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Challenge Mode Scores (the sequel)

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From: SnapDragon | Posted: 4/3/2002 10:55:01 AM | Message Detail

Welcome to the new official topic for Challenge Mode score competition. The old topic reached the 500 post limit, and since interest in competing in this fantastic game has done anything but wane, a new one is definitely called for! We may want to copy and paste over a few of the strategy posts from the old one.

Anyone is welcome to post their scores here and get some recognition, even if they're not in the running for the high-score charts. Don't be intimidated by the scores here; many of us have played each individual level hundreds of times, and there's no shame in not reaching that level of hardcoreness. :)

Here is the leader board as it stands at the end of the previous topic. It's getting pretty hard to rank by now... if enough people start competing, we may need to expand the lists beyond the top 5!

Impact Site:
1. 278 (TomatoMan)
2. 273 (Snapdragon)
2. 273 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
2. 273 (Jimithingr)
2. 273 (Ferret5317)
2. 273 (spenser)

Forest of Hope:
1. 569 (Snapdragon)
2. 568 (topoftheclass)
3. 544 (spenser)
4. 528 (redpichead)
5. 442 (TomatoNan)

Forest Navel:
1. 439 (Snapdragon)
2. 397 (redpichead)
2. 397 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
2. 397 (Ferret5317)
5. 390 (Jimithingr)

Distant Spring:
1. 516 (Snapdragon)
2. 425 (redpichead)
3. 402 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
4. 399 (Souja246)
5. 395 (Jimithingr)

Final Trial:
1. 299 (Snapdragon)
2. 281 (redpichead)
3. 232 (Ferret5317)
4. 223 (TomatoMan)
5. 218 (Kingfisher)

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/3/2002 11:36:49 AM | Message Detail

Thanks for creating the new topic, Snap; I think it's fitting and proper that it was you! :)

I also like the idea of maybe moving to a top-10 score list if people are up for it, subject to the usual kinds of verifications for score claims: either a screenshot or a lot of posts by a regular we all trust. :)

Lastly, I don't know what happens when a board hits 500 on this system; my hope is it doesn't disappear entirely, but it just locks up so no new posts can be added. Just in case, though, I've archived the original board in its entirety, and I can make it available if it turns out something calamatous happens with the earlier thread.

Onwards! Woo hoo hoo!

From: topotheclass | Posted: 4/3/2002 12:16:44 PM | Message Detail

Thanks for the "new" topic Snap! It's only fitting that you, Lord Of All Things Pikmin, be the one to revive this most excellent board.

My latest...

The Distant Spring - 383

Still not that great, compared to the greats :) but movin' on up. I had tons of stuff on the way at the end, so I'm pretty sure 400 will fall soon.

As to Forest of Hope, I've taken a bit of a break from it. Not that I'm discouraged at Snap's reaching perfection before me (it is fitting, after all), but rather it just got to be tedious, playing for 15 minutes and then losing one guy and having to restart. Besides, DS is fun, and a lot more challenging than FOH, since I haven't got a definite strategy worked out yet (and I refuse to look at Snap's video for hints).

That's it for now. Keep on Pikin', all.

From: Kingfisher | Posted: 4/3/2002 12:40:21 PM | Message Detail

Great new thread!

I'm glad to see this topic stay alive.

As for the top 10.. Now that's a good idea! Maybe I can see my name more than once (and for more than a day) :) HA!

Snap, you were talking about your FN strategy. I don't want to be pushy and ask you to reveal any secrets, but I hope you won't mind answering two questions.

1st - Do you know what the highest possible score is?

2nd - Do you just prefer to flick a few piks at each building obstacle and let them work while the horde goes elsewhere or do you swarm walls/bridges?

I use the first method but have been trying the second some.

ACTUALLY, anybody's input on this would be great.

---
This is a "Ruuunnn, Little Man, Ruuunnn" scenario.

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/3/2002 2:53:56 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 411

Yay! My first score on the new thread! I love this level! Anyway, my buddy Dave (JimiThingR) is staying a couple of days at my place starting tonight and we'll probably be hitting Forest Of Hope pretty hard. I'm going to see if I can pass up redpichead's 425 before Dave gets here. That should secure my spot on the list for a little while.

I still need to start getting more than one pearl. Ugh.

From: topotheclass | Posted: 4/3/2002 2:55:23 PM | Message Detail

And he squeaks into third spot...

The Distant Spring - 404

For the first time I am able to see one of my scores on my own home system, as I was finally able to displace redpic's former fifth place score of 402. And there's tons of room for improvement. For one, it took me a looong time to beat the puffy blowhog in the water. I see 4-and-a-quarter as being very achievable. Later...

From: topotheclass | Posted: 4/3/2002 2:59:32 PM | Message Detail

Oops, my previous post assumed Nathan's 402. He posted his 411 while I was composing my post. I hereby humbly relinquish third place (which I probably held for about 3 minutes) and take up cozy residence in fourth.

...for now...

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/3/2002 3:07:44 PM | Message Detail

Hey Topo (I think I'll start abbreviating your name....except that it smacks of Topo Gigo, Ed Sullivan's little rodent buddy):

You're making me nervous. Stop, ye fiend!

Just kidding. You're giving me reason to keep playing hardcore.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/3/2002 3:25:21 PM | Message Detail

Nathan - you're getting 411 with one pearl?!

