Battle Quills... ready! Circulation: 193,997,709 Issue: 731 | 6th day of Hunting, Y18
Home | Archives Articles | Editorial | Short Stories | Comics | New Series | Continued Series
 

The Three Hardest AAA Challenges for Daily Dare 2016


by feedthefrog

--------

The fun yet stressful Daily Dare is finally over! Everyone’s hard work should now be rewarded with that shiny gold trophy if you have successfully beat AAA’s score in all twenty games. To cap off this year’s Daily Dare, let us recall some of those toughest challenges that had us on the verge of tears!

Honorable Mentions:

The AAA scores for these games are moderately difficult to beat if you haven’t played them a lot before. However, most people get the hang of it after several attempts.

Ice Cream Machine:

The AAA score of 8000 is not easy as the entire screen starts getting crowded with fast-moving scoops once you reach the 4000 mark. But if you are lucky enough to get the extra-life power-up on early levels and try to stay at the center of the screen, it is very reachable after some practice. After all, the score it asks for is still far way from the avatar score of 14500+.

Mynci Beach Volleyball:

The slippery movement can be difficult to control for those who aren’t get used to this game. Contrary to appearance, the power-ups also tend to make things worse, especially the super-jump and super-speed. But fortunately it only requires a score of 250, which is very manageable as the cpu opponent is pretty weak for the first two rounds in comparison with the cpu of Round 3-6 and you can indeed score up to 340 for these two rounds.

Dubloon Disaster:

As the name of the game suggest, this luck-ridden game could really be a disaster ! The AAA score to beat is 1000. A gold coin is worth either 500 or 1000 points. If you are lucky enough to receive the gold coins, you can get this done very quickly. However, most people need to go for the hard route and collect 10-point worth Dubloon coin one by one until they beat the AAA score. During this long tedious process, the game could be over without any warning beforehand when your boat collides with the mines that spawn out of nowhere. Well, you lose the game without knowing what hit you!

Extreme Herder:

The game starts to get tricky since level 11 when there is only one door left. Many people get stuck at the score of 110-120 for completing the first 10 levels. The orthodox way to complete level 11 or above is to dupe Balthazar by picking the correct petpet, thereby keeping him turning 180 degrees on the same spot without actually moving. However, this requires much practice. Most people therefore hope for luck. The place where the petpets appear on each level is completely random. Therefore, you get lucky if the petpets appear right next to the door. Also, the number of available snowflake power-up that freezes Balthazar is completely random. In short, with a bit of luck, the AAA score of 150 is certainly reachable, although you may have to restart the game over and over again.

Now we come to the three toughest AAA challenges!

3. Chariot Chase

The chariot is difficult to steer for many people. For one thing there’s no “brake” for the chariot, for another thing you have to learn to press two arrow keys at the same time as the track has many curves that require you to turn left/right without slowing down your forward movement. Apart from the tricky steering, you have to look for good traffic as well since you are competing with other chariots on the same track that could crash with you and cost your valuable lives.

The AAA score of 1900 means you need to complete about 19 laps. It does look like an impossible score when many complain that they lose all their 5 lives without even completing a lap!

Luckily people figured out a “safe spot” in the top left-hand corner where your chariot wouldn’t get hit by others. Then you can wait for the power-up that acts as a shield randomly showing up right next to “safe spot” so that you can complete a lap without losing any life before going back to the “safe spot” again. Granted, this “lame-it-out”method takes much longer time than what is needed but at least there would be less frustration for losing all the lives before beating AAA’s score!

2. Sutek’s Tomb

There’s a conspiratorial theory saying this is the game that TNT uses to prevent too many people from getting the gold trophy. The avatar score is 2000+ but AAA asks for the incredibly high 3250! Now let us look at how this game is played. You are told to swap the blocks so that three or more identical symbols are lined up together. Sounds simple? Not at all! The combos itself are difficult enough to be discerned as there are not many of them available on that huge grid. To make matters worse, in order to get as high as 3250, you need to always stay at least one step ahead of the combo you are actually clicking and search for the next combo in advance. The paradox of course is that you are forced to anticipate for the next combo constantly when there aren’t a lot left already! This is so because the time is very limited. When I first play this game, I run out of time with a score that is less than 500!

