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

[Trinity]

I was browsing thru my multicart yesterday and I came upon a game I did not notice before. Mrs Pacman. (not the Tengen version) It's a nice port. Looked it up on Ebay and it's a bit pricey starting around $49 bucks.

[zylon]

Mom played through DWII on NES once, and only differences I noticed, was ability to use a bookmark type save, in addition to the normal one, and ability to bank gold, so you wouldn't lose as much upon a death. Mom actually saved herself into a corner on that, couple times.

[newtmonkey]

Compared with the DW3 remakes, which add a bunch of stuff, the DW1&2 remakes are mostly just different under the hood.  More EXP/gold won from enemies, mostly, which obviously makes a big difference since you will reach higher levels and afford better equipment earlier.  Whether that's good or bad depends on whether you prefer the more challenging (but still very fair) NES/FC originals, where you have to really pay attention in most battles and do everything you can to conserve resources.

[Tanooki]

Well that happened to the FF1 and 2 remakes on GBA(dawn of souls) but also the ps origins setup too.  IN both cases they're good quality of life improvements.  The games still take considerable hours to finish, but you're not wasting like 50% more time going in circles which for most people get bored off their ass doing it hours on end.  I'll take a bit less grind to enjoy the story progression more, and I don't believe it makes for an easier game as you still have to level up, but less painful from a sheer boredom of it type perspective.

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

After defeating Baramos, I began exploring the "dark world."  A few hours later, and I am basically at the end of the game now.  I honestly expected the second world to be more substantial, but there is really just one major "dungeon" (a tower actually), besides the final castle of course.  There are also a couple of small caves to explore.  The dark world feels quite a bit more linear, also, but that's mostly because of how the land is laid out (we can blame DQ1/DW1 for that).

 

No grinding required whatsoever so far, even with the weird party I chose.  I love how low-level spells (sleep, silence, kill, etc.) work even on endgame enemies.  It just takes a little experimentation (or I guess look it up online), and you can really survive for a long time even at pretty low levels.

 

Anyway, this game has been a blast so far.  Unless something goes seriously wrong in the last castle, this is definitely a 5/5 game for me.  Even better than DW2, which is a top-five game for me.

Edited May 20, 2023 by newtmonkey

[+neogeo1982]

On 5/16/2023 at 2:20 AM, CaptainBreakout said:

Alwa's Awakening.

What did your stats come out to?

 

[CaptainBreakout]

I'll post it when I complete it.  I play this one with my kids specifically, so my pace is on the slow side (I always ask them where to go next, and sometimes I can get.my 8-year-old to take control).  I think I'm about 60% thru the game right now.

[zylon]

Just fixed my old turbo knockoff pad, and had the best game of 1943, in ages.

[CaptainBreakout]

Does an Red Tent count?

 

I've been having a great time bringing this thing back to life, and cleaning about 35 years of saloon off of it. (There's pics in the arcade AA forum)

 

My kids and I all play VS Castlevania tonight and had a blast!  My 8 year old almost made it to the boss in stage 3. He insisted I play after, and I made it and beat the boss (a big cartoon bat), but I was quickly humiliated by the notorious floating Medusa heads of the next stage.

 

My son asked me if it had more games.  I said... "Well... This is a real arcade game back when you got one game. And Castlevania... You can tell from the demo that it's got at least 12 stages. It's going to take us awhile to beat this game."

 

He agreed that this is an awesome game. And even though I told him about how there are expensive kits and stuff to add a few more games, he and his sister are cool with just having Castlevania... Since it's awesome.

 

On the other hand, the second side has VS Golf... Which we all kinda agree sucks.

 

I'm knee deep into plans to convert the VS Golf side into VS Super Mario Brothers. 

 

(If anyone has 6x empty 2764 eproms, please PM me :).

[Tanooki]

I'd love to find a red tent, I mean, I could but the cost would suck as a cross riff of Nintendo fanboys and arcade fanboys which would make for an unholy expensive time. :\  I'm not big on room in here to reasonably excuse away another arcade, even a dumpy A1U, but I could excuse off the tent you can wheel around easily enough.  The games on there, it's basically just a PC10 anyway, would be perfect.

 

Man your setup is more or less perfect, will be making Golf an option and SMB a standard.  Golf isn't bad, it's just not very good either because it's before the standard set with NES Open Tournmament Golf which lines up with how Hot Shots, then Mario Golf went which is intuitive.

