Lurker > -hotdogturtle--

You are probably one of the only people left on the site who actually has multiple qualifying alts for this.

Now that's a true injustice.

Also RIP to all the badminton fans who may join GameFAQs in the future.

I don't really check the results every single day, but it feels like whenever there's a song that I care enough about to check its results, it loses.

Tyrian Maze - Inner Chamber
Ephemeral Glory B
Abstract Map

The songs in match 2 are kind of... similar, in my opinion. And great, now I can feel bad about voting against Kirby Air Ride a second time.

banananor posted...

the "ideal" tournament might be some kind of double elim, but that would take absolutely forever

Round robin is the only fair way.

Wasn't it made for SNES though, during the actual years of the contest's span? That's different than a homebrew made for SNES in the current decade.

Zigzagoon posted...

Lycanroc 2 Star

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/6/9/AASP7CAADYcp.jpg

...Nah, I'm just kidding, that's not it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/7/0/AASP7CAADYcq.jpg

You hit Rockruff with an apple and Lycanroc gets angry at you. They're both roaming before you do anything with them, so there's some freedom to optimize their positions ahead of time. It looks like they angled Rockruff in a way to get good side direction to squeeze out the most bonus points. Mandibuzz's nest gives background in this shot.

For me:
Pokemon Snap
Sonic Advance
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
Maybe Perspective, but it's so short and so late at night that I'll probably miss the narrow window when it's on.

Super Mario Maker 2 can be good as long as you're able to tolerate the personalities of the players.

Kenri posted...

Wishiwashi 4*?

Specifically the one I'm thinking of is where it's chasing Wailord at the end of the stage (if that one's even used for a high scoring shot). I think in the last topic I mistakenly asked for Wailord 4* instead <__<

I know the one you're talking about, but that shot isn't used for any Wishiwashi high scores. Wishiwashi's 4 star record is creating the whirlpool:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/2/AASP7CAADYb6.jpg

However, it is Wailord's own 3 star strat:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/3/AASP7CAADYb7.jpg

It works itself out that this is better for Wailord than anything else in Reef or Undersea. Even though you can barely see Wishiwashi behind it, it still gives a big enough bonus to be worth it.

CassandraCain posted...

Nice. Next I would like to go with Beartic 3* since I just got a pic of it that scored a little over 6k. Which is now easily my highest scoring photo.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/8/6/AASP7CAADYbW.jpg

This is the highest non-Illumina/legendary photo in the game (and iirc the first one of such to reach 6000). It has a little no, a lot of everything. There's a bit of an issue though, that this pose is one of the few poses known to have been altered in the 2.0 patch. The part of the animation where he looks straight at you doesn't give 1000 points anymore; the timing was changed so the 1000 pose occurs at a point with bad direction (nerfed because they didn't want a single picture to score this high?). That means that scores over 6.3k are now impossible to get. Using the next best thing that compromises between pose and direction, you can get 6.2k, but it's a little harder.

oneofcircles posted...

So each star is a unique photo-op?

Correct. Every possible animation and interaction that a Pokemon has while they're on the course is designated a star level. So as you're taking pictures, they'll always be sorted into four groups. 1 star is normal behavior like a common pose, or just standing there doing nothing. 4 stars are generally the most special interactions, often an interaction with another Pokemon or the environment that you have to set up with your tools. Of course looking back through this topic, I can see how it wouldn't be clear from the pictures because these are some crappy 4 stars.

Lycanroc's 4 star is doing a happy reaction after eating an apple, which is more commonly commonly 2 stars for most Pokemon.
Heracross is confusing if you haven't seen it because it's an interaction that can be 3 or 4 stars depending on how you take the shot.
Ledian is a an easy interaction (just light the flower and they come out) so I personally think it doesn't make sense for it to be 4 stars.

Usually the 4 star shots are more interesting!

I guess you can think of it as, like, not necessarily rarer from a gameplay perspective, but in-universe, Pokemon behaviors that would be more unusual to see out in the wild.

Neko Nabe
Tunnel Vision (HIROSHI WATANABE Remix)
Blue Orb

Hey, I just realized something. For years the reason that they denied raising the character limit back up to 20 was because it caused issues with the universal system. This went so far as to create the issue of 16-20 character names having to pick a different login name, resulting in the current situation. If they're allowing users to pick longer names now, doesn't that officially confirm that the length issues are entirely cleared up in the backend and they hypothetically could be supported? Of course now they won't change it for new registrations because it was offered as a "perk" to legacy users and it would be "unfair" to take away their exclusive feature.

