peep at:
http://www.retrouprising.com/contest...-champ/t15449/
you'll see 13 genres there - so what gets left out? And why? And if we're talking coin-op and all-round, we'd need dancing games, and taiko drumming games, and guitar-playing games. And if you take a look at the number of Mahjong or General Knowledge quiz style titles on Mame - why should they not be included either?


I'm kinda with barra in that I reckon the best players are the ones that can handle a new game quickly. Most of us can get good at something with enough practice. There are some real one-hit wonders in gaming who have absolutely destroyed one title but the all.rounders (Dwayne Richard has to go in there, eh?) should be able to destroy anything with little or no practice.

I'll be interested to see others' thoughts on this

[D.B. Cooper]

I agree with the last two posts. No way to pick 10 games. Currently the Funspot tourney is the most prestigious to win. If you want your name to be in consideration for the best, you must win this tournament at least once. I also think that if you took a pole of classic arcade players, you'd find that the one record that people hold in the highest regard it would be the 5 man Robotron record which is currently held by John McAllister.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I agree with Barra. There are enough games in the mame collection that many probably haven't spent a lot of time with but i think if there was a way to introduce new games into the mix or games no one has had the pleasure in spending hours learning would be the real test.

Anyone can learn a game as mentioned but its how fast you learn it and how well you apply what is learned in a short period of time.

[1up]

Yea, it makes a lot of sense. The best player is the one with talent and can adapt to new games fast.

Good point about 5 man Robotron. Are there any other games that people hold in high regard? I know that perfect pacman is up there, but that game would be awful in a tournament.

[Slime Slayer]

Keep in mind, there is a lot to be said for a highly contested score. For example, the high score in a game like Centipede weighs a lot more than a high score in Super Alpine Racer.

---------- Post added at 06:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 AM ----------

Originally Posted by 1up

Yea, it makes a lot of sense. The best player is the one with talent and can adapt to new games fast.

Good point about 5 man Robotron. Are there any other games that people hold in high regard? I know that perfect pacman is up there, but that game would be awful in a tournament.

Our very own Barra (see above) holds the mame high score in Galaga, I hold that play in high regard.

( Click to show/hide )

He also just got his first kill screen in DK a couple weeks ago, woot!

But yeah, for me I think the best coin-op player would have decent positions in a few games that have been recognized for their high scores.

Comments

Thanks

[Barra]

Johnny Mac's asteroids deluxe is an incredible score. AFAIK he is the only person that can marathon it

[D.B. Cooper]

John has also won the last two Funspot tournaments so he's a good candidate. He also has the Joust marathon record, Star Castle marathon and hard chip records and I'm probably forgetting a couple. But, after saying that, I'm not sure he's the best player I've seen play live. Matt Hall (bbh over at MARP) can give John a run for his money on Robotron and is incredible at getting really good at a game really fast. I'm not sure why but he's never gone to Funspot and he doesn't submit scores to TG but a look at his MARP resume will tell you all you need to know. I've not confirmed this through him but I was told that he doesn't have a job but makes his living by winning money at fighting game tournaments. And then there's Mike Kasper. He's won the individual title in BOTA the last two years and held the record on DK Jr. for awhile. Even though I've met him I'm not sure what his story is as to why he doesn't do other live tournaments but he's good at every game. These are just the guys I've met. It's like trying to decide who the best baseball player of all time is. There are a group of people who are all in contention but it really comes down to a matter of opinion as it's just impossible to single out just one person.