Ninja Gaiden - One Life Challenge, beat the game

So the official "One credit challenge" over at the (new, improved!) talking time forums is gone, but one member issued a challenge that I took personally. He managed to beat a game, not just on one credit, but on one life. It wasn't just any game - it was Ninja Gaiden.

This game has such amazing memories for me. I got it for my 10th birthday and loved it almost immediately. It just jumped out at me. This platformer featuring a ninja (during the late 80s/early 90s, ninjas were automatically awesome) totally did it for me. It played wonderfully, despite there being some glitches that showed through at the corners. The sticking to walls gave it its own unique feel. And the scenes in between levels (cinema scenes, the instruction booklet called them), gave the game a story as good as my ten year old mind would have hoped for. They made me identify so much more with the main character, Ryu Hayabusa. I used to play through the game, speaking all the dialogue in the cinema scenes, giving each character a different voice (Ryu's voice was my natural voice, of course).

To sum up, I love this game (and its sequels). I love it so much that used to play through it yearly (lately that has changed to bi- or tri-yearly). I love it so much that I use its seminal cinema scene as my avatar in any video game related forum I post to (see the picture in the upper left corner of the title of this blog).

When I heard someone else had done something that I had never done with this game - with my game! - I knew I could not let that stand. So I girded myself and played the game for the first time since 2004.

And I was rusty - It took me two tries to even beat it on one credit.

Finally having done that again, I knew there was one obstacle I would have to overcome in order to beat it on one life: beating Jacquio with no ninja art. You see, at the end of the game is a boss rush of sorts. After you get through stage 6-3, you face the Masked Devil, the Jacquio, and then the demon Jashin one right after another. Your health is restored after each battle, but after the first one, you lose your ninja art and all ninja magic power. So basically, if you want to beat the game on one life, you need to be able to beat the Jacquio and the demon with just your sword. I had beaten the demon with only a sword before, but never the Jacquio.

I tried several times on my own to come up with a strategy to beat him. I was getting a little further, but the best I was able to do was knock him down to half his health. Feeling slightly defeated, I decided to look up some FAQs to see if they could help. Getting a strategy from one of them, I attempted to put that to use. I failed, but I saw how it could be implemented to win. After two or three more tries, I had finally defeated Jacquio with just the dragon sword.

Now came the hard part of beating it in one life. You see, while I pretty much know the game inside and out, things can change slightly depending on what pixel you are on when you jump. And nobody is perfect. So I made many mistakes, dying in levels before the end. When I finally got to the end bosses, I had trouble with the demon and died there twice. Also, I decided if I were to attempt such a monumental task, I wanted to document it. I had my digital camera out and was snapping photographs to document my progress along the way. The need to do this interrupted my flow every so often and caused some death. Finally, though, I did it.

I beat Ninja Gaiden on one life.

I put together a pictorial essay to document it.

All is right in the world.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - One Credit Challenge, 1:55 Round 2

As a kid, I was convinced that I had read or heard from somewhere authoritative that it was impossible to knock out Mike Tyson in this game. You couldn't KO or TKO him, because hey, it was his game and why would he let you do that? He was supposed to be the ultimate boxer, so you couldn't take him down and the only way you could beat him was to win by decision after three rounds. About five years ago, I discovered I was wrong. Today I proved it.

Yesterday, I went through all of the boxers on my way to the top. I think for the Minor and Major circuits, I managed to finish all fights in the first round, or at least without being knocked down. Once in the world circuit, I was finally knocked down once or twice, but made it to Super Macho Man. He was finally able to defeat me, but after being ranked down to number three and then fighting up again, I beat him the next time. Mike Tyson then proceeded to wipe the floor with me. He did so several more times. He is just that much harder than all the other wrestlers (and Mr. Sandman and Super Macho Man are no pushovers).

Today, I just inputted the code to go straight to Tyson. After about a half dozen fights, I finally lasted through the third round and won by decision. After a half dozen more, I finally lived the dream of TKOing Mike Tyson. In Round 2 at 1:55.

I love this game. The cartoony characters are great. Great Tiger, King Hippo and Bald Bull were always my favorites, and Mr. Sandman just because he's from Philly. I'll definitely whip up a review of this in the next few days.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - One Credit Challenge

This week's one credit challenge is one of my favorite NES games. Top 10 for sure.

