What Games Took You YEARS to Beat?

[Ascending Wordsmith]

I finally beat it. Back in 1990, the Renegade coin-op was in the corner store a few blocks away. I didn't make it very far in the game. If I wasn't falling onto subway tracks, I was getting hit with sticks or being run over by motorcycles. As time passed, I got a little better but the Renegade coin-op was getting harder to come by in stores. I'd see it here and there and play a couple times, but I never made it to the final stage. Last week (Saturday), on MAME, I finally made it to the final boss and beat him. Yeah, I took a few icepicks to the stomach, and some bullets to the head, but I beat the boss and saved my girlfriend.

And it only took me... fourteen years to do it.

What games literally took you years to finish?

[Starcade]

As sad as it is to say, the original Mario Brothers.

Took me 3 years, I played maybe every other day or so.

[Sotenga]

Ninja Gaiden. It must have taken me eight years to beat it with a Game Genie, and about two more years afterwards to legitimately beat it. But I beat it. Booyah.

[sabre2922]

PC: my fav Starcraft, im not very good at this game, even though im basically addicted to it, Ive played many all nighters but am still far from finishing it.
Console: prob Virtua Tennis on DC I got it used last year another game I like a LOT but am not very good at.

[Oobgarm]

Marble Madness on NES. That last level wiped me out every time.

I'm looking to add the original Super Mario Bros. to that list soon....

[gamergary]

Super Mario Brothers but I only beat it because it was the Swimmer Mario hack on an emulator.

[Darth Sensei]

Super Mario 3 all levels. I finally beat it earlier this year. That game is so long.

D

[AB Positive]

I vow to beat Art of Fighting 2 before the year is out, making it 10 years or so from first play to first completion.

... bleh

-AG

[dreamcaster]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - Took me about two and a half years to finish.

[bensenvill]

Marble Madness on NES. That last level wiped me out every time.

thank you, so I'm not the only one.

Me and a buddy went through SNES's Super Ghouls n Ghosts this weekend (needed the game genie for the unlimited continues). We beat the end boss only to find out that they throw you back at the first level. That was my limit, I'm done with that game.

Right now the next on my list is Flashback


ohh ya, Maniac Mansion, took me years to beat. but it was sooo worth it.

~Tj

[VACRMH]

Final Fantasy VII

Someone bought me a Memory Card Plus around the same time I bought FFVII, and i'm sure many of you know how reliable these can be

It went a little something like this...

Reached end of disc 1 (Erased)
Made it to the middle of Disc 2 (Erased again)
Finally made it to the start of Disc 3 (Erased yet again)

I couldn't stand playing through it again so I put it away for years.

I bought it the day it was released and eventually beat it.... in 2001 I think.

*Curses Memory Card Plus*

Oh, and I still haven't finished Super Mario Bros.

[ClubNinja]

Just a few weeks back, after ten zillion years of frustration, I finally took down Ghouls N Ghosts on the Genesis. As excellent as the game is, I doubt I'll touch it again for a *long* time. *Phew!*

[NE146]

Me and a buddy went through SNES's Super Ghouls n Ghosts this weekend (needed the game genie for the unlimited continues). We beat the end boss only to find out that they throw you back at the first level. That was my limit, I'm done with that gam

Yeah all the Ghouls games do that.. and you only get to see the big boss at the end of the 2nd time through. Ghouls and Ghosts was easy.. Super GnG is a bit harder since you can't shoot up or down, but it wasn't that much more difficult once you learn the game.

Me? It took me YEARS to finally beat the 3rd hardest difficulty path in SNES Starfox

[SoulBlazer]

For me, it's not just one game -- MANY NES and SNES games I could'nt finish for one reason or another back in the days when I had a NES (1987-1994) or SNES (1991-1998) were FINALLY finsihed by me with a emulator and the ROM copy of the game back during my BA college days (1994-1998) or my grad days (1998-2001). Save states are a God send.

There's a couple PC and arcade games I've played now and then over the years that I never really liked enough to finish at the time and have now finished. If I REALLY like a game, I'll keep plugging away at it until I have it finished.

[Kid Ice]

Wasteland for the C64 took me about 3 years.

The closest to that is GTAVC which took nearly an entire year.

Of course, there are many games I still haven't finished yet that I play every once in a while. Castlevania SOTN and Metroid Prime come to mind.

[norkusa]

Golgo 13

I got this game when it was new (1988?) and played the hell out of it. I kind of had to since it was the only NES game besides SMB I owned for 2 years. I could get up to the final boss, but never come close to beating him. Over the years, I'd pop in the game and could usually get up to the 13th (final) level most of the time but couldn't beat that damn boss.

Then one day, 8 years later, I decided to give it yet another try. I haven't played the game in a couple years, so I didn't expect to get far. I was doing really good though and got to the final boss in a couple hours. On my second try at him, I used a certain strategy I never tried before and it worked really well. I ended up beating him easily.

[Raedon]

I didn't finish SMB 2 on the NES ever (didn't care for it really.) I did when I got a SNES and All-Stars.

[Trellisaze]

Ultima V for the PC took me about 2 years, and I even used a map to get through the Underworld.

[aaron_157]

metroid prime (it cant seem to hold my intrest very well), and I guess SMB

[briskbc]

I've been playing FF9 for 2 years now. I love this game but I haven't touched it months. I plan to finish it before Christmas so I can start another RPG.