RF Generation Message Board

Alright, if you're playing Kid Icarus, let me know and I'll keep a running list of participants here.

PARTICIPANTS:
Addicted*
Crabmaster2000
Disposed Hero*
Duke.Togo*
EngineerMike*
h1ghw1nd
JerryGreenwood*
MetalFRO*
NxCmp
RetroRage
russlyman*
Silent Scythe
singlebanana*

*completed game

Achievements:
Defeat level 1-4 boss:
Defeat level 2-4 boss:
Defeat level 3-4 boss:
Defeat Medusa:
Obtain the "best" ending:

So banana, how do I obtain the "best" ending?

Spoiler (hover to show)

(1) You must have 999 hearts when you defeat Medusa.
(2) You must have five segments in your health meter (obtained by having a score greater than 200,000 by 3-4).
(3) Your arrow power must be 5 arrows strong (skill stat must equal or exceeds 10,000 points by the time he reaches a Sacred Chamber); highest level is the sacred arrow which turns Pit's hair blue and clothes white.
(4) You must obtain all 3 enchanted weapons (Crystal Rod, Sacred Bow, and Flame Arrows); these are earned by successfully completing training sessions.

Stupid Eggplant wizards....

Time to get your eggplant slide on.

I'm in. Its one of my favorites and its one I can definitely stick with to the end.

Right on. Added.

I'm in. This was one of those elusive games when I was a kid. I only played it for a few minutes and I loved it, but I never owned it and all my friends who did own it never wanted to play it.

It's one of those games that is rather difficult from the beginning, but gets progressively easier as you level up and obtain stronger weapons. I can see why a lot of people became overly frustrated with this game when it came out. I hunkered down and beat it when I was 10 or 11, but controllers were thrown and chairs were kicked in the process.

Like many games I have come back to since I've gotten older, I'm hoping my overall gaming skills have improved enough to go for that best ending.

Any fan of the Metroid series should be all over this game. I really hope I can find a copy in time to join everyone.

I checked for you yesterday and am running out today to do the same. ;)

Count me in.

Right on.

Aww heck, I will join in too. Maybe I will finally be able to beat this game without that "Icarus Angels" password...

Welcome aboard Mike!

I was once in a band and we had a song called "Eggplant Wizard".

That sir is awesome.

...how long ago was this? I think I have a CD around the house somewhere with a song called "Eggplant Wizard".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ka9hmpcXs

or.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FesBm3xJRLM

I'm in, but I'll be playing the FDS version. No best ending on that version, but I've always wanted to play it and this gives me a great excuse.

Awesome Duke!

I haven't played this game in years, and if I remember correctly I was terrible at it. 

But still, I'm in!

[img width=496 height=360]http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/exc.gif[/img]

@Shadow - I'm not sure that song ever made it to CD, but I have over 200 different cassette tapes with about 250-300 takes of it. The production value of Rich's favorite Eggplant Wizard songs are much better.

The two above don't sound familiar. It wouldn't surprise me if there were a ton of songs about the Eggplant Wizard - he's famous and all.

Mark me down I can't miss out on a reason to play some NES!

Count me in! I've never actually played all the way through the original. I own and have completed the Game Boy sequel, but have only beat the original using cheat codes. I need to play through the original without using passwords to bypass some spots.

I got started a little early and made it to 1-3. It's tough going with only the starting amount of life, and I haven't run into any refills, nor do I have enough hearts to buy any. Tough as nails, but I'll figure it out.

Yes, the challenge for everyone will be getting past the first set of vertical scrolling worlds (1-1 through 1-3). Like Duke said, you have limited life from the onset and very limited refills. Also, if you fall through the bottom of the screen on the vertical scrollers, you die.... I ask everyone to be patient with this game and look to find enemy patterns. Also, use the left/right screen exits to your advantage with these enemies. Even the smallest amount of life is crucial in the beginning. The game IMO gets easier as you power up and make it to a few of the horizontal areas. It's a game worth sticking with and completing and we have 4 weeks to do so.

Checkpoints will basically be divided into worlds. So for Week 1, we will do 1-1 through 1-4. Since there are only 3 worlds, and a short final level with boss battle, don't worry if you get a little behind.

And if all else fails you can just grind enemies on 1-1 to level up. I had to do this when I was playing the game for the first time.

Did that enough to level up life once and get the first arrow power up. Still tough since it only starts you out with one life square when you die.

