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The NES Thread Where We Talk About Playing The Nintendo
- Thread starter Issun
- Start date
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
I don't know if it's "underappreciated" but I am a stan for Trog, the arcade game with a nice crunchy port on the NES. Obviously, it doesn't look as good as the claymation style of the arcade, but I still love it.
Wild; I talked about this not too long ago, too, and how it sort of relates to Mega Man, at least in my mind.
Watched the first bit of this and man, whoever decided to make the de rigueur Asshole Birds the *exact* same color as half the background they’re flying over needs to have their game design badge revoked.
... but that still fits just fine for generic lowest common denominator NES game.
Ludendorkk
(he/him)
Totally worth it mate, great games
Alternate post: It'll cost you that much for a copy of Gimmick anyways yuk yuk
The top-loading AV Famicom is a great and not-too-expensive choice.
It gives you the reliability of the top loading configuration, controller ports instead of the short connected wires of the original unit, and superior AV output. Looks great on a CRT.
It gives you the reliability of the top loading configuration, controller ports instead of the short connected wires of the original unit, and superior AV output. Looks great on a CRT.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Yeah, Power Blade is far superior to Power Blazer. Almost all the changes were for the better. Thankfully, the sequel was much better without needing those drastic changes (and also one of those super-pricey games I still want to own).
Time Diver Eon Man is pretty solid, honestly. Sure, it won't set the world on fire, but it's a competently executed NES platformer. Nintendo Power covered it, but it never saw release, not even in Japan.
Time Diver Eon Man is pretty solid, honestly. Sure, it won't set the world on fire, but it's a competently executed NES platformer. Nintendo Power covered it, but it never saw release, not even in Japan.
I do wish someone would put together a sort of "best of both worlds" version -- cartoony Mega Man look of the original, but with the QoL and other improvements the western version brought.
Sprite
(He/Him/His)
If we're talking quintessential NES games, I'd like to offer The Great Gatsby. Though that's probably cheating since it's a parody.
I've played Super Mario Bros. twice in the last month's time and I am in awe of how much Nintendo got right the first time out. The level design and enemy placement is perfect. The physics took a few games to get right, and the fire flower was absolutely broken, so I don't blame them for nerfing the arc in future games.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
I've never been the biggest fan of the original game just because of those weird physics, but the level design really is spot-on, and I have massive respect for it. SMB3 sports my ideal Mario physics - I like the NSMB games, but they feel too heavy to me, and SMW feels a little too twitchy. What I'm saying is that I like SMB3. 
Super Mario Bros 3 is easily in my top 10 games of all time. Its amazing in almost every way.
As a result of SMB3, I think SMB is, if possible, overlooked now. Even though it was a pack in game to the biggest console of the 80s. I think Mario 3 is so good and so series defining that the brilliance of SMB gets overlooked. As you say Issue they got a lot right in that first game.
I like SMB a lot and its comparatively short length. It is however hard to go back to a Mario game where Mario doesn't get nice jump height when bouncing off a Koopa shell or a Goomba.
I also feel like tonally SMB3 invites exploration even though it is dangerous. The sprites in SMB3 are more cartoony and the music is generally upbeat. I feel like SMB1 with its more realistic proportioned Mario and sinister castle levels and music feels slightly less inviting.
(Something about those early NES games has always felt off putting to me. Even today the thought of exploring an NES Zelda Dungeon is slightly off putting to me. I find the Zelda Dungeons to be genuinely creepy with that music.)
As a result of SMB3, I think SMB is, if possible, overlooked now. Even though it was a pack in game to the biggest console of the 80s. I think Mario 3 is so good and so series defining that the brilliance of SMB gets overlooked. As you say Issue they got a lot right in that first game.
I like SMB a lot and its comparatively short length. It is however hard to go back to a Mario game where Mario doesn't get nice jump height when bouncing off a Koopa shell or a Goomba.
I also feel like tonally SMB3 invites exploration even though it is dangerous. The sprites in SMB3 are more cartoony and the music is generally upbeat. I feel like SMB1 with its more realistic proportioned Mario and sinister castle levels and music feels slightly less inviting.
(Something about those early NES games has always felt off putting to me. Even today the thought of exploring an NES Zelda Dungeon is slightly off putting to me. I find the Zelda Dungeons to be genuinely creepy with that music.)
