NES Completions thread 2020 - 677/677 (All Clear!)

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,073]

Just beat Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance! I didn't even have to max out my group or my equipment because they were so overpowered. Immediately before the final boss battle there were about 10 human lvl 8 fighter guards that would usually be incredibly difficult, but it turned out that despite their strength they can be paralyzed with Hold Person. Luckily I had 2 fighter/clerics with 3 or 4 Hold Person spells each, so they would just cast one spell after another, incapacitate the enemies and then my remaining characters would land the coup de grâce. Having lost ahrdly any hit points I entered the real final battle and only had one character losing his consciousness as he fell udner the incessant attacks of the boss (the dragon seriously landed 4 attacks in a row!). But thanks to haste all of my characters could attack up to several times as well so that the boss went down in two or three rounds. Very sweet!

Overall I think that fighters are useful as well as fighter/clerics. They just have slightly less HP and level up more slowly, but otherwise they are as strong as a regular fighter, plus they can cast healing spells, the overpowered Hold Person spell and a few more. Then I had a fighter/magic-user and a fighter/magic-user/thief. The latter one was pretty useless, as seemingly all thief abilities (if he even has any) can be replaced by spells such as Find Trap or Knock. So that was a complete waste. Also, magic-users don't seem quite as powerful or useful to me as them learning useful spells depends somewhat on luck as to what scrolls you can find. Really, the most use I got out of them was casting sleep and later on haste. Maybe stink bomb or so could have been useful as well, but I noticed that one too late. Also, strong attack spells such as fireball and lightning came far too late in the game, which is why I didn't even really get to use them. At the end I even got codes for my characters to use in other games? Can I import them into other AD&D games on the NES or maybe even on the PC? Do they keep their equipment as well? And wouldn't that make the other games too easy?

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

Congrats Gaia! I remember using the fireball to good effect when I beat it a few years ago. I think I leveled up more than was necessary, though.

What are you thinking about next? The only dork game left is Pirates!

[NESfiend | 1,515]

12 hours ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

At the end I even got codes for my characters to use in other games? 

This had me laughing HARD. I can't imagine any world where that would be at all feasible. I'd be shocked if you could use those even if you really wanted to, did all the research, and really applied yourself. Please play through every crappy RPG next year. No one else is going to give us these details and they crack me up consistently.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,073]

Thanks Daniel. Although you completed several very difficult RPGs in the same time it took me to just beat this one. That's really impressive.

As for the next game Pirates! does sound quite fun, but I don't want to commit to it just yet. I'll first have to try it and see if it's something for me.

5 hours ago, NESfiend said:

This had me laughing HARD. I can't imagine any world where that would be at all feasible. I'd be shocked if you could use those even if you really wanted to, did all the research, and really applied yourself. Please play through every crappy RPG next year. No one else is going to give us these details and they crack me up consistently.

I heard that the SSI gold box games would let you transfer characters from one game to the next, so I was hoping that PoR on the NES would let you do this as well. Because why else would they give you these codes, if they're absolutely useless? According to some quick googling a sequel was planned to be ported to the NES but got canned, because the SNES was already out.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Gaia Gensouki

[NESfiend | 1,515]

 

 

13 hours ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

Because why else would they give you these codes, if they're absolutely useless? According to some quick googling a sequel was planned to be ported to the NES but got canned, because the SNES was already out.

So the verdict is - they are useless. Knew not to hold my breath on that one lol. 

On another note, I have played pirates here and there and it is quite a bit of fun to my memory. My little brother's gaming tastes are more in line with yours than mine. Prefers RPGs, not big on sports, etc. He's younger, so more of a 64 guy. But pirates is one of the few NES titles he has completed and he raves about it. If I hadn't got roped into bases loaded 2, I'd have looked at doing it. 

Edit: I stumbled on a CIB copy at my local gameshop and it included the map. I had never seen that, but it looked really useful

Edited May 23, 2020 by NESfiend

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

All I'll say about Pirates! is that it's a real pain in the ass to get the contest-required winning condition of King's Advisor. It's on my list of "never play again for VGS contests." You'll really have to study the manual in detail or you will make mistakes like not marrying the "best" wife that will ruin any chance of getting to KA.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,073]

That sounds like it could be a lot of pain. Thanks for the heads-up. Are there any requirements regarding the difficulty or era of this game? Or is the only completion criterium to get King's Advisor?

[NESfiend | 1,515]

16 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

All I'll say about Pirates! is that it's a real pain in the ass to get the contest-required winning condition of King's Advisor. It's on my list of "never play again for VGS contests." You'll really have to study the manual in detail or you will make mistakes like not marrying the "best" wife that will ruin any chance of getting to KA.

