No, it can't be! I have been deceived all my life!

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 11:38 am

Lately I've been emulating my childhood games. All was good. There was this particular game though, that hold a special, dearest place in my heart. It was Bucky O' Hare, a platformer for the NES. The year was 1992, I got this cart with almost a year of saving, being a poor kid...

I was thrilled that a hit from ANYTHING kills you instantly, and you have no protection from bullets whatsoever, except your gun and skill. If you did have 10 HP, this game would already be on the Ninja Gaiden level of toughness, but with instant death, it broke every limits I've ever known. I said to myself that I have found the ultimate hard game... and so I played

The time I put into this game as a kid was more than every other games I've played combined. The total figure was just about 400 hours, I think. I finally conquered it. It was incredibly long, and with instant death, I had to go through the 60+ levels, 6 of which shmup, pretty much flawlessly. Beating this game was my crowning moment. I quit action games entirely afterward.

I was too naive to question why did you have a LONG HP collumn, yet always die in one hit...

Today I found out that the real game did NOT have instant death. You lose 1 out of 30 or so HP.

So what did I buy back then?! Must be a bootleg with an instant death hack...

I was deceived... My childhood was a lie...

ow the agony...

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 11:52 am

As a player of the stupid Genesis Contra Hard Corps, I perfectly understand you.

But wait, it's all good: after all, now you can say you, err more than 1lifed the game! In fact, you 1energyunit-ed it!

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 11:55 am

Hey, at least you got some unique bragging rights out of it.

That's actually kinda cool in a masochistic type of way. Absolute perfection needed.

Like in that other genre, what was it again...

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 12:06 pm

Holy crap. You are officially the master of Bucky O' Hare. He is your bitch.

Dewclaw · Post by **Dewclaw** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 12:23 pm

Ha, that's a good story. You were way more patient then I was as a kid, and I think we were more patient with frustrating and/or unfair games back then. And at least you got your money's worth

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 12:47 pm

I didn't 1 energy-unit-ed it though. BoH had passwords, but you do need to survive for a rather long period before having another password.

Yea, it's true we were all more patient back then. Adult life and all of its worries make us impatient. These days I never feel like there's enough hours in a day to work, live, and still play some games.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 12:49 pm

Cthulhu wrote:Holy crap. You are officially the master of Bucky O' Hare. He is your bitch.

nah, he's my bunny rabbit, and I will hug him and pet him and feed him, and I'll call him George.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 4:51 pm

That's interesting. I don't know how a hacked version would find it's way into a store. I'm assuming you didn't buy it used.

Regardless, that game would be better if one bullet did kill you.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:26 pm

That sounds like one hell of a glitch! I wonder if it was a programming error and several more copies made their way out there, only to be returned by kids with significantly less patience than you?

TGK wrote:nah, he's my bunny rabbit, and I will hug him and pet him and feed him, and I'll call him George.

George "Bucky" O'Hare?

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:02 pm

Minzoku wrote:That sounds like one hell of a glitch! I wonder if it was a programming error and several more copies made their way out there, only to be returned by kids with significantly less patience than you?

TGK wrote:nah, he's my bunny rabbit, and I will hug him and pet him and feed him, and I'll call him George.
George "Bucky" O'Hare?

it's more like George "Bugs Bunny" O'Hare

I thought everyone around here is old enough to have grown up watching Looney Tunes. Even if you didn't grow up watching them, go watch them! They are like, what would I say, the Broadway musicals of cartoons!

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:08 pm

The beauty of growing up in Asia (and a poor, troubled neighborhood) is that it is much easier to come by bootleg stuff than genuine.

Bootleg and real things sold for almost the same price, so normally the way to tell was through the quality of the plastic used to make the cart. The BoH cart I had *seemed* to be good quality though, so I guess it would be because of a programming glitch.

Icecap Veiwin · Post by **Icecap Veiwin** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:27 pm

All hail TGK, the master of Bucky O'Hare!

*heils*

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:24 pm

Hey! As long as we're ruining our childhood and all, thought ya'll might be interested in this:

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/alt.htm Altered Beat arcade ending

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/gaxe.htm Golden Axe arcade ending

Oh Sega, you crazy, deliciously evil bastards.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:15 pm

Chances are, that wasn't a "hacked" version. It's probably a glitch.

