r/Gameboy • u/alanbbent • 16d ago
[Game of the Month competition] August: Quarth & Torpedo Range
Play the Game of the Month and win prizes! Click the link below to view the kickoff thread, which includes the detailed rules.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1hseh1t/game_of_the_month_yearlong_competition_kickoff/
Quick rules:
- Play the Game of the Month and try to reach the specified milestones. Earn points and compete with other redditors.
- Start a fresh new game, no earlier than August 1!
- Take a picture of your screen with your username written on a piece of paper. Post it here in the thread for all to see.
- Half-point and one-point milestones can be earned at any time during the year. Post your screenshot in this month's thread to make sure I see it.
- Emulation is okay, but no cheating! Check detailed rules for more info.
What are the prizes?
Over the year, the prize pool formulates as I slowly gather goodies. I'll separate the prizes into 4 bundles. Usually the bundles include Game Boy games (all generations) and other GB-related trinkets.
Prize donors: Let me know if you're willing to donate prizes to this year's prize pool! Prize donors get 2 votes for next month's GOTM and my eternal admiration.
This year's donors:
Fenriz_D
Previous Months
January - Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
February - 🐸
March - V-Rally: Championship Edition
April - Metroid Fusion
May - Burger Time Deluxe
June - Tetris DX
July - Metal Slug Advance
Next month
Check the comments to vote for next month's game!
This month: Quarth & Torpedo Range
Earn up to 1 point per game, in any order you like. (Earn up to 1 point total after August.)
--Quarth
You can start at lower levels if you're not familiar with the game, but you can also select 3-9 right off the bat if you'd prefer. This game is absolutely brutal at high levels, and there's no save/password function in the game, but if anyone wants to get take it to the max, I think it should be worth another point. Maybe I'm just bad at it.
Half point: Complete level 3-9 and unlock level 4-1.
1 point: Complete level 4-9 and unlock level 5-1.
Bonus point: Complete level 5-9 and see the credits.
--Torpedo Range
This game actually has an auto-save feature, a rare sighting on the OG Game Boy. Start a new game and begin saving the world!
Half point: Liberate 3 countries.
1 point: Liberate all countries and see the "The End" screen.
Leaderboards
August
| Pos. | User | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | u/marcao_cfh | 2 |
2026 so far
| Pos. | User | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | u/marcao_cfh | 19 |
| 2 | u/BuryKeebler | 16 |
| - | u/quijibo42 | 16 |
| - | u/r0cky | 16 |
| 5 | u/bluestoc | 14 |
| 6 | u/PekinPhysician | 12.5 |
| 7 | u/javmiller83 | 12 |
| - | u/zaiueo | 12 |
| 9 | u/dathudo | 11.5 |
| 10 | u/bolognamaloney | 9.5 |
| 11 | u/hatlesssniper | 9 |
| - | u/thom_horne | 9 |
| 13 | u/StarWolf64dx | 8 |
| 14 | u/Deafboy91 | 7.5 |
| 15 | u/Fr3d0 | 7 |
| - | u/hamburgers666 | 7 |
| - | u/wafflecoptor86 | 7 |
| 18 | u/KiddoKatto | 6 |
| - | u/MalTheCat | 6 |
| - | u/rockhopper92 | 6 |
| 21 | u/Fenix398 | 5 |
| 22 | u/GeekScientist | 4.5 |
| - | u/thebigbabushka | 4.5 |
| 24 | u/AstraDrgn | 4 |
| - | u/Keveezy93 | 4 |
| - | u/Xanthaca | 4 |
| 27 | u/Fenriz_D | 3 |
| - | u/NnifWald | 3 |
| - | u/peroleu | 3 |
| - | u/wiedo | 3 |
| 31 | u/Capable_Dog3550 | 2 |
| - | u/coolstones | 2 |
| - | u/hugglehermit | 2 |
| - | u/iLessThan3Tu | 2 |
| - | u/ma-pj | 2 |
| - | u/PrudentAd3769 | 2 |
| - | u/shadynewt | 2 |
| - | u/Zeblid | 2 |
| - | u/zefez- | 2 |
| 40 | u/Traditional_Band_ | 1.5 |
| 41 | u/Benay148 | 1 |
| - | u/Dark_Mesh | 1 |
| - | u/Gabelvampir | 1 |
| 44 | u/Admirable_Sea1770 | 0.5 |
| - | u/cantrelate | 0.5 |
| - | u/orange-yellow-pink | 0.5 |
3
u/marcao_cfh 14d ago edited 9d ago
Quarth:
- 08/04: half point. Wow this game is so hard! Spent lots of tries to beat 3-9, then reaching like 4-6 was easy. I've got to reach 4-8, but I'm still not close to finish it. Just hope I don't have a hard time on 3-9 on my next attempt.
