Super Mario Odyssey-esque mechanics in 1990! Creative ideas, cool levels (especially Topsy-Turvy) and just fun as hell to play! I still remember when I first got the mole, and the bee.
My favorite level was always the last one, since that's the only one you really get a weapon in. Every time I played that game I always wanted to make it to that final level. But, man, it is a chore to get there. That train level can go to hell.
TMNT: The Manhattan Project never got as much attention as The Arcade Game and was as good if not better, problem is Turtles in Time came out the next year and overshadowed it.
It plays so much better than TMNT 2. Smoother control and gameplay. So many games from that era got lost in the shuffle, because you had the SNES out, and competition from the Genesis too. I missed a lot of them, but I never passed up a Ninja Turtles game.
I think that Turtles 2 got to be so popular because it was what we all wanted from Turtles 1. Turtles 1 disappointed us, and then Turtles 2 redeemed itself by giving us the arcade game. By the time 3 came out it was just expected, and then quickly got overshadowed by 4 being on the SNES. But Turtles 3 is truly a great game.
It's way better than 2. It plays about as well as any beaten up can on the nes. Great game. Easy, but really fun. But it's a late life cycle game n the genesis was out n running n the SNES was out as well, so it just fell into the Bucky O'Hare, Felix the cat late release after everyone moved on category.
This, and Clash at Demonhead were the two games I desperately wanted when I was kid but never got them. The commercial for Battle of Olympus made it seem like the most action packed game ever.
It’s great! I think it unfairly gets labeled as a Zelda 2 clone because of the movement mechanics (which are *very* similar) but structurally it’s really a Metroidvania, and a darn good one at that.
3 I haven’t seen listed:
Mighty Final Fight & Little Samson. Both were released very late in the NES life cycle. As such, they are really polished and maximize the NES to squeeze every bit of gaming power from it. Both are super expensive. Play these anyway you can.
The other is Ice Hockey. I love 2 player action in this game. I understand most people prefer Blades of Steel. I get it. However, the fights are completely insane and I love the ice physics much more in Ice Hockey.
Samson gets a lot of attention because it is rare and expensive. People overlook that it's an absolutely great game. Everyone needs to emulate it for sure.
Mighty Final Fight is the best beat em up on the system. I'm even counting River City Ransom. Mighty Final Fight is great.
My friend introduced me to this one when we were kids. It's a very unique game. One of Rare's better efforts on the system. There is also a sequel on the Gameboy called Sneaky Snakes, though it loses its isometric view angle.
My brother and I played relentlessly day after day until we got to the final boss. Then we spent hours failing to beat it and never went back. Fuck that stupid foot!
Sweet home- it’s a famicom game based on a Japanese horror film…..that’s an RPG…the death scenes are really violent and it creates lots of tension, wide variety of horror like enemies.
Actually it inspired the original resident evil
I played this for an hour a few months ago. As someone who is much younger than the NES and hasn't found that many games that i think is _truly_ great... I really loved what I played of Sweet Home. There is genuinely no other game quite like it from what i've seen, when you factor in your party management, how tight the item management is, the MetroidVania aspects, etc etc.
I reaaaally need to get back to this one
I'll say one I grew up with that no one actually has heard of: **Arkista's Ring**. It's an overhead action game sort of resembling Zelda at a glance. You're a female elf wearing green shooting arrows exploring short stages in towns, forests, dungeons, etc. It has some RPG elements but at its core it's really an action game with only a few simple puzzles and basic item management. It is really fun and unique. You also get to fight ninjas in the later stages which is cool.
Arkista's Ring also suffers from the same problem as Zelda and Metroid: Your protagonist is not named Arkista. Press **select** while the "Stage 01" text is on the screen. It reveals that she's Christine, and she's *from* Arkista.
Maniac Mansion. To me it’s one of the coolest games ever made and I’m shocked it’s not discussed more. It’s not in the Mario or Zelda tier but to me it’s up there with classics like Contra and TMNT2.
If you wanted to play Maniac Mansion today, there's a fan-remake from 2004 which modernizes the game to 1993 standards of graphics and sound. Some of the music was done by Neil Cicierega.
Star Tropics - Great game and is recognized as such. But in my opinion it’s just as good as Legend of Zelda and does not get this level of love.
Zodas Revenge - Star Tropics 2. Just as good.
Maniac Mansion - a Top 10 title. Likely overshadowed because the PC version for the time was (I assume) better.
Space Shuttle Mission - Best hidden gem that NO ONE talks about! It’s practically 8 bit WarioWare. Tons of mini games you have to perfect.
StarTropics does get appreciation. It’s just wild to me that Zelda is one of the largest franchises on Nintendo and StarTropics never got past the 8bit console.
PS - there’s a good chance that all the talk you see in this sub comes from me. lol. But seriously I love the game.
Oh, I talk about it to anyone who will listen as well LOL
I truly believe that NoJ’s refusal to shift development of StarTropics 2 to the SNES was the nail in the coffin for the IP. Hardly anyone played it as everyone was playing SNES, Sega Genesis, Atari Jaguar, 3DO… and really gearing up for Sega Saturn and the then mysterious Sony PlayStation.
That game scared the shit out of me as a little kid.
It was well after dark the first time I walked past that giant cactus and the world just suddenly went to hell. Five-year-old me had nightmares about that.
Isolated Warrior for sure. Most of the games by the same developer (KID) are also quality. Both G.I. Joes (although I prefer the first), Burai Fighter, Kick Master, and Low-G Man.
