Last Famicom game you played?

[nusilver]

Congratulations on finally starting your Pizza Pop! journey. The 5th and 6th levels are my favorites, and there is quite a nice bit of variety in not only the levels, but the strategies required to beat bosses. I absolutely adore the drawings in the manual for it as well, makes me wish I had a scanner so I could scan some of the pages in mine.

PLEASE just take some pictures of the manual. I'd love to see these.

[Nightstar699]

That "hit box" in Pizza Pop! is damned tiny. I think the attack may even be stubbier than Panic Restaurant. (Or maybe it's just that the enemies are faster and more erratic in Pizza Pop!) I blew a lot of lives on the fat mobster at the top of the high-rise until I started jumping on his head. I got so much in the habit of using the pizza box to whomp all the cats and dogs in the first level. Kind of odd that jumping only stuns small animals, but can kill a man twice my size.

I just got done with a little side-by-side comparison of Gremlins 2 on NES and FC. They do seem identical. I remembered there being more of the cigar-smoking Gremlins in Stage 2, probably because they gave me fits especially when I was younger. I actually reached Stage 4-2, which might be my best playthrough in over 20 years of occasionally screwing with this game.

Panic Restaurant (Wanpaku Kokkun No Gourmet World) is my 3rd favorite game ever!  Yes, the attack range in Pizza Pop is definitely less than that of the default weapon in Panic Restaurant. That's why learning the patterns of enemies, and timing your attacks precisely is crucial in Pizza Pop. Depending on how quickly the enemy moves, you'll want to time your attack differently. As you get the hang of it, you might want to jump on most the enemies before killing them. In Pizza Pop you have to time your attacks really well, so it does take some getting used to.

Are they the enemies that spin around all over the place? If so I hate those too... Gremlins 2 is a really hard game, but it is pretty good.

Congratulations on finally starting your Pizza Pop! journey. The 5th and 6th levels are my favorites, and there is quite a nice bit of variety in not only the levels, but the strategies required to beat bosses. I absolutely adore the drawings in the manual for it as well, makes me wish I had a scanner so I could scan some of the pages in mine.

PLEASE just take some pictures of the manual. I'd love to see these.

Sure, in a while I'll try taking pictures but all I have is a shitty cell phone camera, so... they might not turn out well at all. But I'll try.

[nerdynebraskan]

I think the ones you're talking about don't appear until later, in either Stage 3 or 4. They're the ones that look like little tornadoes, and throw lots of debris and are invincible until they slow down? The cigar gremlin just sits in one place and blows flames at you. But of course Sunsoft would put an enemy that fires projectiles directly at you while you're trying to do some precision platforming. They wouldn't want to make it too easy for us.

I last played some Donald Land. How is it that there are two decent McDonald's-themed platformers (M.C. Kids is also good), but we couldn't get a great X-Men game in the 8-bit era?

[Nightstar699]

I think the ones you're talking about don't appear until later, in either Stage 3 or 4. They're the ones that look like little tornadoes, and throw lots of debris and are invincible until they slow down? The cigar gremlin just sits in one place and blows flames at you. But of course Sunsoft would put an enemy that fires projectiles directly at you while you're trying to do some precision platforming. They wouldn't want to make it too easy for us.

I last played some Donald Land. How is it that there are two decent McDonald's-themed platformers (M.C. Kids is also good), but we couldn't get a great X-Men game in the 8-bit era?

Ahh yes, those were the ones I'm thinking of. Man those pissed me off my first time playing Gremlins 2. It is a tough game indeed, I think it'd be a lot easier if they would have allowed you to buy multiple items from the shop, so, for example, you wouldn't have to choose between refilling your life, or upgrading your weapon. Usually I'd rather get the health refill/extra live item in that game, because I found that it was very much beatable with the default weapons, so I'd rather use that chance to better my chances of survival.

I still haven't played much Donald Land, I only beat the first stage to test out my copy of it, and it was really fun from what I played. Sometime I'll have to play it through.

I just got done beating Kage without dying, it's been a while since I've managed to accomplish that. I was able to get both powerups before fighting Garuda, too. I remember when I was little I thought that you absolutely had to choose just one of them. But no, you can grab them both... you just have to make sure to outrun the screen to grab the first one, then you can just barely make it back down to grab the second one if you act quick. I did beat some other games last night too, including:

Dragon Fighter (No deaths.)
Felix the Cat (On NES)
Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers (On NES)
Time Zone

For Nusilver, sadly, as I expected... I attempted taking some pictures of the Pizza Pop manual, and none of them turned out whatsoever. Barely even visible, I wish I had a scanner.

[nerdynebraskan]

Yeah, Gremlins 2 would be much easier if you could buy more than one item per stage. They give out 20 bits of money for almost every enemy killed, and the items only cost 10-150 money bits. (I don't know what they call currency in the game.) I personally take the extra life every time they offer it. It's by far the most helpful item.

I last played some Esper Dream 2 and Seikima 2. ED2 is a fun little game, but I may need to get a translated repro because of all the text. Still, it's a fun, good-looking and -sounding game. S2 is a bit of a clunker. I'll try it one more time, but I may end up getting rid of this one.

