Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Angry Video Game Nerd Takes On The NES Treasure Master Contest

Remember that old contest for NES Treasure Master? I do and I wanted to play it but I could only get two NES games per year from my parents and Treasure Master didn't make it to the top of my list. Good thing too because the game doesn't actually look very fun. I always thought i'd be able to beat the game to win the prize and it seems like the Angry Video Game Nerd thought the same thing.

Making My Way Through Metroid: Norfair Complete, Ridley Up Next!

When I bought the original NES Metroid I had already completed Super Metroid and played the heck out of Metroid II on Gameboy. I was at the store and had $20 and wanted to walk away with a new game and Metroid on NES was $20. At that time we were all pretty deep into the Super Nintendo era and heading back to the Nintendo Metroid didn't sit well with me then. I played the game a little bit and used the Justin Bailey code to actually beat the game but I didn't put in any serious time with it.

After getting an NES Classic I decided to come back and look at the original Metroid fresh. Does the original NES Metroid hold up or would I never really be able to enjoy this... Read All When I bought the original NES Metroid I had already completed Super Metroid and played the heck out of Metroid II on Gameboy. I was at the store and had $20 and wanted to walk away with a new game and Metroid on NES was $20. At that time we were all pretty deep into the Super Nintendo era and heading back to the Nintendo Metroid didn't sit well with me then. I played the game a little bit and used the Justin Bailey code to actually beat the game but I didn't put in any serious time with it.

After getting an NES Classic I decided to come back and look at the original Metroid fresh. Does the original NES Metroid hold up or would I never really be able to enjoy this game?

Metroid Is Awesome If You Have A Map

Well, come to find out, I really like the original Metroid quite a bit but that doesn't mean it doesn't come with a few things to consider. Firstly the original Metroid is difficult and doesn't hold your hand in any way to make it obvious what you are supposed to do. So if you expected to jump in and have the game help you figure out what to do you're gonna have a bad time. Unless you want to map out the whole game yourself, which you can totally do and honestly how we used to do it. As a youngster I had to map out the original Legend of Zelda so I could beat it because it's impossible to do otherwise. Metroid is no different because of my limited amount of time playing games these days, using a map is essential.

All that to say, I picked up Nintendo's "Playing with Power" guide last year and it includes a really great Metroid map I've been using to play the game. It's fun to look at the map, figure out what to do next and then make it to that point and then refer back to the map. Modern games bring the map in game, as Super Metroid does, but doing it the old way, with a Nintendo guide handy and has been a fun experience.

Metroid Is Ultra Hard, Until You Get Certain Items

Metroid is hard as hell until you get about 3 energy tanks and the Varia suit then it gets much simpler. In fact i'd say Metroid, so far, went from "SUPER CRAZY HARD MODE" to "completely fine mode" the more I play. Since I am making my way through each zone, collecting each missile, item and energy tank I'm pretty well set right now and as such the game has really lessened in terms of difficulty. I'm on my way to take on Ridley now and the difficulty might spike again, but so far things have got much easier.

Metroid is a classic NES game that, until now, hasn't really clicked with me. But playing it now, with a really detailed map and making a breakthrough in terms of being better at playing the game i've reached a pretty fun high of enjoyability. If you don't have any prior experience with the original Metroid and want to give it a shot I seriously recommend you look into some good maps to chart a course through the game. You can take the game at it's own terms and map it yourself, but if you are a bit crunched for time using a guide will save you time and some heartache.

Commodore Is Boarding The Remake Train With The C64 Mini!

With the launch of the crazy popular Super Nintendo Classic other companies want to board the console remake money printing train. The Ataribox is looking to do that and now Commodore wants a piece with the C64 Mini. The C64 mini is a bit more interesting as it is a pretty faithful representation of the original Commodore keyboard system with full HDMI output and USB support. It comes with the base C64 mini system, HDMI cable, Joystick and 64 games including California Games, Uridium, Paradroid, Hawkeye, Nebulus and Monty Mole.

The Commodore 64 was the computer I start programming on so I was wondering if they'd allow you to program on it and it seems they well.

"As... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 10/02/2017 at 03:32pm

Outside of the C64 enthusiasts, I don't see a big market for this. Maybe I will be wrong.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/02/2017 at 03:39pm

> I don't see a big market for this. Maybe I will be wrong.

