The reason Capcom's NES games improved so much is because they began doing them in house instead of contracting them to Micronix, who butchered far too many early NES ports.
Jeff the backstory to Journey to Silius is quite interesting. Quote from the WIKI "Journey to Silius was originally based on the 1984 film The Terminator, but the licensing rights to the film were lost during development. The graphics and storyline were altered to accommodate this change." You had commented on the gritty environments and that's because of that influence as Terminator 1 is the same way.
At first I thought this was going to be an impossible series but Jeff is over 10% of the way through the North American NES catalogue! That's BONKERS. This COULD BE DONE.
Why would it be impossible? He is just playing them for 20 minutes. It will take over a year. There are people on youtube that have beat all the NES games and uploaded each video!
I love Castlequest... but I cannot go to bat for Castlequest. I love it in the way any gaming cartography nerd would. It's a large maze-like space of interconnected rooms and basically the entire game is just figuring out what the route is and how to deal with the enemies. It's a really old game and it didn't age well, unfortunately. The music will drive you crazy. But if you like doing your own game maps, it's a pretty good time. It's an intriguing little title! I wouldn't call it _good_ per se... but there's something about it I just find really charming.
The Christmas I got my Genesis, I got three games with it: Sonic 2, ESWAT, and Krusty's Super Fun House. I can't tell you whether I ever finished Krusty, but I sure did listen to a bunch of Metallica tapes while I played with the sound muted
Gun.Smoke and Contra are solid titles. I agree with Contra's final boss being lackluster and I'm a bit annoyed that we didn't get the cutscenes that are in the Famicom version. Plus it's kinda short. Speaking of short, Marble Madness definitely could have used more levels, but at least the music in it doesn't want to make me want to jump off of my roof like Krusty's Fun House does. What a ghastly experience. I agree that everything from RoboCop down is the fundamental "You're Gonna Have A Bad Time" zone with the exception of Deadly Towers. At least some effort was put into that game that makes it end up being a confusing, haphazard experience next to the other games in that section that are just a broken mess.
Journey to Silius earns its spot in the top half of the list on the basis of its soundtrack alone. Easily one of Sunsoft's best soundtracks, composed by Naoki Kodaka, someone who typically wasn't assigned to Sunsoft's best games but could still whip out some sick bgm. He also worked on Batman: The Video Game and Spy Hunter. Also Blaster Master.
You just listed Sunsoft's best games! His Batman soundtrack is legendary, in my NES top 5. He also composed the Gameboy version which is all different from nes.
Came for the video game commentary, stayed for the WKRP In Cincinnati references. As a fellow child of the '70s, this series has been a fun trip down 8-bit memory lane!
Hope you’ll do “the guardian legend” eventually. It’s a personal favorite of mine, not sure how niche it is. I remember it having a great soundtrack and decent shoot ‘em up gameplay mixed with less fun Zelda like gameplay that was at least interesting for a kid like me when it came to building the world. And the European box art was amazing!
I love being able to see if I can guess where Jeff is gonna put the game based on what he says about it while playing. I called Gun.Smoke being third right away, bug im surprised Contra also got third place. I thought based on his praise he'd put it higher. But its super fun to see how the science breaks down!
Man, I have so many fond memories of playing 2 player co-op Contra with my friend back in the 80s. Absolutely one of the best NES soundtracks ever. Konami has to be the best third-party developer on NES.. Right?
Great recurring series! Each year it feels like there's less NES games I feel the urge to go back to. It's basically just Punch-Out and Super Mario Bros. at this point. Awesome to watch the scientist in the lab deduce which NES games are worth playing today.
One time when I was a kid visiting extended family while on vacation, we visited some friends of my aunt who had kids around my age that had no NES games other than the Super Mario Bros pack-in cart and Castlequest. I will always associate that game with weird PNW Flanders kids.
Krusty's Fun House was also based on another game "Rat Trap" for the Amiga by Audiogenic, before it got forced into a Simpsons game. I always enjoyed Krustys Fun House but the whole premise of it being a simpsons game about killing rats was always pretty baffling to me.
That Journey to Silius soundtrack was really impressive. The composer probably came out of the recording room like Mozart and then pissed off seeing his work go unnoticed because of generic gameplay. Now I'm off to check OcRemix for some new jams 😅
My friends and I could play Contra together regardless of who was "good" at it because of the Konami code. Eventually, thanks to that code, we would do runs and try to finish with more lives than we started with. Whether that was 30 or 3 lives!!
1:34:05 I don't remember there being a bird chirping noise when firing the normal gun in Contra, but this 5-second stretch just makes it shine. I had to check to make sure it wasn't just the video, but it's definitely the game. What a weird, strange thing to notice after all these years. I don't know how I DIDN'T hear it before now, actually.
2:59:12 _"Ah, it's a throwback to the good old days… I'm pffs- pouring a pft- a pint… I'm taking the lift up to my flat and we're gettedi- I got this off the back of a lorry for eight quid, mate and we're gonna… Man. city, I don't know…"_
I agree with that statement on Contra. I grew up with the NES game like so many other people. Never played the arcade game in an arcade. Emulated it, has it on XBLA and i think even my phone. The arcade game has some nice sprites and backgrounds, great music and I don't hate it. But the NES game just plays better. But I think Super C is overall a better sequel. I think it has better level; design overall.
Jeff's comment has me questioning myself, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading years ago that Red Dead Revolver did start as a sort of Gun.Smoke reboot early in development. I might be crazy, though.
Every side scroller stage to Xexyz introduces a new primary weapon and every so often special items are introduced and I feel like the game comes together once everything is unlocked. I love it honestly. I just wish it kept the dancing cutscenes from the Japanese version lol.
I know my place in the gaming society and know i am TERRRRRIBLE at Contra games. That said, the first one on NES holds a special place in my heart because of course It was a great game I played with a friend as well as the code made it more playable. Great music toooooooo. Silius has great sunsoft tracks too.
It's always weird to remember that Milton Bradley kept releasing games in the NES era, I associate them more with the Atari 2600 and especially the Star Wars games they released for it (The Empire Strikes Back still being the best).
While I would never refer to it as a good game, Castlequest holds a special Stockholm-Syndrome spot in my heart. It was one of those games that I somehow ended up with a loose copy of (probably another Yard Sale Acquisition), and I spent more hours than a human should trying to complete it. It wasn't until years later in a post internet age that I would finally achieve that goal using a GameFAQs walkthrough while sitting for hours LFG in FFXI. Good Times?
@@MissAshley42What do you mean “anymore?” The only good one before Krusty’s was the arcade game and there wasn’t anyway any home hardware could get close to that at the time. Bart VS the Space Mutants and Bart Vs the World sucked
Krusty’s fun house music should be banned by the Geneva convention. Tempted to start one of those fly by night LLCs that copyrightstrike music they don’t own just so I can shield the public
"this is probably the best Simpsons game on 8 or 16 bit platforms" bro Bart vs Space Mutants is going to be in your top 10 later, and Bart vs the World won't be much lower.
The reason Capcom's NES games improved so much is because they began doing them in house instead of contracting them to Micronix, who butchered far too many early NES ports.
I always look forward to these NES classic vids.
Jeff the backstory to Journey to Silius is quite interesting. Quote from the WIKI
"Journey to Silius was originally based on the 1984 film The Terminator, but the licensing rights to the film were lost during development. The graphics and storyline were altered to accommodate this change." You had commented on the gritty environments and that's because of that influence as Terminator 1 is the same way.
Probably also accounts for the hard to beat enemies
The music from Stage 2 (“Beginner”) in Marble Madness is so baller, even on the NES sound chip.
At first I thought this was going to be an impossible series but Jeff is over 10% of the way through the North American NES catalogue!