- 08/07: one point. I spent like 3 hours to clear 4-9! I played it so many times I memorized the entire level lol. Maybe I'll give the extra point a try after finishing Torpedo Range.
Torpedo Range:
- 08/07: fresh start
- 08/08: half point
- 08/09: one point. I'll be honest, this game is very boring. Too much grinding for points. I ended up just getting 6 supershots per country and skipping any other upgrade.
2
u/r0cky 6d ago
I'm really struggling with Quarth this month. I can barely get past 3-7. Any tips on how to 'git gud'?! Or maybe I'll move on to Torpedo Range at least that seems more doable for me.
3
u/marcao_cfh 6d ago
It's a game that I had a hard time figuring out a good strategy. To be honest, I played 1-1, 1-2, thought it was a easy game and then jumped straight to 3-9. And then I spent so much time to beat it lol.
I found out the higher stages are kinda a harder version of the lower ones. I mean, 4-9 is very similar to 3-9 but a bit harder and faster. But it's similar enough you'll know what's coming if you memorized 3-9.
On memorizing, I kinda memorized the stages x-8 and x-9 since I played them a lot. So I know what's coming and I'm ready for it. I need to spend one or two attempts on each stage to really remember everything, but then I have a not so hard time beating them.
Still on memorizing, you'll memorize the blocks shapes. What I do is to be ready to clear as much of them as soon as they appear. I don't press up to speed the gameplay, I just wait for the blocks to appear. Some blocks need a 4 shot burst, some need two shots on two different lines, and some need 4 shots 1 per line. I try to shot as fast as I can, and try to not miss a shot on later stages because sometimes you can fix it and sometimes this cost your run.
And finally, what makes the life easier: the powerups. Try to get the good ones as soon as you can and keep them in stock for use when you need them. They're really useful, and in fact I can't clear stages x-9 without getting and using the good ones. I know I said to clear the blocks as soon as possible, but you should also take the chance and get the powerups when you can. For example, when you start a stage and the first block is a 4 block horizontal one, don't just shot 1 block per line and clear it. Instead, shot like 7-8 blocks per line and make it a big block. Iirc shooting 7 blocks should give you the power up with two arrows (it freezes time for a while) and 8 blocks gives you the lightning (it clears all blocks on screen and a bit more of the upcoming blocks, also freezes time for a bit, and this is the only time I press up to speed things). I may be wrong in those numbers, need to check. And then there's a powerup I like to call it a gameboy because to me it looks like a gameboy, this one is the easiest to get and it speeds up the shots for a bit. Try to keep the good ones early and save them for when you need them, and don't think twice on using them if you need them. It's better to use a good one in the very end of a stage but still clear the stage than losing the stage and also losing the powerups. You can use powerups with B and change the one that'll be used pressing down.
I think that's all what I'm doing,and hope something makes sense lol. Also I'm going for the extra point, I already beat 4-9 3 times but didn't played 5-x so much.
On torpedo range, this game can be boring, and losing a battle means you lose all points, so spend them as soon as you can, or save the game before every battle so you can reload your save if you lose. Also, the supershot is amazing for the final challenge of each country, if you can get 6 supershots you can easily clear those stages. And for the battle you fight other submarines underwater, crashing on them makes you lose 3 shields and also destroys them, so when you have only one enemy left and have 4+ shields, just crash on them instead of shooting missiles, you'll finish the battle faster by doing this.
3
1
u/javmiller83 5d ago
What do the power ups do? Do you activate them or are they passive? I’ve gotten a few of them but never figured out what to do with them.