There isn't but it's still a cool idea. I'm wondering how much of a C64 recreation it will be? Like if it's wrapping a C64 emulator thad be kind of cool.

I think.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/02/2017 at 04:44pm

Before my family had PC, we had a Commodore 128D. That is how I learned BASIC, too. I ended up getting some modems for it and was able to get on BBSs. Someone also gave me a bunch of magazines that helped me get started w/ BASIC. I had fun editing programs a bit.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 10/02/2017 at 05:02pm

I learned basic on the Apple ][e. At the time I wanted a C64 instead.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/02/2017 at 08:33pm

We had those Apples in school. My cousin had one, too. I remember playing Oregon Trail on them.

I recently remembered a game on the Commodore called Little Computer People. That was interesting. Mission Impossible was tough and confusing, although I was a kid when we had it. We finally got our first PC in 95, when I was about 15.

hardeyez wrote on 10/02/2017 at 11:57pm

I will buy this in a heartbeat. That was the system I spent a ton of time on (had an early C64, then a 128, then an Amiga 512 and an Amiga 4000/40). I taught myself to program on that, bought all the manuals for it and actually had a job for a local user group cracking games for it (back when that was legal -- stupid DMCA). Sadly I sold off all my hardware during the early days of ebay because it became so valuable (to buy other computer gear :) :) ) This will be a fun throwback.

It has Impossible Mission 1 and II (I played Impossible Mission a ton, 2 not as much but it was still great). If it only had Castles of Dr. Creep... :)

Travis Admin wrote on 10/03/2017 at 03:15am

Since it looks like it'll emulate the original C64, to some extent at least, this could be absolutely incredible for new hobbyists wanting some historical tinkering or people wanting to relive their first experiences. It's intriguing!

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Fallout Is Free On Steam Until September 30th!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/38400/header.jpg?t=1447352407

For the next 24 hours the original Fallout is free on Steam so why not head over and add it to your collection? The original Wasteland adventure calls!

"You've just unearthed the classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game that revitalized the entire CRPG genre. The Fallout SPECIAL system allows drastically different types of characters, meaningful decisions and development that puts you in complete control. Explore the devastated ruins of a golden age civilization. Talk, sneak or fight your way past mutants, gangsters and robotic adversaries. Make the right decisions or you could end up as another fallen hero in the wastelands..."

... Read All

SNES Classic Launch Day

Today is the SNES Classic launch day! I was able to get an in stock order off of Thinkgeek at midnight last night, so I should have mine in a few days. Did anybody else get one?

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/29/2017 at 04:17pm

Even though I had a pre-order on Walmart I wanted to pickup another as a Christmas present. I went to Target and they were sold out. They said they had 60 people in line and sold out in minutes.

Many of my friends picked them up though, one missed out. Hopefully Nintendo can keep stock flowing to stores!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/29/2017 at 04:24pm

The initial launch seemed better than the nes classic. Nintendo said that they are going to produce more units than they did with the nes classic. Hopefully everyone will be able to pick them up at retail price.

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/29/2017 at 04:26pm

Seems like they did produce more units, just not enough for everyone on launch day.

> Hopefully everyone will be able to pick them up at retail price.

I agree.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/29/2017 at 04:58pm

Man, looking at the games list again... it's *really* hard to stay away from this one!

Travis Admin wrote on 09/29/2017 at 05:10pm

I was in the same boat as Jon-- struck out at Walmart and Target. If I didn't have on on preorder I would have gotten there at like 6 to get in line. Still waiting on that shipping notification. Hopefully all goes well!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/29/2017 at 06:07pm

You need one Adam!

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/29/2017 at 06:56pm

Yes Adam, yes you do.

https://m.popkey.co/0fcdd8/7gJQk.gif

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/29/2017 at 09:55pm

If everyone wants to load up on the PDF manuals for the original games you can download them from Nintendo here:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clvs/manuals/en_us/index.html

ALSO the original manual for Earthbound was the Players Guide which is a full walkthrough / Nintendo Power style guide available for free to download. Pretty awesome.

The Secret of Mana manual has a walkthrough for the first part of the game up to Underground Palace. FFIII manual has a walkthrough up to the point where you choose the which characters to follow.