I have no shame in saying that I'll be playing this game on my soft modded Xbox as opposed to original hardware. Viva la savestates!

I hooked up the Retron5 last night and played for a few minutes. It's as challenging as I remember it.  I'll put some good time into the game this week.  Anyone else started?

I started. Managed to get through 1-1 and 1-2.

Very nice! Your first arrow upgrade is coming very soon, so be sure to check those rooms.

I'm working on 1-4 right now. I've managed to find the boss, but I'd been turned into an eggplant, so I have to figure out how to avoid getting turned, and/or how to undo it. I think I might consult a FAQ in the matter.

I think I'll jump on this. Does it matter that I'm playing on virtual console ????


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I highly doubt that matters

Not at all. Any way you can participate in and discuss the game is great.

Ok sweet. I remember getting stuck very early on


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I may have to start over and grind a bit harder. I got quite a ways into the game, and botched my save state so I had to start from scratch. Half a day, gone. Then I got farther, employing multiple save states, but I keep getting pounded on by enemies, and can't seem to collect enough life and spare bottles to keep me afloat. This game is brutal.

The old man's still got it!
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Why wouldn't Duke be playing the Famicom version ha.  Going to fire this up in s few in my 3Ds. Getting snow here in CT so we'll be slow at the game store.


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Played a bit last night. Still on 1-3, but I hope tonight I can move on.

IMHO 1-3 is the hardest level in the entire game. I made it through it when I got lucky enough to get offered the glass of health from the merchant and got a bottle in the treasure room. After that level, it's all downhill if you just take it slow.

This is encouraging. I never played last night after work. Did play a bit of NES Remix to help with my KI skills. Might try again tonight. Crazy that one of, if not the most difficult stage, is right at the beginning of the game.

That's mostly because Pit is still relatively weak, with low HPF and very little arrow strength. Once your health is leveled up 3 or 4 times, and you've got 2 or 3 strength arrows, it's more a matter of slow progress through the levels as you try to avoid the falling or jumping enemies as they come on screen, and maximizing your chance to grab large heart quantities from enemies you can easily defeat. When you have groups of 4 flying enemies coming, I find it's often better to wait until you've taken them all out before advancing.

And the higher your level score, the more health you get from leveling up. Good to take it slow and kill respawns

So, is it a better strategy to try and grind before finishing the early levels? I kind of just tried to get from A to B, in one piece.

Got some good play time yesterday and today. It helps on the 3ds because I can close the lid and come back to it as long as the battery is alive. It took me two days to get pass the darn vertical levels. What a pain. At first I would grind hearts to be power ups than I would try just speed running up the top. Finally beat it and got onto the horizontal levels. I was roaming around for a while. Got some power ups like the boomer rang thing  and the pencil. Found out the pencil works like a grid map. Than took about 30mins to realize the hammer is used to free the Angels in the statues. Overall having a good time with it.


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It's useful to think of Kid Icarus as a hybrid of shooter and platformer. You are earning points by killing enemies, and losing points by taking other actions like shooting arrows. A combination of high kills and high accuracy lead to a higher score.

Score is used to determine two things:
1. At certain thresholds, you will earn more life capacity the next time you complete a level
2. In levels with an arrow power up room, you have to reach a certain score threshold in that level to activate the room

The score seems to be downplayed somewhat in the NES version. The FDS version includes a High Score list on the file select screen.

Spent a little time with this one earlier today, but didn't make it very far (1-2 I think?) before getting frustrated and turning the game off.  I'll take another crack at it later.


Good to know, I wasn't aware that shooting arrows lowered your score.  To make matters worse, I'm really bad about just shooting randomly in these types of games when there are no enemies around, so I'll have to remember to stop doing that.

Finally beat the boss of 1-4 man what a battle. Had had 20+ Angels to help me and I def needed it. Ha. Onwards


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I completed the first world while earning a handful of upgrades. It is better to take it slow, earn hearts and avoid damage and wasted arrows. I try to always hit up those monster nests (the rooms that just spawn the flying Groucho faces) and avoid the rooms with the ? pots. I think every pot you break counts against your upgrade score if I remember correctly. And don't forget that holding jump slows your descent a little bit, its useful if you need a little help with the platforming. 

I'm glad everyone else had problems with 1-3. I've just been going through the game without grinding because I didn't know how you level up because I've always gotten my health bonuses at the end of a stage. As of now, I'm on 3-1 with the 3 specials weapons and 4 arrow strength.

After playing this game for basically the first time I have to put Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid in the same family. They all came out around the same time, they're all adventure games, the graphics are all similar, most of the enemies could be interchanged between games, the musics are all similar (Kid Icarus' level 1 song or Metroid's Brinstar music could've easily be used as the Zelda overworld theme, Zelda's dungeon theme could fit in some Metroid areas, etc. etc.)

They were also among the first and few that had silver and gold boxes (Rad Racer is the only other non-Konami game off the top of my head that has a silver box). It makes me wonder if Nintendo purposely gave Zelda a gold box to push it more than Kid Icarus and Metroid.

All 3 games are very close in quality and overall fun, but Kid Icarus and Metroid suffered amongst consumers because of their difficulty. I've always thought it was a huge mistake that Nintendo didn't make a Kid Icarus on the SNES, but I guess they had their reasons.

Wasted arrows hurt you? Good to know, I fire 'em off like they're going out of style.

What if you break all the ? pots and you don't reveal the God of Poverty? That shouldn't count against your score. I've figured out the pattern of those rooms for the first three stages, but after that it seems pretty complicated or random.

I don't think wasted arrows hurt you, I think he just means "wasted" in firing off too many that miss. Could be wrong though, I don't claim to be the expert here.

I've got a save state on 3-2, and once you get into the game quite a way, it gets pretty enjoyable.  Some nice level music later on as well, outside of the first stage's iconic music.

I have to be the worst gamer on RF Gen. Tried 1-3 for about an hour last night. Still can't beat it. Going to start over soon and see if I can somehow improve my status to that point.

Just don't get frustrated. This is definitely a game you'll be happy to have beaten when you're done.

yeah I gave up when I bought this game on E shop months back. tried to come back to it and got fustrated. For some reason I finally got it down and beat it only a few days ago

It's one of those games that when you reach that peak after 1-3, it's all pretty much downhill from there. I am going for the good ending, so I am really creeping through the levels and taking out all of the enemies I can. This is frustrating on 2 levels: (1) it takes so much time moving this slow and (2) I get even more pissed when I die because I have to keep repeating this process. So far my score is:

2 thrown controllers, 1 evil look from wife for throwing controller, which amounts to:

Kid Icarus - 3
banana - 0

No, it is very hard. For me, it actually required some memorization and a little bit of a game plan. There are parts of that level where I took it really slow and a few parts where I needed to race to outrun enemies - like when the "octoroks" fly up from the bottom and you have to maneuver through the green blocks with the plants that stick out from the wall.

After rereading some posts, Duke also mentioned that wasting arrows hurts your score.

I forgot to add - why on does Zelda have save files, but Kid Icarus (or Kid Eye-car-us as we called it as youths) and Metroid doesn't? I understand it's an early game, but Zelda came before Kid Icarus. I don't get it.

I find most of the rest of the games music to be average (maybe I need more time with it), but the first level is a fantastic song.

The Medusa battle music is really good and memorable, but just a short portion of the overall game experience.

Thanks guys. The encouragement of hearing others struggle as well, is what I do like about Community Playthroughs. I have been a quitter a lot in my life, but sometimes knowing that my peers have accomplished something, spurns me to achieve the same goal. I will try and persevere and get over this hump. After all repetition can only improve my gaming right?

Kid Icarus and Metroid didn't have room for saves in the ROM - hence, why they received FDS releases with save capabilities.

You can't be worse than me. When I play it'll be an accomplishment just getting past the first level.

I'd say that Nintendo must have at least considered using battery back up for Metroid and Kid Icarus at some point. If you look at the boards they have a spot for a battery holder.

Count me in for Icarus

Excellent sir!

I can understand Metroid, but how big could Kid Icarus possibly be? Zelda seems a lot bigger.

Not sure - looks like ROM size may not be the culprit, as I previously heard, as the ROM looks like it's only 86KB. I don't remember where I heard an explanation of it before (maybe AVGN?), but someone out there knows.

Also, wasn't aware of this, but apparently there are two versions of Kid Icarus for Europe - original and "A" (v1.1) release. Not sure what the differences are, but there ya go.

I'm assuming it had to do with money. But I did a quick wiki search and found some interesting quotes.

"Reviewers praised the game for its music and its mixture of gameplay elements from different genres, but criticized its graphics and high difficulty level."
Are the graphics really that bad? It looks comparable to any other game out at the time.

