scaryice

The results for the latest question were just posted today. Looks like they're gonna be doing a question for each color: Question #12 (9/28-10/4) - When it comes to black carts, what game comes to mind? 1 Dragon Quest III 20.5 2 Dragon Quest 12.0 3 Bomberman 7.9 4 Raid on Bungeling Bay 7.1 5 Star Soldier 6.3 6 Wizardry 2.5 7 Dragon Quest IV 2.4 8 Gomoku Narabe Renju 1.8 9 Xevious 1.8 10 Ghosts 'n Goblins 1.4 11 Dragon Quest II 1.3 12 Gachapon Senshi 2 1.2 13 Famicom Jump 1.2 14 Legend of Kage 1.1 15 Fire Emblem 1.1 16 Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken 1.1 17 Okhotsuku ni Kiyu 1.0 18 Gradius 1.0 19 Bases Loaded 0.9 20 Transformers: Convoy no Nazo 0.6 Couple interesting things here. You can continue to see how big of a hit Bungeling Bay was over there, since it seems to be well remembered. And of course, Dragon Quest gets all four entries in the top 11. Bases Loaded at 19 is neat, since it was also #2 in the red cart poll. That's because even though the vast majority of the carts were red, there's a black variant that exists as well. The current question is for this week is, When it comes to a good protagonist, what game comes to mind?

All of the top ten for the mystery question have "nazo" in the title or subtitle, except for Portopia. The Japanese subtitle for Mega Man 2 is "The Mystery of Dr. Wily." It should say Castlevania 1 for the second entry on the BGM question, my bad. "Adventure game" would refer to graphic adventure or visual novel type games (like Shadowgate), rather than action-based games. Other than Zelda, all the answers there are that style.

