Beat every Game Boy game - 2020 - 225/497

[koifish | 555]

1 hour ago, VegaVegas said:

By the way, my gawd I recently got the original Gayboy DMG and... how do you even use it?? The screen is absolutely HORRIBLE and VERY hard to see anything and the contrast is almost non-existent... On the other hand, Pocket is better, maybe not significantly but at least that one is "passable"?

Playing it in bright sunlight is probably its best lighting conditions. Otherwise, it's just sort of that thing you put up with. I wouldn't say that people will readily go for it, but it gets the job done. Some games are better than others, though. Surely you can see with its level of blur why puzzle and RPGs were dominant on the GB up until super game boy and gb pocket were around. Still, I played various games for the GB contest this year on DMG. Gave me the requisite warm fuzzies coming back to my first portable. Also, the body of the DMG is very comfortable for adult hands, and the four AAs means you get a ton of battery life. But yeah, good luck beating super RC pro-am on it.

Now that makes me curious though, so I'll go back to using DMG on this thread just for you XD. Also, to see if certain games were even playable on it. Just gotta figure out where all my batteries went lately.

 

[Floating Platforms | 715]

6 hours ago, VegaVegas said:

By the way, my gawd I recently got the original Gayboy DMG and... how do you even use it?? The screen is absolutely HORRIBLE and VERY hard to see anything and the contrast is almost non-existent... On the other hand, Pocket is better, maybe not significantly but at least that one is "passable"?

One of the very first accessories I got back then was an attachable light. It had, I think, two small bulbs on the sides that would make the screen bright enough to play indoors or in the car without worrying about glare as much. That helped to eliminate or reduce the blur to make action games more playable.  At some point I got the magnifier too.  But yeah, otherwise some of those games are really tough to see if you're not in direct sunlight

[Splain | 2,569]

As a kid I used one of those bulky solar-powered battery banks. Smart of my parents to get that, I guess.

I went ahead and knocked out the last Jeopardy game, if you can manage to see it on the unlit screen.

[koifish | 555]

1 hour ago, Floating Platforms said:

One of the very first accessories I got back then was an attachable light. It had, I think, two small bulbs on the sides that would make the screen bright enough to play indoors or in the car without worrying about glare as much. That helped to eliminate or reduce the blur to make action games more playable.  At some point I got the magnifier too.  But yeah, otherwise some of those games are really tough to see if you're not in direct sunlight

I used to own a light boy, that was a trooper. Got rid of it at some point, I think the wiring or bulbs had gone and I didn't know any better at the time. After that I mostly switched to worm lights. I actually still use my nyko sometimes. More often now, however, I use an ear-mounted book light that I got somewhere long in the past. It's almost too bright, but it gets the job done for sure.

Still, nothing beats playing game boy in the bright light of a sunny day. I even enjoy the pea soup glow, though maybe that's just nostalgia talking. I cut my teeth on that brick, so even if I did get a GB Pocket a few years later (I suspect entirely so that my folks could stop buying so many AAs), I feel a lot of personal appreciation for it. Also, its aesthetics are pleasing to me. I think it's a nicely designed portable.

[koifish | 555]

8 minutes ago, Splain said:

As a kid I used one of those bulky solar-powered battery banks. Smart of my parents to get that, I guess.

I went ahead and knocked out the last Jeopardy game, if you can manage to see it on the unlit screen.

Never knew there was a solar-power pack like that, happen to remember the model or other identifying info?

[Tanooki | 4,933]

They're not on the list, they're also imports, but I got busy the other night and knocked off a few short import titles.

Ganso Yanchamaru (proper sequel to kid niki on NES, unlike the FC couple that changed his sprite and everything else)
Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu (Kunio Super Dodgeball basically)
Pop'n Twinbee (PAL release)

For some reason I decided to start playing around with it again after quite a few months.  I put time into Battletoads but got tripped up bad with the overly picky corridor stage with the rolling ball, and then I cleared probably two dozen or more puzzles in mario picross which is already done anyway.

[BlackVega | 583]

Warioland and Oddworld completed

[Floating Platforms | 715]

Gauntlet II is done.

I only beat the dragon, but I did it 4 times before I died (first encountering him on level 15). Only got 2 special items overall, the sword, magic up (x2) and the 4th was lost to me shooting the potion by mistake.  I will likely revisit at some point to get through 99 levels, but I was getting bored with it.  The transporters are the worst part of the game. Let me know if I'm missing something, but they appear to be largely random in where they send you.  I had one level where I killed everything in the level and broke every block I could find, but couldn't reach the dragon guarding the exit because it was through a teleporter that I couldn't get to no matter what. Wasted over 1000 health trying everything. If it weren't for some random BS spots, the game would be a total pushover. It's still somewhat fun, but without at least a second player, it gets old fast.

