Going to beat Stadium Events this weekend and Sky Shark for you guys. If I still am sane afterwards, I´ll give Q/bert a go

So with the reality that we're probably not going to finish off the list this time around, I've already been thinking about next year's competition (although I still think we should work hard on the last few unlicensed games - That's totally doable, and I'm not going to include them again in 2014).

Anyway, I'm posting to say that for next year, I'm going to institute a fun point system for every licensed game. I talked a little bit last year about awarding points based on difficulty. The problem is, that's subjective and hard to pin down. So rather, I'm going to use the data we already have for 2012 & 2013: the order in which games were completed during the year. That aligns pretty closely with difficulty, with crappiness/rarity also playing a big part.

Excluding the 15 "unbeatable/duplicate" games, there's 662 titles. Each game's 2012 & 2013 number will be added together, then they'll be ranked based on that sum. Then, games will get a score from 1-10 based on those numbers (67 games will get a 1, 67 games will get a 10, and 66 each for 2-9).

For example, Castlevania was completion #6 in 2012 and #25 in 2013. Its total score is 31, which will clearly put it in the easiest 10%. Beating it will be worth 1 point in 2014. Meanwhile, something like Based Loaded 4 (#656 in 2012 and unbeaten in 2013) will be worth 10 points. This should be a fun way to see who's beaten the hardest stuff.

I was going to go back through the 2010-11 threads, but different rules were used then and it would lead to things like Arkanoid being in the middle of the pack.

If I determined the points today, this is how they would look. It will change slightly depending on which games are completed between now and the end of the year.

http://pastebin.com/VbAHk12x...

That's an interesting idea, and it might encourage more people to take on bigger (or less attractive) challenges. (I might even have a better shot of a top-10 finish, considering that I have one "10 point" conquest and four "9 pointers" this year alone.)

But I'd really like it if you keep the unlicensed games on the list for next year. You could break them up in the same fashion for points value. I don't think unlicensed games get enough love in our community, especially with many of the newer collectors refusing to be interested in them in the first place. And hey, this board beat every licensed game last year. If that doesn't happen this year, I think we should accept the added challenge. I don't like the idea of dropping 80 games off the list to make this easier; there are dozens of people participating (to some extent). I really do think it's realistic that we could polish off all 750 or so beatable games in one year, and people may even be more eager next year with your proposed scoring changes. (It'd certainly mean more credit for Action 52: 1/52nd of 10 points per game beaten adds up quite a bit faster than 1/52nd of one point.)

EDIT: I added up all of my licensed credits for this year, and I would've scored 106 points on my 14 conquests. It did add up pretty nicely, considering all of them were 6's or higher.

Totally agree. If you leave out unlicensed games you aren't beating every game for the system. They 100% count as a part of the library.

Because I like to count, I went ahead and tallied our frontrunner WashYourFace's score under the proposed system for next year. For his 52 (licensed) conquests, he'd have 307 points. Interesting: he has almost four times as many games beaten as I do, but less than triple my score. The difference seems to lie in the fact that I would score as many points for beating Paperboy 2 (10) as he did for beating his seven easiest games (four 1-pointers and three 2-pointers).

I'd be very curious to see how this might impact our game choices for next year, if these are the rules we decide to play by. I'd imagine a lot of the casual folks who drop in on New Year's Day will continue to just play their favorite game or two. But I wonder if the serious players might almost start tackling the 9- and 10-point games that we're best at right on New Year's. I know I'd have to seriously consider going right back to Paperboy 2 since I just beat it.

I totally agree that the unlicensed games should stay. Hell, they were more interesting to me than the licensed ones! If you need more years to determine the points, feel free to use the threads I ran to document what games were finished and when so you can figure out your formula, but the challenge isn't a challenge if it's easily achieved, and knocking games off the list arbitrarily defeats the purpose of a challenge. Basically, if you knock off the unlicensed games, you go back to something that was already achieved, which ends up being boring because, well, it's no longer something that's never been done before.

Also, just to add, I didn't start the idea initially to actually accomplish the goal.  I just wanted people to play some games that they never would have otherwise.  To that end, the idea was a runaway success.  How many games have people played through that they never would've started if it wasn't for this thread?  How many of those games ended up being newfound favorites?  It wasn't meant as a challenge to beat, the challenge was simply the incentive to get people playing a new game rather than firing up Contra or SMB for the billionth time.  That's another reason that the unlicensed games should stay...they rarely get the chance to thrive, and there are so many good games that are ignored simply because of a funky case.

Thanks for starting these contests, wiz. It was thanks to this thread that I finally buckled down and beat a few childhood favorites like Ghostbusters 2, Jurassic Park, and Terminator 2.

