Retro Game Challenge

[Pezcore343]

I was just made aware of a game coming out next week for the Nintendo DS called Retro Game Challenge. Apparently it came out in 2007 in Japan under the title GameCenter CX: Arino no Chōsenjō (Arino's Challenge). Anyone play this game or hear anything good/bad about it? It looks like it could be fun. Basically, it's a game based on retro games styled after Famicom/NES style games.

[heybtbm]

Well, it got "Handheld Game of the Month" in the latest issue of Game Informer. Could be interesting. If it hits $20, I might bite.

[Cryomancer]

The game is loosley based on a Japanese television show called Game-Center CX, that is highly entertaining. There are actually episodes of the show where they go to NamcoBandai and talk about how they are developing the game and so on.

Basically it has fake famicom games you play, and are given challenges to meet, like get the high score or whatever. You can also read fake magazines to get hints and cheat codes and stuff. It's completely up our alley. I;ve had it pre-ordered since after christmas.

here's a video of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkjbA8d1vY

[importaku]

Yup it's a great game, i thoroughly enjoyed the japanese version.

I cant wait till the sequel is out on the 26th.

[Daria]

Holy crap there's a built in Dragon Warrior clone!


I'm sold.

[swlovinist]

Yet another great DS game coming out. Holy cow I am going to be broke, as I am still recovering from the holidays.

[Ro-J]

According to Amazon:

"Entire Games Available for Free Play – Every retro game that is introduced in the story is available in its entirety once the initial challenges have been completed."

That is awesome.

[importaku]

Yeah basically theres 2 modes, in the main mode you play the challenges Arino throws at you, after you have completed the 4th challenge in a game, the game then becomes playable in Freeplay mode which is selectable on the title screen, however in freeplay mode you can't use any of the ingame cheats you get from looking at the games magazines as they don't work in freeplay mode.

In freeplay mode your also given a overall ranking depending on how well your doing in all the games, theres a whole list of stats like how long you have played each game, how many times you have reset, how many times you pressed the A or B buttons & lots more.

[Nebagram]

I'd never even heard of this game until I stumbled across this thread... but I'm extremely intrigued. :)

[kupomogli]

The game looks amazing. I'm a huge fan of Castlevania and the early Ninja Gaiden games. Love the Dragon Warrior series which that one has a carbon copy of. Also, if you've ever played The Guardian Legend, the shmup more closely resembles TGL shmup mode than any other NES shmup.

How many games are there on the game? How lengthy of each of the games would you say they are. Like the Ninja Gaiden clone if you were good at a game like Ninja Gaiden. Do you think it's a larger game than the first or second, or you think it's more like half the size? Or how large is the Dragon Warrior clone to say, Dragon Warrior 2 or 3.

So yeah. I'm going to definitely love this. Literally every game on there looks to be a ripoff of some sortof game. Not just slightly, but closer than one would think.

Glad XSeed is releasing it.

*edit*

Oh yeah. Who else is interested in Yuusha 30 for the PSP?

Marvelous Entertainment is the one who's developing it. They also have a contract with XSeed who releases all their games in the US, so hopefully it comes over as it looks really good. It's a retro graphics game, but the gameplay seems it'll have a definite unique twist. Different quests for one of four characters(each with a different playstyle of gameplay action platformer/overhead action/strategy/real time strategy. If you look at the pictures I'm assuming it'll atleast have 100 quests, but I'm thinking it will have more than that due to the fact that on quest 24 it only has one star in difficulty and only shows level 10.

[Sudo]

I've been looking forward to it very much since the US release was announced.

[Blitzwing256]

I just downloaded the japanese version to test it out. and despite obvious langugage barriers its an awesome game!, the galaga clone stands on its own as does the ninja taro clone...they really trully feel like real famicom games, I'm definatly buying the us version when it comes out, I can't wait to play the rpg level.

[Cryomancer]

5 more days!

[Icarus Moonsight]

Day 1 purchase, easy. :D

[Oobgarm]

Holy shit.

Anyone played this gem yet?

I just gave it a quick run-through last night, only completing the first few challenges. The first game up is an excellent Galaga clone, which after you finish you get to browse the in-game 'magazines' for hint codes to pass the next challenge. The story is bone-headedly stupid, but I think it adds some 'Japanese charm' to the game.

There are some hilarious put-ons of former EGM staffers Milkman and Shoe in the magazine, both of which made me laugh out loud. I felt silly doing it, laughing at my DS.