[CaptainBreakout]

Ithe red tent is pretty fun.  I was a little bummed to find out that the only game that utilized four player simultaneously was VS Tennis.  And I'd have to dedicate the whole cabinet to it.

 

It seems stuff like the Wii or N64 or even the Dreamcast (Tetris and San Francisco Rush 2049 are great multiplayer on the DC)... Well that's a much better four player experience. Even the 2600 had Warlords!

 

Anyway tho... The only way to get set up a red tent to have multiple games is to either gut it and put in MAME (which I've done before), or get the upgraded aftermarket device from highscoresavers, which would be quite an investment.

 

I kinda feel like leaving it in as is original condition, expect I really want to put in VS Super Mario.  I had to get the blank eproms from China to save on costs, but that means waiting about 3 weeks for them to get here.  Swapping in VS Super Mario to replace Golf will have to wait till then.

 

I think we'll try and see if VS Golf is any fun meantime.  We tried playing it for the first time yesterday, but the buttons still need some repair on that side, and we don't know how to play the game anyway.  Still... Fun learning experience all around.

 

[Tanooki]

VS Golf if you get used to it, it's really just NES golf anyway, is not bad.  it's a bit slow and stiff, the swing is handled not like anything from around 1990 since either. If you can get comfortable it's a solid game.

 

I didn't know you were going to DIY the Mario thing, I figured you were going to get an original board/pcb card in there, whatever it maybe and just pop the game in.  I'd keep it as stock as possible with the potential to slide in new games.  Reproduced mini marques as Nintendo had those cards much like the light up ones Neo Geo later used would be fine and save some, probably look better and won't be decades old brittle either.

[CaptainBreakout]

3 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I didn't know you were going to DIY the Mario thing, I figured you were going to get an original board/pcb card in there, whatever it maybe and just pop the game in. 

I learned a lot about the VS system. Unlike the Play Choice 10, the games are not on their own boards. Well, that's kinda not true. Later games for the VS system had their own daughter boards which went into the eprom sockets, like one of them I have... Castlevania.

 

But the early games were just a set of eproms, and a PPU chip from Nintendo that needed to match the game. There were four variants of PPU I think. If the wrong variant is paired with a set of roms, the game would display incorrect colors. It was a form of copy protection from Nintendo. On the other hand, modern hacks are available for most of the original games ROMS to accommodate whatever PPU you happen to have (thank you awesome hacker, whoever you are I think he went by the2600man or something like that).

 

So most of the time it's just a matter of popping out the eproms and putting a new set in from the game you want.  The VS controller board has two sets of sockets... One for each side. 

 

Anyways, it's not like the Play Choice where it has a bunch of slots. The VS controller board was more basic in a way. However, when the games got complicated and needed MMC chips toward the end of the VS system's life, they came out on these mini daughterboards that fit into a eprom socket. 

 

I'd imagine that there's not much of an interest in porting new NES games to the hardware. They'd have to be pretty simple games from the first generation of NES releases, otherwise they'd need one of these daughterboards to work with a memory mapper. I think only recently reproduction daughterboards have become available, and I think it's just for Castlevania and Top Gun. 

 

While it would be nice to play homebrews and such on it, I don't think it's feasible. Well... On the other hand... It probably IS technically feasible, there just doesn't happen to be a large enough community of skilled and enthusiastic hackers for this particular platform. If only Red Tents were just a tad easier to find. Heh.

 

When you think about it for a sec... This is kinda like a primordial form of what Doom did with 2-player deathmatch (remember the null-modem?).  It's a two-screened NES system!  That's why it's so tempting to consider putting Balloon Fight on it... Each player has their own unique screen, and the game scrolls vertically unlike the cartridge version (I think Wrecking Crew is the same). Imagine what 2-player experiences could have been done with later NES titles if this platform kept developing!

 

Anyway, this is a fun learning experience for me. This system is cleaning up fine. There's just layers of grime.  The vintage hardware looks to be in good shape.  Aside from the Castlevania music cutting out once in a while, and one minor instance of a garbled area of the screen, which only happened once, the game hardware seems to be in good electronic shape.