I'm in the 350s and 360s with two. What on earth are you doing?! :) (Don't tell me.)

What I would like to know is how you kill the friggin' puffstools without losses. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I look down and see 15 deaths - but on-screen, the fights look the same. I can't tell what's happening. It's really p'ing me off!

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/3/2002 3:48:24 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 416

Still just the one pearl.

Killing the Puffstool: I have a pretty foolproof way of doing this. I like to have at least 40 Pikmin. I swarm him very tightly and he flips over rather quickly from all the attacks. Then I call all of my guys, stand back a little bit and start C-Stick throwing at his upturned stem. If you master this technique you can kill him with one round of guys, and it usually only takes about 40 so long as a bunch of them are red. However, I did notice (as TomatoMan stated before) that sometimes the Puffstool mysteriously kills a couple of guys. There are no Pikmin death rattles or little Pikmin spectres, though....your number of guys just magically drops off by one or two. Strange, the Puffstool is incapable of killing Pikmin - unless he turns them into mushroom Pikmin which never happens to me. I think it's just a glitch.

I need to start getting a second pearl. I'm noticing that my limit for my current strategy is probably somewhere between 430-440 which is a far cry from 500. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

We've got some intense competition here! Keep it up guys and nice work!

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/3/2002 6:04:21 PM | Message Detail

I'm not anywhere close to any scores here (my best is 196 on IS and I haven't tried the others yet), but from trying the no death challenge, I'm pretty sure I know why you lose a couple of Pikmin 'mysteriously' to the Puffstool. I kept having the same problem with Spotty Bulbears. One Pikmin dies, no death note, no ghost, just a drop from 100 to 99 Pikmin in the field. I'm fairly certain I know the cause, and for Puffstool the solution as well.

You are losing a Pikmin when you kill Puffstool because Puffstool's carcass is toppling over and squashing one (or a few) of your Pikmin that was attacking the base rather than being up on its body. When I swarm a Bulbear and it dies, it always topples to a side. Occasionally a Pikmin gets squashed by the toppling carcass. For the Puffstool, it should be sufficient simply to make sure you call back ALL of the Pikmin that you used to knock it over and make sure any Pikmin you toss to attack it land on the body and not on the ground.

That's what I'm fairly certain is happening anyway. Comments anyone? :-)
---
I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/3/2002 6:16:13 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 463

Yeah, it should be pretty obvious what the improvement here was. Another pearl. I had no idea how easy the pearl in the back of the level is to get! All you have to do is sneak a handful of blues around the frogs and jar the pearl loose. Then if you put 6 guys on the pearl the frogs cannot catch it so you don't have to worry about killing them. And to think, I believed the double-bridge pearl was the easiest of the three! Yeesh!

I think I'm safe from harm now (in 2nd place by almost 40). Dave will be here in about 2 hours so, like I said, we'll mostly be playing FoH and Distant Spring will get little attention.

It's going to take a ton of hard work to get onto the FoH leaderboard. I hope I can eventually pull it off!

Hehehe, speaking of "Another Pearl," it just so happens that this is the title of track 6 on Badly Drawn Boy's "The Hour of Bewilderbeast" album. It's one of my favorites, too! Check it out if you get a chance.

From: RockMFR 5 | Posted: 4/3/2002 8:19:57 PM | Message Detail

I've got it archived, too!

Hey Snap, why don't you start playing MK:SC? I would love to see what times you could get in that game...

---
Currently Playing: SONIC ADVENTURE 2 BATTLE <SSBM-290> <P11-DC>
"Left Side: You are... Right Side: An *******!" ~ The Rock

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/4/2002 1:55:46 PM | Message Detail

I've been tooling around on the Final Trial, trying to raise my 223. No dice so far. As always, there just doesn't seem to be enough time. I can beat the baddies, but not in time to get the big pellets back.

One thing I *have* found, though, is that flowered pikmin make a HUGE difference when you have to fight frogs. When I take on the frog on FT, with about 55 pikmin, if they're not flowered I have lost as many as 35 in the battle. (At which point I start over, of course.) Flowered ones seem to do a better job holding him down.

The only way to the blue 20 by the firespouts is to bring the blues up the ramp, throw them up to the level right below the 20, then run all the way back around, over the bridges, through the gate, over the firespouts to pick them up and get them on the 20, right? There's no way you can just get up there yourself and bringing them over the firespouts is probably impossible. I think the timing of this piece is one of the problems I'm having.

From: SnapDragon | Posted: 4/4/2002 2:18:19 PM | Message Detail

Nathan: Yeah, it was pretty silly of you not to even look into getting the other pearls in the level. :) The one by the Fiery Blowhogs isn't quite as easy to get, but it's still obviously worth it overall. As with your second pearl, just put 4-6 Pikmin on the pearl and they should run past the Blowhogs with ease. Anyway, good job getting 2nd! (or 3rd, as the case may be...)

Regarding the "disappearing Pikmin": Yes, this is a common problem; I've mentioned it before, and it's very annoying. It never happens with full-sized Bulborbs and Bulbears, but it happens (infrequently) with the Dwarf versions, and it happens all the time with Yellow Wollywogs. To prevent it, be very sure to have all of your Pikmin away from the creature before it finishes dying. The only way you'll be able to tell if you fail is by watching your Pikmin counter. I've never had a problem with it on the Puffstools, personally... I guess just because of the way I fight them.