Absolutely, positively worth $30. Don't wait! If good sales help these guys more out more awesome stuff like this, we should ensure it. I hear there's a sequel in Japan, which NEEDS to come out here as well.

[Simply Dave]

Looks awesome. I'm going to pick it up today.

[CDiablo]

Cant find this one anywhere, my local Play N Trade has been telling me they are gettin in one copy since last Wednesday. I want to buy this now, but havent found it in the wild.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Amazon saves us slackers. $28 - free ship.

[Sudo]

It's a really neat game so far. I made it to the third game, which is a racing game called Rally King or something I believe. Definitely a must-play if you grew up with the NES, or are interested in retro games.

[Volcanon]

For those who have played the game - its hilarious how some games are constantly delayed, just like they were in the late 80s.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Just started the challenges for Robot Ninja Haggle Man 2 this morning. Been playing the game all night. Pure awesome. My favorite freeplay game so far is Star Prince. Excellent Star Soldier clone with some fantastic play mechanics. If this were an actual Fami/NES release it would easily be included in the upper echelon of the system's shmups. I'm impressed.

I liked the dialog between you an young Arigo when he asks you if he should sell his special mail-order only copy of the Rally racing game. Of course, I told him NO WAY! He immediately thought about selling it in the future instead and becoming an instant millionaire. This game was tailor made for us here. I'm glad we got a localized release. It would have taken me forty forevers to find out about the JPN release and by then, I fear, it would have been hella-expensive.

Yes, Guardia Quest delayed again! They pretty much emulated my childhood on the DS... how cool is that? :D

[norkusa]

Anyone know if the Game Center CX tv dvd's are still coming to the US? I heard they finished subbing them and are just looking for a distributor now. That was a while ago though and haven't heard any new news.

http://www.crunkgames.com/therest/gccx/t-dvd4.gif


http://kotaku.com/5019053/game-center-cx-probably-coming-to-dvd-this-time-in-english

[Oobgarm]

Oh dear Lord I hope so.

[robotriot]

First time I heard about this game, sounds really cool! I hope it's coming out in Europe as well, otherwise I'll have to import :/

[98PaceCar]

I've only done the first 3 challenges but I had a hard time putting this down last night! Well worth the $30!

[GM80]

Picked up my local GameStop's only copy last weekend.

I have to get this out of the way first: I absolutely despise the dozen or so pages of forced dialog between gameplay segments. This is the most annoying variety where one character says a few words in a speech bubble, you press A to advance it, then another character speaks, press A again, and repeat. There's no option to skip it, and pressing B only accellerates it slightly. This is probably the single most aggravating thing, to me, about some of the best Japanese games to make it to US shores. It just drives me berzerk, for some reason. It's not the dialogue I mind, but the sentence-by-sentence presentation of it. Give me 3 or 4 more sentences at a time and I'm good.

Back to the good stuff: I love the '80s atmosphere, the arrival of game hints magazines that help you beat the game, and some of the dialogue is funny stuff. The retro throwback games are well-programmed and faithful to the era, and the challenges range from mind-numbingly simple to somewhat difficult.

Overall, I'll like this title much more once I've unlocked free play on everything and am no longer forced to wade through the time-consuming dialogue.

[sav127]

This is the best game to come out for the DS since Hotel Dusk.

I'm loving the challenges.

[LucidDefender]

Anyone else have any other experiences to share about this title? Thanks.

[Icarus Moonsight]

The Guadia Quest challenges were extremely annoying and took all of last nights playing to finish, but Haggleman 3 was so worth the trouble. Not saying Guadia Quest is bad, quite the opposite. Only that it's challenges takes a lot more time to accomplish than the other games so far. After playing it for the last two nights for hours on end I have to admit, this is a must own, addictive as hell DS game. I'm not sure if it would have the same effect without the challenge system. I mean, if it were all available freeplay from the start I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much. Plus, the challenges serve as a tutoring method for the games. I really enjoyed the format and presentation.

In Guadia Quest, East of Timbuktoo, if you make your way through to the center valley in the mountain maze and "look" where the lone tree in the valley is you will trigger a battle with Game Master Arino in game as "GameGuadia". Being a Guadia you can make a pact with him and if you win the fight he will join your party. Be careful though... He's one tough bastard pact or not. Later the girl in the house in Timbuktoo tells you about her dream and describes the area... I found it because you always search suspicious lone elements in these games. :D It was a terrible surprise though since I made the pact and Arino teared my party new assholes in about 2 turns. Ouch. Awesome, but still ouchies. LOL

[Cryomancer]

Yeah, there are 4 of those hidden in the game I believe. I've ran into / gotten killed by two or three now.

