Wednesday, April 21, 2010

What are your five favorite non-Mario Famicom/NES games?

That's the question someone posed yesterday on NeoGAF. After a healthy amount of hemming and hawing, I came up with the following answer:

Duck Tales--One of the best licensed games ever--and one of the best 2D platformers ever, too. Oh, and even after all these years I can still hum the Amazon level's theme song on cue. 'Nuff said.

Final Fantasy--The first RPG I played, and still one of my favorites. For some strange reason, I remember being obsessed with the coral sword--and being disappointed when I had to move on to a more powerful one. Yeah, I'm not sure what that has to do with this being one of my favorite Famicom/NES games either...


Kid Icarus--Do you ever wish you could go back in time? I do, especially when I think about this game.Why, you ask? Well, back then Medusa and her minions didn't kick my ass like they do now, that's why.

The Legend of Zelda--It's said that designer Shigeru Miyamoto drew inspiration for this game from his childhood experiences in and around Kyoto, where he explored caves, fields and woods. That's clearly evident the first time you play it. Thankfully, the sense of exploration and wonderment felt during that "virgin voyage" doesn't seem to fade with time.

Little Nemo: The Dream Master--If I was forced at gunpoint to name the Famicom/NES game with the best graphics, I'm pretty sure I'd shout, "Little Nemo!" This Capcom creation isn't just a looker, though--it also features catchy tunes and fiendishly challenging levels.

So, those are my favorite non-Mario Famicom/NES games. What are yours?

8 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Hmmm...how about Zelda II, Fester's Quest, That One Bible Game, and...Bad Dudes. Oh, and Karnov!

Oh, wait...you said FAVORITE! My mistake.

I'm gonna go with (in no particular order) Bubble Bobble, Megaman 2, Dragon Warrior, Contra, and...Legend of Zelda. Ask me again tomorrow, and that list would most likely change...

A top 40 would be easier to make.

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Also...I never seem to get it all in one comment.

You like Duck Tales? It's one of my favorites. Check this out, if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHEgzRtKC5o

And...the boy and I kicked Kid Icarus's ass repeatedly early on in our relationship. I bought it on the Virtual Console when it came out, and I couldn't get past the first level, so we traded off until we got past it. Holy hell, how hard!

Viewtiful_Justin said...

See? Dang it. Now you're going to get all excited and be like, "Holy cow...so many comments!" And they're all gonna be me...

Little Nemo...I got to the end of that and couldn't beat it...I couldn't figure out how to damage the big scary end boss...

Viewtiful_Justin said...

And this comment is just for fun.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ha ha! You are too funny, Justin :) Actually, I didn't say "favorite" in the headline/question, did I? That's what I get for posting the question verbatim. I'll change it in a minute so no one else is confused.

What question did you think you were responding to, by the way? Five hardest NES games? Five worst NES games?

I agree with your comment about it being easier to come up with a top 40 list. I would have done that, but I probably would have lost all (two) of the readers I've attracted in the last three-ish years :)

RE: the difficulty of Kid Icarus -- I bought it when it came out on the Virtual Console, too, and completely sucked until I looked up how to "cheat" in treasure rooms. That helped quite a bit :)

Oh, and RE: Little Nemo -- I can only beat a few levels at this point. Yeah, I've lost a lot of my gaming skills over the years...

Bryan Ochalla said...

One more thing: I love your list! I really have to go back and play the original Dragon Warrior/Quest again. I barely played it back in the day. I think it's because I watched my brother play through it, and by the time he finished it I didn't feel the need to play it anymore.

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I've been there! I beat Dragon Warrior once...but I cheated. Game Genie was my friend when I was little.

As far as my FIRST list? Worst games EVER. I tink Fester's Quest was voted the worst NES game EVER.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Oh, I thought so. I could add a few to your list, I'm sure :)