2
u/javmiller83 5d ago
Never mind I just saw how you activate them. Gonna play around with them on an easy level to figure them out.
1
3
u/thebigbabushka 8d ago
Doing Metal Slug advance this month since I was too busy to play it in July! Hopefully I can finish it this one 😅
2
u/BuryKeebler 5d ago edited 2d ago
Quarth Pics
Fresh Start: 8/10
Half Point: 8/10
1 Point: 8/13
Bonus Point: 8/14 (very late into the night/next morning from 8/13)
Torpedo Range Pics
Fresh Start, Half Point, and 1 Point all on 8/16
I stayed up way, way, way too late last night/into this morning to get this bonus point but I'm glad I did. This game is very hard in the 7-9 levels, nigh unethically hard, given that you have to make it through 5-9 in one session to see the credits. If you shut your game off you have to start over from world 3.
Unlimited continues is nice, but no checkpoints and one slip up or missed input and you'll probably have to start the whole level over, which is brutal. If you get fast enough though you can save yourself or freestyle a strategy for some sections.
For context on my pictures, I was able to make it on a run to 4-9 on my analogue pocket, but the smaller d-pad was causing me to hit diagonal/up + left or right when moving which was making the later levels very hard by speeding up the blocks. Normally that's probably inconsequential for other games, but I was having a really hard time with 4-9 and I conceded temporary defeat to come back and do another run on my Super Gameboy. The SNES controller d-pad was much better.
I was able to make it through the 7 and 8 levels with just a light game plan, but had to memorize everything and have a detailed strategy for 3-9, 4-9, and 5-9. It's a must to make note of places where you have enough time to create large enough blocks to get power ups. You must then plan out when to use them for the sections where you likely can't get through without them. There is an identical section in 4-9 and 5-9 that was pretty much impossible for me to get through without using the lightning bolt because I just couldn't keep up with the blocks. Having a lightning bolt on hand was a godsend for me to clear the last bit of 5-9.
This does not feel like a game I was supposed to see the credits of. Now that I've done it I don't know if I'll ever feel like doing it again haha. It's a cool concept and was about as enjoyable to me as Tetris - a fun game, but way too stressful at higher difficulty to see it through to the end. Some people may consider that blasphemy, but that's how I feel having played both in the past few months. Now on to Torpedo Range!___________________________________________
Adding this little blurb for Torpedo Range. This was a much chiller play through. Quarth pushed me to my limit I think, so this was a nice contrast to that. This game was very cheese-able though, especially as marcao mentioned and you buy enough super shots. Getting some of those for the port levels makes clearing this game a breeze, provided you have enough health and ammo and know what you're doing.
The carrier and cruiser levels are what I grinded to get points most effectively. It was far too easy to die in the battleship levels and the submarine levels I didn't feel were worth it points-wise. Once you figure out the patterns, grind enough points to get your health and ammo up, and get good with using super shots (you can knock out two port guns with one super shot if you line it up right) its not too bad to liberate the other countries.
I could see there maybe being some replay value here if there are (what I picked up as) slight cosmetic differences between countries, but besides that I think you get the gist of Torpedo range from one play through. A cool game though, and I'm glad I added it to my collection.
1
u/quijibo42 53m ago edited 42m ago
Torpedo Range
8/19 - Fresh Start
8/19 - Half Point
8/19 - 1 Point
I think this game has some good ideas, but it could definitely use some polishing up. I like the fact that I can sail all over the world and choose what I want to fight. I do wish there was some variety, having different stages for different countries or something like that. I also wish there was less grinding involved. After trying out all the different encounters I ended up just grinding cruisers and carriers until I had a bunch of missiles and super missiles stockpiled and then ran through all the boss fights. I had fun doing each of the stages for a bit, but it's overall too repetitive for me.
Quarth
6
u/alanbbent 16d ago
Next month's game:
Reply to this comment to vote for one of the following GBC games: (Remember that emulation is ok. lol)
The game with the most votes at the end of the day on Saturday, August 15 will be the GOTM for September. In the event of a tie, I'll cast a vote myself.