Hidden NES Gems

[le geek]

Okay,

So as I guy who did most of his gaming on a C64 during the NES heyday, I'm suddenly become more interested in NES these days. So what are some hidden gems on NES?

Not the obvious popular games like Super Mario Bros, Megaman, Contra, Castlevania, Zelda, Bionic Commando, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Mike Tyson's Punchout, Metroid, Excitebike, Dunk Hunt...etc...

And not stuff on the NES top 50 (although some of the games on the list seem to not quite be top 50 material to me)...
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1098

What's are some great NES games people may have never played?

Thanks!
Ben

[sharc]

one vote for metal storm (http://www.mobygames.com/game/metal-storm) here. crisp visuals (for the nes), good controls and a great central mechanic; you pilot a mech that can flip gravity to pull up or down. it starts out as a fun little gimmick and quickly becomes the only thing that keeps you alive through increasingly hectic stages and boss fights.

[Atarian75]

I recommend Fire and Ice. I sat down to just try this game out and ended up playing it nonstop for 3 days till I beat it. Strangely addicting.

[StakeRaiser]

Shadow Of the Ninja

IMO, what Ninja Gaiden should have been, super fun without being too hard

[CosmicMonkey]

Snake, Rattle n' Roll by Rare. Absolutely cracking.

[k8track]

I love The Jungle Book. Lots of fun. I first discovered this when I was living in Ukraine and playing pirate Famicom carts on the Famiclone that I had bought (I think it was called "Liko") and had a blast with it. I assumed it was just European/Japanese only; I didn't realize until I got back to the U.S. that it was also on the NES.

Another game that I fell in love with when I was living there was Balloon Fight; I don't know how "obscure" that is but it is a less-obvious choice. Very, very fun game. Great clone of Joust, but more charming.

Also some less-obvious choices--I always thought that some of the games by Milton Bradley were pretty cool.

[agbulls]

I really enjoyed Spy Hunter, RC Pro Am (a Rare Classic), and Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke is a great port of the arcade game and is actually unique. Its technically a shmup--but western themed.

I'll also throw in the original Top Gun. If you pick it up, let us know when you actually land on the aircraft carrier. ;)

[tonyvortex]

i think ive seen this as a topic a few times before but i cant help myself wanting to mention clash at demonhead as the best nes game more people should own.

[7th lutz]

Snow brothers.

I rented this a long time ago. This game can be compared to bobble bubble in game play. It was an arcade conversion. Very good arcade port.

[Mark III]

GI Joe was an excellent sidescroller you should check out. (The one made by Taxan not Capcom). Isolated warrior is a very good isometric shooter thats worth a purchase. Also if you like Zelda try Crystalis it's pretty much superior in every way.

[Graham Mitchell]

Cobra Triangle, another one from Rare, is kind of a spin-off from RC-Pro Am. It's got the same isometric 3-D view with fantastic animation, but you race boats instead, and you've got guns. There's also a power-up system that makes a nod to Gradius.

Lunar Pool is surprising really cool, as well. It's designed by Compile, so it's beautiful to look at, and it's a really fun take on billiards that I haven't really seen since.

I second Balloon Fight, as well.

Also make sure you check out Godzilla: Monster of Monsters. Also developed by Compile. It's way cooler than you'd expect. It's not perfect, and you may find that, after a few maps, it gets repetitive, but there are a lot of good ideas in there, and the execution is just great--very pleasing to see and hear. I bought this on a whim when I was a kid, and I'm surprised that I have as much respect for it as I do today.

[downfall]

Eliminator Boat Duel!

It's totally Rad Racer + RC Pro Am + Micro Machines and it's awesome!

[Jumpman Jr.]

Battletoads and Double Dragon!

[zer0cool]

I second rc proam and gunsmoke..both awesome games.And i add arkanoid,little nemo dream master and friday the 13th. some people dont like friday but i think it is awesomely fun and challenging ...i havent beat it yet but im working on it.