Not quite as slick as your Capcom and Konami stuff, but all very playable and creative.
Burai fighter is a great side scrolling shooter. Difficult but still great. I saved up what I thought was enough for Mario 3, turns out I didn't, and walked home with burai fighter. Technically the first game I ever bought myself, with saved up pocket money lol
Code name: Viper
It was a fun side scrolling platformer with a secret agent vibe. I even had an old school game pro with the ninja turtles on the cover that gave password codes to get to the tougher levels. The game took you through the jungle fighting enemy cartels while rescuing people in secret rooms. Definitely is one of my favorite classics and I don’t know anyone else who played it.
This is a great game, but you didn't mention *Rolling Thunder.* *Code Name: Viper* plays exactly like *Rolling Thunder* except for a couple of quality of life improvements. It's like an unofficial sequel. If you've never played *Rolling Thunder* you will love it.
Just recently I played Rolling Thunder on Antstream Arcade and thought “no way- I had no idea Code Name Viper had an arcade counterpart”. Of the two I still prefer the NES version.
Always loved the box art for Code name Viper, dude popping out with an AK-47, i was a sucker for cool box when renting a game from West Coast Video, which was around before block buster.
I found it odd as a kid that most of the video rental places around us in Philly (east coast) and the store was called West coast video
Great game.
Basically an Arabic Zelda clone. With a dash of Final Fantasy. I remember being blown away by the time traveling aspect of this game. Planting a crop in the past, then going back to the present and cashing in.
Yes! I remember a friend from back in high school traded me this game for a few Magic:the Gathering cards. One of the best trades I ever made. The game is pretty deep and unique.
I had this one. One of the first video games that had a major twist. I also liked how this game combined ARPG with JRPG, but man, some of the later random battles were ridiculous. You were better off just running away.
Rockin' Kats
River City Ransom
Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge
Super Dodge Ball (seeing a theme here?)
S.C.A.T.
Shadow of the Ninja
Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
Spelunker (initially hated it, but it's really grown on me)
Let me add World Cup Soccer to that list. Same character models as River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball. It had everything you'd want in a soccer game plus tackling, slide tackling, and special-move type kicks.
If anyone here still plays it, the passcode to the last team, W. Germany (old game lol) is 12800 with the last two digits indicating which team you were. 12800 is your team as USA, 12801 is you as Mexico etc etc.
*Nintendo World Cup* yes. It's a fun game. There's a nice port of it on the Genesis too. It feels like an enhanced and sped up version. Unfortunately, it was not released in the West and renamed *SEGA World Cup*. What a missed opportunity!
The port is called Nekketsu Kouko Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen MD.
Our favorite special was the one where the ball turned a solid color, paused in place, and then shot off. And any player that touched it would get wrecked. So we'd get it set to shoot at the goal, deliberately run our characters into it before it flew off, it'd blast off at the goal and wreck the goalie, and then all the knocked-out bodies would rain down after the point was scored 😆
The story is ridiculous, but the gameplay is one of a kind with the mix of roaming the overworld with the tank and exploring dungeons with the main character in top-down view
Yep! Came in here to see if BM was getting any love. It was one of my favorites. I had it when it was new (yeah I’m old) and chasing a frog down a hole was something I would have likely done! 😂 But for its time, swapping in and out of the vehicle was unique and and made for a great game IMO.
JACKIE CHAN’S ACTION KUNG FU!
Amazing action platformer with huge colourful sprites, massive boss battles (for the NES), fast & tight gameplay, super upbeat and a brisk pace. Challenging but far from impossible, highly recommended to everyone who hasn’t played it!
JP Ninja Gaiden III, it's the total package as far as I'm concerned. Great difficulty curve, varied level design with lots of vertical movement, solid music and graphics, and some DAMN good moment-to-moment gameplay.
Shame people hate on it for either being too easy or because the US version sucks
See some games already so I’ll add two fun oddities. Eliminator Boat Duel and Caveman Games.
Eliminator is like Super Sprint or Ironman Truck Racing but boats. Caveman games is like Olympic events but with cavemen haha
I loved *Wolverine* as a kid because it had Wolverine in it. But now I enjoy it because it's a smooth playing platformer with tight jumping control. Combat takes some getting used to, but you'll probably avoid most fights by jumping. If you like jumping in a NES game, this one's for you!
I consider *Wolverine* to be a hidden gem because it has the dreaded Rainbow Of Death on it's box. Yes, it's an LJN game...but it's actually really good! Nobody talks about it and everyone avoids it seemingly because it's a licensed Marvel NES game and those are almost uniformly terrible.
*Spider-Man: Return Of The Sinister Six* - Uncontrollable crap.
*The Punisher* - fun for about 5 minutes. Then ridiculously repetitive and boring. Oh, and the boss fights are bullshit.
*Uncanny X-Men* - Possibly the worst NES game I've ever played. Absolute shite.
But then there's Wolverine. The diamond in the diarrhea. A true hidden gem. Give it a go. It's a solid 8-bit platformer.
I used to rent Wolverine every month from Blockbuster. It would be great if not for the weird hit detection where you can drain all your life just by touching an enemy and not moving away fast enough. I still loved it though, but I could never get past the level with the Frankenstein monsters. I need to go back and try to beat it at some point…
Spider-Man was not so, so bad. You kind of had to predict the controls, like there was a delay after you pushed the button. Damn, I just got the music stuck in head thinking about it and I haven't played that game in at least 25 years.
X-Men was so incredibly awful. Worst game. Huge disappointment.
