Prehistoric Isle 2 Scoring & Strategies?

[SNKJorge]

I've been trying to 1cc this game for about 2months now and I'm almost there,
however I've heard of some high scores of over 40+million points? I've
only gotten about 17mill. BBH? or anyone can offer strategies on this?

 

[Gemant]

in a goog play, normal score in this game is 55.000.000 pts.

is necessary rescue 5 peoples for each stage (stage 3 not include)

after final boss you receive a special bonus (600.000 for each) total 3.000.000 pts

40.000.000 (your score)+12.000.000 (rescue maximum bonus)=52.000.000


other 3.000.000 is leeching during bosses, or perfet use of TIME BONUS counter (ex. x 16 bonus)

but......

in this game there are some secrets, because the japan record is 90.000.000, but I don't know the secrets

 

[BBH]

for a better score, don't dock with the helicopter before the bosses. You'll get a bigger bonus if you can keep all 5 hostages intact and beat the boss without dying. (of course, this makes it harder since you won't receive any powerups from docking the hostages then.)

 

[Himuragames]

I heard alot about this game

Hey xtoo_short20x:

Quick question, I've always heard about Prehistoric Isle 2, but never had a chance to play it. What do you thin of it? Great game play? Best feature of the game? Is it worth the price? Thanks in advance

 

[SNKJorge]

"in a goog play, normal score in this game is 55.000.000 pts.

is necessary rescue 5 peoples for each stage (stage 3 not include)

after final boss you receive a special bonus (600.000 for each) total 3.000.000 pts

40.000.000 (your score)+12.000.000 (rescue maximum bonus)=52.000.000


other 3.000.000 is leeching during bosses, or perfet use of TIME BONUS counter (ex. x 16 bonus)

but......

in this game there are some secrets, because the japan record is 90.000.000, but I don't know the secrets"

Thanks for the lowdown on this.
Btw, the 90million Japan record, is this from Gamest?

"for a better score, don't dock with the helicopter before the bosses. You'll get a bigger bonus if you can keep all 5 hostages intact and beat the boss without dying. (of course, this makes it harder since you won't receive any powerups from docking the hostages then.)"

Thanks for the tip.

"Hey xtoo_short20x:

Quick question, I've always heard about Prehistoric Isle 2, but never had a chance to play it. What do you thin of it? Great game play? Best feature of the game? Is it worth the price? Thanks in advance"

It's actually a nice neat game. It relates to Blazing Star a little, since it's from
the same people who made BStar. Short game but sweet. To me all NeoGeo
games are worth the cash

 

[FOMOCO&CO]

Cheapest I've found one was 80 beans...but I whored it off...

I always docked before the fighttt...
crap...

 

[BIG]

I actually prefer PI 2 over Blazing Star,these days. When I had it a few months ago,I couldn't get into it and sold it off rather quickly....bad decision making on my part.

The game's concept is pretty cool,kinda reminds me of Choplifter from the days of yore.

Gotta find me a copy

 

[GunstarHero]

Apologies for bumping this old thread guys, but I wanted to add something.

I just recently acquired this game for AES and have been in love with the damn thing for a week straight now. I'm at the point where I can 1cc to level 5 on normal difficulty. I'm slowly getting better, I'm not that great at shmups. I think thats why I like this one so much because it is an easier game, even easier than Blazing Star. It's definitely a unique shmup, there's nothing run-of-the-mill here IMHO.

With that out of the way. Choosing which chopper to use I'm finding has an effect on your score. The game has a variance in enemy deployment depending on if you chose the Green or Blue chopper. For instance if you choose the Blue chopper, on level 1 there will be 3 Brontosaurus in the sewer, compared to only 2 with the Green chopper. Yet, I tend to score more points with the Green chopper overall, I think it has to do with the spread fire and simply hitting more enemies because of that, but I usually can't make it as far into the game due to the Green chopper's lack of speed.