That's BONKERS.
This COULD BE DONE.
At this rate, he'll be wrapping up late 2025. Right in time for his 4th child.
Why would it be impossible? He is just playing them for 20 minutes. It will take over a year.
There are people on youtube that have beat all the NES games and uploaded each video!
I love Castlequest... but I cannot go to bat for Castlequest. I love it in the way any gaming cartography nerd would. It's a large maze-like space of interconnected rooms and basically the entire game is just figuring out what the route is and how to deal with the enemies. It's a really old game and it didn't age well, unfortunately.
The music will drive you crazy. But if you like doing your own game maps, it's a pretty good time. It's an intriguing little title! I wouldn't call it _good_ per se... but there's something about it I just find really charming.
The Christmas I got my Genesis, I got three games with it: Sonic 2, ESWAT, and Krusty's Super Fun House. I can't tell you whether I ever finished Krusty, but I sure did listen to a bunch of Metallica tapes while I played with the sound muted
Some real deep cuts on the show today. But seriously, congrats and good luck on the upcoming baby delivery! My youngest just turned one.
Gun.Smoke and Contra are solid titles. I agree with Contra's final boss being lackluster and I'm a bit annoyed that we didn't get the cutscenes that are in the Famicom version. Plus it's kinda short.
Speaking of short, Marble Madness definitely could have used more levels, but at least the music in it doesn't want to make me want to jump off of my roof like Krusty's Fun House does. What a ghastly experience.
I agree that everything from RoboCop down is the fundamental "You're Gonna Have A Bad Time" zone with the exception of Deadly Towers. At least some effort was put into that game that makes it end up being a confusing, haphazard experience next to the other games in that section that are just a broken mess.
Did not expect an episode this week, what a surprise
This is absolutely my favorite series you make. Nes was a bit before my time but I love looking back on all these cool games
As someone who didn't play platformers, Contra's juggle level was my Mario 1-1. Just an iconic level that has stuck in my memory forever.
Journey to Silius earns its spot in the top half of the list on the basis of its soundtrack alone. Easily one of Sunsoft's best soundtracks, composed by Naoki Kodaka, someone who typically wasn't assigned to Sunsoft's best games but could still whip out some sick bgm. He also worked on Batman: The Video Game and Spy Hunter. Also Blaster Master.
You just listed Sunsoft's best games! His Batman soundtrack is legendary, in my NES top 5. He also composed the Gameboy version which is all different from nes.
I will forever remember Dinowarz: Destruction of Spondylous because of this show, and it being the gateway into the bottom half of the NES library.
Came for the video game commentary, stayed for the WKRP In Cincinnati references.
As a fellow child of the '70s, this series has been a fun trip down 8-bit memory lane!
Even babies get delayed now!
Hopefully no day one patch will be required.
I’d rather they delay it than release it before it’s done.
The roomba firing to the beat at 1:23:20 is just magical.
Soon as the Gun.Smoke screen came up, I thought it was about to roll out into "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Excited for Xexyz. I may be the only one. 45b ball!
This baby is taking Duke Nukem Forever to get here
Hope you’ll do “the guardian legend” eventually. It’s a personal favorite of mine, not sure how niche it is. I remember it having a great soundtrack and decent shoot ‘em up gameplay mixed with less fun Zelda like gameplay that was at least interesting for a kid like me when it came to building the world.
And the European box art was amazing!
Also Jared Petty’s favorite NES game.
"If someone is reading this...I must have failed."
@@keeper0754 time for Miria to kill some space fish!
Journey to Silius has one of the most amazing soundtracks of the NES. If the game was on par, it would be a classic
i know a british guy who swears by Dizzy (i think he played it on the commodore 64, though, not the zx spectrum)
Did not expect a NES video this week! Just made my Saturday morning.
God this brings me back to the week leading up to our big trip to the hospital
I love being able to see if I can guess where Jeff is gonna put the game based on what he says about it while playing. I called Gun.Smoke being third right away, bug im surprised Contra also got third place. I thought based on his praise he'd put it higher.
But its super fun to see how the science breaks down!
Man, I have so many fond memories of playing 2 player co-op Contra with my friend back in the 80s. Absolutely one of the best NES soundtracks ever. Konami has to be the best third-party developer on NES.. Right?
Konami or Capcom I'd say.
thanks for episode. congrats on the new kid!
FUCK YES. I'M THE ONE THAT REQUESTED GUN.SMOKE PREVIOUSLY. THANK YOU JEFF.
Great recurring series! Each year it feels like there's less NES games I feel the urge to go back to. It's basically just Punch-Out and Super Mario Bros. at this point. Awesome to watch the scientist in the lab deduce which NES games are worth playing today.
One time when I was a kid visiting extended family while on vacation, we visited some friends of my aunt who had kids around my age that had no NES games other than the Super Mario Bros pack-in cart and Castlequest. I will always associate that game with weird PNW Flanders kids.
That music in GunDotSmoke it banging!
Krusty's Fun House was also based on another game "Rat Trap" for the Amiga by Audiogenic, before it got forced into a Simpsons game. I always enjoyed Krustys Fun House but the whole premise of it being a simpsons game about killing rats was always pretty baffling to me.
That Journey to Silius soundtrack was really impressive. The composer probably came out of the recording room like Mozart and then pissed off seeing his work go unnoticed because of generic gameplay. Now I'm off to check OcRemix for some new jams 😅
My friends and I could play Contra together regardless of who was "good" at it because of the Konami code. Eventually, thanks to that code, we would do runs and try to finish with more lives than we started with. Whether that was 30 or 3 lives!!
The SNES version of Krusty's Fun House had a button that just turned the music off. You better believe I used that button.
1:34:05 I don't remember there being a bird chirping noise when firing the normal gun in Contra, but this 5-second stretch just makes it shine. I had to check to make sure it wasn't just the video, but it's definitely the game. What a weird, strange thing to notice after all these years. I don't know how I DIDN'T hear it before now, actually.
2:59:12 _"Ah, it's a throwback to the good old days… I'm pffs- pouring a pft- a pint… I'm taking the lift up to my flat and we're gettedi- I got this off the back of a lorry for eight quid, mate and we're gonna… Man. city, I don't know…"_
Contra's always going to be a top 5 NES game for me. Hell, maybe even top 3.
It's fun to see how Dynowars: Destruction of Spondylus has become a sort of barometer for a bad NES game.
Look, I love Rygar. But I think it's just a few too high.
How dare you sir... It's perfect where it is. :)
Mmmmm, disagree. Lol.
You are correct, sir, yes
Nah, dude. It's in the right spot for now.
The Krusty's Fun House tune using a portion of the TMNT leitmotif while being _so_ not Turtles is messing with my head.
You are better at Contra that I ever was! Could never get that far rawdoggin it. Always used the code.
I agree with that statement on Contra. I grew up with the NES game like so many other people. Never played the arcade game in an arcade. Emulated it, has it on XBLA and i think even my phone. The arcade game has some nice sprites and backgrounds, great music and I don't hate it. But the NES game just plays better.
But I think Super C is overall a better sequel. I think it has better level; design overall.
Jeff's comment has me questioning myself, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading years ago that Red Dead Revolver did start as a sort of Gun.Smoke reboot early in development. I might be crazy, though.
Marble Madness, brought to you by the architect of the PS4
I like the part in Xexyz where God decends and offers the protagonist a ride on his UFO to the Boss's Room...
Every side scroller stage to Xexyz introduces a new primary weapon and every so often special items are introduced and I feel like the game comes together once everything is unlocked. I love it honestly. I just wish it kept the dancing cutscenes from the Japanese version lol.
It's a great game
Love this series Jeff, your the best
Bionic Commando and Mega Man really blow a lot of NES games out of the water. Slalom holds a place in my heart, though I don't know why.
I know my place in the gaming society and know i am TERRRRRIBLE at Contra games. That said, the first one on NES holds a special place in my heart because of course It was a great game I played with a friend as well as the code made it more playable. Great music toooooooo. Silius has great sunsoft tracks too.
Jeff, I have an itch that can only be scratched by moar "SPONDYLOUS!!" ...gonna need more spondylous.
It's always weird to remember that Milton Bradley kept releasing games in the NES era, I associate them more with the Atari 2600 and especially the Star Wars games they released for it (The Empire Strikes Back still being the best).
While I would never refer to it as a good game, Castlequest holds a special Stockholm-Syndrome spot in my heart. It was one of those games that I somehow ended up with a loose copy of (probably another Yard Sale Acquisition), and I spent more hours than a human should trying to complete it.
It wasn't until years later in a post internet age that I would finally achieve that goal using a GameFAQs walkthrough while sitting for hours LFG in FFXI.
Good Times?
Thanks Jeff for playing these games so I don't ever have to :-)
Castlequest is the game that your parents get you when the store doesn't have any copies of Castlevania.
I love this educational and scientific content. I’ve learned a great deal!
Castlequest seems like a game I would have gotten in a trade for Ninja Gaiden because I didn't know any better :P
Krusty is notorious for laying pipe
1:16:50 for the hot 'KRP refs!
As God as my witness, I thought Journey to Silius was a vertically scrolling shooter!!"
I will stand by that Contra: Shattered Solder is an overlooked great game
Loving this series, and the more I play Rygar the less I understand why it's #1 on this list lmao. Still, good series!
Jeff will compared arcade and NES ports in Bad Game Tenant: Port of Call
Silius soundtrack is amazing
You can tell Castlequest isn't a Spectrum game due to the distinct lack of enemies shaped like toilets and other esoterica.
As a guy who’s not a fan of contra, contra 4 is a solid contra game.
"Doomed to play it everyday to earn a living"
Not a moment in my mind makes me think that guy can't retire tomorrow never needing another cent lol
I don't know, that energy drink addiction can get quite expensive very quickly :-)
He will retire and... play videogames not earning money for it? I can see where the curse is
best of luck to you and your wife with your baby!
Say what you will about Marble Madness, it has a goddamn fantastic soundtrack.
Has anyone requested snake rattle and roll yet?
Give me some Iron Sword action!
For the first time, we disagree when you come to one of your big decisions between two games. Jackal is better than Gunsmoke
Is Robocop the best of the worst?
Balls
the red bad guys in Gun.Smoke look like Brian Cage.
Holy heck that Krusty's Fun house is garbage
I remember seeing it in the rental store once and thinking "I guess we're just not going to get any good Simpsons games anymore."
Hit and Run was pretty decent at least@@MissAshley42
@@GamerChex That it was. I'm not sure if it makes up completely for over a decade of bad Simpsons games, though.
@@MissAshley42What do you mean “anymore?” The only good one before Krusty’s was the arcade game and there wasn’t anyway any home hardware could get close to that at the time. Bart VS the Space Mutants and Bart Vs the World sucked
Mark Cerny’s Marble Madness
Castlequest is a hot pile of garbage. It was called Castle Excellent in Japan.
brother, take some pat leave!
Krusty’s fun house music should be banned by the Geneva convention. Tempted to start one of those fly by night LLCs that copyrightstrike music they don’t own just so I can shield the public
Spondylus, not Spondylous 😂
NES version of Gun.Smoke is better than the arcade.
"this is probably the best Simpsons game on 8 or 16 bit platforms" bro Bart vs Space Mutants is going to be in your top 10 later, and Bart vs the World won't be much lower.
Wow Jeff hates British people? I never realised.
When you design a game and think "Give the player 50 lives" solves a design problem, you may need to stop designing games..