Tomorrow I should be able to get through my next game Taz-Mania. Then it looks like a boxing game after that.

[Floating Platforms | 715]

Taz-Mania is done.

It's not a bad game, but it's not a good vehicle for Taz as a character.  You have to move through the levels pretty carefully, you only get 3 spins per life (adjustable in options), you don't use the spins to dig through or around obstacles, for a character that's depicted as always hungry in the cartoons you don't eat anything. I don't know if had anything to do with the cartoon either. There was no story at all in the cartridge. The platforming is fine with only a couple of blind jumps. There's variety in the levels and you even have a racing like segment in each level to break up potential monotony. The bosses aren't hard, but look big and great. The graphics overall are outstanding. Music and sound effects leave a lot to be desired. I think if this wasn't a "Taz" game, I might like it more. Since it didn't fit the character, I consider it above average.

Next for me is Riddick Bowe Boxing - a game I had a lot of fondness for as a kid due to its challenge level. I never beat it back then so I'm excited to see how long it might take to actually take down the champ. I don't think I'll get to start trying until next week though.

[PII | 1,885]

On 10/8/2020 at 10:17 PM, koifish said:

Just an amusing thought on this point: What I've been finding with Hyper Lode Runner is that it's the total opposite. You're basically always moving to keep ahead of the bad guys, with the exception of the sections that are designed to twist your brain around. I don't know if it's just because I've never played Lode Runner before, but these puzzles are tough as nails! I can't believe a puzzle game this hard exists on Game Boy, other than Brain Drain anyway. The level of thinking you have to do around it is so much I've nearly wanted to quit a few times already, and I'm not even to level 10 yet. Incredible stuff.

Somehow I missed all the talk about "Hyper Lode Runner" recently.  I too, was really surprised by the monstrous challenge waiting inside of this little cartridge that came out on the Gameboy of all platforms.  I was pretty excited when I found out it was a real sequel, but having other games to play and finding out just how intimidating the levels are, I've just noodled around a bit here and there to make it through the first 2 levels so far...  Bandai clearly put "Hyper" in the title for good reason, not just to make it sound cooler. 

[Splain | 2,569]

Nice clears!!

@Floating Platforms I thought the kicker with Gauntlet II was that it had 999 levels, not 99. And then it just loops around. But I might be remembering wrong, or maybe I'm thinking of the NES one. Shrug.

The solar charger I had looked like this NAKI one. There are other brands and stickers on other models, but they all have this same shape. The whole back side is a solar panel. Worked really well in AZ. I still have it but the cells are dead. I took it apart and I'm looking for some replacement cells.

[koifish | 555]

Wow! That's really cool. I would love something like that, but I'd probably go for one that was a solar charger for rechargeable AAs. I just got some eneloop pros (arriving this weekend) and I'm looking forward to flexing their muscles on my DMG lifespan. Given that model's power consumption, I should get a lot of life out of those.

[Floating Platforms | 715]

3 hours ago, Splain said:

I thought the kicker with Gauntlet II was that it had 999 levels, not 99. And then it just loops around. But I might be remembering wrong, or maybe I'm thinking of the NES one. Shrug.

I remember looking it up last year or in 2018 because there was a chance I was going to play it? Or maybe just trying to help cement the criteria?  Not sure if anyone has the ability to search the old NA threads for the discussion on it, but what I had found was Zenic Reverie's YouTube videos and the consensus there, as well as any other place that mentions potential looping was that 99/100 is the last original level and then you start to see repeated rooms, but the game will go forever (unlike Gauntlet 1 on NES).  I don't remember exactly who brought up the idea of killing the dragon as an end point though.  Not a bad idea really, since going through 100 levels would likely be 4-ish hours.  I'll still probably try it one of these days.

[koifish | 555]

I have figured out how to beat the next level of hyper lode runner, but haven't been able to do it yet.

Extra Bases is starting to get more difficult, but I'm still going through.

I have 8 of the 16 gallery stars in game and watch gallery. I haven't gotten 1000 across 4 games yet though, only 3. I am terrible at several classic series games, and keep trying to be overzealous in modern oil panic.

If this isn't enough overwork, maybe I will also pick up NBA Jam again. We're gonna see what happens.

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 11/22/2020 at 7:32 AM, VegaVegas said:

Warioland and Oddworld completed

Abe's Oddysee is on Game Boy!? You just blew my mind.

