I played this game as a kid, because I loved TNG. I got the hang of the general mission patterns for the earlier missions, and I thought it was the coolest game in the world. Then I rage-quit a few times on the later missions and gave it away to a friend, who hadn't hit that wall yet.

I picked it up again as an adult, and also the manual, which explains many of the things I was confused about. So now I'm much farther through the game. But I just can't make the final jump to Captain rank. Some of the missions seem like they're completely impossible. I'll be cruising along, doing an easy delivery mission, when suddenly, intruders board my ship and start tearing it apart. So I'll start beaming them away, when suddenly the transporter system stops working. Ok, the only thing I can think of is tell Geordi LaForge to repair the transporter system. I watch it tick up from 00% to 01%, and then I'm told that the ship was demolished by an unknown alien. What should I have done differently? Boost the transporter system while the intruders wreck house? I've only had problems with intruders a couple of times, but I've never survived it. And that's just one example of a mission where I can't think of what I did wrong.

And don't get me started on combat missions. I've read the entire manual but I'm definitely still missing something. I'm getting creamed out there.

From what I can tell, the gameplay on the Game Boy and NES versions are functionally identical. I'm playing the GB version. Looks like Bimmy beat it for the NES thread this year. *cough cough*

In the words of Captian Picard himself, from the episode Peak Performance: "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness; that is Star Trek TNG for Game Boy, and probably the NES one too."

It's been a long time since I played through it, but it (along with all the Absolute-published ST games) are cut from the same cloth. There is a lot of resource management while you're in the middle of action sequences - but the missions aren't that varied and you should be able to anticipate what is coming before it happens once you've looped through the missions a few times. You can always push resources to the engines, shields, etc. before they start to tank so you can get a leg up on repairs when they are needed.

The starship combat sequences can be a test on your patience as you try to line up your shots on the viewscreen. Try not to follow the other ships, but instead try to go in the opposite direction to land a few hits before having to reverse and do it again.

Once you hit captain, the missions repeat ad infinitum, with the exception of a random Borg encounter that is the NA requirement to 'beat' the game.

Have fun! If you're a fan of the franchise, it's a nice little game. The Game Gear games are the same (including the Generations game) - same interface, same kinds of missions.

Thanks! I actually got a lucky run, where I didn't get any crazy Klingon combat missions, and I was able to reach Captain. Feels dirty, though, like I should have learned to complete that kind of mission. The very first mission I got as Captain was the Borg mission. Riker told me I had to go back to Earth to get a virus, and then the Borg boarded my ship and killed me. I'd love to try that one again. And I'll definitely check out the other Absolute ST games.

I remember playing the TNG Holodeck Simulator and Generations on the GG. I don't recall those games being super hard but difficult enough to keep my attention for a long time.