I managed to beat Double Dragon 3 for NES for the first time. Yes, it’s a very hard game, but not as impossible as a lot of internet reviews make it out to be. The strategy to use is much like what you have to do for Double Dragon for the Atari 2600, which a lot of people also say is an incredibly hard game. It is: Get out of the enemy’s plane and let the enemy come into your plane as you are attacking. Do that for pretty much the entire game, and you can beat it!

Here’s an article on “Creator”:
https://www.unseen64.net/tag/nintendo-ead/page/3/

Here’s one on “Buggie-Boogie,” also spelled “Buggy Boogie”:

Buggy Boogie [N64 – Proto / Cancelled]

Yeah, the information on the back of the 3 issues of “Nintendo News” shown in this thread definitely reveals that it was intended to be for retail store owners and that it was also connected to Nintendo Power magazine, since on the back of each issue of Nintendo News, it reveals the main contents found in the corresponding issue of Nintendo Power. My guess is that whenever Nintendo Power magazine was shipped in bulk to a retail video game store that would place the Nintendo Power issues out for sale to customers, a copy or two of “Nintendo News” was included in the shipment along with the batch of Nintendo Power magazines shipped, and it was intended to be read by the management team of the retail store but not to be put out for sale to customers.

speedyink wrote:
Now how in the hell did you beat it so fast? I’ve had Gimmick for like a year now and I still haven’t been able to beat it the proper way yet! I just somehow need to get better =P

I did spend a lot of my Labor Day off from work playing it. It was probably a total of 7 to 8 hours of playing the game (3 to 4 hours to beat it the first time with the poor ending and then another 3 to 4 hours to get the good ending) before I found all of the secret areas, got all of the secret items, and then made it into the final area to beat the true, final boss. The first part of that boss actually reminded me a lot of the Dracula fight in Castlevania!

I did it! I saved the girl from her nefarious toys! Thankfully, the game did let me continue after I made it to the final secret area. I was afraid that I’d have to start all over again when the last, true boss defeated me. It took me one continue and all of that continue’s lives to beat him. I love how they made use of the star as both a weapon and a necessary means to reach faraway areas; it’s certainly more than just a clever gimmick! What a unique and great game! I must say that it is one of the funnest platformers I have ever played. Too bad they didn’t release it for Virtual Console. After all, they released Sunsoft’s Ufouria; why the heck not Mr. Gimmick?

RetroDan wrote:
I’m going to have to say Gimmick! is the hardest game I have actually beaten 100%. It took me weeks of practice just to get past level 4, to say nothing of the others. Well, except for that last level, which is cake aside from the true final boss.

Thanks for the recommendation! I had never really heard of this one before. It took me about 3 hours and who knows how many continues to “beat” the game poorly the first time, but the odd ending made me realize that there must be more to the game than what I had found the first time. Thanks to teh internetz, I now learn that in addition to what I just did, I must also find a hidden area in all 6 stages, get all 6 magic items in said hidden areas, beat some secret stage with its extra boss, and all that without using a single continue, in order to truly beat the game in full, getting the best ending?! Dang! This is really going to be an amazingly hard challenge!

Try using the “Mednafen” emulator.

Well, I managed to beat Castlevania for the first time. While it did offer a good challenge, I have to say that I’m surprised to see it on some sites’ top 10 lists of hardest games for the NES. When one can completely memorize a game and still not be able to beat it reliably, such as with Adventure Island, that definitely qualifies it as an extremely hard game. With Castlevania, though, once one memorizes all of the attacks and patterns of the enemies as well as the best special weapon to have in hand for a particular area, it can be reliably beaten again and again with not too much difficulty (without requiring near-flawless execution). After a solid night of learning the game, I managed to beat the game the first time through without losing a continue, and then I beat it the second time through (on the harder difficulty level) by continuing only once. Perhaps with a little more time, I can fully master that game. It definitely seems that they made the stopwatch and the holy water almost way too powerful, because using those items at the right times makes certain parts of the game, which would otherwise be extremely ridiculous, a breeze. Without those items, though, the game would, indeed, be ridiculous. Great game overall! I don’t think I ever owned it for the NES during my childhood, but I do remember playing the arcade version at certain stores. Perhaps the arcade version is harder, and maybe the special items aren’t as powerful in it.

speedyink wrote:

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
I definitely did it the old-school way, too, where you had to beat the game 8 times before even being able to access the hidden letter worlds.