[koifish | 555]

Found out last night that there's a mercy rule in Extra Bases, they ended the game after 3 innings when I had them at 13-1. I think I only have a few more games left.

[Splain | 2,569]

2 hours ago, koifish said:

Found out last night that there's a mercy rule in Extra Bases, they ended the game after 3 innings when I had them at 13-1. I think I only have a few more games left.

Nice, that's good info.

[BlackVega | 583]

On 11/30/2020 at 10:00 PM, DoctorEncore said:

Abe's Oddysee is on Game Boy!? You just blew my mind.

Yes it is but don't expect much from a black & white gayboy

[Floating Platforms | 715]

On 12/1/2020 at 7:50 AM, koifish said:

Found out last night that there's a mercy rule in Extra Bases, they ended the game after 3 innings when I had them at 13-1. I think I only have a few more games left.

If Extra Bases is exactly like RBI on the NES then that makes sense and you could probably cheese the baserunning as well. I remember exploiting the AI offensively and defensively for some quick wins.

On my end, I started Riddick Bowe last night and played 25 fights (career only lasts 40 fights before you're forced into retirement - but there are passwords so I think you can go back to an earlier place).  I'm currently ranked 10th (23-2). I've been grinding stat boosts quite a bit by fighting lower ranked guys but still feel like my stats are way too low for a real shot.

[koifish | 555]

27 minutes ago, Floating Platforms said:

If Extra Bases is exactly like RBI on the NES then that makes sense and you could probably cheese the baserunning as well. I remember exploiting the AI offensively and defensively for some quick wins.

I think they are the same series (Namco licensed famista to several different names and systems IIRC) but I haven't seen much to exploit beyond the weird treatment of baserunners. The AI is so scared of anyone on 3rd advancing to home that it will never stop the runner on 1st from advancing unchallenged to 2nd. Otherwise I'd just say this game has much easier batting and much less god-like opponents (vs. Bases Loaded, where it took forever to get good enough to beat the opponents).

I keep getting screwed up on oil panic by my desire to get easy fast points with pro strats, only to screw up. Someday I'm going to beat this and then I'll have four games over 1000 and over half the gallery unlocked. Biggest fear for 100% gallery (if that is indeed the goal at some point) is either manhole or octopus on classic. I find their rhythms difficult to follow, and I can't quite get into the groove.

One groove that I really like, however, is classic Fire as the difficulty climbs. The rhythm of the falling people starts to really get good. I should record it for a rhythm part on a song or something.

[Splain | 2,569]

I can do classic Octopus, or at least I have in the past. Not manhole though. One of these days I'll put a new battery into a G&WG cart and we can mail it around and have everyone pass off the stuff they're good at.

[Floating Platforms | 715]

2 hours ago, koifish said:

I think they are the same series (Namco licensed famista to several different names and systems IIRC) but I haven't seen much to exploit beyond the weird treatment of baserunners. The AI is so scared of anyone on 3rd advancing to home that it will never stop the runner on 1st from advancing unchallenged to 2nd. Otherwise I'd just say this game has much easier batting and much less god-like opponents (vs. Bases Loaded, where it took forever to get good enough to beat the opponents).

Yeah, that's part of what I remember, but I think RBI allowed you to coax a rundown which could be manipulated to let you get home. I might be thinking of a different baseball game or maybe that's only when the IA is running the bases to get easier outs instead of easier runs....all I definitely remember is that in RBI, California is severely underrated team and I had just as much success with them as I did with the AL All-Stars.

The baseball game I'm most concerned about on Game Boy is Roger Clemens. I understand that one is extremely difficult to control, possibly on top of tough CPUs. Thankfully, because of my convoluted system of game selections, I don't have to worry about sports after this until I beat a dozen other games.

[koifish | 555]

On 12/2/2020 at 11:47 AM, Splain said:

I can do classic Octopus, or at least I have in the past. Not manhole though. One of these days I'll put a new battery into a G&WG cart and we can mail it around and have everyone pass off the stuff they're good at.

I was just thinking of doing that idea. The sisterhood of the traveling carts would finally put that one to bed.

Anyway, Extra Bases is finished. The game never really got difficult; I found that I could game the hits to get good base hits pretty easily, and I could also tire the pitchers out easily. Also, the game won't switch out pitchers until an inning ends; So long as you keep going when the pitcher becomes tired (the starter seems to tire out by the 3rd inning if you keep him throwing), you can run the bases pretty easily. The rest of the game is pretty easy; The CPU never poses much of a threat on offense or defense. You can really get them good if you swing super early or super late; If it doesn't fly foul then you can send it right down the foul ball line, and easily proceed to victory.

