Today I played Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, and beat it the first time through, then turned it off. I did this many many years ago, but it's been so long since I seriously played that I had forgotten everything. I remember the first time I beat the game, years ago, I thought the bracelet would be "hidden" somewhere in the game (even the first quest), because, well, that's basically just what the princess says (stupid @#$% could at least tell me where she hid it!). As a result, I spent countless hours combing every level to no avail. One part that is just now coming back to memory, there was a ledge just out of reach in level 4, that I thought I could get to if I sacrificed a hit and let a spitting flower knock me back and onto it - I must have spent 3 hours trying different things in that one spot!

Well anyway, it's a great game. There's only a few things I don't like. If I jump around and attack really wildly, the graphics will glitch up, and at one point one of those damn firebrands flew around the bottom of the screen, to where I couldn't hit him, and no matter what I tried he wouldn't leave, until my time ran out. The endurance needed to beat it once through is pretty high, I'd have to set aside a whole day if I ever wanted to truly beat it.

I also started playing Gradius III. For some reason this game and I just never 'clicked'. I got up to the stage 3 boss but cannot yet beat him.