Can Sega-16 Beat Every Genesis Game in 2013? - The Official Thread!

[Raistlin]

I think goldenband deserves a medal for beating that godforsaken game.

To be honest I like that game but then.... I seem to like nearly every game so that doesn't mean anything special.

[goldenband]

^Heh, I actually kind of found myself enjoying it too, even though the 2nd level was very frustrating before I figured it out.

I think you and I are of similar minds in that way. I find something strangely addictive about certain games with a bad reputation, e.g. Dark Castle, Sword of Sodan. They frequently offer a kind of challenge that I find more engaging than most allegedly "superior" games, and they're often short and compact, which makes it more tempting to keep trying.

And: you're very welcome! Glad it could help.

BTW do I recall correctly that Cyber-Cop (Corporation) is one of the few games you hate? Have you seen this longplay? I'm almost tempted to challenge you to take it on. I'm trying to think of which games I hate: usually cynical titles that blatantly cheat or seem devoid of content, I guess, and Onslaught and Doom Troopers are the main ones that come to mind. Warrior of Rome is borderline, but at least the designers seem to have meant well. I really disliked Exile too.

@Cornelius: Thanks, man!

[midnightrider]

So is anyone actually keeping track of what's been completed, and what's left?

As bad as you might think Last Action Hero is, the U.S. release for the SNES version is worse. It's missing some of the moves you have otherwise(and probably more stuff, if it's missing controls), which are included in it's European version.

[goldenband]

So is anyone actually keeping track of what's been completed, and what's left?

Behold, and be glad of heart. 473 games beaten so far, 217 left. Anything there you're up for taking down?

As bad as you might think Last Action Hero is, the U.S. release for the SNES version is worse. It's missing some of the moves you have otherwise(and probably more stuff, if it's missing controls), which are included in it's European version.

Yeah, I've read that the SNES version is actually hampered by having more detailed animations...which lead to worse control lag!

[midnightrider]

SNES Last Action Hero:
Yeah it's weird, the U.S. version is almost like an incomplete beta, while the European version feels more complete.


As for the topic:
I'm guessing a year just isn't enough time. With less than 2 months to go, I don't see 217 completions.

Heh, is it even possible to beat a falling block puzzle game? I know Columns III is competitive like Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, but is it even possible to beat the 1st Columns?

I'm in the middle of Wonder Boy in Monster World, but I could take a stab at Desert Demolition afterward. Almost beat it with Road Runner a little while back.

[goldenband]

As for the topic:
I'm guessing a year just isn't enough time. With less than 2 months to go, I don't see 217 completions.

Well, we've talked about this before. At least two major contributors (StarMist and Bones Justice) disappeared shortly into the year, which was a real drag. Obviously it'll take a left-field miracle for us to even come close to finishing the last 217, but there's no reason not to try.

And if we do this again in a year or two, we've laid some good groundwork since we now know how to beat games like The Last Action Hero, some of the sports games that Night Driver has taken down, etc., thanks to all the informative posts people have made. (Heck, that motivates me to go after No Escape, another game with practically nothing about it on the web.)

The NES people at NintendoAge didn't beat the full set until their third attempt; we're already doing better than they did on their first two tries. (They're struggling this year, partly because they included unlicensed games.)

Heh, is it even possible to beat a falling block puzzle game? I know Columns III is competitive like Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, but is it even possible to beat the 1st Columns?

SpaceFlea has gotten to Level 199 in the past on Arcade mode, and I've beaten Flash Columns on Pro 9. The latter is certainly clear-cut, and I thought SpaceFlea might take a run at his previous achievement, but like many folks, he dropped out shortly after the start of the project for whatever reason.

And again, part of the point of this was to figure out what games can in fact be "beaten", and/or what the minimum standard should be if there's no clear ending. Most have some sort of viable win condition, but a few have turned out to be meaningless (e.g. Caesar's Palace).

I'm in the middle of Wonder Boy in Monster World, but I could take a stab at Desert Demolition afterward. Almost beat it with Road Runner a little while back.

Cool, that'd be appreciated.

[Raistlin]

I think you and I are of similar minds in that way. I find something strangely addictive about certain games with a bad reputation, e.g. Dark Castle, Sword of Sodan. They frequently offer a kind of challenge that I find more engaging than most allegedly "superior" games, and they're often short and compact, which makes it more tempting to keep trying.



BTW do I recall correctly that Cyber-Cop (Corporation) is one of the few games you hate? Have you seen this longplay? I'm almost tempted to challenge you to take it on. I'm trying to think of which games I hate: usually cynical titles that blatantly cheat or seem devoid of content, I guess, and Onslaught and Doom Troopers are the main ones that come to mind. Warrior of Rome is borderline, but at least the designers seem to have meant well. I really disliked Exile too.

@Cornelius: Thanks, man!

Yeah that's exactly how I feel. I had a blast playing Sword of Sodan and i couldn't stop until I beat that final boss.^^
I liked Doom Troopers and Exile but with Onslaught I agree. That is such a stupid game....unbelievable.

Yeah you remember right I really hate Cyper Cop. My girlfirend often tease me asking me if I don't want to play that beautiful game.^^ So maybe with the help of the longplay I should really try it......ummm Yeah I will do so.

BTW: I couldn't motivate myself to try The Tick again but I will before the end of the year. Trampoline Terror did not arrive. There were some problems with the post office and the sender got it back and sent it anew. So I still wait to get that game and will finish it as soon as it arrives.

[sjorspion]

Cheap death alert!
The main problem with this game is that a lot of times you have to do a 'leap of faith'
With some of these jumps you have to use Taz Tornedo-spin to reach it, but his spin is so fast that most of the times I slipped off on the other side.
Graphics are plain and simple, the music totally forgettable..... oh well at least it's better than Taz on the Snes..:P

This was my second Mega-drive game ever, so I remembered some cheap death/jumps.
As I kid I could never get past the frickin' mine levels..OMG! The difficulty (a.k.a cheap deaths) ramps up!
I HATED that mine cart and elevator-level, especially the jump from the elevator that moves in a 8-figure to the falling elevators just under a ledge.
But when you get past the mine levels, it's not very hard to finish...
IMAG0136.jpgIMAG0137.jpgIMAG0138.jpgIMAG0140.jpg

[goldenband]

@Raistlin: Cool, let us know how it goes. I suspect that once you can make sense of it (which I haven't been able to do), it'll turn out to be quite playable. (Whether it's fun is another question...)

@sjorspion: Awesome. I think I played Taz-Mania on Practice difficulty once for ~30 min., got stuck on the mine carts, and said "To hell with this game!"

[Cornelius Spunkwater]

The kind of people who have a blast playing Sword of Sodan are the ones I don't want to meet in a dark alley.

[Carnavas]

It is done. Warsong is completed.

Warsong 1.jpg

Warsong is very similar to the Shining Force series, in that it is essentially a Strategy/RPG. Whilst I have a fondness for this game, and I do enjoy it, it does have quite a few flaws that bring the game down. Graphically it is very shallow. There's absolutely nothing special or fancy going on here with the visuals or the animation. It's certainly not an ugly game, just very basic looking. The soundtrack is great, although unfortunately there aren't enough tracks to fill the 20 scenarios that make up the game, so you're going to be hearing the tracks repeating...a lot. I also enjoy the story, although the translation is pretty awful and they don't give much characterization at all.

Warsong 4.png

The gameplay itself is pretty simple, you can move, attack, 'treat' (a small heal) or use spells. Different terrain offers defensive bonuses, and units have their strengths and weaknesses, so there is strategy to be found. The gigantic problem is that commanders are completely overpowered and most of the stages, save for one in particular, you can pretty much win without using any troops at all. It's like playing Dynasty Warriors if it were a top down strategy game, your commanders just mow down waves of enemies left and right. The hardest stage by far comes just after the halfway point of the game, whilst the last bunch of stages are very easy. In stage 18 you can use the Earthquake spell to skip the entire stage, and in stage 19 you can literally kill the enemy commander over a wall immediately from your starting position with your spells. There are clearly balance problems.

All my complaints aside, I still love this game. It's flawed, but entertaining nonetheless. The sequel however is pretty much a masterpiece. I wish that it was on the list!

[midnightrider]

Sjorspion: When you're not trying to beat something, give Escape from Mars a go. That should hopefully be a more enjoyable Taz experience.

For the most part, do we know what all the games are?

For example, I'm not sure how many know that Scooby-Doo Mystery, unlike it's SNES platformer counterpart, is a SCUMM-like graphic adventure game. Might motivate a fan of that kind of game to know that. Though I can see it's pretty covered in the review section of the site.

[goldenband]

@Cornelius Spunkwater: "Hey, kid, have one of these potions...first one's free...you like it? If you really want to fly high, try mixing all four colors together...heh, heh..."

@Carnavas: Nice one! Someday I'd like to take Warsong on; I haven't played nearly enough strategy RPGs on the Genesis. I'll probably do Shining Force first though. I missed out on a CIB copy of Warsong for $20 earlier this year, and I'm still annoyed about it.

@midnightrider: Any information you have would be most welcome, especially if you think games are in danger of being misunderstood/overlooked. I had a vague idea that Scooby-Doo Mystery was point-'n'-click, but I certainly don't know much about most of the remaining games, and many of them -- especially strategy, sim, and sports titles -- are totally terra incognita to me and haven't even been reviewed on the site.

When this thing gets over, we'll owe a big debt of gratitude to Night Driver, who not only has beaten far more sports games than anyone else but has charted out some of these titles for what's basically the first time ever on the Internet, as far as I know. (I'd like to think I've made a modest contribution on the tennis front: had anyone ever beaten Andre Agassi Tennis before?)

[Cornelius Spunkwater]

If you guys need a pick-me-up, I have all these games, so I can take on whatever number of them if needed:

Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble
Captain American & The Avengers
Dinosaurs for Hire
Dune: Battle for Arrakis
Judge Dredd
James Bond 007: The Duel
Kid Chameleon
Mega Bomberman
Ms. Pac-Man
The Ooze
Pirates Gold!
Phantom 2040
Pocahontas
Rambo III
Scooby-Doo Mystery
Superman
Starflight
True Lies
VR Troopers

[Carnavas]

Kid Chameleon would require a mammoth effort from whoever takes it on. I swear that game doesn't ever end.