What have you been up to lately with your NES/Famicom?

[Crazy Climber]

For awhile I was playing a game of Qix every morning before work. Today I will either play through Trojan or Kung Fu  

[Trinity]

33 minutes ago, Crazy Climber said:

For awhile I was playing a game of Qix every morning before work. Today I will either play through Trojan or Kung Fu  

What is you typical hi score at Qix?

[Trinity]

Been playing some Tengen Ms Pac-man today.

[Dire 51]

Played through Guerilla War today for the first time in ages.

[Koa Zo]

Sold a Korean Famicom I had in storage. Figured it was best to test it before shipping since it was in storage for so many years.

It worked perfectly which made me regret selling it. Perfect cart slot! No need to blow in carts or repeatedly reinsert, and the picture was super sharp through composite.

 

Anyhow that rekindled an interest to play some 8-bit stuff. Particularly GunNac.

Had some good fun with GunNac cruising through to stage 7 only losing 1 life, then 1 slip up causes a cascade of failures draining that well padded extra life stock.

 

Then played Western Kids (aka Cowboy Kid). That's one I purchased years ago but never played! Took some getting used to the floaty character movement, but gosh darn one cool and fun game - going to put more time into it this week.

 

Capped things off with a few sessions of Konami's Crisis Force. Wow! this is another I've owned for a decade or longer and never played for one reason or another. Truly shows Konami's mastery of the hardware and the genre. Such cool drifting background and landscape perspectives. Graphical flourishes reminded me a little of their later 1995 TwinBee Yahho!

 

Oh yeah and played some Family Block (aka Thunder & Lightning). Seems decent and I'll have to give it more time. Kept wanting to articulate or bounce the paddle or something to direct the ball more effectively. Maybe I'm missing something...

 

Double oh yeah! Blade Buster! caravan shooting game. Wow! is this the best shoot'em-up on the platform?! I think it might be!

My cart is wonky though and the graphics would get garbled as I played. 🤕

Edited September 3 by Koa Zo

[Tanooki]

I really miss GunNac wish I hadn't lost that one because the absurdly manufactured price on the US version is despicable these days, and the FC one while costly at least isn't over 100 but that's not saying much as a little bit of reading ability is needed on the shop etc.

 

Crisis Force though, that one is some serious Konami black magic as far as Famicom goes, have had that cart for a long time and it's a true gem and a wonder.  People like talking up stuff like Recca, but me, my go to for showing off is that Konami beast.

[Koa Zo]

Agreed on both points! 

I had a complete US GunNac that I sold 15+ years ago for maybe $100. At the time I was downsizing and stuck with just Famicom games. While playing GunNac this past weekend I was kicking myself for not having the English version, though I do think the Japanese release has more cinema story scenes (that I can't read without GoogleLens)

 

I had the same thought as you regarding Crisis Force. Like how is it everyone went nuts over Recca (myself included) but Crisis Force remains the proverbial hidden gem? Recca may be a bit more intense, especially with its bombastic BGM. But Crisis Force has a style and polish that I didn't expect and that really exemplifies a culmination of the 8-bit Nintendo era.

Edited September 3 by Koa Zo

[Tanooki]

Yeah that's it, recca is more intense with total enemies at one time, and that one stage everyone loves to pander out with that phasing shifting flat pinky/magenta wave background --- ehh bfd really.  You're sacrificing a lot of detail to have a few more sprites which really isn't worth it because most people do not like nor want a screen load of bullethell horseshit going on, especially from that era in particular.  Crisis Force though has a good number still on screen, GunNac levels really, but without the slow down and flicker problems while having far more intense and moving detailed backgrounds you'd find in an early PCE hucard release.  That game is the gem of shooters we didn't get, not recca.  It makes me pleased to know the real masterpiece is still notably under $100 for people who care while the illogical fanboy favorite is in gaslighting absurd price ranges short of bootlegs.

 

Gun Nac I may just get the FC release anyway, I can muddle the language a bit I'm just horrifically out of practice, but they're static menus that don't time out.  I do use the lens a few times with Cosmo Police Galivan because you have some clues from some captured people that tell you specifically where to go next or item to grab at X point where you'd be stuck otherwise and it isn't fun but is what it is.  I'd never play an adventure game or heavier that way.

[Trinity]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=gun-nac+nes&_sacat=0

 

Holy Shit!!!

[ShiftLock]

On 9/2/2024 at 10:15 AM, Dire 51 said:

Played through Guerilla War today for the first time in ages.

I loved this game when I was young - perfect in multiplayer, full of action and great soundtrack. Huge nostalgia for this one!

