Records: [NES] A-Type

[Kitaru]

So, I figured it was kind of silly that we had a Level 19 thread and not a regular thread for any starting level -- a few scores ended up in Miscellaneous Tetris Achievements. Seeing as a couple more NES players have joined the site, this seems like a fine time to start a proper thread.

You know the drill -- play A-Type starting from any level, no scoring glitches (e.g. start with a free tetris, etc.).

In the event of a tie, the record that achieved the score earliest (measured by Level x + y lines to account for any differences in level up progression).
For max-out scores, the player may submit the earliest fraction of a line that achieves a score of 999,999. (e.g. If a player is at 991k at zero lines into Level 28 and earns a tetris, accounting for the excess score puts their max-out at Level 28 + 1.03 lines.)

Rank--Name---------------   Score -   Level - Comment
   1--mobuco------------- 999,999 - 26+5.47 - NES (18)
   2--LouieSkouie-------- 999,999 - 27+3.00 - NES (18)
   3--Quaid-------------- 999,999 - 28+4.00 - NES (18) - max at 224 lines, not enough info for more accurate listing
   4--BenMullen---------- 999,999 - 28+8.65 - NES (18)
   5--SuPa--------------- 999,999 - 28+8.79 - NES (18)
   6--Eli---------------- 999,999 - 28+9.58 - NES (18)
   7--Thor--------------- 999,999 - 29+0.02 - NES (19) - Level 30 reached, 242 total lines
   8--Kitaru------------- 999,999 - 29+0.82 - NES (18)
   9--Jonas-------------- 999,999 - 29+0.98 - NES (18)
=====================================================
  10--DavidV------------- 977,962 - 29+?.00 - NES (18) - video of 957713 - 
  11--boblaze------------ 971,183 - 29+0.00 - NES (18) - video of 931260 -  - video of 851,273
  12--Christopher B------ 962,760 - 29+3.00 - NES (18)
  13--Joshua L. Tolles--- 956,468 - 29+?.00 - NES (18) - video of 849,740
  14--t2048-------------- 953,871 - 29+3.00 - NES (18)
  15--Chad Muse---------- 936,952 - 28+?.00 - NES (9)
  16--Dana--------------- 909,xxx -         - NES 
=====================================================
  17--Jesse-------------- 884,634 -         - NES 
  18--rizz1010----------- 878,720 - 29+0.00 - NES (18)
  19--Spectre255--------- 865,489 - 29+2.00 - NES 
  20--Mike W------------- 830,775 - 25+?.00 - NES 
  21--wasmachstdugern---- 828,663 - 24+1.00 - NES (18)
=====================================================
  22--tetrismattress----- 798,380 -         - NES 
=====================================================
  23--John Byram--------- 686,649 - 29+?.00 - NES 
  24--Jake--------------- 680,064 - 21+?.00 - NES (18)
  25--Daniel Anderson---- 668,515 -         - NES 
  26--DannyV------------- 650,654 - 25+?.00 - NES (18)
  27--FootofOrion-------- 642,945 -         - NES (12?)
  28--Mike Hayes--------- 642,603 -         - NES 
  29--Edo---------------- 640,883 - 19+6.00 - EMU (9)
  30--deepdorp----------- 636,193 - 22+?.00 - NES (15?)
  31--Cheston------------ 626,719 - 19+7.00 - NES (9)
  32--Ted Sotoropolis---- 620,260 -         - NES 
  33--y2drag------------- 614,039 - 24+?.00 - NES 
  34--BDCowe------------- 604,820 - 26+3.00 - NES (18)
=====================================================
  35--RichardV----------- 592,839 -         - NES 
  36--getzie------------- 575,500 - 25+2.00 - NES (18)
  37--Lew Krec----------- 556,684 -         - NES 
  38--zzymyn------------- 507,528 - 19+1.00 - EMU (9)
=====================================================
  39--an_ass------------- 460,058 - 19+5.00 - EMU (15)
=====================================================
  40--muf---------------- 220,209 - 16+5.00 - NES (9)

[Joshua L. Tolles]

If Person A were to start on Level 9, and get a max out on Level 26 with say 265 lines, that would be 3773 points per line. If Person B were to start on Level 18 and max out on Level 27 with perhaps 214 lines, that would be 4673 points per line. If Person C were to start on Level 19 and max out with 232 lines, that would be 4310 points per line.

To me, I would have to say that Person C was the most impressive. 1st
Person A was second most impressive. 2nd
Person B was impressive but not as impressive as the other two. 3rd

All that tells me is, we are going to have to bust out the calculus and develop some sliding scales.

[BenMullen]

the most efficent metric, i think, is a straigt "where did you max metric" at exactly which line of which level. Buco for instance maxed earlier than 207 if you calculate in the same fashion (although backwardsish) as we do for transition scores (which could also be tracked here as we all seem to speak of them often enough anyway).

