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

[zylon]

Did a little testing on the "fancy tech" TV in the main room, original RF vs HDMI with NES clones and others. Un-modified 2600 L6er RF through VCR via hdmi upscaler, RetroDuo2.0 via hdmi upscaler in both NES&Snes modes, and good old NES RF, via actual channel 3. That green band isn't highly visible in actual play, unless a black background. It's also present with my original Retron, which actually has better compatibility. 

While at it, I tested the 2 controller play of NES Smash TV, and no-go, on Rd2 at least. When both controllers plugged in, directionals don't all function on both. You get 6 directions, 3 per pad, usually Up is gone. I'll try it on the Retron at some point.  As for SNES side, I only have that 110-in-1 multicart, mainly for guests and qwik-plays, but seems to run with minimal lag, if any, as I got to stage 4 or 5 on AeroFighters, to the annoyance of others, lol. I haven't done much with the Retron2 from Mom's stuff, because power supply is MIA, likely bought cheap AF, knowing her. My R1 supply fits and powers the NES side, but not enough power for the rest, at only 200ma. RetroBit used oppsite polarity. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by zylon

[CaptainBreakout]

Well, besides the Red Tent I recently scored (I started a topic in the arcade games section), my good old NES has been getting a lot of play lately.  Mainly Alwa's Awakening. 

 

I did recently get my hands on my first Sachen game... Honey Peach!  Errr... I have mixed feelings of pride and shame in that. 

 

I figured of all Sachen games to own... For me this was the most iconic. It embodies trash, soft hentai, questionable gameplay and glitches.

 

It didn't disappoint with all that.

 

The dumps that circulate in the usual places all have glitched graphics of the 'reward screens'... Each dump seems to have it to various degrees. 

 

I figured maybe the original would at least have working pictures of the ladies.

 

Well, for the most part, it did!  Except that... True to Sachen form... I think girl number four was a glitchy smear. And this is on the original cart on real NES hardware!

 

Way to go Sachen!  Your awful awesomeness is legend!

 

And here's a pic of my password, since I can't possibly write as fast as the game thinks I can, and yeah ... cell phone cameras.

 

 

Feel free to use my save code. 

 

When you win.. you get the "you're a cool guy" graphic when you are finished staring at the nude girl.  I guess this is supposed to make you feel better about yourself.  It also assumes that your ideal self-image is a mix of Val Kilmer and Rick Astley.  

 

And when you lose...

 

Spoiler

 

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

I'm currently exploring that cave that opens up when you throw the Sword of Gaia into the volcano.  Brutal dungeon!  I'm slowly making my way through it, mapping until I run low on MPs, then teleporting out and then back to safety, so I've probably made 4-5 trips over the last couple of days.  There's two positives though: first, the cave is a lot of fun to explore/map; second, the enemies give out a TON of gold and experience, and I'm averaging one level per party member per trip.  My martial artists are really getting powerful; they often get +10 strength and agility when they level, so they now far outclass my hero decked out in the best stuff I can find/afford.

 

I know the "twist" that's coming up; when I was a kid I had a friend who was a major fan of the DW series on the NES, and he told me all about DWIII and DWIV as he was playing them.  So, I know that I still have a lot of game left... but I think I will probably finish this up either this month or in early June.  I'll probably resume Phantasy Star II next.

Edited May 16, 2023 by newtmonkey

[Tanooki]

Hah Honey Peach, nice one.  I have a good but mini Sachen collection.  I lucked into this stupid rare AUS/Taiwan only cart the Mighty 31in1 which has 31 of 36 gameboy games they ever made on it alone and it's amazing, full (nearly) library on one black(hybrid) GBC cart.  Thunderblast Man and Jurassic Boy 2 on it are amusing and the other more bite sized titles are varied and largely good too.  And then there's my Famicom copy of Rocman X (the sketchy as hell asian version of thunderblast man) too.  And I do have the watara supervision and a number of its releases are sachen too.

 

I'd like some more of their stuff but toxic wieners have made the 8bit console stuff a real bitch to get unless you like flipping out some 100 dollar bills and friends to do so, which I do not.

[zylon]

6 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

Dragon Quest III

I'm currently exploring that cave that opens up when you throw the Sword of Gaia into the volcano.  Brutal dungeon!  I'm slowly making my way through it, mapping until I run low on MPs, then teleporting out and then back to safety, so I've probably made 4-5 trips over the last couple of days.  There's two positives though: first, the cave is a lot of fun to explore/map; second, the enemies give out a TON of gold and experience, and I'm averaging one level per party member per trip.  My martial artists are really getting powerful; they often get +10 strength and agility when they level, so they now far outclass my hero decked out in the best stuff I can find/afford.

