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the_wizard_666

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Posts posted by the_wizard_666

  1. 3 hours ago, Floating Platforms said:

    What's crazy is that the limo may not be the best ending. Someone left a comment on my playthrough video (that somehow auto-erased, or they deleted after?) stating there's an ending at $5 million+ to become the Owner of the casino. How would that ever be possible if there's no workable pattern in roulette or the other wheel?

    But yeah, maybe the win condition should be simply leave in a better vehicle than you get for the default cash.

    It's the sports car, not the limo, like with the NES version.  The only thing I saw about the 5 million plus ending was a guy on YouTube who did the required random 5 mill plus number but skipped through the ending.  Plus when my round glitches and I ended with over $65 million I just got the sports car ending, so my guess is that it's an urban legend and not real.

    34 minutes ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

    Othello is done. I'm apparently pretty bad at this kind of game and lost over and over again against COM2. So I thought about changing my strategy and maybe trying to get the opponent to run out of time. So I set the time limit to 5 minutes and the difficulty to COM3, because I thought that the higher level CPU would take more time to think about their turns. And initially it worked out quite well. I got the CPU down to the last minute, but by then it made is turns very quickly and the game was over shortly after that. But somehow I managed to still win, and even on my first try. I have no idea why I somehow performed better against a supposedly more difficult AI. Anyway, I'll take it.

      Hide contents

    Othello.jpg.99c208581ca765dadac656d63f219eb2.jpg

     

    Are you sure it isn't like the NES version where you get an actual ending for beating COM4 and advancing to face COM5?

  2. 3 hours ago, Crabmaster2000 said:

    One that I think should be re-examined is the Galaga win condition. I feel like it should be Beat Stage 31, not Stage 3. There are new bonus stages introduced up until Stage 31 and if our goal for arcade style games is to beat each Stage I feel like that should include the bonuses since they keep introducing new enemy types even if they can't attack you. 

     

    3 hours ago, Crabmaster2000 said:

    Some more ending requirement thoughts:

    I'm also unclear as to why we accept loops for some games, but not others. Like Ghosts 'n Goblins and Air Fortress require the loops, but none of the Taxan games or Isolated Warrior, Magician, Kick Master, etc? I feel like the game telling you during the ending that there is a harder mode and that harder mode giving a definitive ending is similar enough to a game telling you that the ending is coming after another playthrough that they should be treated the same way. It makes more sense to me than 2 loops of a game like Rally Bike that doesn't offer either of those things. 

     

    Alpha Mission is a weird one too. There is actually a Area 13 if you defeat the final boss with 3 hits from the Thunder Special. Then you play Area 13 which is a boss rush mode, and since you used up your energy on those Thunders it is pretty challenging. BUT if you actually beat Area 13 the game doesn't loop you to Area 1, instead it sends you back to redo Area 12. It's kind of like you get punished for being cheap on the final boss by using the Thunder Specials to make it easy. If you beat the final boss in any other way though Area 13 only flashes on screen for a second before you get looped to Area 1 again. Not sure which way is "legit", but it's just a unique situation I think. 

    Black Bass is a weird one too. You don't actually get anything for clearing the season so if you win a Class A tournament prior to the season ending I feel like that is sufficient. 

    If we don't require best endings then Caesar's Palace or Pirates! shouldn't require the the best car or title, respectively. You could just play a game and then leave in the bus or taxi and that should count. 

    High Speed I feel like should be you have to to "Beat the System" twice to get the "You've Beaten the System This Time" message rather than a high score which doesn't actually signify anything in game . It feels like a table goal for the game. 

    If something like Overlord requires the hardest difficulty to get the ending screen than I also think TMNT Tournament Fighters, Rampart and Gun*Nac should require the same condition as well. 

    Urban Champion and Pac-Man I also think should be to reach their best rewards of Champion Rank by beating Round 138 and the Blue Key by beating Level 12 on each game.

    Re: Galaga - Yeah, I feel the same, though I'll likely never be able to pull it off myself 😛 The main levels are more or less unchanging, but the different bonus levels should definitely be a goal to achieve.  That was likely one I was going to modify when I get to G 😛

    Re: Looping - The difference, at least to me, is in the ending itself.  Ghosts and Goblins and Air Fortress explicitly state within the ending itself that it's not the actual ending.  The Taxan games, Kick Master, etc, give the same ending regardless of which loop you're on, but tack on a message stating that there's harder challenge modes available.  It's a small distinction, but IMO an important one.

    Re: Alpha Mission - Yeah, that does sound like a tough call.  The way I understand from AdamL, level 13 is identical to level 1, but then after beating it you go to level 2.  There's no mention of the boss rush mode on level 13.  Based on the information given, I would be inclined to say that the boss rush wouldn't be necessary.  I'm also rethinking whether level 13 is necessary at all.  I'd say beating the boss of 12 should suffice, and beyond that is entirely optional.  I'd love to hear more feedback on this one though.

    Re: Black Bass - Winning the Class A tournament is required for sure.  I do think that finishing the season should also matter, even if you don't really get a reward for it, as the game basically ends at that point.  To me, although it doesn't go on forever, it's similar to the endless loop games.  That is, finishing the season would equate to the loop point, but the Class A tournament would function as the default high score.  But that's my opinion, I'd be curious if anyone else has any feedback on this one.

    Re: best endings - I fully agree.  I was actually thinking the same thing for Caesar's Palace, as I just got the top ending on the Game Boy version and was thinking how utterly pointless it is to push that far.  That said, I don't think getting the ending for literally quitting without playing would be a fair one to count either.  I would say any ending that requires playing the game to achieve would be enough.  With Caesar's Palace, that would require reaching $20k instead of $140k for the best ending.  Now, with Pirates I'm not sure what that would require offhand, but it shouldn't be too tough to figure out a bare minimum that should be achieved to consider it done.

    Re: High Speed - I didn't realize it gave an actual ending message.  IMO, that would take precedence over the high score in that case.  That said, since it's pinball, the argument could be made that triggering that message AND getting the high score would be required, in a similar fashion to the endless loop games (loop point + default score).  I suppose that's another that needs a discussion.

    Re: Hardest difficulties - The general rule is that if the ending is the same, difficulty doesn't matter, but if there's a major difference (beyond just stating there's a harder second quest available or a slight cosmetic change), then the difficulty does matter.  I'm not familiar enough with those specific games to weigh in on them though.

    Re: Urban Champion/Pac-Man - I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest.  Especially with Urban Champion...138 levels sounds like major overkill, not to mention tedious. Pac-Man to a lesser extent as well.  Both are basically just the same repetitive level over and over, with only a small cosmetic reward given for further advancement.  Those two should probably also be discussed more in depth, as there are valid arguments both for and against it.  Ultimately we need to reach a consensus for games like that so we can apply it more consistently throughout the library.

    • Like 1
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  3. Caesar's Palace is done.  Jesus fuck that was tough.  It's kind of funny, there's an exploitable pattern to roulette on the NES, but it's truly random on the Game Boy, so it's nowhere near as easy to get it.  The quickest method is the way the speed runners do it, by using the "Caesar" space on the wheel of fortune, but given that you have to land it pretty much frame perfect, it's down to luck whether you can actually execute it.  I ended up playing it a bit safer, dropping my initial money and hoping to get a quick 40K, then just playing 5000 at a time and hoping to trigger it a couple more times.  Took several attempts and more hours than I care to admit, but I managed to hit it enough times to pull it off.  Now to never play that game again 😛

    Honestly, I'm wondering if getting the best ending should be required.  Obviously going broke is the worst, and the game shouldn't be counted as a win if you just cash out immediately, but the first ending that requires actually playing gets triggered at $20k.  That may be a better, and more realistic, plan than going for $140k moving forward.

    Oh, and my first run glitched on me.  No idea how it happened or why, but I played poker, won a hand and didn't get the payout animation, and then noticed I had the maximum amount of funds for some ungodly reason.  So I technically saw the good ending in about a minute, but decided that wouldn't be right to count it.  I could've saved myself several hours of frustration if I had though 😛

    • Like 3
  4. 4-in-1 Fun Pak is done.  Only bothered with difficulty 1 on all of them, but the AI was decent enough even on level 1 to be a decent matchup.  Unlike Chessmaster, the AI would not succumb to the scholar's mate, so I actually had to put some effort into the chess match.  Checkers was decent enough...the AI would rarely fall into traps, and really needed to be forced into screwing up.  Backgammon actually took me two attempts, though I wonder how much more that has to do with luck than actual skill, as the loss only actually happened because the computer got a timely doubles roll.  As for reversi, it didn't take much effort at all.  I completely screwed up on multiple occasions and still won first try, though the AI probably gets a LOT better by the end of it.  I'd definitely boot it up again to play backgammon, and if you're looking for a competent but not powerhouse chess match, so far I think it's the best playing (and best looking) chess game I've played on the Game Boy.  The other two are actually decent as well, but as I am not really a fan of the games I probably won't go out of my way to play them again 😛

    • Like 3
  5. 5 minutes ago, wongojack said:

    What was the fix?

    For Fallout New Vegas, I put the GOTY disk in and then went to the Xbox store where it let me download the DLC for free.  That might work for you on XOne if you run into trouble again.

    For some stupid reason, hitting the system lightly above the drive while it's loading causes it to load.  Think the laser needs realignment, but I'm a lazy bastard and don't wanna open the system to fix it 😛

    • Like 1
  6. 5 hours ago, derekpipes said:

    That's awesome! Was it the flying skate ? I loved that jersey growing up. Canucks are having a great year so far, will be interesting to see what they can do in the playoffs. 

    I'm a Habs fan living in Ottawa... 🤪

    Yeah, it definitely was 😆 The skate is still my favorite.  Wish they would bring it back as more than a third jersey.

  7. Well, now WWF Raw is in the books after Razor Ramon won the title tournament.  Man, it seems chronologically, every WWF game just got worse and worse.  You would think it'd be an improvement over King of the Ring, but the sprites look like shit, the overall visuals took a downgrade (though the character portraits improved), and musically it's not nearly as good either...though they may have been there, I never noticed a single theme song playing!  Additionally, having to hold A+B to pin, but only having it work in a specific spot...yeah, that was annoying, not to mention counter-intuitive.  All told, I'd still say it's better than WWF War Zone, but that's just because I could figure out more or less how to play it 😛  All told, I don't think I'll ever have a reason to play it again, aside from maybe knocking off an easy half hour completion for this list in future years.

    • Like 4
  8. 9 hours ago, Floating Platforms said:

    Nice work knocking all of these out. I think the count is probably over 60 now? Those wrestling games can be frustrating at times since it seems like every one has different, unintuitive controls.

    Honestly, most of those are a half hour or less to knock off.  I just pulled one of the GB binders off my shelf and started pulling short games to play.  I'd actually hoped playing one or two would make me tired enough to sleep.  I still haven't slept though, so it didn't do the trick 😛 The three WWF games I knocked off are all pretty basic.  Controls are actually pretty solid once you know what they actually are 😛  That said, I fired up WWF War Zone as well, since it's the last WWF game I need to beat for my personal list, but I couldn't figure out a damn thing.  Couldn't even tell the two wrestlers apart, nevermind get any offence in, so yeah, I shelved it again 😛 I don't recall WWF Raw being that bad though, just not really inclined to do it just yet 😛

    1 hour ago, Splain said:

    I love word games, but Wheel of Fortune might be the worst game in the GB library.

    I don't think I'd go that far.  But it's a pretty lacklustre port for sure.  It's still playable, but the AI is so damn incompetent that you might as well just play it alone, which kind of defeats the point of playing in the first place.  Given how simple the concept is though, there's really no reason to play it when there's better versions on damn near every other system .

  9. 41 minutes ago, Sisor said:

    This in interesting. Did you discover this? I did not know about this. I think I may have to go back and revisit this game for my personal Longplay project. So even if it doesn't change the contest, this is useful information for me!