Ben_Dodson wrote on 09/30/2017 at 01:48am

I checked online Thursday and found that my local Walmart was getting 30. Also accross the parking lot at the Game Stop, they verified that they had 16 extras after pre-orders. Living in a smaller town I had a good chance. So I headed out at 4:am. Surprisingly I was not the first one in line. Two other guys showed up about 10 minuets before I did. Then more streamed in after I arrived at 4:30.

About 5:45 the Walmart manger came out and informed us she had 12 left in stock. In Confusion I asked “the count showed 30 last night.” She said they sold 1/2 last night at midnight. The end of the line was not happy, but they made their way accross the parking lot to wait 4 more hours until Game Stop opened. 6:10am this morning I paid $79 and went home and played my heart out. That is until my phone kept reminding me I had customers to go see.

It was an early morning but worth the lost sleep. It has been a fun day geeking out on SNES memories and making new ones with my boys.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/30/2017 at 05:16am

That's super awesome, Ben!

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/30/2017 at 05:56am

What games have you all been playing the most of?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/30/2017 at 04:22pm

When I get mine I am going to fire up super mario rpg. The mario rpg’s are so much fun!

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/01/2017 at 04:29am

So my brother brought his new SNES Classic to my Mom's tonight and we were playing it. It's actually better than I thought it would be. The Operating System menu is very similar the NES Classic but the menu music is different. The games lineup is crazy great, which when your scrolling through it is just really surprising they pulled it all together the way they did.

I think the standout thing for me is that the two included controllers have much better action than the NES Classic controller. Not a fan of the buttons on the NES Classic, I think they are too mushy but the SNES Classic controllers are darn near perfect. The didn't print L or R on the top of the shoulder buttons but everything else is the same. I didn't realize there was a bumpy matte finish on the SNES Controllers but apparently there is but we played with our original controllers so much we simply wore it down. When I came home I picked up my original SNES Controllers and the SNES Classic ones really are a nearly perfect recreation of them.

The games look incredible in HD and the selection is great. I think Nintendo blew this one WAY out of the park. Christmas can't come soon enough.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/02/2017 at 03:17pm

Looks like the SNES classic is the same hardware as the NES classic:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-snes-mini-teardown-confirmed-recycled-nes-mini-tech

Travis Admin wrote on 10/03/2017 at 03:12am

That's not at all surprising. How long until someone combines the software so you can play them all in one package?

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/05/2017 at 04:52am

Breakdown of the SNES Classic value if you bought all the game straight up and how long to complete them all.

TLDR; it’s a solid value

https://www.vgprice.com/article/snes-classic-analyzed-playtime-and-price-breakdown

Timogorgon Member wrote on 10/06/2017 at 02:46am

lol, Earthbound kind of screwed up the average cost of the games there. :P

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/06/2017 at 03:37am

I got my SNES classic today. I focused on Super Mario World and had a blast. The controllers feel great, and the system feels responsive.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/06/2017 at 09:40pm

If anybody wants a pdf version of the Starfox 2 manual here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3d56xdbtys0y0u2/StarFox2%20Manual.pdf?dl=0

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/11/2017 at 11:06pm

Holy crap, my wife just surprised me with an SNES Classic!

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/12/2017 at 02:33am

> Holy crap, my wife just surprised me with an SNES Classic!

That's a great surprise. Let us know which on your play first.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/12/2017 at 04:58am

Awesome Adam!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/12/2017 at 06:13am

I had to fire up Super Mario World first, because that just felt right. But I didn't play it long. I then bounced around a hunch of games and got my butt handed to me in Contra, Ghouls'N Ghosts, F Zero, Super Street Fighter and Star Fox.

Star Fox 2 was an interesting experience. I had to beat the first stage of Star Fox to unlock it, but that was fairly simple. Once I reversed controls on Star Fox 2, I beat it in about 45 mins, but I got a D grade. That one will be fun to go back and try to improve each time. The game starts out with a similar looking space map to the first game, but you can choose to fly anywhere in it. Andross is back and attacking your home world. You can choose to shoot down incoming bombs, or save other planets or fight destroyers. It's like a RTS game, where you have to plan out where you're going to attack whilst your planet is getting attacked. There's also some mech levels, where your ship transforms to a mech. These were incredibly easy, but ended up being my favorite part of the game.

I can't wait to find some time to dedicate to the RPGs in this system, but I didn't start up any tonight :)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/12/2017 at 02:23pm

And your wife never saw you again...