[Pezcore343]

I think so far Star Prince is my favorite game of the ones I've unlocked (everything up to Guadia Quest so far), which is odd because I've never been a fan of shoot-em-ups. I'm kind of lacking motivation to play Guadia Quest at the moment so I keep falling back on Star Prince and Cosmic Gate. Perhaps this will encourage me to start playing some real shmups. Anyway, I agree with everyone that this game is fantastic, both in gameplay and in environment. I just hope they bring the second one to America eventually.

[kupomogli]

Still haven't picked this up. Haven't had the time. I have a DS but the buttons click due to the drink I've spilled on it. I'll be unable to play this regardless because I'll be bothered by the DS more than I'll enjoy the game most likely.

I'll pick it up when I go and pick up Prinny though(another game out that I've yet to pick up.) Maybe I'll just go pick this up, Prinny, a new PS3 controller, Street Fighter 4, and a DS Lite altogether. That'll set me back around 300 dollars though :(.

[kaedesdisciple]

I've only finished up to the end of Haggleman, but my impressions so far:

+ Atmosphere, they did a great job recreating "the time"
+ Challenges, it could bring us back to that unlockable argument, but at least the challenges have a purpose and are varied
+ Games, the games so far are bright, colorful, sound right and play well
+ Magazines, looking through them for tips and tricks is a nice touch

- The pacing, it was mentioned before but those speech bubbles are interminable, just get on with it!
- Sometimes the language used to convey the challenges is a tad bit unclear, do I need to finish JUST stage 4 without dying or do I need to finish every stage including stage 4 flawlessly to win? When in doubt, pick the harder one it seems.

[sav127]

Is anybody still playing this

I'm slow, I'm still on Haggleman's last challenge. I got to the 8th board last night, but died.

My goal is to beat the haggleman challenge tonight.

[Pezcore343]

I'm still playing it. I'm on Guadia Quest.

[Cryomancer]

Done with everything but Guadia Quest so far. Stuck on the final boss. I got a green Game Master as my Guadia though, so it shouldn't be long before I can take him.

[kaedesdisciple]

Done with everything but Guadia Quest so far. Stuck on the final boss. I got a green Game Master as my Guadia though, so it shouldn't be long before I can take him.

When in doubt, grind a bit. My characters were at about 38 or so when I finished it, and I just barely made it out with all of them. I had the blue master guadia with me.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Working on the final defeat all games challenge. I'm avoiding finishing though. Mostly playing Star Prince and Haggleman 3 in freeplay...

[Mobius]

Ugh, I hate myself for this, but I stopped playing once I got to Guadia Quest. I absolutely love the rest of the game, but I just can't stand old-school RPGs (or most RPGs in general). I really want to try Haggleman 3, too.

[G-Boobie]

Working on the final defeat all games challenge. I'm avoiding finishing though. Mostly playing Star Prince and Haggleman 3 in freeplay...

Star Prince is fantastic. I'd have paid fifty bucks for that back in the day.

[Nature Boy]

I actually just bought it this morning after this thread popped up yesterday, so I'm hardly anywhere and I'll be playing this for awhile. I've finished the first challenge so far - that's it! :)

[Ed Oscuro]

I think so far Star Prince is my favorite game of the ones I've unlocked (everything up to Guadia Quest so far), which is odd because I've never been a fan of shoot-em-ups.
Check out the Hudson caravan shooters, then. Games like Final Soldier, Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier and most of the rest of the Soldier series. They're quite different from the usual arcade shooter of the day due to the special "kill enemies quickly for more scoring opportunities" play style.

I've yet to pick this up but it should work more or less the same way.

I think this is a game I could easily end up buying twice, because I'm fairly interested in the bonus text.

[Pezcore343]

Thanks for the recommendations. What systems are those Husdon games available on?

[importaku]

The second retro game challenge turned up today, time to get my fix on a whole new wave of fake games YAY
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jasonmuir/gccx2dvd.jpg

[Tupin]

Ooh, it comes with a DVD?

Still working on Guadia Quest, need to grind some more.

