RFGen 2019 NES Challenge

[Misto]

I really like this idea of trying to finish the library.  I keep seeing the posts about it but haven't had much time to participate.

This month though I should have some time to contribute!  Plus I need a break from working on my PS4 backlog.

I'm going to try tackling Spot and Wayne Gretzky Hockey sometime this month. So I'll claim those two.

[Crabmaster2000]

@EZ Racer - Agreed and added to the list.

@Schlibby - a game style game is an excuse for me to add games like Chessmaster and Side Pocket to the list

@Misto - Glad to have a new player on board!!

@everyone else - all claims updated. I've got a busy weekend so I'll do my best to keep on top of updates, but just a heads up I may miss a day, but I will definitely have everything caught up by Monday morning for sure.

[Misto]

Turns out Spot was pretty easy to complete according to the criteria.  The game is ok I guess - each player starts with a single piece and you have to control the majority of the board.  You can duplicate a piece by moving to an adjacent tile or jump a piece to a different tile.  Any opposing pieces that you are adjacent to get converted to your color.  You can customize the 7x7 board to remove tiles and play with 2-4 players, along with 5 difficulties of AI.  That's really all there is though.  Beating the computer was pretty easy 1 v 1 but with 4 players it was more difficult.  You also seemed to be at a disadvantage for going first but I could be wrong.  The game has some pretty nice animations, but it really just slowed the game down and wasn't that interesting after seeing them a few times.  Luckily you can turn them off.

Anyway here is a screenshot of the win screen - which it shows for whichever player wins anyway...
[img width=700 height=612]https://i.imgur.com/5oMybPu.png[/img]

[Crabmaster2000]

Nice job Misto! Always feels good to add a new name to our scoreboard! I agree those animations are cute at first, but boy do they slow the game down a ton.

[Crabmaster2000]

Started working on Akranoid and Championship Pool tonight. Both are going to by slow games me thinks.

[Disposed Hero]

Metal Storm done.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/IphH0zf.jpg[/img]

OP doesn't say anything about doing Expert mode, so I assume the first playthrough is all that's required. This game has a lot going for it, such as the tight controls and interesting gravity mechanic, which is why I'm sad to say I didn't enjoy it all that much. I was having a good time during the first half, but the cheap level design and enemy placement of the second half combined with 1-hit deaths had me pulling my hair out. I get why so many people like it though, just too frustrating for my tastes.

[Crabmaster2000]

Been playing a ton of Arkanoid lately and Championship Pool. Both are extremely challening. Been getting fairly close on Championship Pool though, but because there is randomness to each shot I eventually have too many misses and get knocked out of the tournament. Just gonna have to keep playing until I get a really lucky run it seems. Arkanoid can have some luck also with the items that drop, but I do feel like I'm getting better at it. Able to get to level 21 out of 36 fairly consistently now though. Trying a bunch of stuff different techniques to find ones that work best for me.

@Disposed Hero - No need for expert mode as its the same ending. Great job that's a tough one in the later stages!

[Misto]

Had a little time after work today to play a round of Wayne Gretzky Hockey.  The game is a little rough to play and its sometimes hard to tell what's going on especially when the sprites start flickering.  It wasn't too bad though.  I was surprised to see icing and offsides get called accurately, although penalties seem to be called arbitrarily.  I played as my favorite team - Pittsburgh, against our rivals in Washington.  I was able to win on my first game 3-0 on intermediate difficulty.  Not a bad hockey game, but there are better ones on the NES.

[img width=700 height=598]https://i.imgur.com/URq6dQO.png[/img]

Might take another game over the weekend if I have time but I'm not going to claim anything right now.

[Crabmaster2000]

Nice job Misto!

I Ignored Championship Pool tonight and spent my whole play time on Arkanoid. It's starting to feel doable now. I had 2 runs end on level 28 and one end on 29. ALL off those runs I had 3-5 lives when the game got softlocked due to bad timing on my pauses. It feels like the hardest levels are 17-21. As long as I can get past those stages on my run I just need to be careful not to lock the game up.

[Schlibby]

I’ve been progressing slowly on Solar Jetman. Had to do the first few levels multiple times. Found you really have to buy the upgraded pod at your one opportunity before the forth level or it makes the forth level almost impossible because the black holes are too close to the wall to be useable. You need the upgraded pod to be able to move them. Had to go back further than I was hoping to be able to raise enough cash to buy that pod.

But progressing slowly

[Garchomper997]

Sorry for leaving you guys in the dark for so long, but someone else can take Kirby's Adventure. I realized I'm never going to get around to finishing it and I'd hate to hold up the completion of the challenge.

With that being said, good luck with finishing the challenge!

[Crabmaster2000]

@schlibby - Yeah Solar Jetman isn't a game I could barrel through either. It was slow just learning each levels layout and gravity one at a time. You enjoying it so far? I really liked my time with it.

@Garchomper997 - Anytime you want to jump back in feel free to.

I am extremely happy with my night tonight. After plugging away at it this week I was finally able to finish Arkanoid!! It's got a bit of a rep for being one of the absolutely hardest NES games to beat without cheats and I was worried it would be a brick wall for me. Luckily with my Vaus controller and a bit of pause buffering when the ball was at blistering speeds I was able to have a decisive victory tonight!Couldn't be more pleased. I'm going to move my claim over to Championship Pool now which is another one known for it's severe challenge.

[img width=640 height=482]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32873924597_126b36a4e2_z.jpg[/img]

[Schlibby]

@crabmaster - I’ve got mixed views on solar jetman. I’ll do a bit of a longer write up when I’ve (hopefully) finished it

[Disposed Hero]

Kirby's Adventure done.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/RdGzhbs.jpg[/img]

I've been wanting to play through this, so its recent availability was a good excuse. I enjoyed it, but I think I'm more used to the smoother mechanics of the later games, so going back to this one was a bit frustrating at times. I found the overall variety and number of different powers to be very impressive for an NES game. I also think the last level was a throwback to the Game Boy game if I'm not mistaken, so that was a nice touch. Overall, another solid NES platformer.

[Disposed Hero]

S.C.A.T. done.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/QOVxkRC.jpg[/img]

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/mGztyD2.jpg[/img]

Pretty fun and challenging game. That final level is a real endurance test though. Good thing this game has unlimited continues!