Strikezone1

$833 for Power Blade 2 cart only. Crazy. This game has really shot up in price.

Congrats, that is quite a feat! Curious... about how long have you been working on the NES library? Any ideas on what you’re gonna do after you finish the final 20? SNES? Or go for some of the NES games that never got a North American release?

It’s a pretty good challenge, but not too excruciating IMO. Played and beat it a couple years ago. It’s another one of those very mediocre platformers with a lot of trial & error. It has limited continues, so players can’t just credit-feed their way to victory. That I’m sure has something to do with why it’s still in the board. Of the 75 left on the board, I’m going to assume T&J one of the better and more beatable ones left.

Calling Silver Surfer "easy" might be a bit of a stretch... but I agree, it's probably somewhere around 10th as far as hardest shmups on the NES go.

I wasn't aware of the dictionary feature on the site, so thanks for letting me know. I will use the 1LC acronym while on this site from now on. But yeah perhaps NDR isn't as commonly used as 1LC, but I see it used quite a bit over different media platforms.

Kinda sounded like it, but it's all good... No death run or 'NDR' isn't all that uncommon of a term/acronym. I've seen many people use it.

Are you "getting literal about it" as you so eloquently put in the post above questioning semantics with PEG?

I like these kind of topics. They usually always generate some good discussion (Thanks @CasualCart ) Re: Continues - I agree with most that continues absolutely count. And I say this as someone who pursues no-death runs in games (my current NDR count is at 130 NES games). It really comes down to personal satisfaction. Is barely limping through a game on your last continue to beat it maybe once or twice good enough? I'd say for most it is; that is probably the norm. They completed the game and saw the ending... For myself and some others, it isn't good enough. I want to learn the ins & outs of the game, master it, and enjoy the extra sense of accomplishment of pulling off a NDR, or at the very least a 1CC. The drawback to this is it's more of a time commitment to each game. Games in my backlog get crossed a lot slower than if I were good with just beating a game once and moving on to the next. But I am perfectly okay with that. Re: Turbo controllers - I totally understand the argument that they are acceptable, and in many cases more practical (e.g. Silver Surfer). In my personal opinion, they are an outside source to gain an extra advantage. Many of the good shooters/shmups offer auto-fire as a power-up, and if you die and lose it then you deal with the consequence of dying and not having it, as frustrating/shitty as that may be.

I'll second this.

To me, the legitimate way to “beat” a game is a full playthrough no cheats, save states, warps, or turbo controllers. I do think save states and/or certain codes are okay (and sometimes necessary) for PRACTICE purposes in order to get the reps in for brutally hard games such as Battletoads or Top Gun Second Mission for example. Guides & walkthroughs are also okay, particularly for excessively cryptic shit which isn’t all that uncommon in retro games. But if a game is pretty straightforward then using them you’re only cheating yourself. Thats my 2 cents... But I think ultimately we can all agree - play games however you want to have fun.

Predator is beaten. Games like this make games like Ninja Gaiden feel like Fisher-Price by difficulty comparison (credit @mbd39 for that funny analogy ). The level of cheapness knows no bounds in this game...it’s pretty ridiculous. Fortunately the unlimited continues allow you to brute force your way through it. Despite all its shortcomings, the game isn’t a total atrocity. It is pretty bad though.

I just picked up a copy of Predator and am working on it next since it's still on the board. Based on this game's reputation, rating, and the fact that it's one of the 80 still remaining for this thread, my expectations of it are quite low. Played it a lil bit last night and again this afternoon (before the damn game froze up on me). I've been able to get to stage 12, which I believe is maybe a third of the way through. It's pretty obnoxious, as I anticipated. I'm sure I'm in for a grind...

Exactly. It’d be a better, more like-able game if they could’ve tweaked a few things to make it less cheap and more player friendly.

Perhaps your memory isn’t serving you correctly, because Knight Rider is extremely difficult, largely due to its cheap & annoying design. You’ll quickly remember when you get around to replaying it I’m sure! Of the 214 NES games I’ve beaten to this point I’d easily put KR in the top 5.

Knight Rider is beaten. What a frustrating, irritating, rage-inducing, headache this game is to beat. Christ almighty. I’m glad to have it crossed off my list. I’m pretty sure I’ll never play it again.

I’ve been working on Knight Rider. I figured everything that’s still on the board and hasn’t been cherry-picked is going to be frustratingly difficult - and holy hell Knight Rider delivers in spades! Pretty steep learning curve to get the hang of things, but once you do it isn’t too too crazy.... until you get to the final level + boss gauntlet. “Karr” the final boss battle is straight up obnoxious. Like, it’s hard enough just to get to him, by then he’s too fast and deals too much damage. So frustrating. I’m gonna continue to grind it out... Anyone who’s tackled this game in the past have any thoughts/advice?

I really don't see an issue with having to complete both American & World Cup for the clear of Super Spike V-ball. I mean, they're both part of the game... It's been awhile since I've played it but I do recall World Cup being being significantly more difficult than American Circuit. But once you get the hang of it, it only takes like 30-40 minutes to get through WC.. So it's not like it's some 40+ hour slog like completing a season of Bases Loaded. Put in a lil more work and embrace the challenge, Nerdy! You got this!

Production Specs - Automotive.

I have an old 13” Panasonic that I grabbed from my dads a few years ago. It wasn’t mine, it was in my younger brothers’ room back in the day. Has a VHS player built in it lol. If I had to guess I’d say it’s from the early 90s.

Any members of this board have a collection of the old Funcoland sheets I wonder? I have like 3-4 of them. All from ‘99.

Ahh, my bad, I totally misread that, not sure how I was thinking 667 when it clearly says 677 on this annual thread, lol. Thanks for clarifying. Makes perfect sense the 677 minus 8 duplicate games.

Wow, very nice! Just curious, you list 669 as the total, but the total on this thread is always 667. What is the difference between the 2?

Nice! Was there ever any intention to release Guardic in the NES I wonder?

I got a slightly better score than my last run in Zanac. Zanac 11,926,660 +secret message @Tulpa

It’s pretty bad, but not totally unplayable. There’s at least a little bit of satisfaction in learning the game & beating it.