2017 Game Completion Challenge

[jperryss]

You need to resize those pics! Chrome crashes on me as soon as I scroll down to your post (I assume it's the pics).

Also, just started playing this one today. What a cool game! Looks and feels very NES Batman-ish.

[Scissors]

Glad to see Kabuki Quantum Fighter is new to a few folks! I think it's pretty underrated.

Scissors-Metal Storm rules. Up until a few yeas ago, that was one of the best under the radar games out there... now it costs a lot... Good luck clearing Granstream! I've never dug it like I do the SNES trilogy, but I hope you have fun with it!


I beat Kabuki Quantum Fighter today. Pretty good game. Too bad it's so short.

Yup, Metal Storm went unappreciated for a really long time. I'm glad I got mine before it got hyped up.

I'm not crazy about Granstream Saga so far. I'll probably give it a few more tries though. I had already played Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, which is why I asked if I could play it instead. While I have Tenchi Souzo, I had tried playing it a few months ago and found the Japanese to be a bit too difficult for me.



Just a question for the future... how do you all feel about the inclusion of an english-friendly import here or there? I'm mainly trying to choose stuff that's fairly common and accessible so far, so as to make it possible for the maximum number of participants. Thoughts?

I wouldn't mind an occasional import. If you make it an option, I think it should take the place of one of the main games of the week, not the player's choice game.

[jperryss]

I beat Kabuki Quantum Fighter today. Pretty good game. Too bad it's so short.

Yup, Metal Storm went unappreciated for a really long time. I'm glad I got mine before it got hyped up.

Of all the games I've discovered so far during this 2017 challenge, KQF has been my favorite and I can't believe I'd barely heard of it before now. The graphics and level design feel like a Ninja Gaiden game of the era (specifically NG2 with the waterfalls and boomerang enemies in stage 2, as well as the cutscenes) with more of a Castlevania color palette. The stages are short and the imagery is pretty crazy as you mentioned. I made it to stage 4 last night (stage 3 took me a few tries) and hope to continue tonight.

Metal Storm is another underrated gem. The second loop gets brutally difficult at times (lots of trial and error) and there are segments where I'm pretty sure there is only one exact route to take to get through, much like the later levels in R-Type (another Irem game).

[celerystalker]

Glad to see some love for Kabuki Quantum Fighter! I bought it as a kid with a combination of birthday money and money from wrapping newspapers on weekends, and I've been a big fan ever since. Nobody seems too keen on trying it out amongst my friends around here, but the few who have all ended up buying it afterward. It's just a cool combination of weird-ass imagery and concepts with rock solid action.

[FieryReign]

KQF is too frustrating for me. I take cheap hits left and right. The bosses are all spazzy and move at hyperspeed.

Knife Edge has emulation issues for what I have. It runs at like twice the normal speed. Unless it's supposed to be that fast? I always thought this was some kinda helicopter sim, it's a rail shooter.

[jperryss]

Kabuki Quantum Fighter completed

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/433791/kqf.jpg

Not much to say that I didn't already mention in my earlier posts, but I had a lot of fun with this one and had a hard time putting it down, which doesn't happen to me with too many games anymore. There were some annoying cheap hits in a few places (particularly the bosses) but not much worse than many NES games of the era, especially the Ninja Gaiden games that influenced it. The stage 5 and final boss (another definite nod to NG) were both a bit of a pushover compared to the earlier bosses. I'd say the tricky platforming sections, especially the vertical ones that require precise swinging between floating platforms, were the most challenging and frustrating part of the game for me.

[celerystalker]

KQF is too frustrating for me. I take cheap hits left and right. The bosses are all spazzy and move at hyperspeed.

Knife Edge has emulation issues for what I have. It runs at like twice the normal speed. Unless it's supposed to be that fast? I always thought this was some kinda helicopter sim, it's a rail shooter.

It's not particularly fast on a cart, so you're likely correct about it beinv a weird emulation issue.

It being a rail shooter is actually why I put it on this week, as I don't think most folks are familiar with it. There are better rail shooters out there, but on N64, which lacks variety in its action games, it's a fun diversion that's still, like, five bucks and has some arcade-ish play, even if it does kinda look like it could've been done handily on Jaguar.

[celerystalker]

Lots of wins on Kabuki Quantum Fighter this week, and only FieryReign looks to have attempted Knife Edge... but I still appreciate a good rail shooter. Anyhow, a day yet to go for week 8, but week 9 games go up now. After all, I'll likely either fall asleep or be engulfed in my newly repaired GI Joe arcade board that's currently occupying my Sunset Riders cabinet for 4 player goodness. Thanks to dbstallman on KLOV for the repair job!!! So, anyhow, new games:

-Pick a game from the Ray-series of shooters. These include RayForce/Galactic Attack/Layer Section (Arcade, Saturn, PS1), RayStorm/Layer Section II (same systems), and RayCrisis (Arcade, PS1). I prefer Galactic Attack, in case anyone wondered.