I didnt realize that was a requirement and wouldn't dream of trying to get there. If Daniel, of all people, thinks it's an unreasonable condition, probably a good argument for changing that next year. Daniel plays through many unreasonable games and never complains about things any other human being (except maybe Gaia) would 

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

6 hours ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

That sounds like it could be a lot of pain. Thanks for the heads-up. Are there any requirements regarding the difficulty or era of this game? Or is the only completion criterium to get King's Advisor?

The difficulty level affects your share of plunder in the accounting at retirement. So, indirectly, yes. This is one where you really have to read the walkthrough at least once.

 

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

Since you can retire at any time and "end" the game, someone would have to come up with a set of reasonable alternative criteria like saving your family, becoming a duke, and marrying the best wife, and maybe retiring with 90+ pirate points instead of 95+. I think that's one reason for the current winning condition since it's simple but pretty challenging.

[LaytToTheParty | 22]

World Class Track Meet is done. I beat it without slaps, but I'm curious, would that still count? I mean, the manual doesn't say anything against using your hands

[scaryice | 587]

I'd say using your hands would still count. Although, it would be really cheap.

BTW, feel free to do the rest of the Power Pad games if you want. They should be easy for the amount of the points that they're worth.

[LaytToTheParty | 22]

9 hours ago, scaryice said:

I'd say using your hands would still count. Although, it would be really cheap.

BTW, feel free to do the rest of the Power Pad games if you want. They should be easy for the amount of the points that they're worth.

You gotcha.

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

I made it to stage 2 of Dirty Harry with only 2 lives left. I hope I will be fine just continuing with the password and 4 lives instead of trying to go through the first level again more efficiently to build up a reserve.

[NESfiend | 1,515]

3 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

I made it to stage 2 of Dirty Harry with only 2 lives left. I hope I will be fine just continuing with the password and 4 lives instead of trying to go through the first level again more efficiently to build up a reserve.

I think you are good there. Passwords are fine as long as you get them from  playing the game (during 2020) rather than an outside source. 

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

I think you are good there. Passwords are fine as long as you get them from  playing the game (during 2020) rather than an outside source. 

Just to be clear (since I now see that I wasn't), I was really wondering whether starting at level 2 with 4 lives via password is a fool's errand, and whether I should go all the way back to the start and play more carefully to start level 2 with 8+ lives (which I think I can do).

I just watched TMR's playthrough, and he just kept retrying with passwords, but he's much better at games than I am

Edited May 27, 2020 by Daniel_Doyce

[NESfiend | 1,515]

Been a while since I've updated progress on bases loaded 2. I'm now 65-7, so 10 more Ws gets me to the world series. Got through that rough stretch of the schedule and started cruising again. Ill post at the end more about that and some advice for whoever plays it next year. And no @nerdynebraskan, it will not be me in 2021!

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

Made it to stage 3 of Dirty Harry. I'm trying to figure out the whole grappling hook / cliff part.

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

Dirty Harry is done. Phew.

 

 

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

I'll try Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge next

[scaryice | 587]

14 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

Dirty Harry is done. Phew.

 

Nice job Daniel! I have another completion to share with you all finally - Ikari Warriors. Excuse my blurry photo, I had to run and grab my camera right as the ending popped up:

 

 

This was the fourth time I had made it to stage 4. Maybe there were another dozen or so attempts that made it to stage 3, too. It's nice to beat such a difficult game after weeks of trying. Even using all the best strats and emulator practice, it's still a pain to pull off in an actual attempt. On this run, I died once in stage 3 and once in stage 4. Plus two more intentional deaths for the heli glitches. You start with 3 lives, and get enough points for 3 more. So that means you can have 3 unintentional deaths.

Well anyway, it feels good to be done with it. Although the masochist in me is already thinking about a future glitchless run... I'll go in-depth on my strategies in a bit.

 

[scaryice | 587]

Ikari Warriors - tips/strategies

These maps were quite helpful.

Don't forget to check out Youtube and speedrun.com for videos of playthroughs. This run was very useful.

Stage 1:

I forgot many times about the exploding enemy right after the second wall - what a time waster. BTW, there's no way to know playing for the first time which enemies will explode and which won't. They appear in the same spots each time, but still, another cheap Ikari feature that deserves a mention.

When you reach the water, fire up/left at the submerging guy. Then, get out of the tank, advance the screen a bit, then go back in it and kill him. That's a safe strat rather than just plowing through. Staying to the right side of the water, grenade the approaching submerging guy, walk to the right of the mine, and shoot the enemy on the island. Get in the helicopter and do the glitch (hold up+B, then press A - continue holding A). You're invincible when you let go of A, but you can't damage enemies either. However, for this stage, you can just walk to the exit to beat it so it doesn't matter - stage over.

