But when it's revealed that Wily is indeed behind Cossack's deeds, Mega Man is forced to trek through not one end castle, but two, a trend that is kept up in Mega Man 5 and 6 as well. If you fully power up your weapons you turn into a flaming, butt-kicking phoenix. Shotgun, Mario. All of the Adventures of Lolo games were great, but the third chapter has the best puzzles of the whole series and almost the most difficult. Yeah, it looks like a dress, but it really frees up his arm for easy decapitations. The Ninja Turtles do love their pizza. Though this is the penultimate entry in the trilogy, Wizards and Warriors III - Kuros: Visions of Power, followed as a largely forgotten (and Fabio-less) dud. I will always have a special place in my heart for the original Super Mario Bros., but it was this sequel that took platforming to new heights with tighter controls, more complex levels and, of course, special upgrades like the Super Leaf and Tanooki Suits. Constantly being outsmarted by the likes of The Adventures of Lolo, Kickle Cubicle proved to be an entertaining, action-packed alternative that was a little friendlier to all of us puzzle-stupid gamers. Dragon Warrior IV, released in the US in 1992, tried to buck this trend with a unique approach to unraveling the game's overarching narrative. After a few minutes with Contra's militant anthems you'll want to put your controller down and headbang along. Lode Runner's saga begins some time before the NES, and many people may correctly classify it as a seminal PC title. Instead of a game that relied on epic, blind exploration and top-down dungeon-crawling action, Zelda II introduced a completely new idea for the series, and one that hasn't been revisited since. Officially titled The Dark Sword of Chaos, the gameplay remained true to the original, with one notable addition: While Ryu always could (and in many cases had to) grapple to walls to get around, Ryu could now scale up and down walls easily. If Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team strikes you as a bit gimmicky, we've got news for you: it is! Unlike DuckTales, however, Rescue Rangers is basically linear. You can't beat that. The whole game can be played in local or online co-op with up to three other players. It was released in 1996 for MS-DOS, but in 2009 it was re-released for Windows as freeware. I was so bored with Tetris. Capcom seemed to remove Mega Man's classic foil, Dr. Wily, in lieu of a new creator of evil robots, Dr. Cossack. This boat-based action/racing design was based on the engine the studio had developed for the classic R.C. And I get to hit him with a whip? We're glad it did, because it's still a blast to power up our blades today. The Ice Climbers, as the two starring characters are popularly known, are relentless lovers of the alpine trek, and they'll stop at nothing to climb mountain after mountain just to reach its apex, where untold valuable items can be found. Unlike the Adventures of Lolo series, which was unforgiving in its difficulty, Kickle Cubicle's difficulty spikes were much more reasonable. Unnecessary, sure, but so necessary. Not only is it one of the very best and most iconic videogames ever conceived, but having shipped with the majority of NES consoles, Super Mario Bros. quickly became synonymous with the NES itself. In Kid Icarus, gamers take the role of Pit. It wasn't even that compelling. Fester's Quest also takes its cues from a hodgepodge of genres, which will appeal to many kinds of gamers. Using your own bubbles to bounce your way up to out of reach platforms takes some serious platforming skills. A pretty solid movie, really. Every Ice Hockey player discovered their own perfect combination of men, and then it was on to the ice. Game Boy-shmameboy! Top down light artillery robot. This game mixes amazing platforming with some quirky gun and driving missions; almost like Bayu Billy, if that game didn't suck and instead played like Ninja Gaiden. This game is infinitely more inventive than that. Saturday Night Slam Masters 1993 | Capcom Ad Ad - content continues below Wrestling games were extremely hit or miss in the 8-bit and 16-bit. An item-based menu allowed you to equip gems, whips and special weapons. I remember dying repeatedly, and an early example of blatant Engrish: "I feel asleep!!" It was the first game I ever played with an NES Advantage. Top-down shooter. Oh, and they advertised this sucker like crazy in comic books at the time (no, really). Set in a procedurally generated galaxy, the game sees you exploring a vast open world while making a name for yourself by joining factions, mining asteroids, trading, and bounty hunting. Vertical Shooters for the NES | Retro Gamer Randomness Vertical Shooters for the NES The Nintendo Entertainment System needs no introduction. Dracula is the bad guy? Though the company's probably best known for its stint as a Nintendo second-party developer in the SNES and N64 eras when it produced the Donkey Kong Country series, Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day, there was an earlier age when Rare was making the kinds of games that made Nintendo take notice to begin with, with games like Cobra Triangle. My initial exposure to what would become a gaming obsession in my life happened down there, when I played Mega Man for the first time. Enlist a second set of wheels and you'll be nuking twice the whatever-the-hell-you-want-to in no time. Mega Man 2 is often glossed over as being too easy even on the "Hard" difficulty setting, but that doesn't take away from everything the game offered. And while all Robot Masters since Mega Man 2 have been designed by the Japanese, Mega Man 6 totes a few created by North Americans. I bought my own cart off of eBay and experienced the wonders of this influential grinding J-RPG without the help of my peers. Even before the used market took off, Nintendo made some moves to make sure that purchasers of a fresh version got a better experience than someone who borrowed a pre-played one. When I first encountered Zombie Nation it was love at first sight: the disembodied head of a samurai destroying buildings with what appears to be vomit? Game developer Compile Game publisher Brderbund Software, Inc. Game published 1988 Game perspective Top-down Game theme Sci-Fi / Futuristic 5 votes Share on Facebook Doesn't quite fit the "spacesuit" description however. And my older brothers, both casual players, could never get past the first stage. This made it a prime game for high score hunting, with certain parts of the experience that were of the make and break variety. Its fast-paced 2D action style made it a game preferred by those with quick reflexes, and its arsenal of weaponry, which can be chosen from a Mega Man-like menu, gave the gameplay variety, with certain weapons working best against certain enemies and bosses. Top Down Shooter Engine. Mario receives some amazing gear in his third game, including the Raccoon Suit that allows him to soar high above the game's carefully crafted levels. Primitive by today's standards, sure, but I remember being blown away when I first set eyes on it. Now if I could only figure out what that tank game with huge bosses was. It goes down something like this: an extra-terrestrial force named Darc Seed has zombie-fied the world, oh and there's some kind of stolen sword involved or something. And here's the kicker the pit stop comes to you! As for "greenish" color palette and "guy in spacesuit," Section-Z comes to mind, but there is no vertical scrolling shooter segments in that . But those few weeks I spent with Metal Storm remain precious. Mega Man is one of the best examples of great graphics, amazing music and near-perfect gameplay rolled into one cartridge. One of the last handfuls of great games to be released for the NES in America, Gargoyle's Quest II had the misfortune of showing up around a year after the 16-bit SNES had gone on sale. Half RPG, half Ghosts & Goblins-inspired gameplay Gargoyle's Quest is another hard to beat, yet totally memorable experience. Contra deftly captures the spirit of the testosterone-fueled '80s summer blockbusters, with obvious nods to the Alien and Rambo series. Mega Man started the craze. The game has been enjoyed by more players over the years than any other game on the NES, and its greatness can be experienced by anyone who picks up a control pad today. And Christmas of 1990 was when I finally got my hands on the game I would be obsessed with until this day. We're still eagerly awaiting a Goonies III. For whatever reason, Nintendo didn't include a battery in the cartridge for the customizable track option, so if you turned off the systempoof! I'm still working on getting this game to Virtual Console, though Sammy (now SEGA) has no idea they even own it. With a friend you can tag-team your opponents. Batman taught me the meaning of "envy;" I went to a neighbor's house and played it all day, mastering the diabolical wall jump platforming challenges, and I wanted the game for myself. And believe us, the tanks get larger. Over the years though Bionic Commando is a game I keep going back to, and it wasn't until I really realized the RPG-lite experience in there (trucks lead to 1Ups, kills equal strength and RPG-like leveling) that I was able to really dominate the game. Yes, Fred who's just hopped into the backyard and touched a radioactive reactor that mutates him into an enormous amphibious monster. Feeding jellybeans to Blobert to transform it into different items and it was fun just to experiment with, such as making a blow torch with a cinnamon bean and a rocket with a root beer bean. The company got its start with Ikari as its first major hit, and the success of this game fueled the studio to go on and ultimately create classic fighting franchises such as Fatal Fury and King of Fighters on the Neo-Geo, as well as the timeless Metal Slug series. Little Samson is one of the most technically impressive NES titles, featuring eye candy like rotating character sprites and colossal bosses in what was ultimately a futile effort to try and entice 16-bit-smitten gamers back to their NES. But after getting used to Castelvania's inherent control quirks, what was found was a smooth action game rife with suiting atmosphere and difficult gameplay. How did we pick the games? "Daggers and wingboots, mantras and monsters await you." Death Race (1990 video game) Devilish (video game) Die Hard (video game) Dig Dug II. Of course the objectives need executed while hordes of enemies swarm you. In it, there's a Qix-inspired mini-game, and in that instant, I remembered how much fun I had with the NES port during my childhood. Out of all of the games on the list, Journey to Silius might have one of the most interesting histories. Some people just aren't wired for old school gaming, apparently. The original Mega Man is perhaps best-known, however, for its staggering difficulty level. And that's exactly the plot here Astyanax is a 16-year-old Greenview High student who just so happens to be named after the figure from Greek mythology and also just happens to be swept away to a distant magical land called Remlia where he's asked to, of course, save a kidnapped princess. The new Rush Adaptors combined Mega Man with his robotic dog into one unit for the first time, and yes, Dr. Wily is again behind the robotic destruction coursing through the game, this time masquerading as the ill-disguised Mr. X. I was playing the amazing Super Mario Bros. in a 7-eleven game room months before the NES was even announced in the US. Simple, straightforward side-scrolling action, lots of baddies to send flying off the screen with a quick swipe of your blade, and stylish graphics for its time. I still believe that the NES original is the greatest top-down racer ever developed. Simon earned experience points for killing enemies and collecting money to buy new goods. I was too ADD / illiterate as a kid to ever get that Zelda was the princess in the first game. As a kid, Shadowgate was straight spooky. My earliest forays into the Cave of Monsters were rarely solo. Those that picked up Jackal merely due to its similarity in appearance to games like Contra and Castlevania were not disappointed. The day