bronzeshield

OK, Rambo: First Blood Part II is done: Going around tanks in the last level seems to help keep the bouncing bombs from spawning -- probably a sprite limit issue. This game is hard, but easy, if that makes sense. Once you learn it, it's quite playable -- and despite some cheap shots here and there, it's a damn sight better than NES Ikari Warriors, of which it's an obvious clone (the arcade version anyway).

I'm working on Rambo: First Blood Part II. Got to the final boss a couple times but forgot the strategy (I've beaten Secret Command before, but not this version).

Agreed -- could this get moved back to the forum for active projects?

Completed Un Indien dans la Ville: Played on the Super Game Boy 2 (with SNES), hence the colorful border. Not a bad little platformer, though it's one of those "easy-hard" Euro platformers where the game throws a ton of extra lives at you to make up for obscure level design and occasional cheap hits. But, you can look around by holding Select, which is a huge boon and minimizes leaps of faith.

I also took out Monster Truck, a Japan-only release (product code DMG-MTA). Key gameplay tactics: slow down to 40kph when you approach an obstacle, and when an opponent gets in your lane, tuck your nose underneath them to flip them off (so to speak) to parts unknown.

And now I get another basketball-related game with "Victory" on the win screen, as Double Dribble: 5 on 5 is done: Beaten on Level 2 as the Dallas Mustangs, 62-60 over the Boston Frogs, with 5 minute quarters. I've started working on Level 3 for my own benefit. EDIT: Beat Level 3 by a wide margin, something like 83-61. Victory screen is the same. Dunking everything, passing a lot, and stealing as much as possible was the key.

Beat Shaq-Fu: First I beat Normal, losing 1-2 rounds (but no matches) along the way. Then I beat Hard, without losing a single round. But I don't think I've ever played this portable version before today: ergo, the Game Boy release is pathetic. Unlike the Genesis and SNES versions -- which will tear you apart on Expert if you try it -- you really can beat this one with just crouching punches and kicks.

I've started working on Sky Kid again. No promises -- that game makes me hate humanity, Namco, Sunsoft, and aerodynamics -- but I want to beat it.

I've always just won every match -- never tried to press forward after losing one -- and yeah, once you get the rhythm down it's pretty easy since it's basically 16 matches of the same thing (if you play 1-set matches, anyway). The trick is to take the ball early and rush the net a lot of the time, and focus on hitting volley winners, sometimes down the line. There's a position on serve that gives you aces from the deuce court pretty reliably -- tap a little bit right, then hold left -- which helps. I use the B button pretty much exclusively, holding Up+B to get volleys that "die" quickly. You can also hit a lot of overheads in this game that other games wouldn't let you touch. (One tradeoff, of course, is that you have to charge your shots.)

I got tired of seeing Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour on the list, so I took care of it -- -- and from my player name you can see how I felt about the process (though it only takes about 75-85 minutes, really). Beaten on Advanced difficulty.

It might be informative to remind ourselves of how the unlicensed list went down in 2016, since the stats are still available at GoCollect aka NintendoAge. Here's a breakdown of who did what: Bea Iank 2016 unlicensed points: 166 Single-game carts beaten: 28 Compilation cart games beaten: Action 52 (5 games), Quattro Adventure (1 game) nerdynebraskan 2016 unlicensed points: 102.33 Single-game carts beaten: 21 Compilation cart games beaten: Caltron (2 games) bronzeshield 2016 unlicensed points: 65.92 Single-game carts beaten: 8 Compilation cart games beaten: Action 52 (24 games), Caltron (1 game), Quattro Arcade (1 game), Quattro Sports (1 game) MaarioS 2016 unlicensed points: 55 Single-game carts beaten: 5 Compilation cart games beaten: Quattro Adventure (2 games), Quattro Arcade (2 games) scaryice 2016 unlicensed points: 31.75 Single-game carts beaten: 5 Compilation cart games beaten: Action 52 (8 games), Caltron (3 games), Quattro Sports (1 game) catfriedrice 2016 unlicensed points: 10 Single-game carts beaten: 1 the wizard 666 2016 unlicensed points: 10 Single-game carts beaten: 2.5 (3 split with Dr. Morbis, 1 solo) acromite53 2016 unlicensed points: 9.25 Compilation cart games beaten: Action 52 (14 games), Quattro Sports (1 game) Dr. Morbis 2016 unlicensed points: 8 Single-game carts beaten: 1.5 (3 split with the wizard 666) tablew/chairs 2016 unlicensed points: 7.25 Compilation cart games beaten: Quattro Adventure (1 game), Quattro Arcade (1 game), Quattro Sports (1 game) Ozzy 98 2016 unlicensed points: 6 Single-game carts beaten: 2 guitarzombie 2016 unlicensed points: 3 Single-game carts beaten: 1 WashYourFace 2016 unlicensed points: 1.5 Single-game carts beaten: 1 Compilation cart games beaten: Action 52 (1 game) bimmy lee 2016 unlicensed points: 1 Single-game carts beaten: 1 Note that we were also joined by TheMexicanRunner in 2016, who accounted for a bunch of pain-in-the-ass licensed games that would otherwise have siphoned off some attention -- or, more likely, simply resulted in a failed year. His participation rejuvenated us, I think. (Post #1 in the linked thread is truncated at game #440, so you can't see his specific contributions, but there were 33.)

