I can’t see any world where you can call Super Mario Bros overrated. It literally changed gaming. Permanently. It single handedly changed the idea of what a video game even was.
@@Fortefyre I get what you’re going for, but that’s a tough one 😂 I guess I’m saying that I’d buy an argument that Mario 3 is mechanically a “better” game for sure, but Super Mario Bros is in that elite pantheon of landmark titles. It’s rare air up there.
Wow. I couldn’t disagree more with just about everything you stated. I think you just had to be in that time period (mid 80’s - early 90’s) to really understand how amazing most of those games were for the time. They could be frustrating but sitting on the couch with a buddy passing the controller back and forth, trying to get to the next level or drawing out a map to find your way, were some of the best times you could have as a kid. We were all united in the school yard in sharing tips just to get a little further in Zelda or copying the guides/ maps in Nintendo Power cuz only one kid had the subscription. We got shit done without Google or auto saves every two minutes. Unfortunately that aspect of gaming has been lost.
I was a part of that generation... And I actually think most of the list is fair! You know, I do love the Metroid Series - I really do! But when people talk about the OG METROID... It is overrated! I am sorry but it is! Where I 100% DISAGREED was Super Mario. Bros - That game was the benchmark for great game design! Fair, it not aged well... But its core mechanics are what makes it re-playable! It does Tutorials right! In fat it s a template for how to make a GOOD GAME in ANY GENRE! It is actually shocking how SO FEW have ever looked at what they did so right and emulated it! The list he made is nearly all games I played, and many of them games I bloody HATED... I could not stand Batltletoads or TMNT... They were STUPIDLY HARD! I never played Ninja Gaiden... I only know it by reputation!
Not to mention NES hard was a thing beating Ninja Gaiden or Batman as a kid was hard as hell and did give you bragging rights well earned same with Double Dragon and Punch Out. There was no easy option in the game menu. I would play Rad Racer until my thumbs blistered and bled trying to get past track 6.
@@bartsullivan4866 Being from the UK, it was long time before I ever came across an NES - But even or Microcomputer's were NES hard... :( Most arcade ports were poor and direct rips of the arcades - meaning they were programmed as if you could put an extra coin in to keep going, when you couldn't! And much as I hear people talking about Dark Souls and how hard Soulsborne games are - And they are, Those players do not appreciate the quality of life changes they have... We didn't have fancy Six Axis dual analogue controllers... Touch pads and multiple buttons at our fingertips,... We had a two button mouse if we were lucky, A Joystick with two fir buttons that only ever worked as one... and a Keyboard! I got a copy of "DUNGEON MASTER - RETURN TO CHAOS" as I loved that game on the Atari ST - Well, I managed to get a hold of Chaos Strikes Back... Back in its day, That was our Dark Souls... ... It may seem primitive now! But its was a serious challenge! Going back to play it after decades with modern hardware - F**K ITS HARD! You dont realise how much you miss Modern Controls until you go back... Technology makes these games seem old hat and weak, but try playing how they were intended and you get an amazing time!
when you're a kid, you had nothing else going on other than the one game you own. You play it for as long as you can if it's remotely good. Kids even play the bad ones. There were no options. Now we have unlimited and FREE library of NES and other retro console games to choose from. Any difficulty you encountered, just quit this game, and start a completely different game. When you're a kid, you're sort of force to go through that difficulty to advance to the next level. You had no other games to play with.
Absolutely. You keep going since you only got so many games, so if you got a new one you played it in earnest. Difficulty didn't ward off gamers since we were hardened to it at the time. Hard games were just another Tuesday. We just would not take NO for an answer back then. It took a an incredibly broken and/or unfun game to get a NES gamer to thrown in the towel.
And it was a good balance in life as a kid because when you got frustrated and bored of the same games you went outside to ride your bike and play with friends, now the unlimited source of games and the ease of devices to play them makes it impossible to get bored and kids don’t play outside anymore as we used to in the past 🥺
Right, alot of folks don't understand this, nowadays as grown men (and some women) we don't put up with any crap, no where near what we put up with as a child, we don't like something about a game, we cut it off and go to something else, content wasn't so readily available 35-40 years ago, or well during the 8 and 16 bit level. U didn't like something, u hada put up with it, or go draw, or watch some cartoons, or go bother one of your younger siblings/friends, .........
@@Fortefyre Yup and I ended up buying alot of NES games, good ones like Mighty Final Fight, Turtles 3 and a few others, in 1994 or so when they were trying to clear out their NES library to make more space for the SNES/Genesis library. I still remember renting Super Punchout eh about............I'd say 3 times before I finished it, I had alot of trouble with "Hoy Quarlow", he's the old Japanese guy with the "stick" ..........in a boxing match, yes very fair lol., of course, later Nick Bruiser gave me trouble but he was fair, and Narcis Prince, well pretty much the entire "Special" Circuit"....shame they don't remake the one that came out for the Wii, I never got a chance to play it! ...Ahh I've commented here about 4 times now lol. ..Yup, I'm older then you probably and I'm ......."old school" lol
Welp I got 1:21 in and turned this off. Super Mario Bros overrated? Come on man. Are you upset that the 40 year old game isn’t perfect? Growing up on the NES this is hands down one of the best games for the system. It was the killer app at the NES’s launch. Saying it’s overrated is just absolutely wrong.
@@Fortefyre Stop trying to pretend to be a smartass after making an objectively awful video with legitimately bad takes. You're not as clever or as informed as you think you are.
Someone else may have pointed this out already, but you were wrong about the original SMB2 in terms of Japan not sending it Stateside. They actually sent it to Howard Phillips, who worked at Nintendo of America and often tested games for the North American market, and he made the call to not release it here, stating that it felt like a punishment for being a Mario fan. Moreover, he decided that with the industry just beginning to recover after the great video game crash, it probably wasn’t the best idea to throw a game so difficult out there that people were likely to shy away from it.
Your right it is . I think I died 48 times before I finished it and it felt like a chore or game design to piss you off rather than enjoy it and that was on the Super Mario Allstar pack @@kenrickkahn
@@bartsullivan4866 The original version is even more difficult. For instance, after you clear world 8, you are tasked with finishing world 9 in one life before you can play worlds A-D. All-Stars removed that stipulation.
I feel like there needs to be more nuance in how this list is presented. I honestly never hear anyone talk about SMB as the best game ever, as in if they could only keep one game and throw away the rest, It would be SMB. I think there's a blurring between a game being great and a game being important
@@Fortefyre Your entire opinion is horrible, very badly stated and your reasoning is still very off the mark. Just admit that your video is bad and your reasoning is awful. I'm still not even entirely convinced that your list isn't intentional trolling and rage bait.
For some of us, we saw Ninja Gaiden at the arcades, some like me wasn't good at it and really didn't enjoy it. Then comes the NES version and i was blown away by playing a game that in one since was an epic movie. The story and cut scenes drew you in with intrigue. The music Awesome. And the ending just perfect. The whole 'Feel' of that time just cannot be captured unless one has lived it. I agree on your points but back then we were use to those cheap death moments in games. Liked your overall list, Good job.
I never cared for Ninja Gaiden on the NES and much preferred the arcade. I was kind of like wtf when me and a buddy rented it. I know I'm in the minority in that regard though.
While I respect people's opinions - I have to adress 3 of the games why they are NOT overrated and deserves its credit(s): 1. Super Mario Bros (1985) - Super Mario Bros can't ever be overrated. It brough through new grounds and literally changed gaming. Permanently. It single handedly changed the idea of what a video game even was! 2. Battletoads (1991) - While it is mostle represented as a very difficult game (as it is so true), it was a game that Rare made with various genres mixed togheter like non seen before. In heart it is a beat-em up game with platform elements - but it also has puzzle platforming, vehicle racing elements and rotary graphics elements all mixed in one single game that was welded togheter in a working flow. In its port of Amiga CD32, it also included a shoot-em up element (!) 3. Super Mario Bros 2 (1988) - This game can't be said to be a "black cheep" by no means. It was a very amitious sequel that evolved wgat Super Mario Bros had brought up = making new grounds in gaming. In 1988 it challanged the gaming market greatly with its innovative style of graphics, design and ability of unique characters. Remember, when this came around, Super Mario was not yet established to be a "thing" yet and with that there was no deterrmed formula what made a "Super Mario game" and knowing his creator and Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto, he always wanted his games to be somethingf "new" and "different" = Never a clean copy of uts predesesor. Yeah it is known it was a sprite change of another Famicom game, but so what? If not, we would for decades not been familiar with Doki-Doki Panic as it was never released in the west anyway and likley not been that investigated by gamers. Peace.