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The low colour, high contrast look. Awesome. i do love that about nes in general, and early nes for sure!
4-So
Spicy
Love Zelda 1's dungeons. The music is a little too repetitive but I'm hard pressed to think of other Zelda dungeons with that kind of foreboding atmosphere. Maybe Zelda 2's palaces but that game is a blind spot for me since I've played very little of it. (Always preferred Simon's Quest for my NES side-scrolling action RPG, er, action.)
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Zelda II is fantastic. I replay it more often than the first game now. And I absolutely dig the foreboding atmosphere some of these games produce. The music really does go a long way toward establishing that feel. Even though it was a short loop, I also thought it was awesome how Dragon Warrior had Charlock Castle's music pitch lower and lower the further down you progressed. It's a really cool trick that I don't think I've seen terribly often elsewhere.
I didn't think much of the Wallmasters on NES, but I definitely started to notice them more when LttP let them just drop on you wherever with a shadow warning you beforehand.
Then in Ocarina they got their own creepy sound cues and looked like this:
Ocarina of Time (and by extension Majora's Mask) seriously has some real horror game energy going on.
Then in Ocarina they got their own creepy sound cues and looked like this:
Ocarina of Time (and by extension Majora's Mask) seriously has some real horror game energy going on.
Aw man, I LOVE the NES (on account of my being a sane person) and a lot of my faves have been touched on here already. I actually joined the old version of this forum during my longest period of enthusiasm for this console (what is now many years ago), back when the scene around Parish was sort of the hub for thoughtful approaches to retro gaming.
Anyway, I like:
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Faxanadu
Jackal
Magic of Scheherezade
Metal Storm
...among many, many obvious ones
Anyway, I like:
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Faxanadu
Jackal
Magic of Scheherezade
Metal Storm
...among many, many obvious ones
Played Contra. With cheats, but like with the Ninja Gaiden games, I could still appreciate the design even without the challenge.
I appreciated Kirby's Adventure a lot more after playing the original Dream Land.
Mega Man 3 and Duck Tales are still stone cold classics.
Playing Final Fantasy Brickroad style now. It's definitely breezier, though I will allow grinding some levels at the end because his LP gets painful at Temple of Fiends redux.
I appreciated Kirby's Adventure a lot more after playing the original Dream Land.
Mega Man 3 and Duck Tales are still stone cold classics.
Playing Final Fantasy Brickroad style now. It's definitely breezier, though I will allow grinding some levels at the end because his LP gets painful at Temple of Fiends redux.
ArugulaZ
Fearful asymmetry
You could finish Kirby's Dream Land in fifteen minutes, and that's if you're thorough. Kirby's Adventure is a game you can really sink your teeth into... that could take you days to beat, if you take breaks between each level (and you can, thanks to the battery save!). Plus the copy ability is one of gaming's all-time greatest play mechanics. All the fun of Mega Man taking weapons from his enemies, without the delayed gratification!
I concur that Kirby's Adventure is indeed, really cool. It certainly shows that this came out at the end of the NES's life (heck, several years into the SNES's life). It's charming, lively, colorful, and well animated. It has fun, dynamic sequences (like the two-part Kracko fight, the Meta Knight confrontations throughout the game, and of course, the finale), and it's already pulling crazy twists in the second game of the franchise!
Another NES late arrival that really thrives is Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness. It's pretty much a universal improvement over the (still very good!) original, and is a great time.
I dearly love a lot of the NES classics, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with its more obscure fare. I spent an unhealthy amount of time with Karate Kid and Jaws as a youth, but don't really like either of them (Jaws's structure is interesting, though. I'll give it that).
The Goonies II is also a bit legendary among my extended family. My grandparents' NES had a solid variety of games. By the time I was actively playing them, they took varying degrees of effort to get working, with some particular cartridges seeming to require unique, specific touches. Goonies II was the only one in their collection that we could never get working for a single moment. I don't know whether my grandparents or one of my older cousins initially bought it, but no one knew anything about it. And now I deliberately avoid learning anything about it, because there's no way the actual game can match the mystique it's held since I was 5 years old.
