Which unreleased NES games are worth playing?

[Buyatari]

Ok you guys talk about these game which NEED to be played and not horded so lets have it.

Which unreleased NES games do you enjoy the most. I have YET to play an unreleased game which I didn't own the cartridge or disk. Convert me.

Adam

[KlarthAilerion]

I'm not sure if you're asking which unreleased games that have been dumped we enjoy most or which unreleased games we would like to play most, but I'll assume the former and answer that one.

Drac's Night Out is a decent game, but perhaps not something that could be considered "ground breaking." Perhaps what's most interesting to me about the game is the fact that Dracula is wearing Reebock pumps.. there's more nostalgia than just a video game when cultural references like that are included.

California Raisins would be the obvious answer to the question. Like many other people, I'd wondered for years what had happened with the game. Were the screenshots in the gaming magazines just art mock-ups? Had the game been cancelled because of marketing, or were there other factors? Was the game ever completed? What kind of things were incorporated into the game, even if it wasn't completed?

And it may not have been a good game, or one that needed to be played, but Escape from Atlantis was interesting to see. Color Dreams was interesting to me, as a company, and it was nice to see and learn about more of their work than the games that were released.


If you were asking the latter (which unreleased games we would like to play most), I'd say that if the Ace Harding game announced by Kemco were different from Deja Vu, that'd be the game I'd most like to see. Airball, Pyramids of Ra, and Scarabeus are interesting to me if for nothing more than I've been hearing about them for forever (like California Raisins), and I'd like to see Donkey Kong Music Education (or whatever the working title was) because I like first party Nintendo games from that time (they remind me of the arcades). I'd like to see Metal Man and Dreamworld Pogie because I'm interested in the NES Codemasters stuff. And I'd like to see Arcadia VI since I'd never heard of it before recently and am wondering if it has any similarities to the Caltron/Myrmid 6-in-1.

** Cue Stick has not been dumped yet, but is a game that I'd be interested in playing nonetheless. (Sorry for the confusion).**

So, um.. I'm interested in seeing most anything, for different reasons. But I'm [b]most[/i] interested in making sure that games are backed up even if they're not distributed, just to make sure that as few games as possible are lost to history.


... hope that helps answer your question.

[ubersaurus]

I really like Freefall alot. Raisins is a pretty neat platformer, too. Earthbound Zero, whatever it truly is, is a good, fun title to play, although I never played it as much as I want to.

[adaml]

Ok you guys talk about these game which NEED to be played and not horded so lets have it.

Which unreleased NES games do you enjoy the most. I have YET to play an unreleased game which I didn't own the cartridge or disk. Convert me.

Adam

Heh, where to start...

ESCAPE FROM ATLANTIS

When Martin finally decided to release this I knew the game would be more of the Color Dreams crap we all know and love and I was right. However, the game grew on me as I got into it and I was actually moved enough to write my first walkthrough in awhile: http://gamefaqs.com/console/nes/game/35647.html


ROBOBCOP VS TERMINATOR

When I first got ahold of this ROM I didn't even know an NES version had really been planned, other than a short mentioning as a possible future release. I thought it would be like the other grubby RoboCop NES games but it is much better, IMO. I still go back and play it from time to time and even have considered doing a guide for this game if I ever get around to it.


DRAC'S NIGHT OUT

I STILL cannot beat this damned game. I get through the first castle part and then the first quest-style stage, then when you go back in the castle I cannot find the exit. I heard the game has no real ending, but I'll keep trying until I get there myself.


CALIFORNIA RAISINS

Is anyone else pissed off at that one area where you drop from one screen down to another and end up landing in a pit of spikes?? I'm thinking this might have been corrected in a final released version, but maybe not. Years of wondering what this game would be like have finally come to fruition. It is different than what I thought it would be, but fun to keep playing through just to see if I missed anything.


These are really the only unreleased games that I can mention that I have had the privilege to play. Like I mentioned before, I have played through almost every single US-released NES games (and most of the PAL games) so I savor anything fresh and new that comes out and probably appreciate it more than most. Whenever I beat a game lately on an emulator I discard the ROM when finished, but I have a seperate folder for the proto ROMs that I cannot bring myself get rid of :)

Adam, I doubt if this converts you and I could be in that I actually play through these games, but believe me, playing the games has always come first for me. I get to thinking that it will be nice to polish off the remaining games left for me to beat on the NES so I can actually go back and play through the ones I really liked.

It is just kind of cool to know that after I beat the remaining 27 games that with the discovery of these protos there actually might never be an end to new NES games to play.

[ArnoldRimmer83]

Robocop vs the Terminator: This is a personal favorite of mine. While admittedly Robocop is about a slow as a snail, once you get used to the slow pace of the game, it's actually pretty decent. The levels are big, and involve some exploration. I found myself hooked to the end. It definately beats the other Robocop games on Nes.

Drac's Night Out: This one I have mixed feelings of. I love the castle segments. The idea that you hit the villagers with traps and then suck their blood was a unique idea, and these parts are actually fun to play. The town segments are awful though. It's very easy to get lost, and the game pulls a lot of cheap crap like having a lynch mob appear out of nowhere while you're walking down the screen. And you usually don't have enough time to run away by the time you see them. The town parts are terrible, but the castle segments are done alright. And the game has an odd sense of humor. Reebok pumps?

