NES Recommendations (very specific)

[Ed Oscuro]

You could try eating some hot peppers instead.

Endorphins, nature's natural ambrosia level up potion!

[evil_ash_xero]

and was just getting ready to scream, and then I got stung by a wasp. I mean, what the hell? It's funny thinking about it now, but
I was like "you've got to be kidding me!". That's the first wasp I've seen this year, and it was in my house!

Well, I tossed the wasp outside(I showed it mercy), and then proceeded to beat stage 8.

Taking that hit from the wasp must have lowered the rank!

Maybe it supercharged me like electricity supercharged Bennett in Commando!

I'm surprised I kept playing. Just got some alcohol, washed myself up, and got right back to it. I was proud of my performance.
I was thinking it would have been pretty funny if this happened while playing a Don Pachi game.

Instead, Sailor Moon Castlevania.

You could try eating some hot peppers instead.

Endorphins, nature's natural ambrosia level up potion!

Perhaps I could knock over a hornet's nest next time I try to beat Contra 4.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Played some Super Arabian the other day. Graphically downgraded (I think, having never seen the original Arabian), but pretty fun gameplay (for what's a pre-SMB platform game at heart). These days I like such games best played on GBA, although it's just my preference. Well-drawn arcade flyer.

[eatdogs]

River city ransom
Riki Kunio
Downtown special
Little Samson (I recommend this highly)
Getsu fuma den
Holy diver
Shadow of the ninja
Zen: intergalactic ninja
Mighty final fight
The guardian legend (highly recommended!!!)

[BIL]

On the subject of the ruffinest, tuffinest, stuffin-dat-muffinest FC/NES games as mentioned a few pages back... Guevara's still-smarting CIB pricetag aside, I find it relatively easy (harder than other FC run and guns for sure, and fckin rad too - apocalyptic intensity & bodycount with hi-precision yet utterly ravenous destruction).

I wonder if a 2-ALL of Metal Storm is up there, certainly in its genre. Just watched UraniumAnchor finish Ninja Gaiden III with no items, live at AGDQ2014, and even he mentions the loop being batshit insane in his comments at SDA's Metal Storm page.

I'm still amazed by the input speed required to merely survive stage 2-2.1's crusher traps, took some time to regain the muscle memory on a recent revisit. Might make this my summer bonsai tree.

[evil_ash_xero]

Heya.

Thought I'd update with my NES adventures. Got into Raf World(Journey to Silius), and thought it was pretty good. I was able to beat that. I was surprised, because it seemed so difficult at first, but after a while, you can really kind of stomp that game into the ground a bit.

I'm back to giving Moon Crystal a chance. I still have a hard time with the Prince of Persia controls, but it seems like a nice(and very pretty) game. I remember reading a review of it at HG101, and they were talking about how the turning around(there's a stop in the middle) becomes a problem in boss fights. Which is correct, but at the same time, I think the fights are built around who can turn first. I mean, seriously, if you could turn like Mario or something, those fights would be over in seconds. So I kind of think the programmers built things around your limitations. Anyway, it's a nice game. I'm not too awful far into it. I'm in the caverns, and it seems to have gotten a bit difficult, all of a sudden.

Played some Super Spy Hunter. It actually seems pretty good, but I'm not really into these types of games. But I was impressed with it's graphics, for the hardware it is on.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Meanwhile, I revisited Antarctic Adventure (MSX version on Saturn) and it's just as playable as I remember the NES port was. Different enough from Penguin Adventure to be still relevant (less is more in this case).

[evil_ash_xero]

A Question.

Exactly how are you supposed to play Gimmick?

I don't really grasp what I'm supposed to do. Is the only thing I can do is shoot that star? I'm sure there's something else going on with it.

[BrianC]

Meanwhile, I revisited Antarctic Adventure (MSX version on Saturn) and it's just as playable as I remember the NES port was. Different enough from Penguin Adventure to be still relevant (less is more in this case).

Too bad NES never got Penguin Adventure, though the exclusive Konami Penguin game it did get, Yume Penguin Monogatari, is good stuff and one of the funniest games on FC.

[Ghegs]

Exactly how are you supposed to play Gimmick?

I don't really grasp what I'm supposed to do. Is the only thing I can do is shoot that star? I'm sure there's something else going on with it.

