Athena is a strange game but I can explain. The armor progression is bronze > silver > gold, but for some reason the bronze is yellow and the gold is an orange-ish color. Blue was indeed an upgrade. The weird spots that teleported you to the beginning of a level are secret exits - they let you complete the stage without finding the boss if you have a lamp. The reason the jump is wonky and sometimes doesn't high jump is because the shoes were removed from the NES version, but jump tries to approximate the way the shoes did though it doesn't do it consistently. The first jump is a normal jump, the second jump is a slightly higher jump, and your third jump is a high jump then it loops back around to a normal jump and follows that jump pattern assuming it works right, but the NES version is buggy and sometimes it skips a step in the jump pattern. Yes, Athena is a pretty dumb game.
I think the reason that I like Life Force more than almost every other shooter is that it feels like I'm on this adventure. To me, shooters feel like the game is kinda playing itself and I just need to line up and take shots, while Life Force feels like I'm the one actively going through the worlds. It's an illusion, but it sells the illusion better.
Where you left off is the best place to farm tone in Rygar. Kill the cyclops go into the wiseman door then leave and jump so the cyclops beam goes under you kill him and repeat, they give the most tone per kill in the game. You can get your tone so high that you can 1 shot bosses by farming there for a few minutes. Good to see you place it highly. Also where Life Force shines compared to Gradius is that you can play 2 player simultaneous so it's a much more fun game with 2 people.
Athena has haunted me since childhood. All this weird mysterious depth but the part where you actually play it and try to get anything done is a nightmarish fever dream.
Some games don't click with everyone! I really like the alien biological aspect of Lifeforce. And it was neat to find out how certain deaths that seemed cheap are actually telegraphed, but you have to know what to look for. But I think it might be the genre that's hardest to go back in time with because later games just did so much to make the genre better. Einhander, Ikaruga...
I don't care. Lifeforce is one of the best games on the nes imo. I spent hours and hours of my childhood learning every part of that game. Didn't learn the cheat until way later
as a noise music fan, I think my favourite part of these old game streams is the fucked up sounds i get to hear. listening to sped up Rygar was pretty good
You know what's something else that makes Rygar easier to go back to a lot of other games of its era? Generous hitboxes. You can make a lot of jumps and dodge through of a lot of situations that you'd think you wouldn't be able to get away with, coming off of other NES games. Also, there's no difference in the Japanese spelling of Rygar/Ligar because that's not supposed to be the protagonist's name - you play as the Warrior of Argus/Argo. The localizations and ports _actually_ did the John Gametitle gag.
As a kid I only knew the Konami Code because of LifeForce, and only learned years later that it also worked on Contra and a bunch of other Konami games...
In Athena every stage has a "secret room" that will warp you back to the start, unless you find the magic lamp, in which case you warp to the next level. If you find the warp in the last level, the game soft locks. The arcade version sensibly gives you the lamp right before the first warp.
Arcade Athena sequel "Psycho Soldier" from SNK rocks, literally, it has a digitized soundtrack (including localized versions in US vs. Japan) that has been remixed multiple times in King of Fighters games. NES Athena? Oof...
I could *pretty much* get behind you Jeff on the first three episodes until you went and now put Rygar @ #1 (especially over R.C.R., which has greater depth via customization; better graphics; better sound effects; arguably better music; a 2-player option; and, albeit atrocious; passwrord/save capability) and then went and did Life Force dirty @ #11... :P
I loved the first two episodes of the Ranking the NES series, I kinda feel like in the last two episodes you spend too long playing a single game. Would love it if you'd stick to about 20 minutes per game, even games you like, as you did in the first episodes, they were wonderfully paced.
I used to do that same grind at the beginning when I played on NESticle. I later realized that those guys don't give you any Tone, so you get a lot of health bars, but it doesn't help you kill enemies any faster.
I used to do the rygar grind on the flying lizard devil looking dudes.Lifeforce is the fairer home version non-quarter munching Gradius. Laser > Ripple.Photon Centers > Lazer Tag home > Photon Home
I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu watching you play Baseball Simulator 1000. I feel like I played this game as a kid, but I don't remember it. I do remember playing the Culture Brain game Flying Warriors a lot. I'm curious to find out if that's a hidden gem on the NES, or just something I played a lot because it's what I had.
