Oy...oy oy oy...way too many games for me to even think about listing all the ones I've actually beaten. But since this is more about
worthy accomplishments, I should be able to narrow it down a bit.
Colecovision
Venture -- I finally got the the 9th difficulty level (the same 4 worlds were repeated on each difficulty level) only to find that beating it meant I could just play it over again. Not that this was easy--the enemies moved blindingly fast--but it was kind of a letdown. I guess those were the days before real game endings. Anyway, I eventually ran out of lives, and I have no idea what my score was, but it was good stuff.
NES
Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, 3 -- Ah, these were the best. SMB2 has 20 distinct levels, and so one time I beat it using each character for exactly 5 levels each (no warping). At the end, when they thank you, they cycle through all 4 characters since not one played the most. And Now You Know!
Zelda 1 and 2 -- of course!
Metroid
Kid Icarus
The Guardian Legend -- I still love this game. It has two aspects to it: half the game is a top-down shoot-em-up, and the other half is top-down exploration, like Zelda. In the latter mode, there is a big central area and somethig like 8 outlying areas. Each area has two shoot-em-up areas associated with them, and beating those gives you new weapons and keys and stuff...and opening those areas up are mini-puzzles as well. The music was great, the game was long and tough, and after you beat it, you were given a code to play again in a different way--you only played the shoot-em-up levels, and you got your weapons and powerups based on the points you got. It was practically a new game...beautiful!
1942 -- no password or battery save, so I had to leave this game on overnight and while I was at school in order to beat it. I think there were over 40 levels...it was an ordeal.
Mega Man 1-5 -- I was the only one of my friends who could beat #1. I remembed an all-nighter party in elementary school where I was challenged to prove it, and I did so. My moment of glory.
Ghosts 'n' Goblins -- yes, I did beat this one. For real -- both ways through.
Deadly Towers -- okay, okay...the game sucks. But it's so unfairly hard...and I freakin' beat it! In your face!
Bionic Commando -- my favorite game that I never owned. I enjoyed it so much that I rented it several times, and I think I beat it at least twice. Much better than the arcade version in my opinion.
Blaster Master -- why, oh why, could this game not have a save or password feature? I had the worst luck trying to beat this game (I never did), even getting to the final boss once before some tragedy occurred. The game was tough enough that just getting there is an accomplishment, though, so I'm including this.
Game Boy
Metroid 2
Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2 -- I really want to come back and beat these some day. I'm so curious...but anyway, I thought they were pretty hard, so getting almost to the end should be kind of an accomplishment...
Gargoyle's Quest -- great action/pseudo-RPG set kind of in the Ghosts 'n' Goblins universe. The action sequences were very fun, the random encounters were also action oriented, the only drawback was the lack of money, so you had to go back and forth to kill things to get extra lives (which were very necessary on some of those bosses).
Super Nintendo
Zelda: A Link to the Past
Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 -- I only had a chance to play these in their original form (I have 1 on the GBA now) for one week on vacation, but I still completed both of them (with 100%) in the limited playing time I had (a few nights that we were back from the lake we had a cabin at). Great platformers. Never played 3 though.
Super Mario World -- getting to Bowser's castle in only 11 stages. I doubt I could do it now...but I did back then!
Super Ghosts 'n' Goblins -- or whatever this one's name was...I beat this sucker on the hardest difficulty. And yes, that includes going through it twice. I admit I set the lives to maximum...but can you really blame me?
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy 2 and 3 -- I didn't play 3 until college, but I did like 2 very much. For some reason I never sought out other FF games though, until much later.
Mario Kart
F-Zero
Sega Genesis
Phantasy Star 2 and 3 -- 2 was one of my favorite console RPGs ever...I watched that ending several times. I didn't like 3 as much, but I still attempted to get all 4 endings. I think I got 2 of them several years apart, so that I forgot what the first one even was...and kind of lost interest.
Shining Force -- one of the only tactical games I liked. (I guess I'll mention here that I never beat Shining in the Darkness...couldn't beat the final boss and hadn't played enough console RPGs at the time to really think about just killing tons of monsters to get exp.)
Sonic 1-3, Sonic Spinball
N64
Mario 64 -- I took to this game so quickly, it scared me. I could do some crazy stuff even when the camera was misbehaving. I wish my N64 still worked...or if they could release a compilation for the Cube or something like that...
Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask -- also includes the Master Quest of OoT that you could get when pre-ordering Wind Waker. That was tough but fun...I really should try it again sometime.
