Beat every Game Boy game - 2020 - 225/497

[koifish | 556]

Street Fighter II is done. Another pretty disappointing fighting game on game boy. Maybe okay for 2-player,  but the 1-player you can basically sweep with hadouken spam. I'm bad at fighters and I still nearly double perfected the Bison boss fight.

[koifish | 556]

I am in-progress on R-Type. It's the first I've played R-Type and I really like it. It's almost like a puzzle finding the best way to beat the bosses. It also doesn't feel like you are hopeless if you lose your ship. I can make it as far as stage 4 now. We will see if I can advance further than that.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

I beat Rolan's Curse and Sword of Hope II. The balancing in SoH II is absolutely awful. Enemies either do next to no damage or they kill you with one hit. And later encounters are usually way too tough and take too long, until you figure out that you just have to buff your party or debuf the enemies and then it becomes laughably easy. Even bosses are no challenge at all once you've used buff spells. I don't know, it started off strong, but fizzled out quickly and became more of a slog.

[John198X | 55]

Parodius (Euro version) finished on 8/6.

I had also been working on Game & Watch Gallery, but after failing at 998 points on "Fire," I think it's gotten the better of me for the near future...

[koifish | 556]

You leave me torn, I have broken 1000 easily on fire, but only because it's my favorite in the set. I don't know if I want to keep going, as manhole really isn't my speed.

[John198X | 55]

I have 1,000+ on Octopus only. Fire is my second best with that 998... so discouraging.

Manhole definitely seems like the most daunting.  Yeah, moving on, lol. Maybe some day...

[Mae247 | 207]

Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan

 Done, weird abrupt ending but I figured I’d get back at it again

[Splain | 2,571]

On 8/26/2020 at 12:40 PM, Gaia Gensouki said:

Not sure if this counts, but I "played" Sanrio Uranai Party,

I actually have that "game," so I popped it in to check it out. Hello Kitty everywhere, lol. Welp, I sure couldn't find any real gameplay in there, and you know more Japanese than I do,  so I guess I'll count it cleared if you eat a hamburger, your lucky food. Just kidding, I counted it. It's silly that this even exists; there's a lot of non-game "utilities" and such on Game Boy in Japan, it seems.

 

On 8/26/2020 at 9:29 PM, Floating Platforms said:

Finally got Penguin Wars out of the way.  Again, I don't expect it to count for this challenge because I did use that level select code but that's going to be good enough for me.  I got through Stages 1-20 on my own and then dealt with 21-40 in the groupings of 4 that the code allows.  Even with that, the back half took me over 9 hours (played for 43.5 total including emulation practice).  Someday when people smarter than me get wind of this ending and can properly develop strategies that I can steal from, I'll possibly try the full 1-40 run.  In the meantime, I'll move on.  Short review is that stages 1-20 are fun, exciting and challenging. Stages 21-40 are garbage torture that find every excuse to punish the player and give unreasonable advantages to the computer.

Now that I've got that monkey off my back, this weekend I'm going to tackle Turok.  Looks like it's a 4-5 hour game, so I should be able to finish it, and then my plan is to start on the Sports Illustrated Football/Baseball next week. It'll take a bit of time to get through those two championship seasons but at least it will be steady progress.

It pains me not to give it to you, since last year I played Penguin Wars for 4 mintues and submitted it for a point.

 

4 hours ago, John198X said:

I have 1,000+ on Octopus only. Fire is my second best with that 998... so discouraging.

Manhole definitely seems like the most daunting.  Yeah, moving on, lol. Maybe some day...

Welcome back! The secret on Game & Watch Gallery is that you can see that first round of credits without playing all 4 games. You just need 5 stars in any 4 games/modes/difficulties.

[Splain | 2,571]

My bingo games were Boggle and Mickey's Ultimate Challenge.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

39 minutes ago, Splain said:

I actually have that "game," so I popped it in to check it out. Hello Kitty everywhere, lol. Welp, I sure couldn't find any real gameplay in there, and you know more Japanese than I do,  so I guess I'll count it cleared if you eat a hamburger, your lucky food. Just kidding, I counted it. It's silly that this even exists; there's a lot of non-game "utilities" and such on Game Boy in Japan, it seems.

Okay, now I feel bad for having brought this one up in the first place. I looked up on the NES thread and apparently the Taboo game is listed as unbeatable. I forgot that. So maybe these "utility" games should be considered to be unbeatable here as well?

[koifish | 556]

Well it may have just missed the list for the already-excluded utility games like the infogenius titles.

 

@splain, what's the bingo? I don't remember seeing anything like that.

[Splain | 2,571]

2 hours ago, koifish said:

Well it may have just missed the list for the already-excluded utility games like the infogenius titles.

 

@splain, what's the bingo? I don't remember seeing anything like that.

Most of the non-games are obvious; in the US there are those Infogenius titles, and in Japan there are things like English flashcards, Kanji dictionaries, there's a note-taking app, and even that Pocket Sonar thing. But Sanrio Uranai Party sure LOOKS like a game, it certainly doesn't treat itself like a utility. Hmm, If we wanted to, we could include the Game Boy Camera in our list, since there are some tiny games and unlockables on there. But it's kind of more of a hardware interface utility with some games tacked on. Considering that, maybe Sanrio Uranai Party isn't enough of a game to count it.

Bingo was a site event Gloves ran recently. I started going for a bingo but didn't end up finishing because of reasons.

 

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

I tried to beat Gremlins 2, but that game is insanely hard! Some of the platforming in the later stages is on the level of kaizo mario stuff just with poorer controls. Not even unlimited continues can help you there since this game lacks checkpoints in the levels. I've spent several hours just on the four levels of the game and had to give up at some point where you had to jump through a tough maze while you can't even see your character. This would have been difficult even without this handicap, but as it's now it's just insane. What an annoying game!

Also, I've been wondering recently, but why are most Game Boy games so difficult? They should have understood by then that the majority of players are children and that most of them probably won't be able to beat many of these games. I remember that we had the first Spiderman game on the Game Boy and one of those Tiny Toons games, but I never managed to beat them back in the day. And to find out that there are many worse games...

[Splain | 2,571]

I don't know why there are so many hard games, maybe sometimes Game Boy games (or Game Boy versions of games) didn't get the same level of research/testing as console games. The platform itself is obviously able to deliver tight controls, adequate visuals, etc. When I got a Game Boy as a kid, I was just used to every other game being crazy hard. I also didn't have the patience to really get good at anything I didn't already have a small knack for. It's a wonder why I liked playing so much, half my games felt like a brick wall. The puzzle games always got more playtime from me because I could actually beat those. It didn't help that most of my games were whatever was cheapest at the local used game shop. But it feels good to knock out some of those games that I thought were impossible as a kid.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

16 minutes ago, Splain said:

But it feels good to knock out some of those games that I thought were impossible as a kid.

Yeah, that's a great feeling. For me it felt great to finally have beaten Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Plok on the SNES, both of which I could never do back in the day no matter how much I tried. Which games did you beat now that you couldn't back then?

I gave Gremlins 2: The New Batch another try and finally beat it!

Btw. I noticed that Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is still listed as unbeaten even though I beat it some time ago.

[Splain | 2,571]

@Gaia Gensouki oops, got Gradius recorded. Nice job on Gremlins!!

It's embarrassing, but as a kid I never worked at it long enough to beat Ren & Stimpy: Veediots, Super RC Pro-Am, Animaniacs, Star Trek TNG, and I think some others, but now I realize how easy they are, lol. And I've been playing Nigel Mansell recently. I don't know if I'll beat it, but I'm definitely a lot further than I ever got as a kid.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

Just beat Rolan's Curse 2. It's a noticeable improvement over the first game since you can now gain levels by picking up certain items that are hidden inside treasures. So no more grinding for random armor (life point increase) drops. Also, you can now recruit various characters and have up to four people in your party between which you can switch at all times. They play slightly different too. However, in order to upgrade every one of these characters you would have to backtrack A LOT in order to find the treasures with upgrades for the respective characters. This is because the upgrades only drop when that specific character is in your party. So instead I mostly just stuck to the same characters as I was too lazy to backtrack for an hour or two. There are items that let at least teleport you to the different towns, but they drop way too rarely to be of any practical use. Overall it's a really solid Zelda clone with some RPG elements thrown in, but unfortunately, like the first game, it just gets too repetitive after a while. Both may be worth a try, but even the superior second game still doesn't compare to Final Fantasy Adventure or Link's Awakening.

[Floating Platforms | 720]

On 8/28/2020 at 3:10 PM, Splain said:

It pains me not to give it to you, since last year I played Penguin Wars for 4 mintues and submitted it for a point.

I appreciate the thought, but it's not a big deal.  I'll gladly sacrifice any points in exchange for the "new" knowledge about the game in general. I wonder how that YouTube commenter I found learned about it.

At least I can move on to newer pastures.  Yesterday I completed Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs

This is a pretty decent game that had the potential to be much better.  The overall objective is scour the semi-maze like levels for 3 specific objects that will allow you to unlock the next level. Along the way, you can eventually also pick up pieces of the "chronospecter" which is a weapon you can only use against the final boss. Each level also introduces a new weapon, but most of them are very similar to each other and half require you to sit still and charge it, which is a virtually useless tactic. The game allows you to backtrack to previous levels if you want to farm ammo or the triangles that act like coins in Mario to boost lives, so that was appreciated and the password even saves how many lives you have when you exit the level.  For the most part, the levels are fun and varied enough to keep things interesting. Where it really falls flat is in the demanding jumps in the later levels.  Honestly in level 7, I had no clue how to get the items and then make it back to a safe area because the jumps needed pixel perfect placement (if you fall too far you die). So I just died and warped to another part of the level since you keep key items until game over or you exit the level.  The music is enjoyable throughout and there are plenty of different enemy types. Overall, it was a good time that would have been better if the jumps were more forgiving.  Also, disappointing that such a late release didn't have any custom SGB borders or default color palettes.