Star Fox 2 is that short? That is disappointing.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/12/2017 at 04:36pm

It was short, but will be replayable, since things on the map are moving in "real time" you can choose to go about your objectives many different ways. There are also multiple difficulty levels to up the challenge. I liked it, but yeah, it did feel short.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/12/2017 at 05:50pm

Does it feel like a complete game? The shortness of the game might be another reason why they never released it.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/12/2017 at 06:02pm

The end does have a "did I beat the game or the first full mission?" feel, but then the credits roll and you know it's over. I am guessing there was more planned for the game, but they realized the SNES was on the way out so they threw together what they had into a game to try and not be cancelled completely.

Now that I think of it, the end boss battle was a pretty big disappointment. I was glad at the time that it wasn't difficult, because I wanted to beat the game, but it wasn't a satisfactory win. (I feel like I'm talking myself out of enjoying the game at this point lol)

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/13/2017 at 02:56am

I think short games are OK.

I just checked out how long the average playthrough is and it's 45 minutes. From everything I read of StarFox 2 is looked like that was the full game and they were gonna ship it and Nintendo shelved it because of the Nintendo 64 coming out.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=9036
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/exclusive-legendary-star-fox-coder-on-series-history-surprise-sequel-launch/

Now that you mention how short it is I want to play it more. IN A WORLD WITH 60 ZILLION HOUR GAMES I kind of like the idea of a short experience that isn't too hard.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/13/2017 at 02:25pm

Short games are ok, but I imagine Nintendo wanting to charge full price for a 45 minute game, and it kind of pisses me off. I don't think the game should be judged on that though. Just a bias I have.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Is Now Available On iTunes & Google Play!

I am very excited to let you know that Cheerful Ghost Radio is now available for you to subscribe to on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher & Soundcloud, and more to come soon! We wanted to wait to publish the show more broadly until we had a good amount of episodes "in the can" and with the release of "Episode 5 - Epistle 3 Story Time" we felt it was time to push the button.

If you have access to iTunes, the Apple Podcast App, Google Play or Stitcher I ask that you head over, subscribe and rate the show and leave a comment. Those comments and ratings really help us reach a wider audience and that's something we'd love to see the show get more of. We think the show is... Read All

Samus Returns Will Be One Of The Games At The Nintendo World Championships!

This years Nintendo World Championship 16 qualifiers have been chosen and are heading to NYC to battle for determining who is the best Nintendo player in the land on October 7th! One interesting bit of news that came today was the Nintendo is selected Samus Returns on 3DS to be one of the games played at this years World Championship. To get the players ready for the challenge Nintendo is sending them a new 2DS and the game which is a nice way to get everyone up to speed on the game.

I'm adding a Championship event to the Cheerful Ghost calendar so if you are interested in watching this live with me and head over to the events page click join and then click to add the... Read All

Emulators Are Our Friends - Atlus Files DMCA Takedown Of RPCS3 PS3 Emulator

As a lifelong gamer and someone that wants to preserve digital culture I support emulators. I also want people to buy the games they play because it's not only required by law but it's also ethical and moral to financially compensate people that create things you love. So when I recently bought Snake Rattle & Roll on the NES I didn't have a problem playing a ROM of it too. Partly because, in many cases the ROM is the best option for the platform but also because I hail from the 90's and cassette and VHS taping was part of how I grew up. It was pretty common to buy a CD dub it on tape to listen to in your car and later on rip that CD to listen to it on your MP3... Read All As a lifelong gamer and someone that wants to preserve digital culture I support emulators. I also want people to buy the games they play because it's not only required by law but it's also ethical and moral to financially compensate people that create things you love. So when I recently bought Snake Rattle & Roll on the NES I didn't have a problem playing a ROM of it too. Partly because, in many cases the ROM is the best option for the platform but also because I hail from the 90's and cassette and VHS taping was part of how I grew up. It was pretty common to buy a CD dub it on tape to listen to in your car and later on rip that CD to listen to it on your MP3 player.

Recently Atlus, the developers of Persona, issued a DMCA copyright notice to RPCS3 the developers of the PS3 Emulator. I'll copy Atlus's post below.

