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Reliving my gaming childhood (NES)
harvest
By birthright,a stupendous badass.Registered User regular
By birthright,a stupendous badass.Registered User regular
TL;DR I'm a big NES fan from way back and bought some old games that are mostly still fun. What are the best NES games you can think of that I can add to my small collection?
Today on impulse I visited the only indie gaming shop in town. This is a pretty retro place, with a display cabinet each filled with NES and SNES games. The eye-high shelves held classic PS1 games and hardware, the racks behind the counter full of Magic starters and boosters. If I could work in a store like this instead of a big chain place it'd be awesome.
Anyway I bought four NES carts. Crystalis, Dragon Warrior, Faxanadu, and Ninja Gaiden for eight dollars apiece. I'd never played Faxanadu but the rest were nuggets of gaming excellence from my childhood. I wondered how well they stood up today compared with modern games. Well, some fare better than others.
Turns out Dragon Warrior is a game where all you do is grind experience. I didn't know this was a bad thing back when I was 9, and I loved the game the first time I played it. The music is still familiar to me in a weird and haunting sort of way. I don't think I'll play all the way through it, there isn't a lot to do and I remember the game's brutal difficulty.
Ninja Gaiden is fun as hell. The sprites are surprisingly effective, and the music is excellent. Long-buried muscle memory has started to resurface, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of game for my eight bucks in the coming weeks. This is one of the first action games that I know of that included a coherent plot, and the cutscenes are tense and exciting.
Faxanadu I'd never played, but picked it up on the strong recommendation of my WoW guildies. The music is cool and catchy and the premise is neat. I like how the setting is at the World Tree and look forward to exploring it more. It's a tough game though, right off the bat. There are enemies you can only hit with a spell, and I spent too much of my magic on them to finish off the first boss. I died, and this game uses passwords :O I'll have to get a notepad because this seems like a classic Metroidvania-style game.
Crystalis I think is the gem in this small collection. It's basically a smooth-scrolling Zelda knockoff, but it also has a style all its own. This is the first action-rpg hybrid game I ever played and it definitely stands the test of time. I like how you don't feel like a weakstick in the beginning, even though you have no gear and no spells. I hope it stays as fun as the two hours I already spent on it were.
I'm excited and happy about finding this store and I plan on collecting a lot of old favorites.
What should I loook for next?
Today on impulse I visited the only indie gaming shop in town. This is a pretty retro place, with a display cabinet each filled with NES and SNES games. The eye-high shelves held classic PS1 games and hardware, the racks behind the counter full of Magic starters and boosters. If I could work in a store like this instead of a big chain place it'd be awesome.
Anyway I bought four NES carts. Crystalis, Dragon Warrior, Faxanadu, and Ninja Gaiden for eight dollars apiece. I'd never played Faxanadu but the rest were nuggets of gaming excellence from my childhood. I wondered how well they stood up today compared with modern games. Well, some fare better than others.
Turns out Dragon Warrior is a game where all you do is grind experience. I didn't know this was a bad thing back when I was 9, and I loved the game the first time I played it. The music is still familiar to me in a weird and haunting sort of way. I don't think I'll play all the way through it, there isn't a lot to do and I remember the game's brutal difficulty.
Ninja Gaiden is fun as hell. The sprites are surprisingly effective, and the music is excellent. Long-buried muscle memory has started to resurface, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of game for my eight bucks in the coming weeks. This is one of the first action games that I know of that included a coherent plot, and the cutscenes are tense and exciting.
Faxanadu I'd never played, but picked it up on the strong recommendation of my WoW guildies. The music is cool and catchy and the premise is neat. I like how the setting is at the World Tree and look forward to exploring it more. It's a tough game though, right off the bat. There are enemies you can only hit with a spell, and I spent too much of my magic on them to finish off the first boss. I died, and this game uses passwords :O I'll have to get a notepad because this seems like a classic Metroidvania-style game.
Crystalis I think is the gem in this small collection. It's basically a smooth-scrolling Zelda knockoff, but it also has a style all its own. This is the first action-rpg hybrid game I ever played and it definitely stands the test of time. I like how you don't feel like a weakstick in the beginning, even though you have no gear and no spells. I hope it stays as fun as the two hours I already spent on it were.
