Friend & I beat TMNT the Manhattan Project today (admittedly with 5 lives setting). Fun game, not too hard until you get to the final stage which is insane.
Xexyz is done. It was my first time beating it; it was decent, but a bit repetitive. And it's a bit frustrating losing all of your power-ups every time you die; it meant I wasted a lot of time farming more energy units to replace them because anything nasty enough to kill me with the power-ups wasn't worth fighting again with the pea shooter.
This completion also ties the single-year record that I set last year. Also, if I'm not mistaken, I think this makes me the 2019 Hudson champion.
Friend & I beat TMNT the Manhattan Project today (admittedly with 5 lives setting). Fun game, not too hard until you get to the final stage which is insane.
What's the 5 lives setting? I'm not aware of an options menu for that game, and I don't see a code for it in the manual. Is it some kind of cheat code?
JP Version has an options menu, in the NES version you can access options menu with Konami code (b swapped for a). There's a normal/easy mode, 3/5/7 lives options, and a sound test.
Edit: also not sure if that qualifies as a cheat code. If so then don't mark this one off!
Monster Party is done. And with this completion, I have broken the single-year completions record. I wonder if I can get to 200 completions by the end of April?
JP Version has an options menu, in the NES version you can access options menu with Konami code (b swapped for a). There's a normal/easy mode, 3/5/7 lives options, and a sound test.
Edit: also not sure if that qualifies as a cheat code. If so then don't mark this one off!
Normally I wouldn't allow that, but since it's in the Japanese version without a code, I guess it's fine. We allow people to beat the versions from different regions and count it, so that makes sense, I think.
I just beat a couple Famicom versions of NES games myself:
Heavy Barrel - played this game the other day and I somehow game overed twice at the final boss. I've beaten it before, so that's kind of embarassing. But today, I picked it back and made it all to the final boss without dying. Only died once against him, so it was close to a no-death playthrough. You just have to take your time and play slowly to kill all the annoying red grenade guys.
Magic John (Totally Rad) - Seems a little easier than the American version, but maybe I'm just imagining things. The characters look different in the Famicom version, I guess they had some fun with the translation (since it's kind of generic otherwise).
Xexyz is done. It was my first time beating it; it was decent, but a bit repetitive. And it's a bit frustrating losing all of your power-ups every time you die; it meant I wasted a lot of time farming more energy units to replace them because anything nasty enough to kill me with the power-ups wasn't worth fighting again with the pea shooter.
This completion also ties the single-year record that I set last year. Also, if I'm not mistaken, I think this makes me the 2019 Hudson champion.
I wish the shooter parts of Xexyz were more interesting. It could've been a top title with some more polish.
Yes, you are the Hudson champ! Here's the record of previous champs for that and your other two publisher titles this year (Gametek/Kemco), with point totals:
I wonder why the designers insisted on making this game such a player-hostile abomination? A few small changes and it would've been infinitely more enjoyable to play.
Also, I sometimes get Dirk the Daring and Dirk Diggler confused in my head.
Thanks! Not sure what's next, though I'm trying to focus on games that I've beaten in the past with savestates or codes and now want to beat legit (hence Conan, Dragon's Lair, etc.). In that vein I'm eyeing a few different games still on the list, like Whomp 'em and Milon's Secret Castle.
That said the game I really want to take down this year is Destination Earthstar, which I've never beaten in any form. Might be a while on that one, though.
Right now, we've beaten 59.5% of games, and collected 44.9% of points. I saw nerdy say something about how we seem to have taken out a lot of the more tedious games, so let's see how we're doing point-wise. Here's how many points the first 403 games beaten have been worth in every year:
2014
1633
2015
1693
2016
1567
2017
1655
2018
1520
2019
1635
I wouldn't say it's anything crazy, but the progress is definitely better than last year.
THQ, where is your self-respect? Your sense of decency? This is barely above Action 52 standards, and if anything, there are a few titles on Action 52 that actually play better than this piece of garbage. I don't say this lightly, but this is clearly one of the very, very worst licensed releases on the NES. The digitized graphics and voice samples are the only signs of quality and effort.
I think this means I've beaten all the Wayne's World games released on cartridge (haven't played the DOS game). The Game Boy version was a bit better than this -- still bad, but better. The SNES and Genesis games, however maligned, are in a different universe of quality (they use the very solid engine used in B.O.B.).
THQ, where is your self-respect? Your sense of decency? This is barely above Action 52 standards, and if anything, there are a few titles on Action 52 that actually play better than this piece of garbage. I don't say this lightly, but this is clearly one of the very, very worst licensed releases on the NES. The digitized graphics and voice samples are the only signs of quality and effort.
I think this means I've beaten all the Wayne's World games released on cartridge (haven't played the DOS game). The Game Boy version was a bit better than this -- still bad, but better. The SNES and Genesis games, however maligned, are in a different universe of quality (they use the very solid engine used in B.O.B.).