-Ranger X/EX Ranza (Genesis)

-Player's choice: pick any non-fighting game with a female lead character. This includes equal booking, like Top Hunter, where you can be Roddy or Cathy. Examples might include Shantae, Metroid, Wendy: Every Witch Way, Hi Hi Puffy Amy Yumi, Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon, etc.

-just a few days left to finish a Heaven and Earth game! New RPG goes up on the first.

I'll post current standings tomorrow evening. Good luck!

[Scissors]

I beat Red Alarm for player's choice today.

[FieryReign]

Gave KQF one last shot and came to the same conclusion. The stage 3 boss is bullshit. Complete bullshit. The game has some crackin music but those vertical stages and boss patterns can go fuck themselves.

I'm calling bullshit on whoever 1ccd this on their 2nd try. That simply ain't happening unless you know the game.

[RP2A03]

Gave KQF one last shot and came to the same conclusion. The stage 3 boss is bullshit. Complete bullshit. The game has some crackin music but those vertical stages and boss patterns can go fuck themselves.

I'm calling bullshit on whoever 1ccd this on their 2nd try. That simply ain't happening unless you know the game.

The round three boss isn't that hard. Jump or duck when he is flying around and position yourself so that you are near him when he lands so that you can hit and run before he spits. The vertical stages require patience and good timing, otherwise you will end up playing an itsy bitsy spider simulator.

Also, while I am not extensively familiar with the game, this isn't my first rodeo.

[celerystalker]

Gave KQF one last shot and came to the same conclusion. The stage 3 boss is bullshit. Complete bullshit. The game has some crackin music but those vertical stages and boss patterns can go fuck themselves.

I'm calling bullshit on whoever 1ccd this on their 2nd try. That simply ain't happening unless you know the game.

That was my sticking point when I first got the game when I was younger. It seems easy now to me, but it was insanely frustrating to me back then. Once I cleared stage 3, though, everything fell into place, and I now the game is an easy clear for me... it just wasn't always that way.

[Emperor Megas]

I beat Kabuki Quantom Fighter at the zero hour, and all I can say is...

FUCK THAT GAME.

Seriously, it was one of the most frustrating gaming experiences I've had in a LONG time. There's probably a great little game buried under all the horribly clunky controls. I went in with somewhat high expectations, but the controls ruined this game for me, which is a shame because this game is otherwise totally up my alley. I even have a thing about Renjishi characters, so I was really excited for this one.

In fairness, maybe it was the stress of having to beat it in a few hours that soured me on it, but the unforgiving platforming and terrible reach of your main weapon had me tearing my hair out the whole while. BTW, the level 2 boss fight was probably where I spent the most time. Also, it's a darn good thing I had a manual for this game (and read it) because if I didn't know about transferring energy for chips and verse versa during boss fights, I'd have NEVER beaten this game.

I'm glad to have this one behind me now.

[Cornelius]

Golden Axe Warrior has been on my must play list for a very long time. It is almost a great game, but being a copy of Zelda, I can't help compare the two and GAW comes up well short. The biggest issue is only having one attack button. The SMS really needed a start button on the controller. Only other real complaint was the boss fights. For many of them you can just stand in one place. That's the cheap way out, but it really shouldn't have been allowed.

This game was overly ambitious of me to tackle in just a week, but it is one I'm happy to have played and scratched off the list after so long.

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Finds/IMG_20170226_123931.jpg

[FieryReign]

The round three boss isn't that hard. Jump or duck when he is flying around and position yourself so that you are near him when he lands so that you can hit and run before he spits. The vertical stages require patience and good timing, otherwise you will end up playing an itsy bitsy spider simulator.

Also, while I am not extensively familiar with the game, this isn't my first rodeo.
Yeah, that was the plan. But he never stops on the side of the screen where you are. He'll just keep going back and forth.

[jperryss]

Yeah, that was the plan. But he never stops on the side of the screen where you are. He'll just keep going back and forth.

I struggled with him also. If you stay still long enough for him to shoot you, he usually comes down shortly after.

EDIT: NVM, I just watched a speedrun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIrtJD7KA_8) and I was actually thinking of the stage 4 boss.

