the_wizard_666

I know I've been silent for a while as well. Been working on personal completions (lots of Famicom this year) as well as getting shit done in my non-gaming life. I've been chipping away on Romance of the Three Kingdoms II, since it's my favourite game and all, but I also would like someone else who's inclined to try it to experience it. It's not a great intro game for Koei titles (that would be Gemfire), but it's more user friendly than most of the others remaining on the board. I've tried getting into Nobunaga II since it's the last Koei I need for my personal list, but I just can't get into it and I don't know any way to cheese the game to cross it off quickly so I never have to play it again Anyway, I'll probably go over the list when I have a bit of time available. There's a few intriguing games on there, and a few I'm surprised haven't been knocked off (@Dr. Morbis, you need to get on that Adventure Island ). I'm sure I can trim a few off both this list and my personal one.

I managed to beat the first dude as well. Not done the game though, so I'm not sure if I'll get farther...not that I need to, but the more points I can get here, the more I can cockblock the overall standings

It is??? *updates search queue*

Bloody Warriors - The new translation patch is a huge improvement...wish I wrote my guide a few months later. Pretty solid beginner level RPG. Jesus - Not what you'd think, it's a sci-fi text adventure that's pretty damn cool. Only issue I had with it was figuring out how to repro it without issues, but that's long since solved. Great game, but limited replayability. Metal Max - This was a pretty solid RPG, surprised I hadn't heard of it previously. If you like the genre and you don't play this, you're missing out. There's definitely others worth mentioning, but my brain ain't working well right now. Those are just a few of the better ones I've beat in the last year or so.

Wasn't that supposed to be a spinoff/sequel when it was released? It came out well before Street Fighter II was released, and the first game was far from groundbreaking, so I could see why they might've tried something like that at the time...

Well, I just quickly tested it out, and you're right, you just need to jump into it to collect it (it said to kick it on the site I found, so that's what I'd been doing). But that said, you are also correct in that you need the first star to jump high enough to collect it, so yeah, it would be redundant to go for that detour if you're trying for 0 kills. For the purposes of this contest, had I had time this weekend I would've tried for a much lower kill count. You only need to kill 5 enemies to get the speed up, so the first few levels shouldn't be too hard to get. If I could just trim down my later level kill counts I would've been able to compete with the rest of you

Heart and Shin would not be an issue, as they're worth 2000 points each. Jagi is worth 3000 though, so either one would need a few kills to spawn the dipper on the fourth stage, or just avoid that one. With all that said, you have to be able to hit it in midair, so a 0-kill run would be impossible to complete getting the dippers anyway (you can't jump kick until you get your first star).

Krunch made level 2 without recording a kill, so yeah, bosses don't count. But even without that proof, I went into my battle against Raoh with 119 kills - I remember specifically because I was hoping to get one last one to regain a bit of health before the fight, but it was not to be. Killing Raoh didn't change the tally. But Krunch provided proof of it simply by making level 2 without a kill - his 2000 points is exactly the reward you get from killing Heart.

Hiryuu No Ken is completely unreleated... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiryū_no_Ken

Okay, I know I set the bar high, but I wasn't expecting to be the only score at this point...brings back memories of the time we played The Punisher

I just did some number crunching, and while it's more or less a given, I have NOT been mathematically locked in just yet. Assuming an 18 point split between me and @Bearcat-Doug, I have a lead of 19 points on you. This means if you finish first on Best of the Best, and I don't post some sort of score, you can snatch it away. If you get first and I get a single point, we tie. Given that sports seems to have the lowest participation though, the odds of there being enough people for me to only get a single point is slim...but there's still a chance for you yet young grasshopper Sports standings (unofficial) for reference: 1st the_wizard_666 69 2nd Dr. Morbis 50 3rd NESfiend 46 4th PII 42 5th Krunch 34 6th Bearcat-Doug 18 7th docile tapeworm 13 8th Johnny Nunchucks 10 9th Jeevan 8 10th Mega Tank 6 11th RH 5 12th nesmaster14 4

The bar = raised...

Sadly, 3 and 4 were RPGs (not sure of the Super Famicom ones, but likely them too)...and neither of them have an English translation available publicly There's a Spanish translation of 3 though, but that don't help us English-only folks

And you as well. I know from experience that it wasn't an easy feat to pull off. At least now I don't have to worry about resetting if the computer scores/intercepts/makes a killer play

This should help a bit... https://hokuto.fandom.com/wiki/Hokuto_no_Ken_(Famicom)

So I figured out what the Big Dipper pickups do - they fully restore your health and give bonus points. Although it's out of the way on level 1, I would suggest going for it anyway. Even though it gives a point bonus, enemies are fairly easy to avoid, and a ton of pink enemies spawn between the start and the Dipper's spawn. I usually get around 5 stars by that point. Also, since the later ones only appear if you find the earlier ones, and the health bonuses are a boon, especially on level 3 (the one on level 4 comes too early to make a difference, and there isn't one on level 5). I haven't noticed if the special kills give anything other than a bonus message when they trigger, but some of them can make the boss fights pretty short, so I'd try and learn them if possible, if only to make one's life easier. Anyway, I can reasonably consistently get to level 4 with very few kills, so it's just a matter of figuring out how to speed through level 5 without absorbing a shitload of damage...