You think this is just about discerning patterns and aimlessly swapping blocks once you see the pattern? If the game is this simple, it wouldn’t cause so much trouble. In fact, not only are you required to be fast at discerning patterns, you need to learn the correct strategy as well. You have to work from the bottom and go for vertical combo rather than horizontal one. Also, you need to learn when and how to use the time bonus and hints so that you wouldn’t waste too much time just for typing the code. But learning all these things and practicing for hours is still no guarantee that you would finally beat AAA’s score. It still requires a lot of luck to get past the finish line in the end. This is surely the tomb of many who try to win the Daily Dare gold trophy but fail to do so!

1. Darigan Dodgeball

The idea of this game is really simple: you click on a Kiko and try to make it stay there for as long as possible while avoiding being hit by the spike balls around. Each second you stay is worth 100 points. So it only takes 17.5 second to beat AAA’ score of 1750. On the face of it this looks like the simplest and quickest AAA challenge. But appearance can be deceptive! You could play hours and still fail to beat the score! The four spike balls move at an insane speed randomly and your Kiko has little space to hide. Every second is a torture. Staying for 5 seconds is not bad. 10 sec is already an excellent result. 17.5 second? It looks so close but so far away at the same time since the spike balls further speed up as the game goes on. I have heard so many tragic stories on board that people get to 15+ seconds just to get hit by the speeded up spike balls after endless hours of trying and failing. Assuming you die at the 10 sec mark on average and you need 3 hours to finally beat AAA’s score, it means that you have attempted this game as many as 60 X 60 X 3/ 100= 1080 times! Repeatedly clicking “start” just to see “game over” in less than 10 seconds so many times is just so frustrating.

One of the theories that might explain why this game is so difficult is that the game is created many years ago where computer and internet speed are rather slow. However, everything runs at a much faster pace these days because of the improved computer and internet connection, so the spike balls could move at a much faster speed than it once was, making this game even more difficult. The game is also tricky for those who use a trackpad to play as there’s a rule stating that once you release your mouse, you lose the game. At the end of the day, it all comes down to perseverance and luck. As the spike balls move randomly, there’s no way to know where to hide in advance. Oh… I forget to mention that the creepy background music doesn’t help you stay clam at all but only freak you out. Like its “Darigan” theme, this game is just evil. Those 17.5 seconds could be the longest wait of your life.

Well, Daily Dare is supposed to be a CHALLENGE. Some of these notorious challenges could be frustrating but the harder the challenge, the greater the satisfaction it gives once you overcome it. When you finally survive all these twenty tests that require a large variety of skills, you can proudly tell yourself and you neofriends that you are one of the very best gamers on this site! Also it is a good news for your keyboard as well since it is saved from being smashed into pieces because of your anger for failing to beat the score!

 
Search the Neopian Times




Great stories!


---------

A Local’s Guide to Faerieland
Faerieland, with its bubbling brooks and roaring waterfalls, is another highly regarded summer destination. No doubt many readers and their Neopets are already anticipating the magical adventures they’ll have when they set foot on Faerieland’s enchanting shores this summer!

by symphonicdaybreak

---------

The Zaf Girls
He doesn't know his own strength.

by thesovietivan

---------

Neopia's Wonderful Foods
Disclaimer: Your perception of "wonderful" may vary.

by ryanruff13

---------

A Beautiful Blumaroo and her Mystical Treasure
Tiv stepped into the fountain and grinned as the wondrous waters swirled around her. Rainbows danced across her skin as it changed color. However, something wasn't quite right. When the process was over, Tiv was horrified to find that she had been painted Maractite, not Maraquan.

by _brainchild_



Submit your stories, articles, and comics using the new submission form.