Floating Platforms

Oh, absolutely. It's not a "broken" game, but it clearly wasn't given any effort or refinement. The Sports Illustrated game was a much better game, but taken down a few notches because the playoffs were an unbelievable drag & time sink. It's a shame that most of the sports titles I've played have been so bad. I heard terrible things about the Madden ports too, so football really got a raw deal.

So, I have the day off from work and I was going through to upload some stream archives to my YouTube channel that needed editing. Logging in to my email for that account, there was a comment on my Caesar's Palace video (that apparently is no longer there even though I didn't touch it) that reads: I think there's a better ending than this, at least according to VGMaps.com. If you get $5,963,776 or more, you get the limo with a banner that says "NEW OWNER," implying that you now own Caesars Palace. I checked the VGMaps site and there is definitely a graphic for this banner. No idea if there's a way to tell if it exists in the final version or if it's an unused asset. Has anyone else heard of this, perhaps on the NES side? Considering the "best ending" typically used is to get $140,000, this seems like an impossible feat for a game that has no saves. When I was trying this on GB a couple years back, I couldn't get the roulette patterns found in the NES version to work, so I don't know if it can be cheesed at all. Still, maybe something worth exploring more through emulation.

After a 2 month break, I'm back and NFL Football is done. Yeah, this is not good. No options at all. Really no reason to have the license since you have no player names and no prominent team names. The movement is slow and clunky. There's no real ability for any sort of fun, break-away runs or long hail mary passes. In fact, don't pass, because it's intercepted every time. I ran the whole way, but when I got to the last 10 yards, their defense changed and stopped me. I was able to win through hitting 2 of 3 field goals, despite the horrendous fast moving arrow system they have set up that makes it incredibly easy to miss. Thankfully, I was able to hold them scoreless and intercepted enough times to get that 6-0 win on my third try overall. I hear some of the Madden games are bad, but at least those will have legitimate running plays, so I imagine this is the worst football game on the system. Next up for me is "The Simpsons: Bart & the Beanstalk." I have no experience with this at all, so 50/50 chance, I'll get it done this week.

I do get to sprinkle in a little video game talk here and there. I don't want to overstep and forum rules about promotions or whatever, but it's all about 1991 movies and we cover pop culture from the movie release date as well. Doing GB writing has crossed my mind several times, but I know that I wouldn't be able to keep it up without having the pressure from other people (even if it's just a mental thing of not wanting to let them down). Otherwise, I'll do what I do now and bounce around from hobby to hobby to project. So, I doubt I'd get the motivation to start anything up, but I'd certainly consider contributing if offered the chance. I do think that another outlet would be worthwhile. I don't think Game Boy Works will be back for a while. Based on the recent videos, he's playing catchup on Famicom and Sega to prep for the next NES run.

Same here. Past couple months, I've been consumed with 1) trying to get my house more organized and doing random clean-up things and 2) working on a movie review podcast I launched with my wife. That's been taking about 8-10 hours a week and I need to rebalance my free time so I can find more Game Boy time. I should be able to get back to things pretty soon.

Final Fantasy Legend is done. I sure as hell hope they don't see me again! I tried to do it "legit" without the saw and glass sword, but I still didn't have good enough weapons overall to take him down. Even with the glass sword, my mutants were too inefficient. I would have needed to grind more to really make it happen. I made sure to save before I even went into the boss room this time, and I did have door items, so I could potentially go back and do it, but forget it. After basically two full playthroughs, I'm sick of this thing. I used the saw and got the hell on with my life. Next up for me is one that should be much shorter: NFL Football. I tried a little tonight, but my stream was dropping a lot and I kept getting intercepted. Most likely when I try next, I'll do mostly QB runs. I can already tell that I hate this one and it may be one of the worst football games on GB.

You can do it! I beat the game overall in 3 hours total playtime, so practice makes it passible. It may be better to just push through while you're used to the control scheme and all the input delays.

Congrats on Battletoads! Those games scare me. I'm almost done with Final Fantasy Legend. I've gone through everything except the final boss rush, etc. I will probably need to grind a bit more to get more HP boosts to be extra sure, but otherwise, I am prepared and it should be done likely Wednesday.