For big points during the 'Defend People' sections, wait to grab the Orb powerup that destroys everything, until its ready to float off the screen. Try not to shoot enemies during this time, let the board fill up with enemies then grab the Orb. You get Big points and lots of powerups will appear this way.

I have one question. You know the sound effect when you grab a powerup at Max level and you get bonus multiplyer time? Sometimes I hear this sound effect in the game without grabbing powerups. I don't get bonus time, but I'm wondering if this sound effect is signaling some kind of special points or something? Anyone know?

 

[GunstarHero]

Well I just 1cc this on MVS difficulty. Ended up with a score barely over 50,000,000. I missed the challenge star on the last stage, almost 1 lifed this game. I think missing that challenge star really cost me bonus points. I'll probably play some more this week and post a better score with a picture in the high score thread.

Challange stars stack on eachother if you get them all sequentially. Stage 1 =100,000. Stage 2= 200,000 if you get the challenge star again. Stage 3 =300,000 bonus if you get the challenge star again and so on. If you miss the Stage 4 challenge star, but get it again on Stage 5, you only get the 100,000 bonus on stage 5.

The regular bonus star pickups have some sort of dynamic point system that I can't figure out. At first I thought you get 2,000 points for each one, but I soon noticed that just about halfway through the first level they are already giving me about 15,000 points each. The value of these stars keeps increasing throughout the game, I even had some that were worth 90,000 points each in later levels. Anyone know how these bonus stars work?

Gemant is a little off on the point system for hostages. If you hold on to them until the final boss and survive, you are awarded with 500,000 each hostage, plus a 500,000 bonus if you save all 5 which equals 3,000,000. I know it's not 600,000 each because if you finish with 4 you get a 2,000,000 bonus, not 2,400,000. Not that important, just clarifying.

Where exactly can you milk points in this game? There doesn't seem to be too much. One place I know of is on stage 5, you can milk the T-Rex under the destructable stalagtite for awhile, and if you don't destroy him another one will show up, but I think you lose out on a hero hostage doing this. Not sure if its worth it.

 

[Fran]

do not play the us version of PI2
it's different
lives instead of energy

 

[BBH]

do not play the us version of PI2
it's different
lives instead of energy

actually it's a soft dip setting.

 

[Fran]

actually it's a soft dip setting.

whatever it is,
the fact remains :

if you play the us version lives are the default

 

[BBH]

whatever it is,
the fact remains :

if you play the us version lives are the default

Does it really matter that much? I mean, you still lose a hostage when you take a hit on the lifebar version... as long as you can finish the game on one life, it shouldn't make a difference which version you're playing, right?

 

[Fran]

Does it really matter that much? I mean, you still lose a hostage when you take a hit on the lifebar version... as long as you can finish the game on one life, it shouldn't make a difference which version you're playing, right?

well,technically you should be right

the thing is,if they changed that one thing...
maybe they changed something else too

maybe something trivial,barely noticeable

but why should i want to run the risk ?
that's why i never play us / euro versions

if i can play the real original version,
why should i even bother trying the other ones ?

that's my stance on the matter

anyway :

 

[jpj]

lol, looks like my 33 million is gonna get wiped off BBH's board. although that was a 1 credit run, rather than a 1 life run. but i have to admit, i can't see where 89 million is possible.

@GH - the regular star pickups then sound a bit like the blue gems from blazing star, they start off with a very low point value, but increase incrementally up to 81k, so perhaps certain things cause a penalty point-wise for the regular stars....?

after reading this thread, i think i'm gonna have to get back onto this game

 

[GunstarHero]

well,technically you should be right

the thing is,if they changed that one thing...
maybe they changed something else too

maybe something trivial,barely noticeable

but why should i want to run the risk ?
that's why i never play us / euro versions

if i can play the real original version,
why should i even bother trying the other ones ?

that's my stance on the matter

anyway :

All that crying about playing the 'original' version, then you post up an emulator high score?