The SNES port could have been decent had they tweaked the controls and made the stages a little more linear and less frustrating to navigate. I couldn't even beat the first stage and I tried.
The SNES port could have been decent had they tweaked the controls and made the stages a little more linear and less frustrating to navigate. I couldn't even beat the first stage and I tried.
If you warm up by playing B.O.B. first, or maybe Incredible Crash Dummies (which uses the same engine), it helps. There's a kind of design sensibility that's apparent in all three games, but it's much easier to follow in B.O.B. and gets you "tuned in" to the sort of things these designers like to do.
SNES Wayne's World is a freakin' masterpiece compared to the NES one. The NES version feels like a pre-alpha test build that somehow got released. I do kind of like the Garth (Algar, not Brooks, Estil ) stages. At least you have his gun. The stage where Wayne has to battle the TV screens seems like pure luck, though.
The stage where Wayne has to battle the TV screens seems like pure luck, though.
I got the timing down on those pretty well, and even managed to avoid taking a hit on the first one sometimes. The spiders, and then the black cats in the final stage, are what really got me -- I couldn't find a consistent hitbox for them at all.
And agreed that it feels like an alpha -- or, frankly, like a bad homebrew from the early 2000s. The art design is just hideous.
The Mafat Conspiracy is done. I played through the Famicom version for the first time; sadly, unlike the first Golgo-13 this one looks just like the U.S. version. (The Japanese version of the original Golgo-13 has 8-bitty titties!) On the plus side, I think today was the first time I ever got all three of the sniper missions done on the first try.
I'm also about 3/4 of the way through Wrecking Crew, so no one else needs to start that.
Finally, has anyone started Battleship or really itching to do it? I'm starting to think about that one, and it'd be a nice one to play in small chunks when I'm done with Wrecking Crew.
Battle of Olympus is finished. I probably spent at least 2 hours on the final boss, trying to fight him over and over, plus the annoyance of reaching him and farming health. Once I figured out the trick, he was super easy and I felt dumb.
This was a game I was excited to play, because I'm a big Zelda 2 fan. I've heard over and over again how this game is a Zelda 2 clone, and they weren't kidding. It's not just the initial impression of the combat and talking to people, it's things like the final boss being just like Dark Link, and other enemies with the same movement patterns. But while it may look a lot like Zelda 2, the combat is not on that level. The hitboxes for attacking and blocking seem off, and there are so many enemies that pop up right where you need to make a jump for maximum pain (and this game has a lot of platforming, too). You know it's a bad sign when the game's very first enemies are way too hard to kill.
I did enjoy the exploration. It was fun to travel back and forth, and pay attention to the clues to figure out where to go. But the poor combat, along with the slow grinding for items and bad music, left me disappointed in this game and I wouldn't recommend it.
I'm currently on the final race of Michael Andretti's World GP with an equal amount of points to Michael Andretti. So just gotta beat him in this last race and it's finally done. Had to retry off an old password to up some of my scores to get to this point. This final level of races if brutal!
Comments
This completion also ties the single-year record that I set last year. Also, if I'm not mistaken, I think this makes me the 2019 Hudson champion.
Friend & I beat TMNT the Manhattan Project today (admittedly with 5 lives setting). Fun game, not too hard until you get to the final stage which is insane.
What's the 5 lives setting? I'm not aware of an options menu for that game, and I don't see a code for it in the manual. Is it some kind of cheat code?
Edit: also not sure if that qualifies as a cheat code. If so then don't mark this one off!
patterns are easy to learn BUT.... since turbos are forbidden, my thumbs and forearm are still numb.
JP Version has an options menu, in the NES version you can access options menu with Konami code (b swapped for a). There's a normal/easy mode, 3/5/7 lives options, and a sound test.
Edit: also not sure if that qualifies as a cheat code. If so then don't mark this one off!
Normally I wouldn't allow that, but since it's in the Japanese version without a code, I guess it's fine. We allow people to beat the versions from different regions and count it, so that makes sense, I think.
I just beat a couple Famicom versions of NES games myself:
Heavy Barrel - played this game the other day and I somehow game overed twice at the final boss. I've beaten it before, so that's kind of embarassing. But today, I picked it back and made it all to the final boss without dying. Only died once against him, so it was close to a no-death playthrough. You just have to take your time and play slowly to kill all the annoying red grenade guys.
Magic John (Totally Rad) - Seems a little easier than the American version, but maybe I'm just imagining things. The characters look different in the Famicom version, I guess they had some fun with the translation (since it's kind of generic otherwise).
Xexyz is done. It was my first time beating it; it was decent, but a bit repetitive. And it's a bit frustrating losing all of your power-ups every time you die; it meant I wasted a lot of time farming more energy units to replace them because anything nasty enough to kill me with the power-ups wasn't worth fighting again with the pea shooter.