California Raisins: I must confess, I like this game. Though admittedly it deserved to be canned. The play control isn't all that great, and the game is way too short. Still I enjoyed exploring the levels. I have been trying to find all the notes in the game, and still find all sorts of hidden ones each time I play it. I'm a sucker for exploration type Nes games.

Heroquest: The rom of this is very very very incomplete, with bugs everywhere and the barbarian having 1 HP. But from what is done, it showed promise. Captures the feel of the board game pretty well. Though too bad it's only up to 2 players instead of 4.

Time Diver Eon Man: This game is mediocre at best. It's not terrible, but it's insanely easy and nothing really stands out. Except for the goofy time travel storyline which has more holes in it's plot than swiss cheese.

Escape From Atlantis: It's terrible. Heh. But still fun to check out. The game does have some unique puzzles. I do like the way each level requires you to do something different to complete it. Like catching the key from the bird in level 1, or in a later level trying to catch a pig in a cage.

I'll admit that part of the reason is that yes these games are unreleased. If Escape from Atlantis were released, I doubt I would've tolerated it as much. Still it is an exciting experience playing a game you weren't supposed to. And it's nice having new games for older systems to play.

Star Fox 2: I never imagined this game would ever get dumped. I'm glad it did, because it's very good.

For what protos I would like to see most, well Klarth basically just listed every proto I'm Interested in. Though I'd also like to see Bio Force Ape and Ultimate Journey. Also even though I'm not a big fan of the Virtual Boy, I would love to see Dragon Hopper, Bound High, and Zero Racers found and dumped someday.

[nesworld2]

When was Cuestick released? :angry:

[TRM]

I had heard there to be two versions of Cue Stick--yours and a source-compiled version. I didn't think yours was dumped. I also didn't know about it being released, and was wondering the same thing.

[nesworld2]

Well mine would be the source compiled too :-D

Yes another version exist, but not released, and it's much earlier than mine. The final was lost in the mail, I do have the last beta, which still is undumped...

Even another CueStick has been found, this time an even earlier version which is called... Robert Burnes Pool Challenge....

[TRM]

Ah, gotcha. Someone had told me that they had a copy of that, when I was working on my Odyssey Software article. They considered getting me some pictures from an emulator, something which never happened. Oh well, I think my Odyssey Software page turned out pretty nice anyway, even without Cue Stick pictures.

As for games which need to be played, Free Fall. This game has more spunk then the Fish Fall Wisdom Tree game. The game itself is highly addictive, just like Klax, Tetris, or Pac Man would be. Arcade fun at its best.

[KlarthAilerion]

It wasn't released, I was thinking of something else. :P That being said, I'd still include that in my original post as a game I'd want to play. Sorry for the confusion. :P

[TheRedEye]

Well, I'm in the same boat as Adam as far as what I care to reveal at this point (I like to have my surprises for Lost Levels, y'know), so out of what's already public:

Earthbound's great, if you like RPGs. Most people think it's bullshit but, I'm sorry, if you really investigate the code, there's at least SOME legitimacy to the game. Perhaps not every line of translation came from NoA, but there's no doubt in my mind that whatever CODE we're playing was, at least partially, done in-house.

That cart was fake, though.

Time Diver: Eon Man has a "quick game" appeal for me. I know I'm not the only one that likes games for this reason: it's a platformer that I can beat quickly, and therefore beat often in a masochistic attempt to be absolutely perfect at it.

It's not dumped or "out there," but having played Buzz and Waldog at CGE last year, I can attest to it being an awesome game. There's no doubt in my mind that it would have been the greatest NES game to come out without approval from Nintendo. Very, VERY impressive.

California Raisins, to be honest, has nothing more than a lore appeal to me. I play it more often than should be allowed. I'm still excited by it...this is something I'd waited YEARS for. And having spoken to the programmer makes it even more fun for me to play.

Escape from Atlantis is a peculiar piece of history. It's such an intriguing idea for a game, and could have been pulled off wonderfully if done by someone with more talent. Or money, I'm not sure which was the dominant driving factor back then. Creative, though. I spent an entire day with the game, and I'm happy that I did. This definitely isn't something I could have fully appreciated had I only a limited amount of time with it.

I've already said this publically, so I won't be spoiling anything: I actually have a final version of Hero Quest now, which I love. It's a great game, the bugs in the earlier version really hindered game play quite a bit. Now that it's actually possible to advance, now that I can't cheat my way through it, I find at the core a challenging quest that involves careful plotting. The game's kicked my ass, and I keep coming back to it.

I honestly haven't put much time into Robocop vs. Terminator, and Drac's Night Out never appealed to me. If I'm not mistaken, that's all of them.

This is all from my skewed viewpoint, of course. Hunting these things down is what DRIVES me. I love playing the "forbidden fruit." As far as what's dumped that's actually GOOD, to the common gamer...I'd say so far, just Earthbound. The only one that's truly BAD is Escape from Atlantis, most of the others could have passed as a moderately entertaining game back in the old days. But as Adam has said, more NES games is never a bad thing.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

Personaly I like to Play Sim City on my Nes Emuilator because i like Simy city/2000/3000 on the PC

[TheRedEye]

I don't know, the NES version is kind of awkward. I like how they took advantage of the MMC5 technology, though, it really shows in the colors.

How the heck did YOU get a copy? I thought it was private.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

i ment that i would like to play sim city sometime for the NES i did not say i have it.

[nesworld]

http://www.nesworld.com/tease2.jpg

:D :o O_O X_x LOL 8-)