Epic NES Finds

My girlfriend and I were shopping for NES games out of town a few days ago and the store--Game Exchange--had a buy 3 get 1 free deal on anything under $7.99. Most of their NES games were priced at exactly $4.99 so it was easy decision. These are the 4 games we picked up, all together, for $16.50.

1. The Clash at Demonhead w/ manual

An epic sidescrolling metroidvania. This game tops Adventure Island IV, in my opinion, and is an NES classic. Recently I posted some sketches I made of maps and characters while playing the game. Also, I posted my entire playlog of the journey. Finally, if you want the good stuff, the check out the Nintendo Power scans of the game.




2. Fantasy Zone

A Tengen cartridge, I was really happy to find this game because it seems somewhat rare. Not too much to say other than the fact that its a port of an arcade game by the same name. It's been ported to about a dozen systems, including:

Arcade, 1986
Sega Master System, 1986
MSX, 1986
Nintendo Famicom, 1987
NEC PC Engine, 1988
Nintendo Entertainment System, 1989
Sharp X68000, 1989
Sega Saturn (part of Sega Ages), 1997
Mobile phone, 2002
PlayStation 2 (part of Sega Classics Collection), 2003
Wii Virtual Console (re-release of the Master System version), 2008
PlayStation 2 (part of Sega Ages 2500), 2008
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (part of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection[NA]/SEGA MEGA DRIVE Ultimate Collection [UK]), 2009
(Wikipeia, Fantasy Zone).




3. Gremlins 2

A fun sunsoft bird's eye platformer. It reminds me of Startropics II, but this game is much more difficult. Overall it's a fun game, and much more playable than Fester's Quest, a piece of shit.




4. Amagon

I saw this boxed a while back, but passed it up. I saw this opportunity to correct my mistake. I haven't really dug my teeth in Amagon, but I know that its similar to Contra. You have limited ammunition, which is pretty unusual for a Contra-style platformer and you die in one hit.





5. 8 Eyes

I didn't actually buy 8 Eyes, rather it was an early Christmas present. I think it's basically a two player Castlevania, and I'm excited to start playing it as well. It's almost 2012, and still I'm getting new NES games for Christmas. Also, before I forget, that Clash at Demonhead image--I have no idea who made it but it's pretty awesome.

The Clash at Demonhead Artwork

You can't play an RPG without a trusty notebook. These are drawings of the characters, the world map, clues, and others notes from playing The Clash at Demonhead, one of my new favorite NES games. I hope you enjoy!

Clash at Demonhead Playthrough Log

I kept a written log of a playthrough of The Clash at Demonhead for the NES.




10-31-2011
5:18 PM:

Just got the first Hermit power in Clash at Demonhead. This game is damn difficult, and sometimes the music can be grating. Also, even though Bang jumps very, very high, he can't jump very far horizontally.

Lot of depth and content here, however. I just realized you could call a shop and I haven't read the Nintendo Power guide or an FAQs yet... don't plan on it either unless I'm stuck for a day or something.

Bought a boomerang gun, but it's much worse than the blaster... I really need a jetpack, but I don't know how to buy one. The world is rather large, and it's going to take forever to explore >:D The variety of environments is nice, enemies are wacky, and some of the tunes are actually really cool.

An intimidating game, to be sure.

Somehow I've always lumped this one in with Conquest of the Crystal Palace as a "wannabe" adventure game, but I couldn't have been more wrong. (Conquest of the Crystal Palace still sucks whatever you can think of).


11/1/11
1:16 AM:

Just got back from a Halloween party, time for some more Clash at Demonhead... I went to 2 used game stores today but got nothing, tomorrow morning I'm going for the third and final store that sells NES games.

Man, this game is incredibly addicting.

I also played a little more Double Dragon II, but I'm still having problems on level 4.



11/1/11
8:11 PM:

Finally got the jetpack in Clash at Demonhead (and the Thunder Gun). However, I'm out of money so it's time to grind before I explore some more.

I really forgot where I supposed to go next, so I guess I'll just stumble around.


11/1/11
8:48 PM:

Finally found a boss in Clash at Demonhead and got my first trif-...err, medalion.

Next I found my friend Michael on a route and he told me to go down the well and get the stone... but at the bottom was a face that looked like a door. I couldn't figure out what to do, so I'm back to wondering around now.


11/1/11
11:39 PM:

Well, I took out another governer! But I keep running into this giant eyeball who kicks my ass everytime. I spent half an hour trying to beat him, very, very frustrating. So I had to look at an FAQ, I realize now that I need the sword to defeat him, so I'll leave it alone for now.

The sprite told me to talk to the Hermit, but I'm not sure what she means... the original Hermit? That doesn't make much sense...