Tomato: I've always just taken the Blues over the fire spouts. Use the C-stick to keep them against the wall, and wait for that spout to stop firing.

RockMFR: I did compete in MKSC, briefly. I soon decided I wasn't really interested, and the fact that there was no decent ranking page didn't help. My times are at http://www.geocities.com/snapdragon64/mksc/times.htm

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/4/2002 2:49:16 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 470

Yesterday was the "Great Memory Card Disaster." Dave and I were playing Distant Spring and switching off memory cards so that our scores would save to our own cards. We didn't want anyone else's scores on our cards. Well, it all turned out well for Dave. He's still got only his personal scores. But I also have ALL HIS SCORES! I knew it was a bad idea to switch cards without powering down the Cube, but whenever we exited out to the title screen, switched cards, and went back to Challenge Mode - the new card would be loaded. So there was no problem. Except that I forgot to go to the title screen when I put my card in. I ended up getting a 450-something and HIS scoreboard came up. So I started freaking and we turned off the Cube without saving. But to no avail. The Pikmin files were both identical already. I think this happened because of the GameCube's excellent memory.

So today I woke up and did one run on Distant Spring and got the 470. That was a relief. But my Impact Site scoreboard went from all 273's to one 273 and the rest 260's. And my two 397's in Forest Navel are gone, too.

It was a stupid idea to switch cards back and forth. Nintendo puts that "please don't touch the memory card or power button" warning up when you save for a reason. It's too easy to ruin files when you goof around with stuff.

But my scores still stand. They are not saved to a card but they are there. In the annals of history. And I'll have them back shortly.

From: Destiny I | Posted: 4/4/2002 3:51:44 PM | Message Detail

The only 2 levels I've been trying lately are:

The Forest Of Hope: 436
Distant Spring: 344

(I still do not know how to end a bold message)

On TFOH I keep going to slow when getting my first 100 Pikmin, the first-quarter bell indicator goes off before I even have them.

As for the DS I am just not working as fast as I can.

---
"But Anyway you look at it, he still has more hair than Clive!" - Ryan Stiles (Hoedown about Colin Mochrie)

From: Emmit310 | Posted: 4/4/2002 7:09:36 PM | Message Detail

Wow, when I got my 325 I got 2 pearls. Is there a third pearl in the level that you speak of? I know about the fiery blowhog pearl and the double bridge but where is the last one?
---
Hot Dogs and Hamburgers are the same thing, Just shaped differently.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/4/2002 8:36:14 PM | Message Detail

The Distant Spring - 425

Just for the records... :)

---
http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/4/2002 10:00:53 PM | Message Detail

Pikmin Leaderboard - April 4

Impact Site:
1. 278 (TomatoMan)
2. 273 (Snapdragon)
2. 273 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
2. 273 (Jimithingr)
2. 273 (Ferret5317)
2. 273 (spenser)

Forest of Hope:
1. 569 (Snapdragon)
2. 568 (topotheclass)
3. 544 (spenser)
4. 528 (redpichead)
5. 442 (TomatoMan)

Forest Navel:
1. 439 (Snapdragon)
2. 397 (redpichead)
2. 397 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
2. 397 (Ferret5317)
5. 390 (JimiThingR)

Distant Spring:
1. 516 (Snapdragon)
2. 470 (Nathan Ian Bowers)
3. 425 (redpichead)
3. 425 (Ferret5317)
5. 404 (topotheclass)

Final Trial:
1. 299 (Snapdragon)
2. 281 (redpichead)
3. 232 (Ferret5317)
4. 223 (TomatoMan)
5. 218 (Kingfisher)

The only board that really needed updated was Distant Spring, but I went ahead and reprinted the rest of the list as well just so it would be viewable on page 2 of this topic. Less than a week ago there were 3 scores on Distant Spring in the 300's....now you need at least 404 to crack the 5th spot. The com heating up like....things that aren't hot but start to get hot when things around them heat them up. Was that a lousy simile?

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/5/2002 4:06:38 AM | Message Detail

Forest of Hope - 453

I'm tossing my chips onto the table for this level now, too (*ante ante ante*). That puts me in 5th place, but I am going to have to work extremely hard to get any higher. After all, I have to break 500 to do so. But for now I'm happy. I'm on my fourth leaderboard.

I should be able to easily collect the pearl by the matchbox during the same run I took to get 453. It shouldn't be very difficult. I'm looking forward to seeing my first 500!

I've only done about 15-20 runs in FoH so I think this is a very good score for being relatively inexperienced at the level. Then again, after fighting such a vast array of enemies in the Distant Spring I find it very easy to mow through FoH. And perfection does not seem unobtainable.

I'll be back.

From: brucedawson | Posted: 4/5/2002 11:13:14 AM | Message Detail

SnapDragon - what's your technique for fighting the Puffstool that avoids the mysterious disappearing Pikmin? This happens far too frequently too me - it complicated my nine days/zero deaths quest, forcing me to retry that day more times than I should have needed to.

Also, those mysterious deaths do sometimes happen with full sized Bulbears. I have that problem occasionally on DS. Not too often though.

