Obscure NES great games

[Coptur]

I bet this was probably a topic here sometime before. But I was just thinking, what are some of the best NES games you've played that are not very well known?

A few I thought of

Jackal
Battletoads & Double Dragon
Bucky O' Hare
Little Nemo

[Doonzmore]

Wacky Races
Sword Master
Kickle Cubicle

[Kim Possible]

Low G Man
Dash Galaxy and the Alien Asylum
Whomp 'EM
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Mutant Virus

[369WIERDO369]

Yo Noid
Cool Spot
City Connection

[djshok]

Felix the Cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2UQEGOwzIY

[Enmity]

The Guardian Legend.

[sloan]

Rolling Thunder
Zanac
A Boy and His Blob
Kid Icarus
Arkanoid
Karnov
Rygar
Marble Madness
Kickle Kubicle
Sqoon

[retroman]

I have always loved Clash At DemonHead, and Demon Sword

[Collector_Gaming]

although i think some of the mini games are a pain in the ass.. I do still find "Caveman Games" a good time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPWPid4UxBw

[Darth Binks]

I loved playing T and C Surf Designs: Thrilla's Surfari back in the day. Not sure how obscure it is, but Wizards and Warriors was awesome too!

[VideoGameRescue]

Kid niki! Don't let the pink label fool you!

[o.pwuaioc]

All great suggestions so far! Battletoads & Double Dragon wasn't obscure tho. I'd like to add King's Knight (although opinions on this will vary!), Abadox (likewise), Clash at Demonhead, and Magic of Scheherazade.

[Rob2600]

I don't know how obscure these NES games are, but I recommend:

Gun Nac
Legendary Wings
Legends of the Diamond
Tecmo World Wrestling

[jperryss]

Trog! is a fun one that a lot of people probably haven't played.

[treismac]

Metal Storm
T & C Surf Design (the original)
Bionic Commando- it may not be "obscure," but it doesn't get near the praise that it deserves)
Clash at Demonhead - let me add my endorsement along with the others. This game rocks.
Phantom Fighter- it's an acquired taste with unique play control, but I like it.
Bump n' Jump- like Bionic Commando, it may not be quite obscure but it is certainly undersung.

Edit:

Oh yeah! I also agree that Kickle Cubicle and Kabuki Quantum Fighter are great games- especially Kickle Cubicle!

[Edmond Dantes]

Legend of the Ghost Lion - Probably the second best RPG on the NES, and certainly the most unique.
Might and Magic - This being the first best.
Taboo the Sixth Sense - I don't care what Seanbaby says, I've found this thing's predictions to be pretty accurate again and again. It's also a hell of a lot more accessible than similar programs on the PC.
Pinball Quest - Pinball: the RPG. Yes it exists.

I wish my library of games was here with me right now, because it would be so much easier to add to this list if I could see them.

[Tron 2.0]

New Ghostbusters II It's by hal and it's sure is better then that crap fest by activsion.

[Casati]

Isolated Warrior (shooter)
Dig Dug II (this sequel has received bad reviews)
M.U.L.E. (economics sim)
Golf Power (golf sim with battery save)
Pirates! (from Sid Meier, before he made Civilization)

[treismac]

Dig Dug II (this sequel has received bad reviews)

Really? I'll vouch for Dig Dug II being a fun game!

[Collector_Gaming]

[b]Taboo the Sixth Sense - I don't care what Seanbaby says, I've found this thing's predictions to be pretty accurate again and again. It's also a hell of a lot more accessible than similar programs on the PC.


The only thing though imo is it safe to place this title in this topic as we are talking about games?
This is not in any shape or form a game. Its a virtual tarot card reader.

[treismac]

The only thing though imo is it safe to place this title in this topic as we are talking about games?
This is not in any shape or form a game. Its a virtual tarot card reader.

I can't help but wonder if you might have selected a word other than "safe" if the game in question was not occult by nature. Just saying.

[Astrosmash]

Didn't see it mentioned yet:

Rockin' Kats. One of my favorites as a kid; still love it.

[TonyTheTiger]

Pinball Quest - Pinball: the RPG. Yes it exists.