Wait what? Aww damn, I’m totally thinking of World 9. I never did get to the Letter worlds >_< There's no battery backup in this game right? So you gotta beat it 8 times in one sitting? Damn, I got some work ahead of me. At least I can use warp pipes it looks like, since it looks like doing world 9 isn't necessary to get a star.

Yeah, if you’re doing it on a Famicom, I’m pretty sure that you’ll have to leave the system on the whole time, in order for it to keep your stars. I did it on an emulator, so I could save the state and resume later, as if I had never turned the system off.

I also recently devoted myself to beating all of the worlds, including the hidden ones, in the original Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, before I decided to take on the Adventure Island challenge. I definitely did it the old-school way, too, where you had to beat the game 8 times before even being able to access the hidden letter worlds. That game was admittedly tough, especially the hidden letter worlds, but nowhere near as tough for me as Adventure Island.

I do agree that when a game is so frustratingly hard that it makes you not want to finish it at all, that’s not a well-designed game. Nevertheless, Adventure Island and Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese Version) were so fun that I definitely didn’t mind dying so many times and trying again and again until I beat everything.

I watched my friend beat absolutely every level in Super Meat Boy, which looked absolutely ridiculous as well, but at least with that game, you get to start over at the beginning of each stage when you die, as is typical with most games made nowadays, rather than at the beginning of the whole game. I’m sure if one had to start over at the beginning of the whole game each time one died, many people would never want to put forth the effort to try to beat that game, and it surely wouldn’t have sold as many copies as it has.

I also want to try to beat Castlevania sometime, as that is definitely a well-designed game. It seems that beating that game will require memorizing which special attacks are best to have in advance before entering a certain section of a stage and then using those best special attacks at the right occasions. It seems that beating Ninja Gaiden will likewise require having the right special attacks and using them at the right times as well. I’ll also try to figure those out the old-school way, so on my own with many trial and error deaths, instead of watching YouTube videos of those who have mastered the games to learn the stages.

VirtualChris wrote:
I sped up the game a little bit. I also made the mushroom appear more often. The game’s speed maxes out at 4 points. If it’s a little too fast in Mednafen, it’s slower on a real VB.

Thanks! This game is great now. 🙂

VirtualChris wrote:
It took a lot longer than I expected, but I made it so that the spinies either begin from one of the sides, or from in the air.

Nice! Now if the game gets progressively faster as one plays, that should do it! As long as Mario’s horizontal walking speed is always equal to the horizontal walking speed of the Spinies, the game should be able to reach rather high speeds while always being possible to complete each faster wave.

VirtualChris wrote:
I wonder if making the game even faster would make it harder. The game speeds up at 1 and 2 points and then stops.

That might help, but even better would be having the Spinies possibly coming in on the ground from the left side or right side of the screen, instead of always having them fall from the sky. This would definitely not allow the player to just hang around the sides of the screen, since a wave might kill him or her right off the bat.

VirtualChris wrote:
Aaand, Supper Mario is now playable. Remember, you can get away from the Spinies by warping around the screen’s edges. Does anyone have any suggestions for this mini game?

Very neat concept for a game. Although, with how it plays now, if one just hangs around the screen’s edges the whole time, warping back and forth between them each wave, it is very easy both to dodge all Spinies and collect all mushrooms, no matter where the mushrooms or Spinies fall and no matter which direction they go after they land. It seems that some other element needs to be added, so as to prevent the player from just being able to have Mario hang around the screen’s edges the whole time and clear every wave with ease.

dj898 wrote:
Hi

Is order request process still valid as explained in the first page?

Thx

Hello, dj898.

To be sure, do you already own a FlashBoy Plus cartridge with USB cable, and do you now want to order the related contents to go with it? If you do not already own a FlashBoy Plus cartridge and USB cable, and these are what you truly want to order, then Richard Hutchinson is the one who, I believe, is still making and selling the FlashBoy Plus cartridges with USB cables, as he advertises here:

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=13655#forumpost13655

If you would like to order a FlashBoy Plus cartridge and USB cable from him, send him an e-mail, asking him if he is making them right now (sometimes he takes breaks from making them) and if the total cost for a FlashBoy Plus cart and USB cable is still 100 US Dollars plus one Virtual Boy game cartridge that is to be mailed to him for use as a donor cartridge. Chances are, his price has not changed, but it is always good to ask to be sure. His e-mail address appears at the above link.

