84 replies to this topic

[Tickles]

Ok I'll start with the obvious:

Super Mario Bros 1,2,3
Legend of Zelda, Zelda 2
Double Dragon

And there's a series of platform games, just can't remember the name...
Prometheus, any ideas?

[fuji99]

There are so many classics for the NES, here are some of my personal favorites beyond the most obvious choices:

Adventures of Lolo 1-3: A puzzle game where you manipulate obstacles in a room to unlock the exit to the next room. More fun that my description makes it sound.
Amagon: A fairly obscure side scrolling game that is sort of a cross between Contra and Adventure Island.
Battle of Olympus: A side scrolling RPG similar in style to Legend of Zelda 2, but with more outdoor exploration and less dungeons.
Castlevania 1-3: The classic series and quite difficult, unlike modern Castlevanias.
Dragon Warrior 1-4: The classic turn based RPG series, where I got my start in RPGs.
Ducktales: Based on the Disney cartoon series, a very well done platformer.
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu: A fun side scroller.
Little Nemo the Dream Master: A fun and surprisingly difficult platformer; the main character can wear various costumes that give him different powers.
Startropics 1-2: A top-down action RPG series in a modern setting, very well done.
Whomp 'Em: Another fun side scroller.

[Tickles]

I was just thinking that I forgot Castlevania

[Prometheus]

Heheheh. I hear my cue, there. I'll keep this brief.

Mega Man 2 - Platformer - Regarded by many as the best of the NES installments in the Mega Man series, Mega Man 2 refines the "Rock/Paper/Scissors"-style enemy-weapon-stealing setup that debuted in the first game, and makes it better by having eight Robot Masters to defeat and obtain weapons from, instead of six. It has excellent play control, and a fantastic soundtrack, to boot. If you like this one, you would probably do well to check out Mega Man, Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4, Mega Man 5, and Mega Man 6, as well.

Magical Doropie - Platformer - This game from Vic Tokai is so similar to the Mega Man series that the witch who is the protagonist pretty much looks like Mega Man in a red dress! This is an incredibly difficult game in the same sort of vein as Mega Man, but instead of earning weapons as you go along, you start with all of them from the outset. This was released in thoroughly butchered form outside of Japan as "The Krion Conquest", but that version of the game is missing the entire plot, has weird changes here and there, and makes no sense whatsoever. Play Magical Doropie with Shih Tzu's translation patch for the best experience of the game.

Kirby's Adventure - Platformer - Released in 1993, this is the second game in the Kirby series (Kirby debuted in 1992 on the Game Boy, in Kirby's Dream Land), and the one which introduced Kirby's ability to copy the powers of the enemies he inhales during the game's stages. This is quite a lengthy game, full of cute little touches, and it's got a little bit more challenge to it than Kirby's Dream Land had.

[jbr]

I feel like EVERYTHING is going to be mentioned here, so I'll try to not name the obvious...

Micromachines offers awesome and unique gameplay on pretty much any platform, and it's great to play with a friend. The NES release is no exception.
RC ProAm is another fun "toy" racing game, but it's played from a neat isometric perspective and allows vehicle upgrades between rounds. Also good for multiplayer.
Castlevania Series... actually, I shouldn't have to mention this. Somebody else will definitely get to it, but yeah, awesome action-platformer series.
Thundercade is one of my favorite games to play with a friend-- not very fast paced, and easy for beginners to jump into. Forward scrolling shooter a la 1942, but on motorbikes.
Top Gun: flight combat simulator? Rails shooter? Both of those terms make this sound a little more advanced than it is. Despite being a simple game, I remember playing this with my dad, my friends, and the whole neighborhood for hours on end, taking turns failing the first landing and crashing into the ocean.
North & South: I'm not sure how much I can say about it as a game, but you don't have many choices when it comes to turn based strategy on the NES. There are traditional turn based phases, in addition to a real time "combat" phase.

[Tickles]

Top Gun: flight combat simulator? Rails shooter? Both of those terms make this sound a little more advanced than it is. Despite being a simple game, I remember playing this with my dad, my friends, and the whole neighborhood for hours on end, taking turns failing the first landing and crashing into the ocean.

I actually landed it on my first go after being told it was next to impossible. Don't think I ever managed it again after.