    I can't take credit for discovering it, just for notifying AdamL.  As I mentioned, it was collectively discovered during the 2022 weekly contest, though I feel like a few people may have known about it before that.

    • Like 2
  10. Took one for the team and knocked off Wheel of Fortune.  I've always loved Wheel of Fortune games, but man, this has to be the single worst version I've ever played.  I could forgive only having one AI opponent if that AI was actually competent.  Who the hell picks Z as their first letter? 😛 Anyway, I think I may be done for the time being.  I'll let @Splain get caught up 😛

    • Like 3
    • Haha 1
  11. 3 hours ago, PII said:

    I played Gun.Smoke twice in row just recently and the ending was exactly the same the second time.  Is there some additional qualification to get a different ending, like beating it twice without dying?........

    It's not that it's a different ending, it's that the game definitively ends.  Also, that was a mistake on my part...it's actually three loops, not two.  And apparently I was one of the ones who notified AdamL of that for the update on his Endings FAQ, so I really should've remembered that 😛  But yeah, after the third loop, instead of saying "Press Start," it just says "The End" and you can no longer continue the game.

    EDIT: This came to light for a lot of us during the 2022 weekly contest, when we played the game.  I think most normal people assumed it was an endless looper prior to this.

    • Like 2
  12. And WWF Superstars 2 is also in the bag now, after winning the title with Jake "The Snake" Roberts.  Gameplay is slightly improved over the first game, though it's much easier to cheese the computer on this one.  Although I didn't try the cage matches, I also don't really desire it.  Additionally, the presentation is a definite downgrade IMO.  The lack of pre match banter and slight differences in the ending depending on who you pick definitely hampers it's replay value.  Still, it's one of the more playable WWF games on the Game Boy...and indeed, it's better than the NES offerings as well!

    • Like 4
  13. 18 minutes ago, derekpipes said:

    Awesome! Did the drive out west to Vancouver and leaving Calgary towards the mountains was just amazing, never forget it.

    You a Flames fan ??

    Oh hell no!  Been a Canucks fan as long as I was here.  We moved here when I was a toddler, and I never really wanted to be here (family was all back in Prince George), so I was vehemently against cheering for any Calgary team, aside from the Stampeders because I had cousins who played for them...kinda hard to cheer against family 😛 I'd like to say I chose the Canucks because I was a BC boy, but I'm pretty sure my 7 year old self chose the Canucks solely because they had what I considered to be the best logo in the league 😛

  14. Knocked off Yoshi's Cookie.  So this is another first time win, but I'm not sure if this is truly the ending.  Upon completion of 10-10, and watching the credits, it gave instructions to get a level select to choose levels 11 and beyond.  I'm not sure if any of these have an ending as well, nor do I care enough to bother at the moment.  That said, I certainly didn't beat it from scratch.  I chose level 10 on low speed.  Speed doesn't seem to affect the ending at all, though apparently levels 1 through 9 have a cut scene that plays before advancing to the next level.  I'm inclined to say it's beaten, at least for the purposes of this thread, but does anyone have any info on the later levels, if they have a unique cut scenes too, or if it's just a bonus for people that have otherwise mastered the game?

    • Like 3
  15. WWF Superstars is done.  Took a few attempts, mostly because I didn't realize you had to HOLD B to pin rather than just tapping, so I kept getting beat despite annihilating my opponents 😛  Anyway, Hulk Hogan beat all four other opponents.  I gotta say though, I kind of like the presentation.  It's a pretty simple and somewhat easy game, but they really did well with it.  The graphics are awesome, there's custom banter between opponents, including dialogue referencing the opposition, and the VInce McMahon cameos in between matches where he talks about the previous bout make it a pretty decent game overall.  This was also a first-time completion for me, which is a bonus...always like chipping away at the backlog after all 😛

    • Like 4
  16. WWF King of the Ring is done.  Honestly, while the AI is still equally exploitable as the NES version, I feel that the gameplay feels a bit better overall on the Game Boy version.  It's still not very good, but it's not quite as shite 😛 Also, character statistics actually seem to matter here, unlike the NES version.  The game crashed on me during my second match as Mr. Perfect, with both matches taking a LONG time.  I switched over to Lex Luger after the crash, and although he moved a LOT slower, he managed to deal damage significantly faster.  I'm guessing the massive strength boost helped.  Stamina may also be a factor, likely with health, but I didn't take too much damage with either character so I didn't really notice a difference.  But yeah, it just feels like a better game overall, though it still has a ton of room for improvement.

