Nostalgic Machine

These types of debates always fascinate me; I LOVE the psychology of people feeling the need to HAVE to choose one or the other, or bash one for completely irrational personal reasons - that are just as valid as the reasons they enjoy another game, lol.

I love ALL styles of Metroid. Metroidvania improved a lot of what the first two suffered from IMHO.

The first Metroid is easily an 8.5/10 for me. It ALMOST captured the feel of the original LoZ - but somehow the lack of map made it way more frustrating than 

23 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

8/10.

Sooo atmospheric, and it’s a mid 80s game played on a damn toaster! Exploring is super fun and rewarding. If I have knocks against it: The difficulty curve is backwards. It’s hardest at the beginning when you’re lost and suck. Enemies are a joke by the time you get the screw attack. Only 2 minibosses. The reused screens are pretty confusing, but I guess they were pushing the hardware or trying to be confusing. Super Metroid made everything better, but Metroid is still the bomb.

Here’s my personal map because maps are cool

DUDE I was looking for my maps, graph paper and all; same score, 8/10!

It was like Zelda; no map, but you're exploring space instead of Hyrule. I LOVED that. The ambition was higher than the technology, which almost always proves beneficial once technology catches up.

I prefer Super Metroid (what I'd consider far and away the series' finest hour, still to this day 26 years later).

2 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

The aliens were one of the coolest things to come across back in the day. Like "Holy Crap! Dude there's aliens!" and no one would believe you because it sounded like any other made up video game rumor.

That's my favorite part of the game! It's perfectly creepy and challenging. MM is packed with little gems like that. I also love the hand that reaches out of the toilet, lol.

I've seen that meme YEARS ago, and I totally forgot about it .

My brain knows that's his hand and shadow, it doesn't work for me lol.

Goldeneye still rules!

• Cobra Triangle (NES)
• Mega Man 1-6 (NES)
• Tecmo World Wrestling (NES)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
• Fester's Quest (NES)
• Guardian Legends (NES)

I got both OOT and MM on their respective launch days.

Being a massive OOT fanboi, it was hard to like it better for a long time. 20 years later, it's aged much better than its predecessor. The time challenge is a unique element that stands out to this day, and you actually learn to work with it to your advantage by the end IMHO.

I'd give MM 9.95/10, and OOT 9.90/10 as of this date today.  

Hey guys! I figured serious NES players would enjoy this. My buddy Josh is nuts when it comes to Mega Man, and he's one of the few I've seen actually play through the game and look like he knows what he's doing, lol. Check out his run below for The Gaming Manual; I learned so much from watching this one! Enjoy! 

Here are the Time Stamps for everything you see above; all of which can also be found HERE on TheGamingManual.com:
 

Quote

Gaming Manual Mega Man Timestamps by Josh of TheGamingManual.com

00:09 Bombman Bombombomb pits how to avoid damage and their explosion pattern. 

01:00 How to handle sniper joe. 

01:45 Intro to killer bomb enemy. 

01:57 Positioning for mambu 8-way shot. 

02:15 Baiting sniper joe to jump to get the 1up. 

02:50 Elevated sniper joe. 

03:07 Dealing with Bombmanﻗ°ﻷs boss gate. 

03:17 Boss fight with Bombman. 

04:19 Gutsman railway with platform that drops Mega Man. 

05:12 - Blind falls and power up locations (life energy, weapon energy and 1up). 

05:47 Gutsman boss gate. 

06:03 Boss fight Gutsman using hyper bombs with select trick. Select pauses the game without bringing up the weapon menu and allows for a boss to be hits multiple times from the same attack.

06:55 Cutman dealing with the bunby heli in the air and blaster bullet patterns. 

08:04 Handling the numerous suzy enemies for the next few screens. 

09:37 Mambu timing and safe spots. 

09:52 Big Eye. 

10:04 Screw drives in Cutmanﻗ°ﻷs boss gate. 

10:23 Cutman boss fight using super arm. 

11:06 Elecman how to destroy the gabyoall. 

11:43 Watchers attack pattern. 

12:12 Disappearing blocks timing. 