Edited May 24, 2023 by CaptainBreakout

[Tanooki]

That seems about right, didn't know about the earlier/earlist model basically just being an arcade pcb basically with a NES PPU of sorts and chips just spread.  I was aware that VS Castlevania and others were kind of slotted boards, like the PC10, so I think of both of them casually like what SNK took to a whole other level with the MVS system I've got in the room here (2 slot.)  But no, VS came in two flavors early and the rest, while the PC10 is long boards slotted in with toppers(their mini marquees) that work with the main board like NG MVS and the big plastic cartridges.

 

I imagine if I ever got the tent I'd probably look for that mod to use daughterboards and then just get a few titles I cared most about that either had to be modded to fit or just were that way.  I don't think I'd like some fragile big PCBs lying around, seems risky.  As far as your issues, it's probably more likely just more cleaning needed than a defect, but maybe there is a cap somewhere starting to go or a slightly cold joint perhaps even towards a speaker causing one or the other of those issues.  USually as things get dirtier, crustier, cold(on a joint) weird stuff happens.

 

I totally can see your Doom comparison as it kind of does work in a way like that sure.

[zylon]

Here's who I got my 253-in-1 cart from-  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Morgansoasis?coupon=FORUMSAVER

 

also got my 110 SNES cart there too. He has offered a discount to members here, so thought I'd pass it on for consideration.

[Trinity]

Tetris

[newtmonkey]

Dragon Quest III

Completed!

 

Zoma's henchmen were no trouble at all, but Zoma himself put up a very decent fight.  After witnessing his first breath attack doing 120+ damage to my two Martial Artists (with max HP of under 300), I was wondering if I could actually pull this off.  I started out trying to use my typical buff/debuff spells, but Zoma always seems to use one of his two attacks to use an ability that clears away the effects of those spells.

 

I decided then to just play it safe.  I had my Priest use the Philosopher's Stone every round to heal everyone, and if I really needed extra healing I'd have the other characters use their Shields of Strength; my "strategy" was to rely mostly on my martial artists getting critical hits now and then.  I had a couple of close calls where my Priest got killed, but I fortunately had two World Tree Leaves and could bring her back to life right away.  Anyway, this worked out fine and before I knew it Zoma was dead and the world was saved.  Huzzah!

 

What a game!  I ended up completing the game at levels from 38-41 depending on the character.  A perfectly balanced game, with no need to grind whatsoever.  A 5/5 game for me.

Edited May 30, 2023 by newtmonkey

[Tanooki]

Well I got bit by the Konami bug on Monday night, pulled three games.  Double Dribble, Blades of Steel, and TMNT 2 the Arcade Game.

 

I tried basketball first, couldn't remember how to play it and it was rough after a period, so I restarted.  I still don't quite remember what the 3pt hot spots were but started to nail some fairly consistently, ended up blowing out the CPU by like 50 as I just played it on 1 (Chi vs LA) and the bulls won it.

 

Went into hockey right after, did pretty amazing there, despite I forgot how to steal the puck so it came down to a lot of beat downs I usually won.  I picked the red team again(chi) against I think I did LA there too, either way, solid opening, insane middle, so-so ending score wise but I nailed it down by doing over 15 goals and that was a lot of fun.

 

Then I was like ok TMNT2, let's see I'll go until I'm fed up/bored and put the 10 lives code in since the game can be a bit brutal with some unavoidable hits on 1P play.  I kept going and going, re-learned the super slash timing with attack/jump hit just barely apart and used Leo (I usually like Donnie.)  The roughest part for me ended up being the shogun level, the paper tigers, they ripped me for a few lives as they seem to just be nearly unavoidable so it was life trading.  Long story cut short, ended up with just over 750pts, worked Krang, and got down to my last life and little of it but took out the Shredder too.  I'm not sure, but I'm guessing 15-20 years since I did that so I can not complain.

 

 

Yesterday shocked myself finding locally for $5 a DOCs FIx it Kit Plus which was largely never used, cleaned up fast and easy too.  Ended up cleaning most my stuff (nomad, game gear, didn't bother with GB as I forgot or Analogue systems) but got to the NES.  I was surprised to see how well that kit worked, whatever that plastic wrap is glued to the wand itself, as it grayed a bit on my action set the PVM is on.  When I moved onto the top loader I was disgusted, with alcohol being used since I didn't trust the original bottle being 30~years old, I started getting black muck off the pins even some got on the console door flap I had to then sterilize off that too to get it all off.  I went more and more passes on the thing and it started to lessen up but got tired of doing it.  I moved onto the $10 game I got with it, black cased Gauntlet, since I can' topen that to clean well, used the kit and it cleaned that pretty nicely too.  I'm surprised that (or should I?) the kit was better than the Nintendo one which is a shame.  I'll be using it in a pinch when I don't want to get deep into the weeds of cleaning.