I think that also I ironed out the mercy rule; If you are ahead by 10 runs or more, then the CPU team has to narrow that gap to the single-digits, or else it is a mercy win. Truth be told though, I didn't experiment to see if that's true. I just determined that 10 runs seems to be the number. It might even be lower, I just haven't tried it. There might be a lower number yet and I just didn't see it. Might even be in the manual.

Also, a pitching trick; Go from the two extremes: throw a straight that breaks inward, then throw a straight that breaks outward. Go back and forth between the far edges of the strike zones. Throw pitches that curve just barely out of reach at the end, or that break hard into the batter about halfway through the pitch. With practice you'll get a feel for what I mean. Unfortunately it's not as cut and dry as some other tricks I've found. You just have to get a feel for it, and have faith that you can stop them from hitting anything good.

On 12/2/2020 at 1:29 PM, Floating Platforms said:

The baseball game I'm most concerned about on Game Boy is Roger Clemens. I understand that one is extremely difficult to control, possibly on top of tough CPUs. Thankfully, because of my convoluted system of game selections, I don't have to worry about sports after this until I beat a dozen other games.

I can't say on the running game tricks; I seemed to find some exploits at some points, only to find them not working the next game. I'm not too worried about it though. As stated, it's not too difficult of a baseball game.

You have piqued my interest, however, in Roger Clemens. I'm curious to find out just how tough it really is. Given the lateness of the season, however, I'm putting that one on the 2021 list.

[koifish | 555]

Aaaaaand also done today is Game & Watch Gallery, or at least enough of it to satisfy the requirements posted.

I finished all four modern games with over 1000 points on hard, except manhole, which I did on easy. I got a credits sequence in which mario and luigi launch bob-omb fireworks into the air, that announce the "actors" of each game (so the characters that appear). I found it funny that DK Jr in Manhole was called "Chubby". Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4XSjD_ALJ8

At the end, it says "To Be Continued", which makes me wonder if there isn't a superlative credits that you get for the venerable masterwork that is getting 1000 points on each of the 16 game mode/difficulty combinations. The game select screen shows you, after your first four 1k points achievements, how many stars you've earned on each mode. I'm pretty far away from getting 1k on every game, it would probably take the passing around game to work that one out.

@Floating Platforms I gave Roger Clemens a look. That's a pretty fun baseball game. Much harder than the other games, but still speaks to me of a higher overall quality than the other baseball games I've played on GB. I really like the multiple perspectives in fielding, even if it is throwing me off since fielders throw the ball toward base directions based on their perspective instead of being consistently down=home, up=2nd, etc. Still, looking forward to it.

What I'm not necessarily looking forward to, is studying hyper lode runner. I brought a lot of projects onto my plate this month, and so I don't know that I'll finish any more GB games this year. We'll see though.

Edited December 4, 2020 by koifish

[Splain | 2,569]

3 minutes ago, koifish said:

Aaaaaand also done today is Game & Watch Gallery, or at least enough of it to satisfy the requirements posted.

I finished all four modern games with over 1000 points on hard, except manhole, which I did on easy. I got a credits sequence in which mario and luigi launch bob-omb fireworks into the air, that announce the "actors" of each game (so the characters that appear). I found it funny that DK Jr in Manhole was called "Chubby". Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4XSjD_ALJ8

At the end, it says "To Be Continued", which makes me wonder if there isn't a superlative credits that you get for the venerable masterwork that is getting 1000 points on each of the 16 game mode/difficulty combinations. The game select screen shows you, after your first four 1k points achievements, how many stars you've earned on each mode. I'm pretty far away from getting 1k on every game, it would probably take the passing around game to work that one out.

Yeah, I worry about that, since basically all signs point to there being a better ending. I've never seen anyone online achieve that, but maybe it's out there somewhere. Just filling out the gallery might count as an unnecessary "100%" kind of thing, but if there's an actual ending, it will be hard to justify excluding that from the requirement. I'll still count it this year, but I'll keep digging. And I'm all for passing a cart around if we've got people who can get 1000 points on each mode. I'm guessing the choke point will be finding someone who can do Manhole.

I have the Extra Bases manual but I didn't find anything about the Mercy Rule details. Looks like there's all kinds of stuff to do in that game though, like pinch hit, steal bases, pick-off, tag up, relief pitchers, and it says all your batters will be "lucky" (shake their bat before hitting, increased hitting power) in the 7th inning. Looks to be more full-featured than the couple of baseball games I've tried, or maybe I just need to read the manual more often.