T-Pac

Twinbee 3 [Nintendo Famicom - 1989]

The logical part of my brain wants to cement Twinbee 3 in my top 25 favorite games, but the emotional part of my brain isn't willing to commit just yet...

[T-Pac]

I used to collect chewed-up loose carts of platformers...

Now I collect chewed-up loose carts of shoot-em-ups.

[T-Pac]

On 3/26/2024 at 3:44 AM, Gaia Gensouki said:

Based on system:

Atari 2600: Galaxian

NES: Over Horizon (Honorable mention: Gradius 2: Gofer's Ambition)

PC Engine: Image Fight (Honorable mention: R-Type)

SNES: Axelay

Mega Drive/Genesis: Thunder Force IV (Honorable mention: M.U.S.H.A.)

Overall Top 5:

1. Image Fight
2. Thunder Force IV
3. Over Horizon
4. M.U.S.H.A.
5. Axelay

This is such a solid list, dude.

I'm pretty sure I bought Over Horizon on your recommendation a couple of years ago, and I had a great time with it. And I just finished a playthrough of Gradius II and loved it even more.

Axelay was my biggest surprise this year as far as games I didn't expect to love so much.

Musha Aleste is hovering near the top of my "to-play" list for Mega Drive shooters. I'm hoping it holds up to the hype (which seems likely, based on the short time I spent play-testing my copy).

I absolutely love Image Fight on the NES, but I've never tried the PCE version. (And I obviously love R-Type on the TG-16).

[T-Pac]

Shoot-em-ups are my favorite type of game, and this list is subject to change since I've still got so many on my backlog - but this is my current personal ranking. (Definitely not the "best" shoot-em-ups by popular consensus - just my own preferences...)

My Favorite Traditional Shoot-Em-Ups:
1 ) Abadox [NES]
2 ) R-Type [GB]
3 ) R-Type II [GB]
4 ) Image Fight [NES]
5) Astro Warrior [SMS]
6 ) Super R-Type [SNES]
7 ) Star Parodier [PCE-CD]
8 ) Blazing Lazers [TG-16]
9 ) Curse [MD]
10 ) Burai Fighter [NES]

My Favorite Roaming Shoot-Em-Up:
Bosconian [PnP / Arcade]

My Favorite Lane Shoot-Em-Up:
Turmoil [2600]

My Favorite Fixed Shoot-Em-Up:
Phoenix [2600]

My Favorite Hybrid Shoot-Em-Up:
Robocco Wars [FC]

[T-Pac]

16/40 - Gradius II [Nintendo Famicom - 1988]

Finished: 2024/03/23

Caveats: Used turbo-fire and save-states.

[T-Pac]

Gradius II [Nintendo Famicom - 1988]

I loved this game on the PC-Engine CD, and I love it on the Famicom, too. It just has so much going for it.

[T-Pac]

On 3/22/2024 at 9:13 PM, Renmauzo said:

I'd like to request a Casio Loopy fullset badge please. It will probably be the only fullset that I ever go for/have been interested in and I finally made it!

Congrats! Made one this morning just for you! (And a "PLAY Casio Loopy" charm if you wanna start beating those games, too haha).

There are some pending charm updates in the system, so it'll be ready for you once that's taken care of.

[T-Pac]

@koifish @Splain - We're actually updating "Contest" and "Beat Every Game" participant charms to remove the yearly designation, so we'll have an "all-in-one" Game Boy charm for you once the system is updated!

[T-Pac]

Backlog edit:

I finally got a capture setup that lets me record VRC-chip famicom games (I won't bore anyone with the technical details), so I'm swapping two of my backlog games for Gradius II and Twinbee 3. (Sorry Godzilla and TaleSpin - maybe next year haha).

Excited to finally play these!

[T-Pac]

On 3/22/2024 at 8:42 AM, RH said:

Ah, well the real question is did it look like this:

Nah - I played a version that looked like this (surprisingly uglier haha)...

[T-Pac]

2 minutes ago, RH said:

It amazes me how that game had such longevity.  I know you're in your 20s so when we all were playing it OG in 1988, we had no clue that kids 20 years later would STILL be playing it in schools.