"if Pit's health is high enough the game keeps track of the player's score, and increases Pit's health bar at the end of a level if enough points were collected."

"In the god's chamber, the strength of Pit's bow and arrow may be increased depending on several factors, such as the number of enemies defeated and the amount of damage taken in battle."

"To meet the game's projected release date of December 19, 1986, the staff members worked overtime and often stayed in the office at night. They used torn cardboard boxes as beds, and covered themselves in curtains to resist the low temperatures of the unheated development building."
That's dedication.

"Several ideas for additional stages had to be dropped because of these scheduling conflicts."

Alright, so what night this month do you guys want to play and have a site cardboard/curtain slumber party?

That quote actually made me feel sorry for them. They're breaking their backs to make this game and it comes out and it gets mediocre reviews because it's "too hard". Why is it such a bad thing that the developers tried to give the consumers bang for their buck by releasing a game that they couldn't finish in a day. (One of the most disappointing days of my gaming youth was the thrill of getting Mega Man 3 on Christmas morning, only to be letdown by how quickly I beat it later that night.)

Yes, it is a hard game, but you get a password for every level. The game can only be hard for a few minutes at a time. In a game like Battletoads, you have to be on point for like 45 minutes straight. Yet iirc, that game got rave reviews and it's insane difficulty wasn't seen as a negative.

I, too, claim to be no expert. This is just information I read a long time ago. Apparently the game will take note of some of your actions and apply an invisible penalty to your score. Getting hit by enemies, firing arrows that don't hit anything and every pot you break in a treasure room will subtract from this score. This may only apply to the strength upgrades and not the health upgrades, I'm not sure. There's a gamefaqs page that details it better than I do.

For anyone who still needs a little help getting started try grinding the fire enemies who pop out of the ground towards the end of 1-1 until you have like 400+ hearts. As long as you don't scroll the screen too high they'll never stop re-spawning. They give half a heart per death and they can only shoot 1 fireball at a time which can easily be ducked. Before I beat this game for the 4th or 5th time this was the only way I could complete it.

What great back story we learned.
So who's skyping later in our cardboard box beds so we can play together. Ha


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I'm pretty sure I'm actually the worst gamer on RF Gen, given my complete suckitude at any and all of the "classics." I'm going to try to get into this one tonight. I've never played it previously, as I did not have an NES in my youth. Should be interesting.

Put your seat belt on and steady the course.

And like Inigo Montoya says, "prepare to die".  A LOT.

Given my aforementioned suckitude, I have had a lifetime of preparation for such things. I beat the first boss in GI Joe on my 4th try the other day and was completely elated...and then I read a walkthrough that said it is hands-down the easiest boss in the game and that you shouldn't take a hit from it unless you suck. Point taken

I didn't really set any checkpoints for this game, but if you want them, I'd say Week 1 you should finish through 1-4, Week 2 through 2-4, and so on. After 3-4, there is only one level left where you face Medusa. It might take a few the first two weeks to get through 1-4, but we have a little over 4 weeks this month, so that's okay.

And like Magneto says, "welcome to die"

Well my fellow RF Gen/Community Players, it pleases me to say that I finally was able to overcome 1-3 and move on to beat the boss in 1-4, to make the checkpoint this week.

I discovered by replaying the game over and over not only did I improve my skills and memorize the levels and enemy patterns, but I was also able to discover a room near

Spoiler (hover to show)

the top of 1-2, I believe? that I had always skipped for some reason. Made pit get stronger and his hair turned green.

Once I got that, Enemies that were taking two arrows to kill, only took one. I swear 1-3 must have taken at least 20 tries to beat. The elation I felt after

Spoiler (hover to show)

getting the arrow upgrade and

beating the level, was unbelievable.

I started over at 1-3 too because I felt my first playthrough was rushed and sloppy. It was much easier the second time around when I was better prepared.

I have learned the importance of Sacred Chambers.

I'm grinding on level 2-4. Killing some Mario gombas ha
[img width=700 height=525]http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/08/2c9fe18ea35672fedcabce58e9458324.jpg[/img]


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Got up to 3-4. After playing level 3 I can see what people were complaining about with the graphics. Not that I think they're bad, they're not. They're on par with anything else from 1986-1987. The problem is the plain black background. It's tiring by the time you reach level 3. Even SMB1's night stages had clouds in it's sky. I guess they were too cold and tired to produce something like that.