    • Like 3
  17. Since it's blank, I'm gonna ask about WWF No Mercy.  I assume we have to win a title belt, but is there a specific one we need to beat?  The ending is the same regardless of which one is acquired or which path is followed, so I would assume it doesn't matter, but I wanted to confirm first.  I've already 100% completed every belt anyway, but every now and then I get the urge to chip away at unlocking the Ho, so doing a quick belt run between gauntlets could make for a decent break.

  18. So my 360 seems to be picky as hell when playing discs.  It loaded disc 2 just fine, but disc 1 wouldn't boot.  I attempted to use disc 2 on my Xbox One to get the DLC, but it just booted up the Game Pass version, didn't even boot the disc contents.  This sucked ass since I don't have money to spend getting DLC I technically already own.  Doing some digging, I found a fix that seems to work, though it's rather annoying to do.  But finally I managed to get Oblivion to load up on my 360 and get started on the Shivering Isles DLC.  So far it's a lot more interesting than the main quest was 😛 I've now got the first two achievements on the questline and am having some fun with it again.  But yeah, progress is happening despite some hardware issues.

    EDIT: Since no new posts have been made yet, I'm just gonna edit this instead.  Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to knock off a few Game Boy games for the completion thread.  I took out five games, three of which (WWF Superstars, Wordtris, and Yoshi's Cookie) were first time completions for me.  I also did WWF Superstars 2 and WWF King of the Ring, which I had previously beaten.  Basically just some quick beats to pad my numbers in that thread, as well as clearing a few games from my personal backlog.

    • Like 3
  19. So lately there's been some discussion in the yearly NES Completion thread about what the requirements should be for various games.  While the Pastebin file has been helpful, it has some major gaps in it, and has some out of date information.  Due to the need for a revamp, the continuing discussion, and the fact that @scaryice has enough to do without having to add more to it, I've started compiling a list of requirements, based on the Pastebin, AdamL's endings FAQ, and some feedback from members.  I have compiled up to the letter B, and felt it was probably time to open it up to the rest of the users.  NOTE: It's too late for these to apply for 2024, so in the rare instances where something changes, it will only apply at Scary's discretion.  The general rules I've been using are the same as what have applied in prior years: codes only count if they're revealed in game or with something that came packaged with the game (typically applies to continue codes), "bad" endings are acceptable if the full game is experienced, "good" endings are only necessary if the "bad" ending doesn't allow the full gameplay experience, infinite loops require all unique levels to be beaten and the default high score to be achieved (aka one full loop), and multiple quests/loops are only required if multiple loops provide a "definitive" ending (Taxan games would require one loop, as the ending is the same save for a bonus message, but something like Gun.Smoke definitively ends after two three loops, thus all three loops would be needed).  The goal is to have clear requirements for every game and avoid situations like what happened with Kung Fu Heroes this year.

    Anyway, I've set it up in an Excel file and have hosted it on Google Drive.  Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dPMfuLLwaHzBIXm1ZvwuLHZvXXXs8pzl/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102257403836446438292&rtpof=true&sd=true

    I've opened it up to comments as well, so feedback can be posted here or commented on the file itself, whatever you prefer.  I'll periodically update with another letter or two as I get to it.

    Oh, and I posted in the Gauntlet instead of the Contests section because I felt that even though it was about a thread in that section, it still fit better here due to essentially being about the gameplay and not the contest thread itself.  If I was mistaken, I apologize.

    EDIT: Corrected a mistake in the Gun.Smoke example.  It ends after three loops, not two.

    • Like 2
  20. 1 hour ago, Khromak said:

    It might be best to create another thread with all the specific examples and we can try to come to a consensus on things that might need to be changed? 

    TBH I think the distinction between "good ending" and "get the crystal then beat the game" is very small (having an extra life when you beat the final boss) that I don't think it's too much to ask. With almost 700 games it's hard to say there are hard and fast rules. It's more like a hierarchy of completion steps from most clear to least clear, depending how confusing the game's "ending" or lack thereof is and how it asks you (or doesn't) to engage with its content

    You're a bit ahead of me.  I'm working on an Excel file right now, and was gonna make a post once I finish the letter B to open it up for feedback.  I'm trying to note the number of levels and stuff when possible, and minimum requirements as much as possible.  Ultimately I want to have every game listed, even if it's pretty straightforward, just so that there aren't any questions.  I'm using AdamL's list and the Pastebin to get the general requirements in there, but am by no means an expert and would welcome a ton of feedback before sinking too much time into it 😛

    EDIT: Thread posted.

     

  21. 31 minutes ago, Khromak said:

    Right, and the crystal involves extra levels. Maybe that's why the distinction exists, IDK.

    But then I think the distinction should just be to beat the game after acquiring the crystal.  Requiring a second player on screen is not only overkill, but an unnecessary extra step IMO.  Especially since the ending for 1 player with the crystal is distinct from the one without it.

  22. 2 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

    That's the opposite of what he just explained in his post above: if you play through the entirety of Bubble Bobble and don't miss a single level, but finish without a second player, you will get the bad ending that he does not count.  I think you're confusing bad endings with "less than the best endings," and your examples seem to indicate that.  Metroid doesn't have a bad ending and neither does Castlevania II; they have less than ideal endings but they don't explicitly state that you haven't achieved your goal like a real bad ending does (see: Bubble Bobble, Kid Kool, Rescue: The Embassy Mission).

    Good point there.  So I suppose it should be determined, and then universally applied, whether the "true" ending stipulation established by games like Double Dragon II (required difficulty to see the full game and real ending) would apply to these games, or if a bad ending should still count.  I'm leaning toward bad endings being okay so long as they are tied to performance and not options like difficulty selection, which would allow all the instances mentioned there, as well as other games like Alfred Chicken, where the good ending is achieved by getting hidden items in the game, but the bad ending still requires beating the full game.

    Just now, Khromak said:

    Bubble Bobble bad ending is just 1-100, not including the letter levels, right?

    The bad ending is when you beat the game on one player.  You only get the good ending when beating the final boss on two player mode.

  23. 2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

    As for bad endings, that's the sort of thing that should be spelled out in the pastebin file, I think, since those are not always obvious.  One example that comes to mind is Kid Kool, where the objective is to beat the game as quickly as possible to save the king's life.  If you take too long, you still get an ending, but the King is already dead, and I'm wondering how many people over the years have reported that they beat the game because they got to "the ending," not knowing or caring that they didn't actually beat the game because they failed to accomplish their objective: to save the King.  Another example is Rescue: The Embassy Mission where the pastebin just says to beat Mission Jupiter, but you actually get a bad ending on Jupiter for any result other than a no-death run.  And there are several other games in the library with anomalies like these.

    Bad endings have always been accepted except in instances where they don't involve actually finishing the game.  If we're pushing solely for the good endings in games like those mentioned, we would have to extend that to Metroid, Castlevania II, and a bunch of others.  While the good endings are obviously ideal, I wouldn't say you didn't beat any of them if you didn't get the best ending, because you still had to get through the entire game.  Again, we're striving to beat every game, not perfect every game.

    Specifically relating to Rescue though, is there any particular reason Jupiter is required?  I just put some research in and it seems that the overall mission is the same, just the number of enemies is increased and the time limit decreases.  Since on Training there are also no hostages, I would say that one shouldn't be counted, but I'm curious as to why we can't do Target for this thread.  To be clear, I would want to do it on Jupiter myself, and am perfectly okay with the restriction, but since the endings don't change at all, and we're not requiring a good ending, is there a reason it has to be Jupiter? 

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