Back to the Past - Nintendo - Need Recommendations

[SethRex]

I have a project going. I'm going to buy all the generations of systems and play the games I never played before. So to start it off, I have the Nintendo Entertainment System, and I'm looking for recommendations.

Genres I enjoy include Action/Adventure, Racing, Sports, Shooters, RPGs, Shooters, Platformers, fighters.

[Consulli]

Kirby's Adventure
Castlevania
Ice Climber
Adventure Island
Adventured of Lolo 3
Contra
Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3
Mega Man 2 & 3

[Galactus]

Gargoyle's Quest 2:

The original Gargoyle's Quest appeared on the Game Boy and was a really hard act to follow. At its heart the gameplay was based in a similar style to that of Zelda II, a top-down overworld which joined onto side-scrolling action stages and the ability to power-up your character as the game progressed. But the thing which really lent the game its personality was the way it dealt with flight, the levels were carefully designed to force you to master the flight and use your limited time in the air to full effect. Here in the sequel, we have all these classic features returning, along with much better graphics and some timeless NES music to elevate it even higher, easily my favorite of the three games in the series.

Over Horizon:

One of the best scrolling shmups on the NES, Over Horizon has the classic combination of excellent power-ups, clever level designs, great bosses and smattering of unique ideas which separate the stand-outs of its genre from the generic, it also utilizes a system where the two buttons are assigned to forwards and backwards firing which works pretty excellently.

Willow:

Great little action RPG that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie, the game is very nicely styled and feels a little bit reminiscent of the Mana series, but with an element of the Legend of Zelda too.

RC Pro-Am 2:

The sequel to one of the first weapons and upgrades based racing games (a game which itself inspired later games such as Mario Kart). Its basically a racing game played at an isometric view, with items such as oil slicks and rockets to mess with your opponents. Apart from the improved graphics and handling the important addition here in the sequel is the new option to play 4-player with a multi-tap.

Crisis Force:

One of the best shooters ever made (and even more impressive when taking into account when it came out) Crisis Force really shines in every area. Allowing you to switch between three different ships on the fly each with different firing types was a great idea which was implemented perfectly, the graphics were clean, crisp and impressive, even going as far as to include some impressive effects such as parallax scrolling, and the whole thing ran at a great speed and with a 2-player co-op to boot. Amazingly this even manages to make most SNES shmups look bad!

Power Blade:

A platform shooting affair similar to Mega Man, but with boomerangs and Contra's multi-directional firing. Its actually a remade US version of a Japanese game called "Power Blazer" and must stand as one of the few occasions where the mucked about with version outdoes the original (another arguably one would be the Mega Drive's Decap Attack) this is due to Power Blade getting rid of many gameplay problems the original had.

Gremlins 2:

Gremlins 2, like all their other NES games, is a really great and unique game. It is a fantastic top-down shooter which also contains many platforming and adventuring elements and has some excellent music and presentation (even with Ninja Gaiden-esque cutscenes between levels). It only loses some places as I feel the difficulty level may be a little high for those not experienced with the genre.

Batman:

Batman feels a little similar to Ninja Gaiden at first, but when it gets going it really starts to stand out and differentiate itself. Its wall jump move forms the basis of the level design, having you often carefully bouncing back and forth through the levels.

The Krion Conquest:

Players control a wand-wielding character that fires different types of projectiles based on the wand type the player has selected. The wand selection is signaled by the changes in the player's outfit color. The powers included are the normal shot (red outfit), the phoenix ability (pink outfit), the freeze shot (blue outfit), the bouncing ball shot (green outfit), the shield ability (orange outfit), and the broom ability (purple outfit). The gameplay resembles Capcom's Mega Man series, while the cutscenes resemble the ones in Tecmo's NES version of Ninja Gaiden. However, unlike the first three Mega Man titles, The Krion Conquest allows players to shoot directly upward, crouch to dodge enemies and projectiles, and charge attacks.

Crystalis:

The gameplay of Crystalis is similar to that of other action RPGs. The world is presented in a top-down perspective so the player character can be moved in eight directions using the control pad. One action button is used for attacking with a sword, and the second is mapped to a chosen action, such as a magical power or an item from the player's inventory. The start and select buttons bring up the status screen and the inventory menu, respectively. In addition, the player can equip various suits of armor and shields. Defeating monsters allows the player to gain experience points and levels, which boost his health, defense, and attack strength.

[Krelldog1977]

Great list, thanks! Do you have any other retro consoles? I'm thinking of grabbing a Sega Saturn ( Japan ) console.....tons of arcade hits which never made it to the US..

[shinobipopcorn]

It veers a little into the "overly cute" category, but if you still have a GBA (or a DS) I'd pick up a copy of The Legendary Starfy (Densetsu no Stafy/伝説のスタフィー) on ebay for a fun time waster. I grabbed it when I was in Japan. The Starfy game that was released in the US for the DS in 2008 is actually the 5th Starfy game, and this one is the first.

It's like a Mario clone, if Mario were stuck in Dreamland with Kirby and suddenly turned into a star. Except it's much cuter. I guess you have to understand how much Japan likes cute. The Game boy is region free, and you don't need to understand Japanese to play.

The only arcade games I played were UFO catchers so I can't help you there...

[AllHallowsEve]

Double Dragon I & II
Super C
Mighty Final Fight (Very Expensive)
Kung Fu
Pro Wrestling
Baseball Stars
Tecmo Super Bowl
Castlevania III
Gun.Smoke
Jackal
River City Ransom
TMNT II & III
Wizards & Warriors