All Time Favorite NES Video Game

[Inyarear]

Hmmm... That's an awfully broad topic. I like a lot of these games very much, and some better than others. Let's break it down into several categories:

Best NES Beat-'em-up:

River City Ransom

While they never got quite the same publicity that the Double Dragon series did, the little squashy guys in this game were always so expressive and entertaining. It was also fun being able to shop for power-ups, especially the Texas Boots in the Happy Feet Shoe Store; as one fan said, you buy them and they make you very happy. There are a few secrets in this game well worth discovering too, such as the high-priced but very worthwhile magic shop, and the room where the bad guys are holding your girlfriend near the end.

Best NES RPG:

Earthbound Zero

It wasn't really available to much of anyone back when we still had those gray boxes, but thanks to some unknown owner of a prototype cartridge willing to part with it for a pile of money, and bunch of helpful hackers, the official prequel to the quirky SNES game Earthbound has finally been released online. All NES RPGs tended to have a rather annoying and primitive random combat system and this one is no exception, but the story in it is every bit as quirky and entertaining as the one in the SNES game, and the ending (if you can get to it) is possibly one of the best NES game endings ever.

Best NES Platformer:

Bucky O'Hare

Granted, it's hard choosing the best platformer, especially since this game had stiff competition from all the Mega Man games in quality and story. Bucky O'Hare matches them all for great music and challenging levels, however, and has a much better individual story than any of them do (though the whole story of the Mega Man games in general might make a better epic). Bucky O'Hare also has one ability it seems Mega Man never did: the ability to point and shoot upwards.

Best NES Shoot-'em-Up:

The Punisher

While there were many great games involving shooting (with and without the NES Zapper) The Punisher adds in the amusing element of having your player character on the screen, where he can at least make some effort at dodging. Just about everything is a target, too, except for a certain innocent-bystander funky jazz player you have the option of shooting anyway (although you'll be sorry if you do). This game's an absolute must-have for fans of the NRA and/or Second Amendment rights.

Best Top-Down NES Game:

Gauntlet

Hey, you've gotta love the classics! Even though the Dungeon Keeper's memorable voice was conspicuously absent from this game, this was an excellent port of the arcade game, and it led to many even better sequels, although most of these (ironically) were on other platforms, such as Gauntlet IV on the Sega Genesis (one of my favorites for that platform, incidentally).

Best Blatantly Propagandistic "Educational" NES Game:

NARC

Sure, anti-drug campaigns may be morally and legally dubious at best, and this game is actually based on a far better arcade game, but so what? Not too many NES games (with the possible exception of The Punisher above) allowed so much gratuitous gunplay and violence while offing the punks! This game even permitted the players to blow up the enemy with rocket-propelled grenades, scattering their still-glowing limbs and heads all over the screen. How many other NES games have you ever seen that allowed you to do that?

Best NES Comedy:

Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom

While a number of NES games featured humorous bits, the ending narrative to this wacky tale of anthopormorphized vegetables was, in my opinion, the best joke Nintendo ever cracked, even if it is in Engrish: "The Farmies were set free to become honest carnivores." Heh heh heh! We're sorry for making you eat those poor, innocent vegetables; back to the kinder and more humane business of killing dumb animals and serving them up as meat patties you go, farm boys!

Best NES Drama and Best Translated NES Game:

Moon Crystal

While Ninja Gaiden is surely the favorite of many mainstream players, this gem that some friendly hacker translated for those of us who have a taste for the esoteric is an extremely good anime story featuring some mad science, black magic, and a romantic triangle, all set in Victorian times. This game pushed the old NES gray box to the absolute limits of what it can do.

Best NES Game Overall:

Oy, it's impossible to decide! I'm just going to have to go with all of these.

[voltron]

I spent quite a few hours playing Deja Vu. I really dig RPGs...

[Joe the Destroyer]

I have to say Crystalis for me, although Magic of Scheherazade and Star Tropics are right behind.

[AnubisVonMojo]

I spent quite a few hours playing Deja Vu. I really dig RPGs...

As I've stated in previous topics, I love Deja Vu. I rented that game three weeks straight when I was a kid and played all the way through it, only to screw up when it came to disposing of the proper evidence to clear my name. As a result I wound up taking the fall and getting arrested. Bah. I need to dust off the old NES and give that puppy another walk around the block... if for nothing else, then so I can punch the fat woman in the car trunk to watch the computer discuss her rippling fat...

In the same genre, Uninvited and Shadowgate were classics too, the latter moreso than the former.

[BTM]

I spent quite a few hours playing Deja Vu. I really dig RPGs...

As I've stated in previous topics, I love Deja Vu.

you know, they made a sequel to that game, DeJa 2: Lost In Las Vegas, I think.  Can't remember if it was ported to the NES or just available for the PC.  (If it was on the NES, I think it came out kind of late, about when they were phasing it out in favor of the SNES.)

[AnubisVonMojo]

I spent quite a few hours playing Deja Vu. I really dig RPGs...

As I've stated in previous topics, I love Deja Vu.

you know, they made a sequel to that game, DeJa 2: Lost In Las Vegas, I think.  Can't remember if it was ported to the NES or just available for the PC.  (If it was on the NES, I think it came out kind of late, about when they were phasing it out in favor of the SNES.)

Thank you sir, you've just taken me away from the XBox 360 I bought only yesterday... 

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_d/deja_vu_2.html

[CheezeFlixz]

Aside from the usual like Mario and Zelda. I'd have to say ...

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar and Crystalis

EDIT: Some I forgot that got wore out, we still have our NES games and play them from time to time...

Final Fantasy
Kid Icarus
Castlevania
Ultima: Exodus

[Wicked Nick]

SUPER MARIO 3!! IN DA HOUSE BIATCH!!

[TheSinisterQuinn]

The Oldschool Final Fantasy and Blades of Steel are my all time favorites.

[Torgo]

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

The other that I remember was "Genghis Khan."   It was an empire-building game and it would drive you crazy, but I liked it.

I loved Genghis Khan.   I still think its one of the better early empire building games out there.   I'd actually like a PC port to try it again. 
This is a SNES game, but I really really liked Super Mario Cart.  Ghosts and Goblins I totally sucked at!


-Ed

[Andrew]

I loved Genghis Khan.   I still think its one of the better early empire building games out there.   I'd actually like a PC port to try it again. 

Another person who has played Genghis Khan!  Everyone who did seems to love it, but there are so few of us - less than the population of a small town in Wyoming, I think.  I'd kiss you in joy, but you're a guy and that would make me feel a little weird.  Still, I loved that game.  I always liked playing Britain, though your trade good was something idiotic, like glassware.  The benefit was you started out in a corner.

I still remember the effort needed to train up an elite standing army.  Screw up the recruiting and your elite force became a bunch of chumps really fast.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Andrew,
Thats actually funny, I had little sucess playing as a European power.  I liked beinng the titular Mongols, but your characters were pretty lousy at maintaining empires.  And the second generation of rulers...phewee they were lousy.   My most successful was with the Baghdad Caliphate.   I could always win with them.
Man, I want that game!
I have another friend who is a big Genghis Khan fan, by the way.  And he IS from a small town in Wyoming.   
-Ed

[Khaz]

Ghosts n' Goblins was a fav of mine. Plus i totally forgot about Genghis Khan! I converted my old NES into a stand-up system using an old Asteroids arcade game, and that one was waaay too long to play standing up. Now I am going to have to dust that one off and play it! Thanx for the reminder Andrew and Ed!

[Nev]

BATTLE TOADS
GODZILLA
TMNT THE ARCADE
KUNG-FU
DUCK HUNT
MARIO BROS
DOMINO'S PIZZA: THE NOID GAME
AND BUBBLE BOBBLE