nerdynebraskan

And Wall Street Kid is now done.

I believe Barker Bill's Trick Shooting is done. The first three games are just high-score games that loop after one level, right? And Fun Follies is a loop after 9 stages because Bill's Thrills is the final new stage in the game (and first appears in Stage 9)? I played Fun Follies through Stage 13... the one with Trixie and the coins after the first Bill's Thrills.

Shooting Range is done. Interestingly, I got the gold medal without getting the accuracy bonus points. I seem to remember that being a necessary prerequisite in beating this one previously.

Yeah, I knew Ultimate Stuntman did too. But it does seem like most Camerica games don't have continue credits. I had an epic fail at Wall Street Kid tonight. I was at the end of the game, and had $1 million more than I needed to buy the castle. I sold all of my stocks, but instead of going to the bank I hit the clock to end my day. I got scolded by the shyster lawyer for not paying my debts and it was Game Over. I'll definitely get it on my next try, as I've now meticulously mapped out the game.

Well done! I am one of the many who've had fun messing around with Micro Machines, but I've never tried to seriously beat it. But as someone who has beaten a handful of Codemasters/Camerica games, I totally understand where you're coming from. Their games are well-made, but consistently brutal to finish. There's always been that lingering conspiracy theory, that since the same company also gave us the Game Genie, that they may have intentionally overpowered their games to sell more Game Genies to help the casuals to see the end screens of their own games. Do they at least give you unlimited continues in Micro Machines?

Bo Jackson Baseball is done. And with that, I have passed the 800-point mark for the fourth time.

I played at least that long. I generally found it much safer to putter along at low speed and kill time while an already-spawned enemy was on screen but too far ahead or behind to be a threat. Sources on the NES port are surprisingly slim online, but from what I read the four seasons can actually appear randomly and out of order but winter is always supposed to come last. It seems that winter is hard mode, as the roads actually became slippery when they turned snowy. But there was also a long stretch in winter where I drove on an empty road with no enemies spawning. If seeing the road and scenery thaw after winter is the loop point, then yes Spy Hunter is done. The lack of monuments is just kind of confusing and unsatisfying. When I play a loop of MagMax or Terra Cresta (where there is some bonus area after the final boss) , I play through the big boss and go through until the second appearance of the first mini-boss to be sure. But Spy Hunter doesn't have those kind of checkpoints.

Where is the loop point in Spy Hunter? I did just play through a whole winter and died maybe 30-45 seconds after when the weather warmed and the road thawed. But the whole game is so same-y, I can't really tell if there are any kinds of monuments to be looking for?

The Duck Tales bad ending challenge has been completed. That was an interesting bit of trivia, but I still think that getting the $10 million best ending would have been more interesting and a bit more difficult. It was my first time seeing the bad ending, or learning that there was a hidden $3 million healing move. But the $10 million ending is cooler, especially as it basically requires you to get the hidden treasures.

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego is done for another year. @scaryice , am I the first player to ever clear this game twice for this competition?

A Boy and His Blob?

Carmen Sandiego has been nabbed on Round 50, so only 30 more anti-climactic cases to go.

Toobin is done.

Conflict is done. I'll probably start Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego in the next few days for my next time-sink game.

Puzznic is now 100% done for another year.

Gravnic is completed, so I just have to knock out the last 61 puzzles of Puzznic and the cart will be done for another year.

Ganbare Goemon 2 is done, for my 200th completion of the year. It's another first-time completion for me, but it still felt familiar as the game plays a lot like Cowboy Kid (which in hindsight, is probably derivative of Goemon).

I'm making progress on Puzznic and probably going to start Conflict again soon. Just wanting to give a heads-up on these two time sinks.

The Metroid challenge has been completed. It was my first time ever beating the game, but I'm also the kind of guy that likes to explore every corner and collect every item so I figured I'd go for the 100% challenge. Even with maps and walkthroughs in front of me, I still got lost and confused on a regular basis. The programmers got a bit carried away with designing this world! I see why this game is a classic that spawned a franchise, but the original is definitely rough around the edges. It's absolutely brutal to respawn after a death with only 30 health all game long. Farming health takes way too long since most enemies only drop 5 units at a time (until you reach the Metroids in the final tunnel). You spend most of the game taking three times as much damage from enemies as you stand to gain if you can kill them and they drop a health capsule. I was not particularly pleased with Samus's jumping mechanics. This game has many spots that demand Mario-esque platforming precision, but I found myself wondering if she had greased her boots in Crisco. I found myself repeatedly slipping around almost as badly as if I was playing a Color Dreams platformer. And I really wished I could have kept both the ice beam and wave beams, even if I had to switch between the two a la Mega Man. As it was I only used the wave beam for about 30 minutes in Ridley's lair until I could collect the second ice beam to satisfy the terms of the 100% items challenge. But I was enjoying it, aside from missing the ability to freeze enemies. It was stronger and had a wider pattern to hit those annoying enemies that stay out of your narrow line of fire. Actually, this game would have been much more enjoyable with the 8-directional shooting a la Contra. There is of course the one bullshit jump to get the most remote missile capacity upgrade in Ridley's hideout. That only took me 5-6 tries to pull off, but it still took what seemed like an hour because you have to backtrack all the way through the hideout to get back to that spot when you fail. The game offers 8 energy tank upgrades, but it seems like you can only hold and fill six of them. And of course I got the worst ending because it took me so long to beat the game. (Samus didn't show me her curves.) I played it about 9-10 hours on Thursday, and got from the beginning to the Metroid tunnel. I was busy yesterday, so I didn't get back to finishing the game until today. I could see myself revisiting this in future years, but I'll be skipping a few of the items and trying to beat it faster for better endings.

Snake's Revenge is done.

Super Spike V'Ball is done.

Rolling Thunder is done... at last! Despite the shortness of this game, and the generosity of continues and a password system, it may still be one of the ten hardest games I've finished. I've beaten it a couple of times before, but it still took me off and on for several months to finally reach and kill the alien boss dude.

Baby Boomer is done. This was my first time beating it solo, and I used a controller. It was definitely irritating, and I abused the hell out of the infinite continues. This one is definitely less aggravating if you can play it with a friend, with maybe one controller and one Zapper.

This argument doesn't hold water, because random YouTubers aren't members of this forum. Furthermore, it's often difficult to tell if some of those playthroughs are using forbidden help like turbo controllers. The point is that our new friend is here and claiming their conquests in the appropriate way. The historical precedent was set when The Mexican Runner was recruited into joining Nintendo Age in the middle of his bid (2016?) to clear all licensed NES games. He was immediately credited with beating 10+ games that he had done that year and that hadn't yet been claimed. TMR was, afterall, a member who had beaten those games within that calendar year. Interestingly enough, TMR was also not credited with beating Kung Fu Heroes as he too had discovered and relied on the continue code.

Welcome aboard! And you're definitely good, as no one else has beaten any of those yet this year. What else are you planning to play?