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

[Tanooki]

I've had 1942 going back to the era and I've never hated it didn't even mind that amazing sound scape it has either people lose their minds over now.  It just felt like whistles, typing, stuff..maybe like sending a coded message with morse code as a kid as I had no damn clue.  I just loved wave after wave dropping small and large planes and I beat it back in the early 90s but never bothered much to attempt it a whole lot since.  I took a good shot at the GBC release as it was quite fantastic all things considered when it popped up around 2000 (same with GnG too on there.)

[zylon]

55 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I've had 1942 going back to the era and I've never hated it didn't even mind that amazing sound scape it has either people lose their minds over now.  It just felt like whistles, typing, stuff..maybe like sending a coded message with morse code as a kid as I had no damn clue.  I just loved wave after wave dropping small and large planes and I beat it back in the early 90s but never bothered much to attempt it a whole lot since.  I took a good shot at the GBC release as it was quite fantastic all things considered when it popped up around 2000 (same with GnG too on there.)

I loved some of those GBC redecos, including that one. I'd thought 1943 was a good one they skipped, but in reality, the screen was too small for the battleships, etc. When my knee lets me, lol, I still play 1942 the same way as back then. Sitting on the floor in front of the TV. All the multi-carts I see, have a corrupted Rom on them, which screws up all the text and score on screen, but fully playable, and at least the title screen with score works. I think only my old 150-in-1 cart has a good one, and my original is fine. My last big play of it, was an attempt to beat it, without using any "rolls/special" attacks. I got within 10 stages or so from completion on 1 credit.

Sometimes, the game over breakdown is funny, with random text missing. " HOO ING DOW  87%", PAU, instead of pause. At least the nephews find it funny. 

I've found that 1942 doesn't get along with HDMI display, as the green planes perfectly blend in over land, unless I set color at 25, and use warm setting. Otherwise, the green is just too oversaturated. It's not apparent, until 3rd stage. Ain't gonna lie, it's my #1 NES game to play.

[Tanooki]

@zylon I've got no problem doing the floor in the slightest unless I get in a weird way and put my foot to sleep as that sucks.  Ever since I got that PVM a couple months ago I have been mostly just playing NES games since, stuff I've had, stuff I've found locally on the cheap with luck.  It may only have a 9" screen but when you're just a couple feet away it might as well be a 20" or something of the sort.  I pulled a few random titles so far as the posts have shown in this thread.  I took a little break, and then I pulled with the intent to mess with mega man 6, vice project doom, rc pro am 2, and fc armadillo.  And then there's that fantastic multicart.

[zylon]

3 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

@zylon I've got no problem doing the floor in the slightest unless I get in a weird way and put my foot to sleep as that sucks.  Ever since I got that PVM a couple months ago I have been mostly just playing NES games since, stuff I've had, stuff I've found locally on the cheap with luck.  It may only have a 9" screen but when you're just a couple feet away it might as well be a 20" or something of the sort.  I pulled a few random titles so far as the posts have shown in this thread.  I took a little break, and then I pulled with the intent to mess with mega man 6, vice project doom, rc pro am 2, and fc armadillo.  And then there's that fantastic multicart.

That 253 cart is so far, the only one using flash save memory, that will actually run, in my RD2. Any other types using it, the games using it, will crash soon, and even SRAM games will run very glitchy. I've also acquired the 239 version, and it works just as well. The old Retron doesn't care and loads/runs almost anything, maybe a little flicker on startup, at most. 

In other news, if anyone needs to know, I found a power supply that runs the Retron 2 that Mom had, still boxed. Those cheap repro Genesis 1 power cords fit and run it perfectly. other than the ports being on the sides, I really like how that one runs.

[Tanooki]

Ugh side plugs, the one bane of the PC Engine I utterly hated, power sticking out of one side, a/v out of the other taking what was a tiny square and making it kind of need twice the space.

 

That cart has been fun so far when I take time with it, such as poking at the 3 Ys games a bit among others, and still surprised to find it was even more advanced than I thought seeing the english patched VRC6 version of Akamajou Densetsu(CV3jp) on there with all that nice added audio, detail, and grant not being made utterly useless.

[zylon]

17 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Ugh side plugs, the one bane of the PC Engine I utterly hated, power sticking out of one side, a/v out of the other taking what was a tiny square and making it kind of need twice the space.

 

That cart has been fun so far when I take time with it, such as poking at the 3 Ys games a bit among others, and still surprised to find it was even more advanced than I thought seeing the english patched VRC6 version of Akamajou Densetsu(CV3jp) on there with all that nice added audio, detail, and grant not being made utterly useless.

Ys was a considered choice, in my "Mom game" to run this year, as it runs from anything on anything I have here. But, in a test play, all it brought to mind was "He's gonna take you back to the past..." 🤣 Not my type of game, the Zelda-esque ones. I did like some similar, such as Sword of Vermillion, Lord of The Sword, Golden Axe Warrior, and now Crystalis. I'm better at giving the orders, than actually doing it.

Everyone should get one of those 239/249/ 253 carts. It's truly done well, and delivers.