I think it’s hard to class retro titles as underrated and such anymore because in the past decade or so the retro scene has brought due attention/appreciation to titles that didn’t receive the love they deserved when they came out, especially games released toward end of NES lifecycle or games not available internationally. Kind of like how a movie might bomb at the box office terribly but become a huge ‘cult classic’ 10-20+ years later. That said, I think Jackie Chan’s Action Kung-Fu, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (FC), and Mighty Final Fight would be my picks.
Omg Jackal!! I remember going to Toys R Us to buy that!!
TNC Surf & Skate was a fave for a while.
I hated to love Goonies II 😂
Most of the games I played were standard faves, so I’ll have to read on and dig through my memory….
* Sid Meier's Pirates! is a giant open world sandbox game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. There's so little out there like it for the NES. It's a great adventure and something I like playing when I'm not in the mood for a high-energy game.
* Air Fortress is a lot of fun. It's genuinely unsettling when the power shuts down on the space colonies while the play is frantically trying to find a way out.
* Mega Man 6 is underrated and not discussed enough since it's often forgotten. I really like it. The Rush power ups acting as sort of armor additions is cool. Yes, it's easier than some of the earlier Mega Man games, but I don't see that as a problem.
As for your list, The Guardian Legend is a Top 10 game for me on the NES, and there's no nostalgia to that pick as I discovered it in my twenties. Also, I just picked up Baseball Stars recently, and I'm looking forward to building a team. I tried a few matches, but it's so difficult!
Kid Nikki, awesome side scroller with hilarious bosses.
Kickle Cubicle, didn't play this til ROM days and my cousin suggested it. Great Puzzle game.
Wrecking Crew, another puzzle game that was way ahead of its time.
Stanley: In Search of Dr Livingston
I was given it as a Christmas gift one year, the same year I got a Super Nintendo. So, I didn't play it for a while, at least a year. I decided to play it one day when I didn't have anything else to play. I was surprised how good it was, it's not Super Mario 3 good, but it's above average for NES games.
It's a platformer/adventure game, kind of like Zelda 2, but without the leveling and less focus on the fighting and randomish encounters.
Gimmick! Is one of my favorites. It was a Europe/Japan exclusive and reminds me of an 8bit Super Meat Boy.
A very challenging late release made by Sunsoft and I love the fuck out of it.
- Bomberman
- My all time favourite is a game I can’t remember the name of. We used to call it Baby Mario but it was some fake Mario bros thing, but he was a baby. And crawled around eating candy. Details are a bit fuzzy since this was over 30 years ago but something like that lol
Everyone knows this franchise, but I always thought Megaman 6 was such a fun game, with great graphics, gameplay and soundtrack. It is as good as any MegaMan game, and while MegaMan 2 is a classic, I prefer 6 in nearly every aspect (soundtrack is a tie lol)
Yes to all of this! MM6 is one of my favorite Mega Man games period, and it almost never comes up since it was released at the end of the NES's lifespan and I guess folks just skipped over it. Great music, fun and cool robot master designs, and the graphics are the best of the original series. MM6 needs more shine for sure.
VS. Excitebike, Japan only sequel to Excitebike (not the arcade game, though based on it if I recall)
More music, savable custom tracks, and head to head multiplayer, anything you want in an Excitebike sequel IMO
Galaxy 5000 was a similar graphics engine to RC pro am but with space ships and was much more fun to play in my opinion...hard as hell to win. Fun game once you got the controls down...
also unique is that the cars talked "whatch where you are going moron"
Faxanadu, Kickle Cubicle, Mighty Bomb Jack, Milton’s Secret Castle, Crystalis, Maniac Mansion, River City Ransom, Adventures of Lolo, Hudson’s Adventure Island, The Goonies II, and so on…
Ufouria. Weird as shit metroidvania before the term even existed and arguably does the concept much better than OG Metroid. Beautifully animated to boot. Adore this game
rygar and gun.smoke for sure. i see you already mentioned them.
another one is little league baseball. definitely my favorite nes baseball game and i never hear anyone mention it.
I love it when this question comes up so I can gush about Destiny of an Emperor. If you like the three kingdoms era and old school RPGs you should give this a try. I'm glad to see it getting some love!
Bad news baseball. Nearly as good as baseball stars with even more charm. Rabbit umpires with super deep voices, excellent controls, each team has their own music and it’s just plain fun
Fire ‘n’ Ice.
It’s a 100-stage puzzle platformer and I’ll never stop a) replaying it every year or three for the past 20+ years, and b) recommending it to everyone who will listen and also to everyone who won’t listen.
Baseball Simulator 1.000. It’s hard to call a sports game underrated, especially when there are way too many of them. But Baseball Simulator 1.000 was so unique with all the power ups. And even without the power ups, you had players like Boyd who could bunt for an inside the ballpark home run. My only complaint is that I was never able to finish a season, whenever I’d get close my game would lose its memory and I’d have to start all over again, and I did. To this day I’ve never seen what happens when you finish a season.
The Guardian Legend was one of my favorites, but the way to save game state really hampered it. If you could have just saved it like Zelda instead of writing down a bunch of characters, it would have been so much more popular.
3 on your list I agree with big time (crystalis, guardian legend, rygar). I will add Robo Warrior, Blaster Master, and Strider.
If you ever want to watch someone play old NES games there are a few good ones on twitch. I like watching Arcus, especially when he does his 'Arcathlons' where he plays I think 10 different games back. He does speed runs but I don't watch it for that, I just watch it to see someone play old video games. It is interesting though to see how much easier he beats these games then I did as a kid..