 

I know the "twist" that's coming up; when I was a kid I had a friend who was a major fan of the DW series on the NES, and he told me all about DWIII and DWIV as he was playing them.  So, I know that I still have a lot of game left... but I think I will probably finish this up either this month or in early June.  I'll probably resume Phantasy Star II next.

I loved DW3, and still think it was the best one

[NE146]

I’ve been playing NES Open on the switch and simply rewinding until I get a good shot. I get birdies or eagles on every single hole

Edited May 17, 2023 by NE146

[Austin]

Over the last month I've on-and-off been learning Shadow of the Ninja. It's actually a pretty easy game compared to the other ninja-based titles on the system. Solid, but after playing a ton of Shatterhand (by the same company, Natsume), it is somewhat underwhelming in comparison. A lot of folks seem to really like this one though, and it appears it's also on Switch Online now, which is nice to see.

[Razzie.P]

6 minutes ago, Austin said:

Over the last month I've on-and-off been learning Shadow of the Ninja. It's actually a pretty easy game compared to the other ninja-based titles on the system. Solid, but after playing a ton of Shatterhand (by the same company, Natsume), it is somewhat underwhelming in comparison. A lot of folks seem to really like this one though, and it appears it's also on Switch Online now, which is nice to see.

I'm in the "really like that one" club.  But I do remember buying it as a kid and being so disappointed after finishing it so quickly, so I returned it.  I finished it in like same afternoon or something.  It just felt a bit too easy.  

[Tanooki]

So that 253in1 I mentioned ordering from Ali showed up the other day, been busy and finally tried it out last night...stunning and shocking.

It actually doesn't give you the full idea how that cart works or how quality it is from the listing.  It's easier to list a few unique things about it before you get to a game even.

- Smart menu, puts you at game you last used

- Indexing, hit a button can jump library by A to Z

- Multiple save slots, no overwrite like the old

- All this backed up from save chip, no battery.

(not important has hidden game menu music theme if you press select to turn on/off)

 

Games though, I think I mentioned it used high mappers but the picture is a bit more clear.  It doesn't do the MMC5 as I thought, though given what it does do it can. Castlevania III on there is NOT the US release, it's the english patched Japanese version with the non-nerfed pirate and shittier rental punishment damage ratios.  That's a VRC6 chip, about the most advanced made for the system in the era (VRC7 only bigger with FM sound synth chip.)  SO it does all but the 7 on the Konami mappers, it also handles the heaviest Sunsoft mapper too with Uforia(Hebereke.)  If you use a system enabled or with full spectrum FDS/FC audio it works.

 

I got into playing the starter areas of Ys 1 2 and 3 to see if the save was stable and it is.  This is my new favorite multicart by a HUGE margin.  Not exactly everdrive selling off good, since it's a set game list, but I'd use it over the ED if the game is on both.  It has she ugliest of heavies including Samson and usually excluded Flintstones II along with Bomberman II, Bubble Bobble II, Bonk, Bucky, Cowboy Kid, Over Horizon, and others.  It's truly a quality multicart on a level never released before.  I can not recommend enough buying it if you're in the slightest bit interested in going this route as it's under $25 shipped.

 

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802202593018.html

[zylon]

30 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

So that 253in1 I mentioned ordering from Ali showed up the other day, been busy and finally tried it out last night...stunning and shocking.

It actually doesn't give you the full idea how that cart works or how quality it is from the listing.  It's easier to list a few unique things about it before you get to a game even.

- Smart menu, puts you at game you last used

- Indexing, hit a button can jump library by A to Z

- Multiple save slots, no overwrite like the old

- All this backed up from save chip, no battery.

(not important has hidden game menu music theme if you press select to turn on/off)

 

Games though, I think I mentioned it used high mappers but the picture is a bit more clear.  It doesn't do the MMC5 as I thought, though given what it does do it can. Castlevania III on there is NOT the US release, it's the english patched Japanese version with the non-nerfed pirate and shittier rental punishment damage ratios.  That's a VRC6 chip, about the most advanced made for the system in the era (VRC7 only bigger with FM sound synth chip.)  SO it does all but the 7 on the Konami mappers, it also handles the heaviest Sunsoft mapper too with Uforia(Hebereke.)  If you use a system enabled or with full spectrum FDS/FC audio it works.