Idk how anyone can call mario 1 overrated and then turn around and say Mario 2 is worse than The Lost Levels. Spiciest take I've ever heard for an NES game.
Yeah I agree. Especially since Mario 2 Japan is basically the same as the first game but with harder levels. Most people dunk on the lost levels so I'd say its underrated though, but Mario 2 USA is my favorite Mario game ever and people hate it too just because its a "ROM hack"... yeah but its lots of fun.
Good video, But i wildly disagree with this list. Mario 1 & 2 are still very enjoyable, Gaiden IS still a torture classic and on my book, Punch out is the best game on NES. And how is that expensive 1992 game overrated if only few people have played it?? Ok, those are your opinions, But maybe bit of trolling? 😄
I agree with you on River City Ransom. I thought it was just a random, run of the mill fighting game. But you couldn't be more wrong on Super Mario Bros. That was a landmark game that holds up today.
This is the only game on the list I agree with. This game isn’t for me because I hate the rpg elements. I much prefer the upgrade system of double dragon where you fight your way to improving.
Honestly I think Mario 1 is possibly even better than 3. Mario 3 has way too many autoscrollers and mindlessly easy boss fights. Plus it’s kind of a chore to get through the whole game in one sitting; it really could’ve used a password or save system. Still a great game, but it really shows how focused and well-balanced the first game is.
I also felt the stages in Mario 3 were short and choppy. Yes it has 90 stages so making the stages longer would not be practical. Also no checkpoints in SMB3 Some stages have you sniped at the end.
I think the one thing the original SMB doesn't get nearly enough credit for is the coin system. It actually holds weight in that game since extra lives are so rare. Coins are almost meaningless in pretty much every Mario game following due to how overly abundant they are. It actually feels good to collect them in the original.
@@evan2902 Oh!? No credit for Level 1-1 literally being a Playable Tutorial without you ever knowing its a tutorial as it doesn't stop you every two seconds to teach you a new button??? How Tutorials SHOULD BE! Star game, Run forward, Oh look a strange creature - How do I .. Oh I am dead! Lets try again, and Jump, Whoops I hit it and... Oh its Dead! OK So you kill Mushroom guys by jumping on them... And what this Question Mark in the Bricks, OH! POWER UPS! OK that's cool! Oh A Turtle I will just squash him and .. OH CRAP HIS SHELL BOUNCES AND KILLED ME... OK... The entirety of Level 1-1 is teh Most Basic Tutorial you need! And every Level therein with every new feature it brings in gives you a level where you can get used to the new mechanics without stopping you playing! You are always making progress but also being taught! These days, Every few steps its "Hey we got something new, Lets teach you how to use it... You cant play the game until you learned it ya know!"
Mario 3 was the worst to me, I love it except for world 8, complete bullshit autoscrollers that arent too hard per say but damn annoying to play though
This feels more like "acclaimed games of the era that are outdated now" and judging by modern standards as opposed to the standards of the era. I will push back on the "SMB2 was too hard for American gamers" narrative because its a half truth. Yes, it was difficult and purposely mean spirited, but another issue was it just looked and sounded like SMB. Since the NES didnt get a national reiease until '86 and started picking up more steam in '87, and SMB was a selling point, they knew they had to wait in releasing SMB2 until '88, at which point SMBJ was very outdated looking, so the other reason they reskinned Doki Doki Panic was because it looked great. Honestly, its the best decision they could have made, otherwise Doki Doki Panic would have just been some forgotten FDS game hyping an tech expo.
@Fortefyre great video even if i was like "wtf?" sometimes lol I agree that Metroid is really hard to go back to. I'd honestly recommend Super Metroid though, it basically keeps the things you liked about Metroid while fixing most of what you didn't.
The controls of Super Mario Bros are perfect... excellent physics. Stands up to this day. I really cannot understand your point... controls are cleanly felt.
@@Fortefyre Mario does have more momentum in the original game than SMB 2 or 3. You see him actually twist his shoulders to change directions before changing direction in the animation. This is a hold over from the Mario bros game. In that game you could only jump sideways if you were running sideways before jumping. If you jump from standing, you only go straight up. They made the physics more realistic in that sense. If you play the Mario bros game, you will instinctively try change direction in the air, and won't be able to. You will find yourself probably dying in situations you would otherwise survive if you were playing the mini game version in SMB 3. (when you press the button on the space with another player, and you need race to 5 enemies or coins, that's the Mario bros game.) Super Mario bros 1, gave some degree of air control to make you able to platform easier, but they kept the running largely the same as the mario bros game. So I could see you feeling like you slide around more because you do.
RC Pro AM is in an isometric view because you’re controlling a Radio Controlled car. That’s what “RC” stands for. It’s from your point of view. If you’ve ever tried steering an RC car it’s the same kind of learning curve as they recreated in the game. I think it’s actually very well done for the time.
I agree with a lot of your points. It's okay to point out flaws and to have unpopular opinions. Here's my unpopular opinion.... SMB2 USA originally had the Fuji TV characters because of Nintendo's deal to deliver a game for them. It started out as a 'Mario style' demo with vertical platform levels before this and is the work of the same team that made SMB1 and SMB3 (music composer, level programmers etc). Nintendo made the right decision to re-localised it as a Mario sequel. It's a Mario sequel in Japan too, originally released by Nintendo as Mario USA on a Famicom cartridge (Japanese NES) and has remained since. It even got a special Satellaview version there. There's a reason Nintendo chose to remake it a launch title for the GBA in Japan and their Lost Levels was relegated to a late release 'Famicom Mini' GBA cartridge.
Also unfairly. With bad takes. And reasoning that doesn't hold up over the kind of petulant, spiteful whining that most people grow out of when they reach 8 years old.
The only hard disagree I can commit to is SMB. It’s still fun today. Is SMB3 better? Yeah? But it’s still fun. Pinball and darts are old games, but they’re still fun.
I think SMB is the best Mario ever made and the praise is absolutely justified. The later Mario games even if they are great games still introduced too many mechanics that take away the charm of the original game which is its simplicity. SMB is a game that was designed such a way that a 5 year old child can pick it up with ease and that's attributed to its near perfect level design that cleverly teaches the core mechanics to the player instead of spoon feeding them with text. It set the standard for games that would follow.
I see the criticisms of these games as valid, but I don't think any of these games is overrated. I still play modern games to this day, and while game design and graphics are much better, the open challenge to gamers in the NES era was fantastic. They designed the games intentionally challenging, and atmospheric due to constraints of memory on chips of the time. The innovation that occurred during the NES and Super NES was perhaps the biggest leap forward in a single console generation. Of course, the jump to 3D was graphically the biggest leap, but the game design philosophy during the aforementioned NES/SNES era changed gaming forever. The subtlety of level design was far more sophisticated than the graphical limitations might indicate.
@@Fortefyre Thanks for the reply, dude! I've been digging into your channel lately, since your takes are controversial at times ;) While I am able to be more objective about the limitations and problems of NES-era games now in my 40s, there are still a plethora of landmark games that still mostly hold up today. I gotta say, my biggest snag on them is not having save files for your progress, or inputting passwords. I still play my NES to this day, but usually stick to Super Mario Bros. 3, Tecmo Super Bowl, Mega Man 2-4, The Guardian Legend, Marble Madness, and a few others. I only have about 30 games, but do plan on re-purchasing a few others that I know I will still play. To me, the best era was the SNES/Genesis games, and I go back to those the most. I did, however, re-acquire an N64 about a year ago, and recently completed Ocarina Of Time for the first time. Also got a Switch for my birthday last April, and love it! I play Pokemon Violet, and just got Breath Of The Wild and Streets Of Rage 4 for Christmas. Modern gaming is still awesome!
The most overrated NES game is Super Mario 3. Mainly because there's not a single bad review of this game, ever... so it has to be overrated. Its still great though. Even though I prefer Mario 2 (USA) and Mario World.