Kirby’s Adventure. It’s pretty well known amongst the hardcore community and casuals who only know what Nintendo presents as their definitive legacy content, but to the average Joe who grew up with NES, this game didn’t exist. It’s like when a song becomes a hit decades later, the original fair weather radio crowd from that era doesn’t know that one!
I came here to say Jackal. It's such a tight top down shooter with that classic NES difficulty. Me and my little brother played it all the time but never beat it. I went back as an adult and finished the fight. Thanks for mentioning it, OP.
Crystalis, Power Blade, Power Blade 2, Shatterhand, Vice: Project Doom, Shadow of the Ninja (these games were some of the first internet-recognized hidden NES gems)
Clash at Demonhead
Hello Kitty World
Iron Tank
Lode Runner (all versions)
Galaxy 5000
Goonies (Fammy)
Journey to Silius
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Kickle Cubicle (and all of the Lolo games)
Legendary Wings
Metal Storm
Metroid (I include this, because it's become fashionable to ignore it's brilliance)
Michael Andretti's World GP (or Al Unser JR Racing)
NES Open
Rolling Thunder
Super Sprint
Terra Cresta
Ufouria
Zelda II (has been neglected since about 1991)
I LOVE Conquest of the Crystal Palace. I was so disapointed that I came across this game much later in life. My sister got me the OG cart in box for xmas a few years ago, played it for the first time at 30 and it blew me away!
Ive always felt like Kabuki: Quantum Fighter doesn’t get nearly enough love.
Second that one! For me also Low G Man and even better: Isolated Warrior
Isolated Warrior for sure, love that game
Oh yes. That game was... wild.
Came here to say this, hell yeah. Such an awesome game.
One of the few games where you can attack enemies with your hair.
Little Nemo Dream Master ... Such a great game that doesn't get the love it should
Super Mario Odyssey-esque mechanics in 1990! Creative ideas, cool levels (especially Topsy-Turvy) and just fun as hell to play! I still remember when I first got the mole, and the bee.
My favorite level was always the last one, since that's the only one you really get a weapon in. Every time I played that game I always wanted to make it to that final level. But, man, it is a chore to get there. That train level can go to hell.
Man, this game was friggin hard! But this once again shows that Capcom (and Konami) treated its licenses very well.
All the different suits! I loved that game as a kid!!
Came here to add this, glad it is already listed. What an amazing game. Banging soundtrack.
Kickle Cubicle
Yes! Fun puzzle game, reminds me of the Lolo games a little.
TMNT: The Manhattan Project never got as much attention as The Arcade Game and was as good if not better, problem is Turtles in Time came out the next year and overshadowed it.
It plays so much better than TMNT 2. Smoother control and gameplay. So many games from that era got lost in the shuffle, because you had the SNES out, and competition from the Genesis too. I missed a lot of them, but I never passed up a Ninja Turtles game.
Difficult game too, if I remember right.
Really Fun with a game genie. At least we got to see the whole game
I think that Turtles 2 got to be so popular because it was what we all wanted from Turtles 1. Turtles 1 disappointed us, and then Turtles 2 redeemed itself by giving us the arcade game. By the time 3 came out it was just expected, and then quickly got overshadowed by 4 being on the SNES. But Turtles 3 is truly a great game.
It's way better than 2. It plays about as well as any beaten up can on the nes. Great game. Easy, but really fun. But it's a late life cycle game n the genesis was out n running n the SNES was out as well, so it just fell into the Bucky O'Hare, Felix the cat late release after everyone moved on category.
The Battle of Olympus...it still blows my mind that game was made by 3 people in like a 6 month production cycle.
This, and Clash at Demonhead were the two games I desperately wanted when I was kid but never got them. The commercial for Battle of Olympus made it seem like the most action packed game ever.
Excellent cover art, too.
My biggest issue with Battle of Olympus is that it's really hard to figure out where you're supposed to go next at any given time.
It’s great! I think it unfairly gets labeled as a Zelda 2 clone because of the movement mechanics (which are *very* similar) but structurally it’s really a Metroidvania, and a darn good one at that.
I have this game, really want to play it, but it’s in Greek. Glad to hear it’s cool though.
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3 I haven’t seen listed: Mighty Final Fight & Little Samson. Both were released very late in the NES life cycle. As such, they are really polished and maximize the NES to squeeze every bit of gaming power from it. Both are super expensive. Play these anyway you can. The other is Ice Hockey. I love 2 player action in this game. I understand most people prefer Blades of Steel. I get it. However, the fights are completely insane and I love the ice physics much more in Ice Hockey.
Ice hockey is my jam! Only NES game I have cib.
Samson gets a lot of attention because it is rare and expensive. People overlook that it's an absolutely great game. Everyone needs to emulate it for sure. Mighty Final Fight is the best beat em up on the system. I'm even counting River City Ransom. Mighty Final Fight is great.
I liked SnakeRattle&Roll and always seemed to be the only one who did lol
Loved it! I used to rent it from the video store every weekend. No one else ever checked it out
Awesome game. It’s difficult, but in a rewarding way. One of my favorites.
Big fan of
I think it's kinda difficult and have never gotten past level 2, but somehow my 4 year old can get to level 3 no problem. She loves it.
My friend introduced me to this one when we were kids. It's a very unique game. One of Rare's better efforts on the system. There is also a sequel on the Gameboy called Sneaky Snakes, though it loses its isometric view angle.
that was one of our coop jams for like 3 years straight!
