Beat every Game Boy game - 2022 - 160/566

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Okay, I'm near the end of Exodus now - 80 levels done. Stage select only goes up to level 81 of 100, so I just need to find a large chunk of time where I can power through the last 20 levels and move on to Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Oh, by the way @Splain, I heard on my stream that the requirement to beat Yoshi is actually to get to level 28 and not 16. Apparently you get the last unique item cutscene at that level and then it just keeps giving that new item to you... It also sounds like it's kind of brutal to get that far. Yay?

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Alright, well I know it doesn't count for this, but I figured I'd put my thoughts on here anyway in case others might want to give it a shot or know what they're up against. I have finally finished Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land

This became the longest game in my challenge so far by quite a large margin.  Previously it was Penguin Wars (which may re-take the lead as I go for a full 1-40 match run at some point) which was 43:30. This ended at 56 hours and 26 minutes. The game has 100 levels consisting of 50 stages that repeat in a mirrored mode, usually with tougher requirements and stricter time limits and possibly different enemies, and different exits.  There's a level select that lets you skip 5 levels at a time, but it only goes up to level 81, so you have to finish the last 20 levels (the hardest ones) all in a single play session. That took me 4 long nights of trying because even though I knew the general idea of how to do things from playing the same stage 50 levels ago, executing it in the time limit given and then also learning where the new exit was meant spending 2-3 hours learning and exploring and re-trying certain levels.  Finding the exits was honestly the toughest part many times and there are some troll-y placements. If the level is complex and long, then it takes 5-10 minutes to get another shot. You can see how the time would add up quick.  Tonight, level 99 (which took 2-3 hours of trying last time), went down relatively easy when I tried a slightly different tactic and 100 was so close to 50 that I beat it on my first real try, thankfully.

The game itself is actually pretty good. The difficulty spike is unwarranted, though. The physics are also inconsistent. It's a boulderdash rules set-up where you can move around but there's gravity to certain objects. You can take the same path multiple times, but the items will cascade down in a different sequence sometimes for no discernable reason, and that can ruin some runs.  The levels have unique gimmicks to them and it's a surprising amount of variety. The 50 levels have questions that tell the story of Moses and picture book like images for each one (both questions and images repeat in the back half), and that creates an amazingly impressive package in that awkward little cartridge.  I'm honestly intrigued as to what the other Wisdom Tree titles will be like, but I'm quite happy to wait a while before I try the next one.

Tomorrow I should be playing Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures and hopefully beating that to contribute to this challenge again.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

And Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Cadet Adventures is done. I'm on the board for September!

I had heard this going in, but this game really is just a remixed version of Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle.  The order of the levels are different, and it's generally easier with simplified "boss" stages, but the layouts are nearly identical. Knowing that game and remembering the locations of 1-ups and some of the power-ups and health really helped me out a lot.  I do like this one better because of the subject matter and cutscenes between levels (plus I do think that it's more forgiving in general). I beat the game through what might be a small glitch. I was near the top of the last timed level and the clock struck zero mid-jump and it still gave me credit and played the ending scene (with voice samples as part of the audio!). I'm not sure if it should have counted, but I'll take it and cross off another game that I could never beat as a kid.

Tomorrow I'll start working on Klax. No idea if I'll be able to beat that in a single session, but I'll assume not.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Klax is done.

I don't have much to say about this other than I found it to be incredibly boring and lifeless.  It's not my kind of "puzzle" game. There's no music, but at least there are a couple of wacky sound effects (like the scream when you let a piece fall). The game has a generous warp system and unlimited continues if you're fast enough on the start button, likely because it knows that 99 stages of the same 5 things is too much to ask. I didn't find the repeating objectives to be challenging or all that fun, so I went through the motions until it was done.  Oh, and I'm sure you're not supposed to do this but on the "survive X tiles" levels, you can just keep pressing up to recycle the same tiles and the counter goes down. That feels like an exploit that should have been coded out.  Oh well.

I have a conference coming up, so I won't be playing anything until either Mon or Tuesday next week. I'll be starting Judge Dredd which shouldn't be too bad since it has a password system.

