Let's All Play-Current challenge: Beat Outrun - end in one of the bottom 3 goals

[Icarus Moonsight]

Me too, I have 1LC completed this game numerous times... I guess I'm choking.

Found a better place to do the score 1up (multiple 1ups even) with the 3xZombie Holy Water point press. After you do the bat hop short cut and go through the door on the other side, you'll go through the door and be in the hall to the lvl boss. Drop down from the platform to the floor level and walk back towards the door side you just came from and stand where the last column to the left is. You should throw your holy water about where the Zombies drop down from the middle right platform. When the first Zombie of the group of three gets close, chuck your water. Sometimes you can hit a 4000 pt 4th Zombie too. If they are not coming at you from the upper left platform whip or holy water the others until you get consistent groups of three coming from there. I've gotten +/- 90,000 pts after lvl completion.

[j_factor]

Alright, here's the challenge. I kind of over-thought my choice of game. I've enjoyed the challenges so far, but all three of the games were fairly similar -- all side-scrolling action/platformer games on NES. Now it's time for something completely different. I decided to go with something that is neither an NES game nor a side-scroller, and not that much of an action game either. I also didn't want anything too mainstream (inkeeping with the OP's sentiment), but I also wanted something that a lot of people here would have access to (if I picked some random super-obscure PC Engine import, nobody would take up the challenge). I didn't have that many choices of games that fit all of the above criteria. I also didn't put nearly so much thought into the challenge itself. Anyway...

Gain Ground - Genesis, Wii VC, PS2/PSP (Sega Genesis Collection), 360/PS3 (Ultimate Genesis Collection), Genesis emulator
Versions not allowed: Arcade, PC Engine CD, Master System, PS2 (Sega Ages)
Mission: Defeat the Round 3 boss on hard mode

Tips:

- Familiarize yourself with the characters and their different weapons. This is the #1 key to mastering this game. You may want to play a "throwaway game" first just to test out the characters. There's 20 of them, which may sound daunting, but some of them are only minor variations. Take note of the two icons below the character profile, they give you a good hint/reminder of the character's abilities (though not precisely spelling it out).
- Don't try to play it like a quick action game. It's a slow-moving game, and that's a deliberate part of the design. Use a methodical approach.
- Note that hard mode isn't just more difficult, it differs in some important ways. Unlike the other difficulties, you start off with every character. However, you do not have the ability to acquire any new ones through the course of the game. You also have no continues.
- Having every character at your disposal actually makes it easier in some ways. But it means you must beat every level by killing all the enemies, as it's impractical to use the "get everyone to the exit" method (due to the time limit if nothing else).
- It's very important to conserve your characters, as anyone lost is gone for good. If a character gets hit, try to use another character to get him/her to the exit (which will save it). Be aware that you have to get to the exit when doing this -- if you kill the last enemy, the level ends immediately and you still lose the character you're trying to save. Also note that it's impossible to recover a character in a boss level (since there's no exit).
- If you make it to the Round 3 boss with all 20 characters or very close to it, you can easily beat it on sheer attrition.
- This shouldn't be hard, it's only 3/5 of the game, on the same character stock that you would beat the game with (which is difficult to do). I considered having the challenge be to beat it, but I decided against it out of mercy.

[kupomogli]

I'll try it out tomorrow. I've played it once before on the Sega Genesis Collection.

*edit*

Oh yeah. And Gain Ground reminded me of something. One day I was at a Winn Dixie and they had a written sign that said Wet Floor, underlined, then below that Weto Flooro. Obviously they were dumb enough to think that it meant Wet Floor in Spanish I'm guessing, or either being completely racist. Though seeing as they work in a grocery store(and I'm sure many of them have had other jobs,) I'm sure one of them would have noticed a wet floor sign before with piso mojado(wet floor) on one side.

[XYXZYZ]

I have very little experience with Gain Ground, time to start practicing.

[c0ldb33r]

I tried earlier today using the PSP Genesis collection. I made it to round 1-10. It's pretty tough!

[kupomogli]

I finished stage 1 with all 20 characters, stage 2 I started losing some, mostly near the end, came at the end with 12 people. On one of the stages on stage 2 I ended up losing two people that were left over time ran out. Other times I died is when the enemies got more hits to die and I hit them once and moved foward and then ran into them, or running away from the black knights who run fast.

Anyways, on the stage 2 boss there is an exit(the boss with the lightning sword.)

Stage 3 is where the difficulty really ramps up. I lost over half of the people left on 3-1 then the rest on 3-2.

Anyways. Not bad for being the second time I've ever played the game. I made sure to go to options and change it to hard too. Took awhile to get where I got (about 40-50 minutes?)

I'll have to try later on. Tired right now, have to go to work in the morning.
-----
*edit*

Finished. I continued playing until I lost at 4-7. I didn't beat the game but the only thing that had to be done was beat the last mission on stage three on hard.

