the_wizard_666

51 minutes ago, scaryice said:

Sure! I still have to give you half a game each, though...

That's fine.  We'll hopefully find another game to split down the road.  If not, it's more annoying to me with the points than the total games list.

Short of firing up the cart or opening it up, I don't think there's a way.  I did just check mine, it's a PRG-0.  The only notable thing I saw was the screws themselves - they weren't security screws.  Not sure if that's a common thing, but it's not unheard of generally.  Per the previous post, there is "REV-A" written on the back label, indicating a 3-screw cart, which it is, but there is no other letter stamped on it.

1 hour ago, Floating Platforms said:

Oh nice! I think I saw that they were aware of it, but didn't look too far.  It's good that they're still working on things, because I will say that the game doesn't always run too well overall - which is odd for a game with a single mechanic and usually no moving objects aside from yourself.

It's always nice when a developer actually cares enough to fix mistakes like that.  But in my experience, those "____ Simulator" games tend to be a bit rushed out the door due to being simple yet popular enough to be profitable.  They're usually fun, but also a bit janky.

31 minutes ago, nerdynebraskan said:

Any chance that y'all are going to take on the original Gauntlet, too?

We probably won't get the chance for at least another week, and that's assuming we decide that we're feeling it that day.  If you're considering going for it, don't let us stop you.

The biggest concern I see on the board is Ikari Warriors.  The game takes forever and can be soft locked near the end, so it's damn hard even using ABBA.  Without it, I don't know if we have anyone both willing and able to pull it off.

On 2/2/2024 at 7:13 PM, Floating Platforms said:

I'm considering Powerwash Simulator done.  Normally I go for the platinum trophy if it's within my skill level, but that will have to wait. I beat the main story and apparently that specific trophy is glitched.  If it gets patched, I'll revisit and do the challenges to finish it out.

Anyway, the game is a nice, mindless relaxing experience that was a perfect way to wind down before bed. Really nothing challenging about it and that's okay. The levels had a nice variety of settings. Probably too many vehicles, but otherwise, they kept it interesting. There was a story throughout that went to sort of unexpected places but was far too sparse to be considered a selling point. The goal is to zone out, put on a stream or YouTube video on the background and spray the night away.

I've been playing another sleepy-time game in Danganronpa (sleepy in that reading that much on the TV makes me fall asleep accidentally), so I'll probably spend my PS5 time going back to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and/or Yakuza 0 when I want to stay awake.

Apparently a fix is incoming. From the developer's Twitter:

Just now, Dr. Morbis said:

Gauntlet II has been completed through Level 100 by @the_wizard_666 and myself, so you can split the seven points with 4 for me and 3 for him, just so we don't have any dispicable half points in our tallies...

 

I am confirming that I am okay with the point split.  I hate half points We actually discussed it before we played it.

8 hours ago, PII said:

At one point I was able to climb a building that had already collapsed until I went through the "ceiling" and climbed through the ground.  Can't remember having done that before. 

I did that a bunch as a kid.  Climbing through the sky and popping up at the bottom only happened once, but a bunch of weird shit frequently happens if you just eat people instead of blowing up the buildings.  When that happened to me I had been eating people for so long and not triggering it that I gave up, only for that to happen after I'd given up on the glitch.  That was one of my 10 year old memories that really stands out, and you are the first person I know of to ever corroborate it!