Is card-based movement the newest modern trend for games that want to have "unique" mechanics different that simply controlling your character? Seems like every genre has a card fusion game now.

At least they're letting you keep the long name this time...

I bet the spaces wouldn't have caused so many lingering issues if they didn't unsupport them in the first place!

Lopen posted...

I still see spaces

Is it the skin I'm using? (GameFAQs Version 13)

Spaces are dying on July 7th, and this time it's not optional.

A lot of people are going to be very unhappy. Including myself. I hate the look of underscores and I appreciate every pre-2004 user who has been active enough to deny changing their name every other time the site offered it.

Abstract Map
Battle! (Arceus) ~ Phase 4
Nature

Match 1 was surprisingly the closest for me, because I tend not to like SNES music, and Kirby is always a safe go-to. But in the end the vocal(?) sound in Abstract Map was what pushed it ahead for me (another thing that I never say).

Underleveled posted...

Ledian 4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/5/7/AASP7CAADYGl.jpg

This shot looks really basic, but it's actually a good demonstration of synergy mechanics at work. It's been empirically proven that the formula for synergy points is (Pose+Size+Direction)/5, or in English, 20% of what the side Pokemon's score would be other than Placement. Assuming that the side Ledian has the exact same stats as the main Ledian here, you can see the math work out (this is how, in some cases, we can work out a theoretical max score for a shot that isn't anywhere close yet). They also have synergy placement, which is the ability to aim at the point directly between two bodies' main hitboxes and it counts as its own placement spot, hence 1000 here.

The photo itself looks quite boring and I can't imagine why they made this interaction count as 4 stars in the first place.

Zigzagoon posted...

Lycanroc 3 Star

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/5/3/AASP7CAADYGh.jpg

This shot used to be taken in front of the bloom in the oasis area until people got more adventurous with their luring. This is the Lycanroc that normally hangs around the split path section. It's the only one in the course that does the eye beams when you orb it. It's lured down the hill in order to take it at the same spot as the 4 star. On a more casual level, there are alternatives to either take this one in front of the single bloom (less background), or take one eating (less pose) in front of the double background, both of which can get a relatively painless 5100.

CassandraCain posted...

Hmm, I too can't remember all the ones that were done before, so I'll just pick Heracross 4* and if it was already done we can switch it to a different star rank.

I consulted the logs and it turns out that someone actually did request Heracross 4 in my last topic. So instead I'll give you Heracross 3.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/5/1/AASP7CAADYDX.jpg

Surprise, it's the same picture. This is one of those weird cases where two record shots have the same composition. This is the scene where Sylveon comes out and breaks up Heracross/Pinsir fighting. The trigger for making this a 4 star photo is getting Sylveon in the shot with Heracross. So what this shot does is zoom in slightly more so Sylveon is missing, and it turns into 3 star. It's still high scoring because it's getting points from Pinsir and the whole background.

oneofcircles posted...

As someone who has never played this game, what is the significance of the star rating? Clearly it isn't just points.

They're basically different types of categorization that exist to increase the variety. In Snap 64 your report saved 1 scored photo of each Pokemon. In this game the Photodex tracks 4 photos of each Pokemon, and they are all scored and saved independently of each other. This allows you to experience more of the action and not let so much of the game's content go to waste.

Mars
Move Me
Ethnic Cave & Flame

Punnyz posted...

then they complain the game sucked. You didn't play it normally!

There are a few instances where I've gotten frustrated over people not playing a game "correctly", but those are independent of the main question that this topic is asking. (Clarification: This is mostly related to watching people play games on Twitch and being bad and then complaining about the game for reasons that I don't consider valid.)

I can't think of any case where I've felt "back in my day..." about quality-enhancing improvements to games.

Nothing really good on my wishlist... Which is the indicator that I should probably get around to removing stuff from my wishlist that I'm not going to buy for myself.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Kirby's Dream Land 3

Underleveled posted...

Qwilfish 3

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/1/AASP7CAADXzR.jpg

For a long time this picture was capped at 4800 due to a lack of other Pokemon anywhere in the area, although for whatever reason no one actually went for the perfect 4800 until around 2 months ago. So where did the second Qwilfish come from? That's an even newer development from the end of last month. You have to inflate one of the earlier Qwilfish in the level, and then while you're in front of this one, you bonk the first one, which makes it fly all over the screen like a popped balloon. With good timing you can get it zipping past the background here, which finally broke a maxed score.