Early 90's, I had a Mastersystem. And Ms. Pacman. My mother would play it basically, whenever she could. Randomly, the "energizer" green dots would consume the entire screen, and instead of having four energizers in each corner of the room, every single dot was an energizer.

Recently she's bought a Mastersystem and I've bought Ms. Pacman for her. With something like 200 hours of play already clocked in, it hasn't happened.

I remember this happened on May 21st, 1993. I remember this date because, when I was 6 or so, "Hey! It might only work once a month!" popped into my mind.

My guess is, that particular cartridge was faulty. We'll never see it again.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:44 pm

I played Ico all the way through without knowing you could pull the girl out of the black hole.

It drived me to madness trying to beat it like that.. But I did it.. and I am rather silly for not realizing since it takes 30 seconds before the game over screen comes up as she sinks into the hole

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:00 am

LoneSage wrote:Hey! As long as we're ruining our childhood and all, thought ya'll might be interested in this:

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/alt.htm Altered Beat arcade ending

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/gaxe.htm Golden Axe arcade ending

Oh Sega, you crazy, deliciously evil bastards.

Those are pretty cool. I particularly like the Altered Beast one.

fpbrush · Post by **fpbrush** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:54 am

I understand your pain...

I beat the water temple in Zelda:OoT with no water tunic. Somehow I missed getting it. My friend told me about this magicial tunic about a week afterwards. Yeah--I wanted to cry...alot.

But you are the master of Bucky now

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:29 am

hehe, everyone seems to have their own "masochistic videogame moments"

Cool, I'm not alone then. Actually I enjoy playing against how a game was designed to be played. Another "fun" things I did as a kid was finishing the whole megaman series (upto X) without getting any upgrades or using any weapon but the pea shooter (uncharged buster)

And that Golden Axe ending was pure gold...

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:43 am

I just wanted to add that Bucky O'Hare was and still is an amazing NES platform actioner. So long too, the last stages went on forever and that music...oh the music. I loved the level with the lava flames which mimicked the fire from Gradius and Life Force, also loved that tough turret boss which you had to gradually break the glass case on.Whatta game. Nobody does liscences properties better 'n Konami. Treasure too.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:50 am

Dylan1CC wrote:I just wanted to add that Bucky O'Hare was and still is an amazing NES platform actioner. So long too, the last stages went on forever and that music...oh the music. I loved the level with the lava flames which mimicked the fire from Gradius and Life Force, also loved that tough turret boss which you had to gradually break the glass case on.Whatta game. Nobody does liscences properties better 'n Konami. Treasure too.

agreed. It was so well done that I never even thought that Bucky O' Hare was a movie license until I'm 17 or so (the "old and bitter" age). I have always thought that they were original characters, which made the experience playing it even more enjoyable.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:39 am

I ended up playing Fable manually killing random monsters to gain Will experience, so I could achieve "Lightning 3" and then realized that there's powerful dungeons behind the stone faces.

Back in the day, I ended up dying on Sonic Adventure near the final level, and couldn't save due to VMU's not being released the same time as the dreamcast console into european areas.

It's quite hard to think what's been missed in a game, but the chances me still not knowing are quite high.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:52 pm

TGK wrote:
Minzoku wrote:That sounds like one hell of a glitch! I wonder if it was a programming error and several more copies made their way out there, only to be returned by kids with significantly less patience than you?

TGK wrote:nah, he's my bunny rabbit, and I will hug him and pet him and feed him, and I'll call him George.
George "Bucky" O'Hare?
it's more like George "Bugs Bunny" O'Hare

I thought everyone around here is old enough to have grown up watching Looney Tunes. Even if you didn't grow up watching them, go watch them! They are like, what would I say, the Broadway musicals of cartoons!

I knew that... what I said amounts to what Bucky's "I will call him George" name would be

*ROLLS CRITICAL FAIL FOR HUMOUR AND DIES*

...ah, well, can't always work the crowd

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:17 am

ah, Ms. Julies, the best comedians are those often misunderstood in their lifetimes, so don't blush

regarding playing RPG the hard way, I got my own story too, finish FF8 at level 23...

this was when I was grade 12 and already didn't have time for RPG, plus that FF8 copy belongs to a friend. So I had to play it as fast as I could.

It turns out later that I got an easier game playing low level than if I had level up a lot though. In FF games, that is a first (and last).