You can shoot the star and you can hop on to the star, using it as a platform to reach higher points.

[jepjepjep]

There's also a hidden item in every stage. In order to get the good ending you need to 1cc the game and find all of the secret items. It's a really great game.

[mikehaggar]

Not just to get the good ending, but to play the real last level and fight the true last boss also! They really went all out for this one!

[evil_ash_xero]

BIL, you were correct about Top Secret. That version is more action packed. I'm sad though, as I'm having a hard time finding a JP version that is in VG/NM shape. In fact, I'm having a really hard time finding a lot of these games on Ebay, in those conditions. What is the deal with that? Some of them, I can't even find at all.

Also, I got into Battle Formula(Super Spy Hunter). Another game I can't even find on Ebay(well, the U.S. version I can, but I like the JP cover better).
I was thinking it drug on and on, but I didn't realize that I just needed to go down the right lanes at the intersections(on stages 2 and 3), for the stage to continue properly. Kinda cryptic.

I can't get into Gimmick!. I keep trying it. I like some things about it, but I'm not feeling it. The sound is impressive though.

[BrianC]

I wonder what the case is with the JP Battle Formula. I wonder if it started as a Spy Hunter inspired game and had the name changed for US due to the similarities or if they always had the license in mind for the US and couldn't get it for Japan. The odd thing is, despite the different name, the JP version still has the Peter Gunn theme and other things from Spy Hunter like the spiked wheels.

[evil_ash_xero]

I don't know, but it's bonkers rare.

Spy Hunter was made by Midway, but ported by Sunsoft. Midway made a sequel, called Spy Hunter 2, but I don't know if it ever made it home.

Maybe they made it for the U.S., and just called it Battle Formula in Japan because maybe Spy Hunter wasn't a popular game there? I dunno.

[BrianC]

I don't know, but it's bonkers rare.

Spy Hunter was made by Midway, but ported by Sunsoft. Midway made a sequel, called Spy Hunter 2, but I don't know if it ever made it home.

Maybe they made it for the U.S., and just called it Battle Formula in Japan because maybe Spy Hunter wasn't a popular game there? I dunno.

Yeah, I know Midway made the original and made their own sequel (which isn't as good). Spy Hunter II is in Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for Xbox/PS2/Gamecube.

[BIL]

Top Secret's a pricier game complete, unfortunately. I'd just go loose carts for FC, but I'm a fiend. ;3



HARD FN CORE it's all worth it in the end ;-; THIS BE MAH THEME CHOON (・｀W´・)

Impulse buy corner: Great Tank aka IRON TANK: TOO HOT FOR THE EU get! At first I was very much "I gots Guevara, the fuck I want witchoo mang?!" and naturally its heavy-handling tank is no match for the raw speed and power of SNK's earlier FC run and gun triumph (Guevara's own tanks are friggin go-karts compared to the rumbling GT-KUN). However it was designed with the same obvious care, and it derives an immense continuity and scale from its seamless, nonlinear and varied world map, easily promoting what would be a merely enjoyable tank game into a grand arcade trip. Jackal fans will immediately recognise that sense of going further and further beyond the front lines.

Recommended for fans of scenic action games who love the hefty machine action (Meta Fight, Valken etc). It'll piss off anyone looking to zip about the screen Granada-style, mind. It is well-balanced for this style of action, with the massive enemy forces just as lumbering, but it's critical to never rely on The Twitch alone. You need twitch and brains, like. Super Protip 4 Free: TURRET SKILLZ. Just hold B when you need to scoot and shoot freely and can't afford to lock aim at individual targets. The MG is borderline irrelevant in heavy battles and it never runs out of ammo anyhow.

[evil_ash_xero]

Got more into Moon Crystal and Super Spy Hunter. Beat both of those recently. Had a very good time with both.

I'm frustrated at how hard it is to find these games CIB in NM or VG condition. I mean, I have about 8 Famicom games I have to track down, and all I can find are beat up copies, or cartridges. This is going to take a while.

