videogame olympics?

it's about time i throw myself a birthday party, but this time i want to do it a little differently. so rather than sitting my friends down to play games, i'm going to split them into different groups and pit them against eachother in several different types of events. i think it would work out pretty well... but i'd like to cover an equal area of gaming catering the diverse group of gaming friends that i'm a part of. which is why i'm reaching out to the GFF public as it contains gamers of different types.

that said, i was wondering what different events i could hold that incorporate videogames in some fashion. it could be a quiz of gaming knowledge, playing games on an upside down tv, etc. anything that relates to videogames that i could make a contest out of.

i'm also looking for game specific challenges that i could run everyone through simultaneously, like "first team to clear Hilltop Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 wins".

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i look forward to your input
and currently thank the following people for theirs <3

Summonmaster
K_takahashi
Cobra Commander
SonicPanda
Hotobu
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feel free to leave opinions of the following

::event themes::
=Disorientation=

using a DDR mat for games other than DDR (or any special
controller for that matter)

re-mapping a controller to create difficulty in gameplay

playing with an upside down TV

switching controllers around

=Knowledge=

videogame pictionary

recognition of VG screenshots/audio

VG jeopardy

videogame "scavenger hunt"

=Skill=

everyone vs. the elite gamer

score/time attack

conditions of overwhelming difficulty (score attack)

=Cooperation=

everyone vs. the elite gamer

sharing a controller

playing while blindfolded

3-legged Double on DDR/NES power pad games

=Challenges=
Mike Tyson's Punchout

Most points achieved fighting Tyson/Mr. Dream

Zelda: Link to the Past

Fastest time to free zelda from her cell

Katamari Damacy/We <3 Katamari

Largest size achieved by rolling with forehead
Closest katamari to X meters

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Summonmaster

hmmm...I don't know. Some people can really suck at certain types of games (eg. me + FPS), but I guess you know what your friends are good at. If you don't then you have to include the fun games that anyone can become decent at like Katamari Damacy.

i do know what my friends are good at, but it's really an even spread. i think katamari damacy is a must, but i was wondering what kind of challenge i could put the teams through if they were to play. how fun do you think these could be:
rolling up the least amount of fish and getting the largest size in "make pisces"

using your forehead, roll up as much as you can in 3 minutes

the group to roll a katamari closest to X meters wins (in a predetermined stage of course)

how about any other katamari challenges?

Originally Posted by
K_Takahashi

If classic games are to be used I'd just get a bunch of emulators and ROMs (good ones), not to mention some good PS controller USB controller.

that can definitely be arranged, but how about some suggestions of classic game challenges. or challenges centered around emulation such as: playing at a faster emulation speed, playing with a "left handed" button configuration with the d-pad being the face buttons and the face buttons being the d-pad, playing with a really small screen, etc. how do these sound?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

that's a great one, i'm sure that'd put some spin onto the way games feel (though i'd have to find some games that would fit the dancing feel...)

wario ware inc. is definitely one of those games that i'll be playing. it's crazy enough as it is. not to mention that a handful of my friends haven't played it enough to make it an "unfair" experience.

-i thought about having a videogame themed pictionary event. does this sound like any fun?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

that sounds great too. i could throw together a montage of a bunch of different games and they could pick out the ones they could identify and write em down somewhere. this sounds like a good venue for pulling other ideas in. thanks a lot (^_^)d.

as far as design is concerned, would it be better to have a team score, or have a tournament styled approach. what i mean here is that i could have the events scored individually or have teams compete at an event against eachother to work their way up in rank. should i calculate a curve at all? should figures be averaged? what do you think, how should i determine a winner and what type of competition should it be?

How ya doing, buddy?

congratulations! of course it qualifies... i'm not quite sure how to implement the idea exactly for a party scenario, but this helps in creating a different type of competition/event.

I could tentatively give points for victories in different games and then give multiplier bonuses for having victories in different genres. to offset the reigning victor i could give points to the people that break the winning streaks. having a winner decide the next game (i could limit them to games not yet been played) would keep from any slowdown in not being able to decide on the proceeding game and by limiting it to a game that hadn't been chosen, the winner will eventually run out of familiar territory leading someone else to take over.

a friend of mine suggested having a stream of people competing against a
"gaming ace" of a certain title. a continuous barrage of battling against someone till they wear down and lose their guard. has anyone tried this before? how well do you think something like this would keep people entertained?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Cobra Commander

Well my group had something like that with Tekken Tag. Whoever won their match would stay in with te same characters while the losers would switch out with the other people who wanted to play...

hehe, its kinda funny when people don't catch on.
fighting games would probably work pretty well in that fashion. do you think it would be better to keep the "vs. elite" to a certain genre, because i'm speculating that it wouldn't be nearly as intense in any other genre other than fighting...

