NES completions thread 2019 - (587/677)

[bronzeshield | 293]

I beat The Adventures of Rad Gravity:

No idea how I beat this one as a kid, especially as a rental, since there's so much obscure nonsense that needs to be sussed out. I probably called the Nintendo Game Counselors a bunch.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

On 12/17/2019 at 12:43 AM, scaryice said:

Looking at my spreadsheets, most of the point values for 2020 are already set. Here's a look at which games will be changing by 2 points next year. As always, it's based on the previous 5 years (2015-19). There's more which should be added to this list later when everything's finalized.

 

 

I'm surprised to see Excitebike and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Taito) getting a higher score. I finished both for this year and Last Crusade is a fairly easy game and it can be beaten in about 10 minutes. I didn't know what the requirements were for Excitebike since there weren't any listed on the NA list. I made sure to finish first in all six races on Selection B with the computer racers to be safe, but a top 3 finish will still advance you to the next track. You could complete the game on Selection A, but I always thought that was basically a practice mode since you race by yourself without any computer bikers, so there's really no challenge there.

[Andykin Skysk8r | 49]

On 10/29/2019 at 7:39 PM, Daniel_Doyce said:

Bandit Kings of Ancient China is done. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 is next. Haven't heard an update from Crab in a while, but I guess he's still working on L'Empereur and that will finish the Koei games.

I assume no one is interested in beating Shingen? I can do that one too.

 

 

Do you know L'Empereur well? Im playing scenario 1 and it says the victory condition is to capture 9 cities but I have captured 11 and it hasn't said I won yet, although I did get promoted to emperor about halfway through my run.

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

16 hours ago, Andykin Skysk8r said:

Do you know L'Empereur well? Im playing scenario 1 and it says the victory condition is to capture 9 cities but I have captured 11 and it hasn't said I won yet, although I did get promoted to emperor about halfway through my run.

The game won't "end" until you conquer all of Europe.

[Andykin Skysk8r | 49]

7 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

The game won't "end" until you conquer all of Europe.

Ah I see. Another noob question:: Ive captured everywhere except Russia, Spain, and Britain but suddenly the game stopped giving me food in November. Do you know how to fix this?

[scaryice | 585]

At this point, if no more games are beaten, the following games will change by 2+ points:

 

We would also have the bonus points for next year set. I said it was going to be one point for each year that a game wasn't beaten, if you'll recall.  So 220 games would be worth a total of 432 bonus points.

 

5 points

Battle Tank, Days of Thunder, Dungeon Magic, Flight of the Intruder, Flying Warriors, Infiltrator

 

4 points

Championship Pool, Destination Earth Star, F-117A Stealth Fighter, F-15 Strike Eagle, George Foreman's KO Boxing, Last Starfighter, Lemmings, Little Ninja Brothers, LoopZ, Metal Mech, Michael Andretti's World Grand Prix, Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum, Motor City Patrol, Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing, Rally Bike, Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship, Super Glove Ball, Time Lord, Treasure Master, Ultimate Air Combat

 

3 points

All Pro Basketball, Athletic World, Back to the Future II & III, Bases Loaded IV, Best of the Best: Championship Karate, Bill Elliott's Nascar Challenge, Castlequest, Defenders of Dynatron City, Dragon Power, Empire Strikes Back, Evert & Lendl Top Player's Tennis, Formula 1: Built to Win, Galaxy 5000, Gumshoe, Heavy Shreddin', Immortal, KlashBall, Krusty's Funhouse, Laser Invasion, Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf, Lunar Pool, Mighty Bomb Jack, Mission: Impossible, Q*Bert, Race America, Ring King, Rocket Ranger, Solomon's Key, Solstice, Tetris 2, Thunder & Lightning, Times of Lore, Ultima: Warriors of Destiny, World Championship Wrestling

 

2 points

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar, Air Fortress, Al Unser Jr.'s Turbo Racing, Arkanoid, Bases Loaded II: Second Season, Bases Loaded III, Break Time: The National Pool Tour, Cobra Triangle, Conflict, Cool World, Dance Aerobics, Demon Sword, Digger T. Rock: Legend of the Lost City, Dirty Harry: The War Against Drugs, Eliminator Boat Duel, Faria: A World of Mystery & Danger, Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll, High Speed, Hunt for Red October, Ikari Warriors, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Kid Kool, Kung Fu Heroes, Last Ninja, Legacy of the Wizard, Mach Rider, Mad Max, Milon's Secret Castle, Monster Truck Rally, Mutant Virus, Mystery Quest, Nobunaga's Ambition II, Orb-3D, Phantom Fighter, Pirates!, Power Punch II, Racket Attack, RoboCop 3, Robowarrior, Rock 'n Ball, Shingen the Ruler, Short Order/Eggsplode, Side Pocket, Silkworm, Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, Sky Kid, Sky Shark, Slalom, Smash T.V., Stealth ATF, Street Cop, Super Cars, Super Team Games, Swords and Serpents, Tecmo Cup Soccer, To the Earth, Total Recall, Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari, Track & Field II, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

 

1 point

8 Eyes, Addams Family, Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonstrike, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends, Airwolf, American Gladiators, Bad Street Brawler, Bandit Kings of Ancient China, Bard's Tale, Barker Bill's Trick Shooting, Bases Loaded, Battle of Olympus, Black Bass, Blue Marlin, Blues Brothers, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Bump 'n' Jump, Captain Planet, Castelian, Caveman Games, Clash at Demonhead, Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge, Crystalis, Darkman, Day Dreamin' Davey, Deadly Towers, Destiny of an Emperor, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dragon Warrior III, Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge, Fun House, Gauntlet, Goal!, Golf Grand Slam, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Hook, Hoops, Hudson Hawk, Isolated Warrior, Jungle Book, Kid Icarus, Kings of the Beach, Knight Rider, Last Action Hero, Legend of Ghost Lion, Legends of the Diamond, L'Empereur, Lethal Weapon, Lone Ranger, Low G-Man, Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13 II, Marvel's X-Men, Ms. Pac Man, NES Open Tournament Golf, Nightshade, Ninja Kid, Overlord, Pinball Quest, Pinbot, Predator, Pro Wrestling, Puzznic, R.C. Pro-Am II, Rad Racer II, Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$, RoadBlasters, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, RoboCop 2, Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms II, Seicross, Silent Service, Simpsons: Bart vs. the World, Skate Or Die 2, Snake Rattle 'n Roll, Spy Hunter, Stanley and the Search for Dr. Livingston, Star Force, Star Voyager, Star Wars, Stinger, Super Spike V'Ball, Super Spy Hunter, Swamp Thing, Thunderbirds, Thundercade, Top Gun: The Second Mission, Town & Country Surf Designs, Ultima: Exodus, Ultima: Quest of the Avatar, Ultimate Basketball, Untouchables, Werewolf: The Last Warrior, Wizards & Warriors III, World Champ, World Games, Zanac,

 

The lowest ranked game to receive a bonus point would be Stinger (131st easiest, out of 662), which would be a 2 next year. It was unbeaten in 2013. Meanwhile, there will be two 10s which have been beaten in every year: Snake's Revenge (604) and King's Knight (624).

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by scaryice

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:46 PM, Andykin Skysk8r said:

Ah I see. Another noob question:: Ive captured everywhere except Russia, Spain, and Britain but suddenly the game stopped giving me food in November. Do you know how to fix this?

It's kind of hard to diagnose without more specifics. Are you talking about the quarterly executive phases? You can make territories supply bases under the Command option. Otherwise that seems odd.. Like every city got no food in November? Remember the city consumes food every month too.

I'd try to make an alliance with Spain, even if you have to give a massive amount of gold, and take out Russia. Then a huge amount of troops and resources can be moved to Western Europe. It's kind of like a reverse Schlieffen plan except you're France instead of Germany

 

[Andykin Skysk8r | 49]

13 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

It's kind of hard to diagnose without more specifics. Are you talking about the quarterly executive phases? You can make territories supply bases under the Command option. Otherwise that seems odd.. Like every city got no food in November? Remember the city consumes food every month too.

I'd try to make an alliance with Spain, even if you have to give a massive amount of gold, and take out Russia. Then a huge amount of troops and resources can be moved to Western Europe. It's kind of like a reverse Schlieffen plan except you're France instead of Germany

 

What I mean is on the national/executive phase, the cumulative food you can distribute is harvested/collected in november so then on the December phase you can distribute it. So if I understand correctly using the command option the supply base thing gives you overall more food and the tax option gives you overall more gold? Does this negatively affect the specific citys food/money?

