Your comment did it. I've been avoiding it, since I know I won't stop until I either finish all the levels or give up after spending too many hours, but I finally decided to give it a try. And it is amazing. As an emulator author myself ( http://www.ubercomp.com/jslm32/src/ ), I'm in awe of the care that was put into the CTF environment. Very nice.
To the people who are wondering if they'll be able to finish the CTF, here are my two cents: go ahead and try for a few hours. I'm sure you won't regret it. I haven't done assembly since the beginning of 2012, and I was able to do a couple of levels in less than an hour, and before I started I new absolutely nothing about MSP430 assembly. The tutorial/manual are so good that I believe even someone who doesn't know assembly at all might be able to finish at least some levels.
To the same group: I've finished 18/19 with no previous assembly experience, so it's certainly possible. If this seems interesting you should try it, even if you've never written or really read assembly code.
To the people who are wondering if they'll be able to finish the CTF, here are my two cents: go ahead and try for a few hours. I'm sure you won't regret it. I haven't done assembly since the beginning of 2012, and I was able to do a couple of levels in less than an hour, and before I started I new absolutely nothing about MSP430 assembly. The tutorial/manual are so good that I believe even someone who doesn't know assembly at all might be able to finish at least some levels.