NES Completions thread 2022 - 564/677 (bonus games - 83/100)

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

5 hours ago, nerdynebraskan said:

I tried it a few years ago. I even got to the final boss gauntlet a few times and came close to beating it once or twice. You have to 100% obliterate several battleships in a row. I've seen something about a glitch to get extra power-ups, which would come in handy at the end. Might be worth reading into it before going any further.

Yeah, the last level of 1943 is incredibly difficult, and it's not just about your own survival: you have to hit all your targets as well.  I don't even know how many countless times I had to replay that level before I finally beat it.  Great game, but brutally hard at the back end...

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Rampage is done.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,075]

You all are scaring me! And now I can't back down anymore either. But I'll see if I can get through it eventually. This might turn into a grindfest.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Conquest of the Crystal Palace is done.

[mbd39 | 2,025]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:41 PM, NESfiend said:

You answered your own question there. I tried it a year or two back and always have really liked the game. But Ive probably seen less than 40% of it. It gets crazy hard fast. You are a champ for taking that one out. 

I have 2 games left to finish tecmo cup soccer. Should be able to finish it out this week. 

I reached mission 22 using passwords and that's where I gave up. It's a beast.

But I stuck to the shotgun because of how it clears enemy projectiles. Maybe I needed a better weapon.

 

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Yo! Noid is done.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

King's Quest V is done.

[NESfiend | 1,515]

Tecmo cup soccer is done and Robin has finally gotten his father's approval now that he is a champion 

[fusoyaff2 | 50]

Final Fantasy IIIj beaten. I've now finished 1 through 9.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Incredible Crash Dummies is done.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Mappy-Land is done. I have now scored over 600 points for the fifth consecutive year.

[Matchbook | 194]

15 minutes ago, nerdynebraskan said:

Mappy-Land is done. I have now scored over 600 points for the fifth consecutive year.

Dude next year we are gonna have to create a "beat every NES game before nerdynebraskan" thread.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Faria is done.

It's a first-time completion for me. The game has a unique aesthetic, and an interesting sense of humor. But I'm not sure I'd recommend the game.

The difficulty is really uneven. There's not much of a difficulty curve on the action stuff; it's too hard at the beginning, and then almost nothing in the second half of the game was even a threat to me. The invisible, teleporting enemies that also shoot projectiles are introduced entirely too early (even in the forests of the very first area of the game), since you don't have access to the item that lets you see them until you're 3/4ths of the way through the game.

The caves and dungeons are huge and incredibly complicated. I can see why the mail-away map from the makers is one of the most coveted RPG collectibles of the 8-bit era. I can't imagine who would have the patience to learn this game blind. I was only able to do this with the maps and walkthrough that are posted to GameFAQs.

But mostly, this game required an excruciating amount of grinding for EXP and gold. I spent hours running in circles killing petty monsters for often 1 experience point and 2 pieces of gold, to buy several different rounds of overpriced equipment. Faria may even be a grindfest on par with the original Dragon Warrior/Quest.

But will I play it again next year if nobody jumps on it? Probably, but not before Zelda II, Willow, or Magic of Scheherazade (to name a few...).

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

S.C.A.T. is done. That was my first time beating it solo.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Cocoron is done. It's another first-time clear for me, and I'm really sorry I didn't take this one on much sooner. I bought a copy several years, but only casually tested it.

I beat it on one credit, in about two hours of playing (the game actually has in-game timer). There is one cryptic detail (the location of the princess after beating the early bosses) that I had to look up online, and while I was there I also looked up some details about the other power-ups. I don't think I chose as well as I could have to have an easier time. Even so, I killed most of the bosses on my first try and cleared most stages on 1-2 lives. The first marathon level where the evil clown has kidnapped all of my teammates and I have to rescue them is the only one I really struggled on. Grinding on that stage probably accounted for a full third of my playtime.

I would strongly recommend this one to anyone who likes 8-bit run-and-guns. I think anyone with any skill could beat the game pretty quickly and easily. With light-to-moderate skill, I would just also recommend looking at a walkthrough in advance and picking power-ups that would be most advantageous.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Bad News Baseball is done.