Seconded. I love that game.

Toss in Pin-Bot, too, which is probably best pinball game on the console.

M.C. Kids - I don't know if it's obscure but it's one of my favorite NES platformers that rarely gets much praise.

Batman: Return of the Joker - Most people stop at the original Batman which is great in its own right but ROTJ is one of the best Contra clones I've ever played and it's one of the nicest looking games on the NES.

Blades of Steel - Again, not really obscure but it's a great hockey game you don't hear about too often.

[The Dord]

The Guardian Legend.
Vastly underrated. Shooter mixed with Zelda.

It's one of the best games for the NES, thats for sure!

[sayewonn]

Gremlins 2 – the New Batch
Super Dodgeball
Power Blade 1 & 2
Vice: Project Doom

[Retrocade Fantasia]

MC Kids is way better than it had any business being.

Toobin a port of the Atari arcade classic was good times

Air Fortress uh... that's all I got

I'm sure I'll think of more later

[Press_Start]

Know obscure NES games? I review 'em. :)

The Guardian Legend (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPgAoabGv2k)
Vice: Project Doom (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRGCf_10OjI)
Kickmaster (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JEQYBE_j4)
Mighty Final Fight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWBEvPdkA9k)
Batman & Return of the Joker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMI7TFQGqyE)
Power Blade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQxT-GROng4)
Cabal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttfpxo8Jy38)
Kabuki Quantum Fighter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIIhHQbdUUY)
Kickle Cubicle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m5NxMcF7iY)
Shatterhand (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3CF1qKltk)
S.C.A.T. (Special Cyber Attack Team) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NysNw34Clw)
Shadow of the Ninja (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPGgyS6NeoE)
Gyruss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivOYl2YOro0)
Lifeforce (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9em9ReeM7Y8)

[BetaWolf47]

Nobody has mentioned these, my personal favorites of the bunch. One is possibly one of my top 5 NES games of all time.

The Battle of Olympus: A really great Castleroid type game set in a Greek fantasy setting. It plays similar to Zelda 2, except with no overworld and good gameplay physics. It starts at a decent difficulty level and gets extremely hard later in the game.

The Magic of Scheherazade: An action RPG quite similar to Crystalis. It differs itself by having different character classes and a more linear overworld. It has an Arabian Nights style fantasy world.

[ButtonMasher123]

Kickmaster
Lttle Samson
GI Joe:A Real American Hero

I'm convinced that these games would have became huge hits if they were released 1990 or earlier when people still cared about the the NES.

[FrankSerpico]

Yo Noid

I've heard nothing but bad things about this game but I've always been intrigued by it. I have a soft spot for junk food tie in games, I own the Chester Cheetah game for Genesis

[swlovinist]

Kickmaster for the win. I am very happy that others mentioned it too. Awesome game.

[Drixxel]

The Guardian Legend.


Vastly underrated. Shooter mixed with Zelda.

It's one of the best games for the NES, thats for sure!

Haha, I don't know, The Guardian Legend is one of the first games ever to be mentioned in any "Underrated Classics" sort of discussion. Unpopular, but well known. It's a game sorta like Little Samson. Then again, people calling other people out on supposed "more well-known than you thought" concerns is pretty pointless in itself.

In my opinion, Nightshade is the obscure great NES game. Unique to the NES, hilarious writing, solid hybrid gameplay.. man, it's cool.

[Edmond Dantes]

The only thing though imo is it safe

Ain't nuthin' safe about Taboo. Safe is boring :)

Here's some more games I just thought of:

Destination Earthstar - Each level starts as a space combat sim, but ends with a side-scrolling shmup segment. It's fun and unique, but probably unfairly hard.
Totally Rad - It's, like, this totally awesome game about a kid who can like, do magic and stuff, and he fights monsters dude! Isn't that rad?
Dig Dug II - Thanking a previous poster for reminding me of this. Oddly, I played the original Dig Dug recently and thought it was boring, but this one is awesome. I mean, you can make whole islands collapse! What's not to love?
Adventures of Lolo - Fond memories of this game, especially the first time I beat it... in a straight marathon session... and had to take a ton of aspirin afterward...
Snake's Revenge - Screw the critics, I thought this was an all right game, although some of the traps are kind of cheap.
Burgertime - A recent discovery. You're a guy who makes giant burgers while avoiding being killed by hot dogs, pickles and eggs. The one drawback is that this game is likely to make you hungry.