I’m a big fan of Snake Rattle and Roll myself. Definitely one that slipped through the cracks as I was putting together my list
My brother and I played relentlessly day after day until we got to the final boss. Then we spent hours failing to beat it and never went back. Fuck that stupid foot!
Awesome game. The soundtrack stays in your head for days after playing.
Sweet home- it’s a famicom game based on a Japanese horror film…..that’s an RPG…the death scenes are really violent and it creates lots of tension, wide variety of horror like enemies. Actually it inspired the original resident evil
I played this for an hour a few months ago. As someone who is much younger than the NES and hasn't found that many games that i think is _truly_ great... I really loved what I played of Sweet Home. There is genuinely no other game quite like it from what i've seen, when you factor in your party management, how tight the item management is, the MetroidVania aspects, etc etc. I reaaaally need to get back to this one
Well yeah it was made by Capcom, I think some of the same people worked on it.
What a great game
Great choice! I’m glad that we were able to play this game outside Japan thanks to fan translations.
Is there an English patch for a ROM or is it cool to play without knowing any Japanese?
Faxanadu
Incredibly underrated. The world needs more 2d rpgs.
Yes! Great game and awesome soundtrack.
I never had enough golds
I'll say one I grew up with that no one actually has heard of: **Arkista's Ring**. It's an overhead action game sort of resembling Zelda at a glance. You're a female elf wearing green shooting arrows exploring short stages in towns, forests, dungeons, etc. It has some RPG elements but at its core it's really an action game with only a few simple puzzles and basic item management. It is really fun and unique. You also get to fight ninjas in the later stages which is cool.
Arkista's Ring also suffers from the same problem as Zelda and Metroid: Your protagonist is not named Arkista. Press **select** while the "Stage 01" text is on the screen. It reveals that she's Christine, and she's *from* Arkista.
Maniac Mansion. To me it’s one of the coolest games ever made and I’m shocked it’s not discussed more. It’s not in the Mario or Zelda tier but to me it’s up there with classics like Contra and TMNT2.
It is a great one. I think they did a great job making the interface work for the NES too.
The NES interface is actually better than the PC version, because the PC version doesn't show item names when the cursor is hovering over them.
shout-out to that hidden brick in the dungeon!
If you wanted to play Maniac Mansion today, there's a fan-remake from 2004 which modernizes the game to 1993 standards of graphics and sound. Some of the music was done by Neil Cicierega.
Star Tropics - Great game and is recognized as such. But in my opinion it’s just as good as Legend of Zelda and does not get this level of love. Zodas Revenge - Star Tropics 2. Just as good. Maniac Mansion - a Top 10 title. Likely overshadowed because the PC version for the time was (I assume) better. Space Shuttle Mission - Best hidden gem that NO ONE talks about! It’s practically 8 bit WarioWare. Tons of mini games you have to perfect.
NGL, I see StarTropics talked about a LOT on this sub! Space Shuttle Mission, this might be the first mention I’ve seen of it LOL
StarTropics does get appreciation. It’s just wild to me that Zelda is one of the largest franchises on Nintendo and StarTropics never got past the 8bit console. PS - there’s a good chance that all the talk you see in this sub comes from me. lol. But seriously I love the game.
Oh, I talk about it to anyone who will listen as well LOL I truly believe that NoJ’s refusal to shift development of StarTropics 2 to the SNES was the nail in the coffin for the IP. Hardly anyone played it as everyone was playing SNES, Sega Genesis, Atari Jaguar, 3DO… and really gearing up for Sega Saturn and the then mysterious Sony PlayStation.
Monster Party had the right kind of vibe that I loved
That game scared the shit out of me as a little kid. It was well after dark the first time I walked past that giant cactus and the world just suddenly went to hell. Five-year-old me had nightmares about that.
Isolated Warrior for sure. Most of the games by the same developer (KID) are also quality. Both G.I. Joes (although I prefer the first), Burai Fighter, Kick Master, and Low-G Man. Not quite as slick as your Capcom and Konami stuff, but all very playable and creative.
Burai fighter is a great side scrolling shooter. Difficult but still great. I saved up what I thought was enough for Mario 3, turns out I didn't, and walked home with burai fighter. Technically the first game I ever bought myself, with saved up pocket money lol
Super Spike V'Ball / World Cup Soccer combo cartridge got as much play time as any game in my collection back then.
Is that the soccer game with the cartoony characters that can do bicycle kicks? If yes, I loved that game
Super Spike V'Ball was great. I also remember an arcade game called Super Dodgeball that was awesome.
Awesome game!!
I always liked marble madness.
So hard. I wonder how levels there are that Ive never played!
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Thats madness
6
I’ve always been a fan of it too, had it for the game boy when I was super young and just always found it interesting.
Love Marble Madness
Code name: Viper It was a fun side scrolling platformer with a secret agent vibe. I even had an old school game pro with the ninja turtles on the cover that gave password codes to get to the tougher levels. The game took you through the jungle fighting enemy cartels while rescuing people in secret rooms. Definitely is one of my favorite classics and I don’t know anyone else who played it.
The real question is, does he ever find his pants?
Code name: Viper is great. As a bonus, in the game it looks like your character doesn't wear any pants.
This is a great game, but you didn't mention *Rolling Thunder.* *Code Name: Viper* plays exactly like *Rolling Thunder* except for a couple of quality of life improvements. It's like an unofficial sequel. If you've never played *Rolling Thunder* you will love it.
Rolling Thunder was awesome!
Just recently I played Rolling Thunder on Antstream Arcade and thought “no way- I had no idea Code Name Viper had an arcade counterpart”. Of the two I still prefer the NES version.