Well, I haven't really done a lot of gaming, but despite not really actively wanting to keep my NES streak going, it's sort of still happening.  I had a 10pm urge last night to try out Arch Rivals...it was one that I'd shortlisted for an easy win, but I never got to it in January.  It took a couple false starts to settle on a character I was comfortable with, but I managed to double up the score on the computer and scratched it off.  Not a bad port in all honesty.  Anyway, for the 2nd, I had been talking about easy completions last month with @Dr. Morbis, and discovered that a game that I had written off as being a head-to-head only game, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, actually had a single player mode and could be "beaten."  It's lame, tedious, and impossible to lose as far as I could tell, but I added it to my list nonetheless, if only so I could never have to fire it up again.  And for the third, I just completed The Little Mermaid.  Short, simple, and okay at best.  Probably among the weakest Capcom Disney NES games, IMO ahead of only Mickey Mousecapade, but yet still not a terrible experience.  I might try to go for a no-death run at some point, it's easy enough that it should be doable with minimal effort, I just couldn't be arsed right now

Anyway, that's 35 games on the year over the first 34 days, which even with all the simple completions seems absolutely insane to me.  I've had literal YEARS that didn't even come close to that number...almost half-way to my record total of 75 (set in 2022) with 11 months to go on the year just feels nuts.  Also, I'm 4 more games away from an overall total of 350 (that includes Famicom, homebrews, European, unreleased, etc...basically anything released for the NES/FC), so that's my next goal...whether I actively keep my streak going to hit it though, that I'm not certain of.

As for the other games I've got on the go, there's nothing new to report.  When I say I was taking a bit of a break, I meant from everything They're still on the go, just haven't touched them for a bit.

1 hour ago, RH said:

Wow.  I'm impressed.

Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't go higher.  Though the number of idiots people who pretend unlicensed games don't exist would explain that.

36 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

I’m not specifically referring to eBay listings but just the general conversations of, “check out my uber rare little Samson I own!”

See my posts.  It's definitely rare.  Just not as rare.  I actually have rarer things than Myriad in my collection, but it doesn't make Myriad less rare either.

Crazy to see how many of those names aren't even around anymore.

7 minutes ago, Khromak said:

The answer here is pretty obvious: sellers put "rare" in their listings to increase attention/price/interest. It's marketing fluff to try to increase the perceived value of their goods, not an objective measure of the relative rarity of any item compared to all other carts.

I remember when I first started using eBay in the early 2000s, everything was listed as "rare."  It was to the point that any buyer with half a brain figured out not to consider the word at all.  It took years, but it seems a lot of sellers have figured that out and dropped it from most descriptions.  Either that or I have learned to completely disregard the word while looking at eBay.  Either would make perfect sense

To the point he was making though, I would argue that Little Samson is indeed objectively rare.  Outside of the local shop that has been actively bringing them in over the  course of the last few years, I've only actually seen one copy while out and about - the one I own.  Granted, that's one man's experience, but that experience spanned over 20 years of actively scouring the local haunts, closing out video stores, picking through garage sales, etc.  The only ones I've seen less (outside of a few personal collections) are Flintstones 2, Cheetahmen 2, Myriad, and Stadium Events.  To the point, anything that would generally be considered an R8 or above I would consider "rare," and many would even consider R7s to share that distinction, though I feel they're borderline at best.  Something can still be "rare" even if something else is objectively more rare.  Going back to my prior examples,  Incredible Hulk #180 is still a rare comic, even if it's not as rare as Fantastic Four #1.  Acquiring Wayne Gretzky's rookie card is still a fine centerpiece for someone's card collection, even if it doesn't take a lifetime to acquire like landing Georges Vezina's rookie card would.  Both are rare, just one is rarer.  That's it.

8 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

So this legit has not been on eBay in 7 years? Is that info accurate?  If so, crazy!

Also, if true, how could somebody think it appropriate to use the term “rare” for both this and, let’s say, little Samson.  They obviously are worlds apart in terms of availability.

It hasn't sold on eBay in 7 years. It's possible that it's been listed in that span, though I hadn't seen anything other than a damaged box for a few years before buying my copy.

To the second point, Little Samson is certainly rare, but there's a difference between a rarity and a grail item.  You're comparing the difference between a Wayne Gretzky rookie card and a Georges Vezina rookie card, or between Incredible Hulk #180 and Fantastic 4 #1. The former is highly sought after, but easily obtainable for anyone who has the funds.  The other is also sought after, but having the money to buy it doesn't ensure being able to find one for sale, because so few actually exist.

36 minutes ago, Link said:

Currently (9h45m remaining). Let's see how much it goes up with last minute snipes. Maybe your comp will significantly improve. 

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me if it does.  I dropped about $1000 more than I likely could've got because I needed time to get the funds, and wanted to make sure I didn't get undercut.  I have zero intention of ever selling it, so the cost was irrelevant to me.  That said, it'd be nice to have a recent example of an open auction in the sales history.

8 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

Here is an eBay auction that recently ended, it contained the poster. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/364292539204

Interesting enough, it also contains a registration form and on that form is a checkbox to purchase a $5 poster. Could it potentially be the same poster? Was it a mail-away option?

That wasn't included in either game that I opened.  Both were 100% accurate (no variant info was ever discovered, but multiple copies of both were opened).

Also, that's not a registration card, it's an order form.  AGCI likely had issues finding retail outlets to sell their games through, so they sold a bunch through the mail.  It could be that the first run packed in the forms, but then later ones didn't for whatever reason.  I know @fcgamer has done deep dives into Sharedata (and AGCI by extension)...maybe he'd have a bit of insight?  Also, it could be that it was mixed and matched from Chiller, which was their first release.  It's why the contents list doesn't include info from CIBs - there's no way to 100% verify the data otherwise.

Oh, and your insert definitely wouldn't have been the mail order poster, as it's not 18" x 24" like the ones being sold on that order form

10 minutes ago, wyansas said:

i understand PC's not the be all end all, but usually you cut PC in half or shave off a third, not double it. thanks for the info though.

Usually Pricecharting has sales data from more recently than 2017 (the last loose carts sold according to PC) in order to gauge the price.  Their CIB price is just under $1650, but the manual alone sold for $1500 in 2021.  Do you think the manual holds 91% of the value?  Or that the price has somehow stagnated over the last 7 years?

Also, I misspoke.  I bought it for about $5K Canadian.  I'd have to confirm, but I believe the actual amount I paid was $4000.  So it's a bit over half, not under.  I technically bought in USD, but since I had to mentally equate it to Canadian to budget for it, hence why that number was in my head.

EDIT: Also, shaving prices tends to happen on common items.  Nobody discounts legitimate rarities unless they're trying to get fast money.  The common shit takes forever to sell when you want full retail for it, hence people discounting PC prices.

Because Pricecharting isn't the be-all-and-end-all of prices on one of a kind items.  These don't often turn up for sale, especially at an open auction.  It's actually only going for about half of what I paid for my copy a couple years ago via private sale, so it's actually a pretty good price IMO.

57 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

When you opened yours, did you pull the cardboard sleeve out of the box? This one I have was advertised as box and cartridge but missing the manual so I think I picked it up for $14 or so. After I got into the car, I opeend the box again to look at the cartridge, then pulled out the sleeve and the manual and poster were sandwiched between the sleeve and the box. The seller didn't know they were there and I wouldn't have known had I not pulled that sleeve out.

Both games came with an AGCI sleeve.  Allegedly Chiller did not have a sleeve, however there has never been confirmation of this.  I always emptied the boxes fully to document things so nothing got missed, so it was absolutely not present.  If it were, I'd have it on my wall right now

3 hours ago, guitarzombie said:

Finished Super Pitfall haha.  I remembered the speedrun being stupidly short so I followed it and beat it!  Its not as bad (as a speed run) as you'd think.  Its got this really funny thing where after you save the girl, you can lose all your lives, game over, then the game plays the demo and because you're in the spot you should be when you beat the game, it plays the ending.

Wait, so you don't have to beat the game to beat the game?  That's kind of a fucked up glitch

Just now, Daniel_Doyce said:

Congrats on that! I think it's the NES Koei game that has the hardest learning curve.

