The Adventures of Zigfried (and More!)

The Adventures of Zigfried and More!
or
"Crazy Four-Pack!"

NOTE: On 8/27/15, I completed a time attack of Mega Man 1 on NES and got a final time of 84 minutes and 58 seconds. Yep, longer than Knights of Valor - because the game is HARD, especially the Doctor Wily Castle stages. I also Game Overed about three times (two to Fireman, one on the Wily stages), and the hardest part has to be all of Doctor Wily's bosses (but I did beat the Yellow Devil in one try). UPDATE on 5/2/2016: The ending is LEGENDARY, including this gem. "Fight Mega Man, for everlasting peace!"

So this is "The Power of Zenalok", a game I got asked to check out. I'll be playing it on my Windows 98 computer. This is NOT a good game by any stretch of the imagination. Our four stats in this game are HP, MP, armor, and dodge. But first, here's some background story for you. "A long time in the future, about 2166, a young man of 18 (or older), named Zigfried, wandered out into the forest. He witnessed the Power of Zenalok, being unleashed on the largest city in the world, New York. Determined to save the world from this evil menace, he embarked on his journey. He embarked on a shuttle to Minos V, the planet where Zenalok resides. He spots the horrible city of Zenalok, and embarks on his journey. His does not know, however, that the path to the city is riddled with horrible monsters and obstacles waiting for him. The mutant hordes are upon you, Zigfried! Do not let the world down! Vanquish the evil foe Zenalok, and return a hero!" So we begin the game and find ourselves on the overworld map. One step to the left triggers an encounter. However, the first enemy in the game manages to kill me in two hits. Yep, two hits in and I'm dead. Once you die, the game kicks you out and you have to open it up again. So anyway, in game two, we find a hidden treasure chest wit 15,000 gold in it. On the same step, the monster approaches. Game three goes much of the same. Game four has me do 277 points of damage in a single hit somehow and I start getting cocky. Somehow, by loading a saved game several times, my characters stats go through the roof. However, I only have 13 HP, so I am effectively a glass cannon. I seem to not be able to be hit though. So I went towards Gate #1 on the map and killed the enemy there. So now I level up, gaining more HP and MP. I then went to Gate #2 and slayed my enemy there for another level up. "TERRORS! HORRORS! SAVE THE WORLD! Monster at 3 o'clock!" It seems every time I kill an enemy now I level up. I went to the red square on the map and killed the enemy there. "Although you've beaten this level, to access higher levels, you must pay your shareware fees." Well that sucks, I guess we're never seeing the end of the game. This is a very flawed game as I said earlier, and you should avoid it at all costs. Play "Castle of the Winds" instead, it is much longer and better.