I'm excited and happy about finding this store and I plan on collecting a lot of old favorites.
What should I loook for next?
harvest on
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Posts
Dude! Go back and get it NOW. It's licensed awesome.
Ninja Gaiden II and III (if you're really into 2D masochism).
Super Mario Bros. 3.
Kirby's Adventure.
And TMNT2: The Arcade Game.
What the fuck? Did you even OWN an NES as a child? The licensed games back then where almost NEVER Shovelware. CAPCOM and DISNEY were the fucking dealers and I was coked out enough on their stuff I'd have done anything they asked.
Startropics
Zoda's Revenge: Startropics II
these are my suggestions.
Ah, come on. It was shit but admit it, you still played it a lot, right?
That game was a car wreck. It was horrible but you couldn't stop looking.
No, seriously, Capcom and Disney made magic together. Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Magical Quest (SNES)...
Also, here's a slightly more complete list of the top NES games one should possess (in my opinion, obviously, with my personal favorites underlined):
Mega Man 2 and 3
Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 and 3
The Legend of Zelda
Link's Adventure
Adventures of Lolo 1, 2 and 3
Duck Tales
Life Force
Gyruss
Bionic Commando
Castlevania 1 and 3 (fuck 2)
Dig Dug 2
Kirby's Adventure
River City Ransom
Solomon's Key
Contra
Punch Out!
Bubble Bobble (thanks slash000!) - If you have a friend or girlfriend to play with, GET BUBBLE BOBBLE.
Adventures of Lolo (I-III)
BattleToads
Bionic Commando
Blaster Master
Bonk's Adventure
Boy and His Blob
Bubble Bobble
Captain Skyhawk
Castlevania (and 2 and 3)
Chip'n'Dales Rescue Rangers
Contra
Donkey Kong Classics
Double Dragon
Double Dragon II
Double Dragon III
Dr. Mario
Duck Tales
Galaga
Golf
Gradius
Hudson's Adventure Island
Kirby's Adventure
Legend of Zelda
Legend of Zelda II
Legendary Wings
Life Force
Marble Madness
Megaman 2, (and 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
Metroid
Punch-Out!
Ninja Gaiden, and especially Ninja Gaiden 2, and then also 3
RBI Baseball
River City Ransom
Super C
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
TMNT 3
Tetris
These are all games that I own and recommend. But there are a lot more, but I tried to filter out the ones down to the ones I figured I'd recommend.
If you enjoy Ninja Gaiden, NG2 is even better. But NG3 is an unfair piece of shit, because not only is it more difficult, but you have limited continues to beat the game.
Still fun, but .. you might need to add "Game Genie" to your shopping list if you want to beat it..
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
The Guardian Legend.
Robowarrior (I think this may have sucked actually but I liked it as a kid).
Wizards and Warriors I and II.
Clash at Demonhead.
That's all I can think of right now.
It might possibly be over 450 titles long.
So I'll suggest only a few that are high priority for me (some I own, some I do not... yet)
Startropics
Zoda's Revenge: Startropics II
Castlevania I-III
Kirby's Adventure
Dragon Warrior I-IV
Ninja Gaiden I-III
Zelda I-II
Kid Icarus
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Captain Comic
Ikari Warriors I-III
Iron Tank
Megaman I-VI
Metal Gear
Tetris 2
River City Ransom
Rad Racer I-II
Robowarrior (Although be warned this game will crush your puny ego like nothing else.)
Shadowgate
Shinobi
Skate or Die 2
TMNT II-III
Ultima III-V
Swords & Serpents
Adventures of Lolo I-III
Adventure Island I-III
Bad Dudes (go memes!)
BattleToads and Battletoads & Double Dragon
Bionic Commando
Blaster Master
Blades of Steel (Best hockey game EVAR. Wil Wheaton said so!)
Rush'n Attack
Rygar
Contra
Super Contra
Final Fantasy
Ghosts and Goblins (Will also crush your ego, almost as badly as Robowarrior)
Legendary Wings
There's also a particular NES shmup that reallllly pushed the limits of the system, but the name escapes me even though I can visualize it... hmmm.