Also do you know how the game calculates how many recruits you are allowed to recruit?

Ive gotten more familiar with the game and my new strategy is to cripple Prussia and Austria to the point that they wont invade me, conquer Denmark and then direct all my resources to taking Britain, because they really make the amphibious invasions difficult in this game.

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

10 minutes ago, Andykin Skysk8r said:

What I mean is on the national/executive phase, the cumulative food you can distribute is harvested/collected in november so then on the December phase you can distribute it. So if I understand correctly using the command option the supply base thing gives you overall more food and the tax option gives you overall more gold? Does this negatively affect the specific citys food/money?

Also do you know how the game calculates how many recruits you are allowed to recruit?

Ive gotten more familiar with the game and my new strategy is to cripple Prussia and Austria to the point that they wont invade me, conquer Denmark and then direct all my resources to taking Britain, because they really make the amphibious invasions difficult in this game.

I wouldn't use the tax option since it really pisses the cities off. Yeah, make Paris and a few other interior cities that you don't need to defend be supply bases and don't worry if they starve. There's also an option to toggle food sufficiency between low and high and I always make it low. Fuck em

I'm not sure about the recruits. It must be a factor of population and a few other things relating to general happiness of the city (e.g. food sufficiency).

I typically start by making alliances immediately with Spain and Turkey if possible, rolling up the Scandinavian countries, then Prussia, then Austria, then Russia. Once is Russia is gone, it's all downhill as you work on Turkey, then Spain, then finally Britain (which will be starving and in poor shape after they can't import from Russia anymore). This is for scenario 4, however. I'm sure it's a lot tougher starting on 1.

[BlackVega | 583]

Jungle Book completed:

By the way, if we are supposed to beat everything until 2019 then I feel like I'm writing an essay for school on the last day

[Andykin Skysk8r | 49]

5 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

I wouldn't use the tax option since it really pisses the cities off. Yeah, make Paris and a few other interior cities that you don't need to defend be supply bases and don't worry if they starve. There's also an option to toggle food sufficiency between low and high and I always make it low. Fuck em

I'm not sure about the recruits. It must be a factor of population and a few other things relating to general happiness of the city (e.g. food sufficiency).

I typically start by making alliances immediately with Spain and Turkey if possible, rolling up the Scandinavian countries, then Prussia, then Austria, then Russia. Once is Russia is gone, it's all downhill as you work on Turkey, then Spain, then finally Britain (which will be starving and in poor shape after they can't import from Russia anymore). This is for scenario 4, however. I'm sure it's a lot tougher starting on 1.

Thanks for all the tips! Scenario 1 is a bit too much because the directory is really dumb and inefficient so I play on scenario 2 where I can get them out of the picture in a few years.

[scaryice | 585]

Looking back on my 2019, I beat five NES games for the first time. And more:

 

• First was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I had attempted to beat it before, but this time I got serious (by using a guide). It has its charms, but I still think of it as a crappier Getsu Fuuma Den. I didn't play it as a kid so I don't have the nostalgia for it that some people do. By Konami's standards, it was bad. But that still makes it better than a lot of other games.
• Second was Battle of Olympus, which I did not enjoy. I'd always heard it was like Zelda 2 (probably my favorite NES game), and that was an understatement. But everything felt unpolished in comparison, so I would avoid spending your time on this.
• Next was Sword Master, a strangely fun game despite the flaws, and followed soon after by Shadow of the Ninja. The latter was definitely the best of these five, maybe not quite on the level of Shatterhand or Ninja Gaiden, but still quality stuff. Hot take: old-school Natsume was great.
• Last was Snake's Revenge. I had the opposite reaction compared to Olympus, because I actually thought this was better than advertised. If you like Metal Gear 1, you'd probably like this too. Of course it's no MG2 on the MSX, but that's okay.
• I also beat Metal Max on the Famicom, which finally received a translation a year ago. A post-apocalyptic, tank-based rpg with some unique ideas, it really stands out from all the other Dragon Quest clones. It's unbalanced in some ways, but still a title I'd recommended for 8-bit rpg fans.

