Day 30: Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan A.K.A. The Lost Levels (Super Mario All-Stars Version)
Details: To get to world 9, you have to defeat worlds 1-8 in one session without warping. This seems like it would be easy, but it is one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. Once you pass world 9, then there is world A, B, C and D to pass as well. Getting to world 9 is quite a feat, and when I was a child, Nintendo gave out badges to anyone who could do it. Well, this is my sixth attempt at this game during the challenge, and I’ve finally done it. I’ve earned my “No Warping World 9 Challenge” badge once again – something I haven’t done since I was a kid. I’m proud to end my challenge this way!

Day 29: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Super Mario All-Stars Version)
Accomplices: Carrie Gottuso
Details: Solved one of the greatest games of all time with my best friend of all time, my wife. We always have a good time with Super Mario Bros. 3, and this challenge would not be complete if we didn’t play this game together.

Day 28: Contra IV (Nintendo DS)
Epilogue: “With Black Viper destroyed, the motives behind the alien attacks remain a mystery. Whatever the truth may have been, it was lost to time as the invaders became a mere footnote in the pages of history. A footnote which read: they sure blew up good.”

Day 27: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Details: Yeah, that’s right, completed. I don’t think I need to say anymore.

Day 26: The Legend of Zelda (NES)
Details: My favorite game of all time. Solved with all 16 hearts and 0 lives lost.

Day 25: Castlevania III (NES)
Details: Known to many for its incredible soundtrack (and the ultimate testing cartridge for modifying audio on an NES), I have been meaning to attempt actually PLAYING this game for a very long time, and I’m glad I finally did it. In this version, you can choose a helper, and I chose Grant to help me. He can climb walls, and has a weak but quick attack. Of course, for the final battle, I used Trevor Belmont, because anything else just wouldn’t seem right. 🙂

Day 24: Super Mario World (SNES)
Details: This is the GameBoy Advance version. Started from scratch and solved it with all 96 stars in two sessions.

Day 23: Mega Man 2 (NES)
Details: I’m nearing the end of my challenge, time to get serious. Also, regarding the ending, why is mega man’s helmet sitting in a field? Did he retire and move to that town in the distance? Or maybe he just forgot he left it there? It creates more questions than it answers.

Day 22: The Simpsons: The Arcade Game (Arcade)
Accomplices: Carrie Gottuso
Details: This one is a classic, and still just as fun today. Smithers steals Maggie because she has his diamond and the rest of the family tries to get her back. Mr. Burns has several giant robotic suits he wears at the end as the final boss, and the whole game has classic Simpsons humor about it.

Day 21: Double Dragon (GameBoy)
Details: A surprisingly near-identical (graphically and musically) adaptation of the NES game of the same name. As with the other Double Dragon games, it is challenging, mostly because they throw in near-impossible jumps here and there in the later levels. The last boss was tough – he shoots a machine gun – until I realized that if I punch him while standing on the very bottom of the stage, he will fall into the spike pit below. Cheap, but hey, don’t put spike pits in your lair if you don’t want them used against you.