You can only pick 3. Desert Island Nintendo NES

[GrandAmChandler]

Desert Island Nintendo NES! YOU are stranded on a desert island alone, with a console, power adapter, TV Hookups, TV, and one standard controller. There is a crate with EVERY game imaginable inside. However you can only pick 3 cartridges. This includes homebrew games, but there are no multi-carts, compilation carts (Super Mario All-Stars, Mega Man Anthology, etc.) accessories, game enhancers, or anything else out of the ordinary present. You have 3 games to pick from for what may be the rest of your life. Which three do you choose?

Today's Desert Island is Nintendo NES. Pick 3 valid cartridges, and explain your reasoning for each one! Include pictures of cartridges, screenshots, or whatever else you would like to display! If this goes well, I may be doing these weekly. This thread will only be as good as you make it, so lets see some effort!

-GAC-
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[thom_m]

Dammit, tough one!! Out of the blue, I guess I'd go with Gradius II (Fami games count?), TMNT 3 and Tengen Tetris.

- Gradius II because I love it to the guts, it's reasonably long, and has nice replay value (eventually, i f I got sick of it, I'd try to beat it without the Konami code and voila!, a new challenge!) ;

- TNMT 3 because I think it's REALLY fun, and always have a blast playing it, even alone. The best one of the series, and one of the best beat'em ups of the system, IMO;

- Tengen Tetris because Tetris would never, ever get old; I chose the Tengen version because it's the only one I know, since it's the one that came in the pirate Fami multicarts we all had here back in the day...but, if it's against the rules, I'd go with the regular NES version.


EDIT: Did you guys notice that, although he does say we have a NES power adapter, GAC never mentions that the Island actually has electricity? Now that would be kinda cruel...

[tom]

Godzilla, Taboo the sixth sense, Friday the 13th, punishment for the rest of your life

[Kuabatake_Sanjuro]

Final Fantasy, Tetris, Ninja Gaiden

[mobiusclimber]

Crystalis - This is game is so much fun I can play it over and over again.
Dragon Warrior 3 - I haven't played this one yet, so hopefully it's as good as I've heard. I guess I can take my chances.
Kirby's Adventure - It's just such a good game and I'm going to need something fun to just pick up and play since I've already got two RPGs.

[dreamcaster]

Super Mario Bros., Adventures of Lolo 3 and let's saaaaay...yeah Gradius. I don't have the NES version anymore but if I had to pick NES titles only, it'd be in there.

[NessFreaK]

aww man thats a tough one... im going to have to say:

metroid (deep and long enough to keep me going)
super mario bros 3 (i could run keep playing that game till the day i die)
ninja gaiden (maybe it i was stranded on a deserted island i would finally be able to beat it!)

[kupomogli]

Final Fantasy. Fairly long game and easily one of my favorite NES titles. I've replayed this game hundreds of times and even though I know every bit of it by heart, I still continue to play it.

Castlevania 3. I like the original Castlevania better, but I'd choose this over it solely because of replayability. CV3 has over double the amount of areas with 15 stages over the original's six. I have also never beaten CV3 in a single life, though a single continue, yes. So since only three games are able to be chosen, and I don't want to bring two games that are almost exactly the same, CV3 is my choice.

The first two choices were easy but the last choice was extremely difficult. The games that came to mind were Mega Man 3, Super Mario Bros 3, Ninja Gaiden 2, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2, and after scanning over my game list, then they stayed my best choices. I was actually thinking of which one I'd rather take for quite some time. Mega Man 3 is my favored game, but not so much over Ninja Gaiden 2, and the platforming and difficulty isn't as good as Ninja Gaiden 2(though still good.) Super Mario Bros. 3 has platforming of both the other games beat due to length of the game, but it's extremely easy, even on world 7 which is the hardest world. But then I thought about RotK2 again, which amount of replayability goes over any of the games listed by a ton, not to mention the game itself is already fairly long, and the fact the game as a strategy game is usually never the same game twice. After coming back from getting something to eat I finally decided on a game.

Mega Man 2. Yeah. Not even one of the ones originally came to my mind. Basically narrowed the games down to Mega Man 3 and Ninja Gaiden 2, but thought that the bosses were much better fighting in Mega Man 3. Stages and platforming were much better in NG2 though, but then Mega Man 3 has the boss abilities. But then that's why I thought of Mega Man 2. All the boss abilities are actually nice to use and it's almost as good as Mega Man 3 where as the boss abilities in Mega Man 3 are mostly, ehhh.

[ShinobiMan]

This will not be hard for me.