Regarding the memory cards, my daughter had that problem too. My tests suggested that challenge mode scores are *only* loaded from the memory card when you first run the game. Thus, if you want to switch cards in Challenge mode you have to power down. She ended up copying my scores to her card because of that. I'd call it a bug.

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/5/2002 12:01:08 PM | Message Detail

I have a question directed to all those that have gotten a perfect IS run and have watched Tomato's video. I noticed something on the 278 run that I'm confused about.

Right at the beginning, the breadbug always goes for one of the red 1 pellets. In the replay, when Tomato goes after it, the breadbug has just emerged and grabbed a blue pellet. But I can see it in the background at the start of the replay.

So what happened? Why was it just emerging again when Tomato went after it? I wouldn't think it had time to steal the red 1 pellet, but I can't tell for sure. If you aren't sure what I mean, take a look at the replay again. Just as Tomato runs to grab the first 3 red pikmin, you can see the breadbug in the background running off after something, presumably the red pellet.

I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE that has gotten a 264 or 273 has missed this, but I can't explain the 278 with this either. I've seen the breadbug steal that red pellet on my games, so I know it doesn't just drop it somewhere. But Tomato doesn't go after it until it is emerging for the second time.

Please, I am really confused by this. What am I not understanding?
---
I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/5/2002 12:25:57 PM | Message Detail

Ahlyis,

Here's the deal with the breadbug. He's lazy, and always goes for the nearest exposed pellet. By knocking down the blue flowers before he appears and leaving the blue pellets there, they're closer than the red he will go for by the firespout, and he'll grab a blue instead. Throw two blues on him and you've got bonk number one.

Then, when he survives the bonk (and it's important that he does, so don't hurt him beforehand), he'll shake it off and go for the next nearest pellet, which is the blue near the blue onion if you've cleared the red by the blue onion beforehand. The blues that dragged him for the first bonk will go idle under the onion, and when the breadbug starts dragging the other blue back to his hole, he will go right under the blue onion enroute. The idle blues will grab him and you get bonk number two, and you get full credit for the two blues without having to get them yourself.

It works well, and leaves you a few extra seconds where you don't have to manage him and can do other things.

It's important, though, that you not hit him before he gets bonked for the first time, because if he's not at full strength, the first bonk will kill him. Then you might have a case where he drops a blue 5, but he himself falls near the center, and the 3 idle blues will grab him, and that will throw your ratios off unless you can whistle them back in time while you're doing whatever else you're doing.

Kind of sick that I know all this, but there it is.

I'd just like to reiterate how much I suck at all of the other levels. I've been wrestling with DS a lot lately, and still haven't broken 240. Seems if I take on the beady longlegs with more than about 10 yellows I always lose some, and with 10 it takes forever. And I have no idea how to beat the bird with no losses; I know the general tactic of throwing pikmins where you think he's going to come up so they land right on his head and go to work, but he doesn't always come up in the same place and he always eats 10-15 of my guys before the battle's over. And I ALWAYS run out of time. Thpt!

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/5/2002 12:31:32 PM | Message Detail

Oops, I forgot one thing on the breadbug. This is very esoteric but it's important.

You're right, when the level starts he pops right up and heads for the red pellet, way before you have time to throw a distractor at him. HOWEVER, if you manage your viewing direction so that he is NOT IN VIEW while he does this, most of the time he won't grab it, but re-submerge up there and come out again in his normal place, by which time you've got the blues exposed and it doesn't matter anymore. He might drag it a little distance and drop it. If he is onscreen, i.e. if you watch him do this, he WILL hang onto the red and that messes everything up.

You might get the sense in the 278 run that I'm avoiding looking up there at the start. That's absolutely true, and a key part of the strategy. Look at him doing his thing and it's over. Once in a while he'll do it even if you aren't looking, but most of the time he seems to want to be "on camera" when he's dragging pellets. Crazy but true.

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/5/2002 12:38:55 PM | Message Detail

Ah, thanks for that last piece of info. Your first post didn't really answer the question. But knowing that he lives for the camera changes things. I thought there had to be something I was missing. I knew that you all couldn't possibly have missed something so obvious. But I couldn't figure it out with my limited intellect :-).
---
I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/5/2002 1:02:22 PM | Message Detail

(Of course I meant FT in my earlier post, not DS.)

I wish bandwidth weren't such a problem. I got to thinking that it would be fun to do another version of the video with little pauses and explanations of key points, and also pointing out mistakes and luck and other things that happen.

For example, the point early in the game where I toss the blue over the wall in the "valley of the fives" to get the blue 1 below yellow mountain turns out to be absolutely key later in the game, when I'm cleaning out the back area and have only two blues, and two blues drop from the multicolored flowers. If I hadn't gotten the blue 1 there earlier, I would have been in trouble (although I guess I had enough time to manage it, still).

I also noticed recently that during the flint beetle battle, five blues got distracted by a nectar drop, and then when I got the first 5 from the beetle it landed right next to them. While the battle continued, they flowered, and then they woke up on their own, realized they were next to the 5, grabbed it and headed off. :)

Ah well. GOT to get back to work.

Anybody know about this gameshark thing, BTW? I hear it's supposed to be released soon, and will allow cheats on certain games like the old GameGenie did on the cartridge-based games. I can't quite see how it will work on the GC, I must admit, because you can't get between the disc and the system in any way I can imagine the way you could with cartridges... so I don't know if it's even real.