I grew up with the NES, and my mom had a way of finding the weirdest games I had never heard of and bringing them home. Athena was one of those games, and it was an early game for me so I didn't realize how crappy it was. Honestly the only thing I really remembered is she had a really big head. Thanks Jeff for bringing it back out so I didn't have to suffer through it personally.
The music in Rygar at 53:45 sounds exactly like the battle music from Defender of the Crown and now I know I will wither away unmourned for knowing this
My neighbor growing up had a copy of Dr. Chaos (or Dr. Chows, as I called it, because I couldn't read the word 'chaos' correctly), and I always wanted to play it when I came over. I was mesmerized by going from side scrolling to a point and click mechanic as I went in and out of rooms, despite having no idea how any of it worked or what even I was supposed to do. My neighbor, however, actively disliked the game and would get grumpy every time I asked to play it. I think they even started hiding it when I came over, because eventually its box was just gone from their collection. Either that, or they took out their frustrations on the game cart itself.
@@GreatistheWorld Tecmo, but yeah I can't think of any off the top of my head. One other weird thing is that the music that plays when you're in the guru room, is the same as the title screen music from Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.
I haven't played it in ages, but Rygar is definitely a game that always held a special place in my heart, alongside stuff like Karnov, Faxanadu, Jackal, Crystalis... I also had a weird, uh, let's call it fascination with Defenders of the Crown. I know that game is absolute ass, but I remember playing a lot of it. More than anyone ever should, that's for sure. And, yeah, Lifeforce saw more play in my house purely because it had a two-player simultaneous option, and when you have a brother you need to share the NES with, you play a lot of two-player games. Contra, River City Ransom, Life Force, Jackal, the Double Dragon sequels, and Tengen Tetris were in pretty regular rotation.
The fact that you played Athena so much despite hating is, is epic. Also, 100% agree on Spy Hunter, I remember on the Atari 8-bit version it was easier to go max speed and still play the game, whether that was by design or just a limitation of the system, I remember playing it and feeling a sense of accomplishment I never felt with the twitchiness of Spy Hunter on NES.
On today's episode, Jeff let his emotions get the better of him during Athena and chucked it in dead last without much scientific thought. I gotta say, I expected a more level headed critique from a **scientist** As a non-scientist, though, I gotta say that game looked ass
For obvious reasons, Famicon appeared in Russia only after 1991, and all of cartridges were yellow or black bootleg variant. It is wild to see that Life Force is supposed to have that sick translucent cartridge. Famicon was popular in Russia until early 00s, and probably would last even longer if bootleggers bothered to expand their selection instead of printing 300 variants of Battle Tank in one cartridge again. P.S.: I finished Life Force without extra lives as a child. Yes, I can't believe it either.
I haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure as shit that Athena isn't at least one of those things. This videos are like heroin to me. I see them and my pulse quickens, I get sweaty, and I am READY TO PARTY.
One of my fondest gaming memories is beating Rygar in a day then rushing to the store before it closed to get a refund. Yes, I'm the reason you can't return video games. Such a weird and wonderful game. I don't think anything since has captured that, sincere, weirdness.
I had a real problem with monster rehab strawberry lemonade, it doesn't taste enough like either thing, not that sweet, it just felt uncomfortable, had to force myself to finish it.
..as for NES games that are both crazy ambitious, while also rarely get talked about, I think "Rescue -the embassy mission"/"Hostages" can be a consideration. ...Though after doing some wikipedia:ing, it turns out its a port, which makes sense in that other, similarly ambitious games like Shadowgate were also ports. But if you don't know that, and you're a child, something like "Rescue" reads like a real "wow, I didn't expect games on my NES could do this". Still, it is kinda interesting to realize as an adult how many of the "wow, that was really intricate both for the platform, and compared to what was available on it" games were ports from platforms you wouldn't have encountered otherwise.
Oh man the Lifeforce slander! I think it's a far superior game to Gradius, mostly because when you die you don't go back to a checkpoint and continue onward. Also the music and weird visuals are much more unique than Gradius, but to each their own.
One of my favorite NES games. I played this for so many years and tried to uncover its secrets, but didn't actually finish the game until I was an adult. I have a walkthrough that I made for this game on my channel.