12:54 Climbing the towerﻗ°ﻷs ladders, take the left side for an easier path. 13:38 How to get the magnet beam, it is required to beat the game and possible to miss. Super arm or thunder beam can be used to break the blocks. 

15:05 Big Eye 

15:13 Elecman boss gate timing of the lighting beams while climbing the ladder, getting hit will cause you to fall to the bottom and start over, so take it slow. 

15:44 Boss fight Elecman using rolling cutter. 

16:23 Iceman crazy crazy enemy, aim for the head as hitting the body will cause the head to fly around attacking you and follow you until it is destroyed. 

16:44 Pepe flying pattern and lack of water effects that are in other mega man games (no extra height in jumps, falling is not slowed down) and slippery floor is still in affect even under water. 

17:43 Disappearing blocks and the easy way to get past them. 

18:23 Bypassing the foot holder enemies and avoid falling in the pit. 

18:40 Hug the left wall while falling for life and weapon energy. 

19:00 Big Eye 

19:08 Iceman Boss gate with pepe enemy. 

19:24 Boss fight Iceman using elecbeam. 

20:08 Fireman minimizing damage from screw drivers. 

21:03 Trick for getting past flamethrowers. 

21:31 Dealing with the lava pit, flamethrowers and falling fireballs. 

22:08 Easy way to avoid getting damaged by fire chutes. 

22:46 Fireman boss gate screw drivers. 

23:12 Boss fight using ice slasher. 

24:11 Wily stage 1 getting past multiple big eye enemy using the ice slasher to freeze them mid-air and run under them. 

24:45 Getting into the past the blocks using super arm or thunder beam. 25:00 Tip you can freeze the flame throwers and jump them when they are frozen, but if you have trouble with the time just run through after getting hit while you have post damage invincibility. 

25:25 Getting energy if needed. 

26:09 Getting past the killer bombs without falling into spike pit. 

26:23 Tip magnet beam is a faster, much safer way to get past this room filled with foot holders with spikes on the ceiling and floor. 

26:44 Magnet beam is required to get past this room and if you use too much energy you can get stuck here, at least there are no enemies. Hereﻗ°ﻷs how to use minimal energy to get through the room. 

27:30 Yellow devil boss fight, recommend using the thunder beam with the pause trick and if done right can be kill with just one shot of the thunder beam.

28:26 Wily stage 2 dealing with the bunby heli and avoid getting knocked into a pit. 

28:54 Boss fight with cutman, but there are no blocks to use super arm. 29:36 Boss fight Elecman using rolling cutter. 

29:50 how to get past the bombombomb pits. 

31:45 Boss fight Copy Robot using thunder beam with the select trick. Copy Robot will use the same weapon as you if want to fight without the pause trick. 

33:13 Wily stage 3 managing the enemy horde on each screen. 

33:52 Flood tunnels with pepe for the first half and killer bombs for the second half. 

34:24 Boss fight using Mega buster for the first 4 and super arm for the last 3. 

35:21 Wily stage 4 watchers enemy in spawn room donﻗ°ﻷt get caught off guard and careful climbing the ladder if you get hit you will fall into the spikes. 

36:40 Beware the railway and platform it may see easy but can result in a quick death. Instead use the magnet beam and collect the 1up and power up that will re-fill life energy plus all weapon energy.  

37:22 Bombman boss fight. 

37:45 Fireman boss fight. 

38:02 Iceman boss fight. 

38:15 Gutsman boss fight. 

38:49 Tip if you have less than half health die as you will start before the final boss gate with full health which make the final battle a lot easier as there are no E-tanks so you canﻗ°ﻷt heal yourself during the fight. 

39:12 Wily machine first form using fire storm. 

39:34 Wily second form using fire storm. Hint use post invincibility to get extra hits in but be careful not to get too close as Wiley's machine does more damage on contact then the bullets it fires. Also a warning, the game can't handle everything on the screen at once which results in bullets or part of Wiley's  machine disappearing. Don't be fooled! They are still there and can hurt you, try to remember where they were so you donﻗ°ﻷt take extra damage during the final battle. 

40:23 End Credits.

What are your thoughts? Are you guys any good at this game? I could NEVER beat  single robot master in MM1!

Mega Man VI (NES).

Arguably my favorite MM title on the console; under-appreciated for sure!

