Congrats to Splain on your new arrival!

Amazing Penguin is finished. I didn't find it be a puzzle game exactly, but more of an arcade style thing. I loved Amidar as a kid on the 2600 and this was a more in-depth version of that. The only thing that made the game sort of difficult were the controls. I kept overshooting the paths because instincts tell me to hold up and right at the same time if I want to move up and take the first path leading right. The game only recognizes the one direction at a time. If I were playing with an Atari or arace joystick maybe it would have been easier. The only hard levels for me were the last 3. Actually the last level wasn't too tough, just took trial and error.  I'm very thankful that a game over doesn't bring you back to the last password and you can just infinitely retry the levels until you succeed.
Next up for me is Casper. That will probably be the last one I get done this month due to travel, but I'll have WWF War Zone waiting for me after that.

Tom and Jerry
twitch.tv/videos/427508588

Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics!
twitch.tv/videos/427508587

That second game is actually not that bad for a movie tie-in on the Game Boy.

So I did a thing and beat Buster Bros!

Still crackin on golf, in the meantime I am taking a "break" and playing through faceball 2000, one of my favorite game boy games. I'm doing it extra-tough by not doing it in one sitting, which is significant as you get power-ups at the end of every "set" of stages. It gets tough as nails because you don't have the power-ups, but I think I can do it.

Golf I have to a 78, I need to practice the back 9 and just get lucky with wind now.

Casper is finished. There were two parts where the objective wasn't entirely clear to me, and I tried to avoid gamefaqs, so I failed a bit more than I should have figuring out that the bouncing books was about collecting goo and not just getting all the books in the bin.  There are 3 levels, each with the same 4 mini games that "increase" in "difficulty." A missile command part that has worse hit detection & mechanics than the hard as nails missile command I played last year; the book bouncing thing; a part where you go up and down ladders to collect enough dots for the exit to appear while avoiding other ghosts; and a rube goldberg device making thing.  It was easy to cheese that last one because you can see how many items you get right and reset whenever.  Really annoying sound effects on that part.  After beating the 3 levels, there's a minecart part that I didn't understand. I was dodging enemies for about 5 minutes until I went to gamefaqs to learn I just needed to exit right after a while. I don't know why I didn't try that myself first.  Then the last level is a Simon memory game.
I like the concept, and kinda fun at times, but it felt empty like a ghost.

When I get back in town, I'll try to pin down WWF War Zone

Nice job guys!

I'm stuck on a Megalit level. Which is rough because there's time limits and lives, and only passwords every 5 levels...

Finally done with Ninja Boy. Gotta say, not my favorite game. Feels too much like walking on glass with bare feet. Just very exacting, and easy to screw up a lot!

Pic added. It looks kinda funky, guess my camera and my TV weren't agreeing with each other  


Update: I also finished Malibu Beach Volleyball. Kind of fun, but a little too easy. Most of the AI couldn't even return more than one shot. Would definitely be better in a 2-player vs match, I think. My record in Golf as of yesterday night was a painfully close +1, hoping that by the weekend I will have the US course wrapped up for good.

The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island

twitch.tv/videos/428810955

Nothing to say here really, a typical simple and short GB game. Not bad, not too good either... just bland.

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Mega Man II

twitch.tv/videos/428810956

Not a very good game compared to other Mega Man titles on GB, but it has its charm. The music is quite funky... they definitely had a decent composer, but the way the music was actually programmed leaves a lot to be desired.

Finished Platinum Jeopardy today. Basically just let the AI defeat themselves by giving wrong answers continuously.



Also started files in FF Legend and Ninja Boy 2 last night.

Ninja Boy 2, surprisingly, has only some similarities to Ninja Boy, in that the player jumps and punches to attack, and hits boxes to reveal items, but then the game is now an RPG drawing heavily from Dragon Quest, and the character levels up and gains new powers. Fights are now done like belt-action beat'em ups, including the ability to knock down, pick up, and throw enemies, similar to double dragon. It's an interesting twist, and one I look forward to exploring after finding Ninja Boy 1 to be rather frustrating.

I knocked out another Jeopardy today, Jeopardy Sports. On this one, I was blessed by some very easy questions about baseball in Japanese (ie. what does it mean when a Japanese umpire says "seifu"), and to a surprisingly valuable question asking what jersey Michael Jordan wore, which is pretty weird given he had only recently been in the NBA when this game was made, and wasn't exactly an unknown player. Finally, I got lucky and guessed that Babe Ruth was left-handed for a valuable daily double, and that Buddweiser's "3-on-3 sports challenge" had been for basketball, which I only rationalized by figuring that no other sport popular in America would be played with only three players. I am completely honest when I say that without those various lucky breaks, I would have had no hope whatsoever in this game. My sports knowledge is beyond paltry, and that's not even considering that this game is also operating on information that is over 20 years out of date and thus either inaccurate for today or just stuff very far in the past if seen today. Either way, it's cleared, so add another cross to the list.

Two more for the list: I took care of the final Jeopardy game, that being the original "Jeopardy". I guess I just felt like getting them out of the way. They are far from the best trivia I have seen; The typing is tedious, the AI is not very good, and the questions repeat often. Only notable part of the game is that every one of them is basically identical, just with different questions. I had to name myself "basic" (meaning "basic" or "just" jeopardy) to indicate this game, or else you wouldn't even know which one I had beaten! I'd recommend going elsewhere for your trivia fix.

Also beaten is Sea Battle. The AI put up a good fight, but in the end my triple shot ship stayed alive longer and was able to finish the job. Amusingly, the first end screen was a blank screen that said "You Win". Fortunately a more substantial one appears afterward. Funny how they did that. Anyway, one less to worry about.

Nice going koifish! You're about to top the leaderboard. Also, there is no shame in seeking professional help as you deal with the trauma of playing all 4 Jeopardy titles. I consider those 4 and Wheel of Fortune to be the 5 worst titles on the GB.

Ha ha, yeah. And thanks for cheering on! Not to be obnoxious, but I noticed you didn't yet check off malibu beach volleyball, which I mentioned above as being done, but it was hidden under ninja boy I think, so I don't fault you for missing it. Just wanted to make sure the tally continues.

Faceball I am up to level 50 but need to practice with the tough enemies, and I started bust-a-move 2, am currently at level 30 of time attack mode. FF Legend is going smoothly, not worried so far (just grinding money in the first world). Kind of dreading coming back to Castelian and Jungle Book if I'm being honest, but surely I will have to do it sooner or later! And besides, nothing will be as haunting as the three Madden games...

Ah yeah I totally missed it. I did Bust a Move 2 last year, and I thought it was great! Now I have a copy of Bust a Move 3, so I'll probably fire that up once I finish some of the other games I've started.

Yeah, bust-a-move 2/puzzle bobble in general is one of my favorite arcade games.

Curious about something, I dug into brain drain tonight while at a doctor's office, and I beat level 50, but then it told me that I had finished the beginner puzzles and to try student puzzles next. Is that something to consider for revising the completion requirements? I quit the mode but I will do it again and get a screenshot uploaded.

I checked again, the options menu opens a new difficulty level after clearing the first 50 levels which starts you at level 51. I'll see how much further it goes and report back.

What!? I'm impressed that you beat level 50, I've tried a handful of times and I could never even get to 50. And apparently I suck at the "beginner" puzzles! I had no idea it went past 50.

I guess it's just a kind of puzzle that I'm good at, either way I've reached level 71 so far, I will just keep going until I see an ending. I don't blame you for the hardship though, it is a difficult game, the timer is really demanding too!

Brain Drain really becomes unrelenting in the 80s. Particularly I am stuck on puzzle 83, that one is not only large and complex, but inverts your controls as well! Between it and heartbreaking golf results I am having a hard time!

WWF War Zone is thankfully done.  I can see why this hadn't been completed before. What a pile of garbage.  The controls are unresponsive to the point of nearly being broken. The worst offender is getting up, which should be done by hitting Up+B.  Instead I would roll up to the top of the ring most of the time and eventually get up unless my opponent was able to hit me again to keep me down.  The most difficult part of the game is that it was very easy to be put into unwinnable situations and loops of attacks from them.  They can grab a lot easier than you. The person that initiates the grab, wins and you will take damage. So, it's very common that they will grab you, hit you, grab you again instantly before you can get away, repeat until they make a mistake or you can button mash to grab them first magically.  If you're down on the ground, you can roll away from them BUT you still have to get up and those controls don't always work, so again it's very common that by the time you stand up, they have caught up to you and grab you instantly after standing.

To win, you need to win something like 12 matches and sometimes the guy you just beat would challenge you to a dual, which means beating them twice in a row.  I cheesed things the best I could. Run to the turnbuckle, climb and dive off it (you can control your flight a bit and it will auto lock to their distance, which is fantastic). If you hit (way too many near misses), run back to the turnbuckle to do it again while they're down. If you miss, hope you can avoid the loop.  The championship match is in the cage, so you can't use that tactic.  Instead, I spent a little more than an hour to try to get the controller to respond to my new pattern of punching, grappling first (really hard to do) and throwing them against the cage, then repeating until his health is low.  My hands hurt after this.  Thankfully there are passwords after every win and no penalty for continuing and using the passwords.

Next up is Mortal Kombat - a game I actually enjoy on Game Boy. As a kid I beat it as Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Rayden. And maybe Sonya.  This run will be with Johnny Cage or Liu Kang (whichever is actually on the cartridge).

Lol yipes. I would not do well with this game. Congratulations and thanks for taking one for the team!

Beat the high score in Revenge of the Gator. Haven't bought many gameboy games since I quit my job at the game store. But I picked this up today along with some others.

I beat Mickey's Dangerous chase

The following games have been beaten every year since 2013, by a different person each year.

Donkey Kong
Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby's Dream Land 2
Little Mermaid, The
Mega Man 1
Mickey's Dangerous Chase
Pokemon Blue

These games are poised to join the above list, if someone who has never beaten them (on NA) beats them this year:

Balloon Kid
Monopoly
Ninja Gaiden Shadow

I haven't looked into whether or not anybody beat the same game twice under two different names, so that's possible I suppose.

I stink at Mortal Kombat now. That is all.