OMG YES YES YES! If you beat this, I will be your number one fan. Me and my dad played this when I was but a wee bandit, and we could never get past a certain stage. The medusa-egg-block combination was just too brutal.
Oh man! Jackal is one of my favorite games ever. I hadn’t thought about that game in years.
I think that the Lolo games are password games, which I’m saving for later. Actually this next game is a password game, but I didn’t realize it until after I finished the first stage, but I decided to continue anyway
Power Blade, developed by Taito, released 1991, completion time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
I bet the first thing a player thinks when playing this game is RIPOFF, RIPOFF, RIPOFF. There should be a drinking game for how much this game rips off other epic action games. The ability to play stages in every order, disappearing blocks and mechanical frogs are straight out of Mega Man, the collapsing robots are exactly the same as the bloody bones from Castlevania, the indestructible rotating discs are not only from Super Mario 3, but use the EXACT same graphic, and getting sent back to the beginning of the stage after losing against the final boss is straight from Ninja Gaiden. But I really shouldn’t complain, cuz Power Blade takes some of the best elements from the best NES action games and combines them together to create a fun game with a perfect challenge balance. You are Nova, this futuristic tough guy who uses mechanical boomerangs for weapons. You’re fighting some alien robot gang who has taken over the planet. Throughout the stages, you can get better boomerangs, and even a cybersuit which’ll let you take 3 extra hits and let you attack through walls. There’s an interesting bug in this game, where if you set off a grenade (which are one time items you can find which will hit every enemy on the screen) as soon as the boss battle is loading, it will get killed instantly. This game appeared on the cover of Nintendo Power (during April which is always the slowest month for video game releases), and I referred to this issue a number of times for finishing the game, since most stages have multiple paths, and also like Castlevania 2 and Bionic Commando, you must find your partner in each stage to get a key card before you can open the door to the boss, and they’re sometimes not in the direct path.
Wrath of the Black Manta, developed by Taito, released 1989, completion time: 35 minutes
Yet another NES ninja game. This one TRIES to be Ninja Gaiden, complete with artistic cinema scenes between stages, but it just ain’t the same. For one thing, it’s really easy! Children are getting kidnapped in NYC by some ninja gang, and you have to rescue them. Not much else to it. The gang is called DRAT. Drat. You have an unlimited supply of throwing stars, and can also cast various ninja spells by holding down B and pressing one of the four control pad directions for a different spell. There’s also a brief FPS sequence in the last stage when you get on an elevator, and have to throw shirukens at enemies in first person view. And in a hilarious Nancy Reagan inspired scene, when you rescue children, your ninja lectures them about the dangers of using drugs!
Super Mario Bros., developed by Nintendo, released 1985, completion time: 48 minutes
do I even need to describe this one? This was the bundled-in game when the NES was first released in the United States, and also the very first video game I ever beat. While I hardly think it deserves the title of BEST GAME OF ALL TIME, it is actually somewhat underrated, even from me. For being one of the earliest NES games, it still hold up in 2007. Throughout the 32 stages, even though they follow a pattern, each stage is different and holds its own kinds of challenges. If you’re playing the game to collect coins and get a high score, it’s a much different game than if you’re just trying to beat it, since there are a lot of roses to stop and smell. In keeping with the spirit of not using built-in cheats to complete the game, I played through the entire game without warping - all 32 stages. Nothing was really THAT difficult - the hardest part is keeping control of Mario, since he’s a slippery character, especially when running and jumping through the tree stages. I didn’t get bored at all - even without warping, it’s not a very long game, and I recommend everybody (ESPECIALLY those of you who haven’t played this game in 20 years, or not at all) give it another go. You won’t be disappointed!
Also, play with a controller. Keyboard isn’t nearly as workable.
do they make NES/SNES usb controlers? or do you have to use one of those new fangled PC ones.
I’m using THIS controller. A & B on the bottom row, turbo A & B on the top row.
Super Mario Bros 2, developed by Nintendo, released 1988, completion time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Keeping with the Mario theme, I moved on to the second United States game. For those of you not in the know, the Japanese version of this game was not a Mario game, but Nintendo changed the characters to Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach for the American release, as well as adding things like 1-Up mushrooms and the like to make it a big more Marioish. However, due to it not being an actual Mario game, this game takes a lot of crap from old-school gamers, who seemed to forget when this was THE biggest game in the latter half of 1988, which was only topped by the release of Zelda 2 (ANOTHER game that seems to get constantly crapped on, despite being one of the most popular, and best, games ever back in the day), and really does stand on its own as a great platformer game. Anyway, the unique thing about SMB2 is that you can choose a new player for every stage, and Mario is actually DISCOURAGED from being used, since he has no great abilities, and Luigi has his high but clumsy jumping (use him for vertical stages), Peach has a floating in mid-air ability (use her for horizontal stages), and Toad sucks at jumping but is very fast, so he’s great for the desert stages that require lots of digging (having a turbo controller also helps move things along). You’re trying to save the weird looking creatures of yet another land, which has been taken over by Wart, a frog king. Your weapons are vegetables which you pull out of the ground, and bombs. Like SMB1, I tackled this game without warping, which is why it took a while. Infact, I think this is the FIRST time I’ve done that, since I can’t remember EVER playing through World 3 before (which has a warp at the very beginning if you fall down the waterfall), so having 3 new levels was a brand new fun experience for me. My one big complaint about this game is Nintendo had way too much programming the “find the mushroom” game in the later stages, where the mushroom (which increase your energy meter) are almost NEVER on the screen where you find the potion that makes them appear. And honestly, do we really have to fight Birdo (or Ostro, as the credits call him) 20 times?