- Mega Man 2 because it was the game that sealed my fate as a hardcore gamer. Never before or since has there been a game that I wanted SO badly, and enjoyed SO immensely once received. I still play it to this day, and every time I do, it brings me back to one of the happiest moments of my life.

- Castlevania 3 because it was my first Castlevania game, and still one of my favorites. It introduced me to what is probably my favorite series of video games. Nothing since has been able to replicate the unique atmosphere that the title screen alone provides.

- Super Mario 3 because of the impact it had on me as a child. Honestly, my favorite video games are the one's that are still fun to play today, that also had a lasting effect on my childhood memories. Super Mario 3 is the epitome of nostalgia.

I was very tempted to include Ninja Gaiden... which would definitely be my 4th choice.

[AB Positive]

This will be hard for me, but I think I'd have to go with the following (not the lack of Mario 3... I've literally beat this so many times I'm not sure I want to see it again...)


1) Mega Man III

Yes, many people put II ahead of this, but III's my favorite. It's the first one I beat, a nice challenge to it, and great music.


2) Final Fantasy

Yeah, I'm one of those "LEMME BEAT IT WITH FOUR RED MAGES!" people.


3) Tower of Druaga w/ Honeybee convertor

Famicom only, but isn't much of a hack to get it to work so hey. I want to beat this game legit, and a desert island situation would probably be my best shot. Fun as hell, stupidly hard... my kind of game

[bigred5687]

Final Fantasy: Could try and beat it with every combination.
Super Mario Bros. 3: Always need a good Mario game.
Curve ball here i am going to go with
Sweet Home: Man i love this game cant get enough of it.

[fahlim003]

Until the end of my days I have to keep busy so it's an easy pick, at least the first game.

1. Tetris (Nintendo or Tengen, doesn't matter) - this will would keep me occupied for enough hours and surely will return to haunt my dreams in time.

2. Balloon Fight - the normal game and Balloon Trip both offer lots of replay, like many other early Nintendo offerings. No complaints here.

3. Recca - a challenging and interesting shooter with lots of modes and variables. Great graphics and sound.

It's good to be limited but obviously it's a choice that needs good foresight and despite omitting a few games I really like I overlooked that and strived to pick games with longevity. Notable omissions: SMB3, Donkey Kong 3, Wrecking Crew, Excitebike, The Legend of Zelda, Ice Climbers, and perhaps EarthBound.

[Pantechnicon]

1. Flipull - A nice addictive puzzler alternative to Tetris.
2. Super Mario Brothers 3 - I've barely played it, never beaten it, so I imagine it would keep me busy.
3. Battle Chess - Because it's chess.

Note: Any time GAC makes a "Desert Island Console" thread I'm going to include a chess game, if one exists, and regardless of the console's other options available. As we used to say in Nebraska, "Time don't mean nuthin' to a pig".

[Ruudos]

StarTropics
Dr. Mario
Mega Man 3

[kupomogli]

3. Battle Chess - Because it's chess.

Battle Chess takes a ridiculous amount of time for one turn to end, especially whenever another piece is taken. You might be rescued from the desert island before you finish the game.

[thom_m]

metroid (deep and long enough to keep me going)

Damn, I forgot about it..I love Metroid!! But I guess I'll stick to my list...Metroid can get kinda frustrating sometimes.

[buzz_n64]

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
Lots of levels, fun, mini games, and a ton of replay value.

2. Blaster Master
Very fun adventure, and time consumer. Exploration within the levels brings more game play when you slightly stray off the proper path. Catchy music, awesome power ups, and a great challenge.

3. Super Mario World (Hong Kong original) The game is slightly glitchy, but very playable, and feels enough like the snes mario world to me that that I wish this was actually produced by in greater numbers, I want a physical copy! Nintendo could have done a great job if they made this, but it's still really good.

[seductussum]

Kirby's Adventure--At the very least this is one of my favorite platform games of all time.

Tetris--INFINITE replay value. One of those games I could really geek-out on as I got better and better.

1943: The Battle of Midway--Super high sentimental value, great replay value.

[jonebone]

Tecmo Super Bowl - Tons of replay value, would probably beat it with every team.

Final Fantasy - Lots of replay value again, would try lots of combinations.

Mega Man 2 - Just a classic that I could play for hours and hours.

[Lady Jaye]

Here are my 3 picks:

Baseball Stars -- my favorite baseball game on the NES... firing the team manager is fun! And it uses stats in a way that's utterly modern.



The Adventure of Link -- maybe finally get around to finish that game! Here's the FDS cover. Even though the NES cover is a classic, I just love the anime-style Link!



Bionic Commando -- I never got far in the game either, even though I really like it! At least the cover art is much better than the cover found on some other NES games (thinking of Mega Man, of course).