NES Completions thread 2024 - 661/677

[mbd39 | 2,026]

Good luck to anyone trying to beat Rally Bike. Bump into anything and you're right back at the beginning of the race. I can't even beat the first race. What a piece of shit.

[BriGuy82 | 779]

Starship Hector is crazy. I haven't even beaten the 2nd level yet. There's no way to brute force through this game. You gotta have a strategy for every little section I bet.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:21 PM, nerdynebraskan said:

I don't care for save states, but I think I could live with using them in lieu of leaving a 35 year old console for days at a time with the kind of long games that Khromak is talking about. 

I'm curious what you think is so terrible about leaving a NES on for extended periods... the console overheating and burning down your house?... your power bill?... the game getting corrupted?... a power out losing your progress?...   Seriously, what is the issue?

I leave my NES on overnight all the time, even with games with battery saves if there's a difference from turning it off (ie: Final Fantasy to keep my place in the battle script instead of having to start over with the first battle out of 256).  I just pause the game, turn off the TV, then walk out of the room; I've literally never had a problem in my life...

[scaryice | 589]

15 hours ago, mbd39 said:

Good luck to anyone trying to beat Rally Bike. Bump into anything and you're right back at the beginning of the race. I can't even beat the first race. What a piece of shit.

I made a list of when to get gas a few years ago when I beat it. Sometimes, you can skip a stop with a hi-gas power up. Also, it doesn't matter where you finish on the last stage of the second loop, the "ending" is the same regardless.

 

1-LA

2nd station, after trains

2-SF

1st station, after first blue car
2nd station, right after the first one

3-PHX

1st station, after a while on either side
2nd station, after first set of buildings

4-DEN

1st station, after train tracks

5-NY

1st station, halfway through on right side

 

 

 

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,076]

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge is done. Way easier than Formula One, but it misses the cool upgrading your car feature, is much shorter and graphically not as impressive. However, it's still a well-playing racing game and does its thing quite competently. And the lower difficulty definitely helped making this game more palatable.

Small piece of advice: if anyone wants to give this game a try, then use manual transmission. It requires a bit more of you, but you get a small increase in speed that is incredibly helpful. It's only 10 km/h per hours, but over the course of a whole race this quickly adds up and can mke the difference between barely being able to catch up to the top three racers vs. driving past them and even creating a decent lead over them. So yeah, use manual transmission and it's not a bad experience at all.

[Andykin Skysk8r | 49]

Less than 3 months in and 630 games already done? lol People really love NES. 

[Daniel_Doyce | 475]

All right you bastards, Ultima Warriors of Destiny is done. It's really not hard, just super tedious. And if you're not using a walkthrough, forget it.

I have to chill for a day or two, and then maybe knock out another Koei game. Is anyone actively working on any of them?

 

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,076]

Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll is done. The presentation is much more simplistic than in Flying Warriors, but the core elements of the gameplay, including the controls, are mostly the same. You just don't have the RPG elements, which means no grinding. So while this is on all accounts the inferior game, for the purpose of this challenge it's actually nicer since it's shorter and easier.

And with this I should be at exactly 700 points.

[Daniel_Doyce | 475]

Going to start on Romance of the Three Kingdoms 1 since I doubt anyone is really stoked about tackling that one

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,076]

Gold Medal Challenge '92 is done. This game allows you to save your progress after every challenge. This means that you can simply reset and reload if you're not satisfied with the results of any given challenge. Also, it seems like you don't have to win every single challenge to come out on top. I pretty much dominated with CIS anyway. I chose them, because upon research I found out that CIS was the actual winner of the 92 Summer Olympics and I was hoping of having an advantage. Not sure though if there's an actual difference between the teams.

Anyway, this game way mostly fine, only the vaulting horse and marathon kinda sucked. Or at least I didn't understand them at all. That being said, still the only sports game of this kind that I actually like is Caveman Games.

[Khromak | 769]

James bond Jr is done. It's an alright game, but it has some frustrating aspects and it's another one of those "beat it twice" games, because they were too lazy to make more levels. Not one I'd look forward to playing again

[PII | 1,890]

7 minutes ago, Khromak said:

James bond Jr is done. It's an alright game, but it has some frustrating aspects and it's another one of those "beat it twice" games, because they were too lazy to make more levels. Not one I'd look forward to playing again

I've played about 20 or 30 minutes into this one a time or two and you are correct, in that some parts can get pretty awkward and frustrating, but I also found it to be rather dynamic with varied action and the puzzle codes to decipher and I found myself always looking forward to what was around the next corner as well.  It's def. a game I want to play all the way through at some point...