Got a question for ya Fran or BBH. If I play with the lifebar version, won't that make it easier to achieve the challenge stars? I mean, you get a challenge star for clearing the stage without dying in US mode. I don't know but lifebar mode sounds like cheating a little bit to me, virtually gauranteeing you get all the challenge stars.

US mode= harder? I have a unibios and can boot up in Jap mode, just haven't tried it yet. But BBH says its a dip switch, and I never mess with those, I don't know my way around the dip boards.

Edit: Ok, by looking at that screencap above it looks like Fran didn't get 2 of the challange stars, so I'm guessing if you take a hit then that ruins your challenge star bonus for that stage? Although I'm still thinking the US mode is tougher because you get 3 ships to complete instead of Jap mode which you get 5 bars of health? Thats like having 5 ships! I'll stick with US mode for now. The game is easy enough as it is, don't need to make it even easier.

 

[GunstarHero]

lol, looks like my 33 million is gonna get wiped off BBH's board. although that was a 1 credit run, rather than a 1 life run. but i have to admit, i can't see where 89 million is possible.

@GH - the regular star pickups then sound a bit like the blue gems from blazing star, they start off with a very low point value, but increase incrementally up to 81k, so perhaps certain things cause a penalty point-wise for the regular stars....?

after reading this thread, i think i'm gonna have to get back onto this game

Yep, it seems the value of the stars fluctuate. That's what I'm trying to figure out is how the value of each one is calculated. I don't know what the penalty would be though, perhaps each time you miss one the values get reduced? I have no idea.

 

[Fran]

All that crying about playing the 'original' version, then you post up an emulator high score?

what's better and easier to upload ? a 20 k snap or a 300 M avi / mpeg file ?
yes,it's an emu shot but from the "original" version
i do own a couple neo geo games,by the way

Got a question for ya Fran or BBH. If I play with the lifebar version, won't that make it easier to achieve the challenge stars?

no

one single mistake / lost hostage and no star
it works the same on both versions

and by the way,
the "challenge star" ( in itself ) means absolutely nothing

you don't get a special bonus if you get them all and beat the game

the star is a symbolic way to say "good job" about a particular stage

your reward are the extra points for the hostages

Yep, it seems the value of the stars fluctuate

that's one very interesting observation

i noticed that too but can't figure out the reason...

maybe if you switch weapon colour ? if you miss one along the way ?

 

[Neo Alec]

All this talk about this makes me want to get mine back out and start trying too. I guess I'll play it in US mode with the life bar and then in Japanese mode with the lifebar, and see if I notice any difference.

 

[GunstarHero]

one single mistake / lost hostage and no star
it works the same on both versions

and by the way,
the "challenge star" ( in itself ) means absolutely nothing

you don't get a special bonus if you get them all and beat the game

the star is a symbolic way to say "good job" about a particular stage

your reward are the extra points for the hostages

That's not true Fran, sorry. Please read my previous post with the scoring bonuses from getting the Challenge stars. You get a challenge star for finishing a level without dying/getting hit.

Challange stars stack on eachother if you get them all sequentially. Stage 1 =100,000. Stage 2= 200,000 if you get the challenge star again. Stage 3 =300,000 bonus if you get the challenge star again and so on. If you miss the Stage 4 challenge star, but get it again on Stage 5, you only get the 100,000 bonus on stage 5.

At the end of each level you get:

-Rescue Bonus: (This is the bonus recieved for civilians rescued with your chopper, max 3 million points each stage if you save all 5)

-Hero Count Bonus This is the bonus recieved based on how well you do on the "Defend People" segments)

-Challenge Star Bonus: (Challenge stars are awarded for completing a mission with out losing any ships or without taking any hits, depending on which mode you play)

-Clear Bonus: (Not sure on this one, I'm guessing it's based on a percentage of total enemies killed)

Like I said, the Challenge Star 'Bonus' rewards you with 100,000 for each star you have earned, as long as you don't miss any. So if you go flawless all the way through stage 5, your Challenge Star Bonus factor will be 500,000!

