Tennis on the Nintendo Game Boy
Recently I stumbled upon a video by YouTube user "SeventhSun" where he plays the old Nintendo Game Boy game Tennis and wins at the best possible score (6:0 6:0) (don't watch this, it's boring).
I noticed that he uses two basic tricks which trigger a bug in the computer player's algorithm most of the time. By that I mean that the computer doesn't hit the ball when it could. I was quickly able to copy these tactics, and it was suddenly very easy to win 6:0 6:0, but it was boring and no longer challenging, so I scrapped those tricks and tried to play more sincerely.
(By the way, I commented on his video to this effect and apparently managed to get him quite angry. He shows off his sky-high self-esteem in a comment he leaves on my user page at YouTube. Do read this, it's hilarious.)
Eventually I managed to beat the computer 6:0 6:0 too, but I couldn't upload it to YouTube because they now have a 10-minute limit while my game was 13 minutes (like SeventhSun's, which he probably uploaded before the limit was introduced). Despite, the game got me totally hooked, and I've been playing it on and off for months now.
I later managed to win in just under 10 minutes. (Don't watch this either. It's slightly less boring, but still.) I did not specifically try to win quickly here, it just so happened that I managed it and so I uploaded it.
After I uploaded that, I stopped recording every game and just played for fun. This was a weird feeling, as I suddenly took a lot more adventurous risks because I no longer cared about losing any particular game. At this point I discovered several ways in which the computer could be beaten quicker, leading me to a new challenge: what is the fastest that I can win 6:0 6:0?
My current record is 6min 28sec, which I achieved earlier today. I'll embed it here for your convenience. (Do watch this, it's worth it. Unless you're not into computer games. But do if you're into sports. Unless you hate imitations. Whatever. Decide for yourself.) Go to the YouTube video page to watch it in full screen mode.
Another possible record that one could try to set would be the least number of lost rallies. That would, of course, encourage careful play and thus produce longer games; yet my speed record here already has only 5 lost rallies (unless I miscounted, in which case please correct me), which is already very hard to top.
(P.S. I wrote this entry because I couldn't sleep.)
I noticed that he uses two basic tricks which trigger a bug in the computer player's algorithm most of the time. By that I mean that the computer doesn't hit the ball when it could. I was quickly able to copy these tactics, and it was suddenly very easy to win 6:0 6:0, but it was boring and no longer challenging, so I scrapped those tricks and tried to play more sincerely.
(By the way, I commented on his video to this effect and apparently managed to get him quite angry. He shows off his sky-high self-esteem in a comment he leaves on my user page at YouTube. Do read this, it's hilarious.)
Eventually I managed to beat the computer 6:0 6:0 too, but I couldn't upload it to YouTube because they now have a 10-minute limit while my game was 13 minutes (like SeventhSun's, which he probably uploaded before the limit was introduced). Despite, the game got me totally hooked, and I've been playing it on and off for months now.
I later managed to win in just under 10 minutes. (Don't watch this either. It's slightly less boring, but still.) I did not specifically try to win quickly here, it just so happened that I managed it and so I uploaded it.
After I uploaded that, I stopped recording every game and just played for fun. This was a weird feeling, as I suddenly took a lot more adventurous risks because I no longer cared about losing any particular game. At this point I discovered several ways in which the computer could be beaten quicker, leading me to a new challenge: what is the fastest that I can win 6:0 6:0?
My current record is 6min 28sec, which I achieved earlier today. I'll embed it here for your convenience. (Do watch this, it's worth it. Unless you're not into computer games. But do if you're into sports. Unless you hate imitations. Whatever. Decide for yourself.) Go to the YouTube video page to watch it in full screen mode.
Another possible record that one could try to set would be the least number of lost rallies. That would, of course, encourage careful play and thus produce longer games; yet my speed record here already has only 5 lost rallies (unless I miscounted, in which case please correct me), which is already very hard to top.
Click to view(P.S. I wrote this entry because I couldn't sleep.)