Well I'm glad you did man I know I've knocked off a ton of games over the years that I wanted to beat but never gave much thought to because of the thread. I mean sure, I want to beat every game I own, but this thread has given me one more resource to decide what to play (although sometimes the NES mood isn't quite there...it is nice to actually pick a game when the mood IS there though, instead of staring at the wall o'carts ). I can't take credit for the idea though, just for the implementation of it. The actual idea was brought up by Count Dracura in another thread. I haven't seen him post much these days, but he's still around (just checked his profile), so if he sees this, thanks again from all of us

Yea thanks again for this contest, there were some experiences I would have never gotten. (Like going through Flying Dragon twice for the ending) And some games like Willow were hidden gems of enjoyment.

What about having two threads one for licensed and another for unlicensed and have them link to each other in the main thread.

Or

Bump all the licensed up by +1 points to get it taken care of.

I was going through the 30 that I finished so far and where they were in the completion order and it starts getting crummy in the 200's for enjoyment but after 300 I finished I believe 12 games with 9 of them being really low on the enjoyment scale.

My top 3 worst for enjoyment

1. Flying Dragon Secret Scroll (The special conditions and long time needed to get the true ending made this the worst for me)
2. Tag Team Wrestling (Had to use one monotonous strategy over and over for soooo many matches)
3. Kung Fu Heroes (Most difficult i think for single player)

I beat Ski or Die...only because beating it is defined as just competing in all events. I totally suck at it.

I tried playing robocop 2 and blues brothers, i smelled poop in the air and proceeded to play another game. If im going to suffer through those, ill just wait till next year

Sorry I've dropped off the map with these. I may be able to knock off a couple on this list like W&W 3 and Mighty Bomb Jack,but sounds like someone just about beat W&W 3 anyway.

Did not think stadium events would be hard, turned out to be pretty challenging, yet fun. Game gets too much bad rep.

So I only knocked 1 game off the nes all year.

You beat Stadium Events? Nice.

I know I could knock off a half dozen or so fairly easily, but I'd rather play a game for my personal list than some games I've beaten several times already. Thus, I've been working on Might & Magic...something I wanted to do for a long ass time. I may still do something for the list though...just not until I'm done with M&M

At this point it's probably best to wait for next year's contest to knock off anything hard.

Thing is, the ones I'm talking about aren't hard. At least, not for me anyway. I just don't have the urge to fire them up.

Hey dudes, sorry I've been absent from this thread.
Real life took over, you know how it is.
I played NES almost constantly for 11 months and had to stop and do real things.
Anyhow, I pretty much hit a wall with most of the remaining games - either I don't own them, don't want to play them, or can't beat them.

I'm still acquiring more games, though, so I would be totally down for contributing next year, at least some.


I will make an argument for at least 1 of the remaining Action 52 games:

Storm over the Desert - I believe this to be impossible to beat without cheating.

Similar to Micro Mike, it's not an issue of skill, but statistics.
Enemies pop up right on top of you and kill you, and this seems to be completely random.
I can't get past level 7 which requires 35 kills, before you get hit 5 times.
Level 8 would require 40 kills, and level 9 requires 50 kills(!) before you get hit 5 times.
Facts:
* I DO NOT GET HIT by enemies unless they appear right on top of me (abusing the pause button guarantees this)
* I've shot every enemy I can possibly hit and I still die before I can kill the required number
* Every level spawns enemies faster and they move faster too, meaning even if someone got past level 7, 8 and 9 are far more difficult

Therefore, my conclusion is that this is "impossible" - not literally, because I think it can be done with a program, but unrealistic for a human to do.
I believe level 7 might be possible given enough time, but the whole game, no way.
(The guy who put the Tool-Assisted run of Micro Mike on YouTube said he did 362 attempts before he could finish it - this is with a PROGRAM, remember!)


Spread Fire might be impossible, I'm not sure. The speed on the later levels is crazy and there might be unavoidable instant-kills.
I don't think Haunted Hill is impossible, just extremely difficult.

Silver Sword is definitely doable, but I haven't had time to devote to it.


As for the unlicensed games - if scaryice doesn't want to do them, I say that's fine. Either way.
But there are some problems with the unlicensed games, as we've seen.
Maybe somebody (nerdynebraskan?) can start a separate "Can NA beat every UNLICENSED NES game in a year?" thread?
That way people who are interested in the unlicensed games can participate and those who aren't interested don't have to.
On the positive side, I will say there are several unlicensed games I enjoyed throughout the year, including a few I had never played before.
I would call Impossible Mission II a hidden gem.

