17,656,700 on a first go. Was actually quite a decent one, in that I finished bonus 1 twice and bonus 2. So close to doing bonus 6, but messed it up right at the end. Would've got loads of points for that.

Playing it again reminds me how much there is to learn, though. If there's interest perhaps I should do a quick list of tips to get people up to speed.

The important thing is, when you see a yellow arrow pointing into something, that'll take you to a bonus stage. Also, when you're on the bottom table you can block the drops on the sides by hitting the little creatures just under the sheep skull things, and block the middle by sending the ball through the little castle.

6602700, plus a realisation that wow, this is a really good game. It's a pinball videogame that makes good use of the fact it's videogame - the special stages are excellent. I'm starting to learn the table a bit. I've never been very good at pinball though, real tables or otherwise; I can't help getting frustrated when the ball fires straight down the middle.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

6602700, plus a realisation that wow, this is a really good game. It's a pinball videogame that makes good use of the fact it's videogame - the special stages are excellent. I'm starting to learn the table a bit. I've never been very good at pinball though, real tables or otherwise; I can't help getting frustrated when the ball fires straight down the middle.

This, exactly. There's also just a ton of stuff to learn and exploit.

I can't quite remember what the password does, I know I didn't used to use it much.

There is only 1 table though, and 6 bonus stages, and some sort of end game if you do something ridiculous like max out the score counter. You do get a huge score if you finish all the bonus stages in 1 game, but some of them are bastards in their own right - especially no. 5.

Played for a bit with save states today and last night, to get a feel for the bonus levels. There's quite a lot to it, which is an odd thing to say for a £40 game with a single table. Will try to set some half decent scores tonight, but I won't be getting near 17m.

Can't be arsed setting up the Megadrive but remembered I have the PCEngine version on the Wii VC. Have only managed 4m odd.

6908700.  Felt like I was playing for ages there, crap score though, kept fluffing the bonus stages.

We've noticed an odd thing with this.  At first we were using the JXD, then my wife moaned about the spongy d-pad so we switched to the PSP for emulation.  The scores just didn't seem to rack up on the PSP.  Were there differences to difficulty in the versions for different regions, Genesis/PAL?  Can't recall if I'm using the same ROM.  We were scoring in the hundreds of thousands, but as soon as we went back to the JXD the multi-million efforts returned.  Odd.  Could be a case of bad workmen, but it really felt like there was a difference.

I don't know if there are differences. The one I've downloaded is Devil Crash, which should be the Jap version, because that's what I had on the MD years ago.

As I say, 17 million involved doing 3 bonus stages, but they were all the easy ones (1 and 2), and the biggest bonus I got from one was 4 million. More often it's 1 or 2 million.

You can sometimes get 16 million just from doing bonus stage 6, and it's always possible to access it from the middle table by revealing the lizard face thing. You have to take it slow and do a lot of holding the ball, but once you work it out it can be a good source of points.

The PCEngine version has a slow/fast option when starting the game. Can't remember if the MD version has that. Must get the MD set up.

Last time I checked Vita is still a bastard for emulation.  It can be done, but it's still a bit round the houses.  PSP emulation is a bit iffy for SNES (to be honest, in my experience it's not good enough for me to bother with most games, although I've only tried the presets rev gave me), but Megadrive and obv PS1 emulation on it is well up to scratch.

I feel like playing this some more now. Should I keep quiet if I get a better score?

Definitely keep quiet about it for now if you beat 17mil! I pretended I beat her score just now, got 23mil with save states (lol), then went for a high five and got called a naughty word. 

Just got a legit 8.9mil, which was crushing because I got 8.6 on the first ball.  Falling out of a bonus stage with 0 points is rage inducing.  I've found that the channel around the very top is good for some quick points, assuming you can stay in the mixer.

Had another game where I got 3 extra balls and still didn't match my previous score. Reminded me of a few different ways to get extras though:

- Keep killing the small wandering characters until the counter hits 109
- Make the 3 coloured blobs just above the head in the centre table all orange
- Hit the eggs on the bottom table to release the little flying creature, then quickly get the ball back into the launcher, then hit the flying thing from the launcher as it passes across
- Match the 'last chance' roulette thing with the final 3 digits of your score

Most of these are difficult to do deliberately with any degree of consistency, but it's always worth looking out for opportunities for the first three.

I know I said I'd keep quiet, but...

If you don't want to know the score, look away now:

9.5m Got into almost all the bonus rounds and screwed every one of them up.

There's more to this game than meets the eye. Anyone know what the significance of the colour of the ball is? Hitting the castle target is key as once you get the bottom drain plugged you don't have to worry about the instant deaths which are annoying when you get used to modern pins with the autosave feature.

There's a 2m skill shot but I'm not sure skill is the right word. If you can get the ball into the head from the plunger you score that but those coloured balls hang around there and it looks like only luck will have you avoiding them. Maybe it's a question of timing?

EDIT:11.8m

Genuine lol at the spoiler reveal.