 

I got into playing the starter areas of Ys 1 2 and 3 to see if the save was stable and it is.  This is my new favorite multicart by a HUGE margin.  Not exactly everdrive selling off good, since it's a set game list, but I'd use it over the ED if the game is on both.  It has she ugliest of heavies including Samson and usually excluded Flintstones II along with Bomberman II, Bubble Bobble II, Bonk, Bucky, Cowboy Kid, Over Horizon, and others.  It's truly a quality multicart on a level never released before.  I can not recommend enough buying it if you're in the slightest bit interested in going this route as it's under $25 shipped.

 

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802202593018.html

That explains why it ran CVIII on my oldest Retron. That 253 and my old 150 carts, actually do cover anything I'd really play. I'll have to try it on my new toy, that I got yesterday evening. It's the lowest quality of the 4 budget clones, but seemed to provide the most value.

[Tanooki]

Ooof old skool, they really popped up all over town stores around the US in the last few years but I've noticed the quality seems largely pretty flimsy.  I only ever bought a Genesis2/Nomad AV cable just because I figured they couldn't screw that up too bad for on and off use of that device on a TV.

 

It probably does explain a lot.

 

 

On another note, I resurrected a dead cart this morning on a break.  I didn't bring this up on here, but on Saturday I got 5 NES games for $10.  They were in various states of exterior funkiness, but a couple on the inside the pins got to where there was pitting and worse.  The best valued($) one was Baseball Stars 2, and it was dead.  I was not using my jewelers loop and went all over the damn thing repeatedly cleaning, stripping, polishing, reflowing every solder joint possible and it was corrupt, I thought the CHR chip was shot.  I couldn't put myself to dunk it in the trash, saw a thread over at VGS for repairs and was like whatever.  I took a magnified front/rear shot, not sure how I missed it, but one of the traces above the pin between it and the very close by CHR chip was rubbed completely off (good 1/4" worth) but was mucked over a little so I missed it -- someone there didn't.

 

Not willing to leave it alone seeing that this morning, I heated up the iron. Scraped all the crap and solder mask off to expose some copper on both ends.  Fluxed and tinned it, then got a tiny piece of wire, removed the insulation, and it was fiddly to say the least with my hands shaking.  I was able finally with tweezers to get the damn thing to hold still long enough to joint down one end to the board, then moved the end over to the other side and laid that down too.

 

IT LIVES!

 

Cleaned it up more than seen below, put a little rectangle of electrical tape over it, buttoned up the cart (and you can't see the tape from the outside pin area) and it's done...repaired.  I've only done this rarely before, once was an even more fiddly dead Link to the Past GBA cart that had multiple rotted pins and a busted trace and that worked out too.

 

Before the fix the graphics were like 4 color CGA on the title, everything else black and white.  Now it's fixed.  Now I have a 5th new game to play with along side of Life Force, Dragon Spirit, Kung Fu Heroes, and RC Pro Am.

 

[Austin]

14 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

I'm in the "really like that one" club.  But I do remember buying it as a kid and being so disappointed after finishing it so quickly, so I returned it.  I finished it in like same afternoon or something.  It just felt a bit too easy.  

Yeah, it only took me two separate attempts to learn it, then a third to actually beat the final boss. Some of the boss patterns are really tricky at first (specifically the stage 4 and 5 bosses), but once you get those down, it's pretty simple. Same with some of the enemies--lots of cheap shots throughout, with enemies being able to hit you from off screen, but once you figure out those parts, the game is a breeze. I was honestly expecting it to be longer than it is, but you can finish it in about 25 minutes flat.

 

Still a solid title overall, but it's no Ninja Gaiden for me personally. I need a little more teeth from games like these.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Austin

[zylon]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Ooof old skool, they really popped up all over town stores around the US in the last few years but I've noticed the quality seems largely pretty flimsy.  I only ever bought a Genesis2/Nomad AV cable just because I figured they couldn't screw that up too bad for on and off use of that device on a TV.

 

It probably does explain a lot.

In watching reviews/demos, etc, I'd rank the 4 NES HD clones as 1- Gamerz Tek, 2- Retro-Bit, 3- Hyperkin, and 4- Old Skool. Video is as bad as Hyperkin, but comes with two good controllers, and only those bottom 2 have aspect ratio switch. My TV has no such function, thus it was between those for the win. It has more lag, than my old ones on same TV, same controllers used to be fair, but plays without that wicked green crap in center. At $10 cheaper, and pricing the controllers, essentially, the system was free. It's for "fun play" on that TV with everyone else, but I won't be setting any personal bests on it. When used on my old TV, aside from sound, it's right on. Lag isn't bad on say, Mario Bros, but noticeable on my old standby, 1942. Another plus, is unlike my later Retron1, this one can run my older turbo and slomo controllers. Gotta have my turbo for 1943, and 1944. 

