Post by godslayer on Feb 13, 2011 11:52:07 GMT -6
Most of the games that were released from franchises for the NES were garbage, but every now and then a couple good games got through, mostly thanks to Capcom. Here's a list of 10 of my favorites, and once again bonus points if I enjoyed the source material.
10: Rambo
I feel like I'm starting on the defense for this list. Lots of people really don't like this game, but I found it to be pretty fun. Yes, a lot of the gameplay seems cloned from Zelda 2, and the graphic on the front of firing an awesome machine gun was pretty misleading, but hey, there's worse games to clone than Zelda 2. And there was totally a scene where Rambo has to cross-dress to make it through a POW camp; pretty amazing stuff for the NES and it's weirdly strict policies of the day.
9: M.C. Kids
I'd actually rank this one even higher if it wasn't focused on McDonalds. It's not that I think there's anything wrong with a good burger, just the whole super-advertising nature of the game is a bit much. But that aside, it was a pretty fun Marioesque game that reminded me of SMB3, and I remember it being quite challenging to find all the secret cards and complete the game.
8: Bucky O'Hare
I don't think I ever saw the cartoon or read the comics, but I thought this was a nice game with a Mega Man type feel. Not much to say about it, but you had to rescue the different characters in order to use their special abilities in each stage, and besides that the action and sound was pretty decent.
7: Felix The Cat
This game also had a Marioesque feel to it, as Felix mastered his way through a bunch of side-scrolling levels. I thought this was game was pretty good in its day, although I'm not too familiar with the quite old cartoon.
6: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
I don't think I ever saw the source movie for this one either, but the game was pretty fun. You had to feed candy to animals to use their special powers, the world was big and colorful, and the music was nice. Not surprising for a Capcom game.
5: Batman
This game vaguely reminds me of Ninja Gaiden, I suppose because of the wall jumps involved and the dark theme. As a kid I liked the sequel a little better when Batman gets a bunch of awesome guns to shoot, but now that I know a little more about Batman I appreciate the fact that Batman would never use a gun, so the fists of the first game, batarangs, and the like were quite fitting. Pretty fun in either case, although I remember this being quite challenging. I don't remember much about the 3rd game in this series though.
4: Tiny Toon Adventures
Yet another game that seemed based off Mario, yet also had a vaquely Castlevania feel, which of course made sense being from Konami. Had a lot of fun with this one, and I liked how the different characters had different talents. This game was quite well made, but I didn't like the sequel very much, and I remember being completely frustrated by the Cartoon Workshop game since you couldn't save anything and my NES wasn't hooked up to a VCR back then
3: Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers
What a classic! This game is still incredibly fun to play, especially with a friend. The sequel seems pretty fun too, although I haven't spent a lot of time on it. Really good action game from Capcom.
2: Ducktales
Also a classic! Scrooge McDuck is such a greedy jerk, but man, pogoing around on his cane and finding treasure was super fun. A lot of similarities to Mega Man in this one, which is awesome, and not unexpected as a Capcom release. I found the sequel in a used game shop once, and it's a prize in my NES collection; also quite fun.
1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
This was probably one of the best arcade conversions done at the time. Great action, really fun to play with friends, and came from TMNT, which was eponymous with many events of my childhood. I still like the first game, even though I don't think I ever made it through the Shredder's Lair without cheating, but this one was just epic fun. TMNT III was also awesome, and I had a lot of fun playing that one too. Didn't ever get too into the tournament fighter game though.
Well that about wraps it up, but just for fun I'll mention that a few other games that almost made the list were The Little Mermaid, Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Gremlins 2, Goonies 2, and Talespin. I also just read about a game released only for the PAL system called New Ghostbusters 2, and that one seems worth a shot also. Basically any franchise game that was even remotely good for the NES already achieved something where so many failed.
10: Rambo
I feel like I'm starting on the defense for this list. Lots of people really don't like this game, but I found it to be pretty fun. Yes, a lot of the gameplay seems cloned from Zelda 2, and the graphic on the front of firing an awesome machine gun was pretty misleading, but hey, there's worse games to clone than Zelda 2. And there was totally a scene where Rambo has to cross-dress to make it through a POW camp; pretty amazing stuff for the NES and it's weirdly strict policies of the day.
9: M.C. Kids
I'd actually rank this one even higher if it wasn't focused on McDonalds. It's not that I think there's anything wrong with a good burger, just the whole super-advertising nature of the game is a bit much. But that aside, it was a pretty fun Marioesque game that reminded me of SMB3, and I remember it being quite challenging to find all the secret cards and complete the game.
8: Bucky O'Hare
I don't think I ever saw the cartoon or read the comics, but I thought this was a nice game with a Mega Man type feel. Not much to say about it, but you had to rescue the different characters in order to use their special abilities in each stage, and besides that the action and sound was pretty decent.
7: Felix The Cat
This game also had a Marioesque feel to it, as Felix mastered his way through a bunch of side-scrolling levels. I thought this was game was pretty good in its day, although I'm not too familiar with the quite old cartoon.
6: Little Nemo: The Dream Master
I don't think I ever saw the source movie for this one either, but the game was pretty fun. You had to feed candy to animals to use their special powers, the world was big and colorful, and the music was nice. Not surprising for a Capcom game.
5: Batman
This game vaguely reminds me of Ninja Gaiden, I suppose because of the wall jumps involved and the dark theme. As a kid I liked the sequel a little better when Batman gets a bunch of awesome guns to shoot, but now that I know a little more about Batman I appreciate the fact that Batman would never use a gun, so the fists of the first game, batarangs, and the like were quite fitting. Pretty fun in either case, although I remember this being quite challenging. I don't remember much about the 3rd game in this series though.
4: Tiny Toon Adventures
Yet another game that seemed based off Mario, yet also had a vaquely Castlevania feel, which of course made sense being from Konami. Had a lot of fun with this one, and I liked how the different characters had different talents. This game was quite well made, but I didn't like the sequel very much, and I remember being completely frustrated by the Cartoon Workshop game since you couldn't save anything and my NES wasn't hooked up to a VCR back then
3: Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers
What a classic! This game is still incredibly fun to play, especially with a friend. The sequel seems pretty fun too, although I haven't spent a lot of time on it. Really good action game from Capcom.
2: Ducktales
Also a classic! Scrooge McDuck is such a greedy jerk, but man, pogoing around on his cane and finding treasure was super fun. A lot of similarities to Mega Man in this one, which is awesome, and not unexpected as a Capcom release. I found the sequel in a used game shop once, and it's a prize in my NES collection; also quite fun.
1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
This was probably one of the best arcade conversions done at the time. Great action, really fun to play with friends, and came from TMNT, which was eponymous with many events of my childhood. I still like the first game, even though I don't think I ever made it through the Shredder's Lair without cheating, but this one was just epic fun. TMNT III was also awesome, and I had a lot of fun playing that one too. Didn't ever get too into the tournament fighter game though.
Well that about wraps it up, but just for fun I'll mention that a few other games that almost made the list were The Little Mermaid, Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Gremlins 2, Goonies 2, and Talespin. I also just read about a game released only for the PAL system called New Ghostbusters 2, and that one seems worth a shot also. Basically any franchise game that was even remotely good for the NES already achieved something where so many failed.
I'll have to craft my own top-ten at some point, but you've set a tough act to follow!