[importaku]

It comes in 2 flavours just the game on it's own, or as a limited edition that comes with a special episode of the tv show on dvd.

I love how the box is exactly the same design & dimensions of the dvd tv show box sets, it fits in with them perfectly.

[Julio III]

I absolutely love this game. And really really really hope the 2nd one gets translated! I hope to see some impressions from you, Importaku, somewhere. I loved the dialogue and magazines etc in the first game so definitely want them in the 2nd.

So far I've completed all the challenges up to the final one. I'm trying to complete each game properly - without cheating - now. Done Cosmic Gate, Rally King and Guardia Quest. I spent a huge amount of time getting all the GameGuardias in Guadia Quest. That Red one must have taken hours and hours. He was very tough and very evil. I've also spent quite a long time on Robot Ninja Haguruman 1 but can't clear the 2nd loop. I should also work through Haggleman 3 as it seems quite good, those constant flying things on level 2 really piss me off though!

[maxlords]

Great game. I beat it the other day. For those of you that hate Guardia Quest, you CAN beat the game without beating Guardia Quest....

I liked Robot Ninja Haggleman 3 and Guardia Quest the best myself. Hated that rally game with a BURNING passion though. Especially having to beat it....twice. Blech.

I will buy the 2nd one if it comes out here. Instantly.

[Nature Boy]

The second retro game challenge turned up today, time to get my fix on a whole new wave of fake games YAY

I'm curious (as I'm sure others are) about what the fake games are on this one. So do tell! Is there a RNH 4? :)

Since my last post I'm now on the Rally King SP challenges. This game reminds me of Wario Ware to a certain extent, and I loved that game so enjoying this comes as no suprise.

[importaku]

Theres no sequel to Haguru man but a haguru man game is in there, to stop this thread getting derailed by my retro game challenge 2 postings i have created a impressions thread for all that are intrested in the sequel

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1521533#post1521533

[G-Boobie]

Great game. I beat it the other day. For those of you that hate Guardia Quest, you CAN beat the game without beating Guardia Quest....

Man, I hope so... The final challenge to 'beat every game' is starting to wear on me. I need to beat Haggle Man 3, Gaudia Quest, and Rally King Ramen yet.

How do I skip beating Gaudia Quest? 8 bit RPG's are NOT my thing...

[maxlords]

I'll give you a hint....you can find the answer in one of the game mags. You can use cheats and workarounds to beat most all of the challenges you know...

If you can't figure it out, PM me.

[nickerous]

I love it so far. I'm on the Ralley Car race game. Just imagine if Nintendo released something like this based on actual NES games...

[c0ldb33r]

wow, I'm happy to hear this game is so good. I didn't hear about it until just recently, and when I read about the game I was concerned that it may suck or just be a confusing mess.

I'll pick this when it hits $20.00 (which shouldn't be long since it's only $30 on amazon now)

[Ed Oscuro]

Some informations:

(Warning, spoilers about how you need to complete the games)

-Use the 64 Stage Warp in Cosmic Gate if you want to finish the game without killing your thumb. Doesn't work in the Free Play version. (I have yet to try it out in the Story Mode version, but it'll work.) The warp is this: Shoot 64 times in Stage 1 without hitting an enemy.

-Haggleman 1 registers as completed even in Freeplay if you use the Left + Start continue cheat

-Left + Start when GAME OVER appears in Star Prince to continue.

-Rally King SP seems to require you place first to register as "completed." I've gotten second place (re-running the last course) in Freeplay, and third place in Story Mode, and neither has registered as completed yet.

-In Robot Ninja Haggleman 3, be sure to get the discount Gear. By Episode 3's beginning you shouldn't need more than maybe 180 power, so there's no point of grinding to get Max +10 gears forever. I believe there are two free Max +10 gears in the first two Episodes, so the highest you would need to buy would be 240 power - the remaining 260 (actually 255, the last +10 only adds +5; they made the max power 255 to be cute) should be free. Of course, I ended up grinding it out anyway. Also, be very sure to complete the episode if you have bought a lot of +10s; if you don't complete an episode before quitting the game, your progress since the beginning of the episode is lost!