Another NES late arrival that really thrives is Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness. It's pretty much a universal improvement over the (still very good!) original, and is a great time.
I dearly love a lot of the NES classics, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with its more obscure fare. I spent an unhealthy amount of time with Karate Kid and Jaws as a youth, but don't really like either of them (Jaws's structure is interesting, though. I'll give it that).
The Goonies II is also a bit legendary among my extended family. My grandparents' NES had a solid variety of games. By the time I was actively playing them, they took varying degrees of effort to get working, with some particular cartridges seeming to require unique, specific touches. Goonies II was the only one in their collection that we could never get working for a single moment. I don't know whether my grandparents or one of my older cousins initially bought it, but no one knew anything about it. And now I deliberately avoid learning anything about it, because there's no way the actual game can match the mystique it's held since I was 5 years old.
ArugulaZ
Fearful asymmetry
Goonies II was too much of an NES game for my tastes. I know, that's a weird thing to say in a thread celebrating the NES, but those games where you have to explore rooms in choppy, disorienting 3D and punch every square inch of wall got old in a hurry. Goonies II, Fester's Quest, Dr. Chaos, Golgo 13... did developers just not get the message that the NES didn't do 3D well? There had to be a better way to bring a sense of depth and immersion to NES games!
Anyway. I preferred the original Goonies, which dispensed with the confusing storyline and the even more confusing level designs and just let you kick the crap out of foxes and blow up safes in a game that was more action than adventure. It's not technically an NES game... it was originally for the Japanese Famicom, and became a Playchoice-10 exclusive in the United States, but it's all basically the same hardware, so I'm including it anyway.
Anyway. I preferred the original Goonies, which dispensed with the confusing storyline and the even more confusing level designs and just let you kick the crap out of foxes and blow up safes in a game that was more action than adventure. It's not technically an NES game... it was originally for the Japanese Famicom, and became a Playchoice-10 exclusive in the United States, but it's all basically the same hardware, so I'm including it anyway.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
I'm a weirdo that prefers the original Gargoyle's Quest, but there's no question that the NES game ups the ante by being on superior hardware. All of that series is worth playing, especially the sublime Demon's Crest.
Kirby's Adventure is probably still my favorite in the series. I remember seeing it covered in Nintendo Power, and I'd played the Game Boy version. I saw how expansive the game was from all the maps and decided that's the game I wanted. I didn't get games for holidays and such very often, but on this occasion, I did get it for my birthday, and fun times did indeed ensue.
Jaws gets a bad rap - it's a pretty simple game - but I still like it a lot.
Goonies II was quite fun, even if it's not as polished as some later games on the system. I wish Dr. Chaos were more technically proficient. It's another one I eventually want to play through, but I always bounce off of it.
I missed the mention of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I thought it was going to be licensed trash, but no, it was actually really solid! And thinking of licensed games, I also really enjoyed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and it's always worth tossing out Willow, easily one of the best licensed games on the system.
Kirby's Adventure is probably still my favorite in the series. I remember seeing it covered in Nintendo Power, and I'd played the Game Boy version. I saw how expansive the game was from all the maps and decided that's the game I wanted. I didn't get games for holidays and such very often, but on this occasion, I did get it for my birthday, and fun times did indeed ensue.
Jaws gets a bad rap - it's a pretty simple game - but I still like it a lot.
Goonies II was quite fun, even if it's not as polished as some later games on the system. I wish Dr. Chaos were more technically proficient. It's another one I eventually want to play through, but I always bounce off of it.
I missed the mention of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I thought it was going to be licensed trash, but no, it was actually really solid! And thinking of licensed games, I also really enjoyed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and it's always worth tossing out Willow, easily one of the best licensed games on the system.
ArugulaZ
Fearful asymmetry
LJN games weren't always bad... they just leaned toward the shallow and conceptually misguided. I liked half of T&C Surf Designs (the surfing can go to hell), and there's a trace of craftsmanship in Jaws, with animation that's more stylish than it strictly had to be and the beauty of Galaga's mesmerizing enemy patterns in the bonus stages. I seem to recall Gotcha! being a fairly competent light gun game, too, and none of those were exactly overflowing with depth.
