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NES/Famicom Appreciation Thread

Mega

Banned
Omg, people just didn't give a damn back then

creature-tgl.jpg
 

Danneee

Member
Yuss! I'm a bit into GL already but great choice nonetheless. And to anyone playing it: the shooter sections and bosses get pretty hard.
 

tornjaw

Member
Omg, people just didn't give a damn back then

creature-tgl.jpg

I just recently picked this up, complete in box, the other day. I already had it as a loose cart but for the asking price it was just too good to pass up.

I owned it as a kid but it was way too difficult for me at the time.
 
I wouldn't say it's "bad". But yeah it doesn't hold a candle to the others.

What's good about the US box? It's got nothing to do with the game, it removes the protagonist from the cover in an effort to not admit that you play as a girl (also see Faria for another NES example of this), the art is a ripoff of a movie poster, the bottom half of the cover is just a solid color...
 

bearbytes

Member
I started my playthrough last night, beat corridors 1, 2, 11 and 12. Searching the on-foot areas is definitely worthwhile, some of those mini bosses drop permanent upgrades when you defeat them.
 

Mega

Banned
I scour the grounds for those mini bosses. I have also found new weapons and weapon upgrades in seemingly random item boxes (plus in the shops). Exploration is important and you will miss a lot if you run straight for the next corridor.

I had to look up how to access corridor 4... that was obtuse. But overall I'm enjoying this one a lot. As a huge Zanac fan I'm loving the aesthetics and sound effects.
 

Tain

Member
Finished TGL last night, I'll spoiler tag my thoughts just in case:

I honestly wasn't too thrilled with it. Like a lot of genre-hybrid games you see on the Famicom, the individual parts are kind of weak, and in this case they don't really combine in a way that makes everything more engaging.

The top-down parts are pretty repetitive in spite of the fairly basic world layout, and the whole shoot-where-you're-walking thing is unfortunate (Blaster Master handles this way better). The scrolling segments are definitely the more enjoyable of the two. They have neat enemy designs and all the weapons you've collected on-foot suddenly become useful beyond those goober fenced-in boss fights.

As the game progresses, though, the action goes from simple to total mush in both halves. You get all these defensive upgrades and the game floods with enemies to compensate. Survival becomes a matter of mashing out a given weapon and collecting the ever-spawning health pickups every once in a while to make sure you don't die, with very little dodging or precise aiming to going on. It's pretty nonsense.

If I ever sit down and play through a dedicated Compile shooter (I could never get into the early sections of the ones I've tried), I figure I'll like it more than this. At least I dug some of the aesthetics here.
 

D.Lo

Member
What's good about the US box? It's got nothing to do with the game, it removes the protagonist from the cover in an effort to not admit that you play as a girl (also see Faria for another NES example of this), the art is a ripoff of a movie poster, the bottom half of the cover is just a solid color...
I think it's just not 'bad' in the USA Mega Man 1/2 sense. Like at least it's not offensively terrible art drawn by a child.
 
I want to get in one final word about Shatterhand: if you don't have it, get it now. The game is a total gem and at about $40 it is, in my opinion, very ripe for shooting up in price and staying pretty high. We've seen Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu go from about $30 to about $70 (was much higher) and now Sky Kid more than double thanks to YouTubers. Sky Kid is already showing itself to be a blip but I have to think there's no real reason why Shatterhand can't be on the same level as Metal Storm or Bucky O'Hare, for example. It's a legit great game and a spike could happen any time.
 

OnPoint

Member
I can't believe anyone in this thread would be sleeping on Shatterhand at this point, right? It's a must-own late-release title that is, as RadarScope1 mentioned, one popular Youtuber video away from blowing up and never coming back down. I mean hell, I should probably pick up a second copy at this point just in case.
 

OnPoint

Member
Both are amazing though. That two-player in Shadow of the Ninja!