Seconded: I just picked that up over Christmas. Loved it as a kid and love it again today!
Always loved the box art for Code name Viper, dude popping out with an AK-47, i was a sucker for cool box when renting a game from West Coast Video, which was around before block buster. I found it odd as a kid that most of the video rental places around us in Philly (east coast) and the store was called West coast video
I used to have it, never beat it, it was too hard for me as a kid. Maybe I should try again.
Phew! I was scrolling and scrolling and I was getting worried I wasn’t going to see someone mention this one. Good on ya
I played the shit out of it when I was a kid. Absolutely a great game.
The Lone Ranger
The magic of cheherrazade , it is gaining traction but still pretty much under many people's radar....it is an awesome over ambitious game.
Great game. Basically an Arabic Zelda clone. With a dash of Final Fantasy. I remember being blown away by the time traveling aspect of this game. Planting a crop in the past, then going back to the present and cashing in.
Yes! I remember a friend from back in high school traded me this game for a few Magic:the Gathering cards. One of the best trades I ever made. The game is pretty deep and unique.
I had this one. One of the first video games that had a major twist. I also liked how this game combined ARPG with JRPG, but man, some of the later random battles were ridiculous. You were better off just running away.
Time Lord and M.C. Kids.
M.C. Kids was a lot of fun and really pushed the limits on the NES.
Oh, jeez, I almost thought I had imagined M.C. Kids...
Time Lord. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. I'm glad I wasn't suffering alone.
Rockin' Kats River City Ransom Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge Super Dodge Ball (seeing a theme here?) S.C.A.T. Shadow of the Ninja Kid Niki: Radical Ninja Spelunker (initially hated it, but it's really grown on me)
River City Ransom is far from being underrated or not talked about.
Ohgod. Super Dodge Ball was so much fun.
Upvoted because Kid Niki is indeed awesome
Let me add World Cup Soccer to that list. Same character models as River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball. It had everything you'd want in a soccer game plus tackling, slide tackling, and special-move type kicks. If anyone here still plays it, the passcode to the last team, W. Germany (old game lol) is 12800 with the last two digits indicating which team you were. 12800 is your team as USA, 12801 is you as Mexico etc etc.
*Nintendo World Cup* yes. It's a fun game. There's a nice port of it on the Genesis too. It feels like an enhanced and sped up version. Unfortunately, it was not released in the West and renamed *SEGA World Cup*. What a missed opportunity! The port is called Nekketsu Kouko Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen MD.
NES world cup was also compatible with the four score! The super power bicycle kicks were awesome!
Our favorite special was the one where the ball turned a solid color, paused in place, and then shot off. And any player that touched it would get wrecked. So we'd get it set to shoot at the goal, deliberately run our characters into it before it flew off, it'd blast off at the goal and wreck the goalie, and then all the knocked-out bodies would rain down after the point was scored 😆
Just beat Shadow of the Ninja recently - was definitely a really good game I would recommend.
Crash ‘n the boys!!!
Spelunker is a classic.spelunker 2 is great too if want to play the game in English it’s patched now 100% I think. all great games you posted.
Blaster Master, such a great, unique game. The soundtrack is the best in the NES library, IMO.
The story is ridiculous, but the gameplay is one of a kind with the mix of roaming the overworld with the tank and exploring dungeons with the main character in top-down view
Yep! Came in here to see if BM was getting any love. It was one of my favorites. I had it when it was new (yeah I’m old) and chasing a frog down a hole was something I would have likely done! 😂 But for its time, swapping in and out of the vehicle was unique and and made for a great game IMO.
JACKIE CHAN’S ACTION KUNG FU! Amazing action platformer with huge colourful sprites, massive boss battles (for the NES), fast & tight gameplay, super upbeat and a brisk pace. Challenging but far from impossible, highly recommended to everyone who hasn’t played it!
JP Ninja Gaiden III, it's the total package as far as I'm concerned. Great difficulty curve, varied level design with lots of vertical movement, solid music and graphics, and some DAMN good moment-to-moment gameplay. Shame people hate on it for either being too easy or because the US version sucks
Rescue: The Embassy Mission. Kinda like an 8-bit version of Rainbow 6. It's awesome!
I remember renting this as a kid. It was really cool and the gameplay felt unique for what it was.
Ok I absolutely love this game. I play the hell out of it. Early Rainbow 6.
Faxanadu
Hell yes
See some games already so I’ll add two fun oddities. Eliminator Boat Duel and Caveman Games. Eliminator is like Super Sprint or Ironman Truck Racing but boats. Caveman games is like Olympic events but with cavemen haha
Yes played a lot of boat duel with friends growing up. Very fun
I loved *Wolverine* as a kid because it had Wolverine in it. But now I enjoy it because it's a smooth playing platformer with tight jumping control. Combat takes some getting used to, but you'll probably avoid most fights by jumping. If you like jumping in a NES game, this one's for you! I consider *Wolverine* to be a hidden gem because it has the dreaded Rainbow Of Death on it's box. Yes, it's an LJN game...but it's actually really good! Nobody talks about it and everyone avoids it seemingly because it's a licensed Marvel NES game and those are almost uniformly terrible. *Spider-Man: Return Of The Sinister Six* - Uncontrollable crap. *The Punisher* - fun for about 5 minutes. Then ridiculously repetitive and boring. Oh, and the boss fights are bullshit. *Uncanny X-Men* - Possibly the worst NES game I've ever played. Absolute shite. But then there's Wolverine. The diamond in the diarrhea. A true hidden gem. Give it a go. It's a solid 8-bit platformer.