Finally made a clean run through 1-2 to get the arrow upgrade and get the power up. Made it through 1-3 on the second attempt.....odd. Sans some annoying eggplant wizards, I pushed through 1-4 pretty easily. Upgraded arrows on 2-1 and working on the next upgrade on 2-2. Stopped there for now. I've already gotten 2 of the 3 treasures from the training sessions as well.

We are on the same part. Watch out for the Plutons. They can't be hurt and steal away one of your training session treasures, every time they hit you.

I fall into a pit and start the level over when I get hit by those things. I'm trying to give the best ending a good effort.

So, to get the 3rd power up arrow on 2-2 (located in the 4th door),  you have to go past the door onto the next platform. You have to kill 8-10 of the falling rock men while making sure that you don't go too far right and put the door too far off screen. I tried this a few times last night and was unable to make it happen. I think I made the mistake of not grabbing the Sacred Bow as my first training room item (grabbed the Protective Crystals instead), since it greatly increases arrow reach and the ability to kill enemies that aren't that close.

I have the long bow, but have not filled up my energy yet to activate it (a pretty annoying aspect of this game).  Is there any order that the rest of you use in acquiring training room items? I typically get the fire arrows last.

Those bastards. That what they do. Ughhh. Well good thing I grounded for a while. I got the barrel which lets me hold multiple potion jars.


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@Banana - I'm not sure if anyone has the exact formula on how this game works. I was always under the assumption that entering rooms secretly affect score as well as other things like item placement for the "?" rooms and whether or not a god offers you a weapon in a sacred chamber.

On 1-1 and 1-3, I did some experimenting with the "?" rooms. I think on 1-1, there is only 1 pot that the god of poverty can be in. Since I played 1-3 about a thousand times, I noticed different patterns on where the GOP could be. It seemed like it was based on health and/or hearts, but I'm not sure. I noticed that if the first 3 pots I broke (starting from the top left going counter-clockwise) had big hearts in them, then the GOP would be in pot "X", but if the first 3 pots I broke went, big heart > big heart > hammer, then the GOP would be in pot "Y", etc.

I'm still not sure what the point of the first room of the game is. That's why I assumed that there is a secret counter of how many rooms you've entered. Unless the point of the first room is to grind a bunch of snakes and get an arrow power-up straight away.

My understanding is that you are offered an arrow upgrade based on getting over a certain amount of points on your current level before entering the upgrade room. I could be wrong but that is what I have read on other sites.  Interesting enough, the battle rooms, which have the Groucho Marx looking enemies, don't offer any score when killing them.

I forgot to mention that the Groucho Marx enemy was meant to resemble Kid Icarus composer, Hip Tanaka.

Is the first room an upgrade room? I just remember it being empty and thinking wtf.

First room on 2-2 is a ? pot room.

I meant the first room on 1-1. The game starts you off right next to an empty room.

The first room is an upgrade room. If you get enough points after completing the game you can loop back around to it for a power up. If you happen to still have the Official Nintendo Player's Guide around, you'll see it labeled.

There is a pattern to the treasure rooms. The secret was in a magazine eons ago, but you can also find it online.

So this happened at 3 am last night...

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Unfortunately, I was one requirement away from the best ending. I was lacking just 15 hearts....ugh. I plan on going back with my password and getting the better ending. Here's a pic around 3-2 of me with the sacred arrows strength upgrade and all the training room items.

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Had gone out to eat and get coffee with a good friend last night. I told him about the KI playthrough and we went on and on about how hard it was. He asked me if it was the game where you can push up after you jump to stop your landing and keep from sliding. I told him not that I recall, but I'll try it. Sure enough, it's amazing when jumping! All these years... 

[img width=700 height=525]http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q388/MetalFRO/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/02ACC2C2-A720-4490-9E4B-FF1C909609A1.jpg[/img] (http://s349.photobucket.com/user/MetalFRO/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/02ACC2C2-A720-4490-9E4B-FF1C909609A1.jpg.html)
Just did this, seconds from midnight. Not sure I got the good ending, but I'm not sure I want to put myself through that again. Phew! What a brutal game. Without save states, I probably would have been sunk. I've always defended this game from naysayers over the years, but I may have had a bit of a rose colored glasses kind of thing going on. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but only the most skilled players are really going to get the most out of this game.