Also Batman is a really fun game i dont think anyone has mentioned.

[Nescollector]

Milan's Secret Castle's a good game, also Super Pitfall.

[GuyinGA]

Because you played a C-64 (which I can tell you a LOT about since my dad was a collector of that system -- he has shoeboxes filled with games), I hope these recommendations will help:

Silent Service
Golgo 13
Deja Vu
Uninvited
Rocket Ranger
Solstice

I wish modern day companies would remake these (especially Silent Service, which I think would work as a Medal of Honor/Splinter Cell type of game).

[jpark203]

If you have a power pad, check out Eggsplode. It's a pretty fun game. There was another game on the cart called Short Order.

[TurboGenesis]

If you're into shoot them ups, may I suggest the following:

Zanac
Dragon Spirit: The New Legend
Gun-nac
S.C.A.T.

and to a lesser degree:
Star Soldier
Sky Shark
Sky Kid

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Low G Man has always been one of my favorites that doesn't get much attention.

And I second Metal Storm and Snake, Rattle & Roll. Golgo 13 is good, but I like the sequel, The Mafat Conspiracy, more.


...word is bondage...

[Roth]

I'll definitely go with Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode and Friday the 13th. Both feel pretty unique when put side-by-side with other games.

I've always liked the Data East games Karnov and Werewolf: The Last Warrior. Karnov is, well... Karnov! It's a pretty cool game with TONS of secrets throughout the game (read: great replay value). Werewolf feels a bit odd at first because the B button is used to jump, but for some reason it doesn't end up hindering the gameplay. All the characters are very comic book-esque, as well as presenting one heck of a challenge.

Speaking of challenge, if you like to test yourself, check out Rolling Thunder, or Treasure Master. Those games will give you a run for your money, and still retain some interest. I'm especially fond of Rolling Thunder.

Oh! I don't know if anyone above mentioned this game, but The Battle of Olympus. It plays alot like the side view parts on Zelda II, but it's set around Greek mythology. It's a great adventure, but it's another really challenging game overall.

[bangtango]

I'd recommend Commando, which is a pretty good game aside from the annoying flicker. Shadowgate isn't too bad. If you like baseball games, you'd want to try RBI Baseball 2, which is the best in the NES series. Fun little arcade-style baseball game. If you like a challenging game, Tengen's Vindicators is a good one. You pilot a tank through stage after stage of enemies. Jackal is an arcade-style game which can be played alone or with a friend (co-op).

[BIGMIKE]

can never go wrong with Rygar in my mind

[Damaramu]

I third Metal Storm. This is probably my favorite NES game, followed by the very difficult, but oh so cool game The Immortal. Good times!

[diskoboy]

I second Rygar.

I also suggest Wizards & Warriors and Gumshoe (if you have a light gun)

[Steven]

Kickmaster

And is it just me, or am I the only one who liked Yo-Noid and Totally Rad? Granted, it's been 15+ years since I played either one, but I remember liking each one a LOT back in the day. Totally Rad I rented SOLELY off the way cool art cover. It was yellow, had a peeking monster and just seemed to evoke a really cool aura

Yo-Noid was that Domino mascot back in the late 80s/early 90s

[Canadian Psycho]

Little Nemo the Dream Master
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
Batman (the first one by Sunsoft)
Street Fighter 2010 (takes a little getting used to the controls, but it is a very rewarding game IMO)

EDIT: I also second Rygar and Uninvited

[scooterb23]

I know it's a well known title, but I have to give love to the first Batman game.

A tough, but not impossible side scroller. Lots of jumping around and stuff, I really like it.

[Xexyz]

I'm going to mention some games that haven't been mentioned yet that you should definitely keep an eye out for:

1943
Batman: Return of the Joker
Cobra Command
Gemfire
Journey to Silius
Kabukai Quantum Fighter
Legacy of the Wizard
Monster Party
Ninja Crusaders
Super Spy Hunter
Twin Cobra
Vice: Project Doom
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja

[clawx]

Most of what has been mentioned is pretty great, but I gotta mention Faria, Little Samson, Puzznic, and Panic Resturant. great stuff.

