Around 7 hours 10 minutes to beat this classic game again. I completed this game probably over 25 years ago, the US version, using a paperback guide, Nintendo Game Atlas, that my friend let me borrow, as well as his guidance and tips on the game. This is my unedited run through the game , showing all pauses, deaths, etc.
This time around the legendary Bob Rupples himself appeared in the flesh to guide me step by step through the game. He beats the US version of this game regularly in about 4 hours without any maps or guides. It was fun to go through this decades later and see some of the changes to this version. Most importantly I got this game on my Famicom Disk System KILL LIST which is looking a little empty at the moment. Gives me an excuse to beat classics like Contra and Jackal again, to fill out that list. Contra I plan to do soon for this system. Normally I dont beat regional variants of the same games too often, but this does count as a seperate system.
Being a much better player than I was several decades ago, the most notable gameplay was beating both Death Mountain and the Final Palace on my first attempts. I almost beat the semi final boss on my first try, but I got there with lower health. Got it on the next life. Step by step guidance was huge too of course.
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