Yeah, I remember you mentioning that glitch and made a point to not save while inside the dungeons. Honestly, I pushed things too much at the end, because it was getting late and I was sort of save scumming to avoid damage from random encounters so I could see what I had ahead of me. Then I was at the boss with all 4 characters and full health, so figured I was safe to save, especially since the boss gauntlet to get to that point was no problem at all and my weapons were plenty strong for them. I was also thinking that if other people beat it in 9-12 hours and I was nearing 15, I must be a high enough build to do it - not thinking that most of them might have searched other rooms for different weapons or used a guide, etc. Well, at least I have a lot of knowledge about the game now that it should go faster this time. I'll see if I can sneak in a couple hours tonight, so I can still hopefully beat it by the end of the month. At least my next three games will be pretty short.

Unfortunately, I don't have a door item either and I don't think there's a way to go back down once you're in that final room. Our system is down at work, so I went through my VOD and logged the attempts. If gamefaqs is accurate, the final boss as 4820-4860 HP. The best I did was 4330, but most attempts were between 3500-3800. I have barrier with my mutant, but that didn't seem to make a difference. I also noticed that the damage dealt each try was exactly the same each time, (First round of attacks was always, 337, 275, 64, 70; second was always 330, 377, 86, 84; etc.) so the RNG is from the boss and when he hits. The best run was one where I happened to get one more swing off before his Flare killed me. No way I'm getting 2 or 3 more big attacks in. Looks like I almost definitely need to start from scratch if there's no hidden exit

Well, I think I may have screwed myself with Final Fantasy Legend. I made it to the boss, but after several attempts, I cannot beat him, and I can't go back down to get other items, etc. My save was after entering the last door, so there's a good chance I have to start over from scratch. I caved and looked at a couple guides tonight and all of them mention the glass sword, which I don't have. I also have no healing items left. My monster has 5 attacks that do less than 100 dmg and then a bunch of spells that don't work. I do have the Masamune and a mutant with a few charges of Flare, but my other human has only Xcaliber or the dragon sword and everyone's getting wiped out once the attacks start in earnest. Both humans have strength of 99, but bad agility and 200-300 HP. If there are any experts that might have some hints, I'm open to it, but without any sort of healing/revive items I can use in battle and without the sword that supposedly I need (or saw), I might have to suck it up and grind back through the whole dang tower.

Congratulations! You're one step closer to becoming a Mega Man master! This one is actually my milestone game #100, so there's a small chance I'll join you in beating it for the first time this year. If you do go for the other titles, they are supposed to be easier, right? I made more progress on FFL and got sphere #3 and a good chunk of the story done in the next chapter. I do fear I'm getting severely overmatched and the items in the shop are obscenely expensive. The next time I play, I might do a bit of grinding to get a couple of okay weapons and stock up on health stuff a bit more. Most of my guys feel under-leveled and I've been spending a chunk of time exploring the various areas and running from encounters until I die just so I can streamline the "real" run. If there's no chapter 5, then I'll probably be done the next time I play. If there is, then I'm hoping for two more sessions.

I think I'm about halfway done right now, 7 hours in. For those that know the game, I'm in the clouds and might have skipped a little bit because I was exploring a town with a character I just revived and then entered a pub and got into a fight before healing them and then there were other battles and things I had to do before searching for another town and INN...frantic way to end last night. Anyway, the game isn't bad at all, but I'm RPG-averse to begin with. My frustrations have more to do with the random encounters and trying to take even one step after a battle and getting caught in another. My completionist attitude wants to explore everything but the anti-RPG side wants to hunt for the next area and get it done. I like several of the mechanics, but I get really bored with the turn-based encounters, backtracking to level up at towns, etc.

Started Final Fantasy Legend tonight and I'm pretty sure I got through what would be considered the "prologue." No idea how much is left. I died quite a lot, though. I'll have to read through the manual again, since I basically only skimmed it before starting to make sure I know everything about leveling and items, then I'll decide if I should devote some time to grinding for cash to buy the human upgrades. I'm going to do my best to avoid any guides though. The biggest concern is the one save file system. Part of why I've died so much is that I decided to sacrifice my crew to explore farther than I probably should have. Hope to be done by the end of the month, I guess?