This completion also ties the single-year record that I set last year. Also, if I'm not mistaken, I think this makes me the 2019 Hudson champion.
I wish the shooter parts of Xexyz were more interesting. It could've been a top title with some more polish.
Yes, you are the Hudson champ! Here's the record of previous champs for that and your other two publisher titles this year (Gametek/Kemco), with point totals:
GAMETEK Champions
KEMCO Champions
HUDSON Champions
Dragon's Lair is finally beaten.
I wonder why the designers insisted on making this game such a player-hostile abomination? A few small changes and it would've been infinitely more enjoyable to play.
Also, I sometimes get Dirk the Daring and Dirk Diggler confused in my head.
That said the game I really want to take down this year is Destination Earthstar, which I've never beaten in any form. Might be a while on that one, though.
Right now, we've beaten 59.5% of games, and collected 44.9% of points. I saw nerdy say something about how we seem to have taken out a lot of the more tedious games, so let's see how we're doing point-wise. Here's how many points the first 403 games beaten have been worth in every year:
I wouldn't say it's anything crazy, but the progress is definitely better than last year.
Games beaten by point total
Top 25 "easiest" games remaining (w/overall rank)
All time standings update:
Most completions 2012-19 (decimals rounded)
That's everyone with 100 plus. Decimals rounded again.
This game is excellent...
...not!
THQ, where is your self-respect? Your sense of decency? This is barely above Action 52 standards, and if anything, there are a few titles on Action 52 that actually play better than this piece of garbage. I don't say this lightly, but this is clearly one of the very, very worst licensed releases on the NES. The digitized graphics and voice samples are the only signs of quality and effort.
I think this means I've beaten all the Wayne's World games released on cartridge (haven't played the DOS game). The Game Boy version was a bit better than this -- still bad, but better. The SNES and Genesis games, however maligned, are in a different universe of quality (they use the very solid engine used in B.O.B.).
Wayne's World is done:
This game is excellent...
...not!
THQ, where is your self-respect? Your sense of decency? This is barely above Action 52 standards, and if anything, there are a few titles on Action 52 that actually play better than this piece of garbage. I don't say this lightly, but this is clearly one of the very, very worst licensed releases on the NES. The digitized graphics and voice samples are the only signs of quality and effort.
I think this means I've beaten all the Wayne's World games released on cartridge (haven't played the DOS game). The Game Boy version was a bit better than this -- still bad, but better. The SNES and Genesis games, however maligned, are in a different universe of quality (they use the very solid engine used in B.O.B.).
The SNES port could have been decent had they tweaked the controls and made the stages a little more linear and less frustrating to navigate. I couldn't even beat the first stage and I tried.
The SNES port could have been decent had they tweaked the controls and made the stages a little more linear and less frustrating to navigate. I couldn't even beat the first stage and I tried.
If you warm up by playing B.O.B. first, or maybe Incredible Crash Dummies (which uses the same engine), it helps. There's a kind of design sensibility that's apparent in all three games, but it's much easier to follow in B.O.B. and gets you "tuned in" to the sort of things these designers like to do.
The stage where Wayne has to battle the TV screens seems like pure luck, though.
I got the timing down on those pretty well, and even managed to avoid taking a hit on the first one sometimes. The spiders, and then the black cats in the final stage, are what really got me -- I couldn't find a consistent hitbox for them at all.
And agreed that it feels like an alpha -- or, frankly, like a bad homebrew from the early 2000s. The art design is just hideous.
I'm also about 3/4 of the way through Wrecking Crew, so no one else needs to start that.
Finally, has anyone started Battleship or really itching to do it? I'm starting to think about that one, and it'd be a nice one to play in small chunks when I'm done with Wrecking Crew.
Battle of Olympus is finished. I probably spent at least 2 hours on the final boss, trying to fight him over and over, plus the annoyance of reaching him and farming health. Once I figured out the trick, he was super easy and I felt dumb.
This was a game I was excited to play, because I'm a big Zelda 2 fan. I've heard over and over again how this game is a Zelda 2 clone, and they weren't kidding. It's not just the initial impression of the combat and talking to people, it's things like the final boss being just like Dark Link, and other enemies with the same movement patterns. But while it may look a lot like Zelda 2, the combat is not on that level. The hitboxes for attacking and blocking seem off, and there are so many enemies that pop up right where you need to make a jump for maximum pain (and this game has a lot of platforming, too). You know it's a bad sign when the game's very first enemies are way too hard to kill.
I did enjoy the exploration. It was fun to travel back and forth, and pay attention to the clues to figure out where to go. But the poor combat, along with the slow grinding for items and bad music, left me disappointed in this game and I wouldn't recommend it.
Also beat Joust: