2022 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Post mortem

[PII | 1,883]

54 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

Im a misunderstood game that’s actually good

No worries ma bro from da So.  I'm still a wormy fan!

Pretty sure no one's going to completely understand you any time soon, but certainly no one's calling you bad.  

[docile tapeworm | 4,196]

1 hour ago, PII said:

No worries ma bro from da So.  I'm still a wormy fan!

Pretty sure no one's going to completely understand you any time soon, but certainly no one's calling you bad.  

I love you all like family! Bring on the misunderstood games!

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

On 1/3/2023 at 5:13 AM, PII said:

It's a cliche but it's true: Smooth seas do not make great sailors.

Also, if I've learned anything from collecting games for the purpose of actually playing them it's this:  Everyone does not know what the good games are.

Exactly.  I've been collecting NES almost a quarter century and I play NES a lot and I'm still finding new good games from the game selection of the weekly contests here.  Case in point: Rampart - when we played it this year I was shocked to see that it wasn't some shitty ported-down version of the arcade game squeezed into the NES.  I was so surprised at it's high quality that I had to look up who programmed it, and lo and behold it was Franz Lanzinger, the guy who created Krazy Kreatures...

Long story short, with 800 games, there are going to be a ton of good games that don't have the words Mario, Zelda, Mega Man or Castlevania in their titles...

[docile tapeworm | 4,196]

@Dr. Morbis you been playing nes since you and Barney rubble first got one and you didn’t know rampart was a good game?

there’s about 150-200 games worth playing on the nes. There’s only 25-50 with the mainstream titles. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by docile tapeworm

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

6 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

@Dr. Morbis you been playing nes since you and Barney rubble first got one and you didn’t know rampart was a good game?

there’s about 150-200 games worth playing on the nes. There’s only 25-50 with the mainstream titles. 

He stopped in the SNES era because none of his friends played it anymore, though he still had his childhood stuff.  Regardless, the logic was sound...he figured because the 16 bit ports came out around the same time that the NES port would be a stripped down waste of time, like many other examples (Prince of Persia, TMNT Tournament Fighters,  etc).  Before playing it in the contest, he never felt inclined to try it out and discover otherwise.  And in fairness, I likely would've told him, except I never liked Rampart as a game, so couldn't be arsed to play it myself.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

11 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

@Dr. Morbis you been playing nes since you and Barney rubble first got one and you didn’t know rampart was a good game?

there’s about 150-200 games worth playing on the nes. There’s only 25-50 with the mainstream titles. 

I've put every single game in my system to make sure it works (before filing it into my collection) but it will take me decades to actually play through every game.  I've beaten 420 NES and Famicom combined though, so I'm working on it!  And because of this weekly contest, Rampart is one of those completed games...

...and yeah, I owned the SNES Rampart and always assumed it was better.  Now I know: not only is the NES version better, but it's superior to the Famicom version as well.  I have since removed SNES Rampart from my collection since the NES version is the only one I will ever want or need to play, moving forward...

[PII | 1,883]

53 Suggestions for 2023   (a five is just a two that's been turned upside down and flipped over  )

[Some of these I've given much thought / some I've given some thought / and some here have been given little thought and are here because I find them interesting and perhaps worthy of investigation for competition purposes.]

ARCADE

City Connection

Excitement Bike

Ice Climber

Joust

Mighty Bomb Jack (see earlier post)

Popeye

 

ACTION/PLATFORMING

Jackal (this probably should be in the shooter genre, but for whatever reason I always think of it as an action game.)

Rainbow Islands (maybe just one level or something, as the whole game is quite long.)

S.C.A.T.

Shadow Of The Ninja

Snake Rattle N Roll

Spelunker (the ropes would probably piss almost everyone off to the Nth Degree)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Zen Intergalactic Ninja

 

BEAT 'EM UP

Bayou Billy

Battletoads And Double Dragon

Fist Of The North Star

Renegade

Street Fighter 2010 (one big boss rush)

 

PUZZLE

Hatris

Loopz

Pyramid (in spite of a flaw or two I think this one is really cool.  Not really sure if Tetris heads can get into it or not.)

Qix

Tetris 2

Yoshi

Yoshi's Cookie

Trolls On Treasure Island (this would probably make people smash and set fire to their NES consoles Jimi Hendrix style while cursing the day they became gamers, but I just can't resist suggesting it just the same.)

SHOOTER

Back To The Future (1-life high score or multi-life Speedrun! Gotta hang onto that skateboard!  Stopping upon reaching the DeLorean.)