[Nightstar699]

It's disappointing to hear that the Seikima II game sucks, as I've heard that from a few people. I've never played that game, but I'm a huge fan of the band it's based on. Perhaps it is for the best that I never play it.

Just got done with another no-death run of Kage, this timing using Lady Ninja Kaede. This time I was very proud of myself because I did NOT pick up the health refill before Garuda. I reached him with just one hitpoint of energy, and I still completed my run. Very nice.

[nerdynebraskan]

Oh, I dunno. I'm more likely to tolerate a moderately mediocre game if it's a licensed tie-in to something I care about. For me, that might mean the lousy Star Trek and Terminator games on my shelf. (I can't tolerate an outright trainwreck of a licensed game, so you won't find LJN's first X-Men game in my collection.) After a couple of 15 minute sessions with Seikima II, I'm more inclined to put it in the moderately disappointing category.

I last played a bit of Downtown Special. I dig it, but I probably need to invest in a translated NES repro.

[Miller]

I thought Gremlins 2 was crazy hard before as well but nowadays I can beat it consistently. Here are some advice for those struggling:

1.) Take it slow! The spinning enemies, the skateboarders, the big jumping enemies can all be taken down pretty easily if you get outside their range so they just basically come towards you.

2.) This is how you should prioritize your purchases:

a. Extra lives (ALWAYS buy these, it's essentially 3-5 free hearts starting from where you died)
b. Extra heart container (if Extra lives are unavailable)
c. Weapon upgrade (get this when you get the paperclips. If you die but have extra lives you get to keep your upgrade - awesome)

3.) Make sure you get pretty good at the first and second level, up to the final boss. Try not to lose any lives. After that you should be stacked with extra lives and lots of health. Should be easier from there on out.

Good luck 

[nerdynebraskan]

Yeah, I can definitely see that being a solid strategy, Miller. I've been starting to take some of those same steps, but I'm still just wearing down on Stage 3 and 4. I think I just need a bit more practice with the game.

I last played some of The Goonies and more of Seikima 2. I reached the last stage of the first "area" on two consecutive plays. The worst part of the game is definitely in the jump mechanics. They've managed to combine the bizarre and counter-intuitive "starting to fall as soon as you let go of the A button" high jump from games like Amagon with a one-size-fits-all long jump out of the Double Dragon games.

[Nightstar699]

Hmm... then there might actually be some hope for my experience with the Seikima game, for a good laugh if anything. Not to mention the fact that I'm generally pretty tolerable to games which are often considered to be garbage.

Miller sounds like a pro at this game, I have beaten Gremlins 2 a few times but I definitely struggled. At this point I can't see it as being a game that I can no-death run without issue, like I can do with Kage, Dragon Fighter or Shatterhand. Patience is definitely important in Gremlins 2, your health bar can drain quick if you make a mistake and frantically try to rush past an area.  I'll practice it eventually with Miller's strategies in mind.

I myself am about to play Insector X... I'm hoping to beat this, then Parodius Da, then Chuka Taisen, then Gekitotsu Yonku Battle. I'd like to beat a few first-time games today, rather than play through the usual games I've already mastered.

Edit: Never mind, fuck it. I can't concentrate on shooters. I'll just play Kage again.

[Miller]

About Gremlins 2, also remember that if you shoot with an upgraded weapon at a boss (hurling away 5 paperclips instead of 1) it counts as multiple hits, so try and stay pretty close to the bosses during the fights. That's about it for advice.

I finished Yume Penguin Monogatari for the first time today, got it a day ago. On my first playthrough. Damn that was easy and....... not as good as I expected. Oh well.

By the way, is there a thread where people show off their collections? I'd like to get some inspiration...

[Nightstar699]

Seems similar to a boss battle from a shoot 'em up, in that regard. As for collection threads, right here: http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=523.0

I haven't posted mine but I do have a few pictures of my stuff in case you were interested. Last game I played was Saiyuki World 2, beat it without even having to grind for gourds in the Ice Ritual! But I have work in a few minutes, so I'll play more games later.

[Miller]

Kind of, but sometimes bosses in NES-games quickly goes into hit-stun mode when you hit them with one bullet (and nullifies the other four) but not in the case of Gremlins 2, so stay close.

I'll check out the thread tomorrow, thanks! I'll be playing Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain tomorrow, got it the other day and it seems great!

[Nightstar699]

Oh yes, I got Solbrain a few days ago from Manuel, but I've had the American version of it (Shatterhand) for a while. That's probably my 5th favorite game ever made. It takes some practice, at first I was unable to complete it whatsoever, but now I can finish it without dying, with little issue. Exceptional game, and I'd be interested in hearing your experiences playing it. I'd suggest trying out the different bot combinations and finding which ones suit your playstyle. My initial mistake with that game was going into it without fully understanding the mechanics.

[nerdynebraskan]

I need to play some more of Shatterhand, Whomp 'Em, and Yume Penguin Monogatari. Those are all solid games.

I last played some Paaman 2. It is also a solid game. I really like the flying mechanics.