Edited June 10, 2023 by zylon

[Tanooki]

Ys1 and 2 are basically poke check Zelda, but that 3rd one though is a side scrolling action/rpg of sorts, you hack and slash away like many common later 80s early 90s 8bit/16bit titles like even Zelda 2 but better like Faxanadu and things, so maybe that's an option.

[zylon]

4 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Ys1 and 2 are basically poke check Zelda, but that 3rd one though is a side scrolling action/rpg of sorts, you hack and slash away like many common later 80s early 90s 8bit/16bit titles like even Zelda 2 but better like Faxanadu and things, so maybe that's an option.

All I'm good for in that entire type of game, is elicting laughter lol. SMB, Castlevania, Mega Man anything, Metroid, Ninja anything, etc. The kids love playing against me. I'm not bad at the beat'em ups, like Double Dragon, Turtles 2, etc, and great at some shooters. Oddly, I was quite good at SMS Sonic and the first genny one, but that was about it. Top-down style, I can at least kinda do.

[zylon]

Almost beat 1944. Had one more stage to clear, but got hit by stage 23 jumbo bomber.

[Tanooki]

Hah 1944, nice hack of 1943.  I actually have that on a rarer side of things screwball Supervision NES multicart.  It's not the usual no mapper early stuff from 1983-85, but it's the CNROM mini mapper of sorts type stuff so it has like 16 games and that's it.  1944 is on there along with some Konami titles too among others.  it's not a bad hack, but not one I run towards since I have 1943.

[zylon]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Hah 1944, nice hack of 1943.  I actually have that on a rarer side of things screwball Supervision NES multicart.  It's not the usual no mapper early stuff from 1983-85, but it's the CNROM mini mapper of sorts type stuff so it has like 16 games and that's it.  1944 is on there along with some Konami titles too among others.  it's not a bad hack, but not one I run towards since I have 1943.

Far closer to 1943 arcade, than the NES or C64 1943. This one actually has proper firing rate, and all the power-up weapons, not just the shotgun. I actually consider the home 1943, to be the hardest of the trio, and most rewarding to play

I have the "1945" Sky Shark one too

Edited June 11, 2023 by zylon

[Tanooki]

I guess and I raise your 1945 with Strikers 1945 Plus for Neo Geo.

[zylon]

58 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I guess and I raise your 1945 with Strikers 1945 Plus for Neo Geo.

I did have the Saturn 1945, until the clearing sale.

[zylon]

Up to the 3rd area of the world, Portoa, I believe. The people involved just keep getting goofier. I'll take a break and get to lv 10, before going on.

[CaptainBreakout]

I posted this on the Rusted Logic forums, but thought it might be interesting here since it involves the Famicom in its VS form... And a lot of tinkering.

 

Also it represents a pretty successful Father's Day weekend. Not only did me and my son accomplish getting this thing to play Mario, we also watched the new Mario movie, and it was awesome.

 

 

Here's what I wrote on the Rusted Logic forums. It was partially in response to how a member said it might not be possible for Castlevania and VS Super Mario to coexit on this thing. As you can see, it turned out to be possible!

 

 

....

 

Happy to say I did the whole project over the last few days!

Ran into a couple of snags, mostly with my attempts to build a vintage PC that supported my ISA rom burner... But I got past that.

The board does indeed support both these games at the same time, but yeah
.. SMB needed to be on the master side. I had to move Castlevania across the board, which didn't turn out to be as difficult as I anticipated.

I used the modified roms of VSSMB to use the Golf PPU. These were available on KLOV if you look a bit. 2 of the 6 chips had modded code to use the correct pallette colors on Golf's PPU.

The only downside is somebody made a version of VSSMB that has high score save and a better attract mode on free play. I cant use this rom (and I can't find it anyway, the original link is broken) because the code that's been modified is also the code that's been modified to use the Golf PPU correctly. If I can find that ROM I'm considering hacking the two together, it would be nice to have a high score save. If anyone has this rom or has some insight there, please contact me.

Anyway, once everything was in place, the Red Tent booted perfectly! Pretty happy.

It's interesting what Rachel Mae said about the shared RAM at $6000-$7FFF. I am willing to bet that this is the reason it needs to be on the master side of the board. If a game like Tennis (or any other game that could use both sides of the system for 2 players) is on the master side, I bet it would try to use those RAM locations, or at least interfer with VSSMB.

I don't know for sure since I don't know much of the nitty gritty of how these games use the architecture of the Dual System, but it would make sense that the games on the slave side don't try to access that location unless... well... provoked by a compatible game installed on the master side.

In any case... We have a working Red Tent with two of the best games available for it! Woot!

 

 

[Tanooki]

Well now that's impressive.  That would be my dream red tent if by some small miracle I ever could come across one.  Those 2 titles would be peak interest.  Shame you can't just slot in whatever like a PC10 game cabinet can do then it would be a total swap fest like my neo geo.

 

Not much more to add, yesterday at a flea market $20 netted me sleeves Gyromite and Dragon Warrior in amazingly clean condition (along with GBA DrMario&Puzzle League) which for me is a win -- been after all 3.

