Happy thirty third birthday, NES! And a special belated happy thirty five to the Famicom as well! Keep on keeping us playing with power!

Idea: Play all of Super Mario Brothers 3 while watching The Wizard. That's what I'm gonna do.

Your tips helped a bunch, thanks! I did the same, using Mark at the end. Just brute forced my way through, using the Torch, hoarding all medicines, and praying Jason wouldn't choose to attack the children. I actually quite enjoyed this one, (despite my internal profanities all throughout) and I'm with Cygnus Destroyer in thinking AVGN's criticisms were undeserved. I just wish those Punch-Out wannabe segments weren't so freakin' bad, otherwise I'd consider this a good speedgame. It would've worked better if the dodge controls were mapped to down, instead of diagonals, since I found myself consistently moving left or right and taking a hit.

Freddy's next on the hit list - is that one just about as difficult?

I'm already having fun with this NES-athon, so thanks for bringing me into it. Five games remain, but I might add more if I have any extra days ahead... or, I might just extend it to November. Any suggestions? Mystagogue has me considering Xexyz, since I like genre-mesh games, and it certainly looks better than Air Fortress.

I ended up quitting Gimmick halfway through since it's much too hard for me, but the others were short and easier. I wanted to make some backlog progress, so some NES games should do. I'm going to try Sweet Home next since it's October. I only have 10-ish more NES/Famicom games that I have any serious interest in anyway.

OO! OO! I'll take 3! I really wanted to love Little Ninja Bros, too. I really liked that it was framed as Chinese Martial Arts Dragon Warrior, and I'd love to see more things like that. I'd intended to make such a Dragon Warrior hack back in the day, but as far as I got was figuring out how to edit the text; I changed Club to Dlub! I thought Kung-Fu Heroes was clunky and cryptically obtuse, so I wasn't in love with that game being the entire battle system, but I did eventually learn to work pretty well with it, and got to pull off some pretty slick moves. It's one of those rare games that made me, the player, level up; when I first encountered those blue pigs with the extendo poles, I was a bit overwhelmed with dealing with them, but later on, I ran into some, and they were nothing. I think it all could've worked reasonably well with a little more time in the oven, or, like, some beta testers. The RPG battles might've even worked for bigger fights - if a little unfocused - if leveling didn't take for-goddamn-ever, and I cut my teeth on the original Dragon Warrior. I think the action-oriented nature of the main battle system breeds impatience in the player, and totally ruins the pacing, making it seem like things are taking longer than they really are. It's something that looks really neat on paper, but when you try it out in practice? BAM! Communism.

That said, I do still want to play Super Ninja Boy.

In regards to 'Stormlord', I was able to complete it but not 100% legitimately. There's a built in code that resets the timer. I believe I used that and then powered through it. Otherwise you pretty much have to speed run each stage just to finish, and that can only be done after really knowing the stage well (which means actually "playing" it and suffering).
I do like the look and atmosphere of it all (and it's great sound effects).
Allegedly the Amiga version is the best, so if I played along it would be that one.

Exactly why I dropped Xenoblade X for the time being. I'll get to it again eventually once I hit "X"in the alphabet (currently moving on to J)

And I can't say I disagree with you on Little Ninja Brothers. I've beaten all the Super Chinese games at this point (even waded my way through the Japan-exclusive ones and the GBA Little Ninja Brothers remake), and I have a definite affection for them (I even own most of the games complete with box, cart, and manual), but yet t I acknowledge that they're not really great games, Super Ninja Boy is one of my favourite games because it's a treasured game from my childhood that I spent lots of time co-oping with my brothers, but the encounter rate definitely hurts it and its certainly not nearly as fun alone.

I can't say I know Culture Brain's story, but they always struck me as an overly-ambitious company operating on a budget. The Super Chinese games in particular re-use the same assets over and over again to the point that 3 of the games in the series are practically identical to each other gameplay wise. I had a theory they were actually going a semi-educatonal route, which is why Little Ninja Brothers has sorta-subtle references to Chinese culture (the world map is shaped like China, the Celestial Beings are Chinese Zodiac signs, etc). But that's all just theory and observation.

Random thoughts:

1. So I don't get it. Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 worth playing? Doesn't seem like it's quite as well received as the first one. I kinda skipped Xenoblade Chronicles X (cross) due to the fact that, at the time I got it, it seemed like an overbearing game that would take forever to finish. However, several years later, my gaming habits are improving despite the limited amount of time I usually have to play. So, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, cheers or jeers, and would the latest DLC adventure be worth the price?