What? You got a problem with pink, transvestite, dinosaur birds?
Mario 2 was the Mario game I played the least, but I was late to the Mario 2 party. I played the shit out of Mario 3, though.
What, you don’t?
No, but I do have a problem with fighting the same boss over and over. There were some minor variations, like having Birdo shoot fire in later stages, and the one Birdo who you aren’t supposed to kill, but instead ride on top of an egg to get across the ocean, and a different room layout almost every time, but it was basically the same thing over and over. At least with Boomer in SMB3, he used different attack strategies every single time. It reminds me of watching the Price Is Right and having to see the wheel over and over for 20 years.
BTW - I forgot to mention in my writeup, but Clawgrip is one of the coolest and funnest bosses to fight in NES history. You only get to fight him once though, and most people aiming on winning the game are going to use the world 7 warp at the beginning of his stage, so probably have never done the battle.
Star Force, developed by Tecmo, released 1987, completion time: 1 hour
This game was recommended to me for my next challenge, so I took it up. Yet another vertically scrolling shooter, this time in space, or at least on the surface of a death-star like planet. Kids, it’s time to learn the Greek alphabet, as there are 24 stages, from Alpha to Omega, and each stage has a boss which is simply a square with that letter on it. Infact, each stage is almost exactly the same, and each took about 2 minutes to finish, giving the total play time about 1 hour. To make matters worse, there aren’t even any weapon upgrades. There are blocks that you can shoot, and letters to collect, but apparently the ONLY reason to do so is to gain more points, which eventually give you extra lives. The one plus to this game is it can be challenging at times, and there is a lot of bullet dodging (sometimes I wasn’t so lucky). Like all games in this genre, a turbo controller is a must. Infact, I remember Star Force was one of the games advertised as being a reason to buy an NES Advantage controller, which was the at-home version of an arcade control stick, with turbo switches.
Super Mario Bros 2 (J), developed by Nintendo, released 1986, completion time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Normally I wouldn’t be playing Japanese-only games in this challenge, but I thought I’d continue the Mario streak with the OTHER Super Mario Bros 2. This game reminds me of somebody taking the SMB1 rom and making a really good hack - fire in the regular stages, flying squids, springboards that shoot you off the top of the screen, flags hidden in beanstalks, underwater cloud-throwers, and poisonous mushrooms. It’s obvious Nintendo had a lot of fun with this one, and didn’t think the western culture could handle it. Well, it IS a lot harder than SMB1 or our SMB2, but nothing unmanagable. Again, I played through without warping, using Luigi - the high jumper, clumsy lander (which really comes back to bite you many times when Luigi has to make an exact landing). It really is just SMB1 on steroids, but it’s a fun play. I mean, if you can beat Ninja Gaiden or Bayou Billy (or even Blaster Master), this is a piece of cake.
How about a try at Shadowgate? If you’ve beaten it before, then it’s not that hard, since it is literally the exact same thing, just use the right item in the right place/hit the right thing/look under whatever, but you’d be surprised how much you might forget, so I’m interested in seeing how long it takes.
I actually played through that not too long ago. If you know how to get through it it takes about 20 mins or so (I didn’t time myself but it was really short). Pretty sad considering it took me days to figure it out when I was a kid.
okay, challenge accepted
Shadowgate, developed by ICOM Simulations, released 1989, completion time: 15 minutes
For this stage of the challenge, I am avoiding games which use passwords, as they’re typically proof that the developers don’t expect you to finish the game in one day. Well, this game has a BATTERY backup, but I’m all too familiar with just how fast I can beat Shadowgate. Long before the days of Time Attacks, I used to play Shadowgate about once a week, trying to get better and better at beating the game as fast as possible. My record is 12 minutes…I hit 15 today cuz it’s been a few years, and I couldn’t remember the order to throw the switches. Anyway, Shadowgate is a great game, but once you beat it the first time, there’s really not else left to do with the game except figuring out how to beat it faster, and with as few items as possible (damn Sphinx!). And of course trying to find creative ways to die! It’s a picture RPG, where you use a mouse cursor to enter commands and move through rooms. Despite only taking up 1/4 of the screen, the castle layout is very cool, and I still enjoy running through a wizard’s castle, waiting to see what is behind the next door. I even drew architect-style floor plans for this game back when I was a kid. And this is an incredibly hard game for somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing, since some of the puzzles take some serious thinking (that damn well comes to mind, and getting through the skull door). Infact, one of the best friendships of my childhood started by the mention that I was having trouble with Shadowgate, and Mike came forward and said he knew how to beat it, but wasn’t going to hold my hand through it. I came back to him about 5 times until I beat it on my own, and then he mentioned he was working on Ultima Exodus now, and we steart teaming up after school to play through that one.
Now, dare I continue the streak and try to do a warpless game of SMB3?
Try Deja Vu.
That game cursed me. I rented it, almost beat it, had dreams about the part that confused me, and then came up with the solution a week later when I woke up one morning.
Yes, dare.
hmm, I never did beat Deja Vu. Finished Uninvited though, which one of my friends (who went went on to become a monk) was convinced was programmed by Satan, in order to convert young gamers against God. I’m about to get fired up for a SMB3 marathon. Not gonna warp, but I am gonna bypass optional stages.