[Splain | 2,560]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:52 PM, Floating Platforms said:

Oh, by the way @Splain, I heard on my stream that the requirement to beat Yoshi is actually to get to level 28 and not 16. Apparently you get the last unique item cutscene at that level and then it just keeps giving that new item to you... It also sounds like it's kind of brutal to get that far. Yay?

Oof. I copied that requirement from the NES board, which said it stopped giving you new fruits after 16, which was a pineapple. I saw that the GB one is also a pineapple at 16, and called it good. Looks like I need to save-state or otherwise cheat my way to 28 to investigate.

Remember that for Judge Dredd you have to collect enough of the right items in a level to be able to save after that level.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Alright, Judge Dredd is done

It was alright. Certainly not the worst game, but it was below average. Better than Superman and Iron Man. Probably around the same level as Bram Stoker's Dracula or Star Wars (but not as difficult as those).  Too many levels and they became a bit of a slog with repetitive spongy enemies and backtracking sequences. The hit points and lives were pretty generous.  I did game over once without finding any of the password disc items, but I had no problem getting through it on my second run (where I did find 3 of the discs).  The final boss fight was a total pushover. The graphics were lackluster, especially in the cutscene stuff (although it did a decent job of filling me in on the movie I haven't seen). Just a bland, sometimes ugly, experience that reminded me of a bunch of other mediocre games.

Tomorrow I'll play and likely beat Bo Jackson's Hit & Run Football & Baseball.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

5 hours ago, Splain said:

Oof. I copied that requirement from the NES board, which said it stopped giving you new fruits after 16, which was a pineapple. I saw that the GB one is also a pineapple at 16, and called it good. Looks like I need to save-state or otherwise cheat my way to 28 to investigate.

I'm not really sure what the "item" thing is about with the fruit. I've actually never played any version of Yoshi, so it's all gibberish to me.  I was talking to Retku who was doing an NES challenge and he said that there was the final item at level 28 on the NES version as well that not too many knew about it.  Someone in his chat told him as he was playing and he was able to confirm (after about 30 hours of trying....)  I tried looking it up and I think it's a Pow Block, which isn't a fruit so maybe I was looking at the wrong thing.

All I know is that I now have Turn & Burn: F-14 Flight Simulator officially on my queue and I am dreading that one. No idea how many missions there are and I can't find any proof that anyone has found an ending.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Bo Jackson Hit & Run Football & Baseball is done

I played the full 1 hour game of football and easily won 69-17. Baseball was tougher to get a handle on and I lost the first game 9-1. Once I got a grasp on pitching and how to position myself for tons of strikeouts, I won the next game 2-0.  Batting I never really got a strong hold on. Fielding and baserunning is quite different than other baseball games and I don't know why they messed with the standard solid formula. The duo-pack game felt like a lesser version of Sports Illustrated Championship FB & BB with less impressive cut scene animations, but similar gameplay styles. There's no tournament mode though, so that's an improvement.  The experience was okay, as neither sport was the worst version I've played so far, but there are so many better options. Bo needs to know how to fine tune his videogame.

If you're wondering what the losing screens look like, I saved those too.

After winning both, I threw a game of FB to see what this looked like. You slam your head into your knee and the stadium goes dark

Losing this made me want to see the FB loss screen. Your player breaks his bat over his knee (Bo style - that's what's on the ground) and then the stadium lights go dark instead of watching the crowd do the wave.

Next up for me is WildSnake which I'll start up on Monday.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

WildSnake is done.

This was a fun one, but surprisingly short.  Only 8 challenges in King Cobra mode (with a qualifier before each). If you lose on the level, you have to re-qualify. If you lose the qualifier, then it's game over and you start from the beginning. I had to restart fully twice and it still only took about an hour. You are at the mercy of RNG in a couple stages where you need to eat eggs and only certain snakes can do that. I went an entire round without seeing the necessary snake before time ran out (and that was before the number of snake patterns doubled). There are too many patterns at the end and seeing the slight differences can be tricky, but thankfully the challenge mode has special snakes that remove everything in their path or will delete all snakes of the pattern you touch. Hold out long enough for those to come through and it makes your job easier.  I also played the Hard Difficulty afterwards and didn't do too great, but there's no high score table that I noticed so I'm moving on.

Next up for me is Skate or Die: Bad 'N' Rad. Time estimates I have are all over the place (1-6 hours), so I'll be happy if I can get it done in the next couple of days.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad is done.