Playing a second time on stage three, it really wasn't that hard, the fourth one wasn't really hard either I thought. It's just on the fourth one I lost all my characters because every time you killed one of the soldiers another one came out of the edge and they run fast so you're gone if you aren't ready for it.

Anyways. I say the archer characters are the ones you want to keep most and by far are the most useful. Spear characters are good too, but nothing compared to the archer characters who have much more distance when shooting upwards. The one who looks like M. Bison and uses a flame thrower sucks balls. I don't think I've killed anyone with him when I used him. The fire shot character and both missile characters are favorites as well.

Anyways. Good game. Since I already chose a game I'll let whoever finishes next choose the next game(unless they've already chosen one.)

[kupomogli]

Has anyone else been attempting this challenge?

[XYXZYZ]

Has anyone else been attempting this challenge?

Well, not me. I tried it out and I really didn't like the game, I found it to be a real chore as I just don't have the patience for it. So, the thought of spending all the time it would take to get good enough to complete the challenge just gave me a feeling of dread, so I just let it go.

I was hoping I could keep my name in the top position, but it was bound to drop sooner or later I guess.

[c0ldb33r]

I've tried it a few times and ... uggh, I just can't do it. It's friggin hard. Plus, even though I've tried a number of times, I still really have no idea what I'm doing!

[j_factor]

Well, I beat my own challenge today. It was a bit tougher than I'd thought, but I still managed to have 10 characters left when I beat the boss. There's one level in round 2 (I think it's 2-5?) that I always lose one character in, every single time I've played. Other than that, the losses were mostly due to not adjusting correctly for the new round 3 enemies that can shoot farther.

Looks like it'll be just me and kupo on this one. I promise next time I pick it'll be something more mainstream.

[DDCecil]

I made it up to Stage 2-2. Hard game!

[kupomogli]

Alright then. Next challenge I guess. I thought of this one really quickly as I assumed someone else would finish the last one(just wanted to throw something up here.) This is a game I haven't completed, as well as never having even completed the first stage. Never put much time into it though.

Finish stage 1 of Alien Soldier on default settings. Alien Soldier is for the Genesis.

The default setting is hard and you only get one life, but once dying it shows there are 25 stages, so I'm sure this challenge shouldn't be too hard especially since you pretty much start right at the first boss I think. I guess this should be a sortof easy one in front of the recent difficult ones?

I was originally thinking on finishing the first stage of Contra Hard Corps as the challenge.

[c0ldb33r]

Awesome, I'm glad that some people managed to beat it! Kupo's now #1 in the top 5 scorers.

I've never played Alien Soldier, might be fun.

edit: I just learned why I never played Alien Soldier - it was never released in North America. I'm going to download it from the Wii VC. I read about it quickly on IGN and they compared it favourably to Gunstar Heroes. Right on!

[j_factor]

Well that wasn't too bad. I completed the challenge on my first try. Really hard game though -- I died on the second boss. I haven't played this game very much, either, because I never really got into it. The controls are pretty frustrating. Definitely one of my least favorite Treasure games.

PROTIP: If you're playing it on the VC, do not play it with the Wiimote, it's terrible. Also, the Virtual Console version is missing the epic text: VISUALSHOCK! SPEEDSHOCK! SOUNDSHOCK! NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE!

[kupomogli]

I completed it at lunch at work today. I died atleast five times due to the time limit. Started using the flame thrower and if you get his movements down you can own him with those.

I died at the second boss as well. This is probably one of the hardest games out there. If the enemies don't kill you, the extremely limited time limit will.

[c0ldb33r]

Wow that game's hard.

I beat the first level and boss on my 3rd or 4th try. With the first boss, you just have to do the Down+C move and then finish him with your weapon (I had the flame thrower). Still though, tough game. I can see why it was never released here, it's harder than Gunstar Heroes and nowhere near as fun.

Im glad that I finally beat another challenge though - I was starting to wonder about myself

[DDCecil]

I just stayed ont he left side of the screen and tapped B button (counter force) until he blew up.

[XYXZYZ]

Cool game, I've never played it before. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but I just completed the challenge. I used the down + C move at full health, and just hung in there until he died.

[c0ldb33r]

so j_factor gets to choose the mission this week.

I've kept the top 5 scores list up-to-date and we seem to have a fairly even spread so far

[j_factor]

Oops, I forgot. Here's the new challenge. It's an easy one, to get us back in the swing of things.

Kirby Super Star - SNES, DS, SNES emulator
Mission: Beat the Dyna Blade game without the use of helpers

You may temporarily create a helper for the purpose of getting rid of your power, but you must immediately destroy it. TIP: Pause the game to see a description of your current special power. It will list your abilities and how to perform them; some of them are not obvious.