nerdynebraskan

Kickle Cubicle is done.

Superman is done.

It's not just you, dude. This game has always been hard for me, too. I rented it growing up, and always stalled out on the second stage. And the one time I seriously tried to beat it for this challenge, I had to ragequit on Montana Max's mansion. This game is a mindfuck like Kiwi Kraze, with the graphics being so cutesy and the difficulty being so brutal. But this one stings a little more for me, as I haven't been able to beat it and do have childhood nostalgia for it.

Rygar is done.

Ikari Warriors and Mutant Virus definitely seem to be in most folks' Top 10 lists for NES difficulty. Arkanoid, Bases Loaded I/II/4, Championship Pool, Dragon Power, High Speed, Kung Fu Heroes, Silkworm, Sky Kid, and Starship Hector all seem to be pretty daunting for one reason or another. And honestly any other game with 4+ pain points on it should be a pretty good clue... except for Little Ninja Brothers. Is that one just too long for most people? I like that one, and might replay it this year.

Wow! Klash Ball and Motor City Patrol falling in the same half-hour in January is actually pretty phenomenal. I would've guessed that both of those would have been in the last 100. @DefaultGen's strategy notes are pretty interesting, too.

Magician is done.

Paperboy 2 is done.

This is pretty much where I'm at, too. I expect the next 100 games to pass pretty quickly (maybe by the end of February), and then things will probably start to drag. And my contributions will fall off a lot pretty soon, too. I know I said I was stepping back a few weeks ago, and I meant it. I just had a lot of free time during the most fun part of this thread, but my obligations are increasing as the most interesting games continue to dwindle. There are some mediocre games that I've beaten year after year for the points that I'm just not going to do this year. I *may* be willing to pick up a few of them if this thread is showing signs of achieving its goal, and those games manage to linger on the board for several months. (I'm hoping they won't...)

Clash at Demonhead is done.

CastleVania II is done.

I will probably start Battleship in the next couple of days unless someone else speaks up soon. I love the last 5 or 10 stages, but only one of us should have to suffer through the tedium of all those middle rounds. And it's a nice game to do in pieces if I find myself finishing my game of the day 30 minutes early. I should also say that I've been dabbling in Gremlins 2. It was a game that I had growing up, but always stalled on pretty quickly. This game is still damn hard with all the skills I've built through adulthood. I'm currently on Stage 4-1. I really wish I could buy more than one item per stage in the store.

I am honored, but one of these days I'm going to have to play through DW3 for myself. It's the last one on the NES for me to do.

I have never liked the Bases Loaded games, and have only tried them superficially. And I say that as someone who has possibly beaten all the other NES baseball games. I'm just popping in to wish you luck and remind you that Bases Loaded 3 is the only one in the series that doesn't require a long season mode for completion. You can somehow get through that one by playing some kind of perfect game, but I've never examined the mechanics the game measures that by.

The Mafat Conspiracy is done. I had both Golgo-13 games growing up, although I could never navigate their mazes until the Internet and its glorious maps and walkthroughs. Until finally beating both games for this challenge as a grown-ass man, I had always preferred the original Golgo-13. But now I think I prefer the sequel; it has better graphics, a more coherent story, and one of the most underrated endings in the entire NES library. The only bullshit thing about the game is the lack of checkpoints after beating the last hand-to-hand boss. The game demands that you backtrack across the previous three platformer stages (with some really unfair jumps), through the two most complicated mazes in the game, and then successfully snipe the mastermind with one shot while he's moving. And if you screw any of that up, it's right back to the beginning of the gauntlet for you! But today, I did the gauntlet on one life for the first time ever. That felt SO good. (I still burned through about half of the game's 50ish limited continues to get to the aforementioned badass ending.)

Wizards & Warriors is done.

It's a standard rule for sports games with season modes that you have to play the season mode. But it's also standard that sports games that will let you skip/simulate the regular season, it is only necessary to play the postseason games. Tecmo NBA allows you to skip those games. Also, Wolverine is done.

Ikari III is done. Has anyone started Battleship? I'm thinking of starting it in the next week, unless someone else already has or is burning to do it for the first time.

I've done Tecmo NBA a couple of times for this challenge. It takes some getting used to, but it's not horrible. Also, it is allowed to skip the entirety of the regular season and still take credit here. Some players do like to play a couple of regular season games to try and figure out the game's mechanics, but that's up to you.

@Dr. Morbis No, I've only beaten Bucky once, on the default difficulty. That was aggravating enough. Great game, but I have no personal need to do it on one-hit mode. Also, Cowboy Kid is done.

I'm pretty sure only one loop is required. That's all I did last year.

I think you'll find both of those doable at your skill level. There are good maps for Rambo online. Give yourself 2-4 hours, and I bet you can beat it in one sitting. Remember that the enemies that drop items do so roughly 100% of the time. That makes farming for health and high-end ammo very manageable. Kill the gorilla, take his medicine, leave the screen, come straight back, and he's respawned. Rinse and repeat for 3-4 minutes and you have a full supply. Bucky O'Hare is a lot of fun. It's brutal, but it has infinite continues (including at mid-level checkpoints) and a good password system. Be patient, and you can brute-force your way through it. Also, thanks for the stats. I've got more than 7000 lifetime points now. Neat.

Toxic Crusaders is soooo flawed, and yet so close to being a damn fine game. Questionable controls (select button?!), hit boxes, and the weapon downgrades with every hit taken sink what would otherwise be a solid B-B+ 8-bit beat 'em up. I'm thinking it's time for my annual run at Cowboy Kid, if I can find my personal maps of the last stage.

Dig Dug II is done.

Gyromite is done.