[RulerStabInTheEye27]

/////

[thebytewasbit]

I'd have to say...

Deja Vu

Man I loved that game! It hooked me in so unexpectedly w/ it's storyline & gameplay for being an NES game.

Although I never finished it, also...

Night Shade

[chrisballer]

Kid niki! Don't let the pink label fool you!

I second that and will add one of my favorites Galaxy 5000!

[Parodius Duh!]

Honestly, I wouldnt consider any NES title "obscure" they are all readily available and well known.

If you want obscure, look into the Famicom library- Parasol Henbee, Spartan X2, Solbrain (uncut shatterhand), Yokai Club, Chiisana no Obake, Almana No kiseki, Meikyuu Jiin Dababa...

Then if you want to get really obscure, delve into the realm of Pirate original games and hacks....

[Captain_N77]

It's already been mentioned, but I'll throw Mighty Final Fight's name in again. Really fun to play and has some nice graphics. Just wish it was multi-player.

[treismac]

It's already been mentioned, but I'll throw Mighty Final Fight's name in again. Really fun to play and has some nice graphics. Just wish it was multi-player.

Multi-player and selling somewhere in between the $5-10 price range on ebay.

[nouserever]

Scat was a great game, but the name makes you not want to play it.

[Drixxel]

Scat was a great game, but the name makes you not want to play it.

Alternately, the name might immediately peak the interest of a particular audience only for the game itself to be a huge letdown. A huge dump on them, even.

[thahurricanegame]

These names bring back memories of games played back in the day..

[kupomogli]

The Magic of Scheherazade: An action RPG quite similar to Crystalis. It differs itself by having different character classes and a more linear overworld. It has an Arabian Nights style fantasy world.

Amazing game except for the last boss being near impossible to beat without being the Magician class.

The Magic of Scheherazade. For those who want a few cool tricks try passwords 1W-5W to start at the beginning of each world with bonus'. W1-W5 each world completed except the boss.
The Guardian Legend. Password TGL removes the exploration gameplay and gives you every possible upgrade you could have received after each shmup level. For those of you shmup fans. I dislike most of the shmup genre but this is a great game.
Yo! Noid
Kid Niki
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Dungeons and Dragons Pool of Radiance
Archon
Rescue The Embassy Mission

[Emperor Megas]

Honestly, I wouldnt consider any NES title "obscure" they are all readily available and well known.Perhaps to you and many of the regulars here at DP, but you might be surprised how many of us aren't quite that hardcore and in the know about retro titles. I'm a lifelong gamer and still I'm ALWAYS learning about classic games that I'd never heard of before, of know nothing about beyond the name.

[Casati]

Haha, I don't know, The Guardian Legend is one of the first games ever to be mentioned in any "Underrated Classics" sort of discussion.

Guardian Legend, Metal Storm, and Clash at Demonhead are mentioned in most every one of these discussions. I can see why Guardian Legend has been neglected by the general public though because it's a longer game without a battery save. Many people don't like to bother with writing down passwords.

To go out on a limb a bit, I'll mention (as I have before) Image Fight by Irem, the same company that made Metal Storm and Kickle Cubicle. A lot of people hate it or ignore it, but it offers some classic shmup action with a relatively good soundtrack for the NES. I like the pod shooters add-ons and various ship power up options that add some strategy options for scattering your shots. It's release date was relatively late in the NES lifespan, so its graphics and soundtrack are better than for most NES shmups.

[Tron 2.0]

Know obscure NES games? I review 'em. :)
Gyruss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivOYl2YOro0)
Lifeforce (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9em9ReeM7Y8)
I don't see gyruss or lifeforce being obscure you talk to any one about shoot'em ups on the nes,and those games are all ways mention.