[+atari2600land]

I'm working on a homebrew NES game called "Stupidman 2: Going Bananas." It is a sequel to "Stupidman: A Date To Remember."

In this game, all the world's bananas have left and it's up to Stupidman to bring them back.

[Tanooki]

I blame this guy...

[dudeguy]

On 9/3/2024 at 1:41 PM, Koa Zo said:

Agreed on both points! 

I had a complete US GunNac that I sold 15+ years ago for maybe $100. At the time I was downsizing and stuck with just Famicom games. While playing GunNac this past weekend I was kicking myself for not having the English version, though I do think the Japanese release has more cinema story scenes (that I can't read without GoogleLens)

 

I had the same thought as you regarding Crisis Force. Like how is it everyone went nuts over Recca (myself included) but Crisis Force remains the proverbial hidden gem? Recca may be a bit more intense, especially with its bombastic BGM. But Crisis Force has a style and polish that I didn't expect and that really exemplifies a culmination of the 8-bit Nintendo era.

I have a copy of Gun-Nac that I bought in a lot with other loose NES games. It really is one of the more enjoyable shooters I've played but to be honest I've liked most of the ones I've played.

[Tanooki]

One thing led to another this morning around discovering my anbernic handheld was trashed somehow...but I decided to repurpose what I could, a nice case, the 64gb micro sd, the good usb-c to a cable at least and felt the Pokefami Plus would maybe work, and man with a game in it, it fits excellent.  I've not dusted this off in weeks now or more, and I forgot I had left Super Mario USA inside of the thing.  Small win on that one but it's such a nice little game, and amusing they didn't even bother to remove the english intro for the locals, it's just straight up Super Mario Bros 2 with the title hack to USA on it.   That said recently I got the FDS working and went the long way about getting Doki Doki Panic, and damn they are so different.  I could now truly see how the Japanese kids/teens/adults who would have had one, would totally enjoy both as indepdent titles despite the western ignorant argument of it being just a cheap hack, not a real game, a fake for stupid people and the rest of that lying net made nonsense that has been peddled for years.  Sure the stages and things are there, as is the enemies largely too, but there are some real differences.  The game was a scrapped Mario engine alpha for something to do, tabled due to tech at the time, and then dusted off and Fuji'd up for Dream Factory as DDP on FDS, a cheaper way to distro.  We know the story to Mario Madness outside of their area, but that time to bake in the oven did wonders.

 

Being able to sit and stare and try out both, we had an alpha engine, which became in a way by how it works and in way is quite lacking a BETA release as a licensed advertising property, to then be the full ware game in both regions as SMB2/SMUSA with those refinements.  DDP for instance the visuals all around are slightly less detailed, feels rushed, and some places are almost blank like the slot machine reduced to text, a few bars, and just the rotating sprites as another example.  It doesn't feel like it flows quite as smoothly either.  The game is also due to being used to it though, harder, because the game has NO run ability, so B is just a toss/carry feature only while A jumps.  This makes the game a lot harder with no way to throw yourself deeper into a space, yet despite that each character can still finish every stage but it could get far far nastier.  That works though, being a disk, each character saves by stage per world, so a true clear is all 4 over all 7 worlds.  The game has a few sfx you have that are altered on NES/FC cart because the loss of the FDS sound channel too like when Birdo squeaks being hit.

[Trinity]

Episode 5 just popped up.

 It was interesting. I love old hardware.

[Tanooki]

Oh I got a lucky break early in the week on ebay that arrived today, it's not a deep game, but does it need to be when it's a light gun unlicensed game for NES?  72pin, Brazilian, Gradiente?  Crime Busters.  This is best described if you took something like your earlier 90s Lethal Enforcers style games and dumb it down to the NES.  3 stages, wider than the screen too, many targets, some being outright civvies or baddies with a human shield which neither should be shot.  You have 5 hearts, one life, that's it.  You got thugs, runners, ninjas, ceiling ninjas?!  It's pretty decent, not an A game, but you could do worse on a licensed game.   It gets hard on section 3 first loop since they're quicker on that map, then it loops and notches up the speed and +5 kills per stage too eventually wearing you down to a high score death.

 

I've seen these pop up not that often and go for a lot, was shocked a $20 offer on a 99cent listing was quickly accepted.

 

 

[+atari2600land]

I've been working some more on my second Stupidman NES game. It's finally to a state where I want to show it off and ask for feedback on the first level.

(notice the copyright date. I doubt I'll finish it this year.)

 

I've been having some issues with my NES, Whenever there's supposed to be a straight line, it's jagged. Really noticeable when it's red. I'm using a top loader and an official NES AC adapter.