Dr. Morbis

I just want to say, this sounds like a ridiculous feat only because you wanted to beat it on your "first pass," so to speak. The idea at the time these old NES games were released was that you would play the game over and over from the start over weeks or months and slowly build the muscle memory and skills needed to beat each level, all the while memorizing the layout of difficult parts so that you knew exactly what to do and when. If you're save-scumming through a game, then every difficult section seems nigh impossible only because you're always getting through it just by the skin of your teeth rather than putting in the time to learn each area thoroughly. All of this is to say that I don't think Adventure Island really is that hard when it gives you unlimited continues so that you can play the levels over and over ad infinitum until you've learned them really well. I know the thought of replaying games until you're really proficient at them is totally passe in our modern gaming world, but there is something really satisfying about putting in the effort and bettering your skills and then stomping all over a game that at first glance appeared to be nigh impossible. My best game of Adventure Island is a first death on 8-2, but I also hope to one day pull off a no-death run...

Do it now.

I wouldn't have guessed CastleVania either, but it makes pretty good sense since the entire game/story/idea is based around cliched happenings in gothic-era "medieval" Europe.

Have you read up on all the strategies, like how to group animals and whatnot? I don't know how faithful that port is, but I'm guessing it would be pretty close. In the original game you can get million point jumps if you're good enough. The best jump I ever did was 500k, and my all time best score is just under 3 million, but that's with years of playing it on and off. The original arcade cabinet saves the best scores even when the power is off, which is a real cool feature for a game released in 1983...

That's pretty sweet! I always get two copies of the flyer for each arcade game I have (to show the back and front beside each other) and frame and hang them close to the games they are for...

For me it's more of a safety/not wanting to get robbed concern than anything else, but outside of my two game rooms with locks on the doors (and the arcade games in the basement), walking through the common areas of my house you wouldn't even know that I own a single game or console...

That's pretty sweet. I love Zoo Keeper myself, so much so, in fact, that I have the original arcade cabinet in my basement. There's no other video game quite like it (that I know of) and it's a real shame that it was never ported to any major consoles back in the day...

I love Ocarina of time, but I always hated how they put those giant buttons at the top of the screen that are ridiculously oversized for how big they actually needed to be, and then it gets even worse when you ride the horse and those enormous carrots show up... it's like, is there a way to make riding a horse in a video game look any less cool? Do I need a reminder that Zelda games are for little kids too? Do the developers think we're half blind? Wtf is up with that shit?!?

I would rate it as a top tier NES RPG with one or two spots that are so unintuitive that you may need to resort to a guide to figure out what to do. Also, if you do decide to tackle it, be sure to look up the treasure chest bug and inventory glitch so you can avoid a catastrophe...

Have you ever tried HARD mode (one-hit kills) with the code? That one level where you are on a shrinking ice platform in the middle of the screen that slowly gets smaller and smaller is possibly the toughest individual NES level I've ever beaten...

You're right, any given Sunday, and to that effect, both games next weekend feel like toss-ups to me: all four teams could easily and realistically make it to the Super Bowl...

I honestly can't imagine the NFC team winning in the SB this year: Purdy or Goff versus Jackson or Mahomes? It's a walk-off for the AFC already...

The other face-palm with that is: let's say Allen connects with the touchdown pass... so you're up less than a touchdown and giving Mahomes the ball to charge down the field with almost two minutes remaining so he can score last?!? Like, you lose either way... who's making these assinine decisions???

I feel like if you switched coaching staffs, then Buffalo wins; this was literally how to make the wrong decision every time it matters...

Tecmo Baseball is done; they mounted a late comeback in the "Final Game" with their shitty auto-homerun rubberbanding, but I held on for the win. Terrible A.I. and poor base-running controls make this a baseball game I won't be returning to any time soon...

Awesome! Looks like you got the cool poster with the California Raisins box art to boot

You said you were "surprised" not to see Kid Niki in the results; I was offering an explanation as to why it isn't listed in a poll from a "population halfway round the world" in spite of your utter surprise For me, the most "Japanese" Famicom game I've ever played to completion is Heisei Tensai Bakabon, which is also not ranked in the poll, much like your personal pick.

Nicely done! Did you leave the game on for an extra hour to see the entire ending?

The issue is that he mostly picks great/popular games that people are going to be passionate enough to want to post about. If he was doing polls on Adventures of Rad Gravity and World Champ or any other "average" 5/10 games, how many posts would there be in these threads? Go take a look at the list of games polled thus far and you'll see that the large majority are 8/10+ titles...

Are you rating Batman as the fourth best action-platformer on the console and then only giving it an 8/10 ?!?!?

Fixed that for ya...

I only have two non-CIB games left to get boxes for aftermarket/unreleased stuff, so I would instantly buy: -Secret Ties -Streemers (stand-alone)

For western releases, that game is pretty Japanese, but have you seen the breadth of the Famicom library?

I've always loved this game and the movie it was based on, so I don't think my rating is very objective, but... 10/10. It's also nice to see an NES movie license that doesn't suck. There was Gremlins 2 as well, also by Sunsoft, but that might be it...

That is one huge bow tie.