I was just thinking that it would actually be really nice and relaxing if there were a way to turn the damn clock off so you could just take your time and clear a whole level out, one thoughtful bit at a time, instead of all the hectic rushing. The rushing for times is fun, but I think it could also be fun to not have to rush and just solve little problems and admire the scenery and listen to the happy music. Then again, I'm getting old and people shouldn't listen to me. :P

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/5/2002 11:08:02 PM | Message Detail

The Breadbug thing

This is a normal occurrence in the game, many enemies will not do anything as long as they are off camera. For instance, if you wake up a Bulborb and walk far enough away you can see it go back to sleep in a few seconds right? Now, try waking up a Bulborb and walking to the other side of the level quickly. When your return, the Bolburb will still be awake as if you had not moved at all. And then, since he's now on-screen he will go back to sleep. This is true in many instances, but it seems that certain actions or certain enemies are programmed to be active when they are offscreen. Though the Breadbug will not actually MOVE when it is offscreen without a pellet, it will still submerge as it normally would, so it gives the game an edge while still conserving processor power (It seems as if that's the reason for the whole inactivity, but who knows)

The GameShark thing

The GameShark can work in a variety of ways, for instance the original PlayStation GameShark plugged into a port in the back of the PlayStation that was technically designed for other things. As a cheat device it has to interrupt the normal processes of the system so it makes sense that it would go where something else generally would go. the newer version of GameShark will most like by similar to the next-gen Gameshark for PlayStation, where it was actually a memory card type device that went into the memory card slot. There was a CD included to run the cheat program, and you actually entered/activated the codes with that and THEN it prompts you to put the game CD in. It will probably be the same with GameCube. Or, it may plug into one of the many ports that the GameCube has on it's underside. But who knows.

Hope that answers both of your questions. :)

---
http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/5/2002 11:22:19 PM | Message Detail

Oh, by the way. I'M BAAAAAACK! Muahahahaha!

Sonic Adventure is history and I've completely exhausted Super Monkey Ball. Time to get back on the FoH leader board! And The Distant Spring is coming first. News to follow... Peace!

---
http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: topotheclass | Posted: 4/6/2002 1:23:46 AM | Message Detail

Ah, so good to see our little community as lively as ever! I get more than a few chuckles reading you guys' posts. I've got nothing funny to say (except that I'm a Marlins' fan), but I do have a new score...

The Distant Spring - 443

...and I'm beginning to see how 500 just might be doable.

From: Nathan Ian Bowers | Posted: 4/6/2002 3:37:04 AM | Message Detail

Forest of Hope - 499

Do you have any idea how angry I was when my number stopped one shy of 500? Well, I'll give you a clue - quite angry. No, make that very angry. Hold up, scratch that and just make it FURIOUS!!! I think that the word FURIOUS written in italic caps with three exclamation points adequately describes my mindset. Almost.

I'm progressing quickly and should be challenging 4th place relatively soon. There is really only one spot in the level that I never touch but I also have been skipping the bulbear and bulborb by the matchbox pearl. Everything else goes down like clockwork, though.

There are no frogs. Thank god for that.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/6/2002 5:59:44 AM | Message Detail

The Distant Spring - 430

My current high score!

Now, here's something interesting about the Distant Spring. You'll notice that on any normal run, you probably will leave a lot of the water areas untouched. The solution to this, you ask? None, but if you want to clean out the level you need to use a lot of blues right?

I've been experimenting with ONLY Blue Pikmin and have ended up with very decent scores in the high 300's. I'm not the greatest at dealing with enemies so this is kinda tough for me, seeing as how to clear out the water you have to wipe out a lot of Wollywogs.

My point: Try using all blues! Put away those reds and yellows in the beginning and work on cleaning out the entire level with blues! I just got my third highest score ( 383 ) with ONLY blues. And there was a pearl on the way! So, counting my losses, and including the pearl... My score would have been about 450+ ! I suggest this to anybody else who is going for a decent score in the Distant Spring. Mismatching pellets can be virtuous, in some cases :)

---
http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/6/2002 6:51:29 AM | Message Detail

And again, Distant Spring - 430

Using ONLY blues. I'm getting a lot better with the blues and I think I have come up with a strategy that will allow me to clear out everything completely except for the Fiery Blowhogs by the pearl in the big lake, and probably the stump area with the yellow 20 pellet. Hmmm... Blues rock!

Keep in mind, that this is only about my fourth all-blue run. I have a lot of improvements to make, and hopefully I'll be able to break 500 eventually with all blues! I keep losing tons of Pikmin for some reason! AUGH!

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http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/6/2002 9:06:24 AM | Message Detail

You guys are out of control. I can't believe the scores you're all reporting. Jeepers.

Makes me want to go hide in the Impact Site just to feel better about myself. :)

442 on FoH is the best I've been able to manage, don't even really have a FN score yet, 366 on DS and 223 on FT - none of them even within view of "good" scores. And I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong on any of them. How you can clean-sweep FoH, for example, I absolutely can't imagine; I can't even get close.

Ah well, just have to kick it around more! Someone needs to bump my FT score off the top 5, coz it's the last non-IS score I have, and then my pride will be wounded enough to kick it back into gear. :)

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/6/2002 9:45:58 AM | Message Detail

I just got 405 with all Blues on the Distant Spring!