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

I finally cleared Necrogond Cave last night.  It's quite a leap in difficulty compared to the rest of the game, and I found it to depend VERY heavily on RNG.  Sometimes I'd get a good run and the game would throw softball encounters at me, so I could fully explore/map one or two levels in one go.  Other times, the game would bombard me with tough encounters, and I'd use up half of my MPs by the middle of the second level of the cave!  It felt a bit like the Cave to Rhone in DWII.

 

With that, I collected the last orb and revived the phoenix, so my next task is to take down Baramos.

 

 

[Tanooki]

@zylon Seriously the hyperkin I linked that looked good you'd put at 3?  I'll have to see what the deal-io is with the other two, but to be honest I've been thinking not of HD but that screwball modern NES I saw some entity peddling in the last couple years where the system is roughly about the size of an actual NES cart but a bit wider/thicker and just runs RCA.  I think something like that would be beneficial for what I've been using lately.

 

That said, not surprised anyone would rank old skool last, they seem to be the new industry shit peddlers that yobo were, maybe they renamed.

[zylon]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@zylon Seriously the hyperkin I linked that looked good you'd put at 3?  I'll have to see what the deal-io is with the other two, but to be honest I've been thinking not of HD but that screwball modern NES I saw some entity peddling in the last couple years where the system is roughly about the size of an actual NES cart but a bit wider/thicker and just runs RCA.  I think something like that would be beneficial for what I've been using lately.

 

That said, not surprised anyone would rank old skool last, they seem to be the new industry shit peddlers that yobo were, maybe they renamed.

There's a reason you can easily find the Retron 1 HD for sale, used at half price already, but not the gamerz tek, or res+. Worth knowing that the price of the one I got new, was what a used Retron is fetching.

I watched a few reviews, but mainly one that actually compared all 4 in exactly the same tests, with same player, carts, and TV. At $25 vs $40+, I didn't see twice the value in it. I might snag a used one at some point though.

Edited May 18, 2023 by zylon

[Tanooki]

@zylon I had to look the damn thing up, but this is what I was thinking of, TINY NES.

This is a cute little piece of tech that seemingly given what hardware is in there, does it right...but not HD.

https://liliputing.com/tinynes-is-a-compact-game-console-that-plays-nes-cartridges-using-the-same-chips-as-the-original/

[zylon]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

@zylon I had to look the damn thing up, but this is what I was thinking of, TINY NES.

This is a cute little piece of tech that seemingly given what hardware is in there, does it right...but not HD.

https://liliputing.com/tinynes-is-a-compact-game-console-that-plays-nes-cartridges-using-the-same-chips-as-the-original/

that's a cutie, but understandably pricey. My main interest in something better, for that TV, was not having that horrible band up the middle, and just fun-plays, or when my nephews come over. My hope, was that it played better than the emulation on my Hack-box, which it does easily. God that sucked, by comparison. Only GBA runs great, and Genny is mighty close on that. It's mainly going to have a multi-cart stuck in there, and call it a day. For real gaming, I have the other setup.  My parrot insists on being with me for everything, and I sometimes play out there, with her on my arm, or back of the chair. Not good for serious focus, lol.  So far, it's run anything I put in it, but only did a serious play of mario Bros, so far. Score was on a par, with my normal finishes.

Actually, the gamerz Tek, looks the most like the current Yobo offering, just in HD. If that, or the RES+, had the aspect switch I needed, I might have ponied up more $. Value is really around the same, just not equally positioned. Some perform better, yet offer less functions, etc.

 

 

 

 

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

I mapped Baragon's Castle last night... quite a fun location to map since the ground floor has a "town" layout with a bunch of stairs.  It seems very complicated at first, but once you start mapping it all fits together nicely.

 

Baramos, however, is a major problem.  Although he only has 900 HP, he secretly heals 100 HP each round.  You absolutely need to be doing probably at least 200 damage per round to really make any progress (so that you can kill him within 10 rounds or so).  Meanwhile, he is throwing nasty multi-character damage spells and breath attacks twice each round; this can add up to something like 90 damage per character per round.  In other words, he is a double level test: are you of high enough level to overcome his 100 HP healing every round, and are you of high enough level to withstand up to 90 HP of damage to every character every round?  I honestly find this kind of level gating to be poor game design, and it's why I generally dislike "boss" enemies in most console RPGs.

