RFGen 2019 NES Challenge

[EZ Racer]

My sports claim will be Nintendo World Cup Soccer. It's always had a certain charm to it, but I've never played it fully through.

[shane]

Magic Darts.  You could also pick a monkey, who threw the darts with his back to the dartboard (I think).

Nice. Thanks! I may grab that after my sports title.

[singlebanana]

While playing through so many games in January on the NES, I kind of felt guilty not giving my thoughts on some of these titles, like many of you did.  I play late at night and by the time I am finished, I only have time to load the pics from my phone. Anyway, I thought about doing a monthly wrap up for the games I played. Just little blurbs about things I found interesting and whether I would recommend it to a casual collector or not.

1. Baseball Stars - IMO the best baseball game on the NES. Name and power up your players stats so that they hit better, run faster, and defend better. A must on the NES for baseball fans.

2. Gun.Smoke - A great little shmup with a western theme. Good selection of weapons and diverse boss battles. Looks great too. Recommended.
 
3. Contra - Simply put, a classic. A must for the collector or casual NES fan.

4. 10-Yard Fight - One of the more lackluster football games on the system, but still a big step up from the 2600. Can recommend better games, but not this one.

5. Kung Fu - A port of the arcade classic Kung Fu Master. Fairly easy to master, though the magician will drive you nuts if you're a newcomer. Recommended.
 
6. Golf - I love this game, but I'm not sure I could highly recommend it. There are better games and since yardage is not calculated, you are often left guessing which clubs to use.

7. Urban Champion - Meh, not a very fun experience and poor controls. Not recommended.

8. Volleyball - I was really surprised at how much I liked this game. Though it's not the most technical of volleyball games on the system, it's a great effort and rather fun once you figure out spiking. Recommended.

9. Super Dodgeball - Such a great idea for a sports title on this system. I really like that you can choose your line-up and that all of your teammates have two different special attacks (running & running jump). The environments look great and there's nothing like hitting a guy so hard that he travels around the world. Ha ha. Highly recommended.

10. Wizards & Warriors - Though it can be aggravating to first time players because some of the keys are hidden well, I really like this game.  Nice variety of stages and unlimited continues from the exact spot you die in (even at boss battles) limits a lot of frustration. Recommended.

11. Rygar - Though this game is not a direct port of the arcade cabinet, even purists enjoy this game. I love the horizontal and vertical action, and can even appreciate the top down levels. Neat boss battles and cool equipment aids make this a must own and a top 10 game on the NES for me.
 
12. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out - Iconic game on the NES with great, memorable characters. A must own.

13. Ice Hockey - It's not Blades of Steel, but it's a decent effort. Being able to select your players' physical attributes, which give them advantages and disadvantages is a neat concept. Mild recommendation if you are into hockey.

14. Pinball - Really impressed with the physics of this game. The gameplay and replayability is average, but it's a fun one to pop in for a bit from time to time. Mild recommendation.

15. Kickle Cubicle - Incredible graphics, fun puzzle gameplay, and boss battles. What's not to love?  A must own title that you hear very little about.

16. Double Dare - Unless you are really big into nostalgia, pass this one up. The questions are fine, but the physical challenges and obstacle course are really poorly done. Such a shame, since these were the best parts of the show.

17. Jeopardy Jr Edition - It's Jeopardy, only easier.

18. Hollywood Squares - Basically, a guessing game. I hate how the guest stars try to be funny and give these odd answers. At first, I couldn't tell if they were agreeing or disagreeing with the questions. Not recommended.

19. Tecmo Bowl - A classic, but Tecmo Super Bowl gets everything much better. Great to see some HoF greats on this game like Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Eric Dickerson, and others that did not make the latter version. Mild recommendation.

20. MTV's Remote Control - Hopefully you know a lot of old television trivia, or this game could be your worst nightmare, because lots of questions revolve around specific episodes. Get your parents to help you with it, unless you have every season of Leave It To Beaver. Out dated, do not recommend.
 
21. Wild Gunman - It's fun for a while. The kids love shooting people..... err.....mild recommendation if you like to pretend that you are James Arness.

22. Duck Hunt - Meh, it's alright. Iconic to the NES for sure and you gotta love lovable, taunting dog. Mild recommendation.

