Insane difficulty requiring hundreds of attempts is how games achieved longevity and replay value back in the day, before the advent of deeper storylines, multiple endings, multiple playstyles, and achievements. TVTropes calls such games Nintendo Hard.
And that is why I do not consider using save states to be cheating for this challenge. The whole idea is to get exposure to every game on my favorite gaming console. Beating many of these “Nintendo Hard” games requires playing stages/bosses over and over until you learn how to beat them. Castlevania and Contra can be beaten in 10 minutes ONCE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, but no way did anybody open the box, stick it in the NES, and see the ending screen 10 minutes later. Save stating is just a way of speeding up the “learning the patterns” aspect, since each time I die, I can go back to right before I made the mistake, rather than have to backtrack the whole stage again (and in many cases, lose the upgrades for the second try).
Well, if I get back onto the chronological Konami streak which I started last year, my next game is Mission Impossible, a game which earned its name.
Especially annoying were games that make you repeat huge portions of the game after you die. Ninja Gaiden had those 3 difficult bosses at the end of stage 6 and if you lost to any of them, you’d have to do the entire stage over again. It makes one appreciate how good some of the classics were that didn’t have to resort to this insane difficulty. Zelda 1, Metroid, and the Mario games had hours of playing time and they weren’t overly difficult.
I beat Phantom Fighter last night. This was a game I begged my parents to get me when I saw it on the Home Shopping Network way back in the day. You’re a martial artist who is trying to rescue these 8 towns from an invasion of Kyonshies, or “Chinese Vampires”. I’ve always thought they were more like Chinese zombies, as the Kyonshies are mindless and eat people. They hop around, not walk, because rigor mortis has rendered all but their calf and toe muscles immovable, apparently. I think the legend goes like that simply because it’s scarier.
This game has annoying gameplay because your character Kenchi moves around like he’s slipping on ice. When you get all of the movement speed upgrades, it’s even harder to judge where to stop. In games like this, sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I could import the gameplay from one game into another. If Kenchi had the movement speed and dexterity of, say, Metroid, this game would be a piece of cake. Stop on a dime, turn, kick zombie, roll into ball, jump over zombie, etc. While not terribly hard, I think the addition of a simply move like being able to walk backwards would get rid of the Nintendo Hard status.
Been playing some Dr. Mario. Though the game goes on forever probably, there’s a thing after stage 20 that tells you how good you’ve done. I pretty much just pretend that’s the end. This game is pretty easy. It was one of the many Tetris clones that came out after that game became a cult and mainstream hit. I guess Nintendo wanted their own version that nobody could take away from them (ie. Tengen). So the NES got Dr. Mario. The Genesis, I think, got Columns.
I think Dr. Mario would have been a lot better if they eventually ended up with more than just 3 colors. Hell, Bust a Move has like 8 colors, Magic Drop has at least 4, with special bubbles thrown into the mix. You’d think Mario could battle more than just AIDS, Ebola, and the Black Plague (or whatever those viruses are :D). By about level 10, it was getting really repetitive. Then again, that was the point of this game.
I’m fooling around with an old, terrible game that I remember fondly from my youth, Tag Team Wrestling. The redeeming quality of this game is that it’s where Strong Bad originates from. With a turbo controller, this game offers almost no challenge. Every stage is the same, and every opponent is the same. You could win a match in about 20 seconds if you knock a guy out of the ring, smash his head into the post a few times, and jump back in before the count is up.
So after playing that for a few minutes, I remember another wrestling game I used to play a lot with my friends. Simply called Pro Wrestling, this one has memorable characters that have stuck with me for 20 something years. The Amazon, King Slender, and Starman were my best characters. The Amazon looks like an early precursor to Blanka from Street Figher 2, he even has the same bite attack!
I think I’ll play Lengendary Wings next. I miss that game for some reason. 