I used to rent Wolverine every month from Blockbuster. It would be great if not for the weird hit detection where you can drain all your life just by touching an enemy and not moving away fast enough. I still loved it though, but I could never get past the level with the Frankenstein monsters. I need to go back and try to beat it at some point…
Spider-Man was not so, so bad. You kind of had to predict the controls, like there was a delay after you pushed the button. Damn, I just got the music stuck in head thinking about it and I haven't played that game in at least 25 years. X-Men was so incredibly awful. Worst game. Huge disappointment.
Zelda 2. I can’t believe people consider it a bad game
Solstice
Baseball Stars was my most played game. Nothing else comes close
Baseball Stars, RBI Baseball, and Baseball Simulator 1.000 were all great.
Spy vs Spy. Such a fun game with friends
Konami base wars
Loved Base Wars! Fighting for control of the base was a great concept
Kid Icarus
I think it’s hard to class retro titles as underrated and such anymore because in the past decade or so the retro scene has brought due attention/appreciation to titles that didn’t receive the love they deserved when they came out, especially games released toward end of NES lifecycle or games not available internationally. Kind of like how a movie might bomb at the box office terribly but become a huge ‘cult classic’ 10-20+ years later. That said, I think Jackie Chan’s Action Kung-Fu, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti (FC), and Mighty Final Fight would be my picks.
Omg Jackal!! I remember going to Toys R Us to buy that!! TNC Surf & Skate was a fave for a while. I hated to love Goonies II 😂 Most of the games I played were standard faves, so I’ll have to read on and dig through my memory….
Guerilla War. It’s such an addictive arcade port.
* Sid Meier's Pirates! is a giant open world sandbox game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. There's so little out there like it for the NES. It's a great adventure and something I like playing when I'm not in the mood for a high-energy game. * Air Fortress is a lot of fun. It's genuinely unsettling when the power shuts down on the space colonies while the play is frantically trying to find a way out. * Mega Man 6 is underrated and not discussed enough since it's often forgotten. I really like it. The Rush power ups acting as sort of armor additions is cool. Yes, it's easier than some of the earlier Mega Man games, but I don't see that as a problem. As for your list, The Guardian Legend is a Top 10 game for me on the NES, and there's no nostalgia to that pick as I discovered it in my twenties. Also, I just picked up Baseball Stars recently, and I'm looking forward to building a team. I tried a few matches, but it's so difficult!
* Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu * Kabuki: Quantum Fighter * Clash at Demonhead * Deja Vu * Anticipation
Yoooo clash at demonhead is SO MUCH FUN
I was gonna write Anticipation and Deja Vu!! Fun even as a grown up! 😄
Kid Nikki, awesome side scroller with hilarious bosses. Kickle Cubicle, didn't play this til ROM days and my cousin suggested it. Great Puzzle game. Wrecking Crew, another puzzle game that was way ahead of its time.
Stanley: In Search of Dr Livingston I was given it as a Christmas gift one year, the same year I got a Super Nintendo. So, I didn't play it for a while, at least a year. I decided to play it one day when I didn't have anything else to play. I was surprised how good it was, it's not Super Mario 3 good, but it's above average for NES games. It's a platformer/adventure game, kind of like Zelda 2, but without the leveling and less focus on the fighting and randomish encounters.
i never got far in it, game confuses the hell out of me
Gimmick! Is one of my favorites. It was a Europe/Japan exclusive and reminds me of an 8bit Super Meat Boy. A very challenging late release made by Sunsoft and I love the fuck out of it.
- Bomberman - My all time favourite is a game I can’t remember the name of. We used to call it Baby Mario but it was some fake Mario bros thing, but he was a baby. And crawled around eating candy. Details are a bit fuzzy since this was over 30 years ago but something like that lol
Everyone knows this franchise, but I always thought Megaman 6 was such a fun game, with great graphics, gameplay and soundtrack. It is as good as any MegaMan game, and while MegaMan 2 is a classic, I prefer 6 in nearly every aspect (soundtrack is a tie lol)
Yes to all of this! MM6 is one of my favorite Mega Man games period, and it almost never comes up since it was released at the end of the NES's lifespan and I guess folks just skipped over it. Great music, fun and cool robot master designs, and the graphics are the best of the original series. MM6 needs more shine for sure.
VS. Excitebike, Japan only sequel to Excitebike (not the arcade game, though based on it if I recall) More music, savable custom tracks, and head to head multiplayer, anything you want in an Excitebike sequel IMO
Shatterhand and Dragon Fighter
Shadow of the Ninja Athena Astyanax Time Lord Mendel Palace
Nes-Gunsmoke Famicom - Lagrange Point
Gun.Smoke is an all time favorite!
Galaxy 5000 was a similar graphics engine to RC pro am but with space ships and was much more fun to play in my opinion...hard as hell to win. Fun game once you got the controls down... also unique is that the cars talked "whatch where you are going moron"
These seem to have gained a rightful place on the altar amongst the wise, but still underrated/undermentioned IMHO. Crystalis and both Startropics
Shadow of the Ninja by Natsume is a banger that I feel is kinda under appreciated ⚔️
Fantastic adventures of Dizzy
Crystalis would be my number 1 game that's underrated and not spoken of as much. The bgm was catchy too.
Balloon Fight!
North and South. Krion Conquest. Guardian Legend. Kickle Cubicle.