[Emperor Megas]

-Player's choice: pick any non-fighting game with a female lead character. This includes equal booking, like Top Hunter, where you can be Roddy or Cathy. Examples might include Shantae, Metroid, Wendy: Every Witch Way, Hi Hi Puffy Amy Yumi, Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon, etc.How about shooters like Gaiares and Thunder Force III that have both a male and female pilot on the cockpit? Do they count? :)

[Az]

This week I initially went through Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold from Street Fighter Collection on PSX, an incremental update to SFA2. The biggest addition is a cut & paste insert of Cammy from her SFvsX outing but she's only playable in versus mode, which is extemely lame.

Such a small upgrade from vanillla seemed like a weak choice, so I also ended up going through the OpenBOR game Super Final Fight Gold with a classic controller on Wii. Even the best BOR mods can become boring extremely fast not only due to the author's decisions but to restrictions to the engine itself. This one hit a nice sweet spot of great visuals and gameplay with just the right length. The enemies and backdrops were varied & interesting enough to keep playing and the various super moves were pretty damn cool. This one implements the Street Fighter cast best of all games I've played so far.

I had only two complaints; the lack of weapons (which I know not to expect) and the juggle heavy combo engine. There was a time or two where given the right amount and type of enemies I'd be juggled endlessly until death against the screen edge.

[RP2A03]

Yeah, that was the plan. But he never stops on the side of the screen where you are. He'll just keep going back and forth.

He will eventually set down. You just have to run behind him and maintain an uncomfortably close distance. The timing is tight and the margins are slim.

[Niku-Sama]

Lots of wins on Kabuki Quantum Fighter this week, and only FieryReign looks to have attempted Knife Edge... but I still appreciate a good rail shooter. Anyhow, a day yet to go for week 8, but week 9 games go up now. After all, I'll likely either fall asleep or be engulfed in my newly repaired GI Joe arcade board that's currently occupying my Sunset Riders cabinet for 4 player goodness. Thanks to dbstallman on KLOV for the repair job!!! So, anyhow, new games:

-Pick a game from the Ray-series of shooters. These include RayForce/Galactic Attack/Layer Section (Arcade, Saturn, PS1), RayStorm/Layer Section II (same systems), and RayCrisis (Arcade, PS1). I prefer Galactic Attack, in case anyone wondered.

-Ranger X/EX Ranza (Genesis)

-Player's choice: pick any non-fighting game with a female lead character. This includes equal booking, like Top Hunter, where you can be Roddy or Cathy. Examples might include Shantae, Metroid, Wendy: Every Witch Way, Hi Hi Puffy Amy Yumi, Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon, etc.

-just a few days left to finish a Heaven and Earth game! New RPG goes up on the first.

I'll post current standings tomorrow evening. Good luck!

I hope my sailor moon beat em up comes this week otherwise another week without any of these games

[FieryReign]

Aww snap, you go girl! My players choice defeat is That's So Raven 2: Supernatural Style for GBA. I actually got stuck at one point. There's some confusing level layouts going on here.

[celerystalker]

I hope my sailor moon beat em up comes this week otherwise another week without any of these games

Even the player's choice games? I'm trying to keep 'em pretty common... hmm... if you have one of the PS2 Taito compilations, you may have RayStorm...

FieryReign-holy shit, you are killing me with these licensed GB games! That shit is hilarious.

[Emperor Megas]

Jesus, it looks like they put Raven in blackface. O_O

[FieryReign]

Are there differences between Ex-Ranza and Ranger-X? I remember reading somewhere there's differences in explosion effects or something. Maybe difficulty? Never could get past the 2nd cave stage.

[celerystalker]

How about shooters like Gaiares and Thunder Force III that have both a male and female pilot on the cockpit? Do they count? :)

As long as the female pilot is shown in game during gameplay or cutscenes, I'll roll with it.

[celerystalker]

Are there differences between Ex-Ranza and Ranger-X? I remember reading somewhere there's differences in explosion effects or something. Maybe difficulty? Never could get past the 2nd cave stage.

I have both, and the only difference I can see is that there's a code for a joke stage in EX Ranza that's not accessible without devices on Ranger X.

[Emperor Megas]

As long as the female pilot is shown in game during gameplay or cutscenes, I'll roll with it.'Shely' is both mentioned and shown in the ending credits sequence of Thunder Force III, so she's definitely all in.

'Alexis' is shown in action during the epilogue of Gaiares and says that she's taking control of the TOZ weapon system that Dan's fighter is outfitted with, however it's unclear if she's actually on board in the actual fighter with Dan or controlling it remotely. He's wearing a flight helmet and she isn't -- she's just wearing a head com like a bridge officer, which means she could be piloting the TOZ from the satellite base you start the game from. Still, that doesn't seem likely since Dan actually travels through hyperspace and traverses the galaxy. Perhaps he took control of the TOZ since they were met unexpectedly by an attack force early on. She mentions that "she's taking control of the TOZ" early on, just before they realize that there's an attack force closing in on them and he has to scramble.