Legendary Wings. Already posted on by a couple of people so I won’t get into the gameplay but wow! Actually reading some of the storylines in these old games are mindblowing! Thousands of years into the future, mankind built a computer named DARK to keep peace throughout the world. Unfortunately for mankind, the computer flipped out and started killing people (in hindsight, maybe they shouldn’t have named it DARK). Then, and I shit you not, the GOD OF WAR ARES gives a couple of guys (in the original Japanese, it was a guy and a girl) wings and, taking mankind’s last stash of weapons, they set out to destroy dark.
In retrospect, I’ve always wondered why there were so many mechanical aspects in a game that looks like it was set in ancient times. Now I know. I don’t know if I’m better off for it… :dubious:
It’s funny though. I would have guessed that it was made by Capcom even if I didn’t know it due to those drill enemies in the 5th stage that are also in Metal Man’s stage from Mega Man 2. And that other guy KMFD recognized the Elecman sound in the game too! I guess Capcom was really cheap back then
Mega Man 10 is out now. Wonder if I’ll be able to beat THAT one in a day…?
On Easy Mode you definitely could. Not sure about the others. I haven’t played it yet, but that’s just what I hear.
Ugh, I still have to beat 9. I got frustrated on Wiley’s Castle and gave up, but I collected 999 screws and 9 lives in the Hornet Level in like 30 minutes, so now I’m trying again. Got to Wiley’s 2nd form without too much trouble, so I’m thinking I’ll beat it on the next try.
Haha, I never finished 9 either after getting to Wily’s Castle. I just don’t have the time to play through all the stages in one sitting. Now that 10 is out I’ll have to try again.
Why :smack: don’t :smack: I :smack: do :smack: that :smack:
I never thought, at all. And it was staring me in the face all along.
Another suggestion that I just rediscovered today: Rockin’ Kats. Think Bionic Commando with seriously cartoonish graphics and vastly, vastly better controls. It’s a platformer where your main weapon is a boxing glove on a spring, which you use not only to punch enemies out but bounce off the ground and swing off ledges and lampposts, as well as a few other tricks. It’s actually pretty fun and not too difficult.
(Mike Tyson’s) Punch-Out!!, Nintendo, 1987, 30 minutes
One of my favorite NES games. Upon initial appearance, it’s a boxing game. However, it has a very unique gameplay to it which is less about the sport, and more about NES-style pattern learning, try-fail-repeat-improve action. You’re a lightweight boxer from the Bronx who somehow ended up in the heavy weight division, and you have to fight your way through all different types of stereotypes (jive-talking Philly black guy, most honorable Japanese warrior, tiger-crazy Indian, drunk Russian, etc) in order to become world champ. In the original release, Mike Tyson was the final fight, but when Nintendo reprinted the game, they wanted to distance themselves from him (for obvious reasons) and so he was re-pixelated into Kevin Federline, who still knocked you down in a single punch. Actually, I always found Mr Sandman to be the toughest fight in the game, simply because there’s no good way I know of to do damage to him (Tyson/Federline may punch hard, but he leaves himself open to counter-punches too), and the best way to win is to finish round 1 with him one hit from going down, so you can get a knockdown right at the start of round 2. It’s been a while since I’ve played this one, but I still made it through without losing any fights (and to up the challenge even more, I was playing on a DS which scrambled the energy meter and timer!) - it’s like Contra or riding a bicycle - once you learn the patterns, they stick with you for life.
I hate you. It took me a week to beat that game. Mr. Sandman alone was like 2 or 3 days.
Oh, you gotta! I loved, loved, loved that game. I’ve replayed it so many times. The characters are actually memorable, too. I loved playing Chapter 3, where you are Taloon, the merchant, and run a shop (and you can mightily cheat – Taloon had a Sword of Malice and a backpack full of the most expensive armor whenever I got into Chapter 5, since gaining money got so easy). He was kinda crap in combat, though. As I recall, I used to like Cristo and the old guy from Chapter 2, and then rotating a heavy into that last slot (Ragnar? from Chapter 1 or Alena from Chapter 2). I didn’t really care for the sisters from Chapter 4 in the end, though I did enjoy their storyline.
Oh man, it was great. Basically Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the backstory for everyone in your party that you’ll pick up once you’re the Hero in Chapter 5. You don’t even get introduced to the Hero until hours and hours into the game. Then you start back at level 1. 
One of my favorite parts: all of chapter 3 from the start, when your wife gives you a pack lunch and kisses you (“Smack!”) and sends you off into the world… the arena tournament… Healie, the Healer (levitating jellyfish) companion… having a wagon to carry around your extra party members, and swapping them out in the final battle. Even the AI is decent; in Chapter 5, you only control the Hero, but your party members will actually pick their commands as their turn comes up in battle – the healer will heal someone injured immediately before, not on the next turn.
Great game.
Final Fantasy, Squaresoft, 1990, 6 hours*
The one that started one of the best known RPG series in history. You all know the story. Squaresoft was on the verge of going bankrupt - King’s Knight and Rad Racer weren’t selling well enough, so they decided to make one FINAL game that would make them or break them. So they ripped off the Dungeons & Dragons enemy list and took some cues from Dragon Warrior. This game has 4 Light Warriors (you could pick your party at the beginning from any combination of 6 types of characters, but then were stuck with them the whole game–for this play through I picked one Red Mage (not wizard, MAGE) and killed off the other 3 characters at the beginning and left them dead, so I could go at it solo. Yeah, I’m hardcore) on a quest to re-light the four elemental crystals, and destroy the fiends (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind) which have harnessed the power of the those elements to destroy the world. Pretty basic stuff, although for it’s time, it’s pretty deep. I was a HUGE fanatic of this game when it came out. The 3 issue review + the separate strategy guide which Nintendo Power released just made me want the game even more. For this play through, I actually played the GBA remake, but I’ve beaten the much much harder/more tedious NES version plenty of times, so I’m still counting it. The GBA remake (which also got released for the PSX and PSP) basically spruces up the graphics and music, gives a more in depth translation, and removes many of the annoyances and bugs that the NES version had, so I would recommend it to all but the most hardcore RPGs (who I’m sure have already played the NES one anyway). Every RPG fan should play this game, as it will put you in touch of how most later RPGs got their origin.
Final Fantasy 2J, Squaresoft, 20 hours
Okay, I actually played the GBA remake, so I can’t really comment on how harder or easier it is than the original Japanese NES release (although it did have a bug removed which could cause you to level up really easily, which would be a game-breaker for this one). Yes, I, fusoya himself, has never beaten this game before tonight. For those of you not familiar with the history, this game never got an American release until it was remade for the GBA/PSP, due to the lateness of FF1 arriving here (itself 1 year before the SNES and FF4, which got called FF2 here. Little did Square know that this would make things even MORE confusing down the line). Anyway, this game was never as popular as the first one, even for those who played the Japanese or fan-translated versions, and I can definitely see why. First of all, while FF1 did the original-at-the-time story of saving the world from evil based on the elements, this one went with the much more generic/boring “stop the evil empire from trying to conquer the world through brute force” … yes, it worked well in FF4 and FF6, but that was because both of those added much more originally to the mix. This was simply stopping the evil Emperor. Also, the mechanics were pretty generic and weird - you keep the same 3 characters throughout the game, and all of them are the same except for appearance - it’s like later FF’s where you can choose who you want to be the swordsman, mage, etc, but you can’t change their jobs. The 4th slot is a revolving door of temporary characters. The battle/leveling up system is like the Game Boy FF’s - rather than gaining EXP, a character will gain individual stats after a battle, based on a formula of how much they NEED that stat increase. Also, weapons and spells gain exp - rather than Cure1-4, there’s just one Cure which starts at 1 and gets up to 16 based on how much you cast it. However, I do have to give this game some credit, since it would introduce a bunch of things that would become staples in the FF games to come - it was the first one with chocobos, dragoons, Mysidia and cut scenes with playable characters who actually have their own voice,