Unfortunately I only get 1 day off for Christmas, and am really busy still with work, so I doubt I will be playing much more (if any) the rest of this year.
I could probably beat Bases Loaded 4, but I don't know if I'll be bothered.
I like scaryice's idea of a point system, so I'll return in January to clean up

Are you using a FAQ/walkthrough at all, or do you plan to?
The game can be incredibly long if you don't - in fact, I never beat it as a kid.
Since I finally beat it this year, I figured out the 1 required thing that I missed.

However, the game can be beat relatively quickly if you know all the secrets.
A lot of the puzzles/quests/things you can do, are not required to beat the game.
Although you have no way of knowing what's required until you beat the game.
Let me know if you need any tips.

The 3 worst games I beat this year in terms of enjoyment are (other than Action 52):
BMX Simulator (Quattro Sports)
Castle of Dragon
Caesar's Palace

X-Men is a terrible game, but it's enjoyable in a "It's so bad it's good" kind of way.

Last year I beat Mad Max which is just an unpleasant experience.
If I had been able to beat Temple of Doom, I think that would have been the worst.

Already done man   I used the mail order guide (yes, I own one, and no, it wasn't cheap), but even that only gives the maps and a few vague hints.  I used a guide when I got stuck and couldn't figure out where to go next (like when I had to solve the "Riddle of the Ruby" for one of the quests and thought it meant using the Ruby Whistle...boy was I wrong ), or when I knew what I needed but not where to get it (the King's Pass...the location of the Druid was marked on the map, but not what I got from him, so when I was missing the King's Pass, I looked up where to find it).  For the most part I solved things myself though...had a few pages of note paper to jot down clues along the way.  It was kind of funny that 95% of the game was "optional" though...think there were only a half dozen or so things to do that were necessary to beat the game.  Kind of looking forward to starting the second one on the Genesis now though

As for the other posts here though (quoted this one because it was directed to me, but I want to respond to the rest as well), I'll probably run through the rest of Action 52 to see what I think about those games (when I do though, I'll probably try to knock the other 48 games off as well...just so I have one entry on my personal list instead of 52 ), but if they are indeed unbeatable without cheating, I may be inclined to agree with you.  The other major thing brought up by that post though, namely removing the unlicensed games...let's just say that I'll probably pass on even participating (at least to the extent that I already have).  It's been proven that the entire licensed library is doable in a year, it's already been done once.  The point system is neat and all, but the point to me is for people to try games they wouldn't play otherwise.  I do that myself anyway, so I don't see the point of trying to achieve something that has already been done before...I'd rather leave the games I beat for someone else to experience instead.

As for the least enjoyed games, I honestly can't think of a game that I didn't enjoy on some level, whether I beat it or not, aside from SMB3 (beaten for my personal list) because, well, I never really did like the game.  Playing through a game I hate is just an effort in tedium.  The best part though is that I never have to play that piece of shit again.  Every other game I have on my personal list I actually enjoyed playing through, and wouldn't trade those experiences for anything (yes, even Castle of Dragon, which I found thoroughly entertaining!).  It's my belief that every game on the NES is enjoyable to some degree, if you're just open enough to try them

Making it even more complicated, I believe there are 3 (at least) different revisions of Action 52 on the NES.
On mine, there are 2 games that won't even start, and some others that are unbeatable due to glitches.  Some of this was fixed on later revisions like Vectrex's copy.  As far as I can tell, this doesn't make any difference for Micro Mike or Storm Over the Desert, though.
There are a few games on Action 52 that are actually somewhat decent and remind me of Atari 2600 games (such as Dedant and Illuminator).  But the majority are poor at best and some are literally broken.  Two of the worst are Manchester and Meong.

I still like wizard's sentiments regarding whether we include unlicensed games or not for 2014.

There are a lot of unique and enjoyable offerings there that NES players and collectors should be giving a chance. I think they're just as legitimately a part of the NES era as the licensed games; they were published and sold in our region just the same. Tengen was definitely a part of my childhood. I rented a half-dozen of their games from my neighborhood video store -- almost as often as I was renting licensed games.

And I like the added challenge that comes with putting 80 more games on the to-beat list. This board has already conquered every licensed NES game in one calendar year, and the enthusiasm for this contest seems to have only grown since then. (Even if we didn't have Crabmaster mauling a hundred games this year to actually get us to the finish line.)

If we're going to move forward with the new point system proposed by scaryice, I'm willing to rank the unlicensed games in a similar fashion. I'd really like to see this stay as one thread, and I'd be willing to maintain it myself. (Although I've liked scaryice's system, and I'd undoubtedly copy it.) But if we needed to spin off unlicensed games to a second thread, I'd also be willing to maintain them that way too.