Tournament Nite 20

They don't like it up 'em - Lance Corporal Jones

Balki had to win this one - his wife had told him not to come home without the trophy....

1UP - Hopping Mappy. This one has been a hidden gem of a game. I'd played it maybe once, didn't like it (its one of those cutesy animal games popular in Japan) and thought I'd never play it again. But after closer inspection, its a great game ! Its a bit like a 2-D Monster Farm Jump (we played this in a previous tourney) where you bounce around on a pogo stick. The object of this game is to "collect" the static animals by bouncing on them (extra bonus for getting them in order) while avoiding the bouncing cats and the other bouncing thing (no idea what it was). Balloon collecting bonus levels appear every few levels too. So, onto the game - Buks was up first and posted a very respectable score. Balki stepped up with high hopes only to have then dashed. Second game saw Buks post his personal best which proved too much for Balki who stepped down with a tear in his eye ("its hay fever" he claimed - yeah right). Buks 2-0.

2UP - Metro Cross. Another oldie that we have avoided. This game sees you guiding our hero across a rapidly scrolling left to right assault course, avoiding obstacles and trying to pick up blue cans to slow down the timer. This is where the skill comes in - the faster you complete a course, the more time you will have on the 4th course (all the remaining time is added for this course). Any remaining time is converted into a bonus too so its an advantage to finish quicker. Balki goes first on this one and manages to get to course 6 - one better than Buks has managed in practice. Buks steps up and only gets to course 5 BUT posts a much higher score - basically doing the first 4 courses much quicker than Balki and earning the bigger bonus. And the same happens on the seconds game - much to Balkis frustration. Buks 4-0.

Balki now needs to win all the remaining games to force a draw.

3UP - Psychic 5. This was a bad choice for a tourney game. Its a good little platform/adventure style game but not really intended for a competition. Not much to report other than its a pretty difficult game but Buks managed to pip Balki to the first game (okay he scored double Balkis score). After the second game Balki declared - obviously not his day. Buks 6-0.

4UP Funky Jet. This was Balkis hope for scoring at least one point..... but lady luck was definitely not shining on him tonight. A doubles game was declared and despite Balki being the better of the two in practice, Buks once again managed to score more points at which point the towel was thrown in. Buks 7-0.



Oh dear, not a good night for Balki. Only a walk out spared him from an 8-0 drubbing. Still, 7-0 was an historic win (or defeat if you are in Balkis camp). Next tourney has not yet been arranged so there should be plenty of time to pick the next 4 games.

Tournament Nite 19

Bit of a non event in some ways - we picked the games about 3 weeks ago but neither of us had done any practice at all so we decided, seeing as the games all looked and played pretty good, we should postpone those games and play a PES 5 best of 3 games for the trophy.

Sweden 1 - 0 Senegal

A resounding victory for Buks' Swedes in the first game. Balki and his Senegal posse had to just stand and watch as the game was taken away from them.

Sweden 0 - 1 Senegal

Balki bites back with a superb header from a corner kick. One of the best headed goals I've seen in a long time.

So, onto the final decider.

Sweden 1 - 0 Senegal

This game went all the way to the last 2 minutes of extra time. Looking like a sad 0-0 draw, Buks managed to squeeze a last minute goal to take the trophy home.

Not quite the retro arcade tournament we had hoped for but still - games were played !