Local Video Game Championships - need advice!

[xtronix620]

Hey guys -

My friends and I have decided to start a little video game tournament amongst us. We're going to play many systems and all the genres, declare an overall winner, and hopefully make this a monthly or yearly event. But I need some help on the scoring, choice of games, multiplayer vs. single player, etc.

I want to have a mix of different games, but I need a tangible scoring system amongst the games, whether it's time trials, game score, game levels, or anything else measurable. I also want to have a mix of playing solo, playing directly head-to-head, and even 4+ player in some instances. I'd initially like to dedicate to one event (game) per system but could possibly have another if it really fits the competition. We're also going to have multiple TVs going so it doesn't take forever. I hope to randomize the games for each system or genre as well, so I can partake without knowing what we'll be competing in. Multiple suggestions would be great so we can just toss them into a hat and draw one out.

Here's the deal - I'd love for some input on quality, classic games / genres to play on each system. We'll be playing NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, PS1, 2, and 3, XBox, Xbox 360, Genesis, 32x, Saturn, and Dreamcast, pretty much covering all the major consoles in our lifetime. I do have a large collection myself and can get a hold of most major games between all the competitors and local game stores. So what do you guys think? Any games that are a MUST for this kind of competition? How would you do the scoring? I can see how the idea might be kinda lame, but everyone I've talked to is really excited and we're a super competitive group; I think it will be a blast.

[J T]

You can model it off the old Nintendo World Championships. You had a total of 15 minutes. You had to get 100 coins on Super Mario Bros, then complete the first lap of Rad Racer, then the remainder of your time could be spent collecting points on Tetris.

Of course, if you want to use the actual Nintendo World Championships cart, you're going to have to spend a pretty penny.

You could use a stopwatch to time yourselves or just look at the timer and coin count once you hit the flagpole on Super Mario Bros, and review Rad Racer end of track time. Then alot yourselves according time for Tetris.

[aeon]

Minnesota huh? PM me when this becomes a regular event, as I also have been interested in starting something in Minneapolis as well!

My thoughts are that focusing on one system for an event would be a bit boring, besides the effort to get multiples of one system hooked up. If I were you I would go cross platform. 3 games on 3 TV's at once seems reasonable, and should help the tourney go smoothly.

For a good mix, definitely go cross genre. It would be good to have different events as well, instead of all point grabs or speedruns.

For example, a small tourney could look like this:

1: (Genesis) Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Emerald Hill Zone- Speedrun
2: (T16/PC Engine) Galaga 90/88- High Score
3: (NES) Contra, 2 players- High Score

You could award small prizes to the winners of each event, then move them to a final round game of your choosing (or randomly chosen if you like). I make a list for the tourney to include 4 winners to go to the finals, if one (or two) people take 1st in more than one event, perhaps this dictates the final game- or you could just move the runners up to the finals as well. Finishing off with a solid, familiar game is probably best (like Ms. Pacman) but you may wish for all the winners to complete in one final multiplayer game.

Good final multiplayer games:

Any Bomberman incarnation
Mario Party games
Kart Racing games

[Erik_Twice]

Use Twin Galaxies style. The player with most points gets 100% and the other players get as much % as they got in comparison to the first player per game. Then you add all the % and you are set. Example:

Galaga ; 100% (First place)
Pac-Man 56% (Not very good)

Total: 156%

It's the best system because it makes worth it being good at a game while not unbalancing the torunament.

EDITED FOR CLARITY

[Luke]

Game suggestions and scoring methods:

Street Fighter 2 (round robin, 2 losses and you're out)
Missile Command (highest score)
Sonic The Hedgehog (speed run until losing a life. Judge on time and levels completed)


Really, just play the games you and your friends enjoy, and keep score. Sports and fighting games always give a clear winner, as do games with high scores. Try not to complicate the tournament, and focus more on the fun side of it.

[J T]

Also, you should watch The Wizard to get excited.

[xtronix620]

Haha thanks for the ideas. I appreciate it. Today I was leaning towards having a set 1 or 2 games for each system based on what I thought defined the system. Then after talking to my buddy, I realized we have different views on the best games for each system and even which system a multi-platform game might be the most fun on.

So we had an idea to have all of us draw numbers or something, 1 to 8. First guy gets to go through all the games we have for all the systems, pick one out for the tournament, and then that system and game are reserved. No one can choose a game for that system. Keep doing that until all 8 people have chosen a game. We can decide as a group on the scoring for each chosen game.

We'll have a 47" LCD, 42" LCD, 32" LCD, and 32" Flat CRT going in the four corners of the room with different systems so we won't have any down time. And to top it all off, I mentioned it to the video game store I frequent, and the guy sold me a $40 and $20 gift card for a total of $30 to give out to first and second place. Gets him a little business and let's the winner choose a nice title to add to their collection.

Right now we have 8 people signed up. I think I'll keep it at that number. With an average of 100 games per system to choose from, I think everyone will find a nice title to represent them and try to rock the tourney.

For scoring, I think I'll modify the % idea a bit. 8 people into 100% is 12.5% per place. 1st get 100 points, 8th gets 12.5 points. To simplify it, I'll have first get 1000 points, 8th get 125 points. Everything in between gets 125 point increments. After 8 games, we should have a clear 1st and 2nd. If it's a tie, we'll have a quick sudden death match.

I'll take the top 2, and we'll have a 3 game series, best 2/3 gets 1st. One kart/racing game, one fighter, and one shooter, the easiest to go head to head in and pretty strong genres in video gaming.

So whatcha think? A plentiful supply of beer, dew, chips, and pizzas should make it a great night going through some of the best games ever made, and crown a winner. If it goes well, I'll make it a regular thing, yearly or quarterly or something. And if any of you are up in norther Minnesota, give me a holler and sign up for one of 'em!