• Cobra Triangle (NES)
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBA)
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBA)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
• Friday the 13th (NES)
• The Legend of Zelda (NES)

Just to keep my skills fresh. These three will keep me in NES shape so I can tackle Ninja Gaiden again.

The first game I was obsessed with beyond reason as a kid, right from launch, was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Hands down, far and away the most I've ever been obsessed with a game, lol.

Very easily a 10/10 game, and one of the few that are genuinely worthy of that praise IMHO.

Plus, the speed running community continues to blow me away, most of the time, with this particular game.

1. Mega Man 2 is overrated AF, and causes causal players to gloss over some fantastic later-entry games in the series.

2. The Sega Genesis - all versions of said console, controllers, peripherals, etc. - feel like they're made of the same cheap plastic you'd get from something out of a gum ball machine.

18 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

Never really played beyond MK2 in the arcades -- but as was mentioned MK was NOTORIOUS for badly designed arcade controls.

My guess is a console-based arcade stick, nowadays, is laid out in some permutation of the "standard" Capcom configuration, with an extra 4th button on one arc for NEO GEO.

 

But it would be absolutely ridiculous to say that classic JAMMA cabinets or NEO GEO cabinets, where each right-hand finger has a readily accessible button of its own, aren't superior to playing the same game on a controller, with very few exceptions.

NEO GEO cabinets are an example of what all arcade cabinets should have been, bare minimum! A lot of the American arcade games by Midway etc. were all about getting them coins from you while keeping you just pissed enough to keep throwing them in LOL.

Oh I know, that's why I prefaced my last post, once everyone was like "Wtf did he just say?!", with that's admittedly the majority of my arcade experience.

TMNT the arcade game has a great layout, as a counterexample to my own argument lol.

19 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

?

Arcade layouts are WAY more "efficient" than pretty much any controller that predates modern multi-trigger and back-button controllers.

 

I respectfully disagree. My anecdotal claims are based entirely on being a semi-professional MK competitive player for years. The games have intentionally bad arcade button layouts to milk quarters. This is well known and not some conspiracy.

Ever play Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 competitively, in person, in a packed room on OG cabinets? That run button is purposely places far out to make it more challenging to play and milk quarters.

Look at this:

Now, tell me you're going to be pulling off combos using run with your right thumb, and stretching your pinky all the way up to HK to start a chain combo without it slipping. Add to this that word cabinets are prone to misfiring, and "finger tapping" too lightly won't register at all.

Now, tell me how you'll smoothly transition from run and block and back to run to continue aggressive offense.

Compare this to say, a Saturn controller, where L and R are run and block, and the entire thing is right in your hand, and all of these issues are solved.

Ah, I was going to say, I've never seen this in NES Dr. Mario!

Then, I paid attention .

It's honestly going to come down to practice and preference. Eventually you'll figure out what works for you.

The best advice that helped me is don't worry about what your hands look like they're doing; all that matters is being able to reach and execute a key command as needed without feeling like the challenge is coming from the control vs the game itself.

Those who weren't actively at the arcades in the 80's and 90's often under-appreciate how the human body's motor skills adapt to such an inefficient controller layout, lol.

I spent years of my life on arcade cabinets. I'm rusty AF when I go back once or twice a year, but I'll be damned if my hands don't remember how to maximize speed and movement for UMK3 lol.

On 6/9/2020 at 7:26 AM, ThePhleo said:

I’m only kidding. Mario 3 is easily the best overall NES game. The only real flaw is the horizontal garbage on the extreme ends of the screen, and that white line thing I told you about.

Other than that, it’s the ultimate NES game.

Oh I know, my friend! Simply playing along and fanning the friendly flames, lol. People have great reasoning here on both sides, which is rare for discussion nowadays in general IMHO. It's obvious we all genuinely enjoy classic gaming and have passion for it! 

Great point about the horizontal lines. I totally zone those out; I don't even notice them anymore, lol. Ultimate NES game is NOT hyperbole; the only thing to top it is the original Legend of Zelda.

On 6/7/2020 at 10:37 PM, Quest4Nes said:

wrong

I like the mechanics of both. They each add their own unique flavor IMHO. As a kid it can be tricky flying with the cape, but once you get it, it's a blast.

