@Peltz@dubc eah I’ll try a few baseball games. RBI and Stars seem to be common ‘best’ Baseball games. I also have a CIB Base Wars coming (getting those last few Ultra games CIB) so that should be fun. Of course the best part about NES baseball games is the price. They’re cheap (like the budgie), generally.
@BTails yeah Jaws is shockingly solid, and quite original too. Pretty good graphics for your average LJN joint too. And from what I read it was made by Westone!
So far this trashy game plan is great. NARC is kind of a dud, but not a complete one. T&C is decent and has quite good music. All these games have some kind of issue (iffy graphics or music or wonky controls etc) but what’s great about the era is they’re all still relatively simple but so varied in design.
I have a huge lot coming soon including Friday the 13th. Also looking forward to Breathru, Bill and Ted, Back to the Future II, Killer Tomatoes and Monster Party.
Wow. I knew there were quite a few but not that many. And sooo many Japanese exclusives that never came west. Did the NES have the most varied library between regions of any console hardware?
I would love to see a Venn diagram of the three regions. Would be really interesting! What’s most fascinating to me is the number of titles Nintendo and Konami published solely in each region. I knew a ton of their great games were left in Japan but didn’t quite realize so many went the other way, too.
I had some time to look at the list. Some pretty neat titles on there, either because they’re truly good software or because they’re just unique and noteworthy. I think it validates the angle you’re taking on your NA NES carts, @D.Lo. I love that approach.
Yeah unfortunately I missed the boat one some Konami games. I got all the silver box ones, but Monster in my Pocket, Turtles Tournament Fighters, Zen etc will cost me a lot CIB now.
Some of the Konami (and Ultra, and Palcom which that list lacks) games were just published by them though, obviously Skate of Die/Ski or Die/Qbert, and they published NES versions of PC games like Kings Quest, Pirates, Defender of the Crown, Silent Service. But even Nightshade, Star Trek, Cartoon Workshop - all western devs.
Monster Party I’d been meaning to get since the original GAF NES Club play through. Fun and super weird game.
Dirty Harry is a jank fest but ambitious. I would have devoured it as a kid, there’s so many ideas, searching buildings for crims, the sewers. If only it controlled (and sounded) better…
My actual NES is on the PVM via composite but I don’t have great seating there right now, so Fami on the big TV is the way to go.
Also grabbed a couple of Fami carts to go with boxes I’ve had for years from some bulk lot. And now I’m addicted to Adventure Island II. It’s just so playable…
Really would like to get Adventure Island II and III. The second one has the dinos, right? I think it’s worth having that one given the connection there (in a way) to Super Mario World. Also, it just looks cool. I believe I have a CIB copy on my watch list…
I just started playing through Castlevania. Seems pretty great so far, especially considering it’s age and the fact that I have very little exposure to the series as a whole.
The only one I’ve finished is IV on the SNES.
I’m also almost finished with Mega Man, but I can’t seem to figure out the last boss yet. Need to get some more attempts in to learn it. I refuse to look anything up haha.
It’s SHOCKINGLY nice looking, little flicker, solid and bold. I dismissed Adventure Island games back in the day as kind of backward, and I was a big Wonder Boy fan and saw them as illegitimate stepchildren. But this one is a joy to play.
Totally leaving the text on there. Maybe I’ll have a mini party where I watch some of the movies on VHS then play it.
The game is really good! Crazy sophisticated for the age honestly with the map and multiple gameplay types, even though the music and animation are scabby.
I got another one I was looking forward to too which is similarly high quality cheese…
I really love all my scuzzy old carts that I found at pawn shops and flea markets. Half of them came from old video rental stores that had markings on them like that. The other ones are like “Billy’s game keep out!” which has its own flavor. Really adds a fun element. I do end up cleaning most of that stuff off but there’s something fun about guessing at the history of that particular cartridge.
I am a recent late comer to Adventure Island as well. I always viewed them as second tier because I was used to Mario games. However, if you play the original Adventure Island back-to-back with SMB, you can really tell Hudson was directly trying to channel the fluidity of control that Nintendo nailed. You have to consider it’s a 1986 game. But it wasn’t released in the west until 88 and many didn’t play it until 89 or 90 when SMB2 and 3 were out. The always-move-forward design is kind of limiting compared to the fluidity that Mario games had in spades, but what is there is interesting in its own right. It’s more of a reflex and memorization game. Once you realize that’s what you’re getting into, it’s solid, and fun. But also pretty damn hard.