Blast Corps -- I
loved this game. I never got
all of the platinum medals like RoboBob3000 did, but I got some at least. It was just such a unique game...
F-Zero 64
Playstation
I never owned a PS, I play these on the PS2.
Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9 -- I actually played 7 on the PC first, although I have it in its original form now. And it's the one I've replayed the most, although I do want to replay 8 at some point. Not 9 so much...it didn't really interest me as much. And I still haven't beaten 10 (PS2 game I know, but since I didn't beat it, I have to mention it here).
Chrono Cross -- this game got my ex into console RPGs, because of the real orchestral music. And it's a good game...I never did beat Chrono Trigger though...at one point I really needed to grind out some levels and I just didn't want to.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- Super Metroid meeds Castlevania. A thing of beauty.
Playstation 2
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory -- inspired by the Ghosts 'n' Goblins games. Beat the first one, haven't beaten (or played much of) the second one yet. Very underrated game by the general public I think.
GTA: all 3 PS2 ones
Dark Cloud -- Beat the first one, although I didn't do the secret dungeon. The second one is one of those RPGs that I got close to the end and just lost interest (like FFX).
Kingdom Hearts -- wonderful game, can't wait for the sequel. (Haven't bothered to get the GBA one though.) Got pretty far on Hard difficulty...then stopped because it was too soon after beating it on normal, not because it was tough or anything. Haven't picked it up again though.
GameCube
Zelda: Wind Waker
Metroid Prime 1 and 2
Paper Mario -- amazing game. I didn't finish all the small side quests but that's okay...even with the backtracking it's just amazing.
Star Wars: Rogue Leader -- I couldn't believe how hard this game was...I really felt a sense of accomplishment when I beat it, and that was just squeaking by, none of the extras.
Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow -- very good game; possibly better than Symphony of the Night.
WarioWare -- unlocked everything. Got pretty high on the hardest "
every game"
ones too.
Metroid Fusion
PC
Catch-all for computer games, even back through the Apple IIc+ that I had.
Ultima 3-9 -- never beat 1 and 2, unfortunately. But I breathed the rest when I was growing up. Console RPGs just can't compare to games like Ultima V and VII. 8 and 9 were pretty crappy, so it was an accomplisment just to finish them.
And I'm including Savage Empire and Martian Dreams here too...Martian Dreams especially is a wonderful game I'm proud to have completed.
Might and Magic 4-6
Pool of Radiance
Pools of Darkness -- I never could beat the final, final battle on this one...even after going through it 3 times to get every character to level 40, each person wielding the best items, etc. I don't know what I couldn't figure out...
Eye of the Beholder 1-3
Magic Candle 1-2 -- if you enjoy playing old RPGs...these are amazing games. I would have beaten #3 but it had some crippling bugs. Such huge worlds, and unique combat and spell systems. Splitting your party up in the first game to activate two chambers half a world apart is pretty epic...and the way you win the game was great too.
Lode Runner -- including Championship Lode Runner, The Mad Monk's Revenge, and the 3-D one (LR2).
Lemmings -- just the first one and the...third one? It had 3 tribes, but it wasn't L2. Not in Radiant's list on the other thread, although I assume he has it.
DROD -- of course!
N -- well, I haven't finished all of the levels in the latest (possibly final) version, but I've done it enough times to be proud of it.
Jumper 1 and 2
Warlords 2 -- I've played Warlords 1-3, but #2 was the best for me, in terms of actually being able to complete the maps, and playing intelligently. The game series that made me think I was good at strategy games...then I realized it was pretty much only turn-based strategy games (like Master of Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic), although Age of Wonders kicks by butt even on the first map of the campaign. I'm not sure what I'm missing in that game.
Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret -- these were great action games from Origin, the company that did the Ultima games, and as such were resource hogs are really tough to DOS emulate on Windows machines. I think the newest DOSBox finally got them, but I haven't tried loading them up yet.
Loom -- I loved this game. The spell/songbook that came with it is all ragged, as I played it so many times, the erasing of the notes started to mess up the pages...
I know I'm missing a lot of games, especially some that are from the newer consoles that didn't make such an impression on my childhood psyche. So I'll be editing more in as time goes on.
Game on,
[Edited by Oneiromancer at
Local Time:05-18-2005 at 11:34 PM: More games!]
____________________________
"
He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an
unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder."
-- Tad Williams