It's because Zombie Hunter was published by a company named "Hi Score", and the first thing you hear powering up the cart is a voice saying that.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Famicom in July, Nintendo has been holding a "Famicom National Referendum" (ファミコン国民投票). It's basically a survey of the Japanese fans, with a new question every week. I thought it would be fun to share the results here in English, to see how their experiences differed from ours. Results Famicom40th Twitter Question #1 (7/15-7/19) - What was the first game you bought (or had someone buy for you)? 1 Super Mario Bros. 14.4 2 Mario Bros. 9.2 3 Super Mario Bros. 3 3.5 4 Donkey Kong 3.0 5 Baseball 3.0 6 Xevious 2.1 7 Dragon Quest III 2.0 7 Kirby's Adventure 2.0 9 Excitebike 1.9 10 Donkey Kong Jr. 1.8 11 Lode Runner 1.6 12 Popeye 1.5 13 Kung Fu 1.5 14 F1 Race 1.5 15 Ice Climber 1.4 16 Clu Clu Land 1.2 17 Dragon Quest 1.2 18 Devil World 1.0 19 Mappy 0.9 20 Pinball 0.9 Question #2 (7/20-7/26) - When it comes to high scores, what game comes to mind? 1 Star Soldier 30.2 2 Zombie Hunter 18.7 3 Xevious 8.5 4 Star Force 7.8 5 Gradius 3.4 6 Super Mario Bros. 2.1 7 Tetris 1.9 8 Pinball 1.8 9 Twinbee 1.7 10 Mario Bros. 1.4 11 Balloon Fight 1.3 12 Dr. Mario 1.0 13 Starship Hector 0.8 14 Galaga 0.7 15 Bomberman 0.5 16 Super Mario Bros. 3 0.5 16 Yoshi 0.5 18 Pac-Man 0.5 19 Ice Climber 0.5 20 Donkey Kong 0.5 Question #3 (7/27-8/2) - When it comes to red carts, what game comes to mind? 1 Mother 16.0 2 Bases Loaded 15.1 3 Excite Bike 14.3 4 MUSCLE 13.9 5 Donkey Kong 13.1 6 Mega Man 2 6.3 7 Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken 3.8 8 Robowarrior 2.0 9 Captain Tsubasa 1.5 10 Adventures of Dino-Riki 1.5 11 Captain Tsubasa II 1.4 12 Ninja Jajamaru-kun 1.1 13 Donkey Kong 3 0.9 14 Son Son 0.8 15 Donald Land 0.6 16 Lot Lot 0.6 17 Renegade 0.5 18 Super Mario Bros. 0.4 19 Puss in Boots (JP) 0.4 20 Zoids 0.3 Question #4 (8/3-8/9) - When it comes to competing against someone, what game comes to mind? 1 Mario Bros. 19.2 2 Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku 13.9 3 RBI Baseball 9.9 4 Joy Mech Fight 5.2 5 Urban Champion 5.1 6 Ice Climber 4.7 7 Balloon Fight 4.6 8 Spy vs Spy 4.1 9 MUSCLE 3.6 10 Super Dodge Ball 2.8 11 Dr. Mario 2.3 12 Baseball 1.2 13 Musashi no Ken 1.2 14 Yie Ar Kung Fu 0.9 15 Gachapon Senshi 2 0.9 16 Keru Naguuru 0.8 17 Tennis 0.8 18 Super Mario Bros. 3 0.7 19 Bomberman 0.6 20 Yoshi's Cookie 0.6 Question #5 (8/10-8/16) - When it comes to using the mic, what game comes to mind? 1 Takeshi no Chousenjou 33.8 2 Raid on Bungeling Bay 24.7 3 Doraemon 18.5 4 Legend of Zelda 7.7 5 Kamen Rider Club 3.4 6 Star Luster 1.6 7 Kirby's Adventure 1.1 8 Star Soldier 0.9 8 Kid Icarus 0.9 10 Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou 0.8 11 Super Dodge Ball 0.5 12 Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou 2 0.5 13 Doraemon: Gigazombie no Gyakushuu 0.4 14 Karaoke Studio 0.3 15 Tag Team Pro Wrestling 0.3 16 Ganbare Goemon 2 0.3 17 Mike Tyson's Punch Out 0.2 18 Knight Gundam Monogatari 0.2 19 Atlantis no Nazo 0.2 19 Gradius 0.2 Question #6 (8/17-8/23) - When it comes to sports games, what comes to mind? 1 RBI Baseball 22.5 2 Hyper Olympic 16.1 3 Tennis 6.4 4 Baseball 5.7 5 Super Dodge Ball 5.4 6 Bases Loaded 4.1 7 Golf 3.6 8 Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku 2.6 9 Volleyball 2.1 10 Soccer 1.6 11 Captain Tsubasa 1.5 12 Athletic World 1.3 13 Jumbo Ozaki no Hole in One Professional 1.3 14 Captain Tsubasa II 1.3 15 Excitebike 1.2 16 Famista 89 1.2 17 Ice Hockey 1.2 18 Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium 87 1.1 19 NES Open Tournament Golf 1.0 20 Family Tennis 1.0 Question #7 (8/24-8/30) - When it comes to white carts, what game comes to mind? 1 Doraemon 21.5 2 Final Fantasy III 7.0 3 Balloon Fight 6.7 4 Final Fantasy 5.7 5 Dr. Mario 5.6 6 Ikki 5.6 7 Adventure Island 5.2 8 Donkey Kong Jr. 5.0 9 Championship Lode Runner 3.0 10 Atlantis no Nazo 2.7 11 Hydlide 2.4 12 Momotarou Densetsu 2.1 13 Spelunker 2.0 14 Final Fantasy II 1.8 15 Pooyan 1.2 16 Zenou Senkan Galg 1.2 17 Thexder 1.0 18 Ninja Gaiden 0.9 19 Fantasy Zone 0.9 20 Mickey Mousecapades 0.9 Question #8 (8/31-9/6) - When it comes to mystery (nazo in Japanese), what game comes to mind? 1 Atlantis no Nazo 32.2 2 Transformers: Convoy no Nazo 19.4 3 Nazo no Murasame-jou 14.8 4 Super Xevious: Gump no Nazo 5.1 5 Dragon Power 4.2 6 Nazo no Kabe: Block Kuzushi 4.1 7 Mega Man 2 3.6 8 Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken 2.3 9 Nazoler Land 1.9 10 Pocket Zaurus 1.8 11 Legend of Zelda 1.6 12 Sanma no Meitantei 1.2 13 Famicom Detective Club (part 1) 0.7 14 Takeshi no Chousenjou 0.6 15 Famicom Detective Club (part 2) 0.4 16 Okhotsuku ni Kiyu 0.4 17 Mississippi Satsujin Jiken 0.4 18 Nazoler Land: Dai 3 Gou 0.3 19 Tower of Druaga 0.3 20 Nazoler Land Special 0.2 Question #9 (9/7-9/13) - When it comes to good BGM, what game comes to mind? 1 Dragon Quest III 9.2 2 Castlevania III 7.4 3 Mother 5.7 4 Final Fantasy III 4.5 5 Dragon Quest IV 3.4 6 Kirby's Adventure 3.2 7 Dragon Quest II 2.8 8 Legend of Zelda 2.5 9 Megami Tensei II 2.4 10 Mega Man 2 2.4 11 Lagrange Point 2.3 12 Castlevania 2.0 13 Mouryou Senki Madara 1.7 14 Milon's Secret Castle 1.5 15 Dragon Quest 1.5 16 Okhotsuku ni Kiyu 1.4 17 Super Mario Bros. 1.3 18 Shin Onigashima 1.3 19 Mega Man 3 1.2 20 Goonies 1.2 Question #10 (9/14-9/20) - When it comes to adventure games, what comes to mind? 1 Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken 22.7 2 Okhotsuku ni Kiyu 10.1 3 Sanma no Meitantei 9.7 4 Shin Onigashima 7.1 5 Famicom Detective Club (part 1) 6.6 6 Famicom Detective Club (part 2) 5.5 7 Princess Tomato 3.9 8 Metal Slader Glory 2.7 9 Challenger 2.1 10 Legend of Zelda 1.8 11 Shadowgate 1.6 12 Mississippi Satsujin Jiken 1.3 13 Idol Hakkenden 1.1 14 Suishou no Dragon 1.0 15 Yuuyuuki 1.0 16 Dead Zone 1.0 17 Tantei Jinguuji Saburou (FDS) 1.0 18 Ripple Island 0.9 19 Erika to Satoru no Yume Bouken 0.8 20 Jesus 0.7 Question #11 (9/21-9/27) - When it comes to "not being able to beat it", what game comes to mind? 1 Takeshi no Chousenjou 9.4 2 Ghosts 'n Goblins 6.8 3 Adventure Island 4.9 4 Transformers: Convoy no Nazo 4.8 5 Super Mario Bros. 2 (JP) 4.1 6 Mighty Bomb Jack 2.9 7 Spelunker 2.6 8 Chubby Cherub 2.3 9 Kamen Rider Club 2.3 10 Dragon Quest II 2.2 11 Dragon Power 2.1 12 Atlantis no Nazo 1.9 13 Championship Lode Runner 1.7 14 Ninja Gaiden 1.4 15 Challenger 1.3 15 Mississippi Satsujin Jiken 1.3 17 Tower of Druaga 1.2 18 Hoshi o Miro Hito 1.2 19 Elnark no Zaihou 1.2 20 Raid on Bungeling Bay 1.1 ...

