Still around 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: Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong), Kyle Katarn (Star Wars), Superman (Superman 64/Injustice/Various other), Abe (Oddworld), Gex the Gecko (Gex the Gecko), Earthworm Jim (Earthworm Jim), Jak (Jak & Daxter), Banjo (Banjo Kazooie), Grant Danasty (Castlevania), Gon (Tekken), Raz (Psychonauts) and Yuffie (Final Fantasy). These new contestants, like those last week, come with sponsors: Drakulus, OverThinkerY, GeekOut South-West and Hurricane Thought Process
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.
In addition to the above factors, body type, hair, fur, or any other realistic elements were also taken into consideration, as well as the characters’ overall level of athleticism.
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:
Earthworm Jim Skill Set: Crawling, Jumping. Batman Restrictions: No climbing, shimmying or swinging. Tools: Power Suit, grants human appendages and athletic abilities. Not allowed.
Donkey Kong Skill Set: Running, Jumping, Climbing, Ledge Shimmying. Donkey Kong Restrictions: Extra Large and heavy frame. Donkey Kong advantages: Incredible agility, wall climbing, rope swinging, long limbs. Tools: Coconut Shooter, Bongos, not allowed.
Having this in mind, I ran Earthworm Jim 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, Earthworm Jim’s Level 1 run:
Note, starting this week, the highlighted run will include the point breakdown!
Earthworm Jim – Level 1:
Earthworm Jim, without the power suit is sadly just an earthworm, lacking in all the abilities required to effectively compete in the Ultimate Beastmaster. Still, he makes it up Bite Force (5). Facing the chain in front of him and realising he can’t climb, he attempts to spring jump onto the first gear of the grinder, barely making it (5 for the skipped chain). Sadly, while his jump has good height, it lacks distance and he fails the next jump.
Course Points 10. Thrusters: 0, 0 points. Level 1 Score: 10. Time: 1.5 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.
Competitors – Week 6
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.
- Donkey Kong – 115 points.
- Gex the Gecko – 115 points.
- Kyle Katarn – 115 points.
- Grant Danasty – 115 points.
- Raz – 115 points.
- Superman – 115 points.
- Jak – 105 points.
- Banjo – 85 points.
- Yuffie – 70 points.
- Gon – 50 points.
- Abe – 35 points.
- Earthworm Jim – 10 points.
Level 2 – Max Points 155 – Rankings. Ties broken by faster times. Scores are cumulative. Now including Level Score between parentheses.
- Grant Danasty(155) – 270 points.
- Kyle Katarn (155) – 270 points.
- Superman (155) – 270 points.
- Gex the Gecko (145) – 260 points.
- Donkey Kong (145) – 260 points.
- Jak (135) – 240 points.
- Raz (70) – 185 points.
- Banjo (55) – 140 points.
Level 3 – Max Points 155 – Rankings. Ties broken by faster times. Scores are cumulative. Now including Level Score between parentheses.
- Grant Danasty (155) – 425 points
- Kyle Katarn (155) – 425 points.
- Superman (155) – 425 points.
- Donkey Kong (155) – 415 points.
- Gex the Gecko (135) – 395 points.
Level 4 – Winner – Grant Danasty, sponsored by Timlah from GeekOut South-West
Twice in a row we’ve had Jedi in the finals, their speed and powers granting them an edge over the other competitors, including Kryptonians. But it was the Belmont’s companion who took the prize this week.
Things started almost as a repeat of last week when Kyle leapt up to Full Tilt and began making his way across, yet despite the boost in speed from Force Speed, his clumsy shimmying across this obstacle and up Motherboard couldn’t compete with the natural speed, agility and spider-like climbing prowess of his opponent, who quickly closed the gap between them and established a significant lead of his own, one that he would keep for the rest of the level, leaving Kyle Katarn in the dust.
The new Beastmaster to join the others in the finale is Grant Danasty!
That’s it for this week then, we’ll see you on the next edition of The Ultimate Beastmaster – Gaming Edition!
