I got bumped to 2nd place on cyberscore (for TDS) by a guy with some good scores. One happens to be 99,999,999 in Endless. If I were to play to 99,999,999, I'd reclaim first place overall. Endless mode has decided first place. Lame.
Sorry, I deleted my reply because I realized that you probably wouldn'tve gone for that. So what's the second game plan? Actually going to go for it? Oh, and if you haven't already seen this.
No, I mean do it for real. Like open your DS and make a rapid fire circuit, and then leave it on for the few months it would take. <EDIT> Heh, apparently it wasn't a reply to my post.
This reminds me of when I submitted my Wario Ware scores to Cyberscore, and my character scores (Wario, Intro, Jimmy, etc) annihilated everyone else's, but it was the individual microgames like the boring "Press A rapidly!" that decided first place...
I've upped a few of my scores but I'm not quite there. I guess I should be glad that the competition has made me work harder. I'm being bashed on the cyberscore forums. Who's got my back?
Whoa, did I sort of know you before Tetris? Crazy. I used to compete in that game over there. ...I'm also guilty of maxing out a crazy amount of the microgames.
Hmmm, apparently my scores are better than I remembered. This game was(/still is?) one of the most competitive on cyberscore. <img src="http://external.cyberscore.net/ww-inc-rankbutton-164.gif" width="88" height="31" alt="rank button">
sully, all i can suggest is to submit a video which cannot be fast-forwarded, of you going from 0 to max-out, which they will have to watch the entire video. it is stupid that they keep that chart since it is not a measure of tetris in any way, but just a 'how much you want it' measure. could they perhaps move it out of the tetrisDS charts and make a fully new game called, "TetrisDS* endless mode--(people who have too much time on their hands)" ? oh and your suggestion on their thread to only take scores at level 998 was right on, and the only way to measure tetris skill in endless mode. i'm sorry to say though, that i think you're fighting a losing cause with the people over there
Oh, I'd just like to add in my defense of maxing out WW charts... Even though there are no rules about this, I insisted on playing without pausing at all. Also, button mashers were the last ones I maxed. I got Orbulon and (almost) Dr. Crygor maxed (!!). I was pretty proud of maxing F-Zero... It's been too long for me to remember other good ones though. Individual microgames took maybe 20 minutes to max, if I remember correctly, which doesn't seem unreasonable. Yet most people still couldn't even if they wanted to... There is something to be said for endurance. Though TDS Endless takes this to an unfortunate extreme. Tetris is much more fun when played for more than survival. Sully, even though Endless doesn't really measure skill, I'm afraid it's a chart that belongs on cyberscore. It's a shame that all charts are created equal... But speaking as the guy who designed the algorithms for CSP and CSR (which I randomly am), there's no easy way around this issue. It requires human judgement to rate merit of individual charts, which would be an absurd amount of work to actually implement. And not really possible with newly released games. If anything, maybe it would be possible to see "core game" and "extended game" rankings. Everything would start off as extended (including every chart), and a core subset could be created on request. ...that's still not a perfect solution though so it may not be worth the effort. Here's some advice: Enjoy competition on the per-chart level, not the overall game level. It's all about fun right? Just play what you want <i>and ignore the rest</i>. Note that last part. It's just a game, not "SERIOUS BUSINESS".
As sucky as it is, you may just have to accept that cyberscore values time spent as highly as actual skill. The only remaining question you need to answer is "Is it worth wasting 10-20 hours of my life to reclaim the #1 spot on an online ranking system" If the answer is yes, then go do it. And make sure your name is written on bit of paper next to your ds when you take the pic because you just know people will call shenanigans on you now
I seriously doubt that I'll play to 99,999,999, but if I do, you can rest assured that I'd stop at EXACTLY 99,999,999 so it would appear in my records. I'm sure that I could improve the rest of my scores tremendously with that time, anyway.
Start with Mission. The Mission Marathon scores on cyberscore are surprisingly weak. If you snag first there, it should be enough to put you back in first overall.
I put a lot of effort recently into Touch Tower which I absolutely DO NOT not like playing, particularly 4 and 5. My scores are decent but have a lot of room for improvement. I still can't see how those japanese got THREE 10/11 line chains- there just doesn't seem to be enough pieces. I've been wanting to work on Catch mode, as I'm sure I can get at least 15 million, but I always screw up one detonation and start over. I've also put some effort into Standard Marathon and Line Clear and I think I can get first place scores in both. I also want to get that elusive first place in Mission 3, but I simply CAN NOT beat TUSM's time. Bastard.
Would it be an interesting AI puzzle to make a computer search for touch solutions? Or is the branching factor too high?
i've been thinking a lot about the touch tower thing.... based upon your ability to pause it as it's loading you could take a bunch of digital pics and line them up to make a map of the whole thing... then you could fairly easily get the 10x11's (or whatever they're called). if you get 9999999 on endless... does it only count toward your tetris points if it gets saved to your records? just wondering....
