Games Beaten 2015

[BoneSnapDeez]

The cheap and easy way to gain points is to just take it slow. Don't accelerate rapidly unless you need to get out of a trap.

The narrow light green sections are full of enemies just waiting to be picked off, not to mention extra fuel tanks that can be shot for points.

In the really narrow dark green sections (where you have to choose either the left or right path) I typically went into survival mode and focused more on not crashing into terrain than shooting enemies.

If you die and respawn in front of a fuel tank shoot it immediately. You won't need it as you'll have a full gauge and it's an easy way to gain points. Actually, in the opening section you can shoot half the tanks there too as there's a surplus.

By the way I am quite confident you can "earn the badge." Once you get into a groove it takes all of 10 minutes, maybe less. When I finally sat down and went for it the other night I succeeded on my 7th or 8th attempt.

[Sarge]

Super Castlevania IV is generally considered one of the easier entries, though I ended up finding Rondo to be easier to get through. That said, the second I unlocked Maria I switched to her and went through the rest of the game with her. If I had tried to Richter it the whole way through I might have considered it harder than IV.

Maria is easy mode, for sure. Good grief, is she overpowered, and an amazing boss killer. Those doves alone enable her to do tons of damage in a limited period of time. Add the extra mobility in and it's just not fair.

I did do a Richter run, and it does get really tough. But I think that was more just the bosses than anything, I don't remember it being much harder overall than SCIV.

[marurun]

Super Castlevania IV is generally considered one of the easier entries, though I ended up finding Rondo to be easier to get through. That said, the second I unlocked Maria I switched to her and went through the rest of the game with her. If I had tried to Richter it the whole way through I might have considered it harder than IV.

Maria is easy mode, for sure. Good grief, is she overpowered, and an amazing boss killer. Those doves alone enable her to do tons of damage in a limited period of time. Add the extra mobility in and it's just not fair.

I did do a Richter run, and it does get really tough. But I think that was more just the bosses than anything, I don't remember it being much harder overall than SCIV.

The last level can be quite a challenge with Richter because of some of the jumps, especially on the collapsing bridge with the bats coming up from behind.

Maria I think was supposed to be a little balanced by taking more damage from hits and her birds doing a bit less damage than a whip strike, but her rate of attack and her mobility are just killer.

[REPO Man]

Duck Tales Remastered (Xbox 360) - Easy Mode.

Still got a few other difficulty levels to beat the game on, also have some achievements to get.

[BoneSnapDeez]

First 50:

1. Grandia (PlayStation)
2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends)
3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback)
5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision)
7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
8. Bubble Bobble (NES)
9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP)
12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends)
13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast)
16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
19. Gekirindan (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
20. Ys II (Saturn - Falcom Classics II)
21. Darius Gaiden (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
22. G Darius (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
23. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
24. RayStorm (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
25. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision)
26. Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision)
27. Boxing (PlayStation 2 - Activision Anthology)
28. Crystalis (NES)
29. Dragon Warrior (NES)
30. Faxanadu (NES)
31. Tombs & Treasure (NES)
32. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy)
33. Kirby's Adventure (NES)
34. Kirby Super Star (SNES)
35. Hoshi no Kirby 64 (Nintendo 64)
36. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
37. Dig Dug (Wii - Namco Museum Megamix)
38. Phoenix (Xbox - Taito Legends)
39. Phoenix (Atari 2600)
40. Pleiads (Xbox - Tecmo Classic Arcade)
41. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
42. Final Fantasy Adventure (Game Boy)
43. Gorf (Atari 2600)
44. Richard Scarry's Huckle and Lowly's Busiest Day Ever (Pico)
45. Mickey's Blast Into the Past (Pico)
46. Secret of Mana (SNES)
47. Psycho Soldier (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
48. Genshi-Tou 1930's (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
49. Datsugoku: Prisoners of War (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
50. SAR: Search and Rescue (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)

51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F)
53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F)
54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F)
55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends)
56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
58. Congo Bongo (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
59. International Soccer (Commodore 64)
60. Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (Odyssey²)
61. Alien Invaders - Plus! (Odyssey²)
62. Ice Hockey (Atari 2600)
63. River Raid (Atari 2600)
64. Frankenstein's Monster (Atari 2600)

1983...

Frankenstein's Monster

Well I'm now up to my birth year. And, coincidentally, today happens to be my birthday. So Frankenstein's Monster is 32, just like me.

The game was developed by Data Age, who was also known for some really low-quality "shovelware" Atari 2600 releases (ie: Sssnake) as well as Journey Escape, which stars the band Journey. Frankenstein's Monster was the company's latest and greatest release.

Released at the cusp of the third generation, this is one of those rare old games that doesn't loop. It consists of twelve distinct stages (or six stages each with two parts, depending on who you ask). The stages themselves alternate in terms of design and gameplay: six of them are what I'll call the "Pitfall! stages" while the other six are the "bat stages."