[Exophase]

Contra, Super C
Ninja Gaiden (haven't played 2 and 3.. can barely get past 6-2 in 1, guh, still never beat the damn thing)
Kid Icarus
Street Fighter 2010
Battletoads

[Alerino]

this games sucks, but it's one that i like the most

Super Pitfall

[KodeIn]

I loved Chip'n Dales rescue ranger when I was small, you could play it with a friend it was really fun!
Solstice was a strange isometric puzzle-solving game, my bigger brother played it a lot.
I had to get help from him to play A boy and his blob at the time I did not understand english at all. You had to pick up candy, depending on the flavour, the blob would morph into an object or another.

Zelda 1 & 2 were great, but I needed maturity to really enjoy the first Mario, the 2 was pretty fun and the 3 is a masterpiece.

[Tom]

I'll add Bionic Commando to the above list - I haven't played any NES games in years, so I don't know how objectively good it is, but I liked it then.

[maplesugarlover]

Gimmick!, by SunSoft for the Japanese NES in 1992.

[macsimus]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Buraï Fighter (my first console shmup ! last boss "slimdragon", wow i remember that bastard !!! )

Mac

[milkshake]

Mega Man 2 - Platformer - Regarded by many as the best of the NES installments in the Mega Man series, Mega Man 2 refines the "Rock/Paper/Scissors"-style enemy-weapon-stealing setup that debuted in the first game, and makes it better by having eight Robot Masters to defeat and obtain weapons from, instead of six. It has excellent play control, and a fantastic soundtrack, to boot. If you like this one, you would probably do well to check out Mega Man, Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4, Mega Man 5, and Mega Man 6, as well.

MegaMan2 is the best MegaMan game for the Nes!!
Just the music from the intro sends shivers up my spine, I'm so glad I own a real Nes and this game on cartridge with the box yay

[crade]

this games sucks, but it's one that i like the most

Super Pitfall

Atlantis no Nazo
If you liked Super Pitfall, there is also a sequel to it that was only released in Japan called "Atlantis no Nazo".
There was apparently a prototype made for the U.S. version (called Super Pitfall II) that the guys at www.thenesdump.com
got a hold of and released unofficially on cart. "Atlantis no Nazo" is almost identical to that prototype though, just with the title changed. I don't think it has any Japanese language problems.

[Exophase]

I actually like Megaman 5 the best out of the NES ones, although I agree that 2 is a definite contender. What surprises me is that people will tend to consider 1 better than 4-6. 1 is easily the worst of the NES series to me, not that it's a bad game or anything. They really fixed up things with the second one.

[milkshake]

I think mega man 1 set the stage it is a very good game! and the sequels improved on it.
I don't think I have played all the mega man games all the way through so couldn't really comment on anything after 1 & 2 plus I'm biased for Mega man 2 because I remember it as a kid and the music is to me the best music on the nes full stop (its only contender would be the castlevania games which also had amazing sound tracks).

As I said in my original post the intro music is so amazing it sends shivers up my spine and the music for all the stages is amazing especially the final stage music.

[lincruste]

Faxanadu was a fantastic Action/RPG game. Playing it on Pandora would be great!
www.vgmastersclub.com/roms/nes/Faxanadu.jpg

[B-ZaR]

Nope, mega man 3. Closely followed by 2.

Other non-trivial NES games worth mentioning that pop into mind:

Gun.smoke

Top-down scrolling western shoot'em'up. Great soundtrack

Battle of Olympus

Kinda like Zelda II battle-wise, but with a Castlevania II style world in a greek mythology setting.

Darkwing duck

Side scrolling platformer/shooter featuring a great but grossly underused disney universe character.

Nintendo World Cup

A precursor to super mario strikers and other super power enhanced football games. Aggressive gameplay, great multiplayer. Think river city ransom, but football.

R.C. Pro Am

Racing with guns. A solid predecessor to the likes of rock'n'roll racing.

RoboWarrior

Bomberman-like action on a side scrolling level and continuous threat of death by darkness hanging above. I think there are grues there.

Track & Field 2
Could be lethal to your d-pad. Button mashing sports for everyone!

Willow

Zelda-like top-down action/adventure based on a movie of the same name. One of the few actually good movie games.

StarTropics

Action/adventure with an overworld map and dolphins. Also features a yellow submarine and quite tricky puzzles (at least they were when I was 10 or something )

[Tickles]

I had Nintendo World Cup on game boy. As I remember It was too easy once you worked out how to do the "super strike", which was impossible to stop. It all became about seeing how many goals you could score in a match... oh wait, that's kind of the point anyway... but you know what I mean

[Prometheus]

Ooh, Darkwing Duck - I should have mentioned that one myself! If you like the Mega Man games, you'll definitely like that one. In fact, it's similar enough that even some people behind a hacked pirate version of the game thought so, too.