Bee 52

Captain Skyhawk

Cybernoid

Dragon Spirit

Defender II

Isolated Warrior

Legendary Wings

Punisher

Top Gun 2nd Mission

Ultimate Air Combat

 

SPORTS

Blades Of Steel

Championship Bowling

Crash N The Boys Street Challenge

C.S. Base Wars

Galaxy 5000 (Back half or middle Starting on Jupiter.  So Middle would be Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and some future competition could be Neptune, Pluto, Planet X)

Eliminator Boat Duel

Lunar Pool

Mach Rider

Pinball Quest (is pinball a sport?)

Skate Or Die

Super Off Road 

Super Team Games

Tecmo World Wrestling

TMNT Tournament Fighters

Snoopy's Silly Sports

 

 

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,196]

Me when people label bttf a “shooter”

The same person labels scat as a platformer

 

dude cybernoid is terrible though and punisher 1. isn’t a shooter 2. Cabal is better.

I love Capcom but the legendary wings port is not good.

I love captain skyhawk fantastic game.

Imo dragon spirit is as good as any shooter on the console.

isolated warrior is also a great game.

[PII | 1,883]

@docile tapeworm You and me, Chainsaw battle.  Two men enter.  One man leave.

[docile tapeworm | 4,196]

9 minutes ago, PII said:

@docile tapeworm You and me, Chainsaw battle.  Two men enter.  One man leave.

Lol I need a new chain on mine I hit a rock last time I used it.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

20 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

punisher isn’t a shooter

Actually, by definition, it's an on rails shooter.  By the terms of the contest I'd class it as action, but it's still a rail shooter.  

[PII | 1,883]

44 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

Me when people label bttf a “shooter”

The same person labels scat as a platformer

 

dude cybernoid is terrible though and punisher 1. isn’t a shooter 2. Cabal is better.

I love Capcom but the legendary wings port is not good.

I love captain skyhawk fantastic game.

Imo dragon spirit is as good as any shooter on the console.

isolated warrior is also a great game.

If you can get through vertical scrolling BTTF w/o shooting I'd like to see it.

S.C.A.T. in retrospect probably should be classified as a shooter.  I know it's not a platformer.  I think of it as a floating Contra = action = floating run n gun = ah hell, I don't even care anymore...

I've never played Cybernoid.  I hear its challenging and short.

Don't know anything about Cabal so I'll take your word for it.

Haven't played legendary wings either.  I thought it looked kinda charming though...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Heh, "Excitement Bike" ... Actually, Excitebike would be pretty cool for the weeklies because you could pick one of the really hard tracks and just make it best time.  Each attempt would only take a couple of minutes, but trying to improve your best time would be fun...

Edited January 8, 2023 by Dr. Morbis

[docile tapeworm | 4,196]

50 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Actually, by definition, it's an on rails shooter.  By the terms of the contest I'd class it as action, but it's still a rail shooter.  

And this by definition is a motorcycle 

24 minutes ago, PII said:

If you can get through vertical scrolling BTTF w/o shooting I'd like to see it.

You mean throwing that bowling ball?

[PII | 1,883]

20 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

You mean throwing that bowling ball?

I think of it as a 4th-Dimensionally-Righteous-Black-Sphere-Of-Power Flung quick and low from the hip to destroy any and all enemies that stand between him and reaching the DeLorean.

[BeaIank | 1,617]

1 hour ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Heh, "Excitement Bike" ... Actually, Excitebike would pretty cool for the weeklies because you could pick one of the really hard tracks and just make it best time.  Each attempt would only take a couple of minutes, but trying to improve your best time would be fun...

Absolutely. This would make it fast and very fun to do.

[NESfiend | 1,514]

I will add to this post, but a few off the top of my head. I have been around 3-4 years now. Im really ready for some 2nd chances at games we played where I got over the learning curve, and could now potentially reach greatness:

Captain Skyhawk - I think this should be a one CREDIT contest. I am very familiar with the game and have trouble doing that. People who are new to it would not enjoy 1 life. 

Eliminator Boat Duel - Great call @PII. Lets get to racin

American Gladiators - Im telling you this game is contest perfect and awesome when you put some effort in. Id suggest starting at level 4 (last level). Code ABAABBBB if memory serves 

Edit: maybe start at level 3. 1 level and the eliminator is REALLY short

Kung Fu - give @mbd39his his yearly opportunity to completely destroy us. I know we are aiming shorter, but let us loop this bitch

Excitebike - Love this idea

Cobra Triangle - we didnt play it in 2022 so its clearly very overdue. I'd be ok with including this every year. GEM. Perfect for 1 life contest

NES Open - black box golf was a big hit. This is a greatly improved version. Great game you don't hear about.