2. All you Genesis/Mega Drive players: have any of you ever played Stormlord? I've had it for years but never finished it because of its difficulty, but if any of you have it and never finished it, would anybody be interested in doing a campaign to do so? (Emulate if you wish.)

3. Little Ninja Brothers made some very poor design choices. Aside from the super annoying encounter rate, the final town can't be warped to since there's no place to get the password, which forces you to stick around if you wanna get money for the best gear, the vehicle you get later on needs batteries to operate with batteries, which die after maybe one hundred steps, and cost 500 Sen a pop. Oh yeah, did I mention? Enemies don't give you a lot of money. I think it's safe to say that despite enjoying Culture Brain's other games (Flying Dragon, Flying Warriors, The Magic of Scheherazade), the trilogy of co-op brawlers (Kung-Fu Heroes, Little Ninja Brothers, Super Ninja Boy) is my least favorite of their catalogue.

I found [Link] if you really want to play it and don't mind the price tag

I suppose you may need to play that an an actual NES though, I'm not sure how the Retron 5 handles playing repros.

Wait, are you playing an actual cartridge of Caravan Shooting Collection, or are you using an emulator? Because the very first thing I've noticed is that none of the games have any kind of autofire. I suppose you could get around that with a third party controller, but still... any shmup without autofire is pretty horrendous these days, and I'd rather not risk injuring my thumb.

Anyway, Hector '87 seems like the best game of the bunch.

Edit: My first attempt at 2 minute mode resulted in a Time Out and a score of 61000, and I kid you not, my thumb already hurts...

I finished TMNT. I'll admit that I used save states for some sections, but that was because the controls sometimes decided to just stop working. I don't know if that happens in the actual game, or if it was an issue with the emulator that I was using, but it was absolutely infuriating getting crushed by the spiked wall dozens of times because I wasn't able to move at all.

I worked something out for the tight corridor right at the end of the game, the one that's full of laser soldiers who respawn if you move too far left or right. If you duck as soon as they appear, they fire 1 laser and then back away to the right and despawn.

As for your hint about swapping turtles at any time... I already knew that. I've played the game a few times before. I used to own the Spectrum version, and got close to the end of it.

I still think it's a pretty bad game.

In regards to 'The Immortal', I wouldn't judge the NES version based on the Genesis (although the Genesis version is widely considered to be the definitive one). NES Immortal seems more "video gamey" in comparison. I never played it beyond the first floor so I can't comment on the most frustrating parts of the game like the "step on the wrong pixel and get eaten by a giant worm room" or the "levitate uncontrollable down the spider corridor" (actually that last part might not even be in the NES version so that would be an improvement).
The issue with the Genesis version is having to enter the stupid password (which is slot machine style) to continue. 3 deaths than continue, and the game really like to kill you a lot.
I might still give the NES version an attempt before the end of the month since the puzzles are still fresh in my mind.

As for Electronic Arts other NES stuff, I'm not too sure. 'Archon' is okay but probably better off as a player-vs-player game.
'Skate or Die! 2' is decent. The controls are what holds it back. It's one of those games where you initiate moves by holding the fire button down then press in the direction that you have the ability mapped to. I would still recommend it with a stiff warning about the learning curve.

Also I really only like Tecmo for Ninja Gaiden (NES and XBOXs) and Rygar (NES and PS2).

He really wanted that pop at whatever cost!

Let's break it down:

So, I'm a bit lukewarm on Tecmo's NES offerings as a whole. Sure, it had great games like Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3, and interesting games like Samurai Pizza Cats and Fire & Ice (nothing quite like Fire & Ice on a soft, sunny Spring morning), but I really don't care about sports. Sure, you have NBA Jam and Culture Brain's Super Ultra Baseball (Baseball Simulator) games, but Tecmo Bowl didn't win over my heart like it did the masses. Honestly, I don't even remember the NES version of Obocchamakun, for how fucked up the TurboGrafx-16 version is. I tried to like Radia Senki: Remei hen, but I just couldn't get into it; I don't remember why, but something tells me I thought it was a bit on the tedious side? For my money, by the bye, it's Ninja Gaiden 2 for its stages, its visuals, and KALI'S BLOODSTAINED TEETH, the STORY! 3 was also pretty cool, too, but the first one was a little too mundane for me; the best Ninja Gaiden games dive deep into the surreal elements toward the end. I find Seanbaby's writing to be very entertaining, but I don't take him seriously as a reviewer; I like Mighty Bomb Jack and Deadly Towers just fine.