[MachineGex]

I always wondered why more people don't list Micro Machines as one of the BEST titles on the NES. To me, the game is absolutely tops. It is a blast in one player, and two player mode is just as fun. Some of my favorites are:

-Snow Bros.(two player is a blast)
-Solar Jetman(Gravitar on steroids)
-Micro Machines(mentioned above,)
-RC ProAm 2(fun 4 player game)
... and some PAL games:
-Rodland (great two player puzzle game like Bubble Bobble)
-Crackout(Breakout style, fun)
-Over Horizon(Gradius like shooter)
-Don Doki Don(see Rodland)
-New Ghostbusters II(Fun little run and gun)
-Hammerin' Harry (alittle like River City Ransom/Streets of Rage)
-Quarth (fun 2player puzzle game, cross between Tetris & Klax) Quarth may be a Jap. game instead of PAL. I put it in a Gyromite cart and made a label. I did the same thing for Rodland and Don Doki Don. The Pal Rodland game goes for big $$$, the Jap.Rodland game goes for $30-50. The Jap. game is almost all in english, so you basically have the same game for a few hundred bucks less.

I play a lot of the above pal games. They all work great on a NTSC sytem. I probably play the above games more than all of my other NES games (0ver 700) combined.

[kevro]

Orb 3-D - This game was fun and came with 3D glassed to boot, Wikipedia put it best "The game is noteworthy for employing the Pulfrich effect, an optical trick created with the use of "3-D" glasses (of which one lens is clear and the other tinted) that come with the game. The effect is produced by the constantly-moving player ship."

Cycle Race Road Man http://retrogaminggeek.com/?p=116

Sweet Home - With English translation patch of course!

Spot the Video Game! - Really fun once you get over that it is not a platformer but more like Othello and Connect 4. Great with friends!

Rampart - Tetris, battles and castles! What more could you want? Great two-player game.

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary - Really cinematic for a NES game, with LOTS of references to TOS episodes. Probably the best handled Star Trek game on any 8-bit or 16-bit platform, needs to be played.

Dick Tracy - For some reason I liked this game. You could drive around any where and shoot from your car or get out and walk around and shoot on foot as well as enter most buildings on a (platform once in buildings) quest to find and solve cases.

[Tony Lama]

These seem to be obscure but not mentioned:
Mighty Bomb Jack - It's sort of an adventure game modeled after the arcade game Bomb Jack.
Image Fight: A late release from Irem. Vertically shooter. Was an arcade port.
Alfred Chicken: This one is an acquired taste. Western developed type platform game. Crazy music! Especially at the title screen!

[JSoup]

Base Wars. You like baseball? Then you'll like it in space, where all the teams are made up of robots. And a robot isn't tagged out at a base, oh no. The runner and the cater have, instead, a giant robot fight in the middle of the field. The winner determines if the run was an out or not.

Wanna train your players so they play better? Screw off, buddy, this is the future, we simply spend funds from wins to upgrade equipment, from stronger leg servos to a more powerful arm cannon.

You wanna hit epic homeruns? That can be done here. Did I mention that the stadium is a space station? Yeah, your homerun hits fly off into the start to never be seen again.

[recorderdude]

Gimmick has already been mentioned, but I'll throw a few others into the mix:

RAF World/Journey to Silius - Really fun run n gun by Sunsoft that goes for a more realistic feel. Released in the US, hooray!

Hebereke/U-Four-ia - My personal favorite sunsoft NES game. A metroid-style exploration game where you can jump on your enemies with four unique characters. Lots of fun, especially when you get special powerups for the characters. No US release (Just japan and australia IIRC); the closest it gets is sunsoft special level 18 in the genesis port of lemmings:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDfD0xP1tA

Noah's Ark - The Konami one, NOT Bible games. I know AVGN talked about it, but he really underplayed how goddamn crazy awesome this game is. Yeah, it has its flaws like any other 20+ year old game does, but the insanely creative boss design, amusing blend of platformer and run n gun elements and noah's incredibly detailed (for NES) animation keeps me coming back.

[Immutable]

Mendel Palace

[Urzu402]

If you want to get into Famicom games there are the Wai Wai World games, which are Konami crossover games.

[8-Bit Archeology]

The ones I have been breaking out more frequently.