 

Speaking of Zelda 2, I beat it again for the first time in a few years. What was special was that this time I finally defeated Dark Link without doing the cheap strat. It was fun to take him on the legit way, and it really wasn't hard at all fully powered up.

I also was able to finally finish a deathless & warpless run of the Famicom version of Super Mario Bros. 3. That's actually way harder than it sounds, and it took me a month of doing about one attempt per night. Many years ago in the early 2000s I had done that for SMB1-2, and I was doing SMB3 until I had one attempt get to Bowser and fail. I quit in frustration, until I finally got my revenge this year (and on the harder version to boot). Of course, I did die on Bowser again once, but this time I didn't give up!

Afterwards, I tried a deathless/warpless run of Super Mario World, and it only took me 7 tries - much easier. Was going to do SM64, but after a couple tries it seemed like it might turn out to be quite annoying... maybe someday. Oh, I still need to do a big write-up on why SMB3 is better than SMW - I've been meaning to do that.

Looking forward to another great year of NES gaming in 2020! I'd like to play a few more rpgs, although my list is made up almost entirely of Famicom ones at this point. Maybe Wizardry as well.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by scaryice

[scaryice | 585]

Since this is the last day and we probably won't have any more completions, I've gone ahead and updated the standings with the final bonus points. Crabmaster2000 (is he even on VGS yet?) gets 40 points for FCI/Mindscape/Sunsoft/Taxan, and the following people get 10 points each: bronzeshield (Acclaim), Maydogg6 (Tecmo), and Strikezone1 (Ocean). If these are the final standings, then bronzeshield moves up to 4th and Maydogg moves up to 10th. Nerdynebraskan won several more publisher crowns, but he already hit the max of 100 bonus points. He easily finished 1st for the second straight year and third time overall, setting a bunch of records in the process.

NES Champions

 

Gaia Gensouki, Kromak, Maydogg6, and Strikezone1 all made their first top ten, while I maintained my streak of being the only person to finish in the top ten every year.

Top Ten Finishes

 

Yeah, I don't think anyone will beat nerdy's 2019 stats anytime soon. Impressive years from crabmaster and tablew/chairs also saw them rank among the all time best:

 

Most Licensed Completions

 

Most Overall Completions

 

Most Licensed Points

 

Most Overall Points

 

All Time Total Completions

 

Other Fun Stats

• There's only 3 games left that have been beaten by the same person every year: Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum & Wayne Gretzky Hockey (both by bimmy lee), and Amagon (by me).
• Since point values were introduced in 2014, there are 58 games which have been worth the same amount every year (including 2020). These are almost all 1s and 10s, but the others are 2 pointers (Duck Tales 2, GNG, Panic Restaurant, TMNT2, and Wayne Gretzky), 3 pointers (Gunsmoke, Jack Nicklaus), and 9 pointers (Kid Kool, Monster Truck Rally, X-Men).
• There's also only 1 game which has had seven different point values in all seven years: Super Spike V'ball. It's gone from 2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Will it be 9 in 2021?
• In order to figure out the point values, I have to rank all the games from 1-662 based on their previous five years worth of results. So the final 67 games may all get a 10, but can you guess which game is dead last at #662?

Game #662

For the second straight year, it's Super Glove Ball. It was unbeaten in the past three years, and finished 633rd and 660th in 2016 and 2015. I'm sure you're now wondering what game is #1 - it's Donkey Kong Jr, also for the second straight year. Previously, it was Pac-Man in 2018 and Amagon for the four years before that.

Edited December 31, 2019 by scaryice

[scaryice | 585]

I'll post the new thread a couple hours before the start time later tonight - midnight eastern.

[BlackVega | 583]

One more wave of games:

-Eliminator Boat Duel

-Heavy Shreddin

-Kid Kool

-Ren & Stimpy

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

I'll commit to playing the Koei block + Shingen next year. After that, whatever RPGs I have time for.

[scaryice | 585]

3 hours ago, MaarioS said:

One more wave of games:

-Eliminator Boat Duel

-Heavy Shreddin

-Kid Kool

-Ren & Stimpy

 

Lol, I knew this was gonna happen...

[Kid Dracula | 126]

I just Superspiked V-Ball. Not sure why this one is an 8 but it must be unpopular. Arkanoid is also an 8 somehow haha.