It's such an ingenious concept. Fight against boxers with ridiculous tells that represent various ethnic stereotypes. You don't really move around the ring, but always face your opponent to dodge, dock, or block and then counter-punch. With the dodging and such in response to the opposing boxer's movements, it is almost a rhythm game. The game works because of the cartoony caricatures of opponents that all have their unique moves. It is just fun, the way that most old-school more arcadey sports games were.

Anyway, the challenge for this week is to knock out Mike Tyson (or Mr. Dream in the version of the game without the ear-biting rapist) in as little time as possible. Now, I did defeat him once in my younger years, but the only way I was able to do it was by decision (go all three rounds and then have 5000 points when it is over). I was never able to KO or TKO iron mike, so this will be difficult.

Trying it last night, I am definitely a bit out of practice. His super uppercuts that knock you down in one hit were destroying me and I never even managed to go three rounds. Oh well, I will persevere because this game is awesome.

Elevator Action - One Credit Challenge, Fourth building

Elevator Action is a good arcade game. Elevator action is not a good NES game.

I don't mean that the graphics suffered horribly in the transition (I actually think they improved a bit) or that the play control is off or even that the game is fundamentally different in any way. From what I can tell, it is a very accurate port.

What I mean is that the game works much better as one that you walk up to in the arcade, put a quarter into, and play until your three lives are gone. Maybe later you come back and try to beat your high score. Perhaps you get really good at it and show off to your friends your skills. The game does a good job of showing that you are a spy, sneaking into a building and stealing documents while avoiding opposition by shooting them or jump-kicking them. As you clear each building, the difficulty gets greater and greater and eventually it is so hard that you just die. This is a well done arcade game.

By the time the NES came along, people wanted something more.

They wanted games that they could progress in. They wanted games that had a beginning, middle, and end. Super Mario Bros. was the definitive NES game because as you played it and got better at it, you progressed further and got to new levels. At the end, you finally rescued the real princess. This was the type of game that gamers expected of the NES.

So, even though Elevator Action's move from arcade to NES was near-seamless, it lost something just for being on a different platform. It went from being a good arcade game to a mediocre NES game. So, I still enjoy it and find it fun to play, but there are many more game I wish my parents had spent their $50 on.

In the 1988 holiday season, I received three games from my parents for my NES (none of which I asked for): Pinball, Hogan's Alley, and Elevator Action. I could have gotten Castlevania, I could have gotten Mega Man, or I could have gotten Metroid. Instead I got those three games. I realize that Pinball and Hogan's Alley were probably discounted, but Elevator Action had just come out. It is probably the best game of the three (though Hogan's Alley is a competent light gun game), but none of them are games that you can just keep playing. After awhile, you just have to put them down. Maybe my parents knew this and this was their plan to make sure I still went outside. But probably not. The memory of those three games still haunts me to this day.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 3

This is definitely an old-school game where you can memorize the sections and, in that way, find the best way to get through a level. The randomly spawning enemies just make it that much more difficult.

I greatly impressed myself by getting to level 3 on one credit. Getting the right weapon helps tremendously. For pretty much all of Level 1, I like the bow. For stage 2, the axe is probably the best weapon in the beginning, though just about any weapon but the bow will do (unless you have one of the armors that powers it up). In the second section of level 2, the dagger is definitely where it's at. The dagger remains pretty good for the beginning of stage 3, in the second section you want the bow again.

After losing my last life toward the middle of stage 3, I continued and kept playing until I beat the stage. Stage 3 actually isn't that difficult and I have hope I can make it to stage 4 on one credit before the week is out.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 2

The GnG series (Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and newcomber PSP game Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins) is notorious for its difficulty. Really notorious. The games are fair, but they are frustrating because they require such precision. Hence it is this week's one credit challenge.

So what makes these games difficult? Well they pretty much all have these play features:

You start out in a suit of armor. One hit from any enemy removes that armor and reduces you to your boxers. Another hit kills you. Also, these games require you to fully commit when you jump. Once you hit the jump button, you are jumping and will land in the place decided by your direction at the time, facing the way you were when you jumping. This isn't a Mario game - there is no way to adjust the trajectory or direction of your jump mid-air. Also, there are always randomly spawning enemies on a level so you cannot purely memorize where everything is, but must be cognizant of where the randomly spawned enemies are.

The game is bright and colorful. It has great music and a variety of weapons you can use. It is fun, but it also makes you throw your controller at the wall in frustration.

Super Castlevania IV - One Credit Challenge, Level A-1

I really shouldn't always die on this level. I generally have at least 3 or 4 lives left when I get here. I just always do something stupid like miss a jump on a rotating gear, or mess up when swinging from the moving whip holds. Oh well, at least I can get most of the way through the game on one credit.

Super Castlevania IV - One Credit Challenge, Level 9-2

This week's one credit challenge over at gamespite.net's talking time forums is Super Castlevania IV. So far, it seems there is a good chance I can beat the game without continuing, just like Kid Icarus.

Yeah, I had never played this game before, but man it is so much easier than the NES Castlevanias (with the possible exception of II). One big thing that contributes to this is omni-directional whipping. In every other Castlevania (including future ones from all I've read), you can only whip horizontally in front of you. In this one, you can whip in any of 8 directions around you. This makes things like bats and the flying medusa heads so much easier to deal with. You also start with more lives and, well, it just takes awhile before there is too much challenge.

Still, it is a very good game. The play control is tight and the jumping is a bit easier to handle than previous Castlevanias. It also has taken a completely different musical direction than the previous games in the series. While previous Castlevanias had a kind of gothic hard rock vibe to them, this one moves to a much more classical feel in its music with more light instruments. Many of the levels sound like they are from a 16-bit era role-playing game, rather than Castlevania. I still like the music, indeed it is quite good. Just different from the Castlevania music I expect.

Apart from taking me forever to figure out what to do when the room spins around you, I had no real trouble with the game until level 8. That level is full of pits, spikes, deadly liquid, and tough enemies. If you aren't killed immediately, it is pretty easy to be taken down. There is also a part with a bunch of platforms that appear and disappear that you must cross. I couldn't figure out any real pattern to their appearing and disappearing and so feel pretty lucky that I passed that.

At some point, I'll just continue after where I left off so I can see more of the game, but it was already past midnight when I got up to level 9-2.

Kid Icarus - One Credit Challenge, Beat the Game

It is done.

I have beaten Kid Icarus without dying.

I passed the reapers in the first world. I passed the annoying thieves that steal your weapon in the second world. I passed the metroids in the third world. I sang the tune I had somehow made up at age 9 when the phrase "Pit equipped himself with the three treasures" appears before world 4. I owned Medusa in possibly one of the easiest final boss fights in history.

I consider myself done with this one credit challenge. Oh sure, I could keep playing until I have the max number of points (999,999) or just keep looping through the game again until I collapse from exhaustion, but I think this is it. I got the best ending, anyway. Giant Pit and kiss from Palutena FTW!

Anyway, this was a ton of fun. I'm glad I stumbled across this opportunity.

Kid Icarus - One Credit Challenge, Level 3-4

So, over at a forum I read, they have started a weekly series called "One Credit Challenge". Basically, each week they pick an older game (generally one that is available on the Wii's virtual console) and people see how far they can get in the game without continuing. I find this idea very compelling as it presents a completely new way to play a game that people just don't do anymore. The first game in the series was R-Type for the TurboGrafx-16, a game which I love but had only played in the arcades previously. Not actually owning the game, I found a way of playing it, but using my computer's keyboard just isn't the same.

Kid Icarus is different. It is a game I do own. In fact, it is one of the first games I owned for my Nintendo. It is also incredibly difficult. Since my parents had gotten me the Nintendo Deluxe Set, I didn't have Super Mario Bros so Kid Icarus was the first serious platformer I had. As if figuring out jump height and momentum (which is a little wonky) weren't bad enough, there are a huge varieties of enemies that come after you and you will get hit. You have a life bar, but this only helps so much. The game has unlimited continues, but since you always start off at the beginning of a stage and they are long, this only helps so much.