I never said it was easy dude. The execution was the hardest part, and took several attempts. Loving the game made me much more inclined to get it done. And yeah, the projectiles go pretty quick and frequent, but if you inch forward the spawns can be controlled. Well, at least for 95% of the game...there's one part of level 5 where shit spawns even if you stand still...but aside from that one section you can progress through most of the game with minimal effort.

I've been playing most of the last two days. It was tricky to get the hang of it, but once I did, and learned the routes, it wasn't too tough. Remember as well, I'm the guy who can spot patterns in seconds where you can't seem to get them in months, so that's a thing too. Also, remember that although I had no idea how to progress the game in any way, I did play the crap out of it as a kid...it was one of my favourite pirate multicart games. So even though I had no idea how to go in doors, I did learn how to make a life last for hours at a time. Honestly, the bosses are the only real tough part (though some sections on stage 5 were absolutely brutal to get through with minimal damage taken). And as for my "superpowers," having a walkthrough open on my second monitor while I'm playing never hurts

Game Completed; 100,300 Talk about setting the bar... Anyway, it turns out (according to the strategy guide) that the enemy spawns are set - even the flying jump kick dudes, so it's just a matter of knowing and avoiding. The hardest part is really just avoiding the enemies...if you spawn too far ahead, you can get swarmed with more projectiles than you can see (thus getting hit by objects not visible to you), though if you keep two enemies (three on later stages) following you, no more seem to be able to spawn. Haven't tested this much, and definitely not much on the last stage, though I managed to get to Raoh with enough health to take him out (though I intentionally died at the start of level 5 due to low health). I would recommend getting to at least 5 stars to increase your walking speed (makes dodging a hell of a lot easier). I also noticed the big dipper can be finicky about filling your health up...occasionally it just refuses to...but I didn't notice a score increase so it's not a huge deal to grab them anyway, and the fact that it appears near the end of level 3 makes it worth snagging at least the first two in order to make the boss fight a touch easier. Speaking of bosses, I found only Souther (fourth boss) to be of any difficulty. Him jumping around like a Mexican bean makes him a pain in the ass, and I haven't quite worked out the timing on his projectiles. The other bosses though...Heart just kick until his stomach bulges and then punch him (secret kill, gives a bonus screen before stage 2 starts), Shin just punch (you can even get him stuck on the edge while you do this, thus giving two potential special kills, though neither is necessary to kill him...they're just satisfying to pull off), and Jagi...well, he's harder to hit for the special kill (four midair kicks, then punch him), but not hard to hit in general, so just go nuts and take him out fast. Raoh is actually easier than Souther is, though he hits far harder and has no easy way to kill him. I typically just jump kick in, and jump away when I land. Usually I'll eat a hit or two, but nowhere near as many as he takes from me. Speaking of which, on later levels, jump kicking your enemies will take them out in one hit, while punching them takes three, so it's beneficial to master the jump kick early. Also learn to time when to kick projectiles back - not really necessary early on, but man does it help on stage 5 when rushing through is death. For the record, I had around 70 kills on this run after killing Souther, and added around 50 by the end of it. Well, here's my submission. Really dig the game, there's actually a LOT more to it than I initially realized. There's secret ways to kill the bosses to get a bonus message, there's hidden "big dipper" power ups (not sure what they do, only got one of them... @0xDEAFC0DE may have to make an appearance to dig in the code and figure that out), and overall a lot of depth I wouldn't have expected from it. I might be able to tone the score down a bit...I lost way too much health on Heart (first boss), so I ended up grinding a few kills to get my health back up through most of the rest of the game...still, a very awesome game overall! Great choice @BeaIank!

After doing some research, the only time you can really rely on the child in the doorway is if you're at 7 stars. Anything less and they will pop up in wrong doors too, which is why the "red herring" thing. There is always a child in the correct door, but before seven stars the children will pop in other doors as well. The only way you can tell for sure if you're back on the right path is if the pink enemies start spawning again.

I gave it a good go, but once San Fran and Miami were out of the mix, I couldn't get enough interceptions to get the win. Oddly enough, the toughest team I played so far was Cleveland of all teams. I just couldn't consistently figure out their offence, and they were just fucking solid defensively. Three more games to go until I never have to play it again though

I'd have to go with @Dr. Morbis on this one. If it's possible to infinitely point press, and the only signal to progress forward is possibly a red herring, I'd say progress + low score would be the way to go. Regardless, I'm totally looking forward to running this one, it was an old pirate multicart favourite of mine!

Okay, so I didn't break my score yet...but I did have a 5 touchdown quarter, so it's feasible to do...had I played the rest of the game well we'd have a new high score! Against a 3-pass-play offence like Miami and San Francisco, you are more likely to get timely interceptions, so kick deep instead of short to minimize the play. That said, San Francisco really liked to defend against the run, so Tim Brown was the hero of that game. I think Bo only got 2-3 touchdowns. I also managed to return an interception for a touchdown, so that was a handy play too. And on the plus side, that forced me to get better at the passing game so as to actually score, so that's a plus too.

He probably should be anyway. Just saying. Anyway, I matched your score with Bo against Miami thanks to a bunch of interceptions, but I'm thinking against a passing offence like theirs, it may be better to do long kicks for the interceptions. I'm gonna try it out when I play San Francisco...