I'm gonna try and play catch up with you guys. Played for a few hours last night. Got to 1-4 and was having a hell of a time. Had a feeling I was missing some basics so I read the manual and watched someone who knew what they were doing play to the point I got to. Turns out I missed a health upgrade, bow, arrow and didn't understand what nearly all the power ups did. Wont have another chance to play for a few days, but definitely going to dive back in and at the very least finish 1-4, but hopefully have the time to beat up to 2-4.

Congrats! Yeah, not the good ending, but really any ending for this game is a good one! I believe that the difficulty probably makes this game less played and therefore less memorable than say it's contemporaries LoZ and Metroid. Unlike these games, energy replenishment is rare and not obtained by any drops.

And this, I believe, is the key as to why only the most skilled, persistent, masochistic players ever reach the end in a traditional play through. Note that this doesn't refer to me because I abused save states to finish the game  ;D

So I was playing a ton the other night. Just realized that the rooms with yellow looking water heal u if you stand in them. Ughhh lol

Anyways
[img width=700 height=525]http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/11/834815595fac11cfffa7edb4aef97512.jpg[/img]
Boom killed that medusa.
[img width=700 height=525]http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/11/68ddc62f3737476c68b7611068512cdc.jpg[/img]


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I finished it today:

[img width=700 height=525]http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag478/michaelrancourt/FC5E6969-E8D2-408C-B386-ADC4837B29D0_zpsupcgw9rg.jpg[/img] (http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/michaelrancourt/media/FC5E6969-E8D2-408C-B386-ADC4837B29D0_zpsupcgw9rg.jpg.html)

I just want to say, that that was quite the challenge for me. But very rewarding. I struggled so much in the beginning, trying to figure it out. What Duke said was true. It really was downhill from 1-3. Like Crabby said, I too was missing crucial things early on at first.

All in all, great but challenging classic.

Great to see people finishing this game. It is quite difficult, but a game that's very rewarding to finish. I'll track those who finish in the initial post.

UPDATE: However, getting the hearts from these rooms affects your score and ability to upgrade your arrow skill. Such a complicated system and so weird.

I spent some time with this over the weekend.  After having many frustrating moments in levels 1-1 through 1-3, I finally made it to 1-4.  I'm still trying to get a good grasp of 1-4 since it is very maze-like, but according to what everybody else is saying, the worst should be behind me and it should be all downhill from here.

Yes, the maze/castle levels are trial and error and once you discover the appropriate path to take to the bosses, are quite easy (if you can avoid the eggplant wizards!). I think you'll find the platforming much easier in the horizontal levels and by the time you get to going vertical again, your weaponry will be so upgraded that you'll breeze through it. Be sure to do the training sessions when you find them.

Beat it yesterday. No pic because I wasn't ready and I didn't get the best ending anyway (missed an arrow upgrade). Overall, a very good game. A few minor tweaks could've made it classic. It could've been slightly easier and longer. Too many of the levels looked the same. I think the beginnings of 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3 are identical aside from coloration. Also, it bothers me when you pass through a room in the 'dungeon' only to enter an identical room.

True, but I think LoZ and Metroid are hard games too. Didn't you say that you were scared off by Super Metroid because Metroid on NES was so difficult? As a kid, I didn't know anyone who beat Metroid. I didn't beat it until the mid-to-late 90's. LoZ is tough too, but Nintendo Power and other hint books turned it into a moderate challenge. I think those games were so successful simply because it was fun to run around. It was Grand Theft Auto for the 80's. Very few games gave you the freedom to explore vast areas while shooting, stabbing, jumping, and everything else Samus and Link can do. Even if you were stuck, it was still pretty fun.
 

C'mon MetalFRO, you don't need that crap. You're the Shmup Champ, you look danger in the face a laugh!

Good to know.  Yeah, I got turned into an eggplant a few times, but fortunately I found a room in 1-4 that will change you back to normal (although obviously it's much better to just not get turned in the first place).

I'm really looking forward to getting to the horizontal levels.  The vertical scrolling levels feel pretty awkward.

I found one training room in either 1-2 or 1-3 (and got a bow upgrade?  I'm not sure what it actually does).  Did I miss any or is that the only one up to this point?

Well I've tinkered with this for two 15-20 minute increments over the weekend...I almost made it to the end of level 1-1 but died in sad, horrific fashion. Those darn grim reapers...

But anyway, I'll be putting more time into it this week. I'd at least like to make it through the first stage...