Meh, the whole Gaiares thing is too ambiguous I suppose, and since I haven't re-aquired another copy of Thunder Force III yet anyway, I guess I'll stick with a sure thing, like Golden Axe on the Genesis. It's a cinch to beat, I'm sure, and that'll give me some more time to try to finish Gaia. I'm really out of practice with classic gaming.

[Niku-Sama]

Even the player's choice games? I'm trying to keep 'em pretty common... hmm... if you have one of the PS2 Taito compilations, you may have RayStorm...

FieryReign-holy shit, you are killing me with these licensed GB games! That shit is hilarious.

no I couldn't find it any where locally when something else was on it.

interestingly enough it came in the mail today so...

[celerystalker]

no I couldn't find it any where locally when something else was on it.

interestingly enough it came in the mail today so...

Which one did you go with? One of the beat 'em ups on SFC or Genesis?

[RP2A03]

You need to resize those pics! Chrome crashes on me as soon as I scroll down to your post (I assume it's the pics).

Those pictures don't cause my browser to crash even on my thirteen year old laptop. Heck, they barely cause it to chug. With that said, I will post thumbs from now on.






For the player's choice, I went with Crystal's Pony Tale.


http://i.imgur.com/zItcL9Dh.png (http://i.imgur.com/zItcL9D.png)


This is actually a surprisingly not bad game. In fact it's rather relaxing.




http://i.imgur.com/IL60TkOh.png (http://i.imgur.com/IL60TkO.png)


I'm a pretty pony!




http://i.imgur.com/SQo0Ieyh.png (http://i.imgur.com/SQo0Iey.png)


I saved all my pony friends!

[Niku-Sama]

Which one did you go with? One of the beat 'em ups on SFC or Genesis?

Super famicom, the first one on there

[FieryReign]

Finished with Galactic Attack/Gunlock on MAME. Feels like cheating though, must've used like 20 credits. The last few stages are ridiculous. I could barely stay alive for longer than 10 seconds, there's so much crap trying to kill you. I don't know how people master games like this.

[jperryss]

Those pictures don't cause my browser to crash even on my thirteen year old laptop. Heck, they barely cause it to chug. With that said, I will post thumbs from now on.

I don't know for sure it was the pics and now that I think about it, it probably wasn't. It stopped happening a few hours later when I came back. But before then, as soon as I scrolled down to your post (or almost to it) Chrome crashed with an out of memory error. Every time. There was something on the page that Chrome didn't like. Seems fine now, though.

[celerystalker]

Lots of points scored last week... I wonder if anyone else cleans up on Illusion of Gaia in the next couple of hours...

RP2A03-15

Snow Bros
Bucky O'Hare
Guerrilla War
Magic Sword
Tiny Toon Adventures
Mega Man X
Illusion of Gaia (RPG)
Wheel of Fortune starring Vanna White
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Crystal's Pony Tail

FieryReign-17

Super Fantasy Zone
Street Fighter II
Strider
Pit Fighter
Quackshot
Rastan
Alex Rider: Stormbreaker
Snow White
Illusion of Gaia (RPG)
Galactic Attack
That's so Raven 2
Ranger X

jperryss-12

Breakthru
Grind Stormer
Duck Tales 2
Guerrilla War
Mega Man X
Lords of Thunder
Soul Blazer (RPG)
Kabuki Quantum Fighter

Cornelius-10

Space Invaders Extreme
Duck Tales
D
Illusion of Gaia (RPG)
Lords of Thunder
Golden Axe Warrior

Scissors-9

Super Smash Bros
Road Runner
Trap Gunner
Strider
Bucky O'Hare
Metal Storm
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Red Alarm

Emperor Megas-8

Pocket Fighter
Puyo Pop Fever
Aladdin
Insector X
Target Earth
Thunder Force II
Black Tiger
Kabuki Quantum Fighter

Az-8

Street Fighter II
Pit Fighter
TMNT Tournament Fighters
Magic Sword
Guerrilla War
Psychic Force
Alien Storm
Super Final Fight Gold

Interesting stuff happening... FieryReign is getting hilarious with Game Boy schlock, Scissors cleared the first Virtual Boy game of the competition, 3 out of 4 players enjoy Kabuki Quantum Fighter, and I'm pretty sure RP2A03 was pretending that Crystal's Pony Tail was actually about Rainbow Dash. New RPG goes up tomorrow for March, and as always, if I missed one of your victories, let me know and I'll fix it! Good Luck!

[FieryReign]

I've been on fire, finishing quite a few games. Being unemployed helps. But I'm back to work today. This is my first hat trick. I finally beat Ranger-X after years of giving up on the 2nd cave stage.