I get excited when there's a new best and/or worst game on the list, because it gets fun predicting how long it'll reign as the champion. I'm guessing 2 episodes for a new worst game, 3 for a new best. I was right about Renegade not lasting for long, but I expected Firehouse Rescue to last more than one episode. And RCR I had pegged for at least another episode. Not a good record so far.
I used to play a ton of Dr Chaos back in the day. i even memorized a near end password cause i had started back at that spot a billion times. not a great game, but it was serviceable.
"Suck my ass through a chain-link fence, Athena!" - Jeff Gerstmann, 2023 Oh my God hahahahahahaha, this is the best one yet. And I really need to play all the way through Rygar soon. I forgot how cool that game is.
California Games (in fact, most of the Epyx Games titles) had so much personality and attention to detail. I always loved that your body got shoved a bit by the skateboard as it plowed into you after you screwed up. Just a lovely little final insult. Oh, and Athena sucks, but the box art for 8-bit home computers was incredible. Another Bob Wakelin banger.
If this series goes on long enough, eventually we will hit the Godzilla duology. The first is a pretty bad, flickery side scroller and the other is a deeply unfair strategy game that relies on slot machines to pick your attack power… such variety in those 8 bit days! Edit: also, what the fuck is wrong with the trees in Athena?! I realize that’s the least of that game’s many problems, but what the fuck is wrong with those trees?! Each new one is more hideous than the last… Who designed those and thought they looked good?!?!
Don't agree at all about your take on Life Force. It's a beautiful game with an incredible ost. Seems like you weren't even trying to learn how to play it. It's really not that hard if you pay attention.
When I was in the Marine Corps in Iraq, we pooped in a cut-in-half 50-gallon drum. We'd pour diesel ful into the drums and burn the poop at the end of the week. Once, I had to attend and stir the poop to make sure it all burned. While I was stirring it, a giant heat-bubble came up, trembled, and exploded dookie in my face... I'd rather experience that again than play Athena.
Athena is a strange game but I can explain. The armor progression is bronze > silver > gold, but for some reason the bronze is yellow and the gold is an orange-ish color. Blue was indeed an upgrade. The weird spots that teleported you to the beginning of a level are secret exits - they let you complete the stage without finding the boss if you have a lamp. The reason the jump is wonky and sometimes doesn't high jump is because the shoes were removed from the NES version, but jump tries to approximate the way the shoes did though it doesn't do it consistently. The first jump is a normal jump, the second jump is a slightly higher jump, and your third jump is a high jump then it loops back around to a normal jump and follows that jump pattern assuming it works right, but the NES version is buggy and sometimes it skips a step in the jump pattern. Yes, Athena is a pretty dumb game.
I think the reason that I like Life Force more than almost every other shooter is that it feels like I'm on this adventure. To me, shooters feel like the game is kinda playing itself and I just need to line up and take shots, while Life Force feels like I'm the one actively going through the worlds. It's an illusion, but it sells the illusion better.
Watching jeff at 2x while he plays at 2x is video games in 2023
Watch jeff at 0.5x speed, sounds like hes high
This is my favorite Gerstmann Show series. Really loving it, thanks Jeff!
Where you left off is the best place to farm tone in Rygar. Kill the cyclops go into the wiseman door then leave and jump so the cyclops beam goes under you kill him and repeat, they give the most tone per kill in the game. You can get your tone so high that you can 1 shot bosses by farming there for a few minutes. Good to see you place it highly.
Also where Life Force shines compared to Gradius is that you can play 2 player simultaneous so it's a much more fun game with 2 people.
Athena has haunted me since childhood. All this weird mysterious depth but the part where you actually play it and try to get anything done is a nightmarish fever dream.
You can't copyright claim this one feds I'm getting my 3 hours of Jeff one way or another
Come And Take It flag with a Rock Star Recovery Lemonade on it
STICKING IT TO THE MAN
Rygar is a special game , glad it holds up. Blaster Master should be next!
It sure seems like we've seen Jeff play Rygar on and off for about 15 years now. And it's great everytime!
Some games don't click with everyone! I really like the alien biological aspect of Lifeforce. And it was neat to find out how certain deaths that seemed cheap are actually telegraphed, but you have to know what to look for.
But I think it might be the genre that's hardest to go back in time with because later games just did so much to make the genre better. Einhander, Ikaruga...
Damn. The mustard yellow and black lines and text gives off some Charlie Brown vibes.
