Aqua's most hated tournament picks (In order)(posted 9615 days ago)#1 Bombjack
The main reason I hate this game is I'm learning it under pressure. Doing a wave perfectly is worth 50k, doing in any which way you can is worth 5k. If I was learning the game in a vacuum (like during the NES days), this wouldn't matter so much. I'd play normally, build skills, and otherwise enjoy myself. Eventually the higher scores would come with practice. However, in these conditions I absolutely have to do each level perfectly because I get zilch for points otherwise. I've spent more time watching the intro to bombjack lately than playing it, because if I die or grab the wrong bomb on the first two waves I have to restart - which is 9 out of every 10 games.
#2 Us Vs. Them
The game sucks. It's the only game in the tournament that didn't ever deserve to be in one. This has nothing to do with emulation problems. The controls are bad, the scoring is bad, and it's boring as hell. Mylstar should have converted all these machines into M.A.C.H. 3's.
#3 Combat School
There are three classes of recordings: 1. Beat the game, 2. Beat the instructor, 3. Failed to beat instructor. Within each class, the difference between scores (and leaderboard points) is based almost entirely on shooting galleries I & III. The scoring opportunity and difficulty of these two waves varies widely from game to game, making the rank within your class mostly luck.
4,5&6. Galaga/Gyruss/Pang 3
Three variations of a theme I don't like. Pang 3 has some scoring and strategic differences which make it somewhat more interesting, but at heart Panic Mode has the same feel.
Borderline: Money Puzzle Exchanger
I quit playing puzzle games completely when I got sick of Tetris, and I don't have the speed it takes to do any better without focusing far harder on them than I'm willing to do anymore. However, this is one of the best puzzle games I've played, and if I was still into them it would probably be one of my favorites.
Other comments:
The control problem on DoT is not present in the arcade - the game used a grip joystick and a spinner control that could be pulled up or pushed down. Lock 'N Chase does not suck. Zzyzzyxx is probably underappreciated, but does have some annoying features. Baseball video games (including 2020) don't give pitching skills anywhere near enough credit - for all practical purposes they're home run derbies. Mr. Do's Wild Ride is practically perfect, but next time we should probably turn the diamonds off (it's in the dipswitches).