Final Fantasy VII Beat

Yesterday I beat Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I started playing this game at some point in the early 2000s when I got a Playstation. The PS2 was coming out so I got a PSX and had a mod chip put on it to play the best games in the PSX's library and Final Fantasy VII was firmly on that list. I got to the end of Disc 1 and something or another got in the way. I never went back. Eventually I lost my pirate copy, but I actually still have that memory card and that save file, though I didn't go back to it. This time I started over.

My friend Shane game me an original copy of FFVII, but I played it on the Playstation Classic this time around. The PS Classic is by no means a great retro console, but it was nice, simple save state features that made it easy to backtrack if I made mistakes.

Anyway, about the game, it's great. It hits a lot of good spots. You can nerd out on the battle and materia systems. You can get lost in the story and the characters, and the script is actually kinda fantastic in that it doesn't try to give you all the answers. Some stuff is still left to interpretation, which is nice.

I played this game A LOT. I used a couple strategy guides and a ton of stuff from the internet, and I'm not ashamed. I tried to get every item. I missed just two materia (sneak attack and enemy away, as far as I know) and one of my four enemy skill materia is missing a single spell. I beat Ultima, Emerald, and Ruby Weapons. I powered up enough materia to create three Master Magic, two Master Summon, and one Master Command materia. I mastered the W-Item glitch. I leveled my characters to a ridiculous degree. My timer stopped at 99:59:59 a few days ago, so I can't say how long I played but, yeah, over 100 hours.

I leave this game fully satisfied. Would I ever try another play through? Possibly. There are still other games in my shelf that I haven't finished. No rest for the wicked.

Mega Man Zero

I know this game doesn't feature anywhere on any list that I've ever brought up on this blog, but I beat it yesterday.
Thing is, I recently bought an Everdrive for GBA and now I can pretty much play any gameboy advance game I could want, so over spring break MMZ is what I played and now it's beaten. So yay!

And Again

Work has me going nuts, gaming is not as focused as it’s been. So I’m starting a new list. I’m also replaying many of the Zelda games which I will intersperse here or there. (I’m not replaying Ocarina of Time cause I just recently did it on the 3DS, and I’m not redoing Majora’s Mask because eff that noise.)

More posts to come. 

Super Mario Bros. 2

Milestone:

This week I beat Super Mario Bros. 2 in one sitting, no warps, getting all the mushrooms, with no strategy guide, and swapping out characters every world (ending up with 5 worlds for Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach).

Seeing as how Mario 2 is the last of the NES Mario games I ever finished, and even then I used many warps and shortcuts, this is a feat for me. Mario 2 is a strange bird. It was so different from Super Mario Bros., I think without it we wouldn't have the variety of Mario games we have now. Without Super Mario Bros. 2 we would not have Mario Kart.

Gameboy Mega Men

The Gameboy was my first real video game system. Back then, I always wanted to play the Mega Man games released for the Gameboy but was only ever able to play Mega Man IV, which I still remember fondly. I don't remember who I borrowed it from, but I do remember I beat it.

A couple summers ago, I went ahead and purchased Mega Man I, II, and III for the Gameboy. The idea was to play them on my newly modified GBA with a flashy new backlit screen.

As of today, I can say I finally beat those three Gameboy Mega Man games. They're pretty ludicrously difficult by today's standards. What's more, I know the NES Mega Man games almost by heart. I know how many hits it takes to kill robots, I know where they're coming from. It's hard for me to be surprised by them anymore. Not so with these games! I found myself shocked at how unfamiliar I was with something that's usually second nature to me. So I had to go back and grind, something I had not had to do for a Mega Man game for a long, long time.

Remember back in the day when you were playing a Mega Man game for the first time? Remember when, like, Mega Man 3 came out and you went and rented it and went into like Snake Man cause he looked like a pushover, but it took you all three lives just to get to the robot master? Remember then how that robot master utterly destroyed you to bits? That's what these games bring back. You sucking at Mega Man games until you practice enough that you get good.

I would love to play Mega Man IV again, but for some reason, it is incredibly rare and shockingly expensive. There was a fifth one for Gameboy, which I know next to nothing about, and that one's just as hard to find as the fourth.

I'm happy to have played these games. I was limited economically when I was a teenager, but I was able to treat myself to them now.

Surprisingly good graphics for Gameboy

Oh, So Much Progress Lost

So they broke into my house and took my 3DS among other things.

My copy of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS was in it. I lost all the achievements, all the unlocked characters.

Did you know I had a complete set of puzzles on the puzzle game in my Mii Plaza? That was a couple Phoenix Comicons and a whole lot of trips to McDonalds!

This is really making me think about how I use my time.

Humbug!

Ok not technically a Christmas post.

My house was broken into and they stole my 3DS XL (Zelda edition, black and gold) and my Wii U. Among other things. 

Bunch of progress lost. 

Replacing stuff gradually. 

Boo. 

Rock Band 2

And then I played an 8-song setlist and I got to the Rock Band 2 credits!

Rock Band Guitar Tilt Sensor Fix

Today I fixed both my Rock Band 2 guitars' tilt sensors.
I bought a 10-pack of tilt sensors on amazon.com. You can find them here.

So take your guitar and undo all the screws on the back panel. Keep track of where they go cause some of them are longer than others.

I like to make a diagram like this and punch the screws in through the paper so I can keep track of them.

When you open the guitar, careful not to rip out the battery cable.

Here's your tilt sensor. I was having trouble activating Overdrive and my multimeter showed me the sensors were not closing the circuit correctly. Unscrew these two screws holding the card in place.

Then unhook the cable from the main circuit card.

You might need to loosen the four screws holding the main card in order to get the cable out fully.

Next up is unhooking the cable from the overdrive minijack port.

Take off the screw

Then disconnect the plug

Now you have the card by itself.

Let's take a closer look. The two black barrel-shaped components are tilt sensors.

We'll need to desolder the tilt sensors and place the new ones like so.

Melt the solder with your soldering iron. Use a solder wick to absorb the molten solder.

After a little while, you'll have removed all the solder. Try hard not to solder the wick to the circuit board.

Now to prep the new components.

Solder the new tilt sensors.

Put everything back together and test.
Good luck!

Aaand Success!

I did it!
I got gold on every cup in single player! I totally understand that this does not quite mean you "beat" Mario Kart. When does one ever "beat" Mario Kart? This is not that kind of philosophical discussion, dammit! I got gold in every cup in single player!! That's 60 cups! And 200cc is damn difficult!

Now I gotta go online. I wanna play with other people. But probably not on 200cc very much anymore...