> game purports to be a simulator of baseball
> hitter transforms into a tornado
Every time he shits on helicopters I'm reminded of Ryan Davis.
I don't care. Lifeforce is one of the best games on the nes imo. I spent hours and hours of my childhood learning every part of that game. Didn't learn the cheat until way later
great Tobe Hooper movie too
as a noise music fan, I think my favourite part of these old game streams is the fucked up sounds i get to hear. listening to sped up Rygar was pretty good
French’s Mustard Gerstmann is a vibe, and I’m here for it. DOING A PUBLIC SERVICE HERE, JEFF! You da man
The clash with the chair is frankly a form of art
Agreed completely. lol
River City Ransom Gangs reply: BARF!
All the stars are here
I'm suddenly real eager to see you play Gradius.
You know what's something else that makes Rygar easier to go back to a lot of other games of its era? Generous hitboxes. You can make a lot of jumps and dodge through of a lot of situations that you'd think you wouldn't be able to get away with, coming off of other NES games.
Also, there's no difference in the Japanese spelling of Rygar/Ligar because that's not supposed to be the protagonist's name - you play as the Warrior of Argus/Argo. The localizations and ports _actually_ did the John Gametitle gag.
Rygar is a hell of a game. Amazing music, great sounds, cool and weird enemy designs. . .It's a damn masterpiece.
Can't wait to see Clash at Demonhead, that game did a lot of weird stuff that I feel Jeff would be into.
As a kid I only knew the Konami Code because of LifeForce, and only learned years later that it also worked on Contra and a bunch of other Konami games...
I wish Tecmo would revisit Rygar with this style in mind. 2D Action/Adventure with even a sprite inspired graphics. Such a great little game.
In Athena every stage has a "secret room" that will warp you back to the start, unless you find the magic lamp, in which case you warp to the next level. If you find the warp in the last level, the game soft locks. The arcade version sensibly gives you the lamp right before the first warp.
That Rygar cheat is the precursor to the Loot Cave in vanilla Destiny...
Arcade Athena sequel "Psycho Soldier" from SNK rocks, literally, it has a digitized soundtrack (including localized versions in US vs. Japan) that has been remixed multiple times in King of Fighters games. NES Athena? Oof...
Arcade Athena has proper sprite collision, in the NES port an enemy that doesnt even touch you can drain your health instantaneously
I could *pretty much* get behind you Jeff on the first three episodes until you went and now put Rygar @ #1 (especially over R.C.R., which has greater depth via customization; better graphics; better sound effects; arguably better music; a 2-player option; and, albeit atrocious; passwrord/save capability) and then went and did Life Force dirty @ #11... :P
Bold claim at 2:37:37 😆
I loved the first two episodes of the Ranking the NES series, I kinda feel like in the last two episodes you spend too long playing a single game. Would love it if you'd stick to about 20 minutes per game, even games you like, as you did in the first episodes, they were wonderfully paced.
I used to do that same grind at the beginning when I played on NESticle. I later realized that those guys don't give you any Tone, so you get a lot of health bars, but it doesn't help you kill enemies any faster.
I used to do the rygar grind on the flying lizard devil looking dudes.Lifeforce is the fairer home version non-quarter munching Gradius. Laser > Ripple.Photon Centers > Lazer Tag home > Photon Home
I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu watching you play Baseball Simulator 1000. I feel like I played this game as a kid, but I don't remember it. I do remember playing the Culture Brain game Flying Warriors a lot. I'm curious to find out if that's a hidden gem on the NES, or just something I played a lot because it's what I had.
This ranking comes to a screeching halt once 'Deadly Towers' enters the ring.
watching jeff play his fave game, Athena
I grew up with the NES, and my mom had a way of finding the weirdest games I had never heard of and bringing them home. Athena was one of those games, and it was an early game for me so I didn't realize how crappy it was. Honestly the only thing I really remembered is she had a really big head. Thanks Jeff for bringing it back out so I didn't have to suffer through it personally.
The music in Rygar at 53:45 sounds exactly like the battle music from Defender of the Crown and now I know I will wither away unmourned for knowing this
My neighbor growing up had a copy of Dr. Chaos (or Dr. Chows, as I called it, because I couldn't read the word 'chaos' correctly), and I always wanted to play it when I came over. I was mesmerized by going from side scrolling to a point and click mechanic as I went in and out of rooms, despite having no idea how any of it worked or what even I was supposed to do.