[Single Player Gamer]

I second Clash at Demonhead. Thats a fun game that never gets played.

[eric nintendo]

Gyruss!

[Red Hedgehog]

That I haven't seen people mention:

Solar Jetman (Rare made some great games for the NES)
Super Off Road (fun racing game)
Faxanadu (Nice action/adventure game)
Strider (Totally different from the arcade version)
A Boy and His Blob (Very unique gameplay)

[Dr. Morbis]

I'll second Zanac. I'm surprised I don't see it mentioned in more "best shmup" threads. I think I could play through Zanac once a month for the rest of my life without getting bored of it.

[zer0cool]

To add another ...Arkanoid.Arkanoid and vaus = hours of fun for me atleast.Not a new concept but the power ups add to the format and the game is just fun.Sucks trying to play with a regular controller though.

[le geek]

Great suggestions so far. It's funny, Rygar and R.C. Pro-Am seem pretty mainstream to me, but I guess it depends on the person... (both great games though)...

I'll second Super Spy Hunter, it felt like "Contra in a car" to me.

I also recommend High Speed, it's a great pinball game by Rare, especially if you liked Pinbot.

Cheers,
Ben

[Thrillo]

Shatterhand. It's an incredible side-scroller with beautiful graphics; it has tight and innovative controls; the sounds, such as the explosions, are very satisfying and well done; the music is radical especially if you have a stereo-modded NES; it has a cool feature where you can build up a floating robot that helps you kill enemies; and theres some graphical trickery that's technologically impressive and just purdy, such as the boss of the gravity level. It avoids things that the NES isn't good at, and relies heavily on the NES's strengths.
If the SMBs didn't exist, Shatterhand would easily be the pinnicle of 2D platformers.

[mrmark0673]

I was just thinking Shatterhand, great game. If you have a top loader or a region modded NES I highly recommend Hammerin' Harry and Ufrouria. Two totally kick ass games that don't get too much attention because they weren't released state side. They can be pricey (got a complete Ufouria for about $30-$40 and paid $60 for a loose Hammerin' Harry), but its worth it.

[RadiantSvgun]

Milan's Secret Castle's a good game, also Super Pitfall.


Milon's Secret Castle by Hudson? Yeah, it is good, but man is that hard!
I recommend Metal Storm as well!
Lets see.. P.O.W. ; Renegade, Demon Sword, ummm... Kickle cubicle, the Guardian legend, and T&C surf Designs.

All of those are pretty cheap too.

[bangtango]

Great suggestions so far. It's funny, Rygar and R.C. Pro-Am seem pretty mainstream to me, but I guess it depends on the person... (both great games though)...

I'll second Super Spy Hunter, it felt like "Contra in a car" to me.

I also recommend High Speed, it's a great pinball game by Rare, especially if you liked Pinbot.

Cheers,
Ben

Well, any "old" game that has a modern version of it made on a home console (such as Rygar) would have to be considered mainstream.

As for RC Pro-Am, I was of the belief that most everybody who played it thought it was "good." I don't remember hearing anyone say something bad about that game. It was the exact same way with River City Ransom, since that wasn't any sort of best-seller until after the fact. I don't remember people getting fired up for that particular game BEFORE it came out.

That is worth mentioning because this thread has a few games that did get bad reviews or some gamers just didn't like. Stuff like Street Fighter 2010, Little Nemo or Super Pitfall come to mind. So since it just might be common knowledge that RC Pro-Am is "cool" to almost everyone, you could say the game is more mainstream than the typical item mentioned in this thread.

[Tron 2.0]

I recommend Fire and Ice. I sat down to just try this game out and ended up playing it nonstop for 3 days till I beat it. Strangely addicting.

