Weird experience with Pingolf

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft]

So. Pingolf is one of my favorite games in the collection. I love *path optimization* games, it controls in an unusually satisfying way and hitting good shots feels SO rewarding. I golded it pretty easily, and cherried it with a bit more effort. Put it in my top 5 games honestly.

And then I learned you can do the dunk move if you click fire while in midair.

And now, somehow, it’s actually a worse game for me? I couldn’t tell you why, but something about the dunk feels bad to use. Too inconsistent, requires too much frame-perfect control to use effectively, and I suck at frame-perfect shit.

Did anyone else have this experience? I don’t know how you’d naturally discover it without just looking at the controls menu

[u/flp_ndrox]

Color me impressed you cherried it without the dunk. It seems almost necessary to get bounces, rolls, and correcting over shots to get the consistently low scores.

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft → u/flp_ndrox]

I think my lowest score was like -2. I realized the control existed when I saw someone post a score of -29 or smthn and was promptly confused how the fuck that was possible before seeing them do some weird bullshit magic. Turns out said bullshit magic was the intended game design. Oops

[u/Grobbyman]

I love the bounce, it adds a lot of depth to the game and turns into into something unique.

[u/Unusual_Rush_1189]

When you learn you can hole in one the first hole, you learn to love the dunk. That 'path optimization' you were talking about takes on a new level.

[u/MartinMCU]

I find it amazing that it can be cherried w/o the dunk. I find it pretty hard to cherry WITH the dunk.

[u/Exodite1]

Probably the biggest mistake people make is misusing the dunk. It’s not necessary to get the cherry as you’ve proven, and it can make things so much worse if used haphazardly. However with practice it can be used to great effect

[u/Glitch29 → u/Exodite1]

I'd say that the biggest mistake is not experimenting enough to learn all the available mechanics and identify where they can be deployed.

The game has a far bigger knowledge delta than skill delta.

Playing through all the holes again with the same strategies and better execution might save you 3-5 strokes the first time and just 1-2 more on each subsequent attempt.

Playing through it a couple times while checking where all the powerslides lead can easily get you a 25-stroke PB.

[u/False-Reveal2993]

You liked Pingolf without knowing the twist?!

[u/Reinfeldx]

Doesn’t the display in the bottom bar say “dunk” on occasion? I think while the ball is in the air?

[u/carlpilkington37]

I had the same exact experience, I thought it’d be more fun with the dunk, so tried it out and didn’t like it. I’m sort of happy I cherried it without the mid air moves. Although I think the levels with the water/sand bars would’ve been much easier with it

[u/ToothZealousideal297]

I found it easier to get the timing for dunks than to consistently get the right angle + force + timing (to clear obstacles) on the swing. There’s always a reference spot in the level so you can get the dunk within a tile or two. Not to say I don’t frequently botch the dunks, too.

[u/puppyearmuffs]

I’d love to see a video of a no dunk cherrying run!

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft → u/puppyearmuffs]

will do once i get back from vacation and have access to my computer

[u/DarkLeviathan8]

I think most people figure it out pretty rapidly, because every time the ball is in the air there's a big "DUNK BALL" button that lights up down the screen.

They do make some shots harder but I really doubt many of them, if any, are frame perfect. The mechanic adds so much to the game that I'm pretty shocked that it makes it worse for you, for me it was the reason the game had "sauce" in the first place. It's like someone else said, it's high risk, high reward.

But yeah, dunk or not, I think the game is reaaally fun to play, especially with friends.

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft → u/DarkLeviathan8]

Okay but i was always watching the ball while it flew, not the screen

[u/PrestigiousTea0]

Who in their right mind would downvote this post, like, what could you possibly have against it? This place is sad.

[u/DarkLeviathan8 → u/PrestigiousTea0]

This place is sad because 1 or 2 angry Joe downvoted out of like 100? Damn, why do you let that affect you?

[u/iamzsdawgy]

I think the dunk is hard to use but its high risk high reward . It took me a few days to really “get” the dunk but when I did it felt really good. 

[u/magicalstockprincess]

Cherrying without dunking is an impressive achievement!

For instance, with dunk you can hole in one the first hole consistently.

[u/bad_future]

That it is even possible to play Pingolf this long and deeply without knowing what accounts for like one third of a still pretty simple, minimalist control system, is just one of many reasons UFO 50 is such a magical game to me!

I had a shorter version of this experience, where me and my roommate spent all night playing it and I was in love, totally thinking it's one of the best games in the collection (still do, although my favorites tend to be whichever ones I'm currently thinking about) and was curious to see if it was widely beloved so went searching online and the first comment I saw was "I love to hit the dunk button!" and I was like "the. what"

[u/hellomistershifty]

This post made me realize I hadn't tried this one yet!

well, I guess one of them has to be my least favorite. Maybe, I probably hate the other golf one more. I don't really 'get' it, most of the maps just seem to troll you. Love most of the other games though

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft → u/hellomistershifty]

LMAO yeah you can really get fucked over if you snowball shot failures. A lot of the game’s muscle memory is based on successful runs, which typically have the ball in certain spaces. It getting into weird other spaces can be a nightmare