The "Pitfall! stages", appropriately enough, feature gameplay elements reminiscent of the Activision classic. The goal here is to (eventually) enclose Frankenstein's Monster in bricks before he re-animates and wreaks unspeakable havoc. You begin in the upper right corner of these stages and there's a brick located in the bottom right. Our hero (some guy in a baseball cap and blue jeans) must run, jump, climb up/down ropes, avoid enemies, and delicately cross a stream to collect these bricks. Each level features a few cliché horror enemies - ghosts and spiders - while the monster himself watches the action from the top of the screen.

The "bat stages" play completely differently. These feature a top down view and baseball cap man must reach one of two bricks at the top of the screen. All while a seemingly endless stream of bats flies around, seeking to knock you down and hinder progress.

The Pitfall! stages are the game's bread and butter. They're colorful and vibrant; and the hero and enemies alike are wonderfully animated. On the other hand, the bat stages feel like an afterthought. There's no strategy - sometimes you'll be pushed to the screen's bottom over and over, while on other occasions you'll get lucky and sail to the top in (literally) 2 or 3 seconds.

While the means of winning the game (collecting all the bricks) is apparent, there are actually several paths to a Game Over in Frankenstein's Monster. First of all, there's a time limit. Not a separate one for each stage, but a master time limit. There is no numerical count-down; instead the monster will slowly turn from white to green. Every time green pixels are added there's a flash of lightning and some spooky music; it's a great campy effect. Run out of time and it's an instant Game Over. You also begin with three lives and 500 points. Oddly enough, touching enemies won't kill you outright. Instead they deduct points and freeze your character for a few seconds. Points are (re)gained by completing a level. When points reach 0, one life is lost.

That said, I never saw a Game Over screen due to loss of points or time. Have you ever watched AVGN's review of Ninja Gaiden where he states that he forgot he even has a health bar because 100% of Ryu's deaths were caused by falling into pits? Same deal here. There's a "stream" of blue water (though some websites claim it's actually acid?) at the bottom of each and every Pitfall! stage. The brick is the prize on the other side. You will fall into this water. A lot.

And that brings me to the biggest flaw of the game. The jumping. You can make three kinds of jumps: straight up (worthless) and up and to the right or left. This ain't Super Mario Bros. though - there's no way to make subtle tweaks to your jumps once you're in the air. Instead Mr. Blue Jeans sails along a predetermined arc. To be fair, these controls are typical of the era and enemies are generally easy to leap over. But then level 4 tosses in moving platforms above the water. This sucks. Level 6 kicks it up a notch by making the platforms move and occasionally vanish.

It's no exaggeration to say it took me 30+ attempts to complete this, and virtually all of my deaths were drowning-related. But when I did finally finish the game it was a glorious moment. There's even a bit of an ending "cutscene" with a quaint jingle. Even better than the ending is the Game Over screen - it's amazing. Seriously, just watch this. Scary stuff! And I'm seriously impressed by the size of that sprite.

Despite the inherent issues with the controls, Frankenstein's Monster is a very ambitious and worthwhile game. With a few little tweaks it could almost feel like an NES launch title. I do want to mention that the game is "rare" - in other words you may have to spend $20 on it as opposed to, ya know, $1. It's certainly a worthwhile addition to an Atari collection and one of those games actually worth splurging on.

Probably will lay off the Year Challenge for a bit as I focus on Summa Games.

[Xeogred]

Super Castlevania IV is generally considered one of the easier entries, though I ended up finding Rondo to be easier to get through. That said, the second I unlocked Maria I switched to her and went through the rest of the game with her. If I had tried to Richter it the whole way through I might have considered it harder than IV.

Sounds like you only beat Rondo with Game Genie then.

Go back and try again.

[MrPopo]

Super Castlevania IV is generally considered one of the easier entries, though I ended up finding Rondo to be easier to get through. That said, the second I unlocked Maria I switched to her and went through the rest of the game with her. If I had tried to Richter it the whole way through I might have considered it harder than IV.

Sounds like you only beat Rondo with Game Genie then.

Go back and try again.

I am comfortable with the fact that a little girl kicks more ass than a grown man.

[dogman91]

^ Usual fare for anime-type things AFAIK.

[Key-Glyph]

Even better than the ending is the Game Over screen - it's amazing. Seriously, just watch this. Scary stuff! And I'm seriously impressed by the size of that sprite.

No joke, that is the kind of thing that would have terrified me as a child.

What an interesting game! Good for you, mastering those nonadjustable jumps.

[ExedExes]

Yeah, Frankenstein's Monster has a very realistic game over screen.

For more fun, go check out the end screen for Gangster Alley/Task Force, also on the 2600.