From what I understand, Battle Formula is uber rare to find. Which makes me mad, as Super Spy Hunter doesn't seem to be, but BF's cover is so much cooler.
See here:



I can't even find Rockman 2 or 3, in the conditions I am wanting. And I can't give into Bionic Commando after playing Top Secret. It's on Ebay, but the copies are a little rough looking.
I get the feeling that Famicom games are just really freaking hard to get. Are there any other places where these games show up more?

[BIL]

Yahoo Japan's always worth a look.

I think Battle Formula's on one of the Sunsoft Memorial discs for PS1 - not sure how solid they are, but might be worth a look.

[evil_ash_xero]

I tried that out through Gaijin Punches' site, and I couldn't navigate at all through it. I guess I could give it another shot.

Yahoo Japan's always worth a look.

I think Battle Formula's on one of the Sunsoft Memorial discs for PS1 - not sure how solid they are, but might be worth a look.

I was going to ask about that. It's still emulation though, and I'd like to play them on the NES itself.

[BIL]

Also! Invaluable.

Yeah, I'd never be happy with the PS1 ver either, at least not it alone. Even excellent ports like Treasure Box and Thunder Force Gold Pack 2 leave me wanting the real thing, warts and all.

[BrianC]

http://www.japangamestock.com has fc games. I found the condition to be good, but I'm ok with loose games.

[BIL]

Anyone got favourites from the FC's earlier years (meaning '85 and back, roughly - I consider '86 the start of the middle years with Zelda, Metroid, Dracula and Star Soldier)? I've been poking about for nice arcadey stuff... picked up Excitebike and Spartan X immediately upon getting into the FC, both are still fantastic pick up and play games for time attack and survival respectively. Also very fond of Joust-alike Balloon Fight, need to pick that one up sometime (a riot in 2P frenemy play). There are a lot of arcade ports I'm meaning to try out in case they're awesome like Spartan X or signicantly expanded like the later Top Secret and Contra.

Tried out Battle City and Devil World tonight, both felt solid but also a bit slow-paced for my liking. BC is a single-screen overhead tank shooter that could potentially be really cool if it had more pressure, it's too easy to play defensively even on the hardest stages. DW is Pac-Man style and has a cool idea with the playfield scrolling in cardinal directions, potentially squashing the player, but it too didn't seem to be heating up as quick as I'd like.

[trap15]

IKKI

[BIL]

Hey, TOSE! Coincidentally I just nabbed a copy of their Kage no Densetsu spiritual sequel Fudoh Myouou Den, will definitely give Ikki a look too.

Fudoh got a NES release as Demon Sword, a game I always wanted to try out as a kid then forgot about. Turns out the NES one is missing a ton of stages and other stuff due to being downsized from the FC cart's 3 MEGA POWWAAA (and the JP one has one-hit kills, making it wayyy the hell harder and reminiscent of Ninja Spirit's lunar terror).

I really like this game, but at the same time I can't recommend it unreservedly. The basic concept of simple, high-flying and deadly ninja action is executed well. Action is intense and frequently punishing, handling more than satisfactorily. This guy doesn't necessarily suck, the game kills hesitators dead. There's something primally satisfying and cool about leaping (flying, really) immense distances, slicing down would-be interceptors and landing safe of pits and traps. The game does this really well. Thing is it does it *a lot* with noticeably long stages.

If the central hook grabs you it won't necessarily be an issue - it's unceasingly intense and the stages are nicely varied, some steeply plunging downhill, others forcing you to climb vertically as enemies rain down. But I could definitely see it being way overlong for some. Worth a look if you dig Kage/Ninja Spirit lunar-gravity ninja combat.

[trap15]

Ikki is actually by Sunsoft; if I recall correctly it's actually their first Famicom game.

[BIL]

Oh right - I wonder if TOSE were contracted for the port in some capacity. AFAIK, Taito hired them for Kage's FC version before giving them Fudoh. They've been popping up in all sorts of major publishers' stuff on my radar recently. A "ghost developer" indeed.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Anyone got favourites from the FC's earlier years (meaning '85 and back, roughly - I consider '86 the start of the middle years with Zelda, Metroid, Dracula and Star Soldier)?

Super Arabian is playable, if not pretty. Antarctic Adventure is robust as ever.

Also very fond of Joust-alike Balloon Fight, need to pick that one up sometime (a riot in 2P frenemy play).

