NES/Famicom Appreciation Thread

I own and have yet to play it seriously, but yeah, I am just too ready for Strider. Will be fine with Kickle and Guardian Legend as well though. My only problem is those darn extender cables that never arrives. Thanks to those taking forever, Ive had to only play modern consoles (that is, consoles with wireless controllers) for about a month which is really unlike me. Even booted up the good old 360 for the first time in years :)
 
Sorta related, since it's always been one of my pushers for Famicom stuff: any clue what happened to japangamestock.com? Any other reliable source for JPN Famicom games in case they closed shop?
 
Sorta related, since it's always been one of my pushers for Famicom stuff: any clue what happened to japangamestock.com? Any other reliable source for JPN Famicom games in case they closed shop?

I still use ebay most recent / time ending soon Famicom searches honestly. Didnt know JGS site went down...

EDIT: I saw Kickle once recently, and should've picked it up.

What other Arcade style games would count though? Bubble Bobble? Pac-Man? Would shooters factor in?
 
Here's the form for February Votinghttps://docs.google.com/a/extraguy.com/forms/d/1CSG2qR6Pp3nx3y-XFBqRRtt_q71-Ppk8Rp2TeScvMU0/viewform

I'll extend voting up until March 4. But the second I close the thread I'll have the thread updated and we can hopefully pick up where we left off quickly. Really dropped the ball this month and I'm sorry for that guys.

Guardian Legend. I love that game too much not to vote for it and MM3 is too obvious of a choice, though the Legacy Collection did just come out on the 3DS.

I do need an excuse to get around to playing my copy of Strider however. Kickle I had a chance at getting a few months ago for a Buy 2 Get 1, but not knowing anything about it I ended up going with Star Wars for the SEGA CD. -_-
 
What other Arcade style games would count though? Bubble Bobble? Pac-Man? Would shooters factor in?


I would hope shooters count, the NES library is full of cool shooters. I've been having a lot of fun with Gyruss lately. Plus shooters give me an excuse to use my Advantage, I love that thing. It was pretty gnarly when I picked it up at a flea market, but it cleaned up really nice.

I also wouldn't mind voting for a zapper game or two, something like Freedom Force or even Duck Hunt, if there are enough of us on CRTs.
 
Latest pick up. Patience paid off. Got it for $37 shipped via eBay auction. Excellent condition. I now have all six!

1kJduWk.jpg
 
Latest pick up. Patience paid off. Got it for $37 shipped via eBay auction. Excellent condition. I now have all six!

Freakin' sweet!

I was recently kicking around the idea of picking up the complete NES Mega Man series. (I already own V.)

But then I saw how much cooler the Famicom carts look.

...so I'll be picking those up someday instead.
 
18 bucks for mario 3 complete is pretty good, especially considering thats the most pricey of Mario games, aside from the older RPG games.
 
I voted for Deja Vu, because I'm a weirdo.
 
Mang...this is a great thread! I picked up some nes titles I regretted getting rid of when I was a kid. TMNT and TMNT 2. Also got Trojan for the hell of it, never played it before. And I got Gremlins 2 on the way. Used to rent that one often because I loved the movie. I remember the soundtrack being really really good!

Still need to get Star Wars, Ducktales and Megaman 2 to complete my childhood library.
From then on in, I'm just gonna ahead and get some essential titles. Not looking to overcomplete my collection. Gotta pick up a new 72 pin connector first though, got a feeling mine is a bit busted.
 
Mang...this is a great thread! I picked up some nes titles I regretted getting rid of when I was a kid. TMNT and TMNT 2. Also got Trojan for the hell of it, never played it before. And I got Gremlins 2 on the way. Used to rent that one often because I loved the movie. I remember the soundtrack being really really good!

Gremlins 2 with dat Sunsoft soundtrack magic.

I realize we're not even half way to the number of posts for a second thread, but when we do we really ought to get "Fun Club" in the title...

Why "Fun Club"? I can ask the mods to change the title to whatever we want when I ask for the March update, but I'm not sure what you're looking for and why exactly.
 
Still hanvet received my extender cables from Raphnet after almost a month now. He also doesnt respond to my emails. Have anybody had similar og other bad experiences with him before? Starting to become anxious they will never arrive :(
 
Continuing on with my NES Capcom games playthrough, managed to finish Commando and Ghosts n Goblins this week.

I'm really not sure on Commando. The sprite flicker is so bad that it actively hurt my enjoyment of that game :( Not to mention it seems to be missing the whole second mission, and just loops the first 4 levels a further 3 times for you instead where the game gets slightly harder each time. The control and frame rate is perfect though, so the game at least runs smoother compared to all Capcom NES ports that came before it.