Figured out that shooting those holes in the ceiling and standing in the light recharges your special. And that the health regenerator only works when you have special energy. Had to be real slow and precise taking shit out methodically, one at a time. Then going back to recover. The later stages seemed easier. Level 3 was gravy train.

Not giving me credit for Snow White on GBC? I kinda mashed it in there with my Illusion of Gaia post.

[celerystalker]

I've been on fire, finishing quite a few games. Being unemployed helps. But I'm back to work today. This is my first hat trick. I finally beat Ranger-X after years of giving up on the 2nd cave stage.

Figured out that shooting those holes in the ceiling and standing in the light recharges your special. And that the health regenerator only works when you have special energy. Had to be real slow and precise taking shit out methodically, one at a time. Then going back to recover. The later stages seemed easier. Level 3 was gravy train.

Not giving me credit for Snow White on GBC? I kinda mashed it in there with my Illusion of Gaia post.

Ah, missed that one. I'll get your Snow White up! Congrats on the new job, too. Hope it doesn't suck too bad! Ranger X put you back in the lead. Glad you got over the hump on that one. I dig it a lot.

[jperryss]

I have a 3DS that has gotten very little playtime and I've been looking for a reason to pick it back up. Any recommendations for it that would meet the female protagonist requirement?

I've been on a Castlevania binge lately and just finished Order of Ecclesia last week. If only I'd been a bit luckier with my timing...

[FieryReign]

^There's Code of Princess which I didn't like that much. Those Senran Kagura things if you're into that. There was a really short and easy rpg type eshop game that I forget the name of. Fairzune?

[jperryss]

Thanks, I found it with a Google search: Fairune (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrHt_9VVg0c). Looks, eh, not bad for a $3 game. Might give this one a run.

[celerystalker]

I liked Code of Princess myself... it's a pretty direct follow-up to Guardian Heroes. You could play Super Princess Peach from the original DS on there or something as well. I'm afraid pretty much everything else I have on there features dudes for 3DS.

[celerystalker]

The Heaven and Earth games got a pretty good response last month, so on to another challenge.

For March:

Pick one of the following Vanillaware games:

Princess Crown
Odin Sphere
Muramasa
Grim Grimoire
Dragon's Crown

Big Dragon's Crown fan myself. I need to dust that one off.

[FieryReign]

Damnit. I love Vanillaware's art, music, and overall aesthetics but the games underneath are seriously wack. Owned 3 out of the 5 at various points in time.

Got Odin Sphere after a mag gave it stupid high praise towards the end of PS2s life. Tried several times to dig in to the gameplay only to find out I'm playing some gardener simulator planting seeds around battlefields and hacking away at enemies to make them grow. Only to harvest items that are better off being combined with other items so I can cook them and make more potent level up items and such. What? Ain't this supposed to be an action-rpg? Tiny repetitive stages that loop around yet are interconnected with a map designed by amateurs.

Had Muramasa on Vita. Same deal. The level layout and maps are garbage. It's like they made a few screens of gorgeous artwork and ran it through some random level generator. The combat didn't flow with me either.

Don't remember much about Dragon's Crown except that it was good fun on a night with an ex and some of her fam . They were dying at the graphics. The amazon lady and the animations especially. And the intro cinema with the witch girl having her boobs ooze out of her blouse. Had to get rid of it because I needed the dough and was one of those rock-bottom points my life has on repeat.

Tried Princess Crown on ppsspp. Rapid firing through endless dialog boxes filled with foreign text ended that isos lifespan quick.

Grim Grimoire is like some rts game. Never bothered. What makes these rpgs?

[celerystalker]

Damnit. I love Vanillaware's art, music, and overall aesthetics but the games underneath are seriously wack. Owned 3 out of the 5 at various points in time.

Got Odin Sphere after a mag gave it stupid high praise towards the end of PS2s life. Tried several times to dig in to the gameplay only to find out I'm playing some gardener simulator planting seeds around battlefields and hacking away at enemies to make them grow. Only to harvest items that are better off being combined with other items so I can cook them and make more potent level up items and such. What? Ain't this supposed to be an action-rpg? Tiny repetitive stages that loop around yet are interconnected with a map designed by amateurs.

Had Muramasa on Vita. Same deal. The level layout and maps are garbage. It's like they made a few screens of gorgeous artwork and ran it through some random level generator. The combat didn't flow with me either.

Don't remember much about Dragon's Crown except that it was good fun on a night with an ex and some of her fam . They were dying at the graphics. The amazon lady and the animations especially. And the intro cinema with the witch girl having her boobs ooze out of her blouse. Had to get rid of it because I needed the dough and was one of those rock-bottom points my life has on repeat.