23. Hogan's Alley - I know that using similar colors with the citizens and bad guys is on purpose to make the game harder, but man is it annoying. Repetative. Low recommendation.

24. North vs South - This game is actually a lot of fun and I played it a lot as a kid. I didn't remember that you couldn't select the North in 1 player game. Perhaps someone knows a secret? Anyway, winning made me feel weird, but this is a fun title. Recommended.

25. The Great Waldo Search - Meh, it's quick. It's easy. It's Waldo. We like to find him, but not that much. Not recommended.
 
26. Pictionary - Weird mini games that you have to get guud at to ensure that you reveal enough of the puzzle to be able to solve it. I missed the first three clues until I figured out the games and then it was pretty easy. Not recommended.

27. Win, Lose or Draw - No mode to play against the computer?  If so, I couldn't find it. I put the game on auto-draw, so I'd be curious about how the drawing feature works. Apparently, you have to play this game as a group...

28. Major League Baseball - I like that you have to pick your line-ups from the bench before the game. Too many foul balls in this game though, which slows it down. Fielding is bad. Not recommended.

29. Track & Field - I don't remember playing this a lot as a kid because I was more into Track & Field II.  This is a fantastic game that requires you to master various events to progress. I really enjoyed learning all of these events and determining all of the best angles to qualify. High recommendation.  

[BuriedOnMars]

It is supposed to be a quiet evening at work tonight.  I'll give Bionic Commando a go if it works out.

[singlebanana]

It is supposed to be a quiet evening at work tonight.  I'll give Bionic Commando a go if it works out.

Sweet!  Give it hell Kevin.

[singlebanana]

So the last new game I bought for my NES as a kid was Times of Lore.  I never could figure the game out as a kid, so no better time than now to claim and try to play through it.

[Fokakis79]

Goonies II is finished! My only question is why is Annie a mermaid?[img width=700 height=525]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190201/88259905c0b68c21c9ab251c9f329740.jpg[/img]

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[singlebanana]

Always enjoyed that game.

[Fokakis79]

@singlebanana, me too but for some reason I never beat it until I was an adult.

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[zophar53]

Knocked out an easy one. I have a lot of fond memories playing this back in the day. I never had a MAD Magazine subscription, but I really enjoyed it when I got my hands on a copy.

Spy vs. Spy
[img width=700 height=612]https://i.imgur.com/kiYtcHU.png[/img]

[shane]

I didn't realize Battle of Olympus was going to require grinding for currency so often. I just spent 10 minutes fighting snakes at 78 of the 80 olives needed for a shield, and no olives were dropping. Turns out the game limits how many drops there are in a region. https://forum.speeddemosa.../battle_of_olympus26.html

[Crabmaster2000]

@singlebanana- I love your quick breakdown of everything you played last month!

- Totally agree about Baseball Stars. It's really great. You ever play the NEO GEO version though?
-  I'm really surprised how much you like Pinball. ]
- I'm eager to hear your thoughts on Times of Lore because I feel like that is a very rare occurrence where I havn't heard ANYONE talk about it. It's a real blank spot in my NES knowledge that I need to fix.

@shane - that's nasty game design in Battle of Olympus!!

[shane]

Beat Battle of Olympus. This game is way too difficult to ever attempt again. I spent two full days trying to beat it. I'd much rather play Silver Surfer. At least you can memorize patterns in that game. This one has a boss that regenerates health so fast that if you don't get a perfect series of hits, you'll be at it forever.

[img width=700 height=444]https://i.imgur.com/UD43wb4.jpg[/img]

[Fokakis79]

Played through the College level tournament and finished off Blades of Steel. Vancouver are champions! For some reason the Edmonton gave me the most trouble it was a very back and forth game all the way. This is one if my top 3 favorite hockey video games, probably my favorite is Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey on N64 other than that its NHLPA 93 on Genesis. Blades of Steel is so replayable for many reasons. The controls feel solid. The fighting mechanics are really fun, so much that I look for fights when I can.

My next sports claim is Roger Clemens MVP Baseball[img width=700 height=525]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190203/60a89d1c5a2105d286b98121d1c01bf7.jpg[/img]

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[ApolloBoy]

I'm gonna start out by claiming Mega Man 5, I'll be playing via an Everdrive on my NES top loader.