I beat it on Medium with the full chronoscepter, so I don't know for sure if that gives the best ending, or if there are multiple endings. If anyone has any info on that, let me know.

Next is going to be Sports Illustrated Championship Football & Baseball.  I've played it quite a bit as a kid and thought it was alright at the time, but I don't remember if I ever bothered getting through a tournament.

[Floating Platforms | 720]

On 8/29/2020 at 4:17 PM, Gaia Gensouki said:

I gave Gremlins 2: The New Batch another try and finally beat it!

Congratulations!  This is one of those games I've owned since a kid that I couldn't ever finish. Got stuck in that same maze part.  I started my challenge with a game that I could never beat as a kid (Escape from Camp Deadly), and besides Gremlins 2 there are a few others from my youth that I'm looking forward to eventually conquering for the first time like Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures, Wayne's World, Itchy & Scratchy Mini Golf, Mega Man 1, and Kid Icarus

[John198X | 55]

On 8/28/2020 at 3:10 PM, Splain said:

Welcome back! The secret on Game & Watch Gallery is that you can see that first round of credits without playing all 4 games. You just need 5 stars in any 4 games/modes/difficulties.

If you're saying 5 stars (aka 1000 pts) in any 4 game/modes, I take that to mean that if you're really good at say, Fire, you could get 1000+ pts in Easy Modern, Hard Modern,  Easy Classic, and Hard Classic, and that would trigger the first credit roll. If that's that case, then maybe I'll come back to it a little sooner.  That's at least slightly less daunting.

Edited August 31, 2020 by John198X

[Splain | 2,571]

23 hours ago, John198X said:

If you're saying 5 stars (aka 1000 pts) in any 4 game/modes, I take that to mean that if you're really good at say, Fire, you could get 1000+ pts in Easy Modern, Hard Modern,  Easy Classic, and Hard Classic, and that would trigger the first credit roll. If that's that case, then maybe I'll come back to it a little sooner.  That's at least slightly less daunting.

Well, I say that, since that's what we've used in the past. But thinking about this Penguin Wars thing, I'm pretty sure there's a "better" ending to be seen in Game & Watch Gallery, that we should probably require. Let me try and track it down. There's definitely a credit roll after getting 1000 points in any 4 modes (meaning you could only play all Fire modes and see it) but let me do some more research before you do that. There's some conflicting info online.

[koifish | 556]

On 8/27/2020 at 1:47 PM, koifish said:

I am in-progress on R-Type. It's the first I've played R-Type and I really like it. It's almost like a puzzle finding the best way to beat the bosses. It also doesn't feel like you are hopeless if you lose your ship. I can make it as far as stage 4 now. We will see if I can advance further than that.

Follow-up, I can get to the boss of stage 4 but it's really tough. I keep getting smashed by the moving walls. I can get to stage 4 without dying though, so I just have to write out the best path next time for the stage 4 maze so that I can get through and not die. It's really a test of your maneuverability though. We'll see what happens.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

46 minutes ago, koifish said:

Follow-up, I can get to the boss of stage 4 but it's really tough. I keep getting smashed by the moving walls. I can get to stage 4 without dying though, so I just have to write out the best path next time for the stage 4 maze so that I can get through and not die. It's really a test of your maneuverability though. We'll see what happens.

Good luck. I tried that a few weeks ago, but I could never make it past the stage 4 boss. This game is so tough and it's not getting easier by how cramped it is and with only the limited colors. I think your hitbox is also quite big which made for many unexpected deaths on my part. But maybe you can do it!

[Floating Platforms | 720]

6 hours ago, Splain said:

But thinking about this Penguin Wars thing

Uh oh...what did I unravel?

In all seriousness, it would be great to have a resource that shows or lists all the different possible endings for a game (and their requirements, of course).  Even YouTube is insufficient at times as we're finding, so no matter the source it probably won't ever be accurate.

[koifish | 556]

I finally did it! I beat R-Type. At least, I think I did.
Stage 4 was really hard, I had to grind the pattern down a lot. Once I finally got it figured out, however, it turns out that the wall boss is just "sit in this room for X seconds and don't die." And as with every other boss, there is a trick to trivialize it. I won't spoil unless someone wants a write-up though.

Anyway, stages 5 and 6 were maybe made on the assumption that you deserved a reward after stage 4, or maybe they just didn't know how hard stage 4 would be for the end user by comparison. Either way, the last two were a breeze by comparison. I only lost one life between the two of them.

At the end I got a message about my ensuring only a short peace, because the evil empire is still out there. Then it said "prepare for the ultimate challenge" and prompted the classic hard mode repeat, aka the Salty Runback of Classic Games.

What I'm wondering is, do I get a different ending if I beat hard mode? Or is it just a repeat message? I feel like I can do it without much hardship now that I finally got stage 4 down, but then again I'm not sure if I have the fortitude.