Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 (edited) My goal: Complete all 677 licensed NES games using original hardware. I use only my NES top loader connected to a CRT TV. I can only use first party controllers, primarily my trusty dog bone controller, and cannot use turbo or other functions to gain an advantage. No codes or cheats can be used either unless the manual or some document that comes with the game specifically calls it out. (Continuing in Adventure Island is called out by the manual whereas continuing in Ikari Warriors is not.) My method: Games are selected using a randomizer. Occasionally I do Nintendo Power challenges where I select an issue of Nintendo Power and complete all of the games featured within the magazine I have not yet completed. I recently finished up a challenge of Volume 10: Batman, and finished 27 games from the issue I had not beaten. My progress: To date I have completed 239 NES games and documented an end screen for each. I am currently working on wrapping up Bases Loaded 4 and am just a few games shy of reaching the Super Series. If you want to see pics or results of my progress so far check out my Instagram which is eightbithero79 as well. Going forward, I’ll document the games I complete here with a recap of my thoughts and experiences with the game and maybe some tips or strategies I used that can help someone else in the future. I’ll also post the next game randomly selected and if anyone has any tips or strategies those would be appreciated as well. About me: I’ve been a rabid NES fan ever since I got my NES in 1988. I got into collecting in the late 2000s and have a nearly complete licensed collection, missing one game. You guessed it - Stadium Events. I also have the majority of the unlicensed titles as well but I’m not really that interested in collecting much of those anymore. I really started playing NES games to complete them in about 2022. I completed 97 NES games in 2023 and so far in calendar 2024 I have completed 100. I will post a spreadsheet soon showing what I have completed and when and will update that throughout. I wouldn’t describe myself as good at video games but the one thing I do have in my favor is patience and that has served me well to this point. I know I have about 2/3 of the system left to go but feel I am up to the challenge. My progress so far: https://1drv.ms/x/s!Aptd61A8m8z5gmpNTcqPdFTZA9Bs Edited October 4 by Eightbithero79 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT | 180 Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 Did you follow The Mexican Runner (TMR) when he did this? What a feat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhuno | 163 Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 That's awesome; best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 55 minutes ago, CT said: Did you follow The Mexican Runner (TMR) when he did this? What a feat. No I didn’t at the time. I just became aware of him in the past year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 55 minutes ago, CT said: Did you follow The Mexican Runner (TMR) when he did this? What a feat. No I didn’t at the time. I just became aware of him in the past year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkTone | 1,016 Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 Completed Bases Loaded 4 tonight. I completed Bases Loaded in late 2023 and this game is very similar to the original in many ways. The game maintains its hallmark behind the pitcher viewpoint and graphically looks just like the original. This game introduces an updated more complex pitching system and reverses the viewpoint when the ball is hit to the outfield, both changes I was not a fan of at all. I chose Chicago for my playthrough as I usually do for any sports games that have Chicago as an available team. Chicago does not have a good pitching staff but does have a pretty reliable lineup of hitters. You will face the same 4/5 teams repeatedly in your division and play each three times in a row. The toughest opponent I faced was New York which had good pitching and good fielding and it was generally hard to score runs on them. I fished the season with 70 wins, 0 losses, and 4 ties. Here is the strategy I used to win: I found that with a left handed pitcher there are some pitches the computer can not hit. Each game I would sub the starting pitcher for the only left handed pitcher from Chicago’s bullpen. For a right handed batter you hold up and left on the d-pad and hit the a button. During the windup you tap the left button. A right handed batter can not make contact with this pitch. Either they will swing and miss or it will be a ball. You may occasionally walk a batter or two but you will strike out the vast majority of batters. For a left handed batter simply hold up and press a. Continue to hold up through the windup and you will throw a high fast ball. The batter cannot hit this pitch and it will be a strike every time. For batting, I found the best strategy was not to adjust the player in the batters box. If you are patient and get the computer opponent to throw two balls first, then nearly every time the next pitch will be a fast ball right down the middle of the plate that you can take advantage of. When I made it to the Super Series my opponent was Hawaii. I discovered to my dismay that my pitching strategy that got me 70 wins no longer worked. No batter would swing at the pitches and they were a ball every time. I had to adjust my strategy and learned that if I left my starting right handed pitcher in the game. I learned that with this pitcher if you hold left and up and then hit an and then hold up throughout the windup and hit a you would throw strikes the opponent couldn’t hit. Sometimes you have to make adjustments and hit a twice if the opponent made contact with the ball. Overall Bases Loaded is a good game in small doses. However, playing 78 games of it to finish it is a terrible slog and I’m glad I’m done with it. There are some games for the NES that are a serious commitment no matter how good you are and this is one. Glad to have it under my belt now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 Goal: Beat the robot dragon at the end of the fourth stage. (No ending - game loops) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 5,018 Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 Definitely not something I would want to do, but more power to you. Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 Completed MagMax this morning. This is a very basic side scrolling shooter. You start as a small ship and along the way you can find ship parts that ultimately can upgrade you to a large walking robot. The game is incredibly short and contains four levels: a wooded area, a desert area, water, and finally a city/future area. At the end of the desert and city areas you encounter a dragon with multiple beads. It does not move and shoots projectiles which are easy to dodge if you keep moving. There is no definitive ending to the game. The game will loop you back to the wooded area once you complete the city area. I would classify this game as among the easiest for the system. Having not played it before I was able to complete a full loop of the game and make it to the city area on the second loop with a final score of 177,100. The game is fun for what it is but one playthrough of the game was enough for me. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 Next game: Golf Grand Slam by Atlus. Goal: Win the tournament mode. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NostalgicMachine | 333 Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 I 100% support this endeavor, OP! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor | 921 Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 you are a braver person than i, @Eightbithero79! i wish you all the motivation and luck in the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,276 Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Oh nice! I tried this once and only made it up to a hundred or so. These kind of things are fun, and rewarding, but very challenging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 13 Author Share Posted September 13 Finished Golf Grand Slam tonight. So I made it 241 games into this challenge without finishing a golf game on a system that has quite a few of them. Golf Grand Slam has nice graphics and plenty of challenging courses. Unlike most games which make you control a meter for your power and or direction of your shot, this game has a reticle that zig zags all over the ball. Hitting the a button will make the reticle stop and this will affect the travel of the ball. You can control grip, stance, club, etc but I feel like I didn’t have to adjust many of these throughout. Because of these reasons I feel like this is a good intro golf video game for a novice to the sport. The game also provides you a password after each hole which really allows you to try to perfect your technique on each hole before moving on. I don’t play or like golf in real life but I did like this game quite a bit more than I was expecting to. It’s one I would recommend. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 13 Author Share Posted September 13 Next game: Karate Kid by LJN. Goal: Defeat Chozen on stage 4. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 14 Author Share Posted September 14 (edited) Finished The Karate Kid. Prior to this playthrough I had very little experience with this game other than playtesting it for a few minutes when I purchased it several years ago. The game is short and easy and I was able to beat it without dying on my second playthrough. The game has four stages: Stage 1: Karate tournament from the Karate Kid movie. You will fight four fighters. Simply stand your ground and spam the kick button and you will defeat all four opponents very easily. Stages 2-4: These are side scrolling stages where your goal is simply to make it to the end of the level. The trick to all four of these stages is to get two enemies behind you and simply allow them to follow behind you to the end of the stage. You will have to walk at a speed where you don’t allow them to go off screen and occasionally they may get stuck in a section they can’t jump over or fall into a pit. If this happens go to an upper level if you can and allow two new enemies to spawn behind you. At the end of stage 3 a boss will appear and you will see a girl hanging at the top of the tree. Ignore the boss, climb the tree, and touch the girl to end the stage without fighting the boss. I also found it best to avoid all the mini games scattered throughout these levels. Chozen: He might be the easiest final boss in any NES game. Simply walk to the left edge of the platform and stand there. Chozen will walk towards you. Simply spam any crane kicks or drum punches (hitting the a or b button without moving your character) and Chozen will fall after a couple of hits without touching your character. Edited September 14 by Eightbithero79 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 14 Author Share Posted September 14 (edited) Next game: Bump N Jump by Vic Tokai. Goal: Defeat the final boss on stage 17. I cannot use any continues as it’s not called out by the manual. Damn….this is quietly one of the hardest games on the system too so this is gonna take some practice. Wish me luck! Edited September 23 by Eightbithero79 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 Completed Bump N Jump tonight. This was one of the earliest games I rented as a kid based exclusively on the box art. It has vibrant Archie comics style box art and it draws your eye. The game has a deceptively simple design. In fact the title tells you everything you need to know in just three words. You control a dune buggy through 16 stages. Stages are short and can generally be completed in one to two minutes. Enemies appear on the roadway and get in your way, attempt to bump you into the walls, or try to drop something in the roadway. You can bump enemies into the walls to defeat them or jump on top of them. You can control your speed by pressing up or down but you must be going at least 150 km/h to jump. Hitting any part of the stage other than the roadway kills you instantly. You also have a fuel meter which rapidly