Deadly Towers By. Broderbund

Shadowgate By Kemco Seika

Big Nose the Caveman By Camerica

Dont know if they are obscure but I have lots of memories playing these. And the high score battles with big nose are always fun.

[davidbrit2]

There are mountains of cool Famicom games that never came to the US. Most of them are dirt common and can be had for just a few bucks.

Antarctic Adventure
Battle City
Challenger
Devil World
Dig Dug
Door Door
Dragon Buster
Doraemon
F1 Race
Fantasy Zone II
Field Combat
Final Lap
Fire Emblem
Galaxian
Gradius II
Hi no Tori
Mappy
Metro Cross
Nakayoshi Daisakusen
Wing of Madoola
Galius
Pac Land
Flipull
Quarth
Rampart (completely different from the US version)
Route 16 Turbo
Super Star Force
Tetris 2 + Bombliss
Warpman
Valkyrie no Bouken

And that's just a short list from my collection. I'm sure there are still tons more.

[AB Positive]

I see no mention of Pinball Quest - the epic Pinball RPG (and 3 other pinball tables)

Seriously.

Pinball Quest. Play it, love it.

[lkermel]

The NES library has a considerable amount of obscure games (and the Famicom library has even more of them!).
Here are some NES games I know about (to only name a few):

Air Fortress (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?afo)
Cowboy Kid (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?wek)
Guardian Legend (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?gua)
Heavy Barrel (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?hba)
Isolated Warrior (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?max)
King's Knight (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?ksk)
Journey to Silius (http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?raf)

You should really explore the Famicom library as well, there are TONS of awesome games that never made it to the US, and which I totally playable without any knowledge of Japanese!
Here is a short list of NES/Famicom reviews :)

http://www.videogameden.com/gamefinder.htm?fc

[FrankSerpico]

I see no mention of Pinball Quest - the epic Pinball RPG (and 3 other pinball tables)

Seriously.

Pinball Quest. Play it, love it.

I actually made a topic about this game not long ago. Scored it on shopgoodwill surprisingly cheap and I've been playing the hell out of it since.

[Captain_N77]

Multi-player and selling somewhere in between the $5-10 price range on ebay.

Aye, I just checked the ebay price the other day after I posted that. Glad I got mine a few years back for $10 or $15:hail:

[8-Bit Archeology]

I dont kniw if it was considered obscure. But Big Nose the Caveman. Is one of my favorite arcade style nes titles. I always love kings quest v too. Not really obscure just cool to see a take of a pc game to nes.

[AB Positive]

I see no mention of Pinball Quest - the epic Pinball RPG (and 3 other pinball tables)

Seriously.

Pinball Quest. Play it, love it.

I actually made a topic about this game not long ago. Scored it on shopgoodwill surprisingly cheap and I've been playing the hell out of it since.

Good man, Simmons!

[Guyra]

Shadowgate By Kemco Seika



I'd have to say...

Deja Vu

Man I loved that game! It hooked me in so unexpectedly w/ it's storyline & gameplay for being an NES game.


This! Shadowgate, AKA Deja Vu! This is without a doubt one of the best NES games I've ever played!

It's very much like the King's Quest games, but in first person, and slightly darker. At the same time, I think it's much more fun to play and with a tad less obscure puzzles than most of the games in the aforementioned series. :D

Also, the soundtrack is fantastic!

[8-Bit Archeology]

This! Shadowgate, AKA Deja Vu! This is without a doubt one of the best NES games I've ever played!

It's very much like the King's Quest games, but in first person, and slightly darker. At the same time, I think it's much more fun to play and with a tad less obscure puzzles than most of the games in the aforementioned series. :D

Also, the soundtrack is fantastic!

Yesssss Shadowgate. I bought that at a yardsale cause the label looked cool and it turned out to be an instant go to on the shelf.

[DreamStar]

Little Samson is both rare and a great platformer.

[Tron 2.0]

Arkanoid II for the famicom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMMgu3A_uJ8

It is a port of revenge of doh,odd that it was only released in japan and not the u.s.Also it is a good port of the arcade original and it supports a 2p vs mode as well.