this one was conquered was when I finally found Game Genie codes, booted up two players and made sure either my brother or I stayed alive to keep the progress on our assault. Popo and Nana are equipped with mallets to fend off enemies on any given mountain they're climbing, but it's usually hazards of a different variety that stymie the advance of even the most ardent of Ice Climber players. It was a solid companion for the early Zelda games, and perhaps a factor in why Capcom was later approached to develop some portable entries in the Zelda series for Nintendo. The arcade version hooked me first, but the NES edition kept my addiction going. The ship rising out of the scrolling ocean, the . Set in an ancient Greece-inspired future (mind blown yet? Not too bad for a couple of sweaty, shirtless Rambo clones. I love games with invincibility codes and considering the number of cheap enemies you fought, it was a good idea to leave it on. For a time, I remembered an entire 33-character password for a maxxed out character in this game. While two Lolo games preceded the 1991 release of the series' third iteration in the States, the game known by fans as Lolo 3 is most fans' favorite. I once spent three hours rolled into morphball while dropping meticulously timed bombs so that I might progress upward through a small crevice in the original Metroid. Though the dog, mocking me with laughter, encouraged delinquency. Aside from scoring so many points to break the game, my brother and I enjoy the appearance of Blue Lander a spaceborne precursor to Kirby and Starfy with his own special jingle. Mickey Mousecapade was the first of these, and although it was published by Capcom in the US, it was developed by Hudson and has a different, more primitive feel than the great Disney platformers that succeeded it. Rescue Rangers also ratcheted the difficulty down quite a bit, making it a good experience to share with a less-skilled partner. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before a videogame followed the television show and toys. The game simply used the convenient foundation of the sport to construct a deceptively deep, endlessly addictive gameplay design that's all about pattern recognition, fast reaction times and comically over-the-top cartoon personalities. In a cool adventure gaming twist, you'll need to meet a certain booty (diamonds, not damsels) quota before being able to exit each area, but don't expect a sign reading "Here Be Treasure." But when one of my favorite childhood icons, Mario, appeared in his own variety of puzzle game, I was hooked. But not all licensed titles are bad. You have to go back and read that title again, a couple of times, and imagine it being spoken by a scratchy, synthesized 8-bit voice clip. It was integral if you wanted a high score. Kung Fu proved how good even the most simple games can be, and it's still a title I go back and play often to this day. I had a password that started players at (or near) the final town, but with all the ultimate weapons and armor still unequipped. And if the gamer managed to finish with $10 million in funds and has two special hidden treasures, a unique ending can be unlocked, as well. A game no one bought, but everyone had. - Colin Moriarty, IGN Guides Associate Editor. And as I recall, Ninja Gaiden II taught me to slide button presses for instant jump slashes, a skill that helped when I graduated to fighting games. The late, great Little Samson saw extremely weak sales in the US and so it usually comes up short in the Fond Memories department. The entire game fit on an infinitesimally small cartridge sized at 192 kilobits. We won. I bet 75-percent of them stop whining about regenerative health after getting their arrows taken away by an Eggplant Wizard for the eightieth time. The ridiculousness of the premise was only matched by the difficulty of the game's control scheme, and the superb 8-bit soundtrack that accompanied all the hungry, hungry action. That's awesome! An interesting take on the Tetris formula, Dr. Mario presented gamers with a new puzzle-based quandary how will you use the multi-colored pills thrown into play by a white coat-wearing Mario to eliminate the viruses plaguing your screen? American gamers weren't privy to subsequent releases until Dragon Warrior VII hit the PlayStation in 2001. This kiddie Capcom platformer gave Mega Man a run for his money, though, and while I'm still not sure who this Nemo dude is, I had a great time pelting animals with candy all the same. Crazy how that happens, no? After releasing several games for the Atari 2600 and other computer-based consoles, famed Pitfall! Who knew The Goonies were big in Japan? One of the counter-examples to this argument is Mario Bros., an NES port that's not perfect when compared to the 1983 arcade original, but one that is about as close as can be expected, with smooth gameplay and crisp graphics that do the original proud. The Guardian Legend is an action-adventure/top down shooter released for the NES in 1989. And that's where Lolo's difficult gameplay comes in, because it's getting those icons that are the true feat. Last, you throw Radical into the mix. You were fighting the clock, too, and if you ever ran out of torches then it was Game Over for you. The key to Jackal's success, like so many other games on this list, is cooperative gameplay. The detailed, cartoon-like graphics go a long way towards easing the pain of the game's extreme difficulty, as does the inclusion of cooperative play at least you have someone to blame when you run out of continues on the second level. Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool when the NES finally made it possible to hunt spies in the comfort of your own home. Fighting enemy parties that never consisted of more than one enemy, the original was about narrow-minded preparedness. Watching my neighbors play the series endlessly as a child, my first independent go-around with Dragon Warrior was when I was in the 8th grade in 1997. And did we mention your car can transform into a boat? 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