scaryice

I mean, anything's doable at my skill level. Yesterday, I finally beat Malenia at level 1 in Elden Ring (ignore the many hours and hundreds of deaths it took). So I'm feeling super confident now. But, I did beat Rambo tonight. I played an hour a few days ago, and around another two today, so maybe 3 hours total? It wasn't too bad. A little confusing on where to go near the end, but I never felt the need to make a map since there weren't too many path options. Yeah, the farming strat helps quite a bit. Before this, the last new NES game I beat was the Lone Ranger last year, and that was a much bigger challenge. What a goofy game. I continue to be amazed at just how blatant this game and Battle of Olympus are at ripping off Zelda 2. They're not even trying to hide it. Neither one comes close quality-wise, though.

Might be off by a game or two in older years: Licensed Games Beaten in January 2012 274 2013 368 2014 414 2015 503 2016 456 2017 422 2018 400 2019 272 2020 405 2021 521 2022 380 2023 376

Nice to see us hit 400 today. Bump 'n Jump is a nice one to have out of the way, thanks to mbd. I think I'm going to try to beat Rambo, which is one of the few games on the NES that I haven't beat that I'm interested in. So far, everything I've beaten, I've done before in previous years. Bucky O'Hare is another one I'd like to get to someday. I finished updating the all time leaderboards through last year: All Time Point Leaders (2014-23) Total Licensed Others 1 nerdynebraskan 6,762 6,042 720 2 Gaia Gensouki 2,200 1,944 256 3 scaryice 2,161 1,962 199 4 tablew/chairs 2,049 1,927 122 5 Bea Iank 1,819 1,304 515 6 Crabmaster2000 1,197 1,093 104 7 DoctorNick 1,123 1,092 31 8 guitarzombie 1,026 969 57 9 Daniel Doyce 1,020 925 95 10 Khromak 914 789 125 11 bronzeshield 814 643 171 12 BlackVega 813 679 134 13 NESfiend 748 694 54 14 Kid Dracula 730 667 63 15 Bearcat-Doug 699 673 26 16 WashYourFace 640 521 119 17 bimmy lee 587 573 14 18 John198X 517 426 91 19 PII 498 435 63 20 the wizard 666 497 450 47 21 cdbblw 483 483 0 22 Red 443 359 84 23 Strikezone1 406 377 29 24 mbd39 383 378 5 25 arnpoly 363 351 12 All Time Completion Leaders (2012-23) Total Licensed Others 1 nerdynebraskan 1,638 1,518 120 2 scaryice 526 501 25 3 Gaia Gensouki 353 325 28 4 Crabmaster2000 309 309 0 5 Bea Iank 297 211 86 6 tablew/chairs 271 270 1 7 bimmy lee 266 258 8 8 WashYourFace 223 173 50 9 guitarzombie 179 169 10 10 Bearcat-Doug 169 168 1 11 DoctorNick 155 150 5 12 Daniel Doyce 141 139 2 12 Red 141 122 19 14 bronzeshield 137 115 22 15 Khromak 129 109 20 16 Kid Dracula 127 126 1 17 the wizard 666 125 99 27 18 BlackVega 118 97 21 19 NESfiend 108 107 1 20 John198X 97 78 19 21 mbd39 93 93 0 22 PII 82 78 4 23 cdbblw 74 74 0 24 Sukhov 72 70 2 25 acromite53 65 63 2 ...

Pinball is done. I got 150,000 points for the flippers to disappear and reappear (the condition is listed at 200k, but that's a mistake that people have pointed out before and I never updated).

Untouchables done. Had some trouble with the sniper shot a few weeks ago, went back to it tonight and got it first time. Yeah. Easy game other than that.

Joust is done:

Top 25 "Easiest" Games Remaining (with overall ranking) 63 Puss 'N Boots: Pero's Great Adventure 67 Mickey's Safari in Letterland 70 BreakThru 83 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game 91 Mickey's Adventures in Numberland 96 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest 103 Adventures of Bayou Billy 104 Fisher Price: Firehouse Rescue 114 Ghosts 'N Goblins 123 Rollergames 125 Pinball 127 Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stone 128 Monster in My Pocket 132 Rygar 134 Mario's Time Machine 135 Jackal 140 Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue 145 Win, Lose or Draw 152 Back to the Future 158 Contra Force 161 R.C. Pro-Am 163 Pro Wrestling 168 Target: Renegade 171 Dragon Fighter 173 Gyruss

Congrats! That's one of only five games with 7 bonus points. The others are: Battle Tank Destination Earth Star Flight of the Intruder Flying Warriors Flying Warriors is a 9 pointer, so there's only four games at the max of 17 points.

This week's result: Question #26 (1/11-1/17) - When it comes to Japanese-style, what game comes to mind? 1 Ganbare Goemon 16.6 2 Shin Onigashima 12.1 3 Momotarou Densetsu 8.7 4 Ikki 8.2 5 Nazo no Murasame-jou 7.4 6 Getsu Fuuma Den 5.2 7 Genpei Touma Den 4.9 8 Legend of Kage 4.2 9 Ninja Jajamaru-kun 3.5 10 Toukaidou Gojuusan Tsugi 2.8 11 Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou 2.0 12 Ganbare Goemon 2 1.5 13 Nobunaga's Ambition 1.3 14 Juvei Quest 1.3 15 Mito Koumon 1.2 16 Hi no Tori 1.1 17 Zombie Nation 0.9 18 Kiki Kaikai Dotou Hen 0.7 19 Donkey Kong Jr. Math 0.7 20 Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken 0.6 20 Youkai Douchuuki 0.6 20 Gomoku Narabe Renju 0.6 Goemon ended up being first after all. I continue to be surprised at seeing Shin Onigashima appear so often in these polls; I had no idea it was that well liked/remembered. FDS is kind of a weak spot for my Famicom knowledge. Zombie Nation is there because the localization changed quite a bit. Not sure how to explain DK Jr. Math other than joke votes... Next week's question: When it comes to Western-style, what game comes to mind? Now we get the opposite question, which should be quite interesting as well. There aren't that many prominent foreign made games that were popular, so maybe some Japanese made ports could make it, like Bungeling Bay, Lode Runner, Spelunker, Ultima, and Wizardry. But if people vote based on the themes/style of the game, then a lot of things could make it. Someone on Twitter suggested Dragon Quest, and I could see that and other rpgs as well, because of how many have a medieval theme. Let's see how high something like Mother gets.

