Videogame Challenges, Redux

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote about how videogame challenges could be fun but obsessive. What's funny, though, is that somehow I found myself beating two challenges that I had abandoned:

• Street Fighter II: World Warrior, arcade version, difficulty 3, 1 credit challenge (1CC)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, NES version, hard difficulty (only 1 credit allowed on hard)

Beating the SF2 challenge was a surprise for me. I still randomly put on old fighting games and play them for fun, and I had been playing a lot of fighting games since Capcom Arcade Fighting Collection 2 came out, so I thought, why not? I was able to beat it as Ryu, with a few rough spots against Balrog and Bison (two very close calls, round 3's if I remember correctly).

TMNT, on the other hand, was super random. I had previously written about how I played Tournament Fighters on NES for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by it. I had just finished reading the first volume of IDW 2011 comics for the series and, being in the mood for more Turtles stuff, decided to try out the Genesis version. That's a wacky game and one I am definitely going to go back to because of its odd nature. However, it also got me back into the NES one, which I had previously beaten on Normal. It took a few tries today, but I finally beat Shredder on hard. I had to be patient and remind myself that it's not a race. I played as Raphael, who has a drill move that resembles the psycho crusher, and his throw was also incredibly useful.

I'd like to point out that in the manual, the Turtles say "No weapons when hyping each other up." Meanwhile, Casey and Shredder both had weapons. Gotta hand it to Raph to sticking to their rule.

I think the difference between last time I tried to beat SF2 with 1 credit and now was that I was having more fun with it. It was fine to just give it a try and, if I failed, then go about doing something else. I've learned the lesson before, but it's a nice reminder to enjoy the process of playing the game. If I get the end result I was aiming for, that's great! However, winning isn't the reason I'm playing the games. It's to have fun. Sometimes that means going for a challenge that I don't normally do (perhaps more thoughts about limited continues or harder difficulties another time). I accomplished the goal and had fun along the way.

A funny sidenote is that last week after I 1 CC'd SF2, I turned around and tried to do a 1CC for Metal Slug and quickly abandoned it, thinking of my old post. Maybe one day, but maybe I can just say low-credit run and go for that? 😅