Games you may want for reasons you didn't know

[celerystalker]

Huh! I had no idea such an intriguing code existed, lol. Do you know what the code is exactly?
Also, is it basically unenjoyable to play this mode if one does not read Japanese? Or is there little to no text in this graphic novel mode?

I bought SFT like 9 years ago. Still haven't gotten around to playing it but you might have just inspired me to pick it up soon

I sure do! You hit select five times on the title screen, which gives you access to theater mode, which is the mode you want. There is very little text, and not much in the way of choices. You can only lose by losing your matches, and you play in some special arenas. The text is in Japanese, but there are accompanying images that make it pretty understandable. You find yourself in special matches as well, such as controlling one player on a doubles team or playing atop a mountain. I enjoyed it quite a bit myself!

[Steve W]

Another one that's not much of a secret is Battlezone 2000 for the Atari Lynx. The programmers came up with a great little game, but Atari didn't like it and ordered them to start over, making it more like the arcade original with wireframe graphics. So they hid their original version of Battlezone 2000 in the game. I found it to be a bit tough, to be honest.

[goldenband]

I sure do! You hit select five times on the title screen, which gives you access to theater mode, which is the mode you want. There is very little text, and not much in the way of choices. You can only lose by losing your matches, and you play in some special arenas. The text is in Japanese, but there are accompanying images that make it pretty understandable. You find yourself in special matches as well, such as controlling one player on a doubles team or playing atop a mountain. I enjoyed it quite a bit myself!

This sounds like a great candidate for a translation! I actually recently was part of a team that translated Family Tennis for the Famicom, so maybe I can find folks to take this one on, though I know nothing about Super Famicom hacking.

[Steven]

Thanks Celery. Whenever I get around to writing a review of Super Family Tennis, I'm definitely creditting you for the tip and code.

Saturn Bomberman comes to mind. It has a code that blew my mind about 10 years ago when I found out. You have like 4 variations of EACH main battle stage. So it took the map count from like 12 to 48. It was insane and made a fun party game with INFINITE replay value even more nuts. I don't have the code on me right now but I'm pretty sure you can find it on GameFAQs. It's also why I prefer the 8 player mode to the 10 player mode. You get way more map choices and it's still plenty chaotic enough at 8 players!

[celerystalker]

A couple more occurred to me.

MLB Power Pros (and the 2008 version) for PS2 and Wii: The create a player mode is not the usual. It's a visual novel/sim mode where your player develops through college to get drafted, and your stats come out based on your performance. You train, study, and even date. It's wild, fun, and english!

Milon's Secret Castle for Game Boy: the layout is exactly like that of the NES game, but the big difference is that you actually have a password save system, making figuring out its obtuse puzzles much less daunting instead of trying to get it all in one sitting, plus it's portable.

[Niku-Sama]

for what ever reason I have wanted F-zero gx but I cant bring my self to pay the prices that people are asking

and I cant stand f zero on SNES for some reason either

[Tanooki]

$20 is too much for F-Zero GX? When I saw that you got me curious if it was another Nintendo nerd taxed game and feared it was like $50+ but it's not. You should grab it, it's fun.

I never knew why the hell I'd want Hexen or FIghting Force both on N64, but I grabbed them today. I had heard they were nice and I slightly messed with the DOS version of Hexen like 20 years ago, hope they're fun.

[SparTonberry]

It's still a markup. I think GX is $20 disc-only.
A few years ago I got one CIB for like $15 but the disc was scratched. I suppose it was worth it to spend another $20 on a good disc to complete it, though.

[evildead2099]

Milon's Secret Castle for Game Boy: the layout is exactly like that of the NES game, but the big difference is that you actually have a password save system, making figuring out its obtuse puzzles much less daunting instead of trying to get it all in one sitting, plus it's portable.

If the basic gameplay is still the same, then who cares?!? The AVGN said it best: "Milon's Secret Castle. MORE LIKE MILON'S SHITTY ASSHOLE!"

[celerystalker]

If the basic gameplay is still the same, then who cares?!? The AVGN said it best: "Milon's Secret Castle. MORE LIKE MILON'S SHITTY ASSHOLE!"

Have you actually played it? It a fun action adventure game with loads of secrets, and the continue code the AVGN bitched about is in the instruction manual, which he obviously never read. The AVGN is not even James Rolfe's real opinion. It's entertainment, not journalism. Milon's Secret Castle is no more obtuse than The Legend of Zelda in its clues, has solid controls that just need to be learned, and lots of secrets to find like optional powerups, life bar extensions, and music boxes. Probably one of my top 25 NES games, and yes, I've played 99% of its library on actual carts and I've played the game as an adult.

Probably taking that post too seriously, but anytime I hear or see someone quote the nerd, 95% of the time they haven't earnestly played the game or even get that he's just entertainment and often gives incomplete or straight inaccurate information.

[evildead2099]

Have you actually played it? It a fun action adventure game with loads of secrets, and the continue code the AVGN bitched about is in the instruction manual, which he obviously never read. The AVGN is not even James Rolfe's real opinion. It's entertainment, not journalism. Milon's Secret Castle is no more obtuse than The Legend of Zelda in its clues, has solid controls that just need to be learned, and lots of secrets to find like optional powerups, life bar extensions, and music boxes. Probably one of my top 25 NES games, and yes, I've played 99% of its library on actual carts and I've played the game as an adult.

Probably taking that post too seriously, but anytime I hear or see someone quote the nerd, 95% of the time they haven't earnestly played the game or even get that he's just entertainment and often gives incomplete or straight inaccurate information.

Yes, I played it, and thought it sucked. I rented it one or two times in the early 90s and, like the Nerd, was pissed that the game is so damn cryptic that it's impossible to advance beyond the first level without the use of a walkthrough.

I don't mind puzzles that are cryptic, like those found in Zelda I and II, but Milon's Secret Castle took things way, way beyond the limit. Puzzles notwithstanding, all of his other criticisms were valid: the way your shots fire, the fact that you literally have to blindly shoot each and every single thing JUST TO MAKE NORMAL PROGRESS in the game, etc.

The graphics and music are fine, but beyond those factors, Milon's Secret Castle is one of the worst games on the NES. You have your opinion, I have mine. We may just have to agree to disagree, but I assure you that I formed my own opinion long before anyone ever heard of the AVGN or YouTube.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. Although it's anything but unbiased when it comes to video games, you can read about how widely the game was panned by critics on Wikipedia at this URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milon'...stle#Reception