"You might have heard earlier today that we issued a DMCA takedown notice involving emulation developer group RPCS3 and their Patreon page. Yes, it’s true. We settled upon this action for two reasons:

1. We believe that our fans best experience our titles (like Persona 5) on the actual platforms for which they are developed. We don’t want their first experiences to be framerate drops, or crashes, or other issues that can crop up in emulation that we have not personally overseen. We understand that many Persona fans would love to see a PC version. And while we don’t have anything to announce today, we are listening! For now, the best way to experience Persona 5 is on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

2. We appreciate the awareness generated by the emulation community for Persona 5 and know that it is a fantastic example of how much people are loving our game. We want to keep bringing you titles like Persona 5. Unfortunately, when our content is illegally circumvented and potentially made available for free, in a format we do not think delivers the experience and quality we intend, it undermines our ability to do so by diverting potential support from new audiences."

I'm not a lawyer so i'm not going to say anything about if what Atlus did was legal or not. With that, emulators aren't just things that enable piracy they also allow people to play games on modern systems while not needing to repurchase them yet again. I can see why Atlus might want people to repurchase their games on PC if they were to port them but why is it bad that you can play your old PS3 games on a modern PC? They said it's because of a bad framerates and such but that seems like a really contrived reason.

I also love it when companies release older games with the "HD re-release" treatment giving me yet another reason to open my wallet to buy it. Or even just re-releasing the game on PC is more than enough to get people to buy it again, which some people love to do.

As someone that had their PS3 die and be left with an orphaned library of PS3 games I can say that a good PS3 emulator would have saved me some heartache. In the end I got a friends old system and that works out great but sometimes just playing your old games on a PC is a better option.

http://atlus.com/atlus-and-emulation/

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 5 - Epistle 3 Story Time

On this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we talk about the Switch getting better third party support, and ponder whether the Switch is the Nintendo console of our dreams. Then, we discuss Epistle 3, the plot summary Mark Laidlaw released of what Half Life 2: Episode 3 might have been.

New Game Mode, Levels, and Daisy As a Playable Character Coming to Super Mario Run September 29

A couple weeks back, Super Mario Run dropped off of the App Store, leading to speculation as to why. It came back with an update for "bug fixes" a little while later. In that time, one player claimed to have received an update with a new game mode. Presumably, the update was released earlier, was taken down to prevent more people playing it, and the bug fix update was to get the few people who got it back to the pre-update state.

The big news from that rumor was a new mode. Here's what the source said at the time:
When starting up X 10 Run for the first time, players are told that Princess Daisy is in trouble, and it’s up to the player to rescue her. X 10 Run asks for... Read All A couple weeks back, Super Mario Run dropped off of the App Store, leading to speculation as to why. It came back with an update for "bug fixes" a little while later. In that time, one player claimed to have received an update with a new game mode. Presumably, the update was released earlier, was taken down to prevent more people playing it, and the bug fix update was to get the few people who got it back to the pre-update state.

The big news from that rumor was a new mode. Here's what the source said at the time:
When starting up X 10 Run for the first time, players are told that Princess Daisy is in trouble, and it’s up to the player to rescue her. X 10 Run asks for Toad Rally Tickets to allow you to play, and consists of 10 quick, 10-second levels where the player collects three rainbow coins before reaching the Goal Pole. The more rainbow coins collected, the closer the player gets to a chance to hit a giant Rainbow ? Block that gives bigger items to be used in Kingdom Builder, such as Toad Houses. As far as our source could tell, there was no penalty for not collecting all three coins — you were rewarded just for completing the levels.

Up until now, this was just rumor, and I didn't want to write about it and get people's hopes up. But now, let me proceed to get your hopes up! It appears that the rumors were true. Apple dropped some news today about the new update, coming September 29.

Amongst the new features:

A new game mode (Remix 10) in which you go through quick mini-levels in order to save Daisy.

Daisy as a playable character, once you save her in the aforementioned mode.

A new world with nine more levels to explore.

New items to build in your world.

Other neat stuff.

Since the news is only available on the App Store in iOS 11, someone was kind enough to screencap the full announcement:
https://imgur.com/a/Db6fw

And since that rumor is confirmed, here's the original report about what the one player who has played it experienced. Since this was released earlier than planned, things may be different from what this person experienced, but it should give you a good idea:
https://nintendowire.com/news/2017/09/05/rumor-new-mode-coming-super-mario-run/

Also, if you've been holding off on unlocking the full game, wait until September 29. There's a 50% off sale starting then, and lasting for two weeks!