Not as good as my last run, but this time I lost a hell of a lot of Pikmin and missed a bunch of stuff due to general flaky-ness. Generally when I start a run off badly, it stays bad until the end! Well, I'm nearing the point where I'm pretty sure I can wipe the level clean with only Blue Pikmin, and I also believe that will beat the #1 score for sure. We'll see! I definitely need a lot more practice when it comes to killing enemies, then I'll be okay.

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http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: Emmit310 | Posted: 4/6/2002 7:25:46 PM | Message Detail

FT - 202

Haven't been playing to often but I played a few runs last night. I got a 181, a 186, and then the 202. I finally found a strategy that works and I am confident I can move up the score.
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Hot Dogs and Hamburgers are the same thing, Just shaped differently.

From: Emmit310 | Posted: 4/6/2002 7:27:59 PM | Message Detail

Almost forgot, in my strategy I have not fought the Beady Long Legs yet, I know it will be a great pain.
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Hot Dogs and Hamburgers are the same thing, Just shaped differently.

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/8/2002 9:39:57 AM | Message Detail

Yay, I can finally post a score that will make the boards. You all have pushed the scores so high on most of the levels that I can't hope to seriously compete yet. All of the levels...except one. For some reason, the high scores on Final Trial are ridiculously low compared to the other levels. so I sat down over the weekend and played a bunch of FT.

Final Trial 256, 255 and 254. All three with completely different patterns.

The 255 run is near perfect, minus Beady. Only 4 deaths, 2 of which came sloppily to the dwarf bulborbs in the middle of the level. Once I got this score, I knew I had to start taking on Beady in order to increase my score. the 256 and 254 are both taking out Beady, though in completely different orders.

My biggest problem now is time. I've had everything on the way back on several occasions, but I just can't find the time to get it all back.
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I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/8/2002 10:11:59 AM | Message Detail

Ok, here's a walkthrough of how I'm attacking FT. If anyone can tell me where I need to change to find some extra time, I'd appreciate it :-)

At the start, I pick the 8 blues, toss one off to get the blue 1 pellet and run the other 7 over and attack the dwarf bulbear on the beach. I have Olimar attack it too so it dies really quick. Whistle the 7 blues and go pick the 5 blues on the first island, then jet up to pick the other 10 blues. Run across and have the blues start on the bridge. Pick the 6 reds and have them work the bridge too. Pick the 5 blues and drop them next to the blue 5 pellet. Run back to the first island, pick the 5 yellows and toss them to shore. Whistle them back and toss 4 on the bulborb carcass and the other on the yellow 1 pellet. Pick the 8 yellows and 8 reds by the onions. toss one red on the red one pellet. Run back to the bridge, calling the blues and yellows by the onion on the way. The bridge is just finishing. Call all the Pikmin. Take the 54 Pikmin to the nectar, calling the lone red from the onion on the way. Hopefully I get at least 52 flowers out of my 55 Pikmin from just the nectar patch by the red onion.

Take the Pikmin back to the bridge area. Lure the wollywog onto land and have the Pikmin swarm it. If the wollywog kills zero to 5 Pikmin, I continue. If it jumps and squashes more than 5, I start over, swearing and cursing the whole time :-)

Toss 10 reds on the first bridge, then have 45 Pikmin build the second bridge. Leave the frog for now. grab the 10 reds, run to the fire jets and toss the reds up. Run over by the 10 yellows up on the hillside and kill the purple sheargrubs with Olimar. Kill one or two white sheargrubs if they are handy. Run back into the water, whistle the reds and move them to move the box. Run up over the bridges and whistle everyone. Have them start knocking down the wall. Run up the box and pick the 5 reds and 5 yellows. Have the yellows get bombs, then bomb down the wall in front of you with 3 bombs (only requires 2, but you have an extra to get rid of). Run into the arena, toss the two bomb yellows off to the side, pick the 5 yellows in the arena. Drop the 5 yellows and get 20 blues. Take the blues past the fire jets and have them take the blue 20 pellet back. Pick the 10 reds. Run back and call the Pikmin. Get the yellow 10, red 10 and yellow 5. Kill the two dwarf bulborbs and carry them back. Run along the far side and pick the 10 yellows. If they've gone back into the ground already, I'm taking too long and will start over. Drop down and carry back the sheargrub carcasses, killing any still alive as well. Run to the bridge and carry back the wollywog and the pellet it dropped. Run to the onions, whistle any idle Pikmin, kill the remaining bulborb and bulbear near the onions while everything is still coming back. Carry them back as well.

Whistle everyone up, pick any Pikmin around the onions and head off. You should have 90 Pikmin. Drop everyone just outside the arena. Get the yellows and the 2 with bomb rocks. Run through the middle of the arena, bomb the far gate, then kill Beady. Go get everyone, pick the 5 reds and 5 blues and go kill the Snagret. Carry back all the Snagret pellets and the Red 10 and 5 pellets on the Snagret side. Go get the yellow 10 pellet from the other side. Drop into the arena and carry back all 4 10 pellets that Beady dropped. If you don't have the right colors, don't worry. Start the pellets back anyway.

Run back to the onions and gather any Pikmin that have arrived. Have them help the other pellets back.

