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My birthday is in March and I have a yearly tradition of playing this game around that time. It's one of my favorite games of all time and such a unique, fun, and challenging experience. Plus I always root for the underdog and this game is absolutely an underdog in the vast history of retro video games.

But now that we have the bounty system in place, I'm going to have a special bounty for this one :D This bounty bonus is worth a whopping 250 points, which is the largest one ever. Hopefully it can encourage others to give this gem a shot :)

There is a place here where I live that sells NES games. I may go over there and see if they have a copy.

I'm playing it with Romstation, works pretty fine but it's very hard and very confusing (never know where to go and if I have taken everything that I should... I did the 1st corridor then... the 11th... hmm am I lost ?

@jwcooley - I have an extra cartridge that you can borrow.

@Elfenix - It's definitely a hard game when you first start out (especially if you've never played it before). The corridors are in a random order, so don't pay too much attention to their numbers. The only exception to that rule is there are a few that have "tricks" to get them to open. You can always find one of the blue landers (giant blue creatures) to help you solve the puzzle (they're really basic).

The game is kinda open in the sense that you can choose to do certain groups of levels in any order. But it's still pretty linear since you always get the keys in a certain order. As a general rule, check out the map screen and head toward the flashing squares. Those are the corridors you can access.

In my opinion, the best weapon in the game is the fireball. It starts out kinda weak since it's sooooo slow, but trust me, once you upgrade it...WATCH OUT! It gets huge, fast, and extremely powerful. It can knock out pretty much any non-boss character in the game with a single hit.

Also, don't worry too much about dying. You have unlimited continues and as your score increases (or you find items / landers), you'll become more powerful. So keep trying and you can do it! That's actually one of my favorite things about this game. It can be a tough game, but it's fair and never punishes you for dying. The worst thing that happens is you have to restart the level (but never losing your gear).

Oh and can I just say the bosses are amazing in this game? They are tough and will most likely take a few tries if it's your first time, but it's worth it. Just wait until you get to the giant eyeball in the jungle level (I think it's the second time you fight him). That guy totally broke me down as a kid. I almost gave up because he hits hard and covers the screen with his shots (I used to call them ladders hehe). But the key is patience. You have unlimited time, so don't take unnecessary risks and you will out-slog him.

How long does it take to finish?

I usually finish it in about 2.5 - 3 hours. I don't exactly rush through it, but I know the levels pretty well so it will likely take you longer the first time.

Oh! Here's another tip for you guys. When you find a mini-boss (they show up on the Zelda dungeon screens), you'll hear an alarm, then the edges of the screen will start placing blocks that will prevent you from leaving. These bosses always show up in the same location, so if you're not ready or don't want to fight them, just come back later. I do recommend fighting them all though since they give you various upgrades that you're gonna want. But anyways, if you stand on one of the edges where the blocks appear, you can actually be in the MIDDLE of a block after it finishes. At this point, you can either enter or exit the boss fight once he appears. This is handy in case you're not sure if you're ready to fight one or not (they do get reaaaaally tough towards the end). So it's a nice way to scope things out.

This giant eyeball was annoying but if you avoid the "ladders" the other things are pretty painless. It was just sooooo long... For now I'm stuck against a giant lobster, damn it's fast!
Can you explain this "as your score increases, you'll become more powerful" ? I just improved my hp to 11 and my max puce to 100, is it because of the score or because of the upgrades I found ?

Oh yeah, the lobster is a tough one too! You might want to experiment with using your special weapons, if you haven't already. I think I usually use the fireball on him, even though it's not super powerful yet. With some of the bosses, you have to back off and wait for health to drop by killing the smaller shots / enemies it spawns.

As your in-game score increases, you'll increase your lifebar, which is equivalent to finding one of the blue landers. The red landers will increase your maximum chip count, which is essentially ammo for your special weapons (and increases the power of your basic weapon).

Oh my... Lobster gone and some other easy boss but... there is more than one giant eyeball! The first was easy but this one (effectively in the jungle) is gonna take more effort! Nice game btw but I don't know if I will be able to finish it. I tried Golden axe last time but I couldn't kill the last boss...

Haha yeah, the jungle eyeball is the hardest one (and like I said before, one of the hardest ones for me in the entire game). You aren't done with him though :) He'll be back again, but the next time is a lot easier since you should have fireball maxed out :D I think the difficulty levels off around where you're at and it doesn't get TOO much more difficult from here on out. I mean, there's some tough stages / bosses still, but it's not too bad. The last boss is tough (and very cool looking!), but he's not really that difficult at that point in the game. It's certainly nothing like the last boss in Golden Axe haha!

Just ordered myself a used copy of this game. I'm pretty excited to finally try it.

Nice! I'm going to do my playthrough next week.

I got my copy today. Now to find time to play....hmm

I'll be off work all next week, so I can help motivate you :D

I'm going to try and get through Sly 2 sometime early next week and then I'll start this. I'm out of town for the weekend so no play time will be had.

Alright. I need some sort of guidance on this game. What in the heck am I doing?

My yearly quest is now complete. My final score was 2,056,550 and I'm the greatest player.

What exactly do you need guidance on? The general idea is to walk around and find the flashing spots on the map (hit Select to bring up the map).

How do you get a password so you can shut off and start again later?

You'll find rooms with the blue lander dudes in them. They'll tell you how to do it, but you set your special weapon to "no use" and then fire it.

It's a really long password, so I would recommend long play sessions haha.

I just finished the one eyed fish monster thing and got some sort of moon key.

I figured by now @moho_00 that you would have a speed run completion for this game.

I probably should do one of those, but I like taking my time and breathing in that nostalgia (I think that's what it is...) I shaved off 18 minutes from last year though.

I spent like 20 minutes trying to beat that blue eyeball thing. Finally managed to beat him, though.

That was the easy one...wait until you get to the green one...

Actually, the last one (red) might be the easiest. By then you have a maxed out fireball and can destroy his shots!