GnG is always going to be a favourite of mine, and I really like the NES port bar the frame rate which feels really jarring after playing something like Mega Man 2. Other than this issue though I don't really have many complaints. It looks good and all the levels and enemies are intact. It plays really well and most of all I find it incredibly fun to run through.
I don't like the fact that bosses have weapons that don't hurt them at all, I think that's a really cheap change that I never encountered in the arcade game. The cross on the other hand seems to have slightly better range in this port? It at least feels more useful compared to its arcade counterpart.
Oh, and fuck level 2. I can't sum up just how much I hate this level. If it weren't for this level I'd be able to stroll through the game in about 40-60 minutes per loop, but I ended up stuck on this level for the best part of 30 minutes when I was doing the second loop of the game. The combo of birds and ogres is just so hateful!
 
Continuing on with my NES Capcom games playthrough, managed to finish Commando and Ghosts n Goblins this week.

I'm really not sure on Commando. The sprite flicker is so bad that it actively hurt my enjoyment of that game :( Not to mention it seems to be missing the whole second mission, and just loops the first 4 levels a further 3 times for you instead where the game gets slightly harder each time. The control and frame rate is perfect though, so the game at least runs smoother compared to all Capcom NES ports that came before it.

GnG is always going to be a favourite of mine, and I really like the NES port bar the frame rate which feels really jarring after playing something like Mega Man 2. Other than this issue though I don't really have many complaints. It looks good and all the levels and enemies are intact. It plays really well and most of all I find it incredibly fun to run through.
I don't like the fact that bosses have weapons that don't hurt them at all, I think that's a really cheap change that I never encountered in the arcade game. The cross on the other hand seems to have slightly better range in this port? It at least feels more useful compared to its arcade counterpart.
Oh, and fuck level 2. I can't sum up just how much I hate this level. If it weren't for this level I'd be able to stroll through the game in about 40-60 minutes per loop, but I ended up stuck on this level for the best part of 30 minutes when I was doing the second loop of the game. The combo of birds and ogres is just so hateful!

Re: Commando -- I used to play this a lot as a kid using my NES Advantage. It was fun to stomp through the four levels, but when it looped I always quit. Does it actually have an ending I was not aware of?

Re: GnG -- I used to play this game enough as a kid that I beat it once or twice, though never easily, mind you. This game's a mother fucker. Doesn't this one loop at the end too?
 
Re: Commando -- I used to play this a lot as a kid using my NES Advantage. It was fun to stomp through the four levels, but when it looped I always quit. Does it actually have an ending I was not aware of?

Re: GnG -- I used to play this game enough as a kid that I beat it once or twice, though never easily, mind you. This game's a mother fucker. Doesn't this one loop at the end too?

Commando - At the end of stage 4-4 you don't really get an ending, just a hilarious bunch of Engrish that barely makes sense. Then the game ends and chucks you back to the title screen.

GnG - Yep, all entries in the series chuck you back to stage 1 after you clear the last level. You then have to play the game all over again, only now its slightly harder (in this game's case, enemies are faster and more plentiful in areas).
Then when you clear the game for the second time the game just loops again. Though now I believe they reduce the speed etc. of enemies making it more in line with the first run through.

And yeah, its a real tough bastard at times yet somehow ends up as an insanely addictive game so I end up playing it for hours looping it as I go. Its one of those strange games that has several issues that really bother me (which are pretty much all fixed for its sequel) yet I still absolutely love playing it. Its right up there with the Mega Man series in terms of Capcom platformer games for the NES.
 
GnG - Yep, all entries in the series chuck you back to stage 1 after you clear the last level. You then have to play the game all over again, only now its slightly harder (in this game's case, enemies are faster and more plentiful in areas).
Then when you clear the game for the second time the game just loops again. Though now I believe they reduce the speed etc. of enemies making it more in line with the first run through.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts requires you beat it a second time using a special weapon. Which I know from a friend is insanely difficult because he almost did it (ultimately he did not, however). The NES one just requires you to play through again right? And no special ending? Man... fuck that.
 
Yeah, Ghosts 'n Goblins is different from the two subsequent GnGs in that you fight the final boss on both loops (as opposed to just the second) and that the game's special weapon isn't limited to only the second loop (but you still need it to be able to finish the first loop).

Ghosts 'n Goblins is a really great game - I'd easily put it over any of the NES Mega Man titles - but personally I really can't stomach the NES port. I like that it gives you a guaranteed cross drop near the end of the game (as opposed to the arcade original where you have to farm for it) but every other change it made is pretty unfortunate.
 
Wasn't the NES port farmed out by Capcom? Seems like most of their early games are sub-part ports, even if the arcade originals were great games.

