About halfway there on what I still hope is a full run of the Ultimate Beastmaster Gaming Edition, based on the Netflix reality show produced by Sylvester Stallone, The Ultimate Beastmaster, where competitors from around the world tackle the most vicious of challenge courses, the Beast.
In our gaming edition, there are no coins, rupees or souls to be won, but there is a certain kind of prestige, where one characters steps out of the ruins of the Beast, confident they are the Ultimate Gaming Beastmaster.
New challengers for this week are: George Stobbart (Broken Sword), Nicole Collard (Broken Sword), Gabriel Knight (Gabriel Knight), Tex Murphy (Tex Murphy), Pikachu (Pokémon), Max (Sam & Max), Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher), Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros.), Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell), Knuckles (Sonic) and Vegeta (Dragon Ball). These new contestants, like those last week, come with sponsors: Drakulus, GamersUnitedGG, OverThinkerY and Later Levels
For the competitors, I took note of their skills from across all their videogame appearances, including crossovers such as Super Smash Bros. and other such games, matching these skills to the ones required to best the four levels of The Beast. I also took note of their individual styles, their restrictions and sometimes even clothing. Unlike competitors on The Ultimate Beastmaster, video game competitors bring their own clothing to the table, though they’re forbidden from using the many tools of their trade. Since this episode features the first competitors from fighting and point & click adventure game series, some conversion rules were necessary.
For the Beast, the skills required are:
- Climbing: Vertical movement while hanging.
- Ledge Shimmying: Horizontal movement while hanging.
- Running.
- Jumping.
In addition to this, there are advanced skills such as Wall Climbing and Rope Swinging which grant the competitors an edge.
Below are examples of skill sets:
Geralt Skill Set: Running, Jumping, Climbing, Ledge Shimmying. Geralt Restrictions: No signs allowed. Geralt advantages: Heightened strength. Tools: Alchemy, Crossbow. None allowed.
Vegeta Skill Set: Running, Jumping, Climbing. Vegeta Restrictions: No flying allowed (super jumps included), short stature. Vegeta advantages: Enhanced Strength, Stamina, Ki Projectiles.
Having this in mind, I ran Geralt and his competitors through the course, noting the obstacles completed, the ones failed, whether they’d go for point thrusters or not and noting the final results. Below is an example of this, Geralt’s Level 1 run:
Note, starting this week, the highlighted run will include the point breakdown!
Geralt – Level 1:
Geralt swiftly runs up Bite Force (5), grabs the chain and hoist himself up to the first gear of Grinder (5). Between short hops and grabbing the sides to keep his balance, Geralt moves through the gears (x3 = 15) and onto Faceplant. Geralt’s core is incredibly strong so he holds himself in place as the platform tilts, the jumps (5), grabs the chain and swings to the first of the Energy Coils (5).
Deciding the risk is worth it, Geralt jumps to the bonus coil (5) and presses the point thruster (10). The jump back, however, proves more challenging, but he latches onto the pillar holding the coil and climbs up, his hard landing having a resounding clang that everyone around the course felt and knew it would leave a mark. Geralt then jumps across the large gap to the next coil and from there, a short hop to the third (5). Geralt latches onto the first of the deadbolts (5), shimmies to the second (5). His enhanced strength and tough grip serve him in this case as he twists and presses the next point thruster (10). He swings on the coil, gaining momentum and lets go, jumping to the next one (5). With only one deadbolt remaining and his fingers straining to hold on, he swings once more and makes it to the mag wall (5).
On the mag wall, Geralt makes good progress on the wall, reaching the point thruster (10) along the way and leaping off and clearing level (3 wall sections: 15)
Course Points 85. Thrusters: 3, 30 points. Level 1 Score: 115. Time: 4.5 minutes.
For the sake of brevity, considering the amount of competitors going through the levels, below are the rankings at the end of each level. Twelve (12) competitors start the competitions, then the top eight (8) make it to Level 2. After that it’s the top five (5) who make it to level 3 and the last two then advance to Level 4.
If you wish to know how a specific character’s run went to understand their score, let me know and I’ll relate their experience in the comments.
Course breakdown:
Level 1 – Bite Force, 5 points. Chain to Grinder, 5 points. Grinder, 5 points each, 15 total. Faceplant, 5 points. Chain to Coil, 5 points. Energy Coils, 5 points each, 15 total. Deadbolts, 5 points each, 20 total. Mag-Wall, 5 points each section, 15 total. 3 Point Thrusters, 10 points each. Max Points, 115.
Level 2 – Spinal Ascent, 5 points each, 25 total. Spinal Descent, 5 points. Stomach Churn, 5 points each, 15 total. Digestive Track, 5 points. Jump from Digestive Track, 5 points. Dreadmills, 5 points each, 10 points total. Jump to Chain Reaction, 5 points. Chain Reaction, 5 points each, 20 total. Vertibrace, 5 points each, 25 total. 4 Point Thrusters, 10 points each. Max Points, 155.
Level 3 – Ejector, 5 points. Prism Strike, 5 points each, 10 total. Coil Crawl, 5 points each, 15 total. Hangman, 5 points each, 75 total. Pipeline, 5 points. Wall, 5 points. 4 Point Thrusters, 10 points each. Max Points, 155.
Level 4 – Individual points ignored. Reaching the top is worth 200. If no competitor reaches, then furthest along competitor wins.
Level 1 – Max Points 115 – Rankings. Ties broken by faster times.
