Qix for NES is the definitive home version due to its spot-on emulation and availability, although it was also resurrected on various PC platforms and Nintendo even published a GameBoy version featuring characters from the Mario pantheon. Our Fondest Memories It should come as no surprise that the man behind the rock is Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, a composer that worked on the Mega Man series, also distinguished for its 8-bit anthems. The sluggish junker you start out with is soon augmented with shields and weapons of your choosing. That was the cryptic fantasy tagline offered up on the box of Faxanadu, one of the best and least-known Nintendo-published adventures to hit the NES throughout the 8-bit systems lifespan. Dragon Warrior III continued to open up both the gamer's party and the enemy parties to more than one per side, creating for the first time in the series a real feeling of strategy. Few franchises in Nintendo's storied history are as famous as The Legend of Zelda. Thankfully, unlike Nintendo's release of Tetris, Dr. Mario reveled in its two-player glory, and Nintendo's new hit proved not only to be a favorite among puzzle fans, but a game consumed by multi-player purists as well. One of the few games I remembered beating without the Game Genie (but done on an NES Advantage for sake of the turbo function). You'll soon realize how much better off you are without a rookie to keep track of. As for "greenish" color palette and "guy in spacesuit," Section-Z comes to mind, but there is no vertical scrolling shooter segments in that . Let's be honest if you are going to play Maniac Mansion, you really should try the uncensored Commodore 64 version. Asset Pack 'Spy Fighter' NES. Although the game offers a fairly decent challenge, the experience of kicking serious alien ass can be had by less talented players, thanks to the legendary Konami Code, which, in its most famous implementation, gives you 30 lives to burn through as you please. Gargoyle's Quest II was the sequel to the Game Boy original Gargoyle's Quest, a game that was itself a spin-off of Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins starring that series' infamous flying red demon as its hero. The Vic Viper's first attack run may have been in the arcades, but the NES brought the popular space shooter home in a near-perfect port. In the game, our pajama clad mascot navigates the often psychedelic Slumberland with the help of wild animals. This game was macho, manly destructive fun with its simultaneous two-player action, but also ended up playing an important historic role in the industry it put SNK on the map. The beloved NES game is every bit as addictive today as it was 20-plus years ago, which is a testament to the quality of its design. Post by nia_prene Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:07 pm. Punch-Out!! This was just the beginning of the Tengen/Nintendo feud. Thankfully, Tecmo decided not to tinker with Ninja Gaiden II too much, and what resulted was yet another smash hit for its fictional ninja protagonist. For me, just making it to level 2 was a major accomplishment that I reveled in let alone, the brutality that I had to overcome in future levels (especially that darned Ice Cavern). Sure, it borrowed from Mega Man apart from the engine selecting stage orders, for instance but standing on its own, Duck Tales is one of the must-have games in any NES aficionado's library. Little did I know that Nintendo put the NES hardware in the arcade cabinet. The Micro Machines concept of incredibly little cars racing each other was adapted into this NES racing design, a game that featured overhead, birds-eye view action behind the miniature wheel and environments all designed to emphasize the diminutive scale of it all. In it, our metal-clad protagonist, Kuros, sets out on a quest to save not one, but several distressed damsels (and we're not talking about some ugly dude in mushroom regalia). And Christmas of 1990 was when I finally got my hands on the game I would be obsessed with until this day. It's one of the earliest games that convinced me that RPGs were my favorite. Fast forward another 15 years or so and I spend my nights playing Call of Duty 4 while he frequents games like BlazBlue. The care gameplay is right on, the visuals aren't bad at all, and it stinks of Mega Man inspired robot blasting. As a bonus, your stunned partner can double as a bludgeoning tool. When I visit my mom today, that sticker is still there, reminding me of a time when I couldn't play every game I wanted to. Also, it was the closest thing to "Gleaming the Cube: The Game" as I could find. Tecmo's long dead and more recently revived series Ninja Gaiden got its start on the NES in 1989 with what's considered one of the best, most difficult action platformers ever. And for the most part, franchises that did flood the NES were of a high quality. Unlike the Adventures of Lolo series, which was unforgiving in its difficulty, Kickle Cubicle's difficulty spikes were much more reasonable. Only later did I learn the convoluted history of who made what, so Hudson, I owe you an apology for my playground rants about your integrity. It's these adventure game elements that make River City Ransom the thinking man's beat-em-up. Unlike DuckTales, however, Rescue Rangers is basically linear. 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. You play an M-308 Gunner mech, which features awesome (Magnetic? "Daggers and wingboots, mantras and monsters await you." I was blown away by how complete an experience Crystalis was. 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. The game I consider the best of all-time is a flawless experience. Before even embarking on your quest you must choose your team of four characters. You'd leap off the peaks in your path and go flying through the air, and have to adjust the angle of your descent in order to maintain your momentum and keep from crashing and you'd also have to keep an eye on your engine's temperature gauge all the while, as overheating would cause lengthy cool-down delays that would likely keep you from claiming first place. These days, though, I can't help but chuckle at the highly suggestive between-round power-ups. First off, screw you Nintendo Nerd. But if you wait for the axe's power to fully recharge between swings, the individual swipes will pack more impact. Wild West Builder: 2023 (TBA) Microsoft Windows: G11 S.A. . Growing up, my neighbors seemed to have all of the great games, when we could only afford one here and there. Vertical Shooters for the NES | Retro Gamer Randomness Vertical Shooters for the NES The Nintendo Entertainment System needs no introduction. Life Force, the NES port of the arcade game Salamander, and a spin-off of Gradius, is one of the best shooters the system has to offer, period. A pretty solid movie, really. Cruising the skies unhampered by the copious random battles of surface travel is truly exhilarating. And what gamers found in Mega Man 2 was something seen in few games since a title that was virtually flawless. Jackal's premise is that the resolution to all conflict lies in explosions lots and lots of explosions. If you have to play one Mega Man game to familiarize yourself with the series, make it Mega Man 2. Oh, wait wrong wrestling game. Fester's Quest was an amazing game that was both deep in its delivery and excruciatingly difficult in its execution. Although the game itself takes a good amount of skill to master, Super Mario Bros has a mysterious quality that makes it appealing to even the most inexperienced players. You played as a sunglasses-wearing muscleman equipped with a cybernetic boomerang, blasting his way through alien-invested futuristic environments on his way to restore the compromised integrity of the Master Computer, and your hero looked an awful lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger. A puzzler in the same style as HAL Laboratory's famous Adventures of Lolo series, Kickle Cubicle put players in the role of a character aptly named Kickle, who is on a quest to liberate his kingdom from the grasp of an icy evil. Carry on about how this game just isn't as good as the arcades (I do), but the truth is NES had some killer shooters, and this was one that I went back to over and over again. In a sort of desperate-sounding effort to distinguish itself from other puzzle games that may happen to feature falling colored blocks, Klax's title screen boldly proclaims that "It is the nineties, and there is time for Klax." With classic titles ranging from Batman to Journey to Silius (which was originally supposed to be a licensed Terminator game), Sunsoft had the skills necessary to take even the most unusual licenses and make them into compelling adventures. By 1990, Capcom was churning out quality 2D platformers at frightening rate, making it entirely possible for the gamers of yesteryear to have missed this strangely licensed gem. Fusing action with platforming, and even some RPG elements, Kid Icarus is one of those key first party NES games that often finds itself ignored. Best nes shoot em up games. What's funny about The Legend of Zelda's title was that the gamer played as a character named Link, who was in turn trying to save the famed princess named Zelda. And never got anywhere. Oops. Perhaps the one NES classic most on the minds of gamers in 2009 thanks to the recent release of its incredible Wii sequel/remake, Punch-Out!! Baseball Stars is unequivocally the best baseball game, and overall sports simulation, the NES ever saw. At some point in the latter half of the 1980s, Konami's instantly-recognizable silver-framed package art became a surefire visual indicator of a top-notch NES experience. Having Punch-out at home sealed the deal on selling me on an NES, since I loved the arcade game. Oh, and they advertised this sucker like crazy in comic books at the time (no, really). But mastery of navigation in Section Z was a true badge of honor to hold in the NES age (and Captain Commando survived the adventure intact, after all, if he went on to beat up Wolverine and Ryu in the late '90s and early '00s). Kind of like Pixar's Toy Story, this was a world seen from a toy's perspective races took place on top of massive billiards tables or in backyard with gigantic, looming flowers and blades of grass. Duck Hunt is the game that immortalized forever Nintendo's light gun called the Zapper, and was certainly the game that used the underused peripheral more than any other. 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. Zombie Nation pushes the NES graphical capabilities more than any other shooter on the system, with lots of moving enemies, building destruction and a steady stream of pixilated chaos. So, if you just hack away with short, quick slashes each one will be pretty wimpy. But rest assured that like the original, Ninja Gaiden II's difficulty level is nothing to scoff at. But while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were starring in lame TV and movie spin-offs on the NES, Rare actually spent time crafting Battletoads into a surprisingly arcade-like beat-'em-up. Yeah, it looks like a dress, but it really frees up his arm for easy decapitations. Capcom considered the NES obsolete at this point and refused to publish the game in the United States. In fact, ideas in Metroid have been replicated time and time again, and its collection-based themes and upgrade-encouraged RPG motif can be found in a vast range of games since, from the PlayStation's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the more recent Xbox Live title, Shadow Complex. And did we mention your car can transform into a boat? Excitebike was also the first game to offer a user-created content feature, through its track editor for a game that hit on October 18, 1985, that was way ahead of its time. But those 4 are the only ones I know! It's bright, colorful aesthetic, awesome enemy designs, amazing music and incredible replay value are all storied parts of the game's history. In this list, I explore ten of the best shooters to be released in North America for the Super NES. Mega Man 3 is the epitome of what the NES offered, and though less-fondly remembered than Mega Man 2, is another must-own for the console. With Contra III on the Super NES, this game didn't get the attention it deserved. Over a decade before the name Tony Hawk first began to become synonymous with skateboarding videogames, Electronic Arts was innovating on the NES with the impressively diverse Skate or Die. That's awesome! We would have like to see more from our little balloon-riding friend. 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