Blades of Steel - another great call, PII. Warning though, I can break this bitch. Feel free to retract from your list in fear. 1 game, pro level, highest score differential

Rainbow Islands - would need a short version. Not sure how it could work or if it could, but we have the best mods in the biz to make that determination 

Edited January 8, 2023 by NESfiend

[PII | 1,883]

13 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

NES Open - black box golf was a big hit. This is a greatly improved version. Great game you don't hear about.

Blades of Steel - another great call, PII. Warning though, I can break this bitch. Feel free to retract from your list in fear. 1 game, pro level, highest score differential

I was real good at B o S as a kid.  Haven't played it in recent history so you'd skate all over me, I'm sure.

Was gonna say, another golf game might be cool, since black box golf was a good time.

Did you forget we just played Kung fu?  IIRC you took 3rd or 4th.  I think I took 5th with a bit more than one loop so you must have had at least 2 loops...

[NESfiend | 1,514]

18 minutes ago, PII said:

 

Did you forget we just played Kung fu?  IIRC you took 3rd or 4th.  I think I took 5th with a bit more than one loop so you must have had at least 2 loops...

Ah shit. I was thinking that was 2 or 3 years ago for some reason. Id still be up for it again, but doubt I get that wish. It is a game the whole field likes though....

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

I don't think there's really a bad golf game on the NES.  Any would be great for a competition, save maybe Jack Nicklaus...the draw times are kinda frustrating. 

I vote for The Punisher as well, if only cuz it's my one chance to annihilate the competition. Though it is a great choice for a score competition. 

I'd also like to see Play Action Football. It's my favorite football game on the NES by a mile.  Though its admittedly tough to get into, it'd be a nice switch from the Tecmo games. 

Continuing with sports, there needs to be a baseball game.  In two years we have played almost every other sport, but the most represented sport on the NES has been noticeably absent.  I don't like the sport or anything, but considering it's popularity, it has to be on the itinerary this year. 

If I were to select the sports category, I'd probably go with Bandai Golf (a full game can be played in a half hour or so), NES Play Action Football (for something different that isn't a complete turd like NFL), one of the RBI Baseball games (I hear they're pretty good), and Harlem Globetrotters (it's a fun one that gets no love).  If you  cut out two genres as I suggested earlier, that would open up two more slots for added diversity, where I'd suggest maybe Goal (no clue if it's good or not, but there aren't many soccer games to choose from, and I feel like its one of the higher quality games) and something random...I dunno.  WWF Wrestlemania could be interesting for example.

Shooting for other genres, I'd say kinda the same thing - more offbeat but quality titles. A couple completely out of left field games would be fun, but to keep participation up we at least need top tier titles to be a thing.

[NESfiend | 1,514]

23 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Continuing with sports, there needs to be a baseball game.  In two years we have played almost every other sport, but the most represented sport on the NES has been noticeably absent.  I don't like the sport or anything, but considering it's popularity, it has to be on the itinerary this year. 

I thought the same thing as far as us being due for a baseball game. But Im not sure how you could do that - most have some version of a mercy rule. You cant rack up a 100-0 type games like you can with football and hockey. How would you propose we structure the rules/competition for it?

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

2 hours ago, NESfiend said:

I thought the same thing as far as us being due for a baseball game. But Im not sure how you could do that - most have some version of a mercy rule. You cant rack up a 100-0 type games like you can with football and hockey. How would you propose we structure the rules/competition for it?

That would depend on the game.  Easiest way would be to pick a game without a mercy rule.  Another way would be to use the quickest mercy as a tie breaker.  So assuming a 10 run mercy rule, a 10-0 would outrank a 12-2, and a 10-0 in the first would outrank a 10-0 in the second.  Extra runs scored on the mercy would be the top, with a 13-0 (grand slam at 9-0) being the best achievable score. That said, the exact rules would depend on the game being played.

[NESfiend | 1,514]

@PII, was looking at your list again and love the galaxy 5000 idea of starting in the middle. How would we do that though? Game doesnt have a password system if memory serves

[PII | 1,883]

20 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

@PII, was looking at your list again and love the galaxy 5000 idea of starting in the middle. How would we do that though? Game doesnt have a password system if memory serves

At the title screen wait for the first alien to pop out of a crater, then wait for him to go back in.  Then press: B, Left, Up, Right, B to access a cheat menu.  There is a level select and also a choice for which ship to use.  So everyone would choose Jupiter1 and Phantom ship (that's the 3rd ship.)  No one is getting through Jupiter with a Crusher.  It can't handle the turns and the Tomahawk is just too slow for Jupiter.  Once a player is any kind of good they'll have a Phantom by the time they reach Jupiter.  That is what's needed.  Getting good at Jupiter would be the brunt of the learning curve for anyone who is knew blood.  Saturn and Uranus, in my opinion are actually easier.

Edited January 13, 2023 by PII

[PII | 1,883]