Of the list you gave, there's only one game I think is genuinely guilty of truly being overrated. That is Little Samson. Removing the huge price tag and just playing as a game for the sake of it being a game, it's alright, but nothing that blew my socks off when I sampled it. I played as rom, not someone who spent hundreds of dollars on it. Due to its lack of availability and high price it commands far more attention than it ever would have if it came out a few years earlier in greater quality. This game is guilty as charged. The rest of this list I feel brings two completely different arguments beyond simply being overrated with how you're presenting them. Camp1, it's highly influential games that I don't feel aged well or Camp 2, Egregiously difficult games that I didn't really enjoy. This doesn't translate into a straight case of them being overrated. Games like SMB1 and Metroid changed gaming when they were made, there's no if and or buts about it. To argument that makes them the greatest games because of that, I wouldn't agree as being influential doesn't always translate into being the best, as it's often being the first to do it reasonably well. The original Metroid is freaking unplayable by todays standards. Super Metroid and remakes of Metroid add so many much needed quality of life improvements. (Like in game maps.) As for the really hard NES titles, that was more par the course of the time. I can't say I can view this part objectively as someone who grew up knee deep in these games and just accepted games were going be an uphill battle. Nintendo monetized hardgames with Nintendo power, so they had zero reason to nip this kind of game design in the bud. Most NES titles were in the ballpark of difficult most of your list that talked about being on the hard side. I get if that's not your thing, but games of this era were mostly guilty of being quite hard. It's like if you're don't care pizza, no topping we can offer you really going change your mind on that.
The List SMB 1- The impact of this game cannot be overstated. Platformers as we know them are direct result of Super mario bros existing. I agree later entries are a more polished experience, but you can't have gotten to those without laying the groundwork. The closet game I can think of knocking on right door before it, was Pitfall for platformers before it(As it actually had an ending). Games when they came to the NES were so much deeper experiences than the Atari or arcade games. Games typically were just doing same thing over and over till you died off and got a high score. NES created a narrative you would see actually play out through the gameplay. SMB 1 has it's flaws, but it go so much right, and while simple game compared to it's later entries, it's still a completely playable game to even new players. (I had my youngest nephew play a bunch of NES mini titles fairly recently, and he enjoyed it a ton even if he died a bunch because his platforming skills were not there yet.) I don't see people overrating it as a game presently(If they rate highly it's probably due to influence). Back in 1985, yeah it deserved to be the gushed about, but it was one of the best games available at the time. TMNT- The game hard, and the turtles are poorly designed as Don the only one who really holds his own. It's difficulty can be chop down by simply farming scrolls and wrecking the toughest parts. Shredder however is anticlimatic, he's such a pushover compared to the rest of the game. I don't feel like people place super high though in catalogue of NES titles. It usually gets a 7 or some other kind of above average rating. I wouldn't consider it overrated for that reason. I doubt it makes the 10 ten list for too many people for NES games. Battletoads- I don't see people overrating this one since so many people never got past the 3rd stage. It's probably the hardest fair game there is. The game throws an idea at you, and just keeps tweaking it and ramping it up till you reach the end of the level where it reaches the crescendo and then the level ends. You see this play out with the Turbo Tunnel, as the barriers are pretty slow, and then it gets alittle faster, then they add blue objects that are in the air. It keeps getting faster and faster, and they throw a curve ball with the islands you need hop between. Finally, it reaches breakneck speed to where you need just tap up and down in a rhythm or you will crash. The game always gives you threats that object with in the same frame work of the skills you have to combat it. Its difficulty is a turn off for many, but I still think it's a really high quality game if you can get past that part. I think most people acknowledge this honestly, so I don't feel it's being overrated. SMB 2(Doki Doki panic)- The Lost levels were just meanspirited far too often. I feel nintendo made the right call by not sending it to us. Yes, the reskin of DDP is a curve ball to the mario series, but so much of this game became part of the series as a result. It's crazy think how many bad guys and traits came from this happy accident. I doubt Mario 3 would made it a point have mario picking up objects if it wasn't for the US SMB 2 happening. It's DNA is all over the following games, so I glad it happened. It's a much better designed game than the Lost levels is. At the time it came out, games really hadn't locked into a formula or series the way they did with time. So having a Links Adventure, Simon's quest, or DDP/SMB 2 wasn't as remotely offputting at the time. People were still experimenting alot with games rather be behold to an exact way a game has to be. Plenty of fans were thrilled be able play as Luigi, The princess and Toad all while them have their own traits. We didn't know any of the background details to this being the US SMB 2, but most players really enjoyed it. Now ignoring the swap factor, I think it holds up well enough. Lil Samsom- As I said above, guilty as charged. Overrated. Unlike the rest of these titles, it brought nothing new to the table and isn't remotely influential in any meaningful way, so it's just a middle of the road NES title known for it's rarity and high price tag. RC pro Am- Rare use isometric layouts and controls with a couple NES titles. It was a means of making a game where players could navigate in 3 dimensions. Are the controls tricky at first yes, but they translated into other games besides it. (Cobra triangle, RC PRO Am 2, Super Off Road, Rock N Roll Racing, all used the same driving scheme.) As a first entry, it was a fine game, but I vastly prefer RC PRO AM 2, as I played with 4 players. (We'd use infinite lives with Game genie so no one had quit playing or waste all their money on buying continues and falling even more behind.)Given how many games operated the same way, players were more inclined to adopt and become good at it. Greatest game, no but who calling the best NES title? River City Random- Beat em ups are always more fun with friends. It definitely brought together the concept of a beat em up/rpg like no game before it had. Yes, later versions of it are better, but comparing PS4 games to NES titles isn't exactly a fair comparison. NES games usually found a way pack alot of gameplay into a small amount of memory. Punch Out- I have never been the biggest fan, but it was a cool idea for the time. I agree it's not a true sports game by any means, as it's more of an arcade style game how NBA jam or Mario kart aren't pure to their genres either. Metroid- I wouldn't recommend playing the NES version, I'd say play one of the remakes or just play super metroid. I wouldn't tell someone play Final Fantasy on NES , as the GBA remake is so much better experience. This game guilty of being too ambitious for it's own good, and couldn't quite deliver what it aimed to. Highly influential but didn't age well. Ninja Gaiden- Yeah it's a really hard game. There's things to curb the difficulty, like art of firewheel helps get through alot of cheap shots. (Like the freaking birds) I'm not a huge fan of these games, but it has unlimited continues, which makes it something you can learn and beat. It's still playable game even if I wouldn't put in my top 10 NES titles. It's quite influential as the story telling was leaps and bounds above what was being done elsewhere, as it made some very impressive cut scenes for the NES.
Are you just trolling with this one? Ok, after watching this a few times and thinking about some of your points. You are not trolling. I'll still leave my orginal comment in this one. Idk if overrated is the right word. I played most of these games as a kid and only ever beat Super Mario Bros 1 and 2. To this day the only way I able to finish Mario 1 is to turtle tap in 3-1. As far as Mario 2, I am only getting through that game by getting lucky with the slot machines. I say all that just to say that these games are not really over rated, they are just ridiculously difficult as were other games of this era. Other games were just as difficult but not nearly as cool or interesting. Take Friday the 13th for example, or Back to the Future. Both these games were hard and dumb! However, something is just good about Ninja Giaden and TNMT, even though they are difficult as hell. So, I have to agree with all of your points except these games being overrated as they have a firm place in gaming history for a reason. They are just really hard to the point of being almost unplayable with out cheats. And lets be honest, anyone who grew up in the NES era didn't beat most of these games without the game genie. I say all the time "I could play these games as a kid!" But in reality looking back, my NES either stopped working while playing a game (because I kept blowing into the cartridge thinking it would help) or I got fed up afer dying 1000 times by the same stupid enemy that just respawned out of no were because I walked backward 1 inch.
Agree with Metroid & TMNT. Disagree a lot with Punch-Out & Ninja Gaiden. I’m confused about the supposed differences between the Tyson & Mr. Dream versions though. There’s no difference in the gameplay.
The impression I get from many in regards to the first TMNT is that it seems to be regarded as the worst of the NES installments. It's not just an AVGN thing. Metroid NES is generally agreed to have its janky aspects. To give credit to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out/Punch-Out: Featuring Mr. Dream, it was an improvement over the arcade installments.
I think TMNT 1 was pretty good and unique. The TMNT 2 Nes game was good too but it was an arcade port, so it didn't have the same amount of originality or creativity as the first game. The first game is more like an adventure game where you explore and hunt for items, and you can switch turtles whenever you want. Its very flawed but you can't say it wasn't ambitious for its time and thats why i like it.