Tried Princess Crown on ppsspp. Rapid firing through endless dialog boxes filled with foreign text ended that isos lifespan quick.

Grim Grimoire is like some rts game. Never bothered. What makes these rpgs?

They're action and strategy RPGs. You have character stats to improve, inventories to manage, a focus on story, and they're frankly too long to put in as regular games for the week. Dragon's Crown is by far my favorite of the bunch, but I figure there are likely at least a few folks trying the new remake of Odin Sphere that really supposedly improves the game. Next month we're going traditional JRPG, but I'm trying to keep a variety of styles so it's not just variations on the same game every month and offers a chance to try something new.

I should clarify that on Dragon's Crown, you just need to complete the main story and get the credits, not take on the massive grind toward the huge endgame dungeon.

[RP2A03]

I started Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii). I am presently at act 3 of Momohime's story. Do we have to complete both character's story or just one?


http://i.imgur.com/ZkPZkbch.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/ZkPZkbc.jpg)




http://i.imgur.com/3uKWc5ph.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/3uKWc5p.jpg)




http://i.imgur.com/RxsJfawh.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/RxsJfaw.jpg)

[celerystalker]

I started Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii). I am presently at act 3 of Momohime's story. Do we have to complete both character's story or just one?


http://i.imgur.com/ZkPZkbch.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/ZkPZkbc.jpg)




http://i.imgur.com/3uKWc5ph.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/3uKWc5p.jpg)




http://i.imgur.com/RxsJfawh.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/RxsJfaw.jpg)

Both.

[jperryss]

I started playing Code of Princess last night. Got through about 4 quests. The fighting doesn't feel tight but I'll admit I jumped in without reading the manual so there was some button mashing involved.

The cut scenes and dialog/voice acting are a hoot. "Ma'am, it's illegal to be a zombie." Also, jiggle physics.

[Emperor Megas]

http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u527/EmperorMegas/syd_zpshapygrqj.jpg

I blew through Syd of Valis for the first time in at least a decade and a half. I should really play it more, because it takes me back to my teen years, and it's an absolute favorite of mine that pretty much no one but the most die hard Valis fan would appreciate. It's a real odd duck, and I understand why most would dismiss it outright. It's a little too cutesy and simplistic for the hard core, but the boss encounters, floaty spastic controls, and wonky platforming make it too difficult for younger gamers, so I don't really know who this game was localized for.

I doubt the pool of forth gen, western kawaii loving Otaku and girl gamers were enough to sell many units of this title. I'm just glad someone decided to bring it over anyway, even if they gave it an extremely bizarre title. I'm also glad that I still have my copy, along with all the other Valis titles, considering how stupid the pricing for them has gotten, which I didn't learn until last year.

Sadly, I didn't manage to finish Illusion of Gaia. Stupidly, I didn't realize I even owned the game, only discovering it the middle of the month -- the shortest month of the year, mind you. I'm glad I managed to start it though. I only got like 2 or 3 of the statues, but it was pleasant enough experience. The only real gripes I had with the game is the way that I'm constantly cancelling dialog boxes accidentally. That and the goofy way that the game hangs on the Dark Realm screen if you chose not to continue playing after a save.

Fortunately I have several of the Vanilla Ware selections to play for March, but I've never played a single one of them, so it's all new to me. I'll get started early and try to get at lease one RPG under my belt, but with the way my time is limited I don't know if I'll ever really be able to finish one. I'm just glad this challenge has me gaming again. I guess I'll give Muramasa: The Demon Blade a shot, since it's already unsealed and I don't think I've ever played a Wii game besides Mario Kart Wii, Saint, and Wii Sports. I'm not even kidding.

[celerystalker]

I'm glad you're having fun playing. When I started doing GOTD last year, playing each game again really brought back into focus how much I enjoy playing games and not just having them even more than ever, plus I got to talk about games that I'dve never gotten to otherwise.

Valis rules. I think Valis III is still my favorite, but it's just good stuff all around in my book.

[Emperor Megas]

Yeah, I've always been a fan of the Valis series. The game play is pretty standard fair through out the serie; it's mainly the story, character designs and especially the music that I really love. I think it's mostly because I was introduced to the series on the Turbo Grafx CD at a time when Anime was pretty much my world, and I'd never played video games with CD audio, voiced dialog, and cinema cut scenes before. The shit quite literally changed my life. While the third is probably the best of the three, my favorite will probably always be part II. I really dig Megas (obviously). He's a pretty tragic character with a grim backstory. In the end you feel sympathetic to him.