 

I tried using every single advantage I could, but came nowhere near close to defeating him.  During my best attempt my strategy was to defend with my two martial artists, and have my priest cast Fubaha to reduce breath attacks to 1/2 damage on the first round.  Next, I had the priest cast Rukani to reduce Baramos' defense, and had the hero heal whoever needed it most (attacking while his defense is up is basically just wasting time).  From there, all I could do is attack with the two martial artists and heal with the hero and priest every round, and hope for critical hits (which never seemed to occur).

 

I just cannot see how I can defeat this guy without grinding levels until my priest learns the spell to heal all party members (another two levels or around 56,000 experience points [50+ battles]).

 

I've completed dozens of console and computer RPGs over the past few years, and the only time I needed to grind levels was to complete Dragon Warrior.  I'm disappointed and honestly a bit disgusted that I will have to add Dragon Quest III to that short list, because it has been 5/5 game for me up until this point.

[newtmonkey]

1 hour ago, newtmonkey said:

Dragon Quest III

I mapped Baragon's Castle last night.

Too late to edit, but this should be "Baramos" of course haha.

 

In the game's favor, it does allow you to retain your EXP even if your party wipes, so I can at least make suicide runs against Baramos until I reach a level where I can defeat him, rather than just running around in circles simply to level up.

[zylon]

5 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

Too late to edit, but this should be "Baramos" of course haha.

 

In the game's favor, it does allow you to retain your EXP even if your party wipes, so I can at least make suicide runs against Baramos until I reach a level where I can defeat him, rather than just running around in circles simply to level up.

One of these days, I'll have to run through the actual NES versions of 2&3. I always played them on the GBC carts, which had some "improvements". Playing on the handheld, let me do some leveling at work, which was efficient.

[newtmonkey]

@zylon

From what I understand, all the ports (including GBC) make the games easier, usually by increasing EXP/gold rewards or making enemies/bosses easier.  I think with each successive port/remake they make the games easier and easier, so the GBC port might not be too different from the originals.  I do believe that Baramos was strengthened in the remakes (more than 2x the HPs for instance).  It might be interesting to try the NES/FC versions just to compare.

 

To be honest, the NES version of DW2 is actually quite balanced up until the final area.  Playing and exploring normally left me underleveled against the last boss, but spending just an hour leveling up in the final area was enough for me to defeat him without much issue.

 

The NES/FC version of DW/DQ3 has been even easier than DW2, with the exception of the massive difficulty spike that is Baramos.

Edited May 19, 2023 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

I was able to beat Baramos without having to do any leveling!  I had sat down with a tall beverage and a long CD to listen to, but was able to defeat him on my first attempt today.

 

I realized I had made a huge mistake yesterday.  I was using Rukanan instead of Rukani, because the manual describes Rukanan as "decreasing the enemy's defense even further" than Rukani; in fact, Rukanan decreases the defense of a group of enemies by half, while Rukani decreases a single enemy's defense to 0!

 

With this in mind, my strategy was similar to what I tried before.  I had my martial artists defend the first turn, and had my priest cast Fubaha to reduce the damage from Baramos' breath attack.  On the second round, I had the priest cast Rukani and it stuck, reducing Baramos' defense to 0.  This meant from round 3 on, my martial artists could each do around 80 damage per round (double that if they got critical hits).

 

I also had the hero cast Mahotone to try to prevent Baramos from casting spells, and it surprisingly worked on the third round!  At this point I knew I could win the battle.  From then on it was just a matter of having both martial artists attack each round, while the hero and priest did what they could to heal.

 

Now DQIII is back to being a 5/5 game.  Huzzah!

Edited May 19, 2023 by newtmonkey

[Tanooki]

4 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

@zylon

From what I understand, all the ports (including GBC) make the games easier, usually by increasing EXP/gold rewards or making enemies/bosses easier.  I think with each successive port/remake they make the games easier and easier, so the GBC port might not be too different from the originals.  I do believe that Baramos was strengthened in the remakes (more than 2x the HPs for instance).  It might be interesting to try the NES/FC versions just to compare.

 

To be honest, the NES version of DW2 is actually quite balanced up until the final area.  Playing and exploring normally left me underleveled against the last boss, but spending just an hour leveling up in the final area was enough for me to defeat him without much issue.

 

The NES/FC version of DW/DQ3 has been even easier than DW2, with the exception of the massive difficulty spike that is Baramos.

The GBC games of DW1+2 and DW3 are direct ports of the Super Famicom pair of carts that never were translated into english.  So the balancing of those games is that old, so unless they dumbed down their first re-releases of the games on SFC they are right where they need do be not being watered down.

[newtmonkey]

Whoops - Please ignore

Edited May 19, 2023 by newtmonkey
Whoops - Please ignore