@@Fortefyre yeah, its worth doing that.. NES had 2 more TMNT games: a port of the first arcade and a game in it's style. Well technically it had TMNT Tournament Fighters... but... yeah, about that. XD
@@Fortefyre The arcade version of TMNT: The Arcade Game is obviously the best. The Cowabunga Collection is a good way to play that game. The NES version is a good attempt. However, TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project is an improved version of the previous one. TMNT: Turtles in Time on SNES is the definitive version of the game. The Hyperstone Heist on Genesis is good as well, but is more of its own thing. As for the original arcade version, it's only recommended if you can find a minimum of two other people to play with you. However, having all four players is more so recommended. As for Tournament Fighters on SNES vs Genesis; the SNES version is more fun.
Good video to get views and comments. On topic starting from the top- 1- super mario bros. I somewhat agree. I had this game when I was a little kid, and beat it every day, all day, day in and day out, never die, keep running til I hit all beetles etc. And I thought it was pretty good. That said, I thought it was dated by the time I was playing it (and the stiff game play wasn't as fun as duck tales, castlevania 3 or mario 2 etc) which was about 1989 and '90. And I suppose had I been playing it around 1985 or even '86, maybe I'd have thought differently, but that's how I see it. 2- tmnt- don't agree at all. In fact I think it's underrated because of avgn and the hive mind it created. As a kid, I played it maybe a year after release and we all loved the game.. It is nails, but it's a great game and captures the turtles feel very well for a 1989 game. I can still play it to this day. I understand the frustration, but I still think it's great. 3- battletoads. IDK. I hear the difficulty, and you just give up, but it's still very good. A really high end graphic nes title, and play smooth and has good music. I think it was a bit overrated back in the day, however now, I think it get ssome down votes, so it's about right. 4- super mario bros 2- no way. Not for me anyway. It's one of the best games o the console. Top 5ish. It was the game to get when I was a kid, this and punch out. 5- little samson- It's good. A late release so technically it plays very well, just like a lot of other later releases. I don't think it's as good as ppl try to say it is, which is probably influenced by it's price. 6- rc pro am- I like it. Always have, played it a lot on gameboy. I'm not sure if it's overrated, but it's a top 50 game on the nes for me. If someone said top, I'd think they are either rating it very high, or that they had it as a kid and played it tonne. 7- river city ransom- yeah. it's alright. But I got to it late, so that could affect my rating. I still think double dragon 2 is far better, while some ppl think rcr is better. so yeah I agree I guess. 8- tyson's Punchout- don't agree at all. I was a kid at the time of release, it was great. Very great. Another top 5 ish, maybe top 10 game for me on the nes. 9- metroid- yes. I agree. I even played it a bit as a kid, and just didn't think the graphics, or exploration, or enemies were that great. A bland title for me. I actually really like it's sister game, kid icarus a lot more. That game I'd put in my ten on the console as well. 10- ninja gaiden- yeah I agree. It was just missing something. It's a fine game, it just didn't quite have the draw to it, just a bit generic. It's fine.
Oh man, SMB 1&2, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and Metroid are some of my favorite games. I think Japan did the entire world a favor by not releasing their version of SMB2 in America, I’ve played it and can’t really get into it, it felt like a step sideways whereas the American SMB2 was such a left turn that it became a leap forward for the franchise and prevented it from becoming stale. Plus it introduced great characters into the Mario universe. I will say Metroid’s difficulty level especially without a map is EGREGIOUS. Still love it especially because of the soundtrack. -Cast
Mad respect for your fearless hot takes and putting them out there. Everyone should be bold and put out “their own lists”! I guess I’m surprised that Ghosts and Goblins didn’t make it on and SMB2/Metroid did based on the pattern of reasons for each game. G&G seems super repetitive and difficult for the sake of being difficult, and then it makes you go through it again to see the end. It’s overtly punishing and sadistic to reward you with a cheap screen with typos for a few seconds
That's always the difficulty with subjectivity in these overrated/underrated videos, they are ones that I dread, but they need to be made, it offers forum for people to share their opinions!
Great channel, just found and subscribed the other day. I found my initial reaction in shock, but then shifted to thinking of all the good times I had playing the crap out of these games and grinding away with my friends. Great times. The maps we made, the teamwork with someone scouring magazines for tips. Just can’t be recreated. Yeah, some of these are fun to revisit and it’s a joy to get into the graphics and music again. ..but with limited time and many other systems to experience you have to cut your losses. It doesn’t make sense to grind away in frustration on titles like you mentioned. 👍
Thank you for approaching with an open mind! I truly do appreciate that. Many folks are rude about how they perceive others not liking their game, and I think you'll fit in just fine here! Welcome to the community!
@@Fortefyre You shouldn't, it's actually a really good game. I agree the original didn't age well, but the series worked out the issues you had with it. I've done 100% runs that are under 4 hours to get all the stuff and the best ending multiple times as something I play every couple years. Super Metroid is the game that made me pick Samus as my main character in Smash bros. (Her whole moveset basically came from Super Metroid.)
I think your points are valid, but I played these games during their initial launch windows, so each one that I played at the time still has a nostalgic draw. They're also among the last games that I've added to my retro collection to help round it out. The main reason for that being, I played them to death back in the day. 😆
Gotcha. I think many of those games are appreciated for certain innovations that are unique to that time. I see your points, especially considering you didn’t play them closer to the time of their release.
It’s interesting. As a kid I would’ve said the same as you about Super Mario 1. Mario 3 was infinitely better than the first, but I actually enjoy it better now as an adult than I did as a kid. Still no Mario 3, but I do think SMB1 is good. And again, you are right about how good SMB3 is too, it’s a higher level of quality and designed platformer than pretty well every other game on the NES. Ninja Gaiden is an awesome game… EXECPT that damn knock back and crazy respawn. That is a pain in the bum
I was already a young adult when the NES came out, But I remember years later I told a coworker who considered himself a master gamer, that I beat Tyson’s Punchout both ways, by knockout & decision, and he didn’t believe me, because he never could, I even wrote down the date and time in the instruction manual, also I’ve beaten Ninja Gaiden probably 50 times back in the late 80s, btw the enemies only respawn if you take the slightest step backwards or get knocked backwards by mistiming your slash, And I definitely enjoyed Mario 2 as it was different, but of course Mario3 is the ultimate, I vividly remember how mesmerized I was in my early 20s when I got and played Mario3 upon release, it was awesome! I’m still a gamer in my 50s, but I no longer like to suffer with extremely difficult games, I like to actually relax and have fun.
Zelda 2. Zelda 1 a bit. Metroid. Castlevania 2. TMNT 3. Any NES-era Final Fantasy/Fire Emblem/JRPG really. Advance Wars or whatever its predecessor on the NES was called. Overrated Super Mario Bros 1/2, Ninja Gaiden - definitely not overrated
As someone who lived through the 80s and 90s, you're wrong and right about 50/50. If you ever wanna grab drinks and go over why, I'd be more than happy to do it. ;)
As a kid, I played all of these games as they came out. I can say without a doubt in my mind that not a single one of these games you mentioned is overrated. However, I respect your opinion either way.
I've beaten a lot of games on the NES, but I never kept track of how many. Thought there's more than 760 something games. Makes me think of my number of games beaten is probably smaller than I thought
Mike Tyson’s PunchOut and the non-Tyson PunchOut are the exact same game, with the same timing and everything. The only thing that is different is Mr Dream instead of Tyson, and all he is is a reskin of Tyson with the exact same move set. Kind of hard to enjoy one and not the other since both games are the exact same thing! Haha. That said, love your channel, and have subbed. Keep up the great work bud!
I like how you're playing devil's advocate to some of nes most beloved games. It gives us an opportunity to overlook nostalgia and look at our favorite games from a different perspective. I doubt I will ever find these games overated, but still gives some new retro content that's actually different to watch. Great job!🙂
Holy smokes, I love this channel, but Battletoads is objectively a terrific game. The weeks I spent learning the game were definitely worth it. imho it’s one of the closest things to a 16 bit looking game on the NES. Anyway, Happy New Year and congrats on Partner Program!! 🎉🌟✌️💥
I don’t like it. I think it’s hard but not in a fair way. Contra is a good example of a game that’s difficult but can be mastered with patience. Battletoads is just designed poorly
@@Metallizombie battletoads was designed with great care. Warps for advanced players to skip ahead, enemy and play variety, great controls and animation, lots of levels, creative boss battles. It’s hard but when I finally beat it I was so pumped. Contra is amazing, I was just playing it literally today. Battletoads combines elements of platforming and fast paced action very well.
