SNES Monthly Contest: May - Super Empire Strikes Back & Paperboy 2 (CLOSED)

Going forward the competition will have two games running at a time.  They are separate leaderboards, with their own points awarded.  You can compete in one or the other, or both.



May Game #1: Super Empire Strikes Back


Rules
  • Goal -> Progression, tiebreaker is low score
  • Start a new game on the default settings.  Do not start a game from a password
  • You may play until Game Over, including use of ALL continues.  Score does not reset after continuing.
  • Take a screenshot anytime BEFORE you die.  You cannot pause after dying
  • I will try to be as granulur with progression as possible.  If it cannot be determined where in the level your screenshot is, you'll probably be given credit for reaching the beginning of that (sub)level.
May Game #2: Paperboy 2

Rules
  • Goal -> High Score
  • Start a new game on the default route.  You can choose paperboy or girl
  • Play until Game Over
  • Take a screenshot of the high score table
General Contest Rules, Prizes, Schedule, etc.

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Comments


  • May - Super Empire Strikes Back & Paperboy 2
     
              
    Mod Rebel Base

    33,520
    Brock Landers 10,500 Brock Landers
     
    1 Game Complete

    146,430 
    Andy_Bogomil 126,150 xtremegamer
    2 Cloud City

    115,445
    bimmy_lee 83,200 bimmy_lee
    3 Snowspeeder II

    67,385
    quest4nes 67,700 Andy_Bogomil
    4 Ice Cave II (middle)

    12,770
    Seppatoni 51,790 Seppatoni
    5 Ice Cave II (beginning)

    40,700
    bubbapauls 16,050 laddersandcakes
    6 Hoth III

    21,115
    laddersandcakes 16,000 quest4nes
    7 Ice Cave

    6,475
    xtremegamer    
             



    Level key:

    Level 1 - Hoth I

    Level 2 - Hoth II

    Level 3 - Ice Cave

    Level 4 - Hoth III

    Level 5 - Ice Cave II

    Level 6 - Hoth IV

    Level 7 - Rebel Base

    Level 8 - Snowspeeder

    Level 9 - Snowspeeder II

    Level 10 - ATAT

    Level 11 - ATAT II

    Level 12 - Rebel Base II

    Level 13 - Rebel Base III

    Level 14 - Millenium Falcon

    Level 15 - Dagobah

    Level 16 - Dagobah II

    Level 17 - Dagobah III

    Level 18 - Cloud City

    Level 19 - Cloud City II

    Level 20 - Cloud City III

    Level 21 - Cloud City IV

    Level 22 - X-Wing

    Level 23 - Vader's Base

    Level 24 - Vader's Base II

    Level 25 - Vader's Base III

    Level 26 - Vader
  • Please do not begin play until 12am NA time tonight
  • Do we only get points for our best position out of both games if we choose to compete in both? (i.e. if I come 3rd in Paper Boy and 5th in Star Wars do I only get points for coming 3rd)
  • Nope, completely separate leaderboards and points. You can earn 22 points this month



    When this is fully integrated next year, we'll have 22 games on the schedule (or 20 with a tournament, still working on that one), with your 2-3 lowest scores being dropped at years end.  That way people could skip games they don't have or don't want to play, without being excluded for an entire month, and not be overly penalized for it.  We're only dropping one score this year.
  • Sweet, I've been looking forward to Empire Strikes Back. I used to be able to no-death this game when I was a kid. I haven't played it in a long time, so hopefully I still have it in me to pull off a no-death run.
  • Damn. It's all good, just means we have half the amount of time to play each game. One reason I was really liking the monthly format.
  • I got to the beginning of Stage 5 on Hoth. This game is just as hard as I remember.



  • Updated. So basically, if someone gets to that same enemy in that level, low score wins
  • Does the score reset with a continue? That would make it very easy to have the lowest score





    kinda rewarding failure at that point.
  • I can say with 95% certainty that it does not because I just checked it the other night. But I had some beers so I have a sliver of doubt in my mind...
  • Never have i legit straight through beat this one. Got to bespin before



    I beat the original super star wars in an awesome run a couple years ago. Ive never beaten jedi. Ive gotten to palpetine but only beat him using passwords once. Empire is by far the hardest one to me.
  • Originally posted by: Andy_Bogomil



    Damn. It's all good, just means we have half the amount of time to play each game. One reason I was really liking the monthly format.





    I kinda like the idea. Can play 2 different games for a change of pace once you hit a wall with 1
  • Paperboy 2:  



    32000

    38150

    48270


    51790









    Super Empire Strikes Back: Somewhere in Stage 5











    Paperboy 2 is a great choice, I really love the idea of that game. It's fun and challenging, now I only need to get better.



    On the other side, I don't like Super Empire Strikes Back. It was one of my biggest disappointments regarding videogames. I was hoping to never play that piece of crap again, but you leave me no choice.
  • Yeah I'm terrible at both games. Like, I must just play the Star Wars games fundamentally wrong or something bad
  • Rebel Base - beginning (33,520)









    10,500





     
  • Originally posted by: Brock Landers



    Yeah I'm terrible at both games. Like, I must just play the Star Wars games fundamentally wrong or something bad





    Once you pass all the ice caves then your life is less stressful. Oh yeah and that ATAT snowspeeder shit lol. Hoth is a major pain in the ass.



    The first super star wars is all guns for the most part. Well luke has a saber once you meet obi wan but its not the same usefullness. Keeping gun upgrades without dying was key.
  • I love everything about the Star Wars games (and Indy) but I'm god awful at them. May give it a go for this though. I've been slacking on all of the contests so far.
  • I can beat Indy rather easily. Guess I feel less overwhelmed since the enemies aren't so relentless in their spawning
  • I made my first and last try in Super Empire Strikes Back. Made it to Stage 5, that's enough, I prefere spending the rest of my time with Paperboy 2, which makes much more fun.
  • I'll have to watch a longplay tonight to see who got further.



    I have yet to get through the first cave level. Ever...
  • Wow that snow speeder level is complete trash on this game. So random and literally everything hurts you and takes a good chunk of energy. The controls are pretty much crap as well for a lot of the platforming. Between slipping and the double jump not responding it gets pretty frustrating. I don't remember hating this game so much.
  • Break week from NES contest, time to post some SNES scores!
  • Made it to Hoth IV on the first credit so far. Not sure how far I'm going to get but I swear everything after that first cave way easier
  • ...until you get to the Rebel Base. And the damn droids just mow you down over and over and over and over
  • Originally posted by: Brock Landers



    ...until you get to the Rebel Base. And the damn droids just mow you down over and over and over and over



    thats what i said earlier up in the thread. just get through the ice caves

     
  • You can deflect stuff with your lightsaber.
  • Super Empire Strikes Back:



    Level 18 - Cloud City - Entrance to Cloud City (115,445)







    If you get to Cloud City and don't have anything better than a flame blaster, you're pretty much screwed.  There's turrets all over the place that you can't hit with the flame blaster, so you pretty much have to jump over them and pray you don't take damage.  There's also flying security Droids all over the place that fire the ion blaster, so they can deplete your health rather quick.  I played this for a while tonight, so I'm not sure I will give it another try.  I may focus more on getting a better score on Paperboy 2.



    I must have played the game on Easy as a kid because I don't remember it being this hard.  Then again, the last time I played this game with any sort of regularity was probably between 18 and 20 years ago.  As soon as I got my N64 suring the summer of 1998, I wasn't playing much SNES.  I had all three Super Star Wars games as a kid/teen and I'm always shocked when I hear people say they are super difficult.  I was really good at them and was able to no-death each one at least a few times on Easy.  I did beat Empire on Jedi difficulty at least once, but never Return of the Jedi or Super Star Wars.  Empire was my first ever SNES game, so this one is my favorite of the three.  For those struggling with this one, here's some tips:

    • Level up the blaster to the Plasma and try to keep it.  Of course, this means not dying at all.  Luke takes a little longer to level up his blaster because he starts with the basic blaster, whereas Han and Chewbacca both start with the flame blaster.  The Plasma blaster can take out most enemies very, very quickly (including bosses) and makes things a whole lot easier, even as Luke.  There's times where his Lightsaber comes in handy, but I rarely use it on Hoth.  Fighting the Wampas in the ice caves is so much easier with a Plasma blaster.  Dagobah is the best place to use the Lightsaber, especially when fighting Swamp Creature Habogad at the end of Dagobah stage 3.  However, you have to use the Lightsaber when fighting Darth Vader in Cloud City.  If you try to use any of the blasters, he will just block your shots with his Lightsaber.

    • Luke's Lightsaber can block and sometimes deflect enemy attacks.  If you're not good with the blaster, Luke's Lightsaber can become a great defensive tool.  It can deflect Snowtrooper blasters, turret shots on the AT-AT, the ion blaster shots from the AT-AT cockpit boss (this is the easiest way to defeat it), and if you block with the Lightsaber in Echo Base under the falling beams, you will not take any damage.  It can also block so many more attacks.  Unfortunately, Han does not have this benefit, so your best bet against the falling beams is to either roll or bait them into falling.

    • Search for hidden stuff everywhere.  There's hidden extra lives, blaster power-ups, giant hearts, health Lightsabers, Force power-ups, and shields all over the game.  These can be found by either shooting them with a blaster or chopping them with the Lightsaber.  In the ice caves, there's air currents in many spots that if you hit just right, you jump up to a small area where you can find some of the aforementioned goodies.  Having Nintendo Power issue 53 is helpful in this regard because it shows where a bucnh of the hidden items are located.

    • Learn how to double jump.  It's not hard to do (just an extra tap of the jump button) and can help you get to hard to reach places and avoid enemy attacks.

    • I may be wrong on this, but I believe Chewbacca is invincible when he does his spin attack.  If this is the case, use this to your advantage when fighting hordes of enemies or tougher enemies.

    • You can use L and R at times to look up and down.  Use this when confronted with open air to search for nearby platforms before making a leap of faith.

    • Once Luke learns the Force powers in Dagobah (you have to search for them, you don't just get them), I recommend using Convert Force to Health at all times.  This comes in very handy during more difficult boss fights later in the game, especially with Swamp Creature Habogad and Darth Vader.  Elevation is helpful in Dagobah to get to higher places where the Force power-ups are located.  The Deflect Force power-up is pointless in my opinion since Luke can block/deflect a lot of attacks with his Lightsaber.  I believe it deflects certains attacks you wouldn't be able to deflect otherwise, but I'm not sure because I don't use it.  Super Lightsaber is pointless as well since it uses up Force power very quickly.  You're better off using your blaster.





    Paperboy 2:



    83,200







    Definitely getting the hang of this.
  • Unfortunately both of this month's games are too difficult for me.
  • Yeah, i hear ya about the blaster there, Bimmy. I died on the last Hoth battle and then ended up draining about 10 men trying to get past the boss after that. I'll take another attempt here this coming week. Haven't even cracked Paper Boy yet. Only got to play Star Wars a few times the first week of the month. That game takes a lot of time if you actually want to get anywhere.
  • Originally posted by: mbd39



    Unfortunately both of this month's games are too difficult for me.

    Indeed, but the bar is very low right now



     
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