The second game on our list is "Quenzar's Caverns". Quenzar's Caverns. "You are in a world where magic works, and creatures from mythology are real. This is a classic struggle between good and evil. Quenzar's Caverns is about you, a great hero, who has decided to rid the land of an evil wizard named Quenzar. Quenzar has been plotting to take control of the medieval kingdom for years. From his hidden, underground fortress he has been using his magic and sending out his minions to terrorize the surrounding lands. He is an evil man whom few people have seen and survived. Quenzar is also reported to be dabbling in necromancy and has dealings with evil beings from other planes of existence." This is a game that I used to play a lot in my childhood. I'm going to be playing a Basic Game. The dungeon is composed of 100 different rooms, and each room has something different in it. 12 different kinds of rooms exist. We have fountains that have potions, statues/trap doors/chests/pools of water/pits are more likely to be trapped, fireplaces have cutting utensils, sarcophagus and beds have variety of items, bookshelves have scrolls, desks and tables have potions, rings, or scrolls, closets have shields, wardrobes have armor, pack of carrying, or helm of reflection, weapon racks have weapons, gold color alats have special items, and black altars have grenades in them. Two kinds of traps exist. Magical shock rooms, and furniture traps. If you can spot the latter, you are asked if you want to disarm. If you fail to do so, you will take a small bit of damage. Anyway, we'll go into more detail as we keep playing the game. There are also many types of monsters you will encounter in this game. From giants to minotaurs to medusas to vampires to goblins, each monster brings something new to the table. For example, Medusas have an instant kill attack. So I found a great axe right away and had to unequip my starting shield as a result. I went down and searched a fountain to find a blue potion. Then I went left and found a gold altar. "You did not disarm a pit trap. You have picked up a lens of identify." Now I know what all items are for the rest of the game. Pretty useful. I went left onto a magic shock trap, taking a large chunk of damage in the process. I did get lucky to find a halberd (which has a weapon value of 8). I had to use one of my two starting red potions to restore my health. Red potions can also be poison, causing damage. I found a leather armor, giving me one extra point of armor. "You find and pick up the key to Quenzar's sactum here." You're looking for a key too. You don't want to enter yet until you have everything you need... by the way, you can't pick up items if a monster happens to be there - you must kill it first. Then I found a magic glave from a weapons rack, but some things can actually be imicons, which are like Nethack's Mimics. I then ended up dying to a giant, despite having a magic glave. DOH! Time to try again. My second attempt gets off to a far better start, as I find a great sword in a room with a rat in it. I get lucky and find a holy hand grenade, which does damage to an enemy and stops it from acting. A few rooms later I get bodied by an imicon, forcing me to use one of my two restoration potions to restore my life. Then I find a pack of carrying, which is quite useful. Also, some rooms have distorting color, which is very stupid in my opinion. It can force you into magical shock traps and rooms you don't want to go to, like this one with a goblin guard in it. Now the way damage works in this game is you hit the enemy with your weapon. Two types of damage exist - points and damage. Points measure how much damage you could have done, and the damage is what you actually do to the enemy. You get a critical hit if your damage matches your points. So I'm having a tough time finding out the magical shock traps. I then almost get bodied by a goblin guard, but heal myself with a restoration potion (oh and drink a dexterity potion I found too). Then I find a helm of reflection after killing a trapper plant, making me much harder to hit. I then walk into a magical shock trap, but then find the good healing spirit. It's the only monster in the game that can't be killed by you. For each point of gold you give it, it will heal you by one point. I paid 9 gold coins and he healed 9 points of my strength. Speaking of strength I happen to find a potion of strength, giving me a max strength boost. Not a bad deal! Then I get my hands on an amulet of shielding. What this will do is make a horrible sound when I step into a magical shock trap and greatly reduce the damage it takes off of me. Of course, it only works one time. I then found a Compass of Guiding, which tells me the key and sanctum location. After grenading a giant, I found an amulet of life, which gives me a reassuring feeling. This item brings me back from the dead once if I die, like NetHack's amulet of life saving, effectively doubling my life bar. Then I find the key after killing a giant spider. Also we find out that the compass can actually protect you from the rooms of disorientation. I then bumped into a shock trap, causing the amulet of shielding to go away. DOH. There is also a Slithering Horror, which is a very tough monster that has 30 life points and can't be beaten easily. I lost my Amulet of Life looking for the Dragon Sword, which is the best weapon in the game. I then enter the sanctum. Here, you must face one of Quenzar's guardians. It's different each time you play the game. While he's tough, you can use your grenades against him. In fact, this is the last time in the game your grenades are effective - so you might as well use them here. I killed the large golem and then got a message about a second door opening mysteriously, beckoning me to enter another room. You get to use an item or heal before entering the next room. I entered Quenzar's room and saw the gold robed form of Quenzar standing in the middle of it. "Gesturing with his hands, he casts his one ready spell. Quenzar blasts you with a sphere of disintegration. You take 0 damage from Quenzar's magical attack. You have survived Quenzar's spell to his surprise. He now draws a glowing sword to duel you." This guy is the final boss, and of course he is very tough. Wielding a dark sword with a chainmail armor, he is not one to be taking lightly. I do have 44 PV while he has 38 PV, so unless he gets very lucky, I should have this fight in the bag. Sure enough I do. After you kill him, you get a generic heroic ending, as seen below. But first, look at how much gold I got off his grave - 9,441 gold. Now what am I do with all that? Hahahahaha. "Congratulations, you have slain the evil wizard Quenzar! Your name will go down in history! There's a grand celebration of your great victory. Let us raise our goblets and toast, our hero!"

The third game on our list is "Hero: The Challenge". It begins in the woods with this. "The day has been long and frustrating. Your village is out of meat, and no game has passed in front of your stand." We can wait a little longer, head bac kto village, or head fathur (sp) into woods. The first and third options do nothing, but the second option causes a dragon to appear at your home. You can run and hide, attack, or sneak into the woods. I chose to run and hide, as fighting the dragon at this point in the game is suicide. I entered the church there and got refreshed. I went south and east. "Hi! If you really like this game, send us three bucks. Even if you don't like it, how about sending us a couple of comments on why, and how, to make it better." Then I went east again. "A vicious looking sword hangs supsended in mid-air, surrounded by black roses. A voice sounds in your head. Take me warrior, and the valley will run red with blood." DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT do it. If you do, you instantly lose the game. So I went East again and picked up the bell. I got five honor points added for that. So I go north and find a book on the ground. I found a dwarf, and we need more honor before we can take his armor. There's an old man here and he taught me the power of honor, but not before I lost five points for picking the right option. Then I went south and found a strange large warrior. I found an elf and get this. There is a glitch in the game in which you can click on the second slot in your inventory and he will give you a sword. I then found a tree while I was walking around the map. Thre is no map - I forgot the directions. Doh. So I found a unicorn and I told it of my plight. "I see young warrior. Let me help you as best I can." You get one skill point and one honor point. There is a winged horse that can give you advice on elves and dwarfs. I then came across an enemy and fought him. You can thrust, slash, or berserk. I killed him in two hits with my new sword and fonud a life gem. I then found a wizard and I gave him a book. "You have my thanks young warrior!" Now I know how to use lightning magic. Then I found a beautiful girl, but I told her I have a woman already. Since I have 15 points of honor, I picked up a shield I found. I attacked a giant red creature, and found the hole of a Cat-God. The little mice things have devised a defense against him and his kin. If they are able to perfect this device, I and all cats will eventually starve to death. Let's give him the bell - WOAH! My agility shot through the roof! Now that I have 20 points of honor, I can go back to the Dwarf and click on him. He gives me the plate armor and tells me he heard rumors of a dragon in the area. I killed another warrior and a large ogre. I gave the young woman a young dyrad, and it raised my stats even more. SO now I have 37 strength, 56 agility, 46 defense, and 44 skill as well as 53 health and up to 15 points of damage. It was time to fight the dragon. I begun with lightning magic and thrusted him until he died. He didn't do any damage to me whatsoever. This is your reward. "You have slain the dragon! The remaining villagers hoist you up on their shoulders and parade you around what's left of the village. When they set you down, your wife leaps into your arms. You love the smell of Dragon's blood in the morning. Thank you, I have hoped you enjoyed our game." This is far better than Zigfried, but still only decent.

Our last game we'll be looking at today is called "VENTURE System: Starbase Varga." Back in the day, this is a game that I used to play frequently. The game comes with two scenarios: this and "The Caverns of Makalu". This was the only one I was able to beat as a kid. So here's the story. "You are in a real mess now. Your starbase has been attacked by alien beings and their killer robots. They have taken over most of the starbase and are hunting down any survivors, like you! Your only chance is to get to an escape pod at the top of the starbase. All you have is one small handgun, but there are some more powerful weapons laying around, left over from all the fighting." A room in Venture consists of eight directions, and each one can have a door, a monster, an abyss, or an item. The first room in this game has a Hal 2000 in it. Talking to it reveals this dialogue. "May I help you?" From here, you have three choices to pick. "Yes, where is the escape pod?" "Why? Are you trying to escape?" I said, "Yes, I have to get to the escape pod!" and he said, "It is located on the highest level of the star-base. There is no direct route to it from the central core." This time I asked him, "Is there a reason I shouldn't be trying to escape?" "Yes, there is no danger on the star-base. Everything is normal. No, the star-base is in normal operating condition. You may move about with no fear of attack." The second dialogue option is useless, but choosing the third option and selecting "Daisy" tells you this. "Thank you. There are 6 aliens and no robots on this level." So I went left and came across an alien. I whipped out my handgun and killed it in two hits, but not before taking 5% damage. In this game, the weaker you are, the less damage you do. So I killed the second alien, went to a door, then killed a third one. I found a jug of water after moving a bit, and also slayed a fourth alien. This item restores some of our health when we use it. We kill the fifth alien and kill a sixth, but I fell to 60% health. So from the map, we've gone in only three rooms. We really need to start exploring the other rooms in the level to move on. I found a coil rope and two first-aid kits. Soon I made it to NE Shaft Level 2. Somewhere in this floor is a shotgun, and this item is required to beat the game. We also found a Magic ID card. There's no enemies here, so let's go to SW Shaft Level 2. There's another Hal 2000 here, but I recommend saving your game before talking to it. Why? Well... "May I help you?" "You lying bag of bolts! Why did you tell me there were no aliens on Level 1?" "I did it to protect the starbase. Your running around and shooting at things is endangering the starbase. I must stop you." I responded with the first choice. "No, no, not that gain! I'll tell the truth. There's five aliens on this level." You need the ID card from earlier to open some doors in this level. So the second we go up to level 3, we see an alien robot and blast it twice with our shotgun. Our health drops so low that we have to shoot the next alien robot three times. It turns out that we have been killed by an alien robot, which means we lost one of our three lives. That sucks. So now we must work our way back to where we were. Now that we have full health, our shotgun blast kills the alien robot in one hit. So let's save and talk to HAL. "How close am I to the escape pod?" "Not close enough. Also, this level's full of the killer robots." DO NOT press A when talking to Hal at the first prompt. It will instantly fry you where you stand and cost you an entire life. As you will soon see, you NEED to have at least two lives when you get to the final enemy of the game. Level 3 also has a complete BS part in this game. There is an abyss that is extremely hard to get over. So save when you want to cross it. Before jumping over, we need a ladder section. Guess how you get across the abyss. You would never figure this out. Use the ladder section. Of course, you probably fell down the abyss like 36 times before I told you this. So we soon arrive on Level 4, which, according to Hal 2000, only has one killer robot. Wait until you see what happens when we come across it, it's one of the biggest most famous moments in video game history. It hits you and does 20% damage to you. The only weapon in the game that will harm it is the Plasma Ray Gun, found on this floor. Now is the time to use all those water jugs and first-aid-kits to get all your life back. After killing it, you get to the fifth and final level, which is also the hardest. There is one killer robot, so take it out with your plasma ray gun. I went to the hole and used my coil of rope. Now here is our ending that we worked so hard for. "You jump in the escape pod and blast clear of the star-base. As soon as you leave, HAL blows up the entire star-base, killing himself and all of the aliens and robots. He was'nt so bad after all."

So I hope you enjoyed these four games. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see a pair of furry and funny bunnies. See you next time!