@@cougar2013 I guess I just don’t see it. I think it’s geared to kill you in cheap ways, especially the vehicle levels. Maybe I’ll have to revisit it and see if my opinion has changed.
Nostalgia clouds a lot of memories. There is a soft spot in my heart for many of these games, but I get it. I agree, Metroid is much more enjoyable with a map. Super Mario Bros was amazing in its day, but later games are much better. Ninja Gaiden was brutal with the knockback, and some people love the challenge, but I'm not that enamored with it. I think I remember hearing something about the restarting thing on the last level as being a mistake in programming. Not sure. Also, I'm not aware of any differences between Mike's version and the other Punch Out, but I could never get to him anyway. And yeah, it is a rhythm game.
Thanks for agreeing with me lmao. It's funny to see general public respond to my videos a certain way, and then see the way twitch streamers who do this everyday respond differently.
Most of the games on your list were extremely popular at the time they were released because they were groundbreaking games that included features that had never been done before. They completely changed the publics perception of what video games could be. I still have my original copies of almost every game on your list (don't have Little Samson) and still go back and play them occasionally because I still find them to be really enjoyable games.
As a kid, I used to rent games and only buy quality games w/ gameplay variety across levels like TMNT and Battletoads. I played the heck out of them. Back when NES was the most powerful computer in the house…
For the time, Super Mario Bros. was not overrated. It was one of the best games available on any home console of the time, and was a perfect introduction to acquire the feel of the NES. It deserves it's place with the royalty of gaming history. Here is where my big but comes in. If you take the entire NES library and remove the nostalgia you get from playing games you played as a kid (I was 8 when the NES came out and so many games seemed like the coolest ever), you are left with the first Super Mario Bros in probably the middle of the pack. Good game? Yes! Great game? No! Would I still be happy to play it? Yes! Mostly for nostalgia sake. I loved TMNT and Ninja Gaiden as a kid. TMNT I never owned, just rented. I didn't have much problem with the dam, but I had to return it before I could beat it. I recently purchased it and look forward to playing it again....with save states😁. I can think of bad NES games, but not too many overrated ones. Maybe Metal Gear or Rushin Attack or Elevator Action or the Golgo 13 games. We all can't love everything everyone else does. I like hearing different opinions because it can bring you a different perspective that can help you understand the love or hate a game gets.
I never played RSR, Little Samson, or Battle Toads - so I can't share my opinion there... But the only game I can agree that was over rated was Punch Out. It was totally a pattern memorization game. The rest of these games are gems. Did you race RC cars? If you did then you'd get the steering mechanics for RC ProAm. I played the Ninja Gaiden series to death. It was a crazy thrill and sense of accomplishment to beat these - and this was back in the day before emulators and save states. A lot of people don't like the OG Metroid but it was revolutionary, and I still replay it every other year. Personally, I don't know that I have a "Most Overrated" list for the NES, but if I did Gyromite would be on it. I bought the deluxe system with my hard earned paper route money because I thought ROB looked cool. What a let down... Also... I don't understand how you can dislike SMB but defend the Lost Levels... but I subscribed anyway.
I will happily watch any of the first 3 or Punchout whenever I see someone speedrunning them. For me personally, I would probably have Z2, Kid Icarus, Rygar, and Chip & Dale on here.
I am so glad to see Metroid here. Metroid I think is the most overrated NES game and maybe the most overrated video game of all time. I didn't start with Metroid. As a child I played a little bit of Metroid 2 and then a little later sometime after the original Super Smash Bros came out but which I played already by then I got Super Metroid which is I think the greatest SNES game ever made. Super Metroid is an amazing game and the map system is so helpful. So maybe for people who aren't already used to the games that came out later the original Metroid might seem amazing, but honestly whenever I've played the original Metroid I just don't enjoy myself. So many rooms look identical to one another and it's really hard to know where you're going. I think it's incredibly stupid that Samus has a pathetic little pea shooter that shoots a shorter distance than how far you can throw a damn rock. At least now there's Metroid zero mission which I did play on the GBA 20 years ago and was a little disappointed with how short it was but remembered still enjoying it and now it's available to play on switch. What's your minds me pretty much my first experience with the original Metroid was actually playing it on Metroid Zero mission because after you beat the campaign on Metroid zero mission you unlocked the original Metroid. Super Mario Bros being overrated actually makes sense to me. I get that it saved the video game industry, but the game as a whole which is a lot of fun yes, it has a lot of levels that are completely identical to one another. Especially when you're doing the hard mode where you're in the Star worlds where literally these levels are 100% identical to one another even down to the enemies themselves. When they were able to release the second game and I know it was on the famicom dish system sure, but when they were able to do that and make every level different with the exception of 7-3 being the same as c-3 and 7-4 being the same as c-4, what's the excuse for having so many levels in the original Super Mario Bros being completely identical to one another? I'm actually surprised that TMNT made the list only because I thought people recognize the game was bad. Look I didn't grow up playing the NES although my older brothers played some NES before I got into playing video games as I grew up with the SNES at N64 as well as Genesis and PS1, but when I finally played TMNT for the NES via the Wii virtual console I did not enjoy it. When it came to TMNT I played the first two games on the Game Boy. The very first game I ever played on the Game Boy was TMNT 2. So much fun! So happy I have TMNT cowabunga collection on my switch. And mind you I know some people will be like oh only people started hating TMNT on the NES thanks to the reviewers out there, but the reviewers have a reason to hate the game so you can't just blame them because actually when I first played TMNT on the NES on my Wii way back I actually wasn't aware of AVGN and I already disliked the game before watching his hilarious reviews of it.
Yeah those games have a tendency to just be irritating as hell, there's a fine line between solid game design and licensed stuff just being shit out. Metroid, well the whole idea of Metroid on the NES irritated me, no concept of understanding where to go was just...unfathomably boring to me.
I don't agree on mario, mario 2. Mario 3 is the goat sure. But mario 2 introduced us to multiple characters, the shy guys, a enemy that is NOT bowser for the 1000 the time. So many great moments.
SMB - Disagree TMNT - This game sold like hotcakes but I don’t think people rate it very highly Battletoads - Agree SMB 2 - Agree Little Samson - Overhyped for sure, I can get behind this one RC Pro Am - Agree RCR - Agree Punch-Out - Hard disagree Metroid - Agree Ninja Gaiden - Disagree Enjoyed this list, and digging the content!
While a few of your picks cut my childhood deeply, I absolutely agree with TMNT and Battletoads. Hard as balls. When I was 8, no one I knew could even get to the Technodrone, much less beat it. And everyone owned that game!
The only game I agree with you on was Battletoads. The game was a lot less battle and more hyper difficult racing/platforming. This was remedied ironically with Battletoads/Double Dragon.
I saw a video by Ryu debunking the difficulty of TMNT. I’ve never understood what’s so great about _Mike Tyson’s Punch Out_ either because it looks boring and it’s been so dissected by speed runners to be nothing more than an overglorified QuickTime event. _Ninja Gaiden_ always seemed kinda dull to me. I’m not a ninja fan and I didn’t grow up with this game so I’m not terribly enticed by it but I understand its love by others. I personally would love to say I could sit down and finally finish _Super Mario Bros. 2_ as I never owned it and could only ever get so far before ultimately having to return it to the rental store having died repeatedly and be sent back to the beginning.