[zylon]

Worked on this year's "Mom game", Crystalis, a bit more. Up to lv 11, got the water sword, and all but the Angry Sea completed on 3rd area. Otherwise, I've been playing my usual fare.

[Trinity]

Running Galaga all day long to keep my toaster warm.

[zylon]

testing out the NES function of our new FC Twin Slim, an updated model. Even the pack-in controllers work rather well.

[zylon]

I have to say, this new Yobo is far better than what they used to sell.  Cart slots work well, no death grip required. Controllers are quite good, though cords are a bit shorter than others. The NES-to-SNES controller adaptor works well, except for controllers by the newest "bottom rung" in clones, Classiq. The only gripe I'd have with the entire system, is one controller is matte finished D-pad, and the other has shiny D-pad. The shiny one doesn't hold as well to my thumb. I tested both in alternating levels, in the 1942 run. Classiq's HD models seem ok, but their regular AV base models suck, at least for construction and controls. I tested an AV Classiq N, and a Classiq II, at the store, where I chose the Yobo. I was kinda surprised by the difference between my Classiq N HD, and the regular model. 

I didn't get a new light gun, just used my old one with the adaptor on my crt. It worked fine on the 3 gun games I have.

[Trinity]

Playing my Galaxian reproduction cartridge tonight.

[Trinity]

More Galaxian today. Scored 12690 just now. I love this port.

 

Just found this strategy guide for Galaxian today. I think it's the best there is.

 

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/arcade/583825-galaxian/faqs/32227

[Trinity]

Nice!

[zylon]

Finished Crystalis. My turbo button method worked great on the flying tower levels. Equipment psycho shield and armor, which restores hit points when standing still, and warrior ring used with thunder sword and just machine gun them down with lv 1 lightening, without charging. Firepower does indeed, make up for lack of talent.

[Austin]

I decided to hook up the AVS in the bedroom and experiment with some games before bed each night to see if I can stumble onto something fun that I may actually want to try to finish. It's.. not been going great, haha.

 

Robo Warrior - Interesting concept, it being a Bomberman-style game with a lot of twists. Its rules seem very strict however. I think there's probably going to be a lot of memorization required to successfully get through any of its levels (which I haven't even been able to do one of yet).

 

Raid on Bungeling Bay - This is apparently a classic so I wanted to give it a try. Ended up flying around in circles for about fifteen minutes not really knowing what to do. It mentions Factories, and I can drop bombs, but doing so on any of the buildings doesn't do anything. Going to have to refer to the instruction manual on this one then revisit it later.

 

Home Alone - Jank AF. Run around a house with poor visuals and music, grab items, drop items and hope the burglars run into them. No continues? It doesn't seem terribly fun. I actually liked the SNES game back in the day, but this one seems bland as all hell.

 

Adventures of Rad Gravity - Generic platformer. Seems to run smoothly, but again, it also feels supremely generic. It's no Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden. Not sure if it's worth revisiting.

 

Hunt for the Red October - Visually it's pleasing, and it feels responsive, but holy hell is this game unfairly difficult. Homing missiles are firing at you right from the first set of enemies and it's extremely difficult to avoid them. Underwater turrets also fire so quickly that without homing missiles of your own, it's difficult to deal with them. I made it to the second level, but I'm not sure this one is worth the effort. Also, the music is awful. I see what they were going for, but it's droning and does not add positively to the experience one bit.

 

Summer Carnival '92: Recca - Been meaning to put more time into this one for a while, as a big fan of the shmups/stg genre. It's fast and fun, but maybe a bit too fast, particularly on the bosses. It's 100% "memorize-or-die" on the boss fights. I'll definitely be putting more time into it, but I do prefer shooters with more flexibility/improv allowed.

 

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2 - This is the one I've put the most time into over these last couple of weeks. At first I thought it was going in "hidden gem" territory, as the production values seem pretty good, but I'm honestly not a fan of the boss fights one bit (they take way too long), and the level design is much weaker than in the first game. It's not horrible, but again, just not as fun as the first game. I feel the soundtrack is lacking a bit compared to the first as well. I'll likely try to finish it, but again, a lot of the boss fights are more tedious than anything, especially the final boss. People complained about the red ball mechanic at the bosses in the original, but at least there you don't just sit around waiting for a weapon to appear for half of each fight.

 

Duck Tales 2 - Only briefly dabbled with this one (whereas I've nearly finished C&D 2), but so far it seems more solid than the above. The level design seems interesting-ish. Surprisingly, the gameplay is a little bit slower/more floaty than the first game, whereas with Chip 'n Dale 2, it was still about as fast and snappy as its first entry. I only played the Egypt themed level and unfortunately the music was nothing to write home about, so I'll be curious how the rest of the game sounds (the first game's soundtrack is a certifiable classic).

 

Rescue: The Embassy Mission - OK, this is an interesting one. Stealth your way past spotlights on the first level, move into the shadows in the backgrounds if you think you'll be spotted, Splinter Cell like? I didn't get past the first level as I just died (got shot, I assume) randomly. Stealth has never been my cup of tea, but it's interesting seeing that sort of thing on the NES in a more convincing way than what we got in Metal Gear.