Looks like you beat it in 2017 as well.

Congrats! It's quite tough, but it's still way easier than doing only magic or only life. Thunderbird takes 96 hits at level 1 attack...

I love reading about NES strategy, so by all means feel free to post more. I remember there was a entire Nintendo Age thread about Mutant Virus strategy 5+ years ago, not sure if it was archived anywhere.

Nah, I was annoyed by some things and quit. Plus, it's a little too basic compared to some of Vita Wizardry-inspired games I've already played (and the PS2 Wizardry). I'm sure I could take it down easily with a guide, but I've been keeping a list of turn-based rpgs that I've completed (ranking them by system), and I don't think I want to beat it that way since that would make it hard to rank. It looks like people did get all the diamonds in previous years, as far as I can tell. Also, the bad ending says "this is not the proper way of ending this story," so it seems similar to Bubble Bobble where we always required the good end.

Congrats! It took me a few weeks too, on the Famicom version. Here's my notes from then, just for comparison's sake:

Congrats! It was close for a while, but it looks like you're going to win the title once again. As for the overall progress, unfortunately, it looks like we hit the "500 wall" again as we seemingly do every year.

I've been saying for a while that I wanted to play Wizardry, but after spending a bit of time with it, it's a little rough. Not sure how I'm supposed to map out a floor when I get randomly teleported with no indication of it happening. I guess there's a spell to give your coordinates, but still...

It sounds like you did it. I think it's about 15 minutes or so to complete a loop? Maybe less.

That's correct. There were 4 games that were beaten by a different person in every year from 2012-22: Bubble Bobble, Karnov, TMNT Tournament Fighters, and Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. Only Bubble Bobble and Karnov will remain for next year. There's another ~25 games that also haven't had anyone beat them twice, but also haven't been beaten every year.

Nice to see that we're done completely with 3 & 4 point games. I got a PS5 finally, so I haven't been playing too much NES lately. I have been playing a few hacks, though, which is something that I have little experience with.

Fear Effect 2 beaten. Fun game, feels like a survival horror game mixed with some Tomb Raider shooting. Although, it's much more action based and segmented. Very campy humor, which varies being great and terrible. Either way, it was always interesting. It's been 8 years since I beat the first one, so I can't compare it too easily. I think I want to say that maybe the first one was a bit better.

There's an argument to be made that since I've allowed people to count a version from another region (like someone playing a Famicom cart instead of an NES cart), then maybe the Japanese manual's code should be accepted? Hmm... Well, I'm pretty sure you can beat it without continuing. I tried playing it a little while ago and made it to level 4 twice, I think? It doesn't seem too rough until there, at least once I realized the wings existed.

Well said, that was my thinking. Always happy to see more people joining and posting here!

I approve. It's good game design, since it gives people a reason to frequently try out new weapons and tactics. Nice to see them ignoring all the complaints.

Beat Fantasy Zone II (Famicom), after a week or so of trying. It's a lot harder than the first one, and the slowdown is terrible, so it was a bit rough. I only beat it after reading an faq, and learning that there were invisible items/shops that you can uncover - that made it much more doable. Just one part of the long and strange ending:

Yeah, it's basically the first popular one that inspired so many other ones. I played the English translation, but the problem is you have to find invisible items to progress, and you have to hit the exact right spot. Like, you can examine a table and find nothing, because you didn't examine a certain part of it. That sort of thing.

I finally beat Portopia the other day, after getting stuck last year. I broke down and used a guide, and wow, that game was some absolute BS. I don't know if I ever would've gotten all the necessary items blind. I didn't care so much about using a guide because I was actually spoiled on the culprit's identity recently, just by reading Famicom collecting stuff. I guess it's one of those common spoilers that everyone from that era knows, like FF7.

GG, StarTropics is done. Some issues on 7-1, game overed so I had to take the safe route. Forgot some of the dark areas too. Still, pretty smooth for not having played it in 4 years.

Gonna play through StarTropics again tonight. Been a while, but I should be able to do it in under 2 hours. Here we go...

WCW beaten once more:

Chubby Cherub done: