scaryice

Gauntlet II does mention "adding other players" into the game in its manual. I don't think I'd call that a code, though. I see no problems with counting that. As for Guerrilla War, I don't think it's ever come up because the game is so brain dead easy. I'm not treating that code any differently - it should be allowed too, since it's in the manual. Any manual code is fine. We also allow only playing the last 1/4th of Lemmings, which I believe Daniel Doyce did this year. The difference between those games and something like Ice Climber is a clear ending. Our logic has always been that it's fine to get any ending, as long as you've beaten the whole game. And no "bad endings", which would rule out the easiest one in Bubble Bobble for instance. Burai Fighter doesn't say "BAD END", it says "An ace would see a graphic ending", which implies that the easy level is also an ending. Part of the reason "the bar is low" is because in most years we don't even come close to 677. Requiring the best endings would mean we would do even worse. Now if I was one of the people trying to clear every game in the library, I would avoid taking some shortcuts just for my own state of mind. I wouldn't skip levels in Lemmings, for instance. But I don't think we need to be that tough on everyone. But we do need some standards. As I said before, I'm not sure how we could logically allow continue codes but not other codes. If the games don't tell you about them anywhere, then what's separating a continue code from a 30 life code, or an invincibility code? I mean, there's a reason they're called cheat codes. You mentioned warp zones, but they're a built in part of the game that you can access without cheating. They might be cheap. There's a lot of gameplay tactics that are cheap - I know I was pause-buffering the other day in Chubby Cherub, for instance. But there's a difference between cheap and cheating. I know you can argue that early games didn't bother with actual continue menus, but that quickly became the standard and most NES games are like that. Also, I think part of the charm for some of these games is the fact that you can't legitimately continue, and it's ridiculously hard as a result. I did beat Ikari Warriors before, and that was one of my greatest gaming moments. It's only really a small handful of titles that are hard enough to be affected, so I feel don't feel bad about making people do it the hard way.

I checked before, and I'm pretty sure Arkanoid does not. I don't know about Buggy Popper, though. I was curious about Arkanoid a while ago, and I remember mentioning that if the Japanese manual has codes, then we should probably allow those since it's already fine to play the JP/PAL versions of the game if you feel like it (except for those rare cases where they're totally different). We should allow the code for Dino Riki, then. I think you mentioned it before, but I totally forgot about it.

This week's result: Question #29 (2/1-2/7) - When it comes to oni, what game comes to mind? 1 Shin Onigashima 44.7 2 Momotarou Densetsu 25.9 3 Ninja Kid 9.6 4 Getsu Fuuma Den 4.2 5 Youkai Douchuuki 1.7 6 Mega Man 2 1.3 7 Momotarou Densetsu Gaiden 1.2 8 Hyakki Yagyou 1.2 9 Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell 1.1 10 Hi no Tori 1.1 11 Genpei Touma Den 0.7 12 GeGeGe no Kitarou 2 0.7 13 Super Mototarou Dentetsu 0.6 14 Ninja Gaiden 0.5 15 Ghosts 'n Goblins 0.4 15 MUSCLE 0.4 17 Megami Tensei 0.2 18 Ganbare Goemon 0.2 18 Dragon Quest IV 0.2 18 Momotarou Dentetsu 0.2 As you might've expected, lots of Japanese only games this week, including all four Momotarou games. I don't have too much to say about these results, so I'll just note that out of 29 polls, we've had 26 different games at #1. The only games to win more than one poll are DQ3, SMB, and Takeshi no Chousenjou. Next week's question: When it comes to 2, what game comes to mind? Kinda lame. Although we do get to see the raw popularity of some of these games. I'm guessing Dragon Quest 2 followed by Mega Man 2.

I've been trying Pinbot for the last week and I can't seem to do much with that one. I think my best was 7 million. So anyway, here's Commando:

Stinger

Yes, that's fine.

That explains why you were saying it was easier not to warp... It is a code, even though it's simple. So, I don't see how you could allow that without allowing every kind of code. I'll remove it from the list, but I'm sure you can do it without continues! It is kind of dumb to just simulate the season. But the logic is, the game lets you do it. That's why I at least play the first game of the regular season so I can feel like it's my team, before I start simming. I ended up playing 6/31 games (with the short season setting). I think that game feels weird because you can just change the setting for each team at any time (manual, coach, skip). If it was a game where you were locked into a single team for the entire franchise mode, it would probably be feel less weird to sim.

Yes, that's always been the approach I've taken. Gauntlet 2 allows you add players to a game whenever, so it's easy to keep going forever in multiplayer. Can you continue even in a 1P game? I don't see how that works unless I'm missing something...

I thought that warping was the optimal way, since you can't get more than 9 lives. You can get everything you need via the warp route, although that assumes you're looking up where everything is - blind would be rough.

Right now, there's exactly one point for every year a game wasn't beaten. I hate to just make points up out of thin air. I mean, all of the points are made up, but yeah... I would have to just say no, and just split them like the normal points. Technically, you would be sharing the pain, right?

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

Chubby Cherub beaten:

Ultimate Basketball is done. Look at the final score of the championship game:

Goal finished. Brazil defeated Argentina 3-1 in the final.

Tecmo NBA Basketball done with the Bulls: Chicago 46-34 Golden State (sim to playoffs) Chicago 35-28 Miami Chicago 54-44 Detroit Chicago 36-29 New York Chicago 40-34 Golden State Chicago 37-26 Golden State

It looks like you beat Karnov before for the 2015 thread. That's notable, because it means that there's now only one game remaining that has been beaten by a different person in every year of this competition - Bubble Bobble. There were two entering 2024, and Karnov was the other one: Karnov Bubble Bobble 2012 Crabmaster2000 Nightowljrm 2013 gutsman004 WashYourFace 2014 fusoyaff2 Logo1285 2015 guitarzombie Bea Iank 2016 SasoriVader Bearcat-Doug 2017 Bea Iank Laketown04 2018 Jandrem MrPeaPod 2019 Gloves nerdynebraskan 2020 Kid Dracula Kid Dracula 2021 Elkovsky CasualCart 2022 PII Crabmaster2000 2023 mbd39 Khromak 2024 guitarzombie ??? If anyone has previously beaten Bubble Bobble and wants to do it again, I don't mind. I just find it interesting. Besides, there are still another 21 games which have gone unbeaten in some years, but have also never been beaten twice by someone.

Congrats! That level is always awful. One of the hardest NES levels, along with the last one from 1943. Those two immediately stand out to me from my experiences.

This week's result: Question #28 (1/25-2/1) - When it comes to "middle" (China), what game comes to mind? 1 Kung Fu Heroes 15.9 2 Yie Ar Kung Fu 13.9 3 Mahjong 10.8 4 Tatakae!! Ramen Man: Sakuretsu Choujin 102 Gei 10.4 5 Chuka Taisen 5.0 6 Door Door 4.6 7 Kung Fu 4.1 8 Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School 3.2 9 Sangokushi: Chuugen no Hasha 2.4 10 Tenkaichi Bushi: Keru Naguuru 2.4 11 Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2.3 12 Ganso Saiyuuki Super Monkey Daibouken 2.1 13 Youkai Douchuuki 1.9 14 Ganbare Goemon 1.8 15 Little Ninja Brothers 1.6 16 4-nin Uchi Mahjong 1.5 17 Son Son 1.4 18 Yuuyuuki 1.3 19 Tantei Jinguuji Saburou (FDS) 0.9 20 Shanghai 0.8 Kung Fu Heroes is known as Super Chinese on the Famicom (and Little Ninja Brothers is Super Chinese 2 - we never got the third game). It seems to have been a well known game over there, probably because Namco published it. A lot of these games have the kanji asked about in the title (中), like the Nakayama Miho game. Door Door is there because another meaning of the kanji is inside, and the whole game is about trapping enemies inside doors. So that's a clever answer (EDIT: apparently, it's because it's a Chun Soft game). The Jinguuji Saburou game is the first FDS one, I didn't put the whole title because it's very long. Next week's question: When it comes to oni, what game comes to mind? Oni (鬼), as in the Japanese ogre-like creatures. Looks like we'll be seeing Shin Onigashima again! Also, Gegege no Kitarou (Ninja Kid), because that's also the first kanji in Kitarou. By the way, I never knew as a kid that beginning of Air Man's stage in Mega Man 2 was full of Oni heads (I had no idea what an oni was back then). Although confusingly, the Japanese name for that enemy is just Goblin. Sure looks like an oni to me though.

Gyruss is completed. Took two tries, game overed the first time somewhere around Mercury. 768,450 points

Gonna start up Baseball Simulator 1.000 now... EDIT: It's finished. The Winners have won. Results WI 10-0 SW, 2 innings, 0 hits allowed, 4HR (Mort, Rolf x2, Van) HE 2-15 WI, 1 inning, 1 hit allowed, 3HR (Rolf, Van x2) AL 2-15 WI, 3 innings, 2 hits allowed, 4HR (Evan, Noel x2, Van) WI 13-2 HO, 2 innings, 2 hits allowed, 4HR (Evan, Mort, Noel, Van) PO 0-30 WI, 1 inning, 0 hits allowed, 9HR (Evan, Mort, Noelx3, Rolfx3, Van) That last game was one for the ages... Totals 9 innings 83 runs scored 6 runs allowed 5 hits allowed 24 home runs 6-Noel 6-Rolf 6-Van 3-Evan 3-Mort

Ikari is definitely the hardest NES game I've beaten, even with glitches. Although, I never even managed to beat Sky Kid when I tried a few years ago. I put 5+ hours into it and still didn't feel like I was that close. Kung Fu Heroes isn't bad, because it's very short - you just need a bunch of attempts to get a lucky run. Little Ninja Bros is an rpg, a longer game, and a rarer game. All those things are working against it. Yesterday was another good day for us, with Motor City Patrol, Klashball, and NES Open all going down!

NARC is done.

Nice, another big one down! That's 4/12 of the least beaten games finished (the ones with 6/7 pain points).

This week's result: Question #27 (1/18-1/24) - When it comes to Western-style, what game comes to mind? 1 Castlevania 13.1 2 Wizardry 10.0 3 Ide Yousuke Meijin no Jissen Mahjong 5.8 4 Goonies 4.3 5 Uncharted Waters 3.7 6 Mississippi Satsujin Jiken 3.4 7 Mother 2.9 8 Dragon's Lair 2.9 9 Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) 2.3 10 Ultima: Exodus 1.6 11 Final Fantasy 1.4 12 Raid on Bungeling Bay 1.4 13 Castlevania III 1.3 14 Ghosts 'n Goblins 1.2 15 Spy vs Spy 1.2 16 Karateka 1.1 17 Hydlide 1.0 18 Shadowgate 1.0 18 Dragon Quest 1.0 20 Spelunker 0.9 20 Popeye 0.9 Nice mix of various games represented. The mahjong game is there because the guy's name has the same kanji as in the question (洋). I wouldn't have guessed Castlevania at number one, but I get it. Although, I don't think it's as western as Goemon is Japanese. I think Mother would've been a better choice. Next week's question: When it comes to "middle" (China), what game comes to mind? This is kind of a hard one to translate. It asks about the kanji 中 which means middle or inside, but it's also the first kanji of the word for China. So we might see something like Super Chinese (Kung Fu Heroes) on there. Many Twitter comments were suggesting Spartan X (Kung Fu) or Yie Ar Kung Fu.

Pro Sport Hockey's super cup has been won by Detroit: