Submission #9180: nymx & DrD2k9's C64 10th Frame "maximum score" in 07:15.51

This is a ten-pin bowling simulation game published by Access Software in 1986. Up to eight players can take part in open bowling or a tournament.

More information can be found in the manual.

I have been looking at this game for a while and I finally decided to sit down and figure it out here recently. When I did, I was surprised how complicated the game mechanics are, over other bowling games of the 8-bit era. After doing two rounds, I discovered the way this game operated. All you need it two different plans of attack and you can replicate that throughout the entire game.

First step was to bowl at the highest speed possible. I quickly realized that slower speeds don't help, if you were able to pull off a faster throw. First thing is first...keep the speed high. Second, discover the angle and the hook of the throw. Once you have that, you have a set of inputs that can be repeated every other round.

All of you know bowling...just 300 and you are done.

This player must have just play this game for the first time, but I think it will show you how sensitive the game really is.

DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.

nymx: Replacing with an improvement, found by DrD2k9. Copy pasta got me in trouble this time. :(

DrD2k9: Unclaiming and setting to new. I found a way to end input faster by using a slower ball speed on the last throw.

eien86: Claiming for judging.

eien86: Could not find tape, help requested

eien86: Tape found, re-judging

eien86: Having reviewed other C64 games, I'm really impressed with this one. It looks as if its lifelike animations were done through rotoscoping and the mechanics are really advanced compared to other games. I would have really liked to play this game had I been a contemporary.

The movie completes the game with a perfect score (equivalent to goal: 100%) and does so as fast as possible. That is, all throws go full power, except for the last which releases the ball early. This still achieves a 300 score but with an earlier input. This last input leads to a query screen where you are asked whether you'd like to print the score sheet. If you say 'N', you are taken to a screen with bigger sheet. One would normally consider this screen the real end of the game and therefore any submission should, in principle, include the 'N' input. However, the authors (and others in staff) have manifested a preference towards allowing such input be passed as a post-movie input (for encode only) and preserve the entertaining value and ingenuity of the last slow throw. I agree with this.

Accepting to Standard.

Note: The tape used in this submission is not easily findable (obtained it from a German site). I would recommend next time the authors should use a more reputable/trustable/solid sources to find roms/tapes that allow for more dependable reproduction.

Encoder: The authors have provided the encode movie that contains the aforementioned last input. Please use this for your encode.

despoa: Processing...