Yeah them's some spicy takes. I get your point on a lot of them. I think more accurately, they aged poorly rather than being over-rated. Except mario 2. that game rules to this day
At first glance, this video seems ubiquitous of UA-cam and a topic that arrives typically throughout the years. But, after listening through your opinions, takes, and ideas, the question that came to my mind is “what does ‘overrated’ mean to Fortefyre?” You‘ve shared comments regarding games aging poorly, difficulty of specific levels, gameplay and entire games, bad “design” decisions by developers, “dumb” games, and even questioned what makes a great game. So I sit here wondering what makes a game ‘overrated’? Does it mean a game that’s ubiquitously loved although incorrectly lauded as “good” or “fun”? Subjectively speaking, this list is hard to agree with. If we look at this era of video games we can see a lot of different kinds of games and a lot experimentation, learning, unique ideas, and more. We certainly can see what we now know as “bad game design”, but we all have to consider that this was a completely new frontier for gaming with new and limited technology. The age before was mainly Atari, and we know that games then consisted of blips and boxes, so evaluating a game like Super Mario Bros as “aging poorly” feels silly when you consider both the technological and cultural impact it made. I can continue on to other games, but my last point about this generation that you may seemed to have missed is the idea that these games were hard on purpose. While yes I can imagine some developers did troll us with difficulty, I think it’s naive to expect that these games were meant to be “accessible” and that which constitutes what makes a game fun tells me that you’re unfairly comparing NES games to perhaps the next generation or even our current generation of gaming where players are typically handheld far too much. In a time when video games at home were a relatively new idea, a lot of these games were hours of fun. There are definitely some bad games that we love and see with rose-tinted glasses at times, to say some of these important classics are overrated is beyond a spicy take, it hints at a bit too much ignorance for me. Thanks for creating this video and opening up a discourse on the best generation of gaming ;)
I LOVE exploring the mindset of 2nd generation, it was truly a frontier of wold thoughts. I didn't want to make this list, calling anything historically overrated is tough, and it was a viewer request lol. Thank you for breaking that down, I appreciate it.
The first Double Dragon. I remember in school everyone was hyped for Double Dragon on the NES because the Arcade one was so popular. It was disappointing because it was 1 player and much of the game was changed.
@@Fortefyre Acclaim created the NES version of Double Dragon 2 and it was much better. One of the best games. In fact it was one of the titles on the NES Classic.
Your content is quite fun (recently suscribed), & I agree a lot with your takes here. I have just one slight request: please check out the volume between the presentation of the video & your voice over exposition. Maybe its just my setup, but I'm watching this at night, while everybody is sleeping, & the intros to every segment explode in loudness, & when I control that, you begin speaking & I have to turn the volume up back again because I can't hear you. Cheers for the content! :)
You know I still to this day struggle with audio balance lmao. I try to keep the background noise on the reveal to around eh...6 dB, and then I tend to knock it back to -8 dB when I speak. I've historically been bad at it lmao. I do want to learn how to it better!
@@Fortefyre I don't know what editing software you're using, but there should be a normalization option. If not, search how to normalize audio with such software. That's the term used in audio editing to balance the db of all the inputs to a same level. Regards from a non English-speaking country (if my wording is weird, I'm sorry 😅)
No you're fine! So the only audio I run through Audition is my voice over, which I use a parametric EQ for, then I use a compressor, and normalize it. But the audio for background music, I just...pop it in lmao.
@@Fortefyre maybe it is a bit of an overwork, but, if you can check the audio signal & contain the height of the spikes, you may control the overall balance of the audio. I may be being too picky, but I think it would improve the outcome. Thanks, again, for your content. :)
The first TMNT games actually good. Ppl hate on it but it was really different when released. They tried some different stuff tried give u a story n make it feel real. It's a foundation for a incredible game if they teaked some stuff... imagine open world n the lvls better designed n little better life quirks fixed. Yes it's tough for kids n 80s but the tech back then was tough. It could been great but we had a blast w it as a kid man....
You should return to Metroid games. They fixed the issues you mentioned with save points, recharge stations, and a map. You just need to remember which areas take what to visit like cold resistance and stuff
I didn't have all these games, but I'll say this. Mario (1) was an early title and it was so much better than the consoles kids had, if they had one at all. Objectively it was not even close to Mario 3 but I think high rankings come from it being people's first game. I thought Turtles was a fine game but I hear people complaining about it being too hard and not fun the whole time. I don't think that makes it overrated; it's just not for everyone. Once you figure it out it's pretty easy. You can toggle between 4 lifebars the whole time after all. I tried Battletoads but I couldn't finish it because it was a loaner. I can see the point here because the speed levels that require a lot of memorization are a bit much, plus the fact you can't save. Mario 2 was a wonderful experience for me, so zany and exotic. Again, a lot of people hate on it, I don't see how that makes it overrated. I'm happy at least you brought up Metroid. It's a slow and uninspiring game and it isn't even hard if you have a map and grind for all the energy tanks. And I hate the vertical jumping.
It's not Japan that thought Mario Bros 2 was too hard. It's the people at Nintendo of America. Too hard and too similar to the first one visually. Howard Philips hated it as he playtested it, and Minoru Arakawa followed his advice and asked Japan to provide something else before Mario Bros 3 came out. (fun fact, our SMB2 and the japanese version of SMB3 came out the same year) Also, there's absolutely no difference between the two versions of Punch Out on the NES aside from the final boss graphics.
While I respect your opinion about what you think is overrated, I did not like that you put two Mario games in this list. Again, it’s your opinion. I don’t agree with it, but I do respect it. Keep doing what you’re doing. I will continue to support your page
10- I Disagree. Super Mario Bros. 1985 was revolutionary and mostly fair. 9- I Agree. TMNT was too punishing. There should’ve been infinite continues. 8- I Agree. BattleToads difficulty is stupid. A waste of a game. Horrible level design. 7-I Disagree. Super Mario 2/Doki Doki Panic is really unique and fun. I like change in my games. It’s hard, but beatable. 6. I Agree. It’s a late platformer that wasn’t that unique, though the graphics were good for NES standards. 5. Never played RC Pro AM 4. I disagree. River City Ransom is a unique Kunio game from Japan that brought something new to the NES. 3. I agree. Mike Tyson’s Punchout can get tedious. It’s a unique NES title, but too much memorization involved makes it frustrating. 2. I agree. The Metroid series is amazing, but the NES one is way too hard. Unlike Mario 1985, Metroid 1 doesn’t hold up. 1. I agree. Ninja Gaiden is unfair and a waste of your time. It’s designed to screw you over with stupid enemy placement. I like the cutscenes, but that doesn’t save the game.
Punch-Out! sold because of more than just Mike Tyson's endorsement. It's a fun game! Throwing punches as Little Mac, the characters you go up against, Doc's coaching, the cartoon artwork... The difficulty increase is too steep by today's standards, but it felt so empowering to beat a boxer for the first time. Bald Bull wrecked me until, out of total desperation, I tried throwing a gut punch during his Bull Charge. And it worked! The game is in my top 10 NES favorites, but it's toward the bottom, somewhere in slots 8-10, because of the intense difficulty increase and my lack of desire to memorize patterns and stay on such high alert. Mario Bros. 1 is the first video game I ever owned. Yes, I'd rather play Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3, but it's engaging enough that if somebody was firing up the game, I'd want to sit down and join them. It's also the only Mario game I've ever beaten. Other than those two, I agree with your list! And even with those two games, I do understand some of your criticisms. Followed.
Where I mostly disagree is some of these games are more underrated, or get more hate than they deserve. Super Mario 2 and Ninja Turtles for example. Not that they aren’t flawed or even arguably bad, I just think to be overrated, they’d need to be more unanimously praised or at least generally praised. But I definitely agree with Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden and especially RC Pro AM. I also agree to a lesser extent with Punch Out and Metroid. Punch Outs hype was also about its great visual presentation for the time and tight controls, but memorizing arbitrary enemy patterns is definitely not beyond criticism. I love Metroid, but it’s unplayable without the Nintendo Power map. You’re wrong about the original Super Mario though. It holds up surprisingly well and is still very playable, but of course it doesn’t hold a candle to 3.
It's easy to call anything overrated from the past as time progresses and things evolve and younger people who may not even have been alive when something blew up in popularity coin overrated. The same can be said for anything in entertainment. Even music albums that changed the landscape of music can be considered overrated by a new generation. Whether someone is a fan of gaming (my kind of people) or a silly fanboy(loyal to one brand) they can't knock the huge impact a game like Super Mario, Sonic, Street Fighter 2, Pacman etc.
@@Fortefyre Yeah , as I get older (over 40) I just look back and enjoy the timelines of stuff. I know certain things didn't age right compared to modern society but I can still put myself in the timeline and enjoy. Will subscribe. Be well
Super Metroid is one of the best games i've ever played, so either Metroid on NES is just inferior or you're not just a fan of exploration platformers.