NFL Football done (yuck).

Dragon Spirit completed. I actually got every maiden this time, I don't think I've ever had that happen before...

720 completed. Quick, easy game for five points.

Somehow it was still here, so Castlevania is done. Lost my last life on Dracula, so not quite a 1CC. But I got him right after continuing.

Best? Hmm, it's pretty good, but I still like Baseball Simulator the best. Since everyone is doing these nowadays, I'd say my NES baseball Mt. Rushmore is: Baseball Simulator 1000 Baseball Stars Dusty Diamond RBI Baseball

Lethal Weapon

Major League Baseball completed, with a shutout:

Nice job, and welcome!

Heavy Barrel defeated, barely, as I used up all my continues on the final boss. Missed the screenshot of the ending text. Also took care of Seicross - once again, pet has been gotten to.

Xenophobe looped:

Burgertime looped:

Was it that spot where you go to enter the door and end up in the middle of the wall? Because that happened to me before too..

Eh, I'm not sure that I want to have a bonus list this year. I'd like to actually finish the licensed list this time, plus there's a ton of bonus points already from the pain points.

Pace is looking good so far at 300: 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 50 02-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 100 04-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 02-Jan 03-Jan 02-Jan 04-Jan 02-Jan 02-Jan 150 09-Jan 01-Jan 01-Jan 02-Jan 02-Jan 01-Jan 02-Jan 05-Jan 05-Jan 02-Jan 08-Jan 03-Jan 03-Jan 200 16-Jan 03-Jan 03-Jan 03-Jan 03-Jan 02-Jan 04-Jan 10-Jan 08-Jan 04-Jan 10-Jan 05-Jan 05-Jan 250 29-Jan 07-Jan 06-Jan 04-Jan 05-Jan 04-Jan 06-Jan 22-Jan 11-Jan 06-Jan 15-Jan 10-Jan 07-Jan 300 06-Feb 14-Jan 11-Jan 06-Jan 08-Jan 10-Jan 09-Jan 14-Feb 17-Jan 08-Jan 22-Jan 22-Jan 12-Jan 350 17-Mar 25-Jan 17-Jan 10-Jan 12-Jan 16-Jan 15-Jan 19-Mar 22-Jan 11-Jan 27-Jan 28-Jan 400 26-Apr 17-Feb 26-Jan 16-Jan 19-Jan 27-Jan 30-Jan 14-Apr 30-Jan 15-Jan 08-Feb 06-Feb 450 07-Jun 02-May 16-Feb 21-Jan 31-Jan 07-Feb 10-Mar 19-May 14-Feb 19-Jan 05-Mar 20-Feb 500 22-Jul 10-Jul 09-Mar 31-Jan 21-Feb 10-Apr 11-Jul 20-Jul 01-Mar 29-Jan 15-Apr 09-Mar 550 16-Aug 08-Nov 07-Jun 10-Feb 21-Apr 02-Sep 13-Nov 21-Oct 31-Mar 07-Feb 23-Oct 27-Jun 600 14-Oct xxx 13-Sep 24-Feb 29-May xxx xxx xxx 21-Apr 13-Mar xxx 27-Dec 650 30-Nov xxx xxx 08-Apr 26-Aug xxx xxx xxx 20-Jun 25-Oct xxx xxx 677 31-Dec xxx xxx 12-Jun 13-Dec xxx xxx xxx 25-Dec xxx xxx xxx Total 677 562 638 677 677 589 582 587 677 665 564 600 ...

This week's result: Question #25 (12/28-1/10) - When it comes to dragons, what game comes to mind? 1 Dragon Quest 29.0 2 Dragon Buster 9.6 3 Dragon Quest III 8.2 4 Double Dragon 7.9 5 Suishou no Dragon 6.6 6 Dragon Power 5.4 7 Ninja Gaiden 3.4 8 Dragon Spirit 2.8 9 Flying Dragon 2.1 10 Fire Emblem 2.1 11 Hiryuu no Ken II 2.0 12 Legacy of the Wizard 2.0 13 Dragon Quest II 1.7 14 Sansara Naga 1.6 15 Dragon Quest IV 1.4 16 Double Dragon II 1.1 17 Dragon Scroll 1.0 18 Dragon's Lair 1.0 19 Metal Max 0.7 20 Hiryuu no Ken III 0.6 Of course Dragon Quest won. I am a bit surprised to see Dragon Buster so high. If the title doesn't make sense, a lot of these games have dragon related names in Japanese. Like Hiryuu means "Flying Dragon" (aka Hiryuu 1). Flying Warriors is apparently a combo of both Hiryuu 2 & 3, so I just left those Japanese names in there. Sansara Naga is an rpg game bout raising dragons. Metal Max has absolutely no dragons in its title, but the game's advertising slogan was "I'm tired of slaying dragons." Next week's question: When it comes to Japanese-style, what game comes to mind? This is an interesting one. Maybe something like Goemon?

Rollerblade Racer!!!