A max even 1/100th of a line earlier than Bucos game, even if started from level 9 should be considered the winner (although as most of us play exclusivley 18 or 19 that probably wont come up... i bring it up mainly as a measure mathematically) but by using the score just before the last tetris we can derive more exact maxout placement by level and line. Bucos i think was like level 27 and 5.7lines or something. Its a mark i dont even have an interest in beating, its just too good.

I dont know if its possible to decide between games lower than max in a similar way, i have had mid and upper 800k's so early that i consider them some of my best games, although numerically they are not... I guess those just get lost maybe

So anyway... just incase people do use a non-18 start on this, the pts/line measure would seem to make their effort worse than it is and may prove a bad measure to use if several people were to show up and do that. Also... i think it might be fun to sort of "forget everything from the past for the purposes of this leaderboard (we could post all the past stuff seperatley but just reference a "start date" and have us all fill in with fresh scores now that so many people clearly kick so much ass

[Kitaru]

@Josh: You have a point. However, I think to be most straightforward with this particular leaderboard, I'd like to focus on linear metrics. If something like this were implemented in-game, I think the devs would have selected just one thing (such as fewest lines) rather than implement a complicated formula.

@Ben: I like the line recalculation. So, if someone maxes out at Level 27 + 6.x lines (regardless of total line count due to starting level differences), that would be considered the best record on this leaderboard? (The pts/line field was sort of a hold-over from the Level 19 thread, so we don't have to use it for anything if it proves unwieldy.)

Since this is a main leaderboard for the site, I think I'm going to go with all-time records to keep things unified. It does sound like a kind of neat idea, though. Maybe we can organize an event like the Carnival of Death and keep track of records over a more focused timeframe.

[BenMullen]

yes, level plus line is the most accurate way to do it because the game designers sort of pre-equalized the levels for roughly the same transition possibilities.

The whole notion is effectivley mute as most everyone will do 18, but level pluys line in level is the best i think.

[Joshua L. Tolles]

I assume the idea here is to keep the "starting on Level 19 competition" separate from this competition (starting on any level BUT 19?)? In that case, me previous post should be disregarded, as my point was that starting on Level 19 deserves extra credit.

[Kitaru]

I think the general case will be that a player's Level 0-18 scores beat their 19 scores, but a player is more than welcome to submit their 19 record to both threads if that earns them the best results in each.

[BenMullen]

alex... i feel antsy, add them scores in! the most accurate list i know of btw is my blog on TG... use that although it does not contain starting level and death line info

[Kitaru]

Ok, ok, the initial board is here. They're just based on the best videos that were available on YouTube at the moment, so I think some of the max-out champs might have some "faster" scores.

I'll try to pester some folks to get some more scores up here.

[Cheston]

Sure, I can be at the bottom of the list.

609504 - NES (9)

and
599615 - FC TWIN (9)
(not worth putting on the list, but I was surprised how close it was to my other high)

I've tried starting on levels above 9, but it never seems to work out for me.

[Kitaru]

It just so happens that being at the bottom of a list around these parts still denotes very skilled play. 600k is a strong score!

Plus, there are a couple of stragglers that told me they're waiting to submit when they get a score over 600k.

[BenMullen]

thats a nice looking list!

and its true, anything above 600k deserves and gets respect.

the level plus lines thereafter motif is nice... i like this!

[Edo]

  14--Edo---------------- 640,883 - 19+6.00 - EMU (9)

Cheston, I'll race you to 750,000! I think when I reach that score though, I'll have to buy myself a real NES; I'm currently playing on Jnes, and I guess it's not really fair to compare authentic scores to mine. As I live in PAL country, are there any things I need to look for when getting a console? Would a PAL copy of Tetris run slower than US?

[BenMullen]

alex will likely know more about this than me but try to avoid PAL tetris, its WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY harder! For this list, non NES varieties will be considered equal. I havent played an Emulator but those who have played both authentic and emulated versions have said they play about the same, so those scores are perfectly valid.

* The reason PAL is so much harder is that the peices far quite a bit more rapidly on 19 (probably on 18 and below as well)

a video to explain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTuGa60wt6A

oh and... GOOD score!!! as a transition score i think you may have one of the highest out there with this, which is AMAZING. I think my highest transition is about a 648, so this is a remarkable transistion!

[Cheston]

Originally Posted by Edo

Cheston, I'll race you to 750,000!

Okay!

As for non-NES varieties, I guess there is technically a way to exploit it on my FC Twin, since the extra buttons function as turbos and that can probably be abused if someone really practiced at it... like, if you learned how long to press it for exactly two rotations (seems to be impractically difficult, though).

I haven't been doing that.