Also, somebody needs to make a Guadia Quest walkthrough. I've found a bunch of stuff (including a secret hidden enemy that has a Guadia version), but I have no idea what most of the items do (not effective here), and I haven't used magic (why is Character3 so bad at armed combat, and what is OldWand's use when you can replace it with a FineDirk or Scimitar? Why don't better weapons make Character3 a better melee fighter?), and likewise the only way to tell what Guadias are better than others is to collect them. What I know so far:

FireGuadia and the first stone-looking Guadia should both be Level 10 and 60 Power. I have Wind Guadia on my Story Mode save, will have to look at its stats. LostGuadia (the samurai one) is level 15 and 75 power.

Titanium, Silver, and Gold are money-storing items. Lets you get killed and not need to reset the game to recover your gold, although I tend to do that anyway.

My playing order is usually like this:
1.) Grind the area immediately outside Centraan for a while (to about level 4-5)
2.) Grind the area around Timbuktoo
3.) Quickly go to the Dungeon, hopefully using Fasta to get to the regen point, and grind grind grind! Picking up the weapons, quickly getting to the stat boost items (Figs) in hopes the game increases stats at the level by percentage, and chuckling about all the money I have saved by only buying a Bastard Sword up to this point! Note, ForceFig does not go to Character3.
4.) Go through the Dungeon and beat it if possible. If not I go grind the entrance hall of the Tower a while. Then back to the Dungeon eventually (probably around Level 19-20).

I use Auto for combat, which definitely takes some of the fun out of it, but lets things go much faster. I'm thinking that I need to "downgrade" Character 1's weapon, because the Battleaxe and BigClub have terrible hit/miss chance ratios (50-50 for each). I'd rather do less damage but do it consistently.

And, again, Character3's inability to do more than about 3 damage in melee is puzzling. If her attack stat is about 1/4 that of Character1's, she should still be able to do about 1/4 the damage! Also puzzling is that Auto doesn't use any magic except for healing. Lame-o.

My characters are named Rizz, Wua, and Prch. yep. I almost gave Character2 a different name in Freeplay because I kept thinking I was seeing "Who did X damage to LostPriest!"


I'll give you a hint....you can find the answer in one of the game mags. You can use cheats and workarounds to beat most all of the challenges you know...
This is related to the LOOK command and the Royal Tomb (which I haven't found yet), right?

[maxlords]

This is related to the LOOK command and the Royal Tomb (which I haven't found yet), right?

Yep.

FYI, ALL games can be "Complete" by using cheats from the mags. I cheated on RNH3 to skip to the last stage, eliminated all the competition from Rally King, etc etc. It's not nearly as hard to beat if you want to do that. Of course, for a challenge, you can beat em all the fair way, but IMO that's why you unlock free mode anyway.

[kaedesdisciple]

Some informations:

(Warning, spoilers about how you need to complete the games)

Also, somebody needs to make a Guadia Quest walkthrough. I've found a bunch of stuff (including a secret hidden enemy that has a Guadia version), but I have no idea what most of the items do (not effective here), and I haven't used magic (why is Character3 so bad at armed combat, and what is OldWand's use when you can replace it with a FineDirk or Scimitar? Why don't better weapons make Character3 a better melee fighter?), and likewise the only way to tell what Guadias are better than others is to collect them. What I know so far:

It will take a long time before Ch3 is a character worth using melee. Keep using her magic until you can spare a really good melee weapon that she can use instead of using her MP all the time. Trust me, you will find one eventually.



FireGuadia and the first stone-looking Guadia should both be Level 10 and 60 Power. I have Wind Guadia on my Story Mode save, will have to look at its stats. LostGuadia (the samurai one) is level 15 and 75 power.

I walked through the game with the idea that every time I got to a new area, I would find the new Guadia and try to get it. Didn't fail me once, except when I tried to get one that was WAY above my level and it demolished my party. After you find the toughest Guadias in the game (you will know them when you see them), you will want no other kind, if you can survive a pact fight with one of them.



Titanium, Silver, and Gold are money-storing items. Lets you get killed and not need to reset the game to recover your gold, although I tend to do that anyway.

For me, these were useless items as I almost always used items that I found in the dungeons since they were superior anyway. The thing I used money most for was the Inn.



My playing order is usually like this:
1.) Grind the area immediately outside Centraan for a while (to about level 4-5)
2.) Grind the area around Timbuktoo
3.) Quickly go to the Dungeon, hopefully using Fasta to get to the regen point, and grind grind grind! Picking up the weapons, quickly getting to the stat boost items (Figs) in hopes the game increases stats at the level by percentage, and chuckling about all the money I have saved by only buying a Bastard Sword up to this point! Note, ForceFig does not go to Character3.
4.) Go through the Dungeon and beat it if possible. If not I go grind the entrance hall of the Tower a while. Then back to the Dungeon eventually (probably around Level 19-20).