Unfortunately, both Jaws and Friday the 13th had a fatal habit of belaboring the point. I get that they're both based on horror movies and that you're supposed to feel helpless, but there had to be better ways of expressing this than fighting a seemingly invincible monster a dozen times with a handful of pebbles or wimpy harpoons. It feels less like you're under constant threat and more like you're trying to break a brick wall with your forehead.
Unfortunately, both Jaws and Friday the 13th had a fatal habit of belaboring the point. I get that they're both based on horror movies and that you're supposed to feel helpless, but there had to be better ways of expressing this than fighting a seemingly invincible monster a dozen times with a handful of pebbles or wimpy harpoons. It feels less like you're under constant threat and more like you're trying to break a brick wall with your forehead.
Yeah, Goonies II was incredibly obtuse in the way a lot of NES games are (a result, I think, of devs wanting to make more complex games but not quite having the experience to do so without things being confusing). Even Metroid was like that. G2's rendition of the Cindy Lauper song was great, though.
Another obtuse game with a great theme was A Boy and His Blob. I can still hum that tune note for note, though I've never finished the game and probably never will.
Another obtuse game with a great theme was A Boy and His Blob. I can still hum that tune note for note, though I've never finished the game and probably never will.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
I had Nintendo Power to get me through A Boy and His Blob. Not sure how well I'd have done if left to my own devices.
As far as LJN games go, it really just depended on what company they contracted for development. Nightmare on Elm Street was by Rare (who also did Roger Rabbit and WWF Wrestlemania Challenge), and Jaws was Westone of Wonder Boy fame.
As far as LJN games go, it really just depended on what company they contracted for development. Nightmare on Elm Street was by Rare (who also did Roger Rabbit and WWF Wrestlemania Challenge), and Jaws was Westone of Wonder Boy fame.
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ArugulaZ
Fearful asymmetry
You grew up in the 1980s and had an NES. You currently find yourself stuck in traffic behind an imposing dump truck loaded with debris. You're probably a little nervous, but you're almost definitely humming this song to yourself.
As a kid born at just the right time to experience the Atari and NES eras of gaming, and the industry crash which separated the two, I enjoyed games like Gyruss and Bump 'n Jump. They were essentially sequels to the arcade games, which took their clever gameplay hooks and injected more contemporary ideas like power ups and bosses. Bump 'n Jump had the distinction of being designed by Vic Tokai rather than Data East, and it's Seibu Lease at its Seibu Lease-iest, with plump, colorful cartoon graphics, a catchy soundtrack, and gameplay that's slightly sloppy but charmingly ambitious.
What I remember most about the new version of Bump 'n Jump are the dump trucks. Those accursed green dump trucks. They were slow and easy enough to avoid, BUT the little bastards had a nasty surprise up their sleeves. Most of the time, they would dump their payload of gravel in your face, but sometimes, they'd throw you a curve ball and drop a little white symbol that looks like a pirate's face. This would give you an extra life, but were you crazy enough to tailgate a dump truck loaded with potential death to catch it? This was one of the meanest risk and reward play mechanics I've ever seen in a game of its era, especially since lives were at a premium in Bump 'n Jump, and you really needed more of them to reach the last stage.
As a kid born at just the right time to experience the Atari and NES eras of gaming, and the industry crash which separated the two, I enjoyed games like Gyruss and Bump 'n Jump. They were essentially sequels to the arcade games, which took their clever gameplay hooks and injected more contemporary ideas like power ups and bosses. Bump 'n Jump had the distinction of being designed by Vic Tokai rather than Data East, and it's Seibu Lease at its Seibu Lease-iest, with plump, colorful cartoon graphics, a catchy soundtrack, and gameplay that's slightly sloppy but charmingly ambitious.
What I remember most about the new version of Bump 'n Jump are the dump trucks. Those accursed green dump trucks. They were slow and easy enough to avoid, BUT the little bastards had a nasty surprise up their sleeves. Most of the time, they would dump their payload of gravel in your face, but sometimes, they'd throw you a curve ball and drop a little white symbol that looks like a pirate's face. This would give you an extra life, but were you crazy enough to tailgate a dump truck loaded with potential death to catch it? This was one of the meanest risk and reward play mechanics I've ever seen in a game of its era, especially since lives were at a premium in Bump 'n Jump, and you really needed more of them to reach the last stage.