- Sam Fisher – 115 points.
- Geralt of Rivia – 115 points.
- Vegeta – 105 points.
- Princess Peach – 105 points.
- Knuckles – 105 points.
- Sora – 100 points.
- George Stobbart – 95 points.
- Pikachu – 80 points.
- Max – 70 points.
- Tex Murphy – 50 points.
- Gabriel Knight – 30 points.
- Nicole Collard – 15 points.
Level 2 – Max Points 155 – Rankings. Ties broken by faster times. Scores are cumulative. Now including Level Score between parentheses.
- Vegeta (155) – 260 points.
- Princess Peach (155) – 260 points.
- Sam Fisher (135) – 250 points.
- Geralt of Rivia (100) – 215 points.
- Knuckles (75) – 180 points.
- Sora (55) – 155 points.
- Pikachu (70) – 150 points.
- George Stobbart (40) – 135 points.
Level 3 – Max Points 155 – Rankings. Ties broken by faster times. Scores are cumulative. Now including Level Score between parentheses.
- Vegeta (145) – 405 points
- Sam Fisher (155) – 405 points.
- Geralt of Rivia (155) – 370 points.
- Princess Peach (40) – 300 points.
- Knuckles (30) – 210 points.
Level 4 – Winner – Sam Fisher, sponsored by OverThinkerY
On this level 4 we have some apparent disparity in strength and power. On one hand the proud Saiyan Prince, Vegeta, with superhuman abilities and control over his life energy. On the other, a spy with a lifetime of skills and olympian level athletic abilities. Who shall remain? Let’s run them.
First up is Ricochet, and both competitors are up to a fast start, running up one side before jumping to the ledge on the other, parkour abilities at their best. Next is Full Tilt and here, Vegeta’s lack of a shimmy skill costs him, as he struggles to find his rhythm across the dropping blocks, while Sam cruises through unaffected. But then they come to Motherboard, where Vegeta’s superior strength and stamina come into play and he not only catches up to Sam but overtakes him on the last couple of meters.
Skyhook is next, and both competitors make it across without incident, with Vegeta still at the lead.
Finally, they reach the Ventilator, where the duct-like crevices they must climb tests their coordination and stamina more than their raw physical power. It’s the greatest equaliser for these competitors and after years of climbing through ventilation ducts, Sam Fisher has the perfect technique to climb this chute, keeping a steady rhythm while Vegeta clearly has some trouble finding the proper technique to make the climb, quickly wasting his lead and falling behind at the end.
The new Beastmaster to join the others in the finale is Sam Fisher!
That’s it for this week then, we’ll see you on the next edition of The Ultimate Beastmaster – Gaming Edition!
Note: For this week I broke down the points for each level for you in addition to showing the full course, so you can measure how well they did and how far into the courses they got. I also included a full Level 4 run.
On another note, because of the large variety of body types and species on this, I needed to take more than just their listed skills into consideration, such as considering how Pikachu and Knuckles’ hairy bodies would do in the course. How does Vegeta’s short stature affect his performance. Also, how much does removing the free use of his Ki abilities affect his chances. It was the same for the rest. In addition to looking for their skills, I had to consider more realistic factors to see how they’d do, though for cartoonish characters like Max, these factors are a bit more generous.
For example, Pikachu didn’t make it across Digestive Track on Level 2, between his short claws and hairy body, the slick surface of the pipe made it impossible for him to gain any traction and reach the exit. He did, however, press 2 Point Thrusters before this, so he had a higher score than normal, proving just how valuable they are.
I love how much thought clearly goes into this! I’m guessing Sora probably just tried to Superglide through the whole thing and basically missed all the points (or forgot he had to land at some point)!
On level 1, Sora made it all the way to Mag Wall, he missed the 2nd point thruster, the one near the Deadbolts, because it requires a bit more flexibility to stretch and press the button, he’s also pretty short, so that worked against him. Sora has great movement on ground and vertical climbing is top notch, but horizontal movement, aka shimmying, isn’t as good and the mag wall’s falling handhelds caught up to him and he dropped, and since skipping sections is not allowed, he couldn’t just glide to the end. In fact, the glide’s weakness is altitude loss, which didn’t make it a viable skill for the mag wall, as jumping off would put him dangerously low on the wall and keep him away from hand and foot rests.
He did, however, grab 2 of 3 point thrusters, and got to the 2nd section of the mag wall. out of 115 maximum points, he missed 15 only, and got 100 for his trouble.
Level 2 was a bit harder on him. Spinal Ascent and Descent were piece of cake, as was Stomach Churn, it’s all about jumping and gliding there. But the point thrusters are out of the way and though he got the first one by hanging on the descent cords, the 2nd is right next to a fast spinning platform. Most people skip that one, and Sora wasn’t the exception.
What really did him in was the Digestive Track, he just couldn’t find his footing in it and it’s a tight space that completely negates most of his skills. His gigantic feet or shoes didn’t help the matter. It’s a slippery tunnel at an angle.
So Sora get 55 points on Level 2, making his accumulative score 155.
Knuckles managed to get enough to take the lead over Sora and go into Level 3, while the Keybearer went back home in his gummy ship.
Ahhh, the gigantic shoes. Should have known!
Great installment! Making sure Vegeta didn’t use his ki abilities was well warranted. Congrats Chris and Sam! I have some ideas for the next week challengers.
-Luna