depletes. If it hits zero you are no longer able to jump which basically spells certain doom for your buggy. This also sounds very simple BUT….. This genuinely has to be one of the hardest games for the system. I did complete it on one credit as the manual does not call out continues. I’ve finished a lot of NES games to this point and this one is right near the top in terms of difficulty. I still have plenty more hard games left on the list but I expect this game will remain in the top 10 if not the top 5. This game is hard for a multitude of reasons. The biggest fact is that you only get three lives. The game is very stingy with extra lives. Sometimes, instead of dumping a road hazard, a vehicle will dump an extra life. You have a millisecond to react once it’s dropped as most of the time it will be a hazard that will kill you. You do get an extra life at every 100,000 points. On my winning run I only had 148,880 points so they don’t come often. You can get 50,000 points if you don’t crash any enemy cars but this is much easier said than done and I didn’t do it a single time on my run. I found it easiest to do this one stage 1 and stage 11. On several stages you will need at least two fuel cans in order to have enough to reach the end. The game will often spawn fuel cans in places where it is impossible to collect them which is frustrating. The real challenge here is the randomness of the enemies. You’ll never play the same stage the same way twice. Enemies often make you jump when you don’t want to in order to avoid a collision with the wall which leads you to landing on something and dying. Here’s a few tips from me to help you out if you are crazy enough to play this game: Follow behind the big dump trucks. Wait for them to wiggle which means they are going to dump something in the road. Very rarely it may be a one up. Pause the game right as they dump and you’ll be able to see what the items is and hopefully react in enough time to collect a one up or avoid a road hazard. This is easiest to do on stages 1,2,3,6,8,14. I maintained a max speed of 240 throughout each level, adjusting my speed only when a tricky jump called for it. This game is fun and well made but it’s a real nightmare. It really is just a get good game. I played countless games and got to the point where I could get through the first 13 levels without dying and had a few good runs stopped in the last few levels. Pro tip: if you ever do make it do Dark Jackal, the final boss of level 16, it is imperative you keep top speed and remain in the middle bottom of the screen. Let him drift towards you and jump and land on top of him in the middle of the screen. You will both drift in different directions. Reset yourself in the middle of the screen and repeat. Felt like it took about 10 jumps to take him down and he was probably the easiest part of the entire game. Good luck! I have end screen pics but unfortunately it won’t allow me to load them. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 Next game chosen by the random wheel of doom is The Jungle Book. Goal: Defeat Shere Kahn in stage 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 4,215 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 I know there really aren’t many comments on your thread but I just wanted to say great work and keep it up! You also seem to have beaten a few of the roadblocks which is good to see. Most of these projects end on those games so it looks like you stand a good shot so far Do you have a website we can read your reviews? Any plans to let the community (here or other places) vote for your next game? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 2 hours ago, Brickman said: I know there really aren’t many comments on your thread but I just wanted to say great work and keep it up! You also seem to have beaten a few of the roadblocks which is good to see. Most of these projects end on those games so it looks like you stand a good shot so far Do you have a website we can read your reviews? Any plans to let the community (here or other places) vote for your next game? Thanks man, much appreciated! I’ve pretty much just been super old school to this point. I’ve posted an end screen and a brief summary of every game I’ve beaten on my Instagram up to this point and I’ve tracked all my games beaten on a spreadsheet I created. I’ll try to post a link soon to it so people can see what I’ve beaten, when, and the order. A website with reviews and pictures does sound cool and I think I might look into that so I don’t have to deal with the restrictions of other forms of social media. I do like the idea of a vote for future games. After I beat Jungle Book I’ll let the randomizer choose four games and I’ll let people vote on those four to see which one I’ll play next. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NostalgicMachine | 333 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 DUDE you're killing it! Whenever I check in on this thread, you've completed more and more games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabmaster2000 | 532 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 Love that you're doing this! I did this nearly the exact same way you are: original hardware, CRT, no third party accessories and no codes unless the game or pack in materials provided them. Only difference is I didn't have a top loaded so I had to use a front loader. Looking forward to seeing your progress on the library and cheering you on. Let me know if you have any questions about any games and if you want to reference and of my videos to help out with a tricky section here is a link to my youtube page with full gameplay for every licensed game on the system: https://www.youtube.com/@2000Crabmaster 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightbithero79 | 66 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 7 hours ago, NostalgicMachine said: DUDE you're killing it! Whenever I check in on this thread, you've completed more and more games. Thanks dude! I’m going to keep going and see how far I can get! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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