Scores are mostly used for compiling ranking lists and comparing similiar entities performances at the same time. Think about sport competitions, from single matches to long-running tournaments, to staff selection for recrutment and... well... videogame reviews.

In the previous issue we talked about the controversies behind quizzes and you would expect even more harsh words for grading systems. Making an harmless quiz can be acceptable but replacing a person or a performance with a cold number in order to disguise a subjective evaluation as an objective one is (luckly) becoming common sense nowadays.

There are best losers from sport to movies: there always is something beyond the number's judgement, from subjective traits to historical backgrounds. So, are these grading systems to condamn in full?

This is Wright Magazine. So the answer is unsurprisingly no.

Our usual friend Wikipedia says that "grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course". Thinking about how these grades were used by both students and teachers during the old good days of school makes me feel a blow to the stomach: terms like secchione (i.e. the overachiever) and asino (i.e. donkey) were used on daily basis to discriminate students according to their relative position of its grades on a ranking list - or his expected absolute position.

I understand that humans are social animals and we can't wait to join, face and think together... but why not complementing that experience with a more intimate and singular approach to things?
Why not enough people uses grading systems for comparing his own performances over time, competing with themselves? This way most of the subjective or irrelevant parts of a score would be mitigated by the measurement of the same individual and you can still find an incentive to do your best facing the best next challenger you'll ever find, an adversary that knows your weaknesses and can dodge your best shots: that's you!

Funny enough, we've naturally found this approach useful when teaching machines what to do and... when we play a score based videogame alone.

Wait. So we don't find fighting ourselves interesting just because of the other people?

Plot!

You've been surronded by countless enemies... what you gonna do? Clench your fists and get ready for an hard battle! Hit the baddies with the longest combo ever, rise your fighting rank to the sky, slide over steep walls, avoid deadly obstacles, collect tons of coins and earn as achieve your best score ever!

Use LEFT/RIGHT for moving, DOWN for crouching and the A BUTTON for jumping. Use DOWN+A on some platform for falling down. Hold LEFT/RIGHT when falling near a wall for sliding over that. Hammer the B BUTTON for fighting! Use B+UP for a rising uppercut and B+DOWN for a low blow.

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Install / Add to home View game sources ...or play it online below!