It's 90% Bad, 10% Rad. This is one of those games where you learn through consistent death, because the levels are all designed in such a way that you will encounter many, many death traps that are unavoidable unless you know they are coming. Most of the levels are short, so that's not the worst thing in the world. But, the lost inputs on jumps during the horizontal levels was.  Level 6 is stupid, full of stupid jumps that don't always work and a boss that I found out how to beat after hours of trial and error (thanks to having to restart the level after each game over.  The vertical/top down levels are garbage in their own right, often times putting you into damage loops because when you get hit, you are tossed back, but never far enough to correct yourself properly, so its common to get hit a bunch until you die. You can start on level 1-4, but thankfully you can keep continuing on your current level if you keep the system on. That's the main positive in the game. I guess the music is good and honestly the graphics are also decent. The gameplay, however, can die.

On Monday, I'll be starting Qix. I have very limited experience with that game but I'm looking forward to learning how to get better at that.

[Matt 4120 | 240]

It's been a while (July 31st is when I last posted!) since I last did anything Gameboy, but today I had some free time and decided to go for WWF Superstars 2:

I own (and finished) the first game, and I wanted to try out the second game. The first game is ok, but this one in comparison is bad. The control feels delayed, especially when kicking. Every match feels like such a slog, and you really have to work for it. Also, opponents get health back at random times? I think I managed to get some back too, but I don't know how. Very confusing and lame game. The only good things about the game I could say is that the roster isn't awful either, plus their theme music is pretty good. The characters look like people, instead of the weird looking sprites for the first game. Stick to the first game playing wise.

Really makes you wish that they had ported one of the Technos arcade games. Even a well playing, scaled down port of Wrestlefest would have been better than all the other games combined.

I'm not sure what I am going to do next. I gave up on Boxxle a while ago. I had a few other titles lined up or being worked on, but I either quit or never finished them. Maybe I will look at Parodious or Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

22 minutes ago, Matt 4120 said:

I own (and finished) the first game, and I wanted to try out the second game. The first game is ok, but this one in comparison is bad. The control feels delayed, especially when kicking. Every match feels like such a slog, and you really have to work for it. Also, opponents get health back at random times? I think I managed to get some back too, but I don't know how. Very confusing and lame game.

Awesome! I sadly hear that Superstars 1 is possibly the best wrestling game on Game Boy. It's a shame that the sequel doesn't hold up to that.

I have a scan of the manual and it says you can recover health once per match by hitting Select, so perhaps you brushed against that here and there to get that energy boost. It's also the same button to switch in your tag team partner, so that probably caused some mistakes for people.  Interesting that the CPU gets to do it too (hopefully still just once per match)

[Matt 4120 | 240]

6 hours ago, Floating Platforms said:

Awesome! I sadly hear that Superstars 1 is possibly the best wrestling game on Game Boy. It's a shame that the sequel doesn't hold up to that.

I have a scan of the manual and it says you can recover health once per match by hitting Select, so perhaps you brushed against that here and there to get that energy boost. It's also the same button to switch in your tag team partner, so that probably caused some mistakes for people.  Interesting that the CPU gets to do it too (hopefully still just once per match)

You are probably right about Superstars being the best wrestling wise.

I am not sure if I remember correctly, but I think I saw opponents heal more than once. Pretty sure it was the final match, which could make sense in theory but it's pretty cheap.

I decided to knock out another 2 games, staring with WCW Main Event.

Like Superstars 1, this game comes so close but isn't perfect. The game is a little unfair, as I was able to throw my opponents into the ropes and then either kick or clothesline them over and over again. To be fair your opponents could combo you too, but I found it relatively easy to get out of one and then do it again to my opponent. Giving credit to WCW, the game is fairly smooth, which in comparison to Superstars 1 is choppy and slow. It also has a larger roster than both Superstars 1 and 2. But it feels like a fairly standard wrestling game, which isn't bad, but I feel that Superstars 1 is more unique, with pre-match and post-match commentary. It also had the music playing during game play, while 2 and WCW didn't.

