RFGen 2019 NES Challenge

[bombatomba]

@Crabmaster2000 - No worries Crab.  Gotta take care of the family, man.  Hope that everything turns out good.

[Crabmaster2000]

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone. Spent a good chunk of yesterday at a Hospice with family and fortunately the family member that was admitted passed away last night and it wasn't a long drawn out situation like I anticipated. This was not a totally unexpected thing, just happened a bit sooner than we were hoping it would. Everyone seems to be coping well enough considering so we're already back to our regular routine again.

Because of that I thought I'd dust off the old light gun and remove some stress with a zapper title and some Rambo last night.

Rambo was decent enough. Starts very tough, but after you take down a boss or two your life meter gets a huge boost which makes the mid game more manageable and then there is a spike in challenge right near the end again. The game seems very confusing at first, but the maze like layout isn't actually as sprawling as it seems. Last boss fight took me a few tries, but eventually nailed it.

[img width=640 height=480]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48264725337_81969bbc6c_z.jpg[/img]

Barker Bill's Trick Shooting was my next game and I was sure I'd beaten it in the past, but for some reason I have no video and it's not crossed off my list so this was a revisit for me. There isn't much to do to beat it other than play most of the games. There is a mode called Fun Follies which has some mini-games you don't see until you get to certain rounds so I just made sure to play long enough to play each mini-game at least once. Quick and easy.

[img width=640 height=478]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48264725882_11a0b35858_z.jpg[/img]

That puts me at 37 games in 19 days.

[EZ Racer]

@crabby- Thoughts are with you for your loss.

[shane]

Completed Rockin' Kats. It's a decent platformer but a couple of the techniques are difficult to hit every time. There's spots where you're expected to use your glove weapon as a pogo stick, and when you need to hit it diagonally you only get it some of the time, and even if you do you may have moved your character slightly and you miss the ledge. Swinging is also difficult to get a handle of, but eventually you get used to the timing. Fortunately you make enough money in each level to buy 1ups.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/cRpnvPS.png[/img]

Playing Star Force next.

[shane]

Star Force done! There's definitely some bullet hell sections, but the difficulty is a bit random. One level you'll have very little problem, the next it's just non stop bullets. The end screen is just an ad for the next game, and then it rolls over.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/xJrn98Q.png[/img]

[shane]

Fester's Quest. I assume everyone's played this before. If not, it's Blaster Master without the vehicle exploration sections. If you play it, on the final boss move all the way up and to the right and fire your missiles. Complete blind spot.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/NJMdbq8.png[/img]

[shane]

Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak!. This was great until the last level, where you had to time every move exactly, and if you died you had to start from the beginning of the level. The final boss seemed to take fewer hits than it should have taken, but it was a welcome break after the stone wheel chase.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/gjBa0hQ.png[/img]

[shane]

Beat Shadow of the Ninja. This is a really great game. I've never really liked the Ninja Gaiden games, as they had a number of very precise sequences that forced you to lose lives and restart the game before you advanced, so I was worried this game would be the same. The gameplay itself is very smooth, and it's a ton of fun to jump underneath ledges and hang from them to avoid enemies. The boss fights could take advantage of that a bit more, but otherwise it was a very enjoyable game.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/LVFK9EH.png[/img]

[shane]

Here's Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road. Felt a lot like Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat. I didn't realize I had beaten it as far as our guidelines were concerned, as it doesn't say anything.

[img width=700 height=446]https://i.imgur.com/jxJ3zwn.png[/img]

[Crabmaster2000]

Nice work shane!!  I really like Shadow of the Ninja as well, it's fantastic!

I got back to playing again tonight and beat Fun House & Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum.

Funny thing is I actually beat Fun House twice!! For some reason my capture setup kicked out and missed the last 5 minutes of the game sooooo I did it again. It's a terrible game, but thankfully not super hard and has infinite continues. It feels like they took a silly mini-game and really stretched the hell out of that idea to charge for a full game price. Terrible controls are the worst part really. Not a lot of fun to be had here.

[img width=640 height=480]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48289899422_d8af445f6d_z.jpg[/img]

Dash Galaxy was a cool one for me as I rented it as a kid and couldn't get anywhere so this was kind of a "take that childhood" moment for me. Not a good game either, but it's got a clunky kind of charm to it and some neat ideas.

[img width=639 height=480]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48289899692_76ed39bbee_z.jpg[/img]

Also played a bunch of Dick Tracy and got the first 3 cases done and have a good handle of the 4th (died a few times attempting this one so far). Should be able to finish that off tonight if all goes well.