Weird, I thought it was the opposite.  The first time I beat it, I did it on a lark at @Dr. Morbis's house in one sitting...probably how I didn't know the battery was dead (though it was 7 years ago, so that also could've been part of it).  The funny thing in my mind is that this time I didn't actually get to fight Evil Gao Qiu.  His forces fled before he deployed, so he got auto-captured and triggered the ending without ever showing up to the fight

Anyway, I'm starting to think I like it almost as much as Romance II, but that it's actually better in one major way - it's interesting the entire way through.  I find with Romance II (and really, any other Koei strategy game), it's fun at the start, but once you start getting to the half-way point, the rest of the game is a foregone conclusion.  With Bandit Kings, you have to fart around building territory and fame while EGQ turtles and ends up with a stupidly large army by the time you're free to attack him.  As such, it remains interesting for the entire run.  I also like that it's open for challenging yourself.  You can easily choose not to build the fort for the 100 points of popularity, meaning you have to take 9 more provinces than you normally would to make up that gap.  Add in the built in time limit and it's not even guaranteed you'll win the game that way on later scenarios...especially on a higher difficulty, or with a weaker general choice at the start.  I can definitely see myself playing it again in the future.

9 minutes ago, Gaia Gensouki said:

I finally found some time for a gaming session. So I started Destiny of an Emperor and beat down the Yellow Scarves Rebellion pretty quickly. It was really anti-climactic and I already thought, that this was a surprisingly short RPG. But of course it continued and follows the rest of the lives of these characters.

So far it's a really strange RPG, that starts off as quite difficult and slow, because the battles take so long and enemies are so strong, that auto-battle was too dangerous. But now I've somewhat figured out the game and am having a lot more fun.

What I do when I play it is focus on the most dangerous opponents first (casters, then other named dudes, then basic troops).  Taking down the names fast ensures that auto battling goes smoothly.  Also, there's a finite number of named generals you can recruit at once, and they generally have fixed stats unless they're main characters.  As such, don't forget to drop some of the weaker guys a bit later in the game so you can recruit the bigger names. 

Speaking of the named guys, if you do recruit them, they will no longer be randomly encountered (unless you release them again).  This makes the random encounters far easier if you recruit all the generals in an area that you can, as you'll then only encounter bandits and such.  Usually they can't be recruited until you beat a specific set encounter in each area, but it's been a long ass time since I last fired it up, so I may be mistaken on that front.  But yeah, recruit every guy you can, and if you start getting too many guys, fire the weaklings from the start of the game.

When it first came out, it was pretty awesome.  I spent the time grinding out every last hidden flag and all the extra crap, but by the end of it I found it to be a bit of a slog.  I'd say it's a 7/10.  Good game, interesting story, but lacks that special something that would make it truly great.

4 hours ago, Brickman said:

Just want to say well done. That's an impressive feat! I hope I can pull something like that off one day. Time is probably my biggest barrier currently I suppose.

Thanks man! I actually just added up my repeat completions from the NES Completions thread, and am at 17 repeats.  Normally I don't care about repeats at all, but I knew I did a bunch early on and was curious about it.  So in January I now have a whopping 49 NES games beaten! I may have to find something to round it to 50.  Maybe a Punisher run is in order...

Leopard Headed just destroyed Evil Gao Qiu and presented his head to Emperor Hui Zhong...in other words, Bandit Kings of Ancient China is in the books.  

Edit to add: so apparently this is not only the second time I've beat it, but the second time I've beat it in January...had I realized that, I might have made a more concerted effort to beat it on the same day  

48 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

He made another game gear game and titled it “Jim the Crow” which is kind of insensitive and got called out. Nothing bad someone just saying a new title would probably be best. Instead of just changing the title and moving on we are having a breakdown over it apparently 

Yeah, I saw that.  Kind of a silly reason to quit really.  But apparently he quit Atariage when they sold to Atari, so he's got a habit of cutting and running when he disagrees with something.