Metroid is difficult, but that has more to do with finding items and areas more so than the difficulty of the gameplay. At any time, you can exploit and area and refill your energy easily, though it may be time consuming. You are allowed to explore pretty freely and compared to Kid Icarus, it's much less frustrating. What kills Kid Icarus is the monotony of the levels, the constant dying, and having to restart all the way at the beginning of a level.

I disagree that The Legend of Zelda is a hard game. Maybe initially, but not over time. Sure, finding the dungeons and working them is tough at points (especially obtaining the flute...doh darknauts.... and navigating Level 9), but once you have them down, going back, playing, and beating it is like riding a bike. That's not the case with Kid Icarus. It takes some time to get on top of the controls again, and there's a lot of battles you have to take slow and can't skip. Plus, heart replenishing in Zelda is fairly easy and exploitable; there are no such refill drops in Kid Icarus.

BTW, I beat Metroid as a kid (I was age 10). Now you know someone. ;)

Just a tip with the reapers. (1) attack them when their back it to you, if they don't see you, they won't call the minis, (2) sometimes you can platform past them fairly easily, don't feel like you have to kill them all.

Well dang. I was wondering what the rhyme or reason was for when those little guys come out. Thanks for the tip!

Sure, that's what we're here for! :)

@Banana - I think we more or less agree, we're just saying it in different ways. Metroid and Kid Icarus are difficult to finish, but the general gameplay of Metroid is easier. You can play for a longer time before you die. Same with Zelda. I know where everything is in Zelda. I can easily beat the game, but in 1987 it might as well have been Simon's Quest. Without Nintendo Power or a friend helping me, there is no way I beat that game. In 1987, I'm not figuring out the Lost Woods, I'm not bombing a random rock for level 9, I'm not burning a random bush to find a heart container, etc. However, it was still fun to stab everything and whip my boomerang around the screen.

In addition to what Banana said, if you want to kill them, take it slow. Fire an arrow, stay out of his vision when he's walking towards you, when he turns back around, shoot him again. Also, he'll usually do a little fake out when he reaches the edge. He'll turn his back and do a quick turn around before walking backwards again.

HA!  If you recall, I didn't actually COMPLETE any of those shmups, though I wasn't far from doing so with Lightening Force, and that's primarily because I played the crap out of it as a kid.  I haven't finished any of those games yet on the default difficulty.  And I don't consider myself a shmup whiz by any stretch.  I may have been crowned king here by the December competition's standards, but I've been a long-time member of the "official" shmups forum (associated with shmups.com), and that is a den of hardcore shmup players who spurn unlimited continues and geek out about the smallest nuances with various shmup scoring systems.  I've never been that in-depth with the scoring systems myself, I've always been more focused on just getting through the games and attempting to achieve 1CC (single credit clear).  Unfortunately, I have a bit of "gaming ADD" and lose interest quickly when I begin to hit a wall in terms of a game's difficulty.  I've started to overcome that by forcing myself to continue playing something, even when the involuntary Tourette's kicks in, and over the last 2 years I've started to actually play games to completion that were a bit harder than I would normally have put up with before.

As a kid, and a young adult, when I had lots of time to play games, I could slog through something that was very difficult, and I felt like I had time to repeat a level 20 or 30 times until I figured it out.  As an older adult, the amount of time I have to dedicate to gaming is far less than I'd like, so I tend to be a bit pickier about how I spend it.  If I'm not advancing or progressing through a game as quickly as I feel I should, given my relative skill at that game, I tend to give up on them, in hopes that I may eventually have or make the time to come back and give it more effort later on.  That said, it rarely happens that way, and many games I've started over the years that I should probably have finished ages ago, have sadly been left unfinished.  Prime examples of this would be Spyro 2 and 3 - I bought them w/in the 1st year of my wife and I getting our PlayStation, and she started them, I continued to play them, but I hit a wall and never went back to them.  This was during that period where I had a lot more time on my hands to play.  Realistically, I could probably delete my save files, start from scratch, and have both games beat (not 100% complete, but last boss downed) within a week or 2.  I just haven't done it yet.  That describes a lot of my rather extensive backlog, unfortunately.

All that to say that, while I may have proven to be good enough at shmups to win the competition, my skills aren't as finely honed as I'd like, and a game like Kid Icarus would have left me curled up in the fetal position crying without the use of save states to help me get through it.  ;D

I like the sound of that.