Only problem is, this is as far as I get before time expires. I've had every pellet on the way but scored only 224 because time expired. So, anyone see where I'm wasting time? Or am I taking a completely different approach than Snap and redpic?
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I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/8/2002 12:23:50 PM | Message Detail

Hey Ahlyis.

Here's my FT walkthrough that produces pathetically low scores. You should ignore it. So should everybody. :P

When the level starts, run straight to the bridge and pick the reds. Get them going on the bridge back to land. Pick the blues and have get them going on the other one.

Ride the jet up to the 10 blues and pick them; jump down and get the other 5. Use these 15 to kill the dwarf on the beach, then run them to the bridge. Throw 5 on the blue 5 in the water really quickly, and put the other 10 on the inbound bridge.

Pick the 5 yellows on the little island and throw them across; put 4 on the dead dwarf, the other 1 on the yellow 1, and pick all of the pikmins by the onions, starting the blues and reds with 1 on the nearby 1s. By the time you finish this, the bridge should be complete. Get the reds and blues from the bridge and bring them in.

You should have 55 at that point; flower them.

Take them all to the middle island, sleep them, draw the frog in, swarm him, and pray like hell that he doesn't crush 20 of your guys like he routinely does with me.

If you survive this, throw the yellows and blues on the outbound bridge. Take the reds back in, and squash the grubs, then throw them on the fire-bridge and pull them across to move the matchbox. It should all finish up around the same time.

Go back around and put all of them on the wall; go up the matchbox and pick two yellows and throw them down to the bomb area; pick the other yellows and reds and sleep them. Hop down and get the bombs, and blow the gate; whistle them all back.

Kill the two dwarfs by the grass, and get them going back with 3 on each; get the yellow 5 and red 10 going back too with everything that can be spared. Sleep the rest.

Get the blues and take them along through the firespout by the blue 20, flat against the wall and timing it when the spout nearest the wall has just erupted (thanks Snap). Fling them all up to the blue 20 and get that going back; don't start picking reds until the 20 is underway and all the blues are on it.

Get the reds and take them back around, and head back for the onions past where the dwarfs were, so you can pick the 10 yellows. You might have to wait for them to sprout if they've been sucked back down. Gather up the grubs with whatever you've got and meet everyone back at the onions.

Flower the others with the nectar between the other dwarfs; kill them quickly with your big swarm.

The rest goes like this:

Get everybody and run back to the back area. Get two more bombs and blow the inner gate. Pick the ones in the arena if they're up and you can manage it.

Run in and draw up the bird. Lose a bunch of guys in a very long battle. Get all the red and blues you can manage, and the high yellow 10.

Run back to the arena, whistle the yellow 10 back once it's on the ground, move your remaining blues/reds (if any) off to the side, and run to the middle with your yellows.

Fight the beady longlegs and lose a bunch of yellows.

Realize you don't have anywhere near enough pikmins to carry the four 10s back.

Run out of time before the pellets from the bird even make it back.

Quit in disgust before you have to look at your final score.

If anybody wants to point out things that are obviously stupid, without necessarily telling me what I *should* do, that would be great. :) I suppose logic says you do the farthest stuff first, so you should tackle the bird as soon as you can, and then the beady longlegs, and spend the rest of the time working things back. Problem is you have to kill the frog as soon as you can, I think, or he can wreck your inbound groups, and I can't figure out how to kill him without a gigantic flowered swarm, and even that is risky for me. Plus I suck at fighting the bird and even the longlegs. So there you go. :P

From: Ahlyis | Posted: 4/8/2002 2:53:48 PM | Message Detail

If anybody wants to point out things that are obviously stupid, without necessarily telling me what I *should* do, that would be great.

Um, Ok, I'll try to point out areas where I think you could do better without necessarily saying how. I'll probably say how tho, it's hard not to :-)

Ride the jet up to the 10 blues and pick them; jump down and get the other 5. Use these 15 to kill the dwarf on the beach, then run them to the bridge.
There has to be a better time to kill him, you are going way out of your way with this pattern. Granted, he has to be killed before the blue 5 emerges from the water, but still, this seems wildly inefficient.

By the time you finish this, the bridge should be complete. Get the reds and blues from the bridge and bring them in.
You should have 55 at that point; flower them.

I'm struggling here too. It seems to take a long time to get everyone over and flowered up, then head back. I wonder if waiting to flower until returning from the middle section would be better? but then you have to kill the frog with leaf Pikmin, not a good idea. Oh well, I guess this is just a slow section.

If you survive this, throw the yellows and blues on the outbound bridge.
Throwing them takes too long. You can do better here at the least by throwing the reds off, then dropping everyone else by the bridge. They'll automatically start on the bridge. If you throw the reds on the frog, they'll start it back for you as you drop the blues and yellows, then just whistle the reds and continue.

Kill the two dwarfs by the grass, and get them going back with 3 on each; get the yellow 5 and red 10 going back too with everything that can be spared. Sleep the rest.

Get the blues and take them along through the firespout by the blue 20
This is backwards. You end up going over by the dwarfs later to get the yellows, so why do them first?

Get the reds and take them back around, and head back for the onions past where the dwarfs were, so you can pick the 10 yellows. You might have to wait for them to sprout if they've been
sucked back down.
See, here you are back on this side :-)
But if you are waiting for the yellows to sprout, you are wasting a lot of time. Either do things faster, or ignore those yellows. You don't HAVE to pick them. They'll still count towards your final score even if they are still in the ground.