King’s Quest 5, Sierra (ported to the NES by Konami), 1991, 2 hours 30 min
KQ5 is an interactive point and click adventure game, in the same feel as Shadowgate and Maniac Mansion, sort of. Anyone who has played a Sierra adventure game knows just how incredibly EVIL they are. Well, KQ5 was the most evil of them all, and the NES port did not let up a bit on that. If you miss one little 4 pixel item an hour ago, not only will you not be able to progress in the game, you might not even be able to RETURN to the original spot where you found it, thus making your save file impossible to beat! And this happens numerous times in KQ5…it had been a while since I’ve played this one, and I had to start over TWICE because of this. There’s also an event which, if you fail to complete it on the first try, will let you continue playing, but there will be another upcoming event which will result in your death. Anyway. KQ5 was an otherwise revolutionary game in so many ways. One of the first games with voice acting. The first in the series to use point and click rather than typing sentences. The first with numerous new areas (and no backtracking allowed!). Of course, the NES version was unable to carry over most of the stuff which made this game unique and fun. The music is HORRENDOUS (I purposely muted the rest of the game), and using a control pad as a mouse cursor was as annoying as hell. I remember how huge KQ5 was when it first came out on PC, so I can understand Sierra wanting to profit even more from the increased fanbase of NES owners, but Konami did a terrible job with this port, so just play the PC game instead (and use a DIFFERENT name each time you save, or you will regret it!). Also, one warning to those of you who DO play the NES one - this is not a battery-pack. Even though you can save and restore games, it only holds them in the RAM, sort of like save states (and yes, you will have to load a saved game A LOT in this game - like every single time you die. And yes, you will die. A lot). When you want to quit for real, you need to ask the game to give you a PASSWORD, to input the next time you power on the game.
We’re only 4 days away from the 25th anniversary of the NES first being released in the United States. While I have been slowing chugging along, completing about 130 games since this challenge started (not to mention the 100 or so others I’ve beaten over the last 25 years but haven’t documented on here), THIS GUY HERE has even bigger plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary. He plans to play all 750 games within a 24 hour span this Saturday. The means he’s only gonna get about 2 minutes per game, so I’m not sure how he’ll manage that (Dragon Warrior 3, for example, takes at least 4 minutes from the point you power it on until the point where you can actually start playing the game, aside from entering your name).
In theory you could have multiple machines going, and play one of them while another is loading or going through an unskippable intro.
22 hours in, and they’re only up to the S’s. I’ve been watching much of this challenge (although I had to sleep so I missed H-Q) … they have a whole pile of front-loading NES’s, and they’ve gone through a couple boxes of q-tips and a number of systems in order to get the games to load properly. They’re playing each game between 30 seconds and 5 minutes, depending on how fast they get bored with it. For the Dragon Warriors, they loaded a saved game and went outside and fought 1 battle.
The funniest part was when they were playing Dr. Chaos and Snooki started chasing them.
“sweet, two Koei games in a row. Now we can sit back and watch rice grow”
I’m gonna do some marathoning of my own today, since I won’t have much of a chance on the real 25th anniversary tomorrow.
He’s playing Silver Surfer now. My God have mercy on his soul.
Super Dodge Ball, Technos, June 1989, 30 minutes
One of my favorite games ever. It’s a sports game, but really has an action edge to it. You’re in a dodge ball tournamant, taking your team all over the world. Each stage has a theme related to its country (ice field for Iceland, tropical setting for Kenya, etc), which adds to the atmosphere. The 3 offensive players on each team has an energy bar, which you bring down by hitting them with the ball. You can also perform special attacks by getting a running start. Only problem with this game is it’s too easy for me. I played on normal difficulty (per challenge rules), and I didn’t even break a sweat beating the game. This is a really fun game to play in vs 2 player mode. One warning to anyone playing this game - when you get up to India, keep changing your lineup until India puts Swami on defense. Due a programming error, he has 50 defense rather than 5, meaning he will take about 100 hits to eliminate. Also, the final match against the Team USA Ghosts has my favorite NES song EVER.