Anyway, I stated Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and holy cow, this game is AWESOME so far. It's just SO GORGEOUS! There's just so much Japanese mythology, in all it's weirdness. Kappas, Aobozu, Kasa-Obake, I love this sort of shit! I'll definitely be completing this one, whether I finish it before the month is out or not.

[celerystalker]

Well, a little time left in week 9, which has so far been utterly dominated by FieryReign. Somebody else needs to take a run at Ranger X. That game is friggin' good. Anyhow, the games for week 10!

-Vice: Project Doom (NES)

-Burning Force (Arcade, Genesis)

-Player's Choice: pick any game in which the player can use a baseball bat as a weapon. Examples might include Double Dragon, the Punisher, Monster Party, Earthbound, etc.

-RPG of the month is the Vanillaware catalog, basically. Eligible games are Princess Crown, Odin Sphere, Muramasa, Dragon's Crown, and Grim Grimoire.

A couple of folks have given a start at Muramasa already, and god willing somebody'll take a shot at Burning Force. If you like anime and Space Harrier, you're shitty if you don't play it.

[FieryReign]

Burning Force only has easy and hard modes. Default is easy. Is there a way to get past the day 4-1 boss without blowing through 3 lives and taking unavoidable hits?

[celerystalker]

Burning Force only has easy and hard modes. Default is easy. Is there a way to get past the day 4-1 boss without blowing through 3 lives and taking unavoidable hits?

Yeah, but it's slow, just slipping over and firing a shot or two, then mostly rotating around the perimeter of the screen until next opening.

[Emperor Megas]

Is Burning Force on any compilation I might not know about? I don't have it on Genesis. :/

[celerystalker]

Is Burning Force on any compilation I might not know about? I don't have it on Genesis. :/

I wish. The arcade game is killer, but not on any Namco collections. The Genesis version kills the port of Galaxy Force and Space Harrier II. That sucks... this one is right up your alley.

Edit: it is apparently on Virtual Console if you swing that way.

[FieryReign]

I see one tiny crack between the wall of mines he tosses and if you try and creep thru they kinda home in and close the gap. Also, what is the missile weapon "M" supposed to do? It's useless and does no damage to anything.

[celerystalker]

I see one tiny crack between the wall of mines he tosses and if you try and creep thru they kinda home in and close the gap. Also, what is the missile weapon "M" supposed to do? It's useless and does no damage to anything.

There are 2 types of missile, the M and the H. The M does a large green swirling explosion, and the H is a weak-ass homing attack. The M and H refill one missile and change between which type. Also, getting five green orbs allows you to activate temporary invincibility by pressing C. If you can, save it for that bitch of a boss.

[jperryss]

Almost went with Castlevania Legends for the female protagonist choice but ended up ripping through the original Metroid (GBA Zero Mission unlockable). Clearly Samus' hand is just a bit faster than my cellphone camera.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/433791/met.jpg

[Niku-Sama]

man I wasn't able to play my sailor moon game for last week, job interviews kept getting in the way

[FieryReign]

There are 2 types of missile, the M and the H. The M does a large green swirling explosion, and the H is a weak-ass homing attack. The M and H refill one missile and change between which type. Also, getting five green orbs allows you to activate temporary invincibility by pressing C. If you can, save it for that bitch of a boss.
The swirling green balls don't do any damage to anything. They just circle around not hitting shit. Weird. The homing missiles work but are pathetically weak.

[otaku]

close to finishing up forza 6 and horizon 3 on my xbox one also just about done with ff xv

[celerystalker]

close to finishing up forza 6 and horizon 3 on my xbox one also just about done with ff xv

Well, those don't qualify for this week (unless baseball bats are in FF XV), but good deal on playing some fun games for sure!

[RP2A03]

Clearly Samus' hand is just a bit faster than my cellphone camera.

Or excessive cosmic radiation.

[Scissors]

I played through Raystorm and Valis (for player's choice) this week. I can't say I was all that crazy about either of them.

The only Vanillaware game I have is Princess Crown. I played a few hours of it a couple years ago, but really couldn't get into it. I probably won't attempt an RPG this month. I'd still like to give Granstream Saga another try anyway.

Vice Project Doom and Burning Force are both games I've been meaning play, so I'll certainly give them a go.