Stage 2:

Since you couldn't grab the only heart in stage 1 due to flying over it, you'll start stage 2 powerless. Bomb the first tank, then the left wall, then the second tank - this spawns a tank drop every time (plus a fuel from the first one). I also throw a grenade over the tank to hit the pink soldier just above it. It's very important to kill the first tank early and/or the second tank late - if you scroll the screen up too high, you can miss the fuel.

Grab the SS from the wall. Upon getting the to the bridge, I move against the gray wall on the right side and aim the tank gun up/left. By doing this you can move straight up and kill the big tank, stopping right below the second gray wall. I find if you just go straght up, sometimes the tank will fire on you off screen. Kill everyone in the water, then shoot the knife to grab it before getting out of the tank. I think it's much easier to grab the knife here than the one right above this. After abandoning the tank, you'll want to line up your character perfectly so that you can shoot the submerging guy and the pink guy.

The next small little land area is tough. I still don't have a consistent strat for it. I walk over the first bit of land, then move diagonally left across the water to the left side. I then walk to the left of the truck (?) or right through it. I throw a grenade while walking right around the top of the truck to hopefully kill the pink guy and any blue ones. If they're still alive, then walk over them to kill them (I tend to get shot sometimes anyway though). Take the next water section slow to spawn one submerging guy at a time. If you died anywhere here, it's probably game over. With no knife or speed powerups, you seemingly can't outrun the club guy coming up, forcing you to grenade him perfectly to have any chance.

Reaching the club guy, walk on the far left side of the screen ignoring the enemies. Walk right to the top tank and get in. Not too much interesting to say about the rest of the level, just take it slow.

Stage 3:

At least you should be fully powered up here. The river part after the big early tank section is tough. I like to go to the left side to get the heart, exit the tank, then go all the way to the right side of the screen. There's a few guys you absolutely have to kill before the next tank you'll get in.

For the wide open section before the helicopter, I like to go up against the right wall to avoid the mines and aim up/left to kill the two tanks.

Then, it's glitch time. You need to blow up the helicopter on the mine as you do the glitch (or better yet, just after as the mine moves down, which looks safer to me). I find that it's easier to do if you're slightly to the right of the mine rather than head on. For this one, I try to be about 2.5 squares to the right of the heli spawn. I then do the glitch right as the top of the heli meets the bottom of the mine.

I just follow the above video's strat for the boss enemies.

Stage 4:

I got a tank drop from the first tank in my winning run. It would be nice to figure out how to do that every time here.

In the pipe section, go 2nd from left, then 3rd from left to avoid any air raids. You also avoid the heart this way, but it shouldn't be necessary since there's another one shortly after. There's an exploding normal soldier on the right side after that section, who is easy to forget about, so shoot him instead of running him over.

For the second helicopter/mine glitch, I do it on the second mine as the above video does. Except, I always line it up exactly on the third square of that land mass (from the left). It's easier imo than the stage three one. Maybe I'm just not lining that one up perfectly.

Edited May 30, 2020 by scaryice

[NESfiend | 1,515]

Bases loaded 2 is finally done. Finished regular season 75-9, but don't be too impressed. Plenty of rage quits in there. I missed the first of two world championship screens (1st and last screens you see after completion) fumbling with my phone. It looks much like the league championship screen below. The final screen is in along there with some shots of the credits. Ill edit the post with some helpful info (and bitching) for the next person to take it on. 

Let's get the momentum going again. Not many left to complete and after the time I put into that, I want to see this shit get done and get some damn charms circulated. 

@nerdynebraskan

@Daniel_Doyce

@Gaia Gensouki

@Tablew/chairs

@bronzeshield

@scaryice

@Kid Dracula

AND any other regular contributors I am missing in the moment, let's get this thread going again and kill off the system til next year.  

Edited June 3, 2020 by NESfiend

[bronzeshield | 293]

Nice! Right now I'm working on Spelunker for my own list, but after that my plan as of now is to account for Bases Loaded, Destination Earthstar, Gumshoe, and Solomon's Key. I might also try for Skykid but no promises there because it's an extremely demanding game.

The only other game left that's on my main list (i.e. games I want to beat sooner rather than later) is Kid Kool -- but man, do I loathe the controls and general gameplay approach of that one.

BTW Orb 3-D is a relatively easy clear for anyone who's got three hours to spare. I wound up hating the game when I beat it, though, and don't want to play it again.

Edited June 3, 2020 by bronzeshield

[Kid Dracula | 126]

On 5/30/2020 at 11:19 AM, scaryice said:

*Snip* (is that still a thing?)

Wow nice work Scary!! Where would you place Ikari Warriors out of all the difficult NES games you've completed?