Arcade Games Never Released on the 8-bit NES

[Immutable]

Having recently made a repro of the original Dig Dug, it occurred to me that there were many classic arcade games, which were never released on the NES. I understand that many of these titles were already released for the Atari systems and Colecovision, but I feel that a few companies (like Taito) missed out on a few great opportunities here in the states.

A few titles that come to mind would be - Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, and Pengo. Feel free to add to this list and share your thoughts. :)

[CastlevaniaDude]

Having recently made a repro of the original Dig Dug, it occurred to me that there were many classic arcade games, which were never released on the NES. I understand that many of these titles were already released for the Atari systems and Colecovision, but I feel that a few companies (like Taito) missed out on a few great opportunities here in the states.

A few titles that come to mind would be - Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, and Pengo. Feel free to add to this list and share your thoughts. :)

There was recently a thread about the release of the beta Hard Drivin' port. I would've loved to have had that on NES. It did make it to Genesis. I know this is a little later than what you're going for, but...

Anyone find it funny that there was never a variation of Pong released for NES but there were versions for Genesis, Playstation, PSP, DS, etc?

[Jorpho]

Well, I think all the versions of Pong for modern consoles were derived from the flashy 25th anniversary thing in 1998, weren't they? Anyway, there must be something at least vaguely pong-like somewhere in the NES library.

[FrankSerpico]

^I know there was that pong reboot for the ps1 that came out in like '98 or '99, but I wasn't aware of any pong title for the Genesis. Was it hidden in another game, like how 2600 Pitfall was squirreled away in the 16 bit versions? I seem to recall something about a hidden pong game within a game involving a Genesis title...

[Alpha2099]

I seem to recall something about a hidden pong game within a game involving a Genesis title...
There was a Pong game in the Genesis version of Action 52. They called it "First Game", even though it was around 45th out of 52 on the cartridge. I think they were trying to imply that Pong is the first video game, which is highly debatable (some might even say it's flat-out wrong; I always thought the first commercially licensed video game was Computer Space in 1971.)

[Flam]

I just ordered a copy of Ultimate Frogger, I'm going to save it for a Christmas present to myself though. Hope it's good, has anyone here played it?

[Immutable]

There was recently a thread about the release of the beta Hard Drivin' port. I would've loved to have had that on NES. It did make it to Genesis. I know this is a little later than what you're going for, but...

Anyone find it funny that there was never a variation of Pong released for NES but there were versions for Genesis, Playstation, PSP, DS, etc?

That's quite alright. If it's an arcade game, that works for me. :)

Pong was probably given the same treatment as the original Dig Dug game. Many Pong consoles sold in the 70's, and many households may have still had them... Or perhaps there was a major fatigue for this game.

On another note, I recall a secret "Pong" game that could be accessed in Mortal Kombat 2 if you played over 250 games against a friend.

[Greg2600]

See I never was into the classic arcade ports on the NES. I still had the 2600 and just played them on there. Not to mention most of the ports that were done were done earlier on the Famicom. By 1987, when the NES was in high gear, and given the strict cartridge release limits Nintendo set out, it made zero sense porting an old arcade game. Much more sense porting contemporary games, which were done in full. Frankly beyond the SEGA lineup, most major arcade games were indeed ported. As for classics, if NES didn't get it, like I said, there are probably Famicom versions you can play on emulator or flash cart. So many Japanese shmups are out there, which I love.

PS: many years ago someone made Pifall! on NES rom, I've had it for ages. That's not an arcade game though.

[SparTonberry]

^I know there was that pong reboot for the ps1 that came out in like '98 or '99, but I wasn't aware of any pong title for the Genesis.

"Arcade Classics" published by Sega in 1996 included Centipede, Missile Command and "Ultra Pong".
Kind of an odd choice considering Sega published a similar compilation Arcade Smash Hits for the Master System (PAL-only) in 1992 that had Breakout instead of Pong.

[Ro-J]

I just ordered a copy of Ultimate Frogger, I'm going to save it for a Christmas present to myself though. Hope it's good, has anyone here played it?