Also, I just played through SMB3 on Sunday, in one sitting, on an original NES and CRT set up, because of this thread .

On 6/8/2020 at 12:17 AM, ThePhleo said:

Everyone has their right to an opinion...even it's wrong.

We all know that Super Mario World is far superior to Super Mario Bros. 3.

Just look at that annoying flashing white line on the HUD in Mario 3. Ekk.

Play and enjoy both, because it's the people that insist it's one OR the other are the real losers. The gameplay in both is beyond tight for their respective time periods; SMB3 is one of the best overall NES games of all time. Most people will want to pop in SMW when you break out the SNES, as well.

On 6/1/2020 at 2:40 PM, Link said:

It’s true. This fight will never end, lol

 

Here is what I said in a prior thread:

It’s SMB3, and no, it doesn’t need a battery.

It might make playing the game more compatible with today’s lifestyle, but it would fundamentally change the way it works, and for the worse, IMO. If you can pick it up from the middle any time, not starting out in Grass Land and making your way on, you don’t thoroughly learn the levels as you go on. I liken this game to an album that you listen to over and over again. It grabs you at first but you can’t really know an album without the repetition. You won’t appreciate the banjo or piano riff hidden in the background of a rock song much the first time. If you’re done the first time you pass it, you’ll never catch it. If you cross each world of Mario 3 only once, you’ll never get a white mushroom house, figure out the card games, or tips like jumping through the tornado in 2-2 with a koopa shell and then turn around to kill the sun like a boss. Maybe if levels didn’t lock when you finish them, I can hear you call out. You could play them over and over again and work on that. No, says I. Triggering a white house requires perfection. If you can try over and over with no consequence (such as lost prior progress) then it loses the point. And you could forever return to levels like 1-2 to racks up dozens of extra lives whenever you want. It would utterly upend the balance. SMB3 teases and pushes you, forcing you to move on. You can’t go back, and you can’t stop. It is made for epic all-night runs. It is made for obsession. I appreciate it because of the balance and restriction the way I’ve never appreciated other, later 2D platformers like SMW, NSMB, DKCR, or Rayman Origins. You can one and done levels there, and they push you to replay by putting in dragon coins or collectible letters, but that’s a cheap gimmick. They’re all fine games, but not ones that I want to play through a dozen more times in my life. 

 

The save mechanism of SMW makes it easier to beat the whole game, but ruins replayability and the whole concept of favorite stages. 

VERY well said, my friend! 

The Legend of Zelda (NES) gold cart, baby!

I'll admit the SML series is most likely my least-played in the franchise.

I never had an issue with SMB 2 (US), and still give it a play at least once a year.

35 minutes ago, MeganJoanne said:

Funcoland was a great part of those years for me. Back in 1999, TMNT (NES), cheapest NES game (I bought) aside from Super Mario Bros/Duck. A mere 25 cents for the first TMNT game. And so many other games were reasonable, with the most expensive being ones like Megaman 5 at $25, Dragon Warrior III and IV and $30 and Lolo 3 and $30. Most NES games could be had for just a few a bucks, only challenge was finding them, and the traveling to different locations in the hunt and hope to find a desired game. And when you lucked out and there it was, whoa, talk about over joyed.

Oh, how I pine for those golden years, lol. I remember the most expensive cart at Funco was the gold copy of LoZ back in 1997 for like, $20. They never had any of the more expensive stuff in stock. Nothing super rare. Plenty of peripherals, though. I'd stock up on crazy stuff like the Four-Score and NES Satellite in the legendary "MISC" bin.

If I remember correctly, the average NES game was about $4.99 back when I was sweeping those stores as an eager 9-12 year old (1997-2000).

I remember lucking out at random road side yard sales in the mid 90's, too. Vividly recall scoring Kirby's Adventure, cart with manual, in one of those classic clear NINTENDO rental cases. All items were pristine, it was like only the box was missing. Lady only wanted $1, and my mom threw it right down on the table! One of those classic childhood memories.

On 5/29/2020 at 11:40 AM, LaytToTheParty said:

I personally prefer the carrot in Super Mario Land 2 to the leaf in SMB3.

Now there's an uncommon opinion!