Out of the four wrestling games I have played so far, I would rank them like this:

1. WWF Superstar 1

2. WCW Main Event

3. WWF Superstars 2

4. The unplayable WWF King of the Ring. It took me 1 hour to get through 2 matches. Yeah, no thanks. It looks to have a slightly better NES version. Maybe if I am really bored, I will come back to this one.

Overall, it's not that bad.

 

Next was Amazing Penguin.

Strangely enough, the penguin on the title screen sort of resembled the small penguin wearing the top hat in Looney Tunes. Not sure how I made that connection, but whatever lol.

This is a fun puzzle game that resembles a number of older games, but I think the arcade game Amidar by Konami is fairly close. I got stuck on several levels in the later 30's towards the end of the game, and I was getting very frustrated. I managed to push through, with a total time of around 3 and a half hours. I don't think I will touch this game again for a while though. Kind of a game where you play it once and then forget about it for a while in my opinion.

I was playing Parodius today as well, but I got stuck on level 2 and played Amazing Penguin instead. Not really up for platform-puzzle games, so Crazy Castle is off the list for now. I'm sure I will find something to play. Frogger is looking tempting.

 

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Awesome! We might get to 150 games done pretty soon at this rate.

So far I've only played 2 wrestling games, WCW (which was okay) and WWF War Zone which was absolute, near broken trash.  Now I'm a little curious about how King of the Ring compares.

I remember Amazing Penguin being a good time, but maybe too easy until the last few levels where the difficulty spikes out of nowhere.  Bugs Bunny should be equally short if you decide to go back and try that one later

[Matt 4120 | 240]

Another 2 down:

First is Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 1.

This is a game I remember playing as a kid, and I could never get past a certain point. I think it was in the mid-teens. I would get bored and change to a different game. Playing through the whole game turned out to be pretty fun. The hardest level by far was 72, I was stuck there for a while. Strangely the levels after weren't as hard as 72. Seems they just shoved everything into random spots, but they did group levels 64-80 with just pipe levels so I am not really sure what the heck they were doing.

Second is WWF Raw.

I've been on a wrestling game streak because they aren't too hard, and I was pleasantly surprised with this game. It's very playable, although a bit slow but it isn't that bad. Was expecting worse honestly. There are 2 WWF games left to finish, it would be interesting to see if I can finish all of them, even if they suck.

I have been playing Daffy Duck game recently and it's been a lot of fun. I forget the actual name of it. Very similar to the Looney Tunes game. Both are on my list to complete.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Oh @Splain, I learned of another game that supposedly has an ending/credits: In Your Face.

I don't have a video of this, but I was talking to a former GB challenger on stream and he said that you can reach it if you keep winning games.  He didn't recall how many games it took, but said he set up a bot to keep playing and eventually the ending came up.  I guess you "continue" after winning by simply selecting the same mode again?

The only thing I found was a 3 year old reddit post (with no comments) stating the manual mentions a tournament mode on 2-on-2 and winning 5 games gets you the end. I can't find a digital manual online either.

I might try to explore this through emulation soon since I'm curious, but if anyone that has more time for such things wants to do that first, feel free.

Edit: Okay, I do see a JohnCarls video where he does the 5 2-on-2 games and gets a congratulations message.

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Floating Platforms
found video proof

[Matt 4120 | 240]

Another 2 down:

First is WWF King of the Ring.

Not much to say other than it still sucks. It has so much potential, but it falls flat pretty hard. It's very slow and the collision detection is questionable. There were several times where I did a dropkick, but it would touch the opponent and not register.  The roster might be the only good thing in the game. Music and graphics are pretty hit and miss.

And also done is Looney Tunes.

This is another game I remember playing as a kid occasionally, but never passed level 1. It looks really easy, but the challenge can get up there in certain spots. The Road Runner level in particular was very difficult, especially if you didn't bounce on the boss multiple times. It's a short but fun game. 

[LHCGreg | 111]

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge is done.