I finally bit the bullet and bought a copy about an hour and a half ago. I've only played a friend's copy in the past and wasn't super impressed, but it's another game that's primed for a Youtube-induced jump in price so I figured fuck it, just get it now and avoid the sadness in the future.
 
Yep, I recently bought Shadow of the Ninja as well. Power Blade is next on that list. I'm leaning toward snagging Gargoyle's Quest 2 next, though. It's getting up there but I think it's on a continued steady march upward...
 

OnPoint

Member
Yep, I recently bought Shadow of the Ninja as well. Power Blade is next on that list. I'm leaning toward snagging Gargoyle's Quest 2 next, though. It's getting up there but I think it's on a continued steady march upward...

I bought the Famicom cart and didn't know it had so much text. Serves me right for not doing research.
 
I guess the black thing that is around the pin-connector, the little mechanic that lets you push the game down, isnt screwed onto it the correct way. Try unscrewing it and the motherboard, and put it back on when you hold the motherboard at an angle, so that you make absolutely sure that it is done the correct way. I think this will probably fix your issue.

I think the issue ended up being that the new 72 pin connector is so tight, that it was bending something out of alignment when the cart is pressed down.

I don't even need to press the cart down. I leave it up and the issue is no longer an issue. Huzzah!
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
All those games are just waiting for a James and Mike Monday, and they will explode in price. All quality games that was a bit too late to be noticed back in the day, and is thus less featured on "best of lists" and such. Fortunately, I got all of them a few years ago.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I think the issue ended up being that the new 72 pin connector is so tight, that it was bending something out of alignment when the cart is pressed down.

I don't even need to press the cart down. I leave it up and the issue is no longer an issue. Huzzah!

Did you take off the black thing the cart slides into and put it on again? It has a little tip underneath that should go under the motherboard, but its very easy to not notice, and thus giving the whole thing a slight upwards bulge which will affect the alignment when the cart is pressed down. Anyways, happy that you found a solution :)
 
Speaking of connectors, I have had an after market one in my NES ever since I bought it in 1998. I bought a refurbished OEM connector recently, though, because I am sick of the death grip and am worried it's going to wear on the cart pins now that I am playing NES games more than at any time in the last decade.

The only thing stopping me is the fact that my NES is so rock solid. I clean the carts well and they boot flawlessly every time. I'm a ltitle hesitant to mess with a good thing but a well maintained OEM connector is probably best, isn't it? Would anyone advise me NOT to switch them out?

I should also add that I'll be diabling the 10NES chip while I'm in there so that should make it even more functional (though like I said I rarely if ever see the a blinking screen at boot up).
 
Did you take off the black thing the cart slides into and put it on again? It has a little tip underneath that should go under the motherboard, but its very easy to not notice, and thus giving the whole thing a slight upwards bulge which will affect the alignment when the cart is pressed down. Anyways, happy that you found a solution :)

No, I did not look at that. I will check it out! Thanks!
 

Triple Dash

Neo Member
Pokémon Yellow repro for NES. Didn't even know this existed.

Pokemon Yellow NES ebay auction

$202 sounds a bit much, but I'm really tempted. Secretly I've wanted to see people port GBC games like Pokemon & Mega Man Xtreme to the NES just to see what would happen.

My only question is if you can catch all 151 in this ROM hack/port.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPd6RLs1_zs

Seems to be a physical version of this. Music sounds kind of weird, but still seems awesome overall. Not sure 159 Pokemon, seems kind of random.
 
Played some more of Goonies for Famicom tonight. That is quite a nice little title, when you consider the release date and some of the advancements it was building on at the time. I'm getting a feel for it. Would like to be able to beat it.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
Ooh, Guardian Legend! Maybe I can finally beat the second shmup stage this time :p

Anyways, played some Famicom games this past weekend at my friend's:

Ninja-kun - I know this was a pretty popular series back in the day but this game is absolute garbage. Weird jumping controls (you can only jump forwards or backwards, if you press the jump button while standing still, you'll drop down the ledge you're standing on). Slow as balls gameplay, too.