My neighbor, however, actively disliked the game and would get grumpy every time I asked to play it. I think they even started hiding it when I came over, because eventually its box was just gone from their collection. Either that, or they took out their frustrations on the game cart itself.
My favorite Rygar fun fact is that the Japanese version has a completely different soundtrack, outside of a track or two.
Whoa. Wonder if thats true for any other Konami games
@@GreatistheWorld Tecmo, but yeah I can't think of any off the top of my head. One other weird thing is that the music that plays when you're in the guru room, is the same as the title screen music from Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.
I haven't played it in ages, but Rygar is definitely a game that always held a special place in my heart, alongside stuff like Karnov, Faxanadu, Jackal, Crystalis... I also had a weird, uh, let's call it fascination with Defenders of the Crown. I know that game is absolute ass, but I remember playing a lot of it. More than anyone ever should, that's for sure.
And, yeah, Lifeforce saw more play in my house purely because it had a two-player simultaneous option, and when you have a brother you need to share the NES with, you play a lot of two-player games. Contra, River City Ransom, Life Force, Jackal, the Double Dragon sequels, and Tengen Tetris were in pretty regular rotation.
The fact that you played Athena so much despite hating is, is epic. Also, 100% agree on Spy Hunter, I remember on the Atari 8-bit version it was easier to go max speed and still play the game, whether that was by design or just a limitation of the system, I remember playing it and feeling a sense of accomplishment I never felt with the twitchiness of Spy Hunter on NES.
Yeah, Rygar needed a password system or a battery save. Another game that needed a password system or a battery save is Blaster Master.
@2:35:40 Jeff’s delivery when he says “fuck this game forever” is the most beautiful reaction to a bad video game.
On today's episode, Jeff let his emotions get the better of him during Athena and chucked it in dead last without much scientific thought.
I gotta say, I expected a more level headed critique from a **scientist**
As a non-scientist, though, I gotta say that game looked ass
2:09:21 Jeff: That doesn't look great
2:09:29 The Game: That was great
For obvious reasons, Famicon appeared in Russia only after 1991, and all of cartridges were yellow or black bootleg variant. It is wild to see that Life Force is supposed to have that sick translucent cartridge.
Famicon was popular in Russia until early 00s, and probably would last even longer if bootleggers bothered to expand their selection instead of printing 300 variants of Battle Tank in one cartridge again.
P.S.: I finished Life Force without extra lives as a child. Yes, I can't believe it either.
RYGAR HAS AN EPIC SUN
58:45 is such a momentous moment.
I haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure as shit that Athena isn't at least one of those things. This videos are like heroin to me. I see them and my pulse quickens, I get sweaty, and I am READY TO PARTY.
Rygar has a great soundtrack indeed. it gets a lot of play at the GTT Radio.
i really enjoy these nes videos, thanks jeff
Rygar was always my go-to rental as a kid. I knew I could beat it in a weekend even if I had no idea wtf was going on it
One of my fondest gaming memories is beating Rygar in a day then rushing to the store before it closed to get a refund. Yes, I'm the reason you can't return video games. Such a weird and wonderful game. I don't think anything since has captured that, sincere, weirdness.
I'm a bit surprised Spy Hunter isn't as good as Ikari Warriors.
I come here for the hottest take's!!!!! Famicom Follie's or Famicom Favorite's? Jeff will tell us.
The cart for the Japanese version of Life Force is really cool. Salamander. Look it up.
I'm very much looking forward to eventually getting to Dragon's Lair.
love to listen, great work!
Jeff I hope you play "The Making of Karateka", from Digital Eclipse
I had a real problem with monster rehab strawberry lemonade, it doesn't taste enough like either thing, not that sweet, it just felt uncomfortable, had to force myself to finish it.
..as for NES games that are both crazy ambitious, while also rarely get talked about, I think "Rescue -the embassy mission"/"Hostages" can be a consideration.
...Though after doing some wikipedia:ing, it turns out its a port, which makes sense in that other, similarly ambitious games like Shadowgate were also ports. But if you don't know that, and you're a child, something like "Rescue" reads like a real "wow, I didn't expect games on my NES could do this".
Still, it is kinda interesting to realize as an adult how many of the "wow, that was really intricate both for the platform, and compared to what was available on it" games were ports from platforms you wouldn't have encountered otherwise.
