Pirates! (#7)

This isn't a really satisfying victory, as there is no ending sequence or credits when you achieve the best score (or any score for that matter). Your name goes into the Hall of Fame and then you can actually continue your game if you feel like sailing the high seas for more adventure.

I'm glad this wasn't one of my last couple of games because of the lack of that definitive ending. It seems like Silent Service has the same deal going for it as well, as from what I have read you just get ranked based upon how well you do in the game but there is no ending sequence, so maybe I should take my medecine and tackle that one next before the 4 Koei games. As much as I rag on Koei, at least they have ending.

As for Miracle Piano, I'm pretty certain there is no ending to it, like if you pass all the lessons or even beat the sub games they throw in for fun, but that WILL be the last game I tackle. It has to be. None of the other 5 games remaining on the list come even close to being as infamous as the piano game. Like I teased in my last post, the unit has been rediscovered in my garage attic. I didn't even look inside of it, I just gingerly placed it back on top of the boxes it slid down from. I'm hoping I was smart enough to put the loose cartridge in the box though. You see, I had the loose cartridge first and then I won the unit on eBay WITHOUT the cart, which worked out fine since I had it anyway and is probably why I got the high bid on it. Hopefully it has the manual/book with it, but at least some masochist at nintendoage scanned the whole f'ing thing.

L'Empereur (#8)

Let me just get this out of the way. ReyVGM is one persistent motherfucker. I went on indefinite video game hiatus a month or so ago for several reasons. I was a lazy no good around the house when it came to chores, most likely because I was up to 2am in the morning beating these bottom of my crusty video game barrel games trying to knock the final 11 off my list. Usually I would have to wake up for work several hours after going to bed or spend the day taking care of my twins, which sometimes can be harder than work depending on how much energy they have that day.

So Rey, who unfortunately will be retiring from the NES video gaming scene once he procures the few remaining ending pics he needs, keeps churning out codes and info on various games and now decides he's going after Koei's ball bag. Without getting into specifics he not only figures out how to hamstring opponents in these games by setting their food supply to ZERO, making any opponent instantly ineffective, but he figures out that each land (there are like 40+ lands in L'Empereur) has their own individual codes for everything: food, gold, soldiers, prostitutes, boats, commerce...you name it. He spends what must have been hours posting this shit to thegshi.org for the gaming community's disposal and gets rewarded with little fanfare, other than the usual praise from me and grand master G-Force (who may end up beating all the games before I do!). Years from now some dude is gonna wonder how the hell he can beat L'Empereur and will stumble across the hundreds of codes Rey made for this and will wonder who this code king was.

By the way, Rey, don't die on us before making Gemfire codes. And don't forget to thank the mods when they get around to adding the codes to the site or they will become angry and self-righteous even though you are the one fueling their site with your body of work ;)

I forget where I was headed with this shit...

*looks back at 1st paragraph*

Oh yeah, so anyway, in true Godfather fashion, I get pulled back into the video gaming zone. For a good month I was getting 8-9 hours of sleep, being a great dad, getting shit done around the house. Gutters got cleaned out, got a guy to put in a garbage disposal my wife's been begging me for, went through my closets and drawers and got rid of about half of my clothes I'd been hoarding for over 10 years that no longer fit because I am getting fatter and older (37 fucking years old tomorrow...wtf!?!). I even found the cool shirt stuffed in the back of the dresser that says PLEASE TELL YOUR TITS TO STOP STARING AT MY EYES! Now that's fucking class right there I tell ya! I've had a ton of energy at work and just basically have been getting it done and making the wife happy.

So thanks Rey for sucking me back in and turning me into the sluggish zombie I was a couple months ago. I owe you one buddy! Honorable mention goes out as well to the aforementioned GarrettForce for the occasion gaming related email that I take way too long to reply to, yet keeps me anchored in the gaming zone.

In all seriousness, I'm down to 7 games left to beat because of Rey and he has my eternal gratitude for making this 20+ year quest to see every US NES game ending a reality, even though I have to cheat like hell to get through these last few games.


Sorry Austria.

Oh yeah, I was putting stuff up in my garage and a long, heavy box slid off some boxes and landed at my feet. Miracle...Piano...Teaching...System...