[zylon]

Nice having my old Jamesway turbo pad back in action. I should be having the big Quickshot stick arriving this week, resulting in even more little green kamikaze planes getting blasted. 😈

[Tanooki]

Played into the 2nd boss of Vice Project Doom today, got wrecked, forgot how to do that fight.  Then went into TMNT3 and like the other, popped it up to max (7 lives vs 10 in #2) and surprisingly I got up to Shredder, then died.  That game is noticeably harder, and it's nasty trying to get any kind of hits on the bosses as they have smaller windows of opportunity to take shots.  Good game though, not sure I prefer it to #2 but it's quality.  I do miss the old 1-2pts for a kill style scoring, not sure what was up with that choice.

 

And earlier today I found gross NES controller for $5, figured give it a shot.  Mystery crud in the screw holes and they were dingy, scratches and scrapes brown to other odd colors of funk, even felt a need to give a fast wipe of sanitizer on it just to throw it on my car floor mat.   Just spent the last hour about and cleaned it up hardcore.  A mix of alcohol, dawn+warm water, vinegar, a toothbrush, magic eraser and paper towel while the screws sat in a little cap of alcohol for the run of it.  In the end you can still see some minor scuffs, all the crap is off everything, and the screws oddly came away between alcohol and vinegar looking shiny too.

[zylon]

It's here. Start button needs a serious press, but everything works still. The shorter cords are a plus around here.

[zylon]

I'm just past 2nd boss in Crystalis, a game I remember Mom having in her collection. I'm around lv 6, and got the 2nd spell and sword. Just returned from rescuing the dwarf's lost kid and defeating their giant bug monster. My "turbo B" method didn't work on that boss, but still effective for the rest. In talking to the people, I don't really want to save them. All the little side quest items not related to the actual plot, that you need to find, are just results of laziness and stupidity. Windmill guard falls asleep, but none could take the alarm clock from the store and wake him, lost statue by the river, lost child in the woods we poison to keep others out, etc. 

Anyways, this is the week I lost Mom one year, and around this time, I try to play through a game she never finished, or intended to play and never got to it. She had very few NES titles, but this one was in there.  Often, we'd both end up playing same game, and discussing what we found, or how to advance, in long phone calls. She called this type "hack n slash", which I typically didn't bother with.

[+jeremiahjt]

2 hours ago, zylon said:

I'm just past 2nd boss in Crystalis, a game I remember Mom having in her collection. I'm around lv 6, and got the 2nd spell and sword. Just returned from rescuing the dwarf's lost kid and defeating their giant bug monster. My "turbo B" method didn't work on that boss, but still effective for the rest. In talking to the people, I don't really want to save them. All the little side quest items not related to the actual plot, that you need to find, are just results of laziness and stupidity. Windmill guard falls asleep, but none could take the alarm clock from the store and wake him, lost statue by the river, lost child in the woods we poison to keep others out, etc. 

Anyways, this is the week I lost Mom one year, and around this time, I try to play through a game she never finished, or intended to play and never got to it. She had very few NES titles, but this one was in there.  Often, we'd both end up playing same game, and discussing what we found, or how to advance, in long phone calls. She called this type "hack n slash", which I typically didn't bother with.

Nice way to remember your mother.  My mother has never played any game, outside of maybe a couple of mobile games, in her life.

[+jeremiahjt]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:10 PM, zylon said:

Nice having my old Jamesway turbo pad back in action. I should be having the big Quickshot stick arriving this week, resulting in even more little green kamikaze planes getting blasted. 😈

A lot of people do not like the NES 1942, but I have always liked it.  It probably has something to do with nostalgia since I had it as a kid.  Although I did beat the game as an adult, something I never did back then.

[zylon]

2 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

A lot of people do not like the NES 1942, but I have always liked it.  It probably has something to do with nostalgia since I had it as a kid.  Although I did beat the game as an adult, something I never did back then.

1942 was the first game I had any luck with, on the NES back then. My 5th gade teacher had it, and used to bring his NES in one Friday per month, for the class to play. It's way better than the C64 port, with reverse true for 1943. I'm still after 1944, which is really an improved 1943