Here at Twin Galaxies, we love a good high score and a record time. So each week we look deep in the wealth of Undisputed and Verified scores in the Twin Galaxies Adjudication Archive and dig up some spectacular recent scores! On this edition of the Scoreboard Spotlight, we check out an alternate leaderboard for an infamous game, dive into a Neo Geo shooter, and head to space with the Muppets.
Derek Camin - Strikers 1945 Plus (Arcade): Points
If there is one thing that the Neo Geo has in abundance it is quality shoot-em-up games. Derek Camin put up a solid performance on Strikers 1945 Plus. Anyone who is familiar with these sort of games are aware of just how challenging they can be, but Camin makes it all look so easy by weaving through bullets and timing his bombs just right. For those looking to give this one a shot, the original Strikers 1945 did launch on the Switch and the Plus version can be found on the PSP. Truth be told, the track Camin submitted to could use a little competition as he is the first score on the board. However, the bar has been set pretty high already.
Alex Lyons - Space Invaders (Atari 2600): Points
Space Invaders is a timeless game that goes hand in hand with the arcade environment. While the Atari 2600 port is not as robust as the arcade release, it’s still a prolific game that is fun to score points on. Alex Lyons did just that with his submission of 322,285 points on Game 1 Difficulty B with lots of rollovers. To get this sort of score, it takes precision, patience, and time. Really the most exciting thing about this submission is that it is only topped by a score of 621,535 by Frankie Cardulla that was set back in 2007. While there is still another 300,000 points to go, Lyons could put in the work to take the top spot. It’s always interesting to see how additional years or a determined player can upset longstanding records.
Tim O’Donnell - Donkey Kong (NES Classic): Points
Donkey Kong is probably one of the most infamous games here at Twin Galaxies (both in exciting and not-so exciting ways) for it’s score chasing potential. As these classics are given a new life in modern ways, it rekindles that spirit of competition without having to climb the mountain set by the top players of the original version. Tim O’Donnell grabbed the top spot on the NES Classic track of Donkey Kong with a solid run of 455,200. Of course that’s nowhere near the top scores on other versions, but for this leaderboard Tim tsqueaks out the second place, which could create a fun back and forth on the track. If it wasn’t for his phone dying and ending the recording, the score would’ve been higher too. This video is also broken into two parts.
Michael Antle - Mega Man 9 (Wii VC): Fastest Time
In speedrunning, it’s hard to go wrong with Mega Man and the return to form title Mega Man 9 maintains that pedigree. Built into the game is a time attack mode, which lets the player tackle a particular stage. Michael Antle puts the bees to work to take down Splash Woman’s stage in 2 minutes and 12.93 seconds. Runs like this take stage memory and nailing that boss pattern. While we mostly see full runs of Mega Man games, it’s interesting to see an individual level run. Mega Man titles continue to be timeless and most of them see a lot of modern play with re-releases and people revisiting classic consoles.
Greg Degeneffe - Pigs in Space (Atari 2600): Points
Scoring over a million points on just about any game is noteworthy, but easily taking the gold on a track with several million point scores is just awesome. Pigs in Space is a bit like Frogger in that there are dangers scrolling across the screen and the player has to cross safely to reach a goal at the top. Greg Degeneffe puts on the stamina pants and takes the top spot in a three hour session that scores 1,333,300 points. Fantastic consistency led to taking down a record that stood for ten years.
With the advent of Flash Carts, score chasing has really opened up as it is more convenient that ever to try out tons of games across the vast library that a system offers. This is likely what has made the Atari 2600 such a hot console to attempt scores on. That and most of the games offer simple gameplay with easy to understand scoring systems.
Bounty of the Week - Monster Hunter World (PlayStation 4): Fastest Time
With the reveal of the Monster Hunter World Championship, there has been a lot of alertness in that game when it comes to taking down monsters in the quickest fashion. Currently there is only one track on Monster Hunter World for the first arena quest. This is against a fairly simple monster to defeat the Pukei-Pukei, so there is a lot of technique that can be discerned.
Also players will have to pick a particular set of items, rather than their usual equipment, so it makes for a fun challenge. It’s also a single player run. Let’s see just how far we can take down this time. Find the track here.
Our last two bounties are still available too. Our first was for Metal Slug on the Switch with the second being a Shovel Knight Any% Speedrun on PC. These bounties are just fun ways to incite some competition in the community.
This covers our Scoreboard Spotlight for this week. As a reminder, these were just a few of exceptional records that were adjudicated and accepted recently. Every record that made it through verification and landed on our leaderboards has a well-deserved place in the Twin Galaxies gaming pantheon.
Keep scoring high and finishing fast and you just might end up on our next Scoreboard Spotlight!
To check out our previous Scoreboard Spotlight, in which we check out some impressive edutainment gameplay and more.
