NES Completion Thread Requirement Discussion

[Sisor | 14]

For MagMax the Pastebin has "Loops after second boss; there's a brief transition period and then you return to stage 1". The NES Ending FAQ has "beating Babylon the 2nd time in the metal city will constitute beating this game." but there is actually a hidden "meigetsu" message that appears after you've finished three loops on a single continue. Should the requirement be changed to completing three loops on a single continue?

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

For T & C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage: the Pastebin says to "finish Stage 10 of Wood and Water Rage" which is the third game mode option, but this is wrong, and doesn't even go halfway to the loop point.  The way it works is that the difficulty maxes out in both the skating level and the surfing level on Round 12, meaning that there are no new enemies or obstacles introduced after that point, and you start with the lowest amount of health possible (one life symbol) beginning with this Round.  Every single level after Round 12 in both modes is identical in every way to Round 12, making completion of Round 12 the de facto loop point of the first two game modes.

As for the third game option, "Wood and Water Rage" it mixes the two game styles together, alternating between skating and surfing with every subsequent round, such that all odd-numbered rounds are skating rounds and all even-numbered rounds are surfing rounds.  The difficulty ramp-up and level layout, however, remains the same for each individual stage type, such that Round 9 of Wood and Water Rage, being the 5th skating round, is identical to the 5th skating round in the stand-alone street skating game mode.  Similarly, Round 10 of Wood & Water Rage, being the 5th surfing round, is equivelant in difficulty and enemies to the 5th surfing round in the surfing-only game mode.  As a result, completing Round 10 of Wood and Water Rage, as per the requirements in the pastebin file, is inherently easier than completing Round 10 of either of the stand-alone modes, as it doesn't even bring you halfway to the loop points of either of the two stage types that it comprises.

As someone who has owned the game since childhood and can play it essentially forever, here are the real loop points of each of the three game modes, signifying what is actually required to consider this game beaten, for anyone who cares:

Game Mode #1 "Street Skate Session" - Complete Round 12
Game Mode #2 "Big Wave Encounter" - Complete Round 12
Game Mode #3 "Wood and Water Rage" - Complete Round 24