Hello Kitty world is a re-skinned, playable (if not 100% accurate) port of Balloon Kid. The latter being one of my most cherished GB games. Hello Kitty World seems to add co-op (some 2 player mode I had no chance to try out).

Excitebike

Off-topic, but Motocross Maniacs is one of those games working particulary well on a handheld. Gotta fall for the micro pixel art, too. Fun fact - Konami released it under the Ultra Games/Palcom umbrella. Begs for one of those merry Nintendo-themed derailings.

[BIL]

Ta Obi, will give those a go. Shamefully I've never actually played AA despite being an avid Pentarou admirer. Yume Penguin Monogatari does deserve some mention for its smooth control, nice chubby sprites and funny weight management gimmick, though it's way the hell too easy. I did actually try out HKW a while ago, after reading your posts on it, but found the choppy scrolling a bit alarming. Will reevaluate, I need at least one Hello Kitty game in my library.

Annoyingly, there's a Konami Motocross game on FC, Motocross Champions (IIRC), but it seems nowhere near as good as either Excitebike or Motocross Maniacs.

Argh - I really like Ikki, bar one pet peeve. It's a great overhead shooter with arcade-worthy aggression, its single-shot homing attack is a great idea, and its style is cute, goofy and badass all at once. My one problem is it putting you so close to the top of the screen while scrolling up, making it extremely easy to get instant-killed. That's literally my only complaint, so I'd like to stick with it a bit longer.

About the possible TOSE connection, I found it interesting that the invincible body-duplicating powerup behaves exactly like the one in Fudoh, right down to the character's collectionbox occupying the empty space between his duplicates.

Snagged a nice copy of NINGEN HEIKI DEAD FOX, Capcom's hilariously brazen and superlatively great Rolling Thunder clone that amusingly also nicks from fellow RT-alike Shinobi.



I distinctly remembered getting my ass handed to me by its NES version Codename: Viper back in the day, and was pleased to find on revisiting that the difficulty is very much arcade spec, down to allowing only a handful of credits. Death is never far away, with gunshots instantly fatal, and the sparse checkpoints won't let you coast by. Controls are super sharp and stage design soon gets really diabolical - it's a total ripoff but who cares? One of the machine's great arcade-natured action games along with Metal Storm - recommended to RT/Shinobi fans and lovers of strategic action in general. With such intensity, you'll easily forgive Mr. Deadfox's lack of trousers. It seems to be one of those uncommon but happily fairly cheap FC games.

There is an interesting time attack element added to the game's hybrid of RT door bothering and Shinobi hostage saving. Only the POW in each stage must be rescued, the civvies are optional and will actually die if you're going too slowly (cartoonishly, of course - sexy lady one minute, crumbling skeleton the next). Not sure if the scoreplay is worth anything but regardless, it'd be interesting to do a Metal Slug-style all prisoners run. Would like to post about both DF and Fudoh in a bit more detail in the sidescrolling action thread once I've put some more hours on them.

[BrianC]

Anyone got favourites from the FC's earlier years (meaning '85 and back, roughly - I consider '86 the start of the middle years with Zelda, Metroid, Dracula and Star Soldier)? I've been poking about for nice arcadey stuff... picked up Excitebike and Spartan X immediately upon getting into the FC, both are still fantastic pick up and play games for time attack and survival respectively. Also very fond of Joust-alike Balloon Fight, need to pick that one up sometime (a riot in 2P frenemy play). There are a lot of arcade ports I'm meaning to try out in case they're awesome like Spartan X or signicantly expanded like the later Top Secret and Contra.

Tried out Battle City and Devil World tonight, both felt solid but also a bit slow-paced for my liking. BC is a single-screen overhead tank shooter that could potentially be really cool if it had more pressure, it's too easy to play defensively even on the hardest stages. DW is Pac-Man style and has a cool idea with the playfield scrolling in cardinal directions, potentially squashing the player, but it too didn't seem to be heating up as quick as I'd like.

As far as earlier releases go, I like Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, Excitebike, Galaga, Xevious, Pinball, Devil World, Mappy, Pac-Man, Battle City, Kung Fu, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Wild Gunman, and Duck Hunt. I think you might be disappointed with the GB port of Battle City in Namco Gallery v. 1. It plays slower than the FC version and the enemies don't speed up as much.