Along with Frogger, I always thought Space Invaders should have been released in the U.S., but guess they were both saved for the SNES.

[homerhomer]

Mappy - Was released only for famicom but not for the NES, great little arcade game.
Black Tiger - It was listed but never came out. Love that arcade game!
Mat Mania - I think this game is in the golden era of video gaming like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man.
Jungle Hunt / Jungle King - Would have been awesome.
Time Soldiers - The arcade game was amazing back in the day.
Rygar Arcade - Why not

[BlastProcessing402]

I found it odd that they never released the Goonies on the NES, despite the Famicom version showing up as an arcade game in the US. Then Goonies II did come out on the NES, which only made the situation even odder.

[sloan]

Crush Roller/Make Trax - Only saw release to Famicom, why not NES?
Gaplus - Galaga was good on NES, so why not the sequel?
Lock 'n Chase - NES could have given us a close to arcade perfect port.
Tempest, for use with the Arkanoid spinner controller - Would have been amazing on NES
Sky Skipper - The only classic DK game never to come to NES

[Immutable]

I found it odd that they never released the Goonies on the NES, despite the Famicom version showing up as an arcade game in the US. Then Goonies II did come out on the NES, which only made the situation even odder.

I also wonder why the original "Goonies" game never received a green light for the NES. The Famicom release lacks Japanese text and could have been ported to the US console without any major changes. Someone at Konami really dropped the ball on this one.

[SparTonberry]

I have to wonder how many were dropped due to NoA's five-game quota.
Namco America didn't have a license until the end of the NES era, so for Mappy or Dig Dug 1 to come, someone else would've had to feel it was worth a spot in THEIR quota.
(yeah, maybe Taito could've released Space Invaders over Legend of Kage, and maybe Bandai could've published Dig Dug over Jeckyll and Hyde)

[Neb6]

[QUOTE=Immutable;1979000]Having recently made a repro of the original Dig Dug, it occurred to me that there were many classic arcade games, which were never released on the NES. I understand that many of these titles were already released for the Atari systems and Colecovision, but I feel that a few companies (like Taito) missed out on a few great opportunities here in the states.

To my knowledge, the following weren't ported to the NES:
- Tac/Scan
- Tempest
- Major Havoc (not sure how they'd be able to do that one).
- Space Fury
- Asteroids Deluxe (or even Asteroids, for that matter).
- Star Trek: The Strategic Operations Simulator
- Gravitar
- Space Duel
- Star Castle
- Zektor (could be a tough control system on NES?)
- Omega Race
- Armor Attack
- Battlezone
- Space Wars
- Super Pac-Man
- Mr. Do and Mr. Do's Castle (as mentioned)
- Jr. Pac-Man
- Crystal Castles
- Venture
- Satan's Hollow
- TRON (again, not sure how this could be done with NES control system)
- Sinistar
- Robotron
- Tutankham
- Time Pilot '84
- Rampage
- Xybots
- Congo Bongo
- Out Zone
- Turtles
- Vindicators
- Discs of Tron
- Cosmic Avenger
- Astro Blaster
- Bosconian
- Berzerk
- Frenzy
- The Glob
- Two Tigers
- Vanguard
- Zaxxon

[Atarileaf]

Ah now this is a subject near and dear to me. My primary collecting and playing passion is arcade games from the late 70's to the mid 80's and the NES was a fantastic system for arcade ports. However as mentioned many were never ported. One of the reasons I picked up one of those pirate multicarts (and one of the reasons I'd like to get a famicom to NES converter) is to play some of those arcade games that were only released in Japan like Dig Dug, Galaxian, Mappy, Pooyan and Exerion.

The post above me is a great list of lost opportunities for arcade games on the NES. Too bad but logically Nintendo couldn't concentrate on games from another time when they were trying to create new gaming experiences to draw people in.

Probably dozens of arcade games I would have liked to see ported to the NES.

[ccovell]

To my knowledge, the following weren't ported to the NES:
- Rampage
- Xybots
- Vindicators

Rampage and Vindicators were released on the NES. Xybots was cancelled near completion, but you can find it here: http://forums.lostlevels.org/viewtopic.php?t=1428