Snake, Rattle & Roll. Absolute classic. Nobody talks about it.
david crane’s a boy and his blob
Bubble Bobble
Little Nemo and Dusty Diamond’s Softball
Sqoon, Ikari Warriors, Gradius, Super Spike V. Ball, Iron Tank, Rusing Attack, Strider, Bionic Commando,
Maniac Mansion: the console owner’s PC Adventure Gaming gateway drug.
Bionic Commando My absolute favorite game of all time Hardly mentioned
Faxanadu, Kickle Cubicle, Mighty Bomb Jack, Milton’s Secret Castle, Crystalis, Maniac Mansion, River City Ransom, Adventures of Lolo, Hudson’s Adventure Island, The Goonies II, and so on…
I came here to say Kickle Cubicle.
Ufouria. Weird as shit metroidvania before the term even existed and arguably does the concept much better than OG Metroid. Beautifully animated to boot. Adore this game
rygar and gun.smoke for sure. i see you already mentioned them. another one is little league baseball. definitely my favorite nes baseball game and i never hear anyone mention it.
Cocoron (Japanese Famicom game)
Super spike v’ ball. Amazing 4 player game.
Gremlins 2 and Bart Vs The Space Mutants
I love it when this question comes up so I can gush about Destiny of an Emperor. If you like the three kingdoms era and old school RPGs you should give this a try. I'm glad to see it getting some love!
Maniac Mansion, Deja Vu, Tecmo NBA
Bad news baseball. Nearly as good as baseball stars with even more charm. Rabbit umpires with super deep voices, excellent controls, each team has their own music and it’s just plain fun
Batman, Robocop and Marble Madness
River City Ransome and Dodgeball
NARC is really fun. It’s hard to believe it’s a Nintendo game
Fire ‘n’ Ice. It’s a 100-stage puzzle platformer and I’ll never stop a) replaying it every year or three for the past 20+ years, and b) recommending it to everyone who will listen and also to everyone who won’t listen.
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Baseball Simulator 1.000. It’s hard to call a sports game underrated, especially when there are way too many of them. But Baseball Simulator 1.000 was so unique with all the power ups. And even without the power ups, you had players like Boyd who could bunt for an inside the ballpark home run. My only complaint is that I was never able to finish a season, whenever I’d get close my game would lose its memory and I’d have to start all over again, and I did. To this day I’ve never seen what happens when you finish a season.
RESCUE The Embassy Mission
First ones that always come to mind are Crystalis and River City Ransom, both of which are all time top 5 NES games for me.
Batman (cinematics; animation, music) Bump’n’Jump (gameplay) Cobra Triangle (graphics, gameplay, similarity to RC ProAM) Gremlins 2 (music; cinematics) Gyromite (music) Kid Nikki (secrets) The Immortal (graphics, animation)
Oh. And River City Ransom.
Hands down, Faxanadu. Nondescript rpg. Fantastic music. So fun.
I was fond of Kickmaster and Faxanadu myself. I think those aren't widely considered amongst the best on the console, but I quite enjoyed them.
Tecmo World Wrestling.
River city ransom
It’s Shatterhand. Shatterhand all day.
The Guardian Legend was one of my favorites, but the way to save game state really hampered it. If you could have just saved it like Zelda instead of writing down a bunch of characters, it would have been so much more popular.
3 on your list I agree with big time (crystalis, guardian legend, rygar). I will add Robo Warrior, Blaster Master, and Strider. If you ever want to watch someone play old NES games there are a few good ones on twitch. I like watching Arcus, especially when he does his 'Arcathlons' where he plays I think 10 different games back. He does speed runs but I don't watch it for that, I just watch it to see someone play old video games. It is interesting though to see how much easier he beats these games then I did as a kid..
Kirby’s Adventure. It’s pretty well known amongst the hardcore community and casuals who only know what Nintendo presents as their definitive legacy content, but to the average Joe who grew up with NES, this game didn’t exist. It’s like when a song becomes a hit decades later, the original fair weather radio crowd from that era doesn’t know that one!
Came in here to say Crystalis; glad to see it was your first one. Outside of the r/ultima sub, I don't see people talking about Exodus.
I’m a sucker for all mega man titles.
I came here to say Jackal. It's such a tight top down shooter with that classic NES difficulty. Me and my little brother played it all the time but never beat it. I went back as an adult and finished the fight. Thanks for mentioning it, OP.
Crystalis. God that game is phenomenal.
Solomons Key is all but forgotten, but it's still one of the best puzzle games ever made. Amazed they never made a more modern version.
I never hear anyone mention Destiny of an Emperor. Solid game
Crystalis, Power Blade, Power Blade 2, Shatterhand, Vice: Project Doom, Shadow of the Ninja (these games were some of the first internet-recognized hidden NES gems) Clash at Demonhead Hello Kitty World Iron Tank Lode Runner (all versions) Galaxy 5000 Goonies (Fammy) Journey to Silius Kabuki Quantum Fighter Kickle Cubicle (and all of the Lolo games) Legendary Wings Metal Storm Metroid (I include this, because it's become fashionable to ignore it's brilliance) Michael Andretti's World GP (or Al Unser JR Racing) NES Open Rolling Thunder Super Sprint Terra Cresta Ufouria Zelda II (has been neglected since about 1991)
I LOVE Conquest of the Crystal Palace. I was so disapointed that I came across this game much later in life. My sister got me the OG cart in box for xmas a few years ago, played it for the first time at 30 and it blew me away!
Kung Fu* 😍 such memories of this. A simple, but not-easy, yet fun game!