Actually, how did you play it?  Your school wasn't still using Apple IIGSes in the 2000's, was it?!  Or did they have an updated version?

We had Windows computers, so it must've been a more modernized port.

I guess I never really thought about it as a 'classic' game that's been around since the 80s! 

[T-Pac]

15/40 - Twinbee [Nintendo Famicom - 1986]

Finished: 2024/03/19

Caveats: Used turbo-fire and save-states.

[T-Pac]

1 hour ago, RH said:

Oh, I'd love to one day hear... "Welcome to the T-Pac Arcade and today we're playing, uh... The Oregon Trail!".

I am curious, though.  There's not a single, more iconic edutainment game than The Oregon Trail.  Did it ever cross your path?

Haha good 'ol Oregon Trail.

Yeah - I remember playing that in the library's computer lab in elementary school.

[T-Pac]

Twinbee [Nintendo Famicom - 1986]

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish this game since my copy started glitching-out in Stage 4. Luckily, I was still able to parse the garbled graphics enough to make it through.

And oddly enough, I had the same problem with my copy of Stinger (Twinbee's sequel) when I played that last year.

[T-Pac]

42 minutes ago, G-type said:

I had this game and used to play it all the time!

Might be a fun topic to try and come up with all the games that feature classical music.

Gyruss is on my backlog for later this year, but that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head...

[T-Pac]

10 hours ago, elprincipe said:

Very cool. Have you ever played the TI-99/4A computer? There's a game called Alpiner that uses the same classical music:

 

Oh, neat! I've actually never tried out classic computer games before.

The classical music in Alpiner is definitely cool, but I've gotta admit the voice samples seem the best part.

[T-Pac]

Whoa @Tdub21! That's quite the haul - do you have a favorite game from the lot so far?

[T-Pac]

Oh - and another addition for my list:

...some form of Sokoban.

(What a great question @CastletonSnob - really makes you think about the medium as a whole.)

[T-Pac]

I'll caveat that these are my answers for games ANYONE should play before they die, not that just GAMERS should play before they die...

Tetris

Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man)

Space Invaders (or Galaga)

Super Breakout

Frogger

[T-Pac]

11 hours ago, rdrunner said:

@T-Pac The inverted volcano stage comes after the Moai level.  You probably triggered the warp to stage 5 by destroying at least 10 Moais during the level.

You're not missing a lot.  It's mostly just stage 1, but upside down with more enemies.  The volcano at the end also has reverse gravity, so all the rocks "fall" up.

There are other warps in the game for other conditions, each of which skips one stage.  You know you hit one when a bunch of indestructible green Moai fly across the screen after beating the boss.

Oooooh - well that explains it! I wondered if those Moai constellations were a warp-tunnel...

Thanks for the info - and I'm glad I didn't miss much from the second volcano level.

[T-Pac]

14/40 - Gradius [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1986]

Finished: 2024/03/15

Caveats: Used turbo-fire, and save-states at the start and end of each stage.

[T-Pac]

Gradius [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1986]

Can any Gradius experts weigh-in on why the manual says there's an "Inverted Space Volcano Stage" between the jellybean level and the moai-head level, but I never saw it in my playthrough?

Also - apparently the kid who owned this game before me couldn't decide if their initials were "J.M." or "J.W"...

[T-Pac]

3 hours ago, G-type said:

@DefaultGen's video explains it:

 

3 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

To toot my own horn, it’s the best Mountain King video on the internet. EDIT: Besides T-Pac arcade obviously.

This is glorious haha!

And it looks like I've inadvertently risen to the @DefaultGen challenge: "I DOUBLE-DOG DARE YOU! MAKE A MOUNTAIN KING VIDEO!!!!"

Bet you thought THAT would never happen! Now you owe me your Famicom Golf Champions' Course. No takebacks.

[T-Pac]

5 hours ago, Khromak said:

 

@T-Pac I recommend playing one loop of this and calling it a day. Playing all 4 loops will drive you insane, even with save states.

Noted.

You are a madman and I thank you for your service, @Khromak.

[T-Pac]