Get everybody and run back to the back area. Get two more bombs and blow the inner gate. Pick the ones in the arena if they're up and you can manage it.
Why get bombs now instead of having gotten them earlier when you got the first 2 bombs? Probably not much of a time saver, but every little bit helps. :-)

Run in and draw up the bird. Lose a bunch of guys in a very long battle. Get all the red and blues you can manage, and the high yellow 10.
Sadly, you are mostly right here. Stupid Snagret causes me fits. If I have a bad game going, he'll come up nice and slow for me. If I'm doing well, the little bastard will come up fast 6 or 7 times in a row! :-( Still, if you swarm him, you can kill him relatively quickly with few losses. If he comes up slowly, you can kill him very quickly with no losses. The first time he come up, he's always fast. just call your Pikmin off him and hide behind him until he flees. then swarm Pikmin over the spot he disappeared in. Now pray he comes up slow and makes life easy on you.

Quit in disgust before you have to look at your final score.
I can empathize with that! :-)
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I'm just a pigment of your imagination.

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/8/2002 6:44:29 PM | Message Detail

Bit of an improvement, but I think I'm close to a strat that's workable.

Final Trial - 239

More later!

From: TomatoMan | Posted: 4/8/2002 7:29:47 PM | Message Detail

OK, I've still got some timing issues to work out on FT, but I've figured out two key things that make the frog and the bird MUCH easier to kill, sometimes without losses.

For the frogs: it seems to help if you swirl your pimkin around him when they attack, so they're holding him down on all sides. If you do a frontal rush, he seems to be able to get airborne much easier, but if you can get them attacking from all sides, they seem to hold him down better. Flowered pikmins are much better because the attacks are faster, but even leaf pikmins can beat him in a big pack if they're spread out. Or so it seems.

With the bird, I was trying to guess where he was going to come up and throwing pikmins on that spot, which was dumb. Much easier to take 60 or 70 up there and c-stick-swirl them around right over where he's going to come up. You don't have to be as exact and many more of them can attack than with the throw method. I beat him very quickly a couple of times, without losses, using this method.

I thought that when he comes up slowly, it's in response to something good that you did, like guess where he was coming up and setting up in the right place. I'm thinking now that it's random, and if he comes up quick you need to back off and wait until he goes down, and try again. If you're lucky, he comes up slow on the first try and you can knock him out quickly. If not, it might take as many as 6 or 7 rounds before he comes up slow - more flint-beetle luck that is critical to a good run.

I'm still running out of time long before everything gets back, but I'm losing fewer pikmins. I've worked in some of Ahlyis's tips below, especially in the early parts, to save some time. It's nice to have 4 or 5 (personal) top-five runs in a row after struggling for a long time. :)

From: Emmit310 | Posted: 4/8/2002 7:45:27 PM | Message Detail

I have never seen the bird and I haven't fought the beady long legs and I still have 202. I have my work cut out for me!
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Hot Dogs and Hamburgers are the same thing, Just shaped differently.

From: Jimithingr | Posted: 4/8/2002 8:10:36 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 452

Ok I finally got my self on the leader board. This level is addicting, and the fact that there is fire, water, and land, makes it even better. I managed this with ALOT of blues, not all but a good amount maybe 50-60. Thank god I was beginning to wonder if I would ever hit the board.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/9/2002 2:10:36 AM | Message Detail

Ouch! I just got a painful 417 on Distant Spring. Why was it painful, you ask? Well, this is why...

Within inches of the onion (Would have gotten all of this added to my score if I had an extra 3-4 seconds) were the following:

2 Yellow Wollywogs
3 Dwarf Bulbears
2 Randomly Colored 5-pellets
1 Pearl!

There may have been other stuff but I just can't remember everything else. I'm going to keep this up for awhile until I manage to get all this lovely stuff back in time. And we'll see. Peace!

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http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Devoted to Chao raising!
I have a fetish for a computer animated male humanoid fox. Live with it.

From: Ferret5317 | Posted: 4/9/2002 8:08:16 AM | Message Detail

Distant Spring - 450

Once again, all blues. I had approximately 60 Pikmin worth of 'stuff' within inches from the onion, yet again! This is irritating, but I suppose one of these runs is going to eventually get me the big 500 that I've been waiting for. YAY! So close, I can taste them.. it.

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http://www.freehomepages.com/ferretdruid/ - Chao!
All your board are belong to us. You have no chance to post make your karma. -GotenksSSJ3

From: Jimithingr | Posted: 4/9/2002 9:39:45 AM | Message Detail

Working...Hoping to take my break soon...Pikmin on the mind...Throwing Pikmin...loosing control....dropped the remote....here comes a WollyWog....Panic Sets in....Please god let them die painlessly
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OH NOS I"M AN EGGPLANTT>>!!!!!!!! - Mikaze, Kid Icarus Board

From: redpichead | Posted: 4/9/2002 6:04:06 PM | Message Detail

Distant Spring-455

And gradually rising!

From: JustinB | Posted: 4/9/2002 6:31:33 PM | Message Detail

Hey, Snapdragon, where can I download some of those videos that I've heard other posters mention? One of my friends is having trouble believing some of the challenge mode scores.

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