I feel like I'm at an impasse--completely unsure of what to do, but a lot of the map is still uncovered. Which brings me to my next thing of interest:

I'm making a hand-drawn map, old-school style. It takes a little effort, but the satisfaction is completely worth it. I'll post a picture of it when I beat the game, complete with all my notes, pictures, and NPC clues.

I've also collected quite a bit of money and bought all the items, though I think I'm running low on jetpacks and supersuits now. I love how easy it is to get money in this game :D

I've also heard about a shop that can transfer the gold I've found into cash, but I haven't found it yet. An NPC told me where it was (I think), but this was before I started writing the clues down...



11/2/11
4:52 PM:

I've started exploring the entire map now, with the goal of figuring out how to get the sword (in the long run) and collection all 5 (or more) medallions.

I found another boss under the water in a stage, the easiest fight thus far.

I also ran into my old friend, Joe, who was injured and who I left for dead on the ground (lol). Joe didn't offer much new information, other than stating that Guycot beat the crap out of him; remember I've already come across a beaten-up Guycot, and it looks like "Demon" is going to be the real final boss in the game!

Finally, I found the Cash 4 Gold shop and traded in my 42 bars of gold for $4200; disapointing that I didn't get the $42,000, but you can't win all the time.

As the game progresses I find myself more inclined to liberally use the jetpack and aqualung in a search for hidden passages. So far, the jetpack has turned up nothing...

...and the quest continues...



11-2-11
6:25 PM:

I met the motorcyle-dude, Bopper, and defeated him in combat, although he didn't drop a medallion... after more exploring I found Mary, Bang's kidnapped girlfriend--she attacked me so I killed her! Luckily it was only a double and I fought the next Governer, Pandar. With the Thunder Gun he easily fell.

Then there was much exploring--I traversed the other areas of the game, and tried to climb the mountain at the North end of the map, but a monster blocked my passaged. Not discouraged, I continued the quest.

On Route #7, by the beginning of the game, I found another Gov., the "Tiny Devil," This guy was tricky, and it took 3 tries to finally defeat him. The trick, which is obvious in retrospect, was to kill his spawns first instead of focusing on him. That made 4 medallions.

I decided to climb the mountain from the other side, and discovered a mysterious ice cavern, but it was apparently empty.

The fifth was achieved by beating Bopper a second time. He had a machine gun, but the battle arena provided plenty of cover to safely take him down. I was at the entrance to the final dungeon, I think, but because I didn't have all 6 medallions I could not proceed.

At this point the entire map has been explored, and I'm still short a medallion and I still don't know where the sword is. I remember that the sprite Fayasa told me to go see the Hermit again, and since that's the only clue I've got, I guess it's time to pay my old friend another visit...




11/3/11
12:08 AM:

Just finished the game.

-Talk to hermit, told me to get the sword from route 40 robot.
-Got the sword with the magic stone!
-Fought the demon via the secret passage in route 40,
-Got the final medallion
-Entered the spaceship atop the mountain
-Fought the head Alien
-Fought another head Alien
-Raced to the bomb which was activated with the real boss's death
-Failed to disarm the bomb and had to do it all over again :D
-Disarmed the bomb via a simple game of "mastermind"
-Saved the world

Now for the best part: I've been hand-drawing maps and drawing characters from the game... I'm going to scan all the pages tomorrow and post em here (8 pages of drawings, about 15 drawings in all. I drew the game as I envisioned it, giving it a MUCH darker tone than the NES).

Clash at Demonhead Nintendo Power Scans

Clash at Demonhead is know as Dengeki Big Bang! in Japan (the main character's name is Bang). Thank god they changed it for North America, but too bad they waited until 1989/1990 before releasing this gem. Clash at Demonhead was, I think, somewhat overlooked; however, Nintendo Power ensured that many people would buy this game despite the SNES hovering in the near-future.

From Issue 10, 1990, this four-page spread is short, sweet, and packed to the edges with helpful tips. You'll be conquering this game in no time.

If the name "Clash at Demonhead" sounds familiar, it might be because it's the name of Scott Pilgrim's ex-girlfriend's band (they sing an awesome Metric song, "Black Sheep," in the movie).

I've never given this game the attention it deserves, and after finally demolishing Kabuki Quantum Fighter last night--well, this game is next! It's the Mega Man metroidvania that everyone always wanted: branching paths, cool graphics, horizontal shooting, challenge, shops, money, and campy anime cutscenes.

The best part is that this game is dirt cheap everywhere, so cheap, in fact, that you've probably overlooked it in your collecting zeal. I'd like to say more about it, but to be honest I haven't played much. Hopefully after beating the game I'll have some more comments on it. In any case,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!