So looking at your screen shot, you got challenge stars on stages 1,3,5...this netted you only 300,000 points total for those because you broke the chain and didn't perform perfectly. Whereas if you would have recieved stars for all those stages, you would have netted 1,500,000 points by the end of level 5! Big difference, and challenge stars do equal points, they aren't just for show.

 

[Fran]

hahaha

you are right

i simply didn't give a crap about the scoring system ??!

i'm usually very precise,analytic and all that silly shit

but not this time ??!

i must be getting old

 

[Neo Alec]

Got a question for ya Fran or BBH. If I play with the lifebar version, won't that make it easier to achieve the challenge stars? I mean, you get a challenge star for clearing the stage without dying in US mode. I don't know but lifebar mode sounds like cheating a little bit to me, virtually gauranteeing you get all the challenge stars.

I did some experimenting last night. Yes, the game has the lifebar in Japan AES mode, and the lives in US or Euro AES mode. You lose one rescued person each time you get hit, regardless of which mode you're in, but in the lives mode, you have to go pick up the parachuting people after you respawn.

The main difference between life bar mode and lives mode: In lifebar mode you can take 5 hits per credit, but in lives mode, you only get three lives. However, each time you die in lives mode, you get a full reload of 3 bombs to use. In life bar mode, you get three bombs to begin for the duration of each credit, and they don't refill each time you get hit.

I prefer life bar mode because, like any hardcore shooter fan trying to master the game, I think using bombs all the time is cheap, and having to respawn all the time just makes things messier and more chaotic. I'd rather be forced to work with the original 3 bombs I'm given and focus on not getting hit. I agree with Fran -- since the Japanese mode uses the life bar, that's probably closer to the original intended version of the game. I plan to play in Japan AES mode from now on (there is no language difference between the modes). I don't know why they changed it for the US/Euro mode (maybe just to mix things up), but it reminds me of Contra Hard Corps on the Genesis/Mega Drive. I never finished that game with the lives system.

US mode= harder? I have a unibios and can boot up in Jap mode, just haven't tried it yet. But BBH says its a dip switch, and I never mess with those, I don't know my way around the dip boards.

Normally, you just have the test switch on when you boot the system (the last of the eight dips). That will bring you into the test menu, the soft dips are in there. Very easy to use, and necessary for some games that have no home options. Since you have a Unibios, you can just hold B+C+D on boot, rather than using the switch. That's of course if you have MVS hardware -- if you have AES, it's just in the regular Unibios main menu. Easy peazy.

 

[GunstarHero]

Thanks for the information on the differences between lifebar mode and lives mode. In the end I don't think it matters at all which version is played for high score, because on the issue of bombs, it's not that it's cheap to use them(no cheaper than being alloted what amounts to 5 lives in lifebar mode), but any smart player going for score is going to avoid using bombs anyway.

And if you are at the point where you can finish the game(or come real close) on 1 life then there's really no difference at all. Bomb reloads don't matter when you don't die. Bombs aren't cheap anyway, credit feeding is.

I would also like to know how the 89 million high score on Gemants site was verified.

 

[Neo Alec]

In the end I don't think it matters at all which version is played for high score, because on the issue of bombs, it's not that it's cheap to use them(no cheaper than being alloted what amounts to 5 lives in lifebar mode), but any smart player going for score is going to avoid using bombs anyway.

I think it matters a lot, because it's better to play using your own shooting, rather than just resorting to bombs that take down the bosses faster all the time.

 

[jpj]

I would also like to know how the 89 million high score on Gemants site was verified.

all scores are taken from arcadia magazine, so it is genuine. trouble is.... nobody knows how!!

other than bosses, i can't really see where leeching is possible. perhaps it's something similar to blazing star, where expert players used certain techniques to artificially raise the difficulty level, and therefore accumulate points quicker.........?

hmmmmm, i will be digging this badboy out tomorrow!