EDIT: Yep, by Micronics.
 
When I recently started getting into retro gaming, I also realized that NES games were damn expensive. Games haven't really inflated in price since, they were $50 back then. No wonder I had about 3 NES games in total. Super Mario 3, Double Dragon 2, and probably something else. I did rent a lot, though.

Adjusted for inflation, that is about $90 per game nowadays.

man, D Lo does this "inflated for" nonsense too, ugh
most NES games were like a buck or two for nearly decades there, the bubble hasn't convinced me they're worth more alla sudden! think the most i paid was $20 something for Mega Man 1 a while back, haha

Dead I am the one
Exterminating son
Slipping through trees
Strangling the breeze

masterfully done

I voted for Deja Vu, because I'm a weirdo.

see, i beat Shadowgate finally, got stuck/ran out of time in Uninvited...i really should play that one next
 
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts requires you beat it a second time using a special weapon. Which I know from a friend is insanely difficult because he almost did it (ultimately he did not, however). The NES one just requires you to play through again right? And no special ending? Man... fuck that.

Super GnG isn't too bad for me. I can clear the game with only one real issue (Japanese version that is, as the PAL version bizarrely greatly lowers the difficulty levels so enemies take way less hits).
The problem I have with Super GnG is the rematch against the penultimate boss(es) right outside the real final boss area. The bosses take an insane amount of damage to kill, plus your weapon has half the range (if that) of knives etc. so you have to get uncomfortably close to deal damage. I can clear 90% of the game real quick, but that one fight takes me a frustratingly long amount of time every time I play the game!

Wasn't the NES port farmed out by Capcom? Seems like most of their early games are sub-part ports, even if the arcade originals were great games.

EDIT: Yep, by Micronics.

Yeah, Micronics handled all of Capcom's early NES releases I believe and it explains why so many of them have issues like dodgy frame rates and tons of flicker. Exed Exes is the perfect example of how bad they can get, the game is juddery, runs slow and actually made me wish I was playing the arcade version (and I'm not a fan of the arcade version at all). Their SonSon port was almost decent, but as always tons of sprite flicker and slowdown really ruined later levels.
Its so funny to play some of these early titles, then try something like Gun.Smoke or Mega Man to see just how much better Capcom's games become when the games are brought in house to port (at least I think Gun.Smoke was done by Capcom themselves, it certainly runs way better than any of the early ports).
 
I finished Shatterhand last week. First time I ever played it. It was great. One of the gems on the NES I think. I think I kept using the B B A weapon if I remember correctly. It was like a downward grenade blast or something. Really powerful.
 
Anyone else played/beaten Shatterhand this month besides me and a few others?

I have just beaten it today! I managed to discover some poor collision detection on the final boss. I basically got very precisely close to him and somehow didn't get hit by his beams, but could wail on him. A nice relief after getting my ass kicked earlier in the game.

Also I used ABB bot exclusively.
 
oh man, ill boot it up tonight - no way im beating it though!

Just follow Timu's ninja tips and you'll do fine.

I finished Shatterhand last week. First time I ever played it. It was great. One of the gems on the NES I think. I think I kept using the B B A weapon if I remember correctly. It was like a downward grenade blast or something. Really powerful.

Grenade bot is awesome, but the Chakram one and Sword one arent bad either.
 
Beat Area B and made it to the boss of C twice. The section with the little flying pink shrimp really gets me.

Can you not punch enemies when you're invulnerable after they've hit you? Seems like I'm punching the fuck outta some dudes when they're all over me but they don't take damage when I don't take damage...
 
I just said screw it and finally bought the last 2 Rockman games I was missing on ebay - 1 and 6. I'm not a box only type of guy so I got them cart only. Better now than later when they shoot up even more I suppose.
 
Played through Shatterhand a few hours ago. Still an incredibly badass game - not only extremely technically impressive for an NES game, but a rock-solid action-platformer too. Super-sharp controls, great-feeling punching, hugely varied stages - great stuff. My only real complaints is that a lot of the helper drones feel kind of useless (by the way - did you know that by holding jump and down while you have a drone out, it'll lift you into the air, and that by then pressing attack, you can throw the drone offscreen for several seconds, letting you get it out of harm's way in the meantime? Really, really useful trick that I didn't learn about until relatively recently.), and all the bosses aside from the last one feel fairly weak - too much health (barring the useless twin robot boss) and not enough to do. And even the last boss falls a little too easily if you take the battle armor to him.

EoEWWX7.png


Found something new this playthrough that I'd somehow never managed to find before - there's actually an invisible power-up station here, shortly before you ascend to meet the area D boss. Crazy. I wonder if there are more invisible stations hidden throughout the game.
 
Top Bottom