[fusoyaff2 | 50]

On 3/14/2022 at 2:58 PM, nerdynebraskan said:

But will I play it again next year if nobody jumps on it? Probably, but not before Zelda II, Willow, or Magic of Scheherazade (to name a few...).

I'll give it a go in 2023. One of the few NES RPGs left I still haven't beaten.

 

Gonna start on Legacy of the Wizard next. It's been on my to-beat list for about 30 years.

Edited March 16, 2022 by fusoyaff2

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Well, now that I'm settled in a bit, and have found where I packed my USB controller, I knocked off two more wins on Bases Loaded, bringing the grand total to 5.  Only 75 more to go.  It's honestly not hard, as I can manage at least two or three homers a game, but it's so damn tedious.  In other news, I've also knocked off the first mission of Conflict.  I know it's not necessary, but I opted to go with the highest difficulty (Three Units, and Blue Level 3).  I'm not sure how long I'll stay on that path...if the later missions get too tough I may drop down a bit (though I'd have to cheat to get the final level password, as that seems to be different depending on the difficulty...not sure if the ending is affected though).

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Rambo is done.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Legends of the Diamond is done.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

17 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

In other news, I've also knocked off the first mission of Conflict.  I know it's not necessary, but I opted to go with the highest difficulty (Three Units, and Blue Level 3).  I'm not sure how long I'll stay on that path...

I'm curious about your strategy playing Conflict on Level 3. Most missions are pretty straightforward on Level 1, if you're content to play the long game at your base and shoot down MiGs with anti-aircraft units. But how are you supposed to compete with the computer's superior resources going into all those obnoxious aircraft if you don't have enough fame points to build anti-aircraft artillery or air units?

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

25 minutes ago, nerdynebraskan said:

I'm curious about your strategy playing Conflict on Level 3. Most missions are pretty straightforward on Level 1, if you're content to play the long game at your base and shoot down MiGs with anti-aircraft units. But how are you supposed to compete with the computer's superior resources going into all those obnoxious aircraft if you don't have enough fame points to build anti-aircraft artillery or air units?

Well, I just completed the second mission.  Basically you want them to send as much to you as possible while you turtle.  You need to take out as many units as possible while minimizing your own losses.  I know that's easier said than done, but it seems to be working so far, at least on the early levels.  I've never played the game prior though, so maybe it just seems easy at the start.  But yeah, while killing an enemy gives modest fame gains, losing units give massive penalties.  Then it's just a matter of not losing your own gains before you can build anything useful.  Of course, that's easier said than done, but still, it seems perfectly doable.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

13 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Well, I just completed the second mission.  Basically you want them to send as much to you as possible while you turtle.  You need to take out as many units as possible while minimizing your own losses.  I know that's easier said than done, but it seems to be working so far, at least on the early levels.  I've never played the game prior though, so maybe it just seems easy at the start.  But yeah, while killing an enemy gives modest fame gains, losing units give massive penalties.  Then it's just a matter of not losing your own gains before you can build anything useful.  Of course, that's easier said than done, but still, it seems perfectly doable.

Yep, that's my basic strategy as well. I'm just not sure how well it works on Level 3 Fame Points (L3FP) on maps where you start with no air units and/or no anti-air artillery. Don't you start at 0 FP on most or all maps at L3FP? I think even the lesser anti-air unit requires you to have almost 3000 FP and the junky helicopters and SAM launcher are only unlocked near 5000 FP.

It's hard to imagine having to shoot down a MiG, let alone a bomber (!), with the cheap junk units. The aircraft have much better speed and maneuverability and will get more shots on your units than you get on them. They have a high probability of evading machine gun fire (which is the best you can muster unless you have a SAM launcher or fighter jet that can shoot missiles into the air). And given the stark disparity between your FP and the CPU's, even at L1FP (let alone L3FP!), the CPU loses less than you do if you knock off a capital air unit at the expense of throwing four or five junk units at it.

[nerdynebraskan | 356]

Super Spike V'Ball is done.

[McBryce | 375]

Smash TV is done.