One of my clearest childhood gaming memories is finally beating stage 1-2. After a fair amount of attempts, I could beat the first stage, but the second seemed absolutely impossible. Whether it was missing a jump and falling to my death or, more likely, getting beaten down by enemies, I just could not advance much past 2/3 of the way through the stage. Fortunately, I was persistent. It was summer and I was going to a summer day camp. I would get up at around 6:45 each morning and wait for the van to come pick me up around 8. I often had about a half hour between finishing breakfast and the van coming and would often use that to play Kid Icarus. One day it just clicked. I was carefully jumping up the platforms, dodging the enemies swarming around me, and suddenly I realized I was farther than I had ever been. I managed to get the next level and was furiously writing down the password while the van was honking its horn outside.

That was kind of a watershed moment for me. After beating level 1-2, I suddeny "got" platformers. Not that they no longer held challenge for me, but I now knew I could overcome their challenges. It didn't take me nearly as long to beat level 1-3 and I know I managed to beat the game that summer (granted, the game gets significantly easier once you reach the second world).

I had beaten Kid Icarus many times before, but this was a new challenge. Could I do it without dying?

I will repeat here my post in that forum:

Argh! I should have had it.

I made it through 1-4 to the hot spring, and after that it was smooth sailing. I breezed through worlds 2 and 3 to the fortress at the end of 3. And then I didn't remember where the boss was, so I wandered around. Without warning, I managed to find the boss' lair... as an eggplant. My only hope was the one Centurion I had, but he didn't last long.

*sigh*

So, world 3-4. So close.

For those of you having trouble progressing, here are my suggestions for getting so far. (There may be some game mechanic spoilers, so don't look if you want to figure out how everything works for yourself.)

Kill all the enemies you see and don't progress too fast. Generally, every time a new enemy group appears on screen, it appears as a group of four. If you kill that group and take all the hearts from it (or they disappear), the next group of four appears and there will be four such groups of four. Keep killing them for experience (gives you more life at the end of the level and gets your arrow upgrades in special rooms) and hearts. However, if you scroll to fast, the groups will stop appearing and you won't get the whole group of four.

At the beginning of the game, the patterns of the enemies are pretty simple. The little snakes with wings shouldn't be too hard. The red eyeball things float back and forth as a wave and at some point will swoop down toward you. Learn when this is as it is when you can fire vertically or horizontally and hit them. Also, I find that if you are at the far left or right edge of the screen, they will almost always swoop down at you when they hit that side. You should probably also kill the grim reapers. You can get two shots on them when their backs are turned, but watch out as they do quick turns to check behind them every so often. If she calls the reapettes, I have no good advice, but if you are at a spot where you can move between the right and left edges of the screen, it makes dodging them a lot easier.

In the first regular shop, buy a life bottle. In level 1-3, when your life bar should be two bars long, then buy the chalices you have less than one bar of life. Buy a feather when you can as well. Basically, I try to always have a life bottle in reserve. If I have one, I try to at least have one full life bar. If I have that and don't have a feather, I'll get a feather. Two feathers is probably the most you'll ever need. Oh, and the black markets (shops that sell life bottles and feathers at a markup and sell barrels) the only thing you want is a barrel. Unless you are truly desperate or swimming in cash, don't buy anything else there.

Unless you are going to look up the patterns for how to always get all eight treasures in the treasure rooms, they should probably be avoided. You lose five hearts for each treasure you shoot at.

The monster rooms (with the groucho marx glasses enemies) are great sources of hearts. Enemies basically either fly from top left to bottom right and back or from left to right and back (occasionally, you will get a bottom right to top left). Concentrate on not getting hurt over killing enemies so you can collect their hearts. I try to fight my way to the bottom left and from there it is easy to take out any enemy that comes near me. Then I work my way out, taking them on one at a time.

Be sure to get the arrow upgrade in the room toward the end of level 1-2. At the end of level 1-2, you should get a life upgrade (20,000 points) and at the end of level 1-3, another one (50,000 points). Also, be sure to do the challenge with the columns (I always thought they looked like mirrors) that fly at you in the room about 2/3 of the way through 1-3. Choose the rod, as after you beat the first fortress (and recover some health if necessary) you will have two orbs spinning around you that damage enemies.

Anyway, once you beat the first fortress, the game becomes significantly easier. I was never in danger of losing all my health (or even less than two bars) past the hot spring in level 2-1. I did fall twice, so my feathers came in handy, but that was that. Enjoy the metroids in world 3. Just be sure to cure your eggplant condition in the world 3 fortress before wandering into the boss' room. :(