The things relating to the FlashBoy Plus, which I still have available for sale, are a FlashBoy Plus box, a quick reference card, and a high quality cartridge label, as advertised here:

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=20605#forumpost20605

However, if you live in Mexico or Canada, then the amount to send to me is no longer $25.00 but is now $30.00. This is because the United States Postal service has increased the cost of shipping to those locations, since the time that the original post was made.

Also, it is important to understand that Richard has since changed the format of the outside of his FlashBoy Plus cartridges, so the cartridge labels that I have, which went on the old carts that he used to make, might not look as nice on his newer carts. Now, the only reason to get these things from me is to make your FlashBoy Plus more complete for collection purposes. If you are also interested in purchasing these things, let me know. Otherwise, Richard will be able to help you with the FlashBoy Plus cart and USB cable, which is all you actually need for playing Virtual Boy ROMs on a Virtual Boy or for testing out your own games, which you are developing, on the Virtual Boy.

Regards.

Virtual_Link wrote:
I would imagine the vest/hat were probably only worn by employees at Toys ‘R’ Us since they always had a big emphasis on being the biggest video game dealer in the country (noted in their advertising). Plus Nintendo always went the extra mile for TRU since they knew that’s where a good chunk of kids were shopping for toys/games etc.

Also, after thought, what about the possibility of Blockbuster Video? Nintendo was working with Blockbuster in advertising/promoting the system.

I’m not so sure that Blockbuster Video would have been willing to let their employees wear that vest. Anytime I was ever in there, I always saw employees wearing the official Blockbuster attire, and I never saw them wearing anything to advertise any specific product over the other ones, which may have been part of Blockbuster’s policy. Plus, this vest really seems like it would have been worn by those helping to sell Nintendo systems and games rather than by those simply renting such out.

Lester Knight wrote:
… what about those involved in the creation of this game? I’m pretty sure Capcom would crush them in a lawsuit. That is the scary aspect that seems to get overlooked during these discussions…

I actually think that the eBay resellers of the game are putting themselves more at risk than those involved in the creation of the game. Those involved in its creation have actually done a rather great job of remaining hidden from the public, whereas the eBay resellers are easily trackable and are certainly using the game for personal profit. Hopefully, if Capcom ever goes after anybody, it will go after the eBay resellers.

That is, indeed, the very auction that I won. The seller’s statement of “This vest and hat combination was given to select retailers to promote the release of the Nintendo Virtual Boy and advertise the Super Nintendo, and Game Boy systems,” is stated with good confidence. This fact combined with how well the hat and vest go with each other strongly indicates that the same stores that had the hats be handed out to visitors would have also likely had their employees in the video game departments wearing the vests, so perhaps both Toys ‘R’ Us and Sears had their employees wearing the vests as well as had the hats be given out to shoppers on the Virtual Boy’s launch day.

RareGameCollector wrote:
Can never go wrong with the MegaMan games

True, but do you think Mega Man is actually “underrated”?

[Benjamin Stevens]

vuefinder83 wrote:
The only thing that had me thinking there was a possibility for it being used elsewhere other than Toys ‘R’ Us, was a auction for one of these vests wich you might recall (pretty sure it’s in the Noteworthy). The seller had this vest paired with the Red and Black Virtual Boy hat, wich had me thinking the vest was used by Sears employees since the hat supposedly comes from Sears. The hat matches this vest rather well as seen in the picture below. With the Black swooping around the hat and vest, it definitely looks like this hat is part of the ensemble.

But that auction was atleast 2 years ago…

I don’t know if it’s the same auction, but my vest did come with the red and black Virtual Boy hat, and I won the combo off of eBay a little over two years ago. Sears actually does seem like a place that could have had their employees wearing such vests, now that you mention it.

Plus since the hat is way more common than the vest, makes it hard for me to believe employees kept the hats but got rid of the vests. So that seller probably came across that hat and paired it with the vest on their own.

Well, the hat is said to have been given out (to prospective customers) at Sears on the Virtual Boy’s launch day, which would explain why it is a much more common item, whereas the vest was clearly only to have been worn by a salesperson and not given out to any customers.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by Benjamin Stevens.