[Niku-Sama]

This might be a help with the baseball bat thing

http://www.giantbomb.com/baseball-bat/3055-39/

[jperryss]

For the baseball bat challenge I went with Monster Party (NES). This took about an hour and a half, not including a break after stage 5.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/433791/mp.png

This game went in my queue a few months back after reading about it on Sydlexia (http://www.sydlexia.com/monsterparty.htm). The play control is simple: Most of the time you're jumping around and swinging a bat as Mark, and you can also morph into Bert who flies around and shoots beams. It works pretty well and the stages are short enough that it doesn't get boring. Each level consists of a few bosses that must be beaten to get a key, which lets you into the exit door and to the next level. Two bosses in the game will drop dead without even being touched (once would be a funny gag, but twice makes me think they couldn't get something working right and just wanted to get the game finished). There's also goofy bug in the 7th level where you gain the key after the 2nd boss and lose it if you fight the 3rd boss, so you can't enter that 3rd boss door, otherwise you have to die and start again. The round 6 maze sucked, I think I spent a half-hour on that damn level alone and died many times. Thankfully, only one boss on that stage. The 8th level was a pain also.

The enemies are creative but are mostly sprite-swaps from level to level. My favorite is probably the "shark" that turns out to just be a small fish with a giant shark fin strapped to his back (pic here (http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/monsterparty/MonsterParty539.png), not mine).

[FieryReign]

Played through Bare Knuckle 3 for the players choice game. Weird that I only came across a single baseball bat in the whole game. Maybe I'll attach screenshots later, too lazy right now.

Made it to the final boss on Burning Force. That thing is a pure sponge and wouldn't die. Almost. Don't know if I wanna keep trying. It's pissing me off.

[celerystalker]

It sounds as though some folks are having trouble thinking of baseball bat weapon games, so a few more examples:

Ninja Baseball Bat Man
Rival Schools
Bully
StarTropics
MadWorld
Dead Rising
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
Ghoul School
Grand Theft Auto
Super Smash Bros.
Streets of Rage

There are many more, but there are a few more jumping off points.

[Cornelius]

I played this for last week's player's choice. What a great game! I do wish I could have included my kids with it let them play or watch. But the hyper-sexualization of pretty much every character made that a bad idea at their ages. Game wouldn't be the same if they took that out though, so, yeah.

Was pretty grateful for the WiiU control pad so I could play during my daughter's birthday party in the bedroom (directly above family room). I'm a germ factory so trying to stay away from the kids most of the time.

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Finds/302dbb1b-22f5-44a9-beb0-f8341bc46e8c.jpg

[Emperor Megas]

I was hoping I had a copy of Project Justice, the only fighting game I've ever seen my wife play, but I guess the copy I used to have was a friends. So, I just decided to give Monster Party a try. Having never played this game before I had to use several continues to complete it. This is something that I probably would have played until I got every stage down cold to 1CC it when I was a kid, but since I'm trying to blow through as many of these titles as possible for the challenge I'm not sweating it.

Anyway, this game, it's was actually pretty decent, but there's some fucked up stuff in there that I'm surprised Nintendo allowed. I mean, it's fairly tame by today's standards, but I'm surprised this flew back in the day. The ending was disturbing as fuck. Also, screw that stage 6 maze bullshit. I said 'to hell with this' after...I don't know how long, and looked at a map on an FAQ. If I were playing just for fun I wouldn't have bothered, but I wanted to get this title out of the way to free up more time for the other two games.

I guess I'll see if I have that NES Vice game now and give that a try if I do.

[Emperor Megas]

BTW, ANOTHER game that hangs on an inescapable screen that you can't cancel out of it. This time it's the end credit screen on Monster Party. Why even have a score if you can't see it because you have to reset the game when it's ended? You don't score extra lives either, so the score really is pointless, unless you remember to look after you kill the final boss.

[celerystalker]

I need to fire up Project Justice... Pretty sure I only have it in Japanese, as that version has a weird board game mode I wanted to play, but still loads of fun. I may run some baseball bat games for kicks tonight after the wife and kid go to bed. I haven't hooked up my Ninja Baseball Bat Man pcb is a few months...

[Scissors]

I beat Burning Force. The first boss in Day 4 was really annoying.

I also beat Monster Party for player's choice.

[celerystalker]

I beat Burning Force. The first boss in Day 4 was really annoying.

I also beat Monster Party for player's choice.

Nice! Did you do Burning Force on Genesis or Arcade?

[Scissors]

Nice! Did you do Burning Force on Genesis or Arcade?

Genesis

[RP2A03]

I am currently attempting Bats & Terry (Famicom) for the players choice. This is a very buggy game. So far I have seen enemies get stuck in walls, walk on air, die for no apparent reason, spawn where they shouldn't, and not spawn at all. Additionally, I managed to get stuck in a few walls and die by wrapping around from the top of the screen to a pit on the bottom of the screen. Yet, somehow, the game is fun.

Now, I have a question. This game allows you to continue from the beginning of the world where you lost your last life by pressing A + Start. I have no idea whether or not this is documented in the manual and the game has no continues otherwise. Is continuing like this permissible or is it considered a cheat?