Indeed it is btw it is the follow up to solomon's key another favorite of mine.

[Simply Dave]

Power Blade 1 & 2

[Graham Mitchell]

I'll second Zanac. I'm surprised I don't see it mentioned in more "best shmup" threads. I think I could play through Zanac once a month for the rest of my life without getting bored of it.

Zanac is so goddamn good. But if I had pick a definitive Compile game, I'd pick Guardic Gaiden/the Guardian Legend. It's got all the amazing shooter elements of the 'Nac games, plus the continunous, exploration-driven overhead adventure of Golvellius.

[InsaneDavid]

Barker Bill's Trick Shooting, it's pretty much the unofficial sequel to Duck Hunt and is a superb lightgun game, my favorite lightgun game of all time in fact. (beating out even Elemental Gearbolt on the PlayStation) It's been said but A Boy and His Blob is another great game with interesting gameplay and some unique challenges. If you're looking for a really fun action puzzler, Palamedes is a blast. Basically dice move down from the top of the screen and you collect them trying to make poker hands, the higher rank the hand the more rows of dice are removed. Nightshade is kind of a comedic corny adventure game along the lines of some of the early Lucasfilm SCUMM titles. And don't forget Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom which is another adventure game, from a first person tree inventory perspective. It's a lot of fun and a really enjoyable time.

Just for the record, my top five NES games...

5. A Boy and His Blob
4. Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting
3. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
2. Palamedes
1. StarTropics

[DigitalSpace]

A Nightmare On Elm Street
Air Fortress
Batman (best Batman video game ever imo)
The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (vertical shmup, kind of reminds me of Phelios)
Formula One: Built To Win (like Rad Racer, only better)
The Goonies II (some consider this a "metroidvania" title)
Iron Tank
Jackal
Little Nemo: Dream Master
Mappy-Land
Pin Bot
Rock 'n' Ball (nice pinball game with ice hockey and soccer tables, and some fun multiplayer tables)
Sqoon
Tiger-Heli
Willow
XEXYZ

[theshizzle3000]

Add Trog! to that list I love that game. It was the first game I went and got when I re-bought my NES.

[Hardcore]

I second Gemfire! While I wasn't able to play the NES version on my NES(I thoroughly enjoyed the Genny version), I still recommend this game if you are a fan of civ sims and turn-based strategy.

[Graham Mitchell]

Barker Bill's Trick Shooting is great, but I think my favorite light gun game is Gumshoe, actually. There's never been another light gun game like it. The only thing I've ever seen that really compares is Yoshi's Touch and Go. It's a platformer where your character moves to the right automatically, and you shoot him to jump. Though it makes your arm sore, it's fantastically original, and very well-executed.

[sniperCCJVQ]

RC Pro Am
Balloon Fight
Cobra Triangle
Space Shuttle Project (well done space "sim", more action actually)
Gun Nac

[Quickclaw]

Side Pocket
City Connection
The Ultimate Stuntman

[Classicgamesdepot]

some great mentions here and I would agree with a lot of em'. Although quite expensive, rare, and way too short, Little Samson is a great Mega Man style game with switchable characters. Unfortunately it can be beaten in a few hours.

[Imstarryeyed]

Try out The Guardian Legend by Broderbund.. I loved that game..

[diskoboy]

I'll add a few more.

Blaster Master (but that may fall into the common catagory)
Lolo 1 or 2.

[soundwave]

I still love Super Dodge Ball. It's one of my all time favorite games. Another fun game is Caveman Games.

[fergojisan]

Galaxy 5000
To The Earth

[RJ]

Not sure it's so "hidden" but I dont think many people played Ultra's "BaseWars". It's a futuristic spin on baseball w/ the players as robots, you can buy/upgrade parts/weapons & close plays result in 1 on 1 battles.

If you have ANY interest in baseball/sports, I highly recommend it.

Also Wrecking Crew & Gyromite, which is a somewhat simplistic puzzler but CAN be played w/out R.O.B.