Mega Man 2, Capcom, June 1989, 45 minutes
Wow, how did I overlook this game so long in this challenge? I’ve beaten this game more than any other video game in history - I used to beat it every single morning before school as part of my morning routine. Metal, Quick, Air, Bubble, Crash, Flash, Heat, Wood…even though this is the only NES Mega Man where the stage order doesn’t really matter (although if you try to do Heat before Air, good luck!), which is part of what makes this game so enjoyable. The funnest (and also easiest) of the NES Mega Man games, with an amazing soundtrack, and the Metal Blades are the best Mega Man weapon in the history of the series. If I have one complaint about this game, it’s that there’s too much waiting between stages, with Dr Light going ON AND ON about the weapon upgrades.
8 Eyes, Taxan, January 1990, 1 hour 15 minutes
I first got this game because it was advertised in Nintendo Power as being similar to Castlevania. Really, the ONLY thing it has in common with CV are the graphics (which are utter ripoffs of CV!), and the castle setting. The gameplay is actually more like Mega Man, since you can choose which castle (each modeled after a different country) order you want to play, and each boss is weak against the sword you get from a previous boss. The problem though is each time you beat a castle, you trade in your sword for a new one, so until you figure out the order, chances are you won’t have the strong sword for most of the bosses. Like Mega Man, you have to fight all of the bosses again, in a row, at the end. The levels themselves are maze/puzzle platforms, which involve finding switches to open the door to the next room. 8 Eyes fails to live up to either CV or MM, infact it’s downright crap at time. 1 player mode has HORRIBLE play control - to control the Falcon (in 1 player mode, it just flies back and forth), you have to press Up+B to leave his shoulder, and then Down+B to attack, and Up+A uses special weapons. This game actually does have a fun 2 player mode, since your character (who looks like Simon with a sword) has a falcon which can attack enemies and pick up items, and is controllable by the computer or player 2. This game does have some amusing elements - you can actually FALL down the stairs if you try to walk off a ledge, and after you beat each boss, you and him sit down and have a cup of tea while your password is being given! India, Spain, Egypt, Italy, Africa, Germany, Arabia
Shatterhand, Natsume, December 1991, 1 hour 30 minutes
Straight up side-scrolling platform action, which is what made the NES popular. You’re some guy with a fist of steel, running around levels, punching robots and saving the world, or something. You can collect cubes, which will make a little flying robot hover over you, who has various types of guns, and you can also collect coins, which can be turned in for energy recharge, extra lives, or more powerful armor (really just a leather jacket). There are also fences in the background which you can hold onto by pressing Up, which I kept forgetting about. The game lets you choose the order of the stages to do, although I couldn’t tell if it made any difference which ones you did…fun game, overdone explosions, great soundtrack, the obligatory reverse-gravity stage, Shatterhand made me remember again why I became such an NES fan!
Maniac Mansion, Lucasarts (ported by Jaleco), September 1990, 1 hour 50 minutes
Unlike King’s Quest 5, the NES version of Maniac Mansion is actually superior to the PC version. It’s a similar type game, except you control three characters (you can choose from a pool of 8, each of which have their own skills) who explore a mansion in order to rescue the main character’s girlfriend from a crazy family. Also unlike KQ5, you have to work very hard in order to die, although there are some situations where you can make your save file unwinnable, both by misusing items, and by not having the right items with the right character at the right place. This game still makes me laugh – it also has a reputation both for what got censored from the game (if you read the Nintendo Power review, note that some of the screenshots are NOT in the final version), and what Jaleco still managed to sneak by NOA’s radar (yes, there’s an actual item in the game called “HAMSTER GUTS”). This is the first time I tried beating it using Bernard and Michael, and is actually a pretty swift way to do it, since you can get Ed on your side, and he’ll take care of most of the end sequence for you. One of the nice things about this game is it has a ton a replayability, since you beat the game a different way depending on your party. This game has an absolutely INSANE soundtrack, I LOVE it. Also, not an NES game, but the PC sequel Day of the Tentacle is quite simply one of the most brilliant adventure games ever made (and even funnier!)