That puts me at 39 games in 22 days now.

[Crabmaster2000]

2 more down tonight. Finished off Dick Tracy & A Boy and His Blob.

Dick Tracy was is pretty decent. You have to drive your car around a small city (watching for snipers) and hunt down clues and interrogate bad guys. Once you've acquired enough evidence and learned who was responsible for the crime you were investigating you go arrest them. The first 3 missions were fun, but you have to do 5 and by the end it was getting tedious and frustrating.

[img width=640 height=480]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48298344051_a78a23b3a4_z.jpg[/img]

A Boy and His Blob was one I rented as a kid and could never get very far. It's actually not bad at all to navigate and figure out nowadays so I just wasn't a very smart kid I guess. Cool little puzzle game though. If you havn't checked out the remake of it on the Wii you're missing out though, that version of this is amazing.

[img width=639 height=479]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48298344546_3c48e266ca_z.jpg[/img]

Also played a little Freedom Force tonight since I still had my zapper out. It's a pretty decent on rails shooter, but brutally hard on the last stage. You have to loop it at least 3 times to get the ending and I had one run where I died on the final stage of the 3rd loop, that sucked. I've even been using some heavy pause buffering to make it easier on myself and it's still very easy to die. Hope to have this one done tomorrow night.

That puts me at 41 games in 23 days now.

[Crabmaster2000]

Got Freedom Force done after a few more tries tonight. Fun shooter, but super tough especially after the first loop. Had to pause buffer a lot to get it done.

[img width=640 height=479]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48306755756_db9d44f344_z.jpg[/img]

Put the rest of my night into Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and it took me many hours to get my mind around how to play. Got it down now and took a purposeful death on the final boss to get the continue code. Put my code in figuring it would put me right back there, but I'm missing a key item I need to even get there so looks like I'm gonna have to do a bit more running around tomorrow before I can take another stab at it. Last boss was brutal!

That puts me to 42 games in 24 days now.

[bombatomba]

Dick Tracy was is pretty decent. You have to drive your car around a small city (watching for snipers) and hunt down clues and interrogate bad guys. Once you've acquired enough evidence and learned who was responsible for the crime you were investigating you go arrest them. The first 3 missions were fun, but you have to do 5 and by the end it was getting tedious and frustrating.

I think I want to give Dick Tracy a try. Seems like it could be a fun game.

I picked up Treasure Master again after losing my spot and forgetting how to play the levels.  I am using a playthrough to help and finding that this game is extremely challenging even knowing what to do.  I just made it to World five (I think) with two lives, having lost all the others trying to figure out the whole waterfall part (stupid magic apple).  I don't know if I will be able to get through Worlds five and six by the end of the week, but I will try.

[Crabmaster2000]

Dick Tracy was is pretty decent. You have to drive your car around a small city (watching for snipers) and hunt down clues and interrogate bad guys. Once you've acquired enough evidence and learned who was responsible for the crime you were investigating you go arrest them. The first 3 missions were fun, but you have to do 5 and by the end it was getting tedious and frustrating.

I think I want to give Dick Tracy a try. Seems like it could be a fun game.

I picked up Treasure Master again after losing my spot and forgetting how to play the levels.  I am using a playthrough to help and finding that this game is extremely challenging even knowing what to do.  I just made it to World five (I think) with two lives, having lost all the others trying to figure out the whole waterfall part (stupid magic apple).  I don't know if I will be able to get through Worlds five and six by the end of the week, but I will try.

You're making awesome progress!

[Crabmaster2000]

Two more tonight. Finished off Who Framed Roger Rabbit? & World Champ.

Roger Rabbit has and interesting game somewhere in there that is just ruined by some dumb choices. The final boss is easily among my least favorite boss fights in any game ever. It's so long. It's like a 10 minute fight of attrition. Really brought the game down at the end.

[img width=639 height=479]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48314399996_3e8d7d8e81_z.jpg[/img]

World Champ was actually a pretty decent boxing game/fighter. Very aggressive playing and you get to build up your stats throughout. Punch Out! is still king, but this is maybe the 2nd best fighter on the system for me so far.

[img width=640 height=481]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48314399871_5c0c4c6032_z.jpg[/img]

Also started up Airwolf to check it out. Seems like with a little practice I can probably take it down tomorrow night. Definitely gonna give it another shot tomorrow.

That puts me at 44 games over 25 days now.