Ninja Edit: If you care, here's a link to my complete "want-to-collect" list
Gyruss and Life Force (both in my list) could fit that description.
You're probably thinking of Life Force. That was an incredible NES shmup, and I guess it kinda pushed the system. Definitely incredibly awesome NES shmup though. Gradius V takes a lot of inspiration from the game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Steam ID
RC Pro am
Rad Racer extr points if you can score the 3d glasses that came with the game
Life Force also had the best final boss ever.
Also, it burned a sentence in my mind: Up Up Down Down B A B A Left Right Left Right (Select) Start.
Most Konami games had a variant of the original Konami Code to give you 30 men (or ships).
And on a random note, Gremlins II: The New Batch is also fun.
Ikari Warriors
Monsters in my Pocket
Xbox : gunst4r
I still recommend NG3 because you might as well complete the trilogy if you have the first two; but seriously, that game is totally unfair. I mean, they can make a game like NG1 and 2 and make it hard, sure, but those games gave you unlimited continues. NG3 is harder than NG1 and NG2, but they limit the number of continues you have to beat the entire game. That's just not fair at all. So, that's why you might want to get a Game Genie if you want to beat NG3.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Good Guess, but nope. I just did some googling, and I was thinking of "Recca"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsyK_kBEqkk
http://shmups.classicgaming.gamespy.com/reviews/recca/index.html
The crucial fact I seem to have forgotten though........ is that it's Japan only
Also, DON'T QUOTE ME ON THIS, I think it wasn't sold to the public.
It was for a special event, meaning very few copies exist and they're rare as all fuck.
As for games, you can't go wrong with Iron Tank.
I thought it was publicly available. Hmmmmmmm....
But if not, you can also buy $25 "reproductions" of Recca. :P
Since it involves writing roms to reappropriated NES cartridges, I obviously won't be providing links....
I'm looking thru links, and I think you're right, it was sold publicly, it's just that it was used in some competitive event. But it IS rare as fuck.
Baseball
Blaster Master
Captain Skyhawk
Castlevania II
Contra
Crystalis
Double Dragon II
Dr Mario
Dragon Warrior
Duck Hunt
Faxanadu
Final Fantasy
Gauntlet II
Genghis Khan
Golf
Ice Hockey
Jack Nicklaus Golf
John Elway's Quarterback
Jordan vs Bird
Kid Icarus
Megaman 3
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden II
Snake's Revenge
Solar Jetman
Solstice
StarTropics
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 3
The Hunt for Red October
Thrill's Surfari
Tiger-Heli
Top Gun
Uncharted Waters
Widgit
Wizards and Warriors 2
Zelda
Zelda II
:^: !!!!!!!!!!
EDIT: Oh shit, Tiger-Heli! That game has so much nostalgic value to me. I'm not sure it this or SMB1 was the first NES game I've ever played. My dad rented a NES with Tiger-Heli when I was, what, 4 or 5? Awesome times. It's funny because my father stopped playing games in the NES era, but all he remembers of videogames is how cool Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 were, how Tiger-Heli was an awesome shooter and how Biplanes on the Intellivision is his favorite game of all time.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I own many NES games, and this is not one of them.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Because a thousand times Balloon Fight
And Dr. Mario for your puzzling needs
With that warning out of the way...
Get River City Ransom. It is the best NES game. I just bought it on VC the other day. It will never not be awesome. Someone needs to make a new game like that. They'd probably just get it wrong, though. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
Micro Machines used to be really cool too.
Obviously all the things others have said. Just trying to think of some lesser known ones. Or less obvious.
U4EA.
Maniac Mansion.
Wrath of the Black Manta maybe?
Goonies 2.
Cobra Triangle.
Snake Rattle and Roll.
Aces - Iron Eagle 3. Oh my God. One of the best games ever.
International Cricket. Probably not for you.
Wizards and Warriors 3.
Solstice.
Don't think I'm some kind of weirdo if you haven't heard of some or whatever. Trust me. Or maybe you've heard of all of them.
Seriously good, some of those.
Hope it helps.