[Khromak | 769]

30 minutes ago, PII said:

I've played about 20 or 30 minutes into this one a time or two and you are correct, in that some parts can get pretty awkward and frustrating, but I also found it to be rather dynamic with varied action and the puzzle codes to decipher and I found myself always looking forward to what was around the next corner as well.  It's def. a game I want to play all the way through at some point...

I think the low points for me were:

• A lot of enemies feel like you can't avoid their attacks and you have to just spam them with bullets to kill them as fast as possible, while tanking damage, which is boring
• Some of the platforming sections are quite annoying, especially the laser gates/lava pits that bounce you all over
• Some enemies can absolutely DESTROY your health if you end up inside their hitbox

The puzzle and discovery elements were the strongest parts TBH. It is a pretty fun little adventure game, but the combat mechanics are weak. It definitely doesn't feel like a game you can master to the point of dodging all enemy attacks while sniping them or anything like that. In a lot of situations the whole screen is full of bullets. The dogs, especially in certain areas, are incredibly annoying. With some grenades they're manageable, but more than a couple times I found myself without any, or them in a position I couldn't grenade, and they're just unstoppable whirlwinds of death you CANNOT shoot.

All-in-all, it's a pretty fun game and worth playing through to be sure, but there are certain elements that definitely had me scratching my head. A lot of the robot/machine stage feels like you're supposed to use the jetpack, but it's unwieldy and has very limited fuel, so I'm not sure what you're expected to do. TBH I just jumped into the lasers and bounced to the end, since they were too large to jump without jetpack.

You'll see; or maybe I'm just really bad. 

[PII | 1,890]

2 hours ago, Khromak said:

I think the low points for me were:

• A lot of enemies feel like you can't avoid their attacks and you have to just spam them with bullets to kill them as fast as possible, while tanking damage, which is boring
• Some of the platforming sections are quite annoying, especially the laser gates/lava pits that bounce you all over
• Some enemies can absolutely DESTROY your health if you end up inside their hitbox

The puzzle and discovery elements were the strongest parts TBH. It is a pretty fun little adventure game, but the combat mechanics are weak. It definitely doesn't feel like a game you can master to the point of dodging all enemy attacks while sniping them or anything like that. In a lot of situations the whole screen is full of bullets. The dogs, especially in certain areas, are incredibly annoying. With some grenades they're manageable, but more than a couple times I found myself without any, or them in a position I couldn't grenade, and they're just unstoppable whirlwinds of death you CANNOT shoot.

All-in-all, it's a pretty fun game and worth playing through to be sure, but there are certain elements that definitely had me scratching my head. A lot of the robot/machine stage feels like you're supposed to use the jetpack, but it's unwieldy and has very limited fuel, so I'm not sure what you're expected to do. TBH I just jumped into the lasers and bounced to the end, since they were too large to jump without jetpack.

You'll see; or maybe I'm just really bad. 

I highly doubt that you qualify as "really bad", lol.  It's just an awkward sort of game.  I don't remember the lasers for whatever reason....

[Khromak | 769]

4 hours ago, PII said:

I highly doubt that you qualify as "really bad", lol.  It's just an awkward sort of game.  I don't remember the lasers for whatever reason....

They come in a later stage, the third or fourth one. First stage has acid pits that do the same thing. It's really awkward because it knocks you back in the opposite direction you're facing so you can bounce yourself to safety...but if you don't *quite* land on the safe platform, it knocks you right back in...and if you try to steer in midair, or move "after landing" it can mess you up, or if an enemy hits you midair and pushes you back the opposite way....eh...

Yeah the combat is the weakest part of the game. It's still alright though.

[TheGameDisplay | 55]

On 3/18/2024 at 4:40 PM, nerdynebraskan said:

Did you start Carmen Sandiego? If so, how's it going?

I could use another long, mellow game. I could start Carmen, if it didn't grab @Foochie776's interest. Or I could do Roger Clemens MVP Baseball again, assuming that @TheGameDisplay isn't working on it. I may also try Little Ninja Brothers again; I remembered that this game has a history of acting up on this Everdrive, so I may have to go to my backup or... maybe even pull my original cart for it! Shocking!

Appreciate you wondering what games I might be playing! No need to worry too much about me right now, and just tackle whatever you enjoy! I can come in later with clean-up if there's anything that looks like it's stuck on the list.

[Khromak | 769]

Jungle Book is done. Surprised it's still on here tbh, only took me an hour or two to beat. The controls are weak, which became incredibly apparent during the pure platforming level with king Louie. I was really frustrated with that one, and hoping to all that is holy that the game had infinite continues which, it turns out, it does. Some of the gems are hidden in kinda BS places and there's a decent amount of leaps of faith/ guesswork which can also be annoying. 

[Daniel_Doyce | 475]

10 hours ago, TheGameDisplay said:

Appreciate you wondering what games I might be playing! No need to worry too much about me right now, and just tackle whatever you enjoy! I can come in later with clean-up if there's anything that looks like it's stuck on the list.

Feel free to work on Championship Pool... I bet no one wants to do that one lol

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,076]

10 hours ago, TheGameDisplay said:

Appreciate you wondering what games I might be playing! No need to worry too much about me right now, and just tackle whatever you enjoy! I can come in later with clean-up if there's anything that looks like it's stuck on the list.

If there's any time for a clean-up, then this is it. The remaining titles aren really unpopular and/or very difficult. So if you and @ZeldaFreak want to contribute, you're very welcome.

There are still some major hurdles like Arkanoid, Bases Loaded I, III and IV, Championship Pool, Gauntlet, Hunt for Red October, Ikari Warriors (no ABBA code!), Kung Fu Heroes (I never made it past 7-4), Rally Bike, Silkworm (the last level is crazy hard!), Sky Kid, Top Gun: The Second Mission and Time Lord.

Personally, I'm not even sure what I can contribute at this point in the challenge. Most of the games are way too difficult for me. I could maybe brute force my way through Back to the Future II & III, like a few years ago, but I really don't want to do this again. Athena has unlimited continues, iirc. But I still remember getting stuck in the water level.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

@scaryice Is this a record pace for all the years you've run this thing?

[mbd39 | 2,026]

1 hour ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

If there's any time for a clean-up, then this is it. The remaining titles aren really unpopular and/or very difficult. So if you and @ZeldaFreak want to contribute, you're very welcome.

There are still some major hurdles like Arkanoid, Bases Loaded I, III and IV, Championship Pool, Gauntlet, Hunt for Red October, Ikari Warriors (no ABBA code!), Kung Fu Heroes (I never made it past 7-4), Rally Bike, Silkworm (the last level is crazy hard!), Sky Kid, Top Gun: The Second Mission and Time Lord.

Personally, I'm not even sure what I can contribute at this point in the challenge. Most of the games are way too difficult for me. I could maybe brute force my way through Back to the Future II & III, like a few years ago, but I really don't want to do this again. Athena has unlimited continues, iirc. But I still remember getting stuck in the water level.

Captain Marvel seems like the most normal and beatable of the remaining games.

I once spent two weeks trying to beat Kung Fu Heroes (no continue code) and gave up at 8-4. At least there are warps but it's still hard.

 

[Khromak | 769]

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

Captain Marvel seems like the most normal and beatable of the remaining games.

I love this title and it's officially canon in my head now.

Unrelated, I actually already have this game plugged in to my system, I was going to give it a shot. Looking through gameplay videos, it's really weird because it seems like they're playing the same stages over and over again. Anyone know if this is required to progress, or if there's some weird strategy going on here?

There's a map and you can clearly move along it. I know the two characters can move independently and then once they're together you can swap between them, but both before and after that happens in the longplays I'm looking at, they're repeating the same stage with the same character. It's really odd.

[mbd39 | 2,026]

8 minutes ago, Khromak said:

I love this title and it's officially canon in my head now.

OMG, well, you know what I meant lol.

 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

4 hours ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

If there's any time for a clean-up, then this is it. The remaining titles aren really unpopular and/or very difficult. So if you and @ZeldaFreak want to contribute, you're very welcome.

That was originally the plan, help with the unpopular/super difficult titles sometime during the latter half of the year, but honestly you guys are going at such a batshit insane pace that it's kinda looking like you may not even need my help, haha.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

1 hour ago, Khromak said:

I love this title and it's officially canon in my head now.

Unrelated, I actually already have this game plugged in to my system, I was going to give it a shot. Looking through gameplay videos, it's really weird because it seems like they're playing the same stages over and over again. Anyone know if this is required to progress, or if there's some weird strategy going on here?

There's a map and you can clearly move along it. I know the two characters can move independently and then once they're together you can swap between them, but both before and after that happens in the longplays I'm looking at, they're repeating the same stage with the same character. It's really odd.

Captain America could have been a B+ title, but it suffers from a severe case of Copy/Paste Syndrome. You spend way too much time playing through nearly identical levels and fighting progressively harder versions of the same bosses and mini-bosses. And the developers artificially pad the length further by punishing you with much higher difficulty and backtracking penalties for every time you die as the game goes on. It's a decent concept that devolved into a slog in its execution. The Avengers' plane is nice for skipping levels, but you get it so late and that stage has the jerk-ass mini-bosses right at the top so be very careful not to be killed by them.