the_wizard_666

35 minutes ago, Strikezone1 said:

I agree on difficulty. If it weren't for the gold metal ending requirement, this game would be a short & simple 1-pointer.

(FTR I'm not knocking the gold metal ending requirement; I actually like it)

Question for @scaryice -  For zapper games does cheesing the zapper by putting it right up to the screen count? If so, I did manage to clear Shooting Range by getting the gold metal ending. Either way, I'll probably make more attempts to beat it normal by sitting down, a few feet away from screen.

Are you using the controller to scroll the screens at all?  Because I am pretty sure that's what I needed to do in order to get the gold on hard.  Finding that out was a game changer.

I just finished my first game for the year.  Magic of Scheherazade.  Such a great game that nobody ever mentions.

The Magic of Scheherazade is in the bag.  What an interesting game.  I highly recommend it to anyone who digs action RPGs.  It's just pretty damn awesome overall.  Some neat ideas, some that don't work so well, but a great game overall.

Started up The Magic of Scheherazade.  Always liked it, but never managed to finish it.  I'm on the third chapter now, kinda flying through the game in all honesty.  It's not hard at all, at least as far as I've made it so far.  Currently on a no death run too, although I'm taking passwords just in case.  I don't plan to use them, I'd sooner leave my system on than input passwords, but this way if the power goes out or something I'm not too screwed

As for Wizardry V, I'm still grinding away at it.  I'm fairly underpowered for the point in the game I'm at.  I've also decided to make progress on the NES completions thread so it's kind of sat by the wayside for the time being.  But I'll get back to it soon enough.

Just thought I'd mention that I'm working on The Magic of Scheherazade in case anyone else plans to start it.  I'm currently on the third chapter, making decent progress quickly.  I just don't want anyone starting it for this only to get game-jacked

1 hour ago, nerdynebraskan said:

@Strikezone1

Shooting Range is fun, but getting that gold medal is moderately hard. The 10,000 point bonus isn't strictly necessary to get the gold medal, because I did it somehow last year. And the 10k bonus is related to overall shot accuracy across the whole game, not just the bottle stage.

I remember having a bitch of a time with it, until I discovered that you can use the D-pad to scroll through the levels.  There's way more targets available that way.

7 hours ago, mbd39 said:

I saw this and wondered why it's worth 10 points.

Yeah.  It's crazy how tough those defaults are to beat.  Most of the "Games" titles have a reasonably low bar to bear...you need some skill, but not a stupid amount.  Cali Games almost needs you to be a pro in order to pull it off.  And yeah, tying isn't good enough, you have to top the prior score.

2 hours ago, scaryice said:

That would be very interesting to take a look at. I'd have to do a bit of work figuring it out... But, I do have a list of how many games we've beaten all together on New Years each year (licensed only, includes first 15).

 

New Years Day Completions

2012	26
2013	164
2014	158
2015	131
2016	132
2017	167
2018	122
2019	73
2020	68
2021	94
2022	65
2023	85
2024	97

 

...

So this is our best Day One since NA died...awesome!

Normally I don't do pictures, but this was a lot harder than it really should be, and I figured @Dr. Morbis would have a hard time believing it California Games is done.

Edit: I thought I'd add in for anyone who wants to go for this, tying a record is not enough to override it.  I tied multiple times on Flying Disk, and once on Surfing.  The game only recognizes the first score of that level, and not the most recent.  Flying Disk also has to be pretty much perfectly executed if you use the overhead grab.  Diving left theoretically does more, but it's a lot harder to pull off...in an hour of trying, I never got it once.  So yeah, I'd suggest trying to get that one first if possible, as the rest are comparatively more forgiving.

Harlem Globetrotters is in the bag.  Still kinda dig this one.  Got it as a cheap game back when I was a kid, and I always dug it, even if it could be frustrating.  Not the best basketball game, but far from a bad one either.

3 minutes ago, nerdynebraskan said:

Sorry... it's a childhood favorite, so I get to it pretty quickly.

Its all good. It's part of my backlog challenge list for the year, and one of two strategy games left on my unbeaten list, so its gonna get done eventually.  No worries

9 minutes ago, nerdynebraskan said:

Desert Commander is done.

Damn, I was gonna do that  

Hollywood Squares is done.  First time completion for me.  It's okay, but I'd rather play Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy. 

Sesame Street Countdown is done.

I can't believe the four Sesame Street games added up to 15 fucking points I do wish I'd thought to fire these up with my nieces when they were toddlers though, as they're all decently fun for what they are, and I think they would've enjoyed them.

Big Bird's Hide & Speak is done

1 hour ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

I wanted to beat them in previous years, but I never knew what the completion criteria for these games were. I also wasn't sure if some of the mini games were going on forever or not. Imagine me clearing those for roughly 30 minutes or so and wondering when it will finally end.

Things like that are why I'm glad for AdamL's endings guide.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/916386-nes/faqs/26831

A lot of times he goes way overboard on games that loop endlessly, but it's a fantastic resource nonetheless.

And so is Classic Concentration.

I swear I'm not gonna take @nerdynebraskan's place...just on a bit of a roll knocking off some easy stuff I certainly can't keep this pace up all year  

Double Dribble is done.

Urban Champion is done.

Wheel of Fortune Family Edition and Junior Edition are both done.

6 hours ago, Splain said:

Yeah. I'll make it clearer when I get the list finished. I'll use the list shown in the thread below. Should we do 64DD stuff too?

I don't know, that feels like it should be it's own console, like the Sega CD is counted separately.  But it's up to the guys that are probably gonna play more than a couple games to decide how much they want to expand the list

2 minutes ago, scaryice said:

It's also the only game that has beaten by the same person in every year of this competition.

The year you decide not to play it is the year it's on the list in December  

Probably not actually.  I know I don't mind the game at all, just never put the time into beating it yet.  If ever you opted to not beat it, I might give it a go.

And so is World Games. 

Jordan vs Bird is done.

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

It's been literally since I was like 4 when I played either of those last, but I assume it's cuz they're super slow, so presumably relatively long. About how long did they take, each?

It didn't take terribly long.  For 123, Astro Grover and the first two games of Magic Shapes required 5 runs each, but the rest of Magic Shapes loop forever, so you just need to do one game on each.  On ABC, all games just require beating once because they continue forever.  So all told, not long at all.  I used the combo cart as well, so I didn't even have to waste time switching carts  

2 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I’m gonna try to do Wizardry 1 and Ultima V. With our RPG powers and @ZeldaFreak’s promise to grind out 100 hours of boring sports games, we will 677/677 this year. 

I can knock Wizardry II off pretty much any time I want, but I like to leave it for other people because it's such a great dungeon crawler.  It's one of my top 5 on the system, so if we get super close, I can take it out.  I'd just rather focus on games I haven't beaten yet, at least for the time being.