You should go check it out, though I must warn you that, like any extreme niche, some folks can be pretty elitist.

Can't be any worse than SRK.

Alright, after spending probably well over an hour being stuck in 1-4 (which was 100% the fault of those damn Eggplant Wizards.  Seriously, whoever came up with that idea deserves a swift kick to the balls), I finally made it to 2-2.  You guys were right about the game getting much easier once you reach the sidescrolling sections.  I don't think I died once in 2-1, except at the very beginning just to get my password.  Unfortunately, it looks like I missed out on the second upgrade in 2-1 (I'm assuming that's what that empty room was), but I'm not too worried about it at this point.

Nice! Onward to the finish line. Watch out for the guys in 2-2 and 2-3 that steal your training room gear!!! Hint: you can buy it back from certain markets

I just made it to 3-4.  I wasn't planning on going for the good ending, but I have pretty much everything I need for it, so I might as well.  Just need to grind some hearts.

I gotta say, I really didn't like this game at all during World 1, but it gets much better during the later levels when you're much more powerful.  I bet most of the negative critics of this game quit during the first couple of levels due to the brutal difficulty.  I can't blame them, I would have quit the game also if I weren't playing it for the playthrough.

When I went to my local store today, the manager told me she bought her young son a copy for Christmas so that he could see where the SSB character was from. I told her that he wouldn't be playing it for long. ;)

Done!  ;D

[img width=700 height=525]http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm155/DisposedHero/Community%20Playthrough%20Scores/CAM01139.jpg[/img] (http://s295.photobucket.com/user/DisposedHero/media/Community%20Playthrough%20Scores/CAM01139.jpg.html)

Very well done, and the best ending to boot! Great timing. ;)

Not that you need the help, but for anyone else, once you know how to beat them it's quite simple. When you first enter the room, they will both throw eggplants at you, but they will be on different planes. Slip through this gap and start pelting the closest Wizard with arrows. This will kill one of them and make the other one a lot easier.

I ended up downloading the squeal on the GameBoy. It was free with club Nintendo points.


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Anyone still chugging along on this??


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I moved on to other games, after finishing two weeks ago.

I beat it a few weeks ago as I finish most of the games early to record the podcast. Great game and I play on finding the GB sequel to play on my Retron5.

You guys need to be sure to listen to the podcast when it comes out in February. Duke joins the show and it is a good one.

I had a lot of fun pitching in. I appreciate the guys having me on.

I can say that the Game Boy sequel is a fun game, and WAY easier than the NES original.  It's no slouch, but I owned it as a kid and remember not being so super frustrated with it that I wanted to rage-quit every 10 minutes like with this one.  It also has a save feature built in, so if you're playing via the actual cart, you may find that you progress through the game a bit quicker than the original as well.  The final boss is AWESOME, and when I originally played it as a kid, was very impressed by how they pulled that off on the Game Boy.

I saw how much fun everyone was having and decided to try this one out:

[img width=700 height=525]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/RF/IMG_2016_zps0ahnt6ri.jpg[/img] (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/cisco678/media/RF/IMG_2016_zps0ahnt6ri.jpg.html)

I didn't get the best ending as I hit 3-1 with 999 hearts and couldn't find a shop to spend some so I could earn some more skill points. I still had fun with the game and will try the sequel.

Very nice Addicted! Thanks for joining us this month.

I'm still hoping to sneak in a victory this month. Just finishing up some school work tonight and then hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to play again

slacker......

That reminds me I gotta finish up that Blog post too!!

Don't make me come over there....

I'm 2 and half hours into February so I kinda missed out on the January playthrough, but better late than never!!

[img width=700 height=525]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8584/16231249307_88d08cdb46_o.jpg[/img] (https://flic.kr/p/qJioVZ)

I didn't realize how important it was to enter all the doors in this game during my first playthrough. Much more manageable if you just enter each one :)

Nice job Crabby!

Good work Crabby! Another one to add, to your already impressive, beaten NES game list.

Thanks guys, Got the vid up on youtube. First one in over a year I think:

Kid Icarus (http://youtu.be/Ga07noU4Dzg)

I was going to ask if that was #501... ;)

Not quite. Kid Icarus was # 338

#338?! I thought you were up to 500. Maybe I confused things.

Maybe you mixed up collecting with playing?

Podcast goes up at midnight. Some good discussion of Kid Icarus.