I use Auto for combat, which definitely takes some of the fun out of it, but lets things go much faster. I'm thinking that I need to "downgrade" Character 1's weapon, because the Battleaxe and BigClub have terrible hit/miss chance ratios (50-50 for each). I'd rather do less damage but do it consistently.

Getting rid of the BigClub on Ch1 is an excellent move. I always used the grandfather method on melee weapons. If I saw the hit% went way down, I would just switch back. I would rather know I have the slightly lower damage than not be able to predict when I'll get any hit.



And, again, Character3's inability to do more than about 3 damage in melee is puzzling. If her attack stat is about 1/4 that of Character1's, she should still be able to do about 1/4 the damage! Also puzzling is that Auto doesn't use any magic except for healing. Lame-o.

My characters are named Rizz, Wua, and Prch. yep. I almost gave Character2 a different name in Freeplay because I kept thinking I was seeing "Who did X damage to LostPriest!"


This is related to the LOOK command and the Royal Tomb (which I haven't found yet), right?

The Royal Tomb is on the Eastern side of the map. You can find it any time you want, as long as you can survive the fights around it. Those fights shouldn't be tough, though.

[Icarus Moonsight]

The problem there is the money storing items sell back 1:1 of their buy cost. Other items you take a hit. If you die, you lose gold on hand so the store items are very useful.

[Nature Boy]

Rally King SP seems to require you place first to register as "completed." I've gotten second place (re-running the last course) in Freeplay, and third place in Story Mode, and neither has registered as completed yet.

Where can I tell that one of the 'utimate challenges' is completed? I beat Cosmic Gate using the warp cheat, then beat Rally King (non SP version), but I can't seem to see the results anywhere. Have I missed something somewhere?

I did end up beating Guadia Quest's 4th challenge after a long time playing around in the dungeon and finding my way (I was level 15, and do feel like I got a bit lucky as I had one dead char, one with 1 HP, and one still okay but could not have lasted another round of attacks).

Guadia Quest is definitely the game where lots of people might lose their way. I loved them at the time, but now RPGs without maps that are auto-created and poor inventory management are tough to take. All the rest of the games I would totally still play today had I played them back in the 80s - Guadia Quest I would likely remember fondly but never want to play again...

(that's assuming they were all real of course :) )

[Sudo]

Where can I tell that one of the 'utimate challenges' is completed? I beat Cosmic Gate using the warp cheat, then beat Rally King (non SP version), but I can't seem to see the results anywhere. Have I missed something somewhere?

I did end up beating Guadia Quest's 4th challenge after a long time playing around in the dungeon and finding my way (I was level 15, and do feel like I got a bit lucky as I had one dead char, one with 1 HP, and one still okay but could not have lasted another round of attacks).

Guadia Quest is definitely the game where lots of people might lose their way. I loved them at the time, but now RPGs without maps that are auto-created and poor inventory management are tough to take. All the rest of the games I would totally still play today had I played them back in the 80s - Guadia Quest I would likely remember fondly but never want to play again...

(that's assuming they were all real of course :) )
When you select the game, there should be a "completed" icon displayed if you've finished it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Super mega post with info on STAR PRINCE, GUADIA QUEST, and the SECRET END MINIGAME.

A quick STAR PRINCE note:

Shooting powerups in levels usually gives you only small numbers of points at a time, like 3000 or so, when you kill a stream of popcorn enemies with it. However, at the end of stages there is a powerup. Knock it out of its casing as soon as possible, and clear all the enemies onscreen as fast as possible until a type that spits out lots of bullets appears.

Popping a powerup includes onscreen bullets in the bonus calculation, so if you can destroy that powerup with lots of bullets onscreen, you can get big, big points - more than you can get for the max chain of re-collecting the same powerup type (although throughout levels you usually should try to do that).

For comparison:
Maximum bonus for picking up the same powerup type is 50,000, slowly ramping up to that level.
The bonus for having extra ships in your stock is also 50,000, I believe.
I have gotten about 104K+ points from shooting one powerup and clearing a screen full of bullets.

Do the math: Top Star Prince scorers will use such strategies as suiciding your ship to restart before bosses (either the third or final boss), and shooting powerups a lot during the second loop.

