I noticed that the Hiscores for Bank Panic are really incredible compared to what I can achieve. Would anybody care to share their winning strategies? Right now I only try to milk each level of what it's worth, which often loses me a life due to timeout :-( I haven't figured out the "fair average" thing at all yet. TIA for your input!

-- Thomas Bdtzler (thb@okagesama.de), April 12, 2000

Answers

As I currently have the top score on this, I`ll give you my 'strategy'. Basically clear the levels, but try and scrounge as much score as you can. The patterns go into a cycle after a while, level 50 or so. As for the 'fair/average' thing, if you wait until the Outlaw draws his gun first, before shooting him, you`ll get some kind of bonus score. I don`t bother with that. I just shoot the suckers on sight. If I get a bonus, well then OK, but I don`t deliberately go for it. Remember....shoot first, ask questions later :) Nope, I`m not an ex-member of the LAPD :) Is that a bad joke ?

Slan,

ALEX

-- Alex Weir (alexweir@indigo.ie), April 12, 2000.

The only guys really worth going for the bonus on are the red-shirts who aren't wearing white boots - the white boot guys are the ones who require 2 shots to kill.

The ones without the white boots are worth trying to get the 0:00 clock time 5000 points bonus and more importantly another letter in the word EXTRA.

However, as Alex rightly said you're better of shooting them as soon as you detect they're bad guys rather than risking it going for the bonus.

Back in the bad old days in the arcades we used to play this game as a three-some. Watch only 1 door each and always go for the time bonus on all the gunmen. Made for some ripping high scores - we had 10+ million one time with lives aplenty as we were hitting the 0:00 red shirt guys almost every time and spelling EXTRA with appalling frequency.

We used to use the same technique for Mole bash taking a vertical row of buttons each and totally wasting the game........ ahhhhh the memories of forgotten youth. :-)

BeeJay.

PS: One day I will replace my 1.5 million score that was made at slightly less than 100% speed with a new recording so watch out Alex..... as we may have another battle like we are with Tapper. ;-p

-- BeeJay (brianjohnstone@jade.co.nz), April 12, 2000.