On a personal note Qwilfish 3 is my oldest remaining shot in my Photodex, with 4768 from 4/30/2021 02:44:18 (that is, 2 hours and 44 minutes after I first started playing the game at midnight release). Of course it took a little while before I realized how lucky my first ever Qwilfish shot was. It's at the point where I've avoided trying to improve it because I don't want to overwrite my nostalgic oldest picture.

Zigzagoon posted...

Lycanroc 4 Star

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/1/6/AASP7CAADXzM.jpg

A double background shot (bloom + tornado) that's surprisingly not difficult for what it is. The angle for fitting the tornado in the shot is lenient, and Lycanroc is a very cooperative Pokemon to lure thanks to good eyesight and quick running speed. Lycanroc is a Pokemon that can get side direction (meaning that you can get up to 1000 Direction score from a profile side view) and I have a vague memory from last year that it was one of the earliest non-obvious Pokemon to be discovered as such. At the time we thought that it might have been a carryover from sharing a Photodex spot with Lycanroc Midday Form (since a lot of quadupedal or long Pokemon were blatantly intended to be shot from the side), but over time as we found more, it turns out that they just gave it to some other Pokemon for whatever reasons.

I did this a few months ago and it was kinda fun. (Old topic: 79905244) Choose any Pokemon in the game and a star level (1-4). I will post the known world record and a little blurb about the shot/strat from the perspective of a competitive high score player. A fun learning experience for everyone.

One request per person at a time please, but after I do yours you can post another one. Topic will go until I don't feel like updating.

The Spirit of the Mountain
Panditah of the 7th Mountain
MAD LAST WORLD

Espeon

Illusionary Blue Flowers
Home Sweet Home
stg_travel_2_3

Heracross

ShatteredElysium posted...

Never really liked his design, I assume his popularity is just tied to him being OP as hell and the original main legendary

Well... Yeah? What else would it be? It's no different than starter Pokemon being popular "because they're starters."

CHAMPION RITUAL
SaGa Frontier 2 Medley A -LoV Edit-
Para Bellum

I was torn on CR at first because the beginning is slightly annoying and takes almost 2 minutes to get to the main part of the song. But once it starts, it's better than BoF.

Bulbasaur
Espeon

Usually games with a price (and no prior background) need momentum to gain popularity as people need to be convinced that it's worth buying. Free games often experience their peak popularity right at the beginning since there's no risk and everyone plays at once. That's what I thought happened with Fall Guys.

Though being free on PS probably explains it. Enough free players made the content for everyone else to watch and consume, so people on other consoles bought it based on that.

Dels posted...

fall guys is a very good game and completely worth money. what's with the condescending attitude?

Not condescending. I literally didn't know.

Paratroopa1 posted...

I think it either just recently went free to play or it's about to

People actually paid money for this game? Holy shit. I thought it was another one of those flavor-of-the-month games that specifically went big because it was free.

Accelerate ~ Night City (My Alien Girlfriend)
Highland Fields: Grass Ruins
DESIRE

Alien Girlfriend ended up being one of my favorite discoveries from the noms. I have no idea what this game is, but it's hard for me to imagine this playing in a game. It sounds like the type of "regular music" (non-vgm) that I would normally listen to.

2nd match is the only one that's even kind of close.

Routing
Bamboo Boogaloo (Past)
Route 113

Maybe this is that "GBA bias" that was being discussed on Discord, but I wonder how Route 113 got into this contest. I can't imagine that anyone is sitting around thinking "hmm I feel like listening to Pokemon Route 113 right now." That being said it is pretty interesting when trying to listen to it objectively and not consider context.

Espeon
Gengar

=|

Cyndaquil
-----

For once I'm actually skipping a match (since the format allows me to do so without feeling bad). They're both extremely bland Pokemon that I don't have a shred of interest for, and neither of them has a single noteworthy thing to even make me prefer one over the other.

Thran Asteroid Qwark's Hideout
xxxx/xx/xx (Remix)
Proof of the existence

It's still stupid that they removed the highest karma list because it "never changed" and yet the Birthday badge is supposed to be the new equivalent.

further concluded that, based on the volume of reports, the amount of misconduct reflected is comparatively low for a company the size of Activision Blizzard

"Actually, everyone else is even worse than us!"

LAST CALL
Jupiter Guns Novel (Long Version)
Under Pressure

Krokorok
Mewtwo