My highscore is only about 3.6 mil, and 5 million will be my next target if I can just survive stage 4 on the second loop again. Not as tough as it might seem.

Yeah, the completed medal shows up on the orange band on the left side of the game cart pic.

GUADIA QUEST

Kaede's Disciple makes a lot of excellent points, but I have some things to add:

You can easily figure out if a new weapon is better or worse than an older one by pulling up Items -> Info on it. Look at the circles. X is bad since it means you'll miss; ? can be good or bad if one of its options is a miss - but a ? with an option for, say, 40 points damage has a higher potential damage than a triangle with 30 every time. There is at least one other weapon for the Fighter that is like BigClub; it has some really high hits but again way too many misses (50% at least).

Stay away from Reaper. It's not at all worth the money you pay for it, and I found another in a dungeon anyway.

Agreed on Chr3, she does a whole lot better later on, although I can't shake the feeling she's doing much worse than she should according to the stats.

The Fool enemy is very interesting to fight, but when you're in the lower levels of the dungeon it makes sense just to Auto on them until they run away; you'll just use up your magic trying to kill them and this limits the amount of exploration you can do.

On that note, I really dig how the game got me to come out of the AUTO cocoon with the Fool enemy and by giving more magic to Chr1. He has an offensive spell around level 28 that other characters don't have.

I found that many items boost one character much more than another. Unless Chr3 is really behind the others in terms of DEF, I usually give out equipment to the person whose stats are boosted the most by the new item.

The path to the Royal Tomb (mausoleum) is only guarded by first level monsters, so you can basically head there right at the start of the game if you want a new record for fastest completion time. Quick Q: Is there a way to select "new game" to do this without wiping out your previous save? I'm not about to try it out, but it'd be interesting to know.

THE FINAL REAL END OF THE GAME

I haven't been able to do this. You need to rapidly shoot Arino during the credits sequence, and apparently it's easier if you hold either the L or R buttons before that minishmup starts (I left my DS plugged in for a long time, but apparently not long enough to see a note about this cheat).

This is REALLY REALLY HARD. I can mash both buttons at once as fast as possible, and even force Arino into his second form in a relatively short while, but I have never been able to get past the final smoking form. Arino doesn't go "that was close;" he'll explode, but apparently you still haven't "won" until he blows up before the credits end (i.e. when he normally goes back to the middle of the screen and you lose control).

This is also very annoying because the Autofire still shows up as Amateur on the Freeplay menu, when I feel like anything but. It's really hard, and the screen gap doesn't make things easier, especially when he's spitting shots every time you hit him, and you have to keep leading him (like shooting clay targets) the whole time. But it should be possible.

[Ed Oscuro]

Quick new post and a question: Would it be appropriate to start a new thread for high scores? This game is such an epic that it seems that info would just get lost in the shuffle, plus the post wasn't started with that aim in mind.

[Julio III]

Wow, great posts Ed Oscuro!

There is a walkthrough for Guadia Quest on gamefaqs. It was for the Japanese version of the game though so all names have changed. There are also some maps showing you where the hidden pitfalls are as well. For a challenge you should try recruiting the GameGuardias. The Red one is be far the hardest enemy in the game. I found the final bosses etc really easy but found the pixel art really great! As Arino says "this game has great looking enemies".

I should probably go back to RGC and complete Haguruman 3 and probably just continue on the other games to finish them to get the endgame game. I spent too long trying to 1CC Haggleman 1 though. Always die somewhere on the 2nd loop. I think level 2-3 is the one I die most often on.

[Ed Oscuro]

I should get my stuff together and make a FAQ / walkthrough for the games...I don't like the Haggleman games all that much, but they aren't too tough to figure out.

I discovered that the "Autofire" thing on the Freeplay menu was just referring to the button press count. Has nothing to do with Story Mode's credits sequence, which I still haven't beaten (I guess). The strategy for the credits is to put the DS down and tap the buttons rapidly one after the other with two fingers. The first mode goes down quickly, at least. Hard to keep my fingers from becoming fatigued, however, and then there's the issue of dodging all the stuff he's tossing while staying close on the screen. Agh!

I beat Cosmic Gate with lives left in stock, so my highscore for that is 676K+. Used quite a few warps, and I probably shouldn't have done a warp from a few levels before the end (takes you right to it), oh well.

