i set a world record (kinda)

Verbatim · July 12, 2022, 05:19:48 PM

https://cyberscore.me.uk/chart/51936

Pokémon Snap recently dropped on the NSO N64 app, so I've been playing that a bunch lately. Featured in the game is my favorite Pokémon, Porygon, so I thought it would be fun to try taking the highest possible scoring photo of one (or, in this case, two).

Pictured above is my best effort: a 5710 point photo earned after hours and hours of grinding. After looking up what the world record is, though, I discovered that a Japanese player was able to snap a photo worth 5790 points, 10 points off the theoretical maximum. In other words, to beat this guy, I would need to take a flawless photo. Maximum points in every category—a feat which may or may not even be possible, given that nobody has been able to do it for the 20+ years the game has been out.

At that point, I figured the dream was done—I already invested so much time into getting one photo over 5700 points, and I still had 80 points to go before I could even tie the world record. Seemed like a hopeless waste of time.

Then, it hit me—these scores are only valid for the original N64 version of the game. It turns out that there's actually a separate leaderboard for the Wii, Wii U, and Switch ROMs of the game (and the reason for this is because these versions of the game utilize a different scoring algorithm than the N64 original).

Upon realizing this, I immediately checked the other leaderboard, and lo and behold—it turns out that I do have the highest scoring Porygon photo—but only for this version of the game. And by 60 points. I figured, you know what? I'LL TAKE IT. I have a world record. It may be the lamest world record of all time, but it's M I N E

Cheat · July 12, 2022, 05:48:14 PM

Congrats!

dahuterschuter · July 12, 2022, 07:05:22 PM

Didjew post it to the leaderboards?

alphy · July 13, 2022, 12:44:01 PM

nice! im looking at those leaderboards and i see only you and a handful of others have photo proof of your score, while 2nd, 3rd and many others dont have proof

doesnt seem very fair to not have to include proof

DAS B00T x2 · July 13, 2022, 12:55:56 PM

Damn bro
Photograph me like one of your pixelated birds

Verbatim · July 13, 2022, 01:58:53 PM

Quote from: dahuterschuter on July 12, 2022, 07:05:22 PM

Didjew post it to the leaderboards?

yep, there's a link to it in the OP

Quote from: alphy on July 13, 2022, 12:44:01 PM

nice! im looking at those leaderboards and i see only you and a handful of others have photo proof of your score, while 2nd, 3rd and many others dont have proof

doesnt seem very fair to not have to include proof

yeah, i agree. there IS a moderation process before they'll let you upload a score, though, where i assume you'd get rejected/asked for more proof if your score seemed particularly fishy (took them 2 days to check mine)

a score like 5650 is pretty tough to get, but it isn't particularly insane or unheard of, so they probably didn't think it was questionable

also, some people just upload scores to be on the leaderboard, even if they're in 19th place or something, so there's not much point in verifying when no one's gonna brag about that anyway

but i agree, as a matter of principle, proof should just be required and it's kinda strange that it isn't.
could be game dependent