Round 7 - R-Type Leo (US Version)!

Round 7 is: R-Type Leo (US Version).
Goal: See how far you can get on 3 credits.

R-Type Leo is a horizontal shmup developed by Nanao and published by Irem.

This is a fun game that I've had positive experiences with in the past. It's nowhere near as difficult as the original R-Type which is brutally punishing.

There is a US version and a Japanese version. The main difference is that the US version lets you restart where you were when you die, whereas the Japanese version has restart points, similar to the original R-Type.

We decided to go with the US version since we are American and French (and not Japanese robots), so it will give us a better chance of getting to the end   :)

Let's go go go and have fun with this one!!!

Round 6 - My Super Mario Bros 3 - Post Mortem and Screenshots

Sweet. Thanks for humoring me and playing that :)    I've always loved SMB.

My Super Mario Bros 3 was a very difficult SMB level set, at least as hard as "the lost levels" if not harder. World 3-1 was particularly brutal.

Results:

organic io: Finished (World 6 final)
A-Lin: World 3 Castle

I played it again tonight to take screenshots and see if I could discover levels 5-3 and 5-4, however I still couldn't find them, I think they don't exist. It just goes from 5-2 to 6-final.

Screenshot time!


2-1 - This is the extra lives loop exploit   :)

2-2

 

 2-3

 

 Castle 2, make sure you choose the right way to go   :)

 

 3-1 , probably the most difficult level in the game. Massive jumping puzzle at this point and beyond that is very challenging

 

 3-2

 

 3-3

 

 Castle 3. Indeed very difficult. You have to stay on the floating platform and get through all the fireballs and turtles. Intense.

 

 4-1

 

 4-2

 

 4-3

 

 Castle 4. Lots of jumping on moving platforms

 

 5-1

 5-2

 World 6 final. It's the last level. Challenging, but not as bad as 3-1.

Awesome! Tell me what you want to play next?

Retro Lookback: Little Nemo - The Dream Master

Not really a game I want to do for a club round, but just wanted to give some appreciation to one of my favorite platformers of all time. I played this a ton when I was a kid and it is definitely one of the best NES games.

I played through it tonight and took screenshots. The game is highly recommended for its unique atmosphere, graphics, music, and superb gameplay. With the music and the level design, the game really does have a surreal dreamlike quality.

Basically the premise is that you befriend animals by giving them candy, and then you can become the animal and take on their powers temporarily. There are quite a few different animal powers. If they had been around at the time, I'm sure the Wild Kratts would have approved   :)

Each level has an exit which requires a certain number of keys, but you don't know how many keys until you get there. Hopefully you collect them all during the level. Some of the levels have a pseudo non-linear layout so you can do a decent bit of exploration.

Let's get started...   :)

 

 From the catchy title screen music, you know you're in for a treat. 

 

Level 1, Mushroom Forest. Beautiful

 The frog has high jumping powers and is also a strong swimmer

The Mole can dig

 

Level 2: Flower Garden

 

The ape is the strongest animal in the game. Beware, this section is the 1st in the series of "what the heck were they thinking with the level design?"

The Bee can fly and also shoot stingers

 

Level 3: House of Toys. Probably the most iconic level in the game. It has the same theme as the 1st level in the Nemo arcade game. This level is very difficult. 

 

Most of the level has you riding a toy train and dodging various airplanes and hot air balloons

 

This part is #2 in the "what the heck were they thinking" level design decisions. These flying squirrels are hiding behind spikes, and they come out at random times and random heights. You will die many times trying to get past this section.

 Here's what the door at the end of levels looks like

 

Level 4: Night sea. Fairly relaxed atmosphere with some chill music. Not too hard of a level but fun. Lots of swimming involved.

 The crab can burrow under the sand

Cool shipwreck

You can also be this big red fish but it's not very useful since Nemo can already swim

 

Level 5: Nemo's house. This is a difficult level with a fairly non-linear design

 

You'll find yourself switching creatures a lot here

 This is #3 in what the heck were they thinking....   This is about 3/4ths the way through the level and really hard. If you die here from these eggs, you have the start all the way at the beginning.

 

Level 6: Cloud Ruins. The least memorable level of the game. It's just not very challenging or interesting

 Cool fallen clock tower

 

You have to jump down from all these clouds, it just goes on forever..

 Level 7: Topsy-Turvy. It's an upside down house. The shading is pretty clever. It's an OK level but nothing special

 

 Level 8: Nightmare land. It's difficult and full of dangers

 

1st boss: Penguin

 

Next section of nightmare land after you beat the penguin. Shortly after this screenshot is #4 in the what were they thinking series. There is a section where you have to take the lizard through all these fire spouts and it is really difficult to get to the top without dying.

Boss 2: Some weird flying stingray thing. It's really hard because he flies through the middle of the screen to try to hit you 

 

Oh man. I've only been this far a few times. I think (?) this is the last section of nightmare land. But I died, and it took me all the way back to the first section of nightmare land when I continued. When I started dying during the lizard/fire section, I gave up. No wonder I have never beaten this game before. 

One day, Nemo, one day I will beat you!!!!  But that day is not today. 

Nevertheless, Little Nemo: The Dream Master -- An absolute classic and highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in 2d platformers. 

:)

-organic io

Round 6!

Round 6 will be Mario NES Builder.

The "game" I have chosen for it is called "My Super Mario Bros 3". Having no relationship to the actual Super Mario Bros 3.

Made by author DUICU ALEXANDRU who seems to be one of the better level designers for this thing.

This is probably one of the hardest sets of levels I tried out, although it is still labeled as "intermediate".  There are some fairly hard jumping puzzles that were a decent challenge for a SMB veteran like me and I hope they don't get you too frustrated.

Here's a link to the level on the NES Builder page:
http://www.marionesbuilder.com/Pages/Game.aspx?gameID=7096

To download them is weird, you have to rename them to .mario extension, otherwise they don't work with the game. Or you can download it directly here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzdt-l1mY0e_ek1NZGhpanJDXzA/view?usp=sharing

Screenshots of the first 4 levels:

 

This is just level 1-1, I love it   :) 

Watch out for this gap

Interesting architecture

This is the aforementioned jumping puzzle. I find it fun   :) 

 

Things are starting to get devious once you get to the first Bowser's castle..

 

Well, there you have it. Round 6 will run as long as we like, until we get tired of this. When we finish or get tired of this set, we can either choose a different Mario NES Builder set, or we can end the round and pick a totally different game   :)