Originally Posted by Summonmaster

I hope you are definitely playing SSBM since that can open up a subcategory of it's own with all the item themes that can be carried out (bombs only, mr. saturn swarm, etc.)...

well... i'm not sure i could twist the rules up too much being that most of my friends are very "linear" when it comes to SSBM. most of them are keen on the "tournament environment" standard and are generally unwilling to play outside of those rules (which can be half of the fun (T_T) )

Originally Posted by Summonmaster

A variant, or rather an idea of the same stream of the different button mapping idea: How about role reversal of some sort...

this sounds pretty fun. i've experienced something of the sort from rounds of Chu Chu Rocket. If you're not familiar with it, in multiplayer the goal is to direct mice to your rocket (and fend off cats). when the event roulette spins, it has the opportunity to land on "Everybody Move!" which makes all of the players trade positions of rockets, making the mice currently directed to the rockets to be directed into the wrong rocket (they all switched places). which contains the essence of disorientation of which you speak.

not to mention there's always switching their controllers without their consent (i.e. unplugging them and re-plugging them into different ports). it could potentially be really amusing after they've caught on to the whole thing to unplug their controller and plug it back in to the same port (i wonder how quickly they would catch that they were still the same character?) i'm sure there are games that would work well like this like changing controllers before a minigame in marioparty. so everyone has to guess which character they are until they confirm the character mimicking the actions commanded. can you think of any other 4p games that would work well?

it could also be a thing of progression: as the command to trade controllers evolves to the spontaneous plugging and unplugging of controllers at the same time.
"i'm just untangling the controllers, don't mind me... oops, did i accidentally plug them in to different ports?"

should they have any warning as to when their player roles would be switched?

Originally Posted by SonicPanda

Here's one that works well with large groups. Call it a videogame scavenger hunt.

yknow, that's a really good idea (well explained SonicPanda). the only difficulty is that not all of my friends are regular gamers... which is significantly balanced by the whole team aspect of this olympic gig. i'm sure that i could scatter the less experienced gamers among everyone to get the balance and variety of answers that i might need.

Originally Posted by Hotobu

Well, tacking on to what SonicPanda said you could do something like name as many games as you can with "Dragon" in the title. Or something like that.

If you want a quick event you could do the person to get the most points on Tyson/Mr. Dream in Punch Out!

A longer one could be highest score in Marathon Tetris, or First one to free Zelda from her cell in Link to the Past.

haha... finding out how many games have generic qualities sound like good questions for trivia. seriously, how many "save the world" games are there?

getting the most points on tyson/mr. dream doesn't sound half bad (except for the fact that i'd need to get there first). i'm assuming this is emulation based so the savestate can be re-called over and over again.

This sparked an idea i had a while ago but discarded. putting maximum pressure on the player in a game that has a score based system. like making people play the hardest song in a rhythm game to see who can score the most, or see who can get the most hits in before dying at the last boss of a game they havent played before. :3 this could be interesting...

those challenges sound pretty reasonable. i could grab a couple different consoles so a few could be running simultaneously. lots of people are familiar with tetris and zelda so that could probably work pretty well.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

thanks for the trivia hotobu. well.... the only party game suggestions i'll accept at this point are the really unique ones that i'm likely to not have heard of (at least i'll try not to), or the ones that aren't likely to be suggested (i.e. legend of zelda four swords/gba multicart/ ooga booga) because it'll help the flavor of "challenge" when not everyone has played the game suggested (if i have/can get my hands on it)

Originally Posted by Summonmaster

As for controlling sharing, you MUST get "The Adventures of Cookie and Cream". That game requires player cooperation and coordination. EBay it if you haven't already tried it.

umm... i totally don't have this game (T_T). mind "selling" it to me. i've only glanced at the boxart. what kind of game is it? how long is it. will it have much 1p value? what are your thoughts. (also, if you wouldn't mind, please do explain the "cooperation and coordination" part).

FELIPE NO