My opinions: 1) Super Mario Bros - You must be too young to have spent a significant amount of time playing the Atari 2600 or it's contemporaries. Super Mario Bros was beyond anything that came before it. I think it has aged very well. 10 out of 10 when it came out, 7.8 out of 10 in 2024 2) TMNT - I wouldn't say it is overrated because as far as I recall it was considered mediocre back in the day and I don't think that has changed at all. 6.4 out of 10. It would be 6.7 out of 10 without the Dam level. 3) Battletoads - I agree it is overrated. I think that is mostly because it is a great looking game, but that doesn't matter if 80% of those who played it couldn't get past the early part of the game or the turbo tunnel. It was too inaccessible for most. 6.3 out of 10. 6.5 out of 10 if they ditched the turbo tunnels. 4) Mario 2 - I agree it is overrated, mostly because it has Mario in the title but doesn't feel like Mario. and didn't need to be part of the Mario series. I do think Nintendo was smart to give us this as Mario 2 instead of the Japanese Mario 2 which felt more like a ROM hack than an sequel. 7.5 out or 10 or 7.6 out if 10 if "Mario" was not in the title. 5) Little Samson - I agree it is overrated. Being expensive doesn't make it better. From what I played of it I think it is a solid 7 out of 10 but I think there are a lot of better games including the entire Mega Man 1-6 series. I would give it 7.2 out of 10 if it went for under $20 6) RC Pro-Am - Great game. Not overrated. I love the way cars handle, the weapons are fun, being able to upgrade to different cars is cool, it was quite innovative, the graphics and sound are great, etc. Yes, more tracks with different environments would be nice and so would a difficulty selection and password but it is fondly remembered by a lot of people for a reason. 8.6 out of 10 7) River City Ransom - I have mixed feelings. It was genuinely innovative and fun but every time I play I get stuck somewhere and can't figure out what to do. 7.1 out of 10 because I never figured it out but that could just be me being an idiot 8) Punchout - On my top 5 NES list. There was nothing like it and there still isn't. I can understand the criticism about it being a rhythm game, but IMO it's a dang good one. 10 out of 10 for the version with Mike Tyson. 9.9999 out of 10 for the version with Mr. Dream 9) Metroid - Somewhat overrated IMO. I appreciate it's innovation but it hasn't aged well. Without backgrounds everything looks the same. Blaster Master with a password system (or using save states) would have been a much better example of the genre. It is important as a starting point but not great in it's own right. 6.5 out of 10 as it stands. If they added actual backgrounds 6.79 out of 10. if they added a map 7.3 out of 10. If you didn't have to grind to replenish your life and resources after death 7.5 out of 10. If there was a way to teleport around the map sections you have already explored 7.66 out of 10 10) Ninja Gaiden - I am not a fan but have to say not overrated because it's "faults" are generally understood and acknowledged by everyone. The general consensus is that it is a difficult game not for everybody. This is different from battletoads because the difficulty is fair instead of bullshit. You have a chance to improve your Ninja Gaiden ability if you have enough base skill and determination, which is not as much the case with Battletoads IMO. 3 out of 10 for me personally because I suck at it. 7.2 when I take into account that other people are good at it. Just my opinions. I respect the opinions of others so please respect mine.
This is a great review of the titles. It's really difficult to call any game "over-rated" and it was incredibly tough to make this. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me!
@@Fortefyre Not at all! It just makes more sense now. I am 41 (almost 42) and I remember playing SMB2 for the first time. Super different but def fun. Fast Forward like 30 years when I learned what happened behind the scenes to make it what it was and wow. That said, from what I’ve read/watched, it was Nintendo’s US rep that thought that JPs SMB2 was too similar/difficult for us dummies haha.
I forget the guys name lol. But yeah, once I hit 2000 subs, I'm making a special video that explains my mindset, my gaming origin etc, it might not be the most entertaining video, but it'll serve as a catchup for folks who think I'm 20 and playing NES games LMAO.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess… but you lost me by opening with smb… SMB3 is better isn’t an argument, then later on you say Japan smb2 is better than US
Super Mario Bros. did set the standard for how the difficulty scale should be handled for casual games. It's definitely not overrated by any means, since if not for that game, the video game industry likely would've gone down an unthinkable road.
I agree for the most part. I think people would have figured it out eventually, but Mario definitely mitigated the amount of time it took to recover post crash.
@@Fortefyre Yeah, for a console that was infamous for having a lot of hard games, the Super Mario series easily stood out for focusing more on accessibility and fun; something that casual gamers have to feel grateful for. Of course, The Lost Levels was the black sheep of the family; it was deemed too difficult, as Nintendo of America likely didn't want the Super Mario series to go down the same road as the likes of Mega Man, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, and Ghosts 'n Goblins.
About 90 percent of the NES library is overrated simply because of difficulty. The difficulty of most NES games will ruin the experience for most people.
I 100% agree, but I do give them SOME leeway, because with the SMS and NES, they revitalized an industry, but at the same time, they really kicked our butts!
I never owned a NES. I played a couple games on a friend's NES, but coming from Atari joysticks on the Atari, C64, and Amiga, I hated the gamepads. To this day, I've played more NES games through emulation than on the real thing. It pains me to say it, but I'm not the best gamer. I don't have the patience to laern most games enough to beat them. In fact, the only action game that comes to mind as my having beaten it without cheating is the Amiga version of Robocop. That said... Super Mario Bros. - I never liked the inertia based controls. I didn't like the computer ripoff, The Great Gianna Sisters either, for the very same reason. TMNT - I played the Amiga port (which admittedly isn't the best) and got sick of it within a minute or two. Actually, as I recall, there were two different ports of this game from different companies. I didn't like either of them. I just found the game bland.
It’s not out of place at all. Technos Japan developed Double Dragon and River City Ransom and the last two bosses of the game the theme from Double Dtagon does actually play. So yeah, him using this track actually fits perfectly well!
The song IS from River City, but they did use the same theme in Double Dragon. But I used a little psychology to add it in, because I figured it would be a song that folks recognized and made a cognitive connection with :)
This is Awesome!!! Thanks for doing this video! My opinion for my number two and one pick would be Paperboy and Excitebike. I know they got their fans but it's a 10 minute most playtime for me.
@Fortefyre lol nah, you put up great points so at this point it's all up to them if they want to accept it or not. Mario 1 has ALWAYS been slippery and a bit of a mess to control. Also, just because something was done first, doesn't stop it from making it done right with any of these games!
I had fun with mario 2. Learn how to jump through the flying bees. And finding the doors to skip levels. Jumping in quicksand to skip through a level. Using Luigi to jump high and skip through most of some levels.
I've never noticed the subscribe button start glowing at video triggered moments. Trippy. I had to press because it was glowing. Lol. Plus I like retro games.
I can’t see any world where you can call Super Mario Bros overrated. It literally changed gaming. Permanently. It single handedly changed the idea of what a video game even was.
It’s like someone today calling Jimi Hendrix overrated. The dude changed everything.
It's just an opinion lol.
@@Fortefyre I get what you’re going for, but that’s a tough one 😂 I guess I’m saying that I’d buy an argument that Mario 3 is mechanically a “better” game for sure, but Super Mario Bros is in that elite pantheon of landmark titles. It’s rare air up there.
If you remove the historical significance, the game isn't that great anymore. It has aged poorly.
@@inthefade smb1 has objectively aged well. There are still children picking it up today.
Wow. I couldn’t disagree more with just about everything you stated. I think you just had to be in that time period (mid 80’s - early 90’s) to really understand how amazing most of those games were for the time. They could be frustrating but sitting on the couch with a buddy passing the controller back and forth, trying to get to the next level or drawing out a map to find your way, were some of the best times you could have as a kid. We were all united in the school yard in sharing tips just to get a little further in Zelda or copying the guides/ maps in Nintendo Power cuz only one kid had the subscription. We got shit done without Google or auto saves every two minutes. Unfortunately that aspect of gaming has been lost.
I wish I could have been part of that gaming generation, but I was a 90s kid.
I was a part of that generation... And I actually think most of the list is fair!
You know, I do love the Metroid Series - I really do! But when people talk about the OG METROID... It is overrated! I am sorry but it is!
Where I 100% DISAGREED was Super Mario. Bros - That game was the benchmark for great game design! Fair, it not aged well... But its core mechanics are what makes it re-playable! It does Tutorials right! In fat it s a template for how to make a GOOD GAME in ANY GENRE! It is actually shocking how SO FEW have ever looked at what they did so right and emulated it!
The list he made is nearly all games I played, and many of them games I bloody HATED... I could not stand Batltletoads or TMNT... They were STUPIDLY HARD! I never played Ninja Gaiden... I only know it by reputation!