[dcescott]

All right my favs:
RC Pro Am, hours of fun
Star Wars, esp the beginning sequence, that took some work, very cool
Side Pocket, play that and Lunar Pool

Blades of Steel, hockey with fighting, get the controls down, the scores end up to be like football scores

Rainbow Islands/Bubble Bobble, chicks dig em
Metal Storm
Track and Field
Pinball, simple and fun.
Paperboy
Battleship
Punch Out
Since there's over 700, when I go out I always try to pick up title I have never heard or played. There's always something new to play.

[Jorpho]

Magician is quite a nice RPG, I'm told. Rockin' Kats also has fans, despite being uncommon.

[dcescott]

Rockin Cats, oh yeah, fun game.

[djsquarewave]

Another vote on Metal Storm here. Also Shatterhand. Also Little Samson.

Shadow of the Ninja, maybe? Natsume seemed to have a knack for cranking out NES games that at least had a lot of style.

[The Great Dane]

Im going to have to say some that others have mentioned:

Karnov - This is an awesome game. It is pretty challenging, but very fun.

Rygar

Wizards and Warriors

Bandit Kings of Ancient China - This is from Koei and is very similar to the Romance of the Three Kingdom games, but better, in my opinion.

Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle

Batman - Awesome platformer. In my opinion it is the best Batman made and one of the best platformers on the NES

Vegas Dreams - A very unique gambling game with some RPG-type of elements thrown in

Cowboy Kid

[Master Chu]

My two ""i love it, but no one else has ever heard of it"" games are Gun*Nac & Galaxy 5000.

Gun*Nac is the best space shooter on the system...

[calthaer]

GI Joe was an excellent sidescroller you should check out. (The one made by Taxan not Capcom).

I would actually say that Capcom's G.I.Joe is better than Taxan's - but not obviously so. There is a lot of depth to *Atlantis Factor* that the original just never had. The ability to pick routes, call in support Joes, revive fallen Joes, and equip different weapons...it just had so much more. It never forced you to use any particular Joe on a mission, either. And some weapons were better with certain Joes - but it never told you that. There were also loads of hand-to-hand combat moves, but the manuals never tell you about how to perform them.

The bad thing about it, though, was that you kind of needed to know what was coming up in a level to choose, say, Wet-Suit if there were underwater parts. I made a walkthrough for the game at some point, but it's not in tip-top shape (the images don't work):

http://www.calthaer.com/gijoeaf_wthru.htm

And the chart showing which weapons were most effective with which character isn't completely filled-out. I should go back and re-play that game again sometime and complete that walkthrough.

Atlantis Factor is really cool, IMO.

EDIT: Fixed the image problem on my walkthrough...now just need to fix the weapons charts and add the last level and I guess it should be pretty done.

[RJ]

Well, I bought Gumshoe (NES) yesterday on someone's suggestion here, & it's quite different & innovative.

I was ready to return it, seemed too hard/impossible to be any fun, but now I call it challenging. It also keeps me playing, trying over & over again, which is one of the aspects of a good game.

Last night, I thought I'd never beat the high score I got when I quit, & on my 1st try today I bested it. 15,600 so far.

& something tells me the game is HUGE.

[courtesi96]

Were the gauntlet games any good?

[Ruudos]

Adventures of Rad Gravity. A very funny and also challenging game with some unique twists in it. It sure has one of the coolest game characters in it of all time.

Nigel Mansell's World Championship. One of the better racing games on the NES is this F1 game. Clean graphics, good challenge and enough tracks.

Low G Man. I've become to appreciate this game more and more.

Burai Fighter. Acutally I kinda hate this game because I suck in it. I guess it's a hidden gem though.

Section Z. Same story as Burai Fighter, although I learned to play and beat this one.

Solstice. Great music in a unique game. Very easy to die in this game, so very hard. Tip: mapping.

Trojan. An early NES title from Capcom. Very solid and challening game.