Star Voyager won't take you more than 4-6 hours, and Robowarrior can be beaten on your first try with enough patience. Are your playthroughs spoiler-free?

Ooh, I hope not, because I just beat it: You can't really see it, but I won 6-4 6-0 against the CPU (on Level 5 difficulty, Speed 3). Beat this one a couple years ago, so I just had to remember how to play. Aww, thanks. I try!

Very kind of you! We shall see -- Sky Kid keeps taunting me in my dreams (not really) (but it sort of does). But I have that real cart of Laser Invasion and it's supposed to be a good one (never really played it). Sort of. At least for me, knowing what to do was the first 25% of the game, and actually executing was the latter 75%. The big choke points are that one sadistic jump in the last level, and the final boss fight (which is the only difficult boss fight), but the next-to-last level is also quite demanding. It's a miserable experience with a vague whiff of a good game somewhere in there.

Ah, let me give you an annotated version: "Time to take care of Star Voyager, as I've been doing for many years now [I've beaten the game for NA/VGS for a bunch of consecutive years], because I am just a marvelous warrior [humorous quote from the ridiculous end-of-game credit crawl, see below for my screenshot from 2018]: Last night I started this on a lark [I was riding a small bird at the time], got excellent RNG as I only had to search 3 planets to get the two super items, but then my emulator crashed [this is a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, also said by J. Robert Oppenheimer at the test of the first atomic bird]. Today I had essentially perfect RNG, as the two super items were on the first two 2 planets I checked [here I'm talking about childhood trauma, and also a bird], but then I only beat the game by the skin of my teeth and had to fight like a cornered rat to make it [bird bird bird]. I'm guessing the thing that saved my run was (if I'm correct) [bird bird] that your base treats each attack separately, so that the SOS calls [from a bird] you get aren't cumulative and it's able to heal in between [two birds]." I hope that helps.

Time to take care of Star Voyager, as I've been doing for many years now, because I am just a marvelous warrior: Last night I started this on a lark, got excellent RNG as I only had to search 3 planets to get the two super items, but then my emulator crashed. Today I had essentially perfect RNG, as the two super items were on the first two 2 planets I checked, but then I only beat the game by the skin of my teeth and had to fight like a cornered rat to make it. I'm guessing the thing that saved my run was (if I'm correct) that your base treats each attack separately, so that the SOS calls you get aren't cumulative and it's able to heal in between.

You've got it! This and Golden Axe use background tiles for most (all?) characters and enemies. The results aren't a feast for the eyes in motion, but since they look quite plausible in screenshots, maybe it was a calculated decision for exactly that reason. I beat a pile of SMS games last year and Altered Beast was one of them. I think it only took a day or two to go from getting my ass handed to me to 1CC'ing the game, so you're probably close!

Doing just fine, and it's kind of you to ask! Partly I'm a bit burned out on NES, especially since my EverDrive N8 crashes at random times, which really takes the wind out of my sails for games with no save function. I've been playing other consoles this year -- PlayStation, 3DO, Atari 7800, Saturn -- because it gets me down to own these things and never seem to touch them. Also my laptop's screen is dead, so I can't play RPGs while sitting on the couch watching TV with my wife (as I like to do). Otherwise I'd probably have gone after Dragon Warrior III this year. That said, I have about 23 games left on my "must replay" list for NES -- a list that was once about 100 games long! The 16 in-region games left are mostly beaten already, except for Sky Kid, Solomon's Key, and Star Soldier. I might go after one of those this year, though the crashing issue is a deterrent. But Sky Kid bested me last year, and that makes me maaaaad. I recently picked up a Destination Earthstar cart, so you might see me pop up with that, as I've long wanted to conquer it. I also have real carts for Laser Invasion and Days of Thunder (gulp), neither of which I've ever beaten. So I won't rule anything out!

It probably won't affect our win condition for future threads, but it was intriguing to find out today that Pipe Dream has a kill screen -- or, more accurately, a kill score: At 32:16. If you slow it down, the crash happens when the score hits about 8.38 million, and since 2^23 is 8388608, it's clearly related to that.

I'm surprised I'm in the Top Ten! Consistency has its perks, I guess.

Yeah, I don't think it's well-known at all. When I beat Alien Syndrome I mapped it out pretty systematically and ended up saving everyone, so it was only once I watched a video playthrough to compare notes that I realized the benefit I'd received on my own playthrough.

I thought the SMS port was deeply, deeply flawed, but there was something I respected about its tough difficulty and tricky maps. Did you save all the hostages? If you do, you get an extra item drop at the final boss that makes it much easier.

I bought that game, played it for about 2 minutes, and then put it on the shelf. Haven't touched it since. I could tell right away that it was going to lay me out.

I beat this one in 2016 (it's actually the only Game Boy game I own CIB). It's a decent way to get your introduction to Koei. It's a pretty stripped-down version -- kind of a mashup of the first two Nobunaga games, as I understand it -- but it's quite playable. It's kind of a bastard on Hard but still beatable, especially if you're willing to save-scum and exploit the AI's shortcomings. I found it helpful to keep extensive handwritten notes on who everyone was and their stats, since otherwise it gets confusing!

Are you planning an untimed one, like for the SNES effort? Either way I'd love to have a reason to finally take out that bastard beagle in Snoopy Tennis...