Alright, Yogi Bear's Gold Rush is done Some of those bonus areas were hidden in devious places. It took several sets of continues to do all of the blind jumping and spike/pit death exploration needed, but I got there without a guide. Like I said before, I think that hunt for secret areas was the only reason the game was worth playing. I haven't played Barbie yet, but I imagine the any% run would be on the same difficulty level. The graphics were decent enough, except for Yogi himself. The music consisted of one repetitive song. Overall the game felt like it was phoned in. There was potential for something fun and interesting, but they gave up or ran out of time maybe. Next for me is Final Fantasy Legend, a game I rented as a kid, but never owned. I'm not a huge RPG guy but I'm still excited to give it a shot.

I'm not sure I know about that glitch? Is that the one that can corrupt the save file and cause assets to go missing? I bought this lot of GB games and in testing a cart, link was there, but nothing else was (could be wrong, my memory is shot and this was over a year ago, maybe some elements appeared but others didn't). Anyway, I think I read that it was from some speedrun manipulation glitch thing. I ended up using the cart to test my abilities at non-solder battery replacement.

It could very well be. I actually haven't played either Addams Family game but I think they are tougher platformers. Yogi is a pretty lazy effort probably on par with something like Barbie in terms of challenge if not trying for the good ending. That Zelda problem sounds interesting. I'm pretty sure I remember the item the bowwow wants but not 100% and definitely don't remember where you get it. It's been forever since I've played it, but I remember the first time I tried as a kid, I softlocked that dungeon with the 4 pillars. I thought I was missing something, but nope it was some weird sequence that breaks the game. I didn't try again for another couple years when I started from scratch.

I'm close to beating Yogi Bear. I know where 10 of the 12 secret areas are and have a pretty good idea about the one in the last level. Second to last level will take a bit of exploring and blind jumping. I probably would have finished tonight, but our heater is broken and that made the basement area too cold to keep going (we're getting a new one tomorrow). The game is not great (you only get a jump button - B is not used) and the only bit of enjoyment is coming from hunting the secret areas. If I were using a guide or not going for best ending, it would be a quick 40-60 minute distraction.

Congratulations! That's really impressive! I've never finished a Mega Man GB game either and only own the first one still. Recently I got a decent price on the 4 Final Fantasy games though and pretty soon, I'll be starting Final Fantasy Legend as one of my milestones, so I'm excited to see what all that is about.

Well, if it's any consolation, your score crushed mine. I may have been the faster teen, but you had the higher GPA

It's strange that any NFL Quarterback Club game doesn't have the mini games. That was the whole appeal, I thought: A Quarterback skills challenge tournament. To me, it's like making an Olympics game that only has one playable event. Congrats on all the clears so far. Sounds like you'll make it and then you can a head start on the 31 games of March!

Pipe Dream is done! This was a lot easier than Quarth. I'm not sure if I ever got all that good at the game, but I sure did try until I got the next password. The last 8 stages that you have to do in a row finally helped me get a better feel for everything, but I was still terrible at strategizing. My moves were purely reactionary with little advanced planning. When I did try to plan a bit, I never lucked into the pieces I needed fast enough to make the plan work. Anyway, it was a good time and thankfully pretty short and forgiving. Next up I'm going for the best ending in Yogi Bear's Gold Rush. Looks like average time is about an hour for any %, so even if I have to hunt for all the collectables needed, it should be done pretty quick.

Oh yeah! The Teletubbies sun did not age well

The only reason I have a Game Gear at all is because I bought this huge lot of Sega stuff off of Craigslist about 15 years ago (Genesis, CD, 32x, Saturn and nearly 200 games, I think) and that was part of the bundle. The only game the guy had was Columns and I've never bought a second cart for it. So...I could maybe contribute Columns?

Quarth is done!!! Here is the sun celebrating the victory and giving a formal name to the ship I used in 5-9 that I lovingly called "Chubby Boy." Honestly, debatable as to which name is better. I may edit this with some notes and review comments later, but for now I need to calm down. My heart was racing and I'll probably have an adrenaline crash shortly. My next game is currently planned to be Pipe Dream, unless @Splain happens to get his yearly playthrough done first. I'll likely start that Wed or Thursday night. I'll be doing movie stuff with the wife tomorrow.