Rygar soundtrack still slaps in 2023
Oh man the Lifeforce slander! I think it's a far superior game to Gradius, mostly because when you die you don't go back to a checkpoint and continue onward. Also the music and weird visuals are much more unique than Gradius, but to each their own.
I'm curious what you think of the family version of Gradius 2? It's the only Gradius game I've beaten without codes or savestating
360p gang gang
One of my favorite NES games. I played this for so many years and tried to uncover its secrets, but didn't actually finish the game until I was an adult. I have a walkthrough that I made for this game on my channel.
spy hunter 2 arcade is weirdly awesome
Rygar is good but River City Ransom is excellent and led to Crash N' the Boys and my personal favorite Super Dodgeball
Jeff, please, i need to know the source of that fantastic wallpaper you have
The roller-skater falls like a toddler.
I can’t in my right mind say Dr. Chaos has a good soundtrack, but it does make me giggle uncontrollably like a child
I get excited when there's a new best and/or worst game on the list, because it gets fun predicting how long it'll reign as the champion. I'm guessing 2 episodes for a new worst game, 3 for a new best. I was right about Renegade not lasting for long, but I expected Firehouse Rescue to last more than one episode. And RCR I had pegged for at least another episode. Not a good record so far.
I used to play a ton of Dr Chaos back in the day. i even memorized a near end password cause i had started back at that spot a billion times. not a great game, but it was serviceable.
Athena is one of those games where it's not just bad. It's actively infuriating to even try to play.
Great! I still play rygar on my switch
"Suck my ass through a chain-link fence, Athena!" - Jeff Gerstmann, 2023
Oh my God hahahahahahaha, this is the best one yet. And I really need to play all the way through Rygar soon. I forgot how cool that game is.
I wonder if he liked twilight princess or athena more?
Is it fair? Ha! It’s better than fair - it’s science!
Need T&C Surf Designs!
1:10:34
Something Something Roguelikes
Jeff playing baseball games will always be my favourite Jeff content!
Captain Skyhawk innocent! Never hurt nobody!
California Games (in fact, most of the Epyx Games titles) had so much personality and attention to detail. I always loved that your body got shoved a bit by the skateboard as it plowed into you after you screwed up. Just a lovely little final insult.
Oh, and Athena sucks, but the box art for 8-bit home computers was incredible. Another Bob Wakelin banger.
this is the path that eventually leads us to finally answer what the game of the 360/ps3/wii generation is...in 2038
obviously it's Mindjack
Don't sleep on Major Striker, not an NES game, however.
If this series goes on long enough, eventually we will hit the Godzilla duology. The first is a pretty bad, flickery side scroller and the other is a deeply unfair strategy game that relies on slot machines to pick your attack power… such variety in those 8 bit days!
Edit: also, what the fuck is wrong with the trees in Athena?! I realize that’s the least of that game’s many problems, but what the fuck is wrong with those trees?! Each new one is more hideous than the last… Who designed those and thought they looked good?!?!
2023 is an average year.
Yep, i remember renting athena at like age 8 thinking wtf is this. Now... playing it again I still think wtf. Lol.
Peggy Hill is no good at catching frisbees
I remember Lifeforce being hard as a kid but now I know it was just an asshole.
Don't agree at all about your take on Life Force. It's a beautiful game with an incredible ost. Seems like you weren't even trying to learn how to play it. It's really not that hard if you pay attention.
I know a few of those kinds of games are on the NES but, Dr. Chaos trying to do too much on there.
jeff that’s a cute shirt
You played Athena? Good grief!
Frisbee is the best NES game
Yeah man, Lifeforce was always a tad overrated. You know what's a good game that's similar? Burai Fighter!
Taboo is the worst nes game
Life Force is a beautiful game but not all that fun to play.
Ya'll No shit: I booted up Lifeforce on the 3ds whils watching Rygar, and here he is, playing it along with me. wow. strange universe!
When I was in the Marine Corps in Iraq, we pooped in a cut-in-half 50-gallon drum. We'd pour diesel ful into the drums and burn the poop at the end of the week. Once, I had to attend and stir the poop to make sure it all burned. While I was stirring it, a giant heat-bubble came up, trembled, and exploded dookie in my face... I'd rather experience that again than play Athena.