All that said, the SNES had... sports. Okay, so it also had that weird sumo game, Secret of the Stars, and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is, at its best, half-assed, and at worst, ear-damaging. I liked the NES versions of every single one of the Mario games better than their All-Stars counterparts by a mile, but they had some neato backgrounds now and again; Ninja Gaiden has NOTHING to elevate it above the games it's supposed to be improving. Maybe that was the point: make such a shoddy port that it makes the originals seem like masterpieces in comparison. Anyway, I've played enough of Secret of the Stars to get a pretty good feel for it; I think even the first Lufia would accuse it of being basic. Pumpkin spice latte basic.

So although I'm not exactly in love with Tecmo in any era, I do agree that their NES offering was much better than their SNES offering. Of course, that's hardly exclusive to them; Sunsoft was great on the NES, and had a very distinct sound, whereas their SNES games were largely unremarkable, even if Road Runner's Death Valley Rally may be one of the most overlooked Sonic clones of all time.

I never did get to note this down on the RPG Classics shrine, but one thing I discovered is that your Level has a HUGE influence on hit rate.

That might be a good chance to knock out some Genesis Classics games on PS4/Switch, and some of the games that aren't on there that I have on my Pi. Maybe November, or early next year. I'm going through Dark Moon, Sweet Home, and Luigi's Mansion 1 3DS when that hits. I've also got Eternal Darkness, Kouldelka, Shadow Hearts, Dino Crisis, RE Survivor, and RE Dead Aim lined up for future Spooktober games.

Also, you could probably just emulate Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2 if you can't get the patch to work on the Retron5. I mean, you DO own the cart.

That's a classic! Frustrating as hell, to be sure, but it has a very charming atmosphere to it; classic Hudson. I remember playing it with friends of mine, but unlike watching them, I couldn't find any of those damn power-ups to turn me into Macho Riki; no idea where they could've been.

I actually didn't; I think I might've found a few here and there, but not enough to notice that they were so numerous. I'm glad it has them versus not having them, but that's duct tape over an open wound. Like the TSA having a protocol for laptops left behind because it happens frequently because their protocol for securing them is fucking garbage. Yes, I'm going to keep telling that story.

I didn't get the impression that it was rushed, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't. It was somewhat common for games to loop back in the early days of the NES, depending upon what they were. It was, however, a bit strange to me that they had 4 stages, but 3 biomes; even the 4th stage, with its 4 parts, only has 3 biomes. Why make it 4 parts, then? It almost seems deliberate, but why?

Yeah, I mean, it's a struggle to play through, but I'm always glad that I did when I do; there's an undeniable charm that is undeniably Hudson about it. It's one of those things that I'd love to see realized in 3D; other game franchises have done that, and it usually interests me. I'm not talking Zelda, where they make 2D things 3D and they look NOTHING like the originals (Like-Likes come to mind), but things like Metroid: Other M and Mega Man X7, maligned as they are, did a good job with things like that.

Strategy Wiki doesn't have anything to say about it, and since I don't have a copy of the instruction manual, that's the best I can do. I think that's their logo, but as for why, I couldn't really guess. I actually hadn't put that together until just now.

I haven't quite gotten to really lean into it just yet, to be honest, but I am enjoying what I've experienced thus far. Little Ninja Bros. is Culture Brain through-and-through; highly experimental, and developing a love-hate relationship with it throughout. I think I'm only going to be tackling things I've never beaten before, myself, but I might just extend it until all of my non-hacks are done, however long that's going to take. I can't say I'm not glad that you've convinced me to do this, though.

Congratulations on conquering your backlog! Amazing!

Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I'll give Caravan Shooting Collection a try and let you know how I fare.

When am I supposed to be playing TMNT? This month? I already have the overworld theme stuck in my head in preparation.

It wasn't SO easy to the point where it got boring. I did have to continue a couple times. A hard mode would have been welcome, admittedly.

Creative design is what makes it stand out. In a genre that's very easy to copy and paste everything other develops are doing, they didn't do that.

Ooh, let me know your feelings on Little Ninja Brothers when you're done! I concede that its a better game from an objective point of view, but Super Ninja Boy is so entrenched in my childhood that I can't help but prefer it.