 

[Floating Platforms | 713]

In terms of this challenge, Qix is done

I'm really bad at this game. It took me over 30 hours of trying to finally get over 500K. I will also contend the game is very unfair. The percentages don't seem to be very good or consistent at times, the cursor gets stuck on corners or goes weird directions at times, it's really easy to over/undershoot your intended target to close up a box.  The Qix themselves are sometimes far, far too fast and can cover the entire length of the screen in tenths of a second, meaning you have absolutely no time to react before they kill you (looking at you, level 10). The randomness of the qix behavior is simply annoying and I feel like I'm missing something in how to exploit or manipulate their movements, but probably not.  At times, even on a bigger screen TV, the lines of the qix are too small to actually see what killed you - especially if you're trying to chisel away to get a high percentage. It all feels like pure luck, really.  I won by getting 99% on level 1 and then getting 99% on level 9 with a 3x multiplier (which I only tried because I had lives to burn and didn't want to face the nasty swooping in level 10.

I'm also going for a secondary goal now in my attempt to beat games comprehensively. There are fireworks after every 4 levels, and apparently the fireworks after level 16 are the last unique ones seen, so I'm going to work on that before moving on to my next game: Heiankyo Alien

[Floating Platforms | 713]

Alright, I finally finished the other ending of Qix by beating level 16 and seeing the 4th and final unique fireworks sequence

This goal was much less stressful, but still not incredibly easy.  I actually ended up winning this run with the help of a strange glitch.  Level 16 has two Qix chasing you. At one point, I was making a square and one of the Qix happened to dart inside. That's happened a couple of times before to me in single Qix levels and it gave me a 99%. This time, the Qix just stayed frozen in place. It didn't trigger a split Qix (as it likely should have - if it wasn't a death). So, I had one left swooping around erratically and I was able to clear the level with the lives I had left.  Strange way to end what is now my third longest game in the challenge.

Anyway, now I'm free to start Heiankyo Alien tomorrow and fingers crossed that only takes the one day.

[Splain | 2,560]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:05 PM, Floating Platforms said:

Oh @Splain, I learned of another game that supposedly has an ending/credits: In Your Face.

I don't have a video of this, but I was talking to a former GB challenger on stream and he said that you can reach it if you keep winning games.  He didn't recall how many games it took, but said he set up a bot to keep playing and eventually the ending came up.  I guess you "continue" after winning by simply selecting the same mode again?

The only thing I found was a 3 year old reddit post (with no comments) stating the manual mentions a tournament mode on 2-on-2 and winning 5 games gets you the end. I can't find a digital manual online either.

I might try to explore this through emulation soon since I'm curious, but if anyone that has more time for such things wants to do that first, feel free.

Edit: Okay, I do see a JohnCarls video where he does the 5 2-on-2 games and gets a congratulations message.

OH YUCK. That game is already no fun to play, and now you have to beat a tournament to get the ending...

Turns out I have a manual for In Your Face, and it says this:

You can compete in a two-on-two tournament against a computer
opponent. You can play in the tournament only if you select 2 ON 2
from the MODE SELECT screen. One loss eliminates your team from
the tournament, but if you can win five games, you're the tournament
champion and you'll see a special sequence of screens.

Crazy how hidden that is, even when you know about it. No indication at all that you're in a tournament. That YouTube video says he has to keep selecting the longest game to get the ending. YUUUCK

[Floating Platforms | 713]

1 hour ago, Splain said:

That YouTube video says he has to keep selecting the longest game to get the ending. YUUUCK

I guess the game has put it in all of our faces...

[Splain | 2,560]

And I haven't found any useful Game Genie or Gamesherk codes for Yoshi. I might just need to use savestates.

[Floating Platforms | 713]

16 hours ago, Splain said:

And I haven't found any useful Game Genie or Gamesherk codes for Yoshi. I might just need to use savestates.

Damn hackers, ignoring the real issues like Yoshi codes...  I know there's a longplay of the NES version that goes past level 28, but couldn't find a GB one.

I have a question about Heiankyo Alien as well. The win condition is Finish all 12 New Game levels, OR Old Game loops at level 20.

Since I like to do everything, I was starting with old and boy is it rough.  I made it to level 8 so far. Does anyone know what happens after level 20 to complete the "loop" since the layouts when you start each run are random. Does this mean you've seen all the floorplans? Does it put you back at level 1?  I found a gamefaqs guide that says level 20 is the highest difficulty, but wasn't sure if anyone's confirmed it.  If it has level 1 behavior but says 21 on the screen, I might not try for it

Edited November 10, 2022 by Floating Platforms
fixed my dumb paragraph