Forums > Contributor Zone > Alpha Marathon ‘09

Sneaky stuff, Woodhouse.

I'm going to be mired in pre-completed letters for a while, so someone can forge a lead if they tried.

I feel the need to offer you all hints now.

For us. For them. For you.

Here's what I have.

C: Champions of Krynn
J: Jawbreaker
G: Gegege no Kitaro 2
S: Secret of the Silver Blades

Might have a few more once games are added to the HG database. And also if I manage to write in what I want to be added.

I also have some rewrites from gamefaqs which I assume don't count.
B: Beyond Zork
P: Progress Quest
T: Taxman
Z: Zork I/II/III

My principal said, 'Emo, Emo, Emo.'
I said 'I'm the one in the middle, you lousy drunk!'
-- Emo Phillips

Entry updated elsewhere.

"Either, sir, you're an ass or masquerading as one."
- Nero Wolfe

I'm of the mind that if a rewrite was extensive, then it counts towards your score. So I'll let you decide if they should count towards your tally or not.

I'll put four down for now. If you think any of the others are rewritten enough to count, then add them to the top list and I'll bump up your score.

For us. For them. For you.

Archmage and Odin Sphere brings me up to 13, boyo.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Rather than give Zipp the temporary illusion that he is ahead of me, I'll chime in and note that I'm up to 14.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

I just doubled up on "M". And I think every single game I'm currently playing is for a letter that I've already covered. Which means that the only thing that will keep my progress from grinding to a total halt is my ability to run through a blah old NES game during boring afternoons to come up with the periodic bash review.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Thanks for the clarification!

"B" is moot because I wrote for Bard's Tale 2. Taxman is a legitimate rewrite. And "M" is for Miner, which I think I forgot to include first time around.

B: Bard's Tale 2(NES)
C: Champions of Krynn
J: Jawbreaker
G: Gegege no Kitaro 2
M: Miner
S: Secret of the Silver Blades
T: Taxman(*considerable rewrite)-but I still want to write another

I'll be happy clearing 15 this year. But I have a few letters targeted with my next few review(s).

My principal said, 'Emo, Emo, Emo.'
I said 'I'm the one in the middle, you lousy drunk!'
-- Emo Phillips

Personally, I think rewrites should only count if the old review is taken off the site first.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

I'm at 15.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

Virtua Fighter brings me right behind Suskie, at 14.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

4 now thx

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Update:

A: Airball
B: Bard's Tale 2(NES)
C: Champions of Krynn
D: Defenders of (the) Dynatron City
J: Jawbreaker
G: Gegege no Kitaro 2
H: (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) A nearly complete rewrite, but I have a few H games in the wings.
M: Miner
S: Secret of the Silver Blades
T: (Taxman) This was a nearly complete rewrite, as between the original GameFAQs submission and now I wrote a FAQ for it, but I think I will be writing for the IIgs's Tower of Myraglen soon, rendering any rewriting rules moot.
U: (The) Usurper: Mines of Qyntarr. I sent it to GameFAQs a month ago and here today.

So, I'm up to 9 (11 if I bend the rules.) I could conceivably write for 26, not having anything new for Z--my Zork reviews were just pulled over. But I think I will have to target letters to get to 26. I'm going to do better than half, and that is good.

Anyone else find N and O unusually hard to find games for despite these being common letters? I'm surprised how few games start with these letters. I found an X before either of these.

My principal said, 'Emo, Emo, Emo.'
I said 'I'm the one in the middle, you lousy drunk!'
-- Emo Phillips

I had trouble with N last year, so it became pretty much the first one I did this year. O I waited for the obscure tourney to sneakily remove.

For us. For them. For you.

A = A Fading Melody
B = Braid
D = Dragon Blaze
M = Mass Effect
R - Resident Evil: Degeneration
S = Sonic the Hedgehog

I now have five. Not that it changes my place, but oh well.

"fuck yeah oblivion" - Jihad

What is the reward for all of this?

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Same as all the other events. Bragging rights.

I've not bragged in a while. Did I mention I was the only person manly and awesome enough to ever beat this challange? Because I am. This makes me roughly 7.4 times more awesome that you, random reader.

For us. For them. For you.

#: 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
C: Crazy Taxi 2
F: Frogger
S: Spyglass Board Games

Is it okay to count reviews brought over from Thunderbolt if they weren't written this year, or is that cheating? If it's not okay, I'll need a new strategy.

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Ports are fine, but they do need to be from this year unless heavilly revised. Otherwise you're just cheating yourself.

For us. For them. For you.

Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

I'm pretty determined this year to be the second person to ever complete this. It is a tough task, but I've got two more letters on the way. That brings me up to 17, and only 9 more letters needed.

I WILL get them if it takes ghost writers to do so.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Might as well use this opportunity to remind you guys that I'm at 19.

Yeah, I've been winning for a while.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

B: Banjo Kazooie, makes 5.

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Bioshock and X-Men brings me up to 16. Only ten more to go, and I've got one in the works that will cover that pesky "M." Still haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do for Y... but it will come to me.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Okay, I'm up to 18. Right now I'm not sure what to do about K, plus I still have Q and Z left.

Buy -> Opium!