Another SPOILER:
I found out that the GameGuadia (red) by The Tower can get his stats knocked down twice, but no further. I used GoldOrb and GuadiaNip, and so those take 40 and 50 off his stats and make his normal attacks not too bad, but he still wipes me out with the ritual. I can't use a third orb.

The first Guadia I beat with extreme ease after being highly leveled...GameGuadia seems to require the use of two Orbs (or two Guadianips, but I used one already, and it'd only be taking 10 more off his attacks which are no problem. It's his magic that does me in.

[Nature Boy]

I don't like the Haggleman games all that much, but they aren't too tough to figure out.

The first two totally grew on me as I played them more and more (first for the challenges, then for the ultimate challenge). That second one is tough!

I did finally see the "Complete" logo. Stupid me was looking down around the checkmarks and *totally* missed it. The lesson, as always: I'm an idiot.

I admit I used the cheat from the mag to complete Guadia Quest. I think I'll go back and play it at some point, but I'd never finish the game if I *had* to finish it I think. I know, I know, that sounds weird. But the will to beat the whole game isn't enough on it's own to beat Guadia. Knowing I can beat the meta game first and then go back is awsome.

This is easily my favourite portable game in a long time (the last game I got into was the PSP God of War game). It's just so well done. Count me amongst those will will buy the sequel immediately if it makes it to our shores.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, I beat Haggleman without a continue yesterday, not too tough. It helps that I finally decided to try jumping on the last boss's head instead of trying just to get him to faceplant into barriers - a game mag gave that as a tip so I never tried head-jumping him until yesterday. So he's an absolute pushover. 94K+ on the final score. Haggleman 2 sure is harder, although the first stage has a spot where sometimes enemies all bunch up along the left side of the screen (that you can see from where you start play) which should theoretically make getting the repeated head bounces bonus easier to get (in practice somebody always jumps up and Busts me).

I used the Guadia Quest cheat twice to get a short completion time :D I'm scared of trying it out again with New Game in Freeplay, however, 'cuz I'm sure that'll wipe my level 47 characters.

I still haven't been able to make Arino explode without the credits sequence timeout doing it...not sure it's meant to be done.

[Julio III]

Ed: you gonna go for the pact with the Red Game Guardia then?? It took me hours. Was very hard. Managed it in the end though :)

[Ed Oscuro]

What level were you at?

And the answer is...uhh...maybe. Depends on how much grinding it takes - I should've been busier than I was the week that game came out :p Paying for it now.

[kaedesdisciple]

Ed: you gonna go for the pact with the Red Game Guardia then?? It took me hours. Was very hard. Managed it in the end though :)

All of my characters are 50 and he still wipes the floor with me. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm about level 47 and he does so to me. It wasn't too many levels ago that I fought the second Guadia, so he might require something like level 60-75. Just a happy thought :D

[kaedesdisciple]

I'm about level 47 and he does so to me. It wasn't too many levels ago that I fought the second Guadia, so he might require something like level 60-75. Just a happy thought :D

Levels max out at 50, my friend :(

Those sunpuppets got me there but quick

[Ed Oscuro]

.... :D

Yeah, well, then it'll be the Guadianip and a Gold Orb (or maybe I have two Guadianips again? There's three I found).

You could also grind the tower a lot to find stat increase items. They're out there; I've seen one of probably every kind up in that tower, as enemy drops too. It doesn't sound like much but a couple of those item drops is the equivalent of leveling a stat; get enough of 'em and you're in business.

Hmm...it'd be interesting to see how Chr3 does in melee with the same stats as Chr1.

[ccovell]

A little bit off-topic, but this is a quick post about an info page I'm making for Game Center CX. It has a few unused pieces of data (mostly in its magazine section), so check out what I have so far on this page:

http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/GameCenterCX/

[kaedesdisciple]

.... :D

Yeah, well, then it'll be the Guadianip and a Gold Orb (or maybe I have two Guadianips again? There's three I found).

You could also grind the tower a lot to find stat increase items. They're out there; I've seen one of probably every kind up in that tower, as enemy drops too. It doesn't sound like much but a couple of those item drops is the equivalent of leveling a stat; get enough of 'em and you're in business.

Hmm...it'd be interesting to see how Chr3 does in melee with the same stats as Chr1.

I know that the lostgiant drops a lifefig pretty often. Any others you know offhand?

[Ed Oscuro]

No, I wasn't paying attention to who was dropping what. But I did see some ForceFigs and the other types too.