Cosmic Epsilon - Game name makes me think of a quality progressive house producer. It's a Space Harrier clone that's much smoother than most other Space Harrier clones (and the SMS port of the actual Space Harrier!). Decent music, too.

Pizza Pop - An NES sidescroller by Jaleco that reminds me somewhat of Rockin' Kats or Panic Restaurant. You play a pizza delivery boy as you try to deliver to your customers in a lighthearted urban setting. Decent game if you're into cartoony platformers.
 

OnPoint

Member
I'll officially open nominations for the April Club pick right now. They will close once we get five valid nominations.

For your convenience, here's a list of games that can not be picked:

  • The Guardian Legend (already picked)
  • Shatterhand (already picked)
  • Super Mario Bros 3 (already picked)
  • Monster Party (already picked)
  • Rygar (already picked)
  • Faxanadu (already picked)
  • Mega Man 3 (one month cooldown)
  • Kickle Cubicle (one month cooldown)
  • Deja Vu (one month cooldown)
  • Strider (one month cooldown)

And here's a reminder of the rules:

NES Game Club Guidelines
The nominated title should be readily available via standard
channels such as eBay, for a reasonable price (Maximum $30,
preferably less to give the majority of people a chance to join
in). The title should be a licensed NES/Famicom title (No hacks,
homebrew, multicarts). Only exception is unlicensed, but readily available titles.
The title should be available in English, and if not, it should at the very least be
playable without knowledge of Japanese.

Due to the nature of the Club, excessively long or grind-heavy
games such as RPGs will be excluded.
 

OnPoint

Member
I'll make my nomination: Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight

250px-Street_Fighter_2010_box.jpg
Strtfgtr2010.png
JrLOLqZ.jpg

2010 is a sidescrolling action game released by Capcom. In all honesty, I have never played this game and I always meant to, so this would give me a good excuse, plus it's hella cheap. I hear it has great music. It also has a weird history according to the Wiki:

The English localization of 2010 changed the name and backstory of the main character to imply that he was Ken from the original Street Fighter, whereas the protagonist in the Japanese version is a completely unrelated character named Kevin. 2010 is of a different genre from the traditional Street Fighter games, which are competitive fighting games.

Anyway, let's get four more nominations.

April 2016 Game Club Nominations
  1. Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight
  2. ?
  3. ?
  4. ?
  5. ?
 

OnPoint

Member
Wow, 4/5 nominations up already. Let's get that last 1 so I can get the poll together in a timely, didn't-forget-this-time fashion.

April 2016 Game Club Nominations
  1. Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight
  2. Burai Fighter
  3. Pinball Quest
  4. Wrecking Crew
  5. ?
 
Don't think I've ever submitted a nomination before, so I'll toss out Wrecking Crew to get an arcade-style game on the list. And it's a black box game. :)
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
I nominate Isolated Warrior.

This is a great pick, some stunning visuals and decent gameplay... not a lot of people talk about it. I'm gonna have to give another +1 to Wrecking Crew though, since I love that game so much.
 

OnPoint

Member
I nominate Isolated Warrior.

The cheapest copy available on eBay is $27.50. Then the next cheapest is $40 and it only goes up from there, plus, there aren't that many available in general. I would unfortunately say this violates the $30 limit we set and I don't think we can include this as a nomination.
 

OnPoint

Member
So you're proposing Battletoads, then
God please no. My prediction for that if it were to happen:

NES/Famicom Appreciation | April 2016 Game Club Month of Tears pick: Battletoads

That said, we do still need a fifth pick. And I can't actually say 'No' to Battletoads, though it is right up against the price limit.

I had considered that since I own it, or Zen:Intergalactic Ninja, but both are creeping up in price I believe :/

It sucks because Zen would be great for this. Isolated Warrior does look like it would be fun, which is also a shame.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Ok, I have owned every nominated game so far, but for next month I lack 4 of 5 games. Well played guys! Guess I need to get onto that.
 
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