[Three-P]

Were the gauntlet games any good?

The first one was pathetic, but the second was a lot like the arcade. Especially when played with up to 3 other people.

[theshizzle3000]

My vote goes to Trog! thats a very good game that does not get talked about at all.

[Graham Mitchell]

Well, I bought Gumshoe (NES) yesterday on someone's suggestion here, & it's quite different & innovative.

I was ready to return it, seemed too hard/impossible to be any fun, but now I call it challenging. It also keeps me playing, trying over & over again, which is one of the aspects of a good game.

Last night, I thought I'd never beat the high score I got when I quit, & on my 1st try today I bested it. 15,600 so far.

& something tells me the game is HUGE.


Hey, that was me! Isn't it great? Once you beat it, it goes through a second loop that's much harder, and has new enemies and objects that weren't present in the first loop. Also, I don't know how it works, but the game is not the same every time you play it. Sometimes you can get into a sort of "bonus area", where tons of lucky birds come out of the sky to give you potions (or chickens :( ) Every level's got one, but I don't know how to access them. I get it in level 1 pretty much every time, but it's just blind luck with the other ones. There are no FAQ's or explanations of this that I can find on the net, and I don't remember there being any explanation of it in the manual (which, quite honestly, I'm not sure I've ever layed eyes on in the first place).

So, there's a lot to do with Gumshoe. Enjoy it, you'll never see anything like it again.

@courtesi96:
Yes, both Gauntlet games were good in their own way. The Tengen-published Gauntlet 1 plays like the arcade game, but is more of an adventure game. You can power up your character and save with passwords. The levels themselves are gigantic puzzles, and often rooms will repeat and repeat until you find the proper hidden exit, which is both cool and frustrating. To do the game right, you have to find hidden rooms, and then find a hidden item in said hidden rooms within a certain period of time. If you fail to do this, the game will let you keep going, but will announce that you have failed and will never see the true ending. I've never been able to do it. You have to basically cheat and know where everything is ahead of time, because you only get one shot at each hidden room.

Gauntlet II, published by mindscape, is essentially the arcade version of Gauntlet II. It's 4-player compatible, and has most of the great voice samples from the arcade version. However, it never ends, and runs in an endless loop, so playing by yourself is kind of pointless after awhile.

[Penguin]

Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout is a fun game, not too well known either. Its kind of a mario type side scroller except you have a hammer to hit things with. :) hooray for ACME!

[NinjaJoey23]

Metal Storm def. gets a fifteenth or however many times it's been said...

Archon = Amazing 2 player action.
Dusty Diamond = Best sports on the system IMHO


Gun*Nac is the best space shooter on the system...

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I heart you.

[Graham Mitchell]

Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout is a fun game, not too well known either. Its kind of a mario type side scroller except you have a hammer to hit things with. :) hooray for ACME!


I actually really like Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle, as well. It has pretty cool music. Ending sucks, though.

[PentiumMMX]

The Startropics series if you like Zelda clones. I liked it a lot more then the first 2 Zelda games.

Also, Tiny Toon Adventures and MC Kids are both fun-yet-underrated platform games.

[GrandAmChandler]

Robowarrior. The single player mode is better than either of the NES Bombermans.

Yeah. I said it.

Plays almost identical to Bomberman, but with more powerups, secret rooms, tunnels, giant bosses and more. Great game, can be found cheap.

Also released as "Blaster Master Boy" for Game Boy.

[bust3dstr8]

I've always been a fan of the Technos Nekketsu games.
Nes got two of the best, River City Ransom and Dodgeball.
Dodgeball is one of the great 2p games for the NES, if not the best.

The NES Bonk is a good game if you don't own a TG16/PCE.

Arkanoid w/ the Vaus is a great port if you can find a good condition controller.


Gargoyle's Quest II lets you play the gargoyle from Ghost N Goblins.

Chiller? :2gunfire:

[DefaultGen]

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