Not to mention NES hard was a thing beating Ninja Gaiden or Batman as a kid was hard as hell and did give you bragging rights well earned same with Double Dragon and Punch Out. There was no easy option in the game menu. I would play Rad Racer until my thumbs blistered and bled trying to get past track 6.
No game faqs or save states back then
@@bartsullivan4866 Being from the UK, it was long time before I ever came across an NES - But even or Microcomputer's were NES hard... :(
Most arcade ports were poor and direct rips of the arcades - meaning they were programmed as if you could put an extra coin in to keep going, when you couldn't!
And much as I hear people talking about Dark Souls and how hard Soulsborne games are - And they are, Those players do not appreciate the quality of life changes they have... We didn't have fancy Six Axis dual analogue controllers... Touch pads and multiple buttons at our fingertips,... We had a two button mouse if we were lucky, A Joystick with two fir buttons that only ever worked as one... and a Keyboard!
I got a copy of "DUNGEON MASTER - RETURN TO CHAOS" as I loved that game on the Atari ST - Well, I managed to get a hold of Chaos Strikes Back... Back in its day, That was our Dark Souls...
... It may seem primitive now! But its was a serious challenge! Going back to play it after decades with modern hardware - F**K ITS HARD! You dont realise how much you miss Modern Controls until you go back...
Technology makes these games seem old hat and weak, but try playing how they were intended and you get an amazing time!
when you're a kid, you had nothing else going on other than the one game you own. You play it for as long as you can if it's remotely good. Kids even play the bad ones. There were no options. Now we have unlimited and FREE library of NES and other retro console games to choose from. Any difficulty you encountered, just quit this game, and start a completely different game. When you're a kid, you're sort of force to go through that difficulty to advance to the next level. You had no other games to play with.
Facts. Especially if you rented them for a week at blockbuster. You just kind of dealt with it.
Absolutely. You keep going since you only got so many games, so if you got a new one you played it in earnest. Difficulty didn't ward off gamers since we were hardened to it at the time. Hard games were just another Tuesday. We just would not take NO for an answer back then. It took a an incredibly broken and/or unfun game to get a NES gamer to thrown in the towel.
And it was a good balance in life as a kid because when you got frustrated and bored of the same games you went outside to ride your bike and play with friends, now the unlimited source of games and the ease of devices to play them makes it impossible to get bored and kids don’t play outside anymore as we used to in the past 🥺
Right, alot of folks don't understand this, nowadays as grown men (and some women) we don't put up with any crap, no where near what we put up with as a child, we don't like something about a game, we cut it off and go to something else, content wasn't so readily available 35-40 years ago, or well during the 8 and 16 bit level. U didn't like something, u hada put up with it, or go draw, or watch some cartoons, or go bother one of your younger siblings/friends, .........
@@Fortefyre Yup and I ended up buying alot of NES games, good ones like Mighty Final Fight, Turtles 3 and a few others, in 1994 or so when they were trying to clear out their NES library to make more space for the SNES/Genesis library. I still remember renting Super Punchout eh about............I'd say 3 times before I finished it, I had alot of trouble with "Hoy Quarlow", he's the old Japanese guy with the "stick" ..........in a boxing match, yes very fair lol., of course, later Nick Bruiser gave me trouble but he was fair, and Narcis Prince, well pretty much the entire "Special" Circuit"....shame they don't remake the one that came out for the Wii, I never got a chance to play it! ...Ahh I've commented here about 4 times now lol. ..Yup, I'm older then you probably and I'm ......."old school" lol
Most of this list boils down to "Everything that's too hard for me to play or beat is extremely overrated."
....I've beaten every game on this list except Little Samson and Battletoads and that's because I haven't streamed them yet.
Welp I got 1:21 in and turned this off. Super Mario Bros overrated? Come on man. Are you upset that the 40 year old game isn’t perfect? Growing up on the NES this is hands down one of the best games for the system. It was the killer app at the NES’s launch. Saying it’s overrated is just absolutely wrong.
👍
@@Fortefyre Stop trying to pretend to be a smartass after making an objectively awful video with legitimately bad takes. You're not as clever or as informed as you think you are.
Someone else may have pointed this out already, but you were wrong about the original SMB2 in terms of Japan not sending it Stateside. They actually sent it to Howard Phillips, who worked at Nintendo of America and often tested games for the North American market, and he made the call to not release it here, stating that it felt like a punishment for being a Mario fan. Moreover, he decided that with the industry just beginning to recover after the great video game crash, it probably wasn’t the best idea to throw a game so difficult out there that people were likely to shy away from it.
howard was right
Howard was 100% right! And he is still right.. That game is torture..
Your right it is . I think I died 48 times before I finished it and it felt like a chore or game design to piss you off rather than enjoy it and that was on the Super Mario Allstar pack @@kenrickkahn
@@bartsullivan4866 The original version is even more difficult. For instance, after you clear world 8, you are tasked with finishing world 9 in one life before you can play worlds A-D. All-Stars removed that stipulation.
Lost me at SMB. That game literally was the beginning of video games as we know them today.
Yes and no. I find the entirety of the mindset behind the 3rd generation of gaming post crash to be important for their own reasons.
I feel like there needs to be more nuance in how this list is presented. I honestly never hear anyone talk about SMB as the best game ever, as in if they could only keep one game and throw away the rest, It would be SMB. I think there's a blurring between a game being great and a game being important
@@Fortefyre Your entire opinion is horrible, very badly stated and your reasoning is still very off the mark. Just admit that your video is bad and your reasoning is awful. I'm still not even entirely convinced that your list isn't intentional trolling and rage bait.
@@thenightstar8312 I'm sorry you feel that way.
For some of us, we saw Ninja Gaiden at the arcades, some like me wasn't good at it and really didn't enjoy it. Then comes the NES version and i was blown away by playing a game that in one since was an epic movie. The story and cut scenes drew you in with intrigue. The music Awesome. And the ending just perfect. The whole 'Feel' of that time just cannot be captured unless one has lived it. I agree on your points but back then we were use to those cheap death moments in games. Liked your overall list, Good job.
Thank you!
I never cared for Ninja Gaiden on the NES and much preferred the arcade. I was kind of like wtf when me and a buddy rented it. I know I'm in the minority in that regard though.
I don't agree with this list, but I appreciate the balls it took to make it. 👍
It was a viewer request, and I love to do those :)
It didn't take balls. It just took somebody trying to say something different, just to ruffle feathers, that's all he did
I disagree with a lot of these, but i really enjoyed seeing your opinions on games i grew up with. Very well made video. Nice job. Subbed.
Glad you enjoyed!
There is an advantage to going back to level 6-1 in Ninja Gaiden. Your special attack won’t be lost when you make it back to the next boss.
I didn't think about that!
While I respect people's opinions - I have to adress 3 of the games why they are NOT overrated and deserves its credit(s):
1. Super Mario Bros (1985) - Super Mario Bros can't ever be overrated. It brough through new grounds and literally changed gaming. Permanently. It single handedly changed the idea of what a video game even was!
2. Battletoads (1991) - While it is mostle represented as a very difficult game (as it is so true), it was a game that Rare made with various genres mixed togheter like non seen before. In heart it is a beat-em up game with platform elements - but it also has puzzle platforming, vehicle racing elements and rotary graphics elements all mixed in one single game that was welded togheter in a working flow. In its port of Amiga CD32, it also included a shoot-em up element (!)
3. Super Mario Bros 2 (1988) - This game can't be said to be a "black cheep" by no means. It was a very amitious sequel that evolved wgat Super Mario Bros had brought up = making new grounds in gaming. In 1988 it challanged the gaming market greatly with its innovative style of graphics, design and ability of unique characters.
Remember, when this came around, Super Mario was not yet established to be a "thing" yet and with that there was no deterrmed formula what made a "Super Mario game" and knowing his creator and Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto, he always wanted his games to be somethingf "new" and "different" = Never a clean copy of uts predesesor.
Yeah it is known it was a sprite change of another Famicom game, but so what? If not, we would for decades not been familiar with Doki-Doki Panic as it was never released in the west anyway and likley not been that investigated by gamers.
Peace.
Great takes!
@@Fortefyre Thank you! Keep up the work !!!!
Idk how anyone can call mario 1 overrated and then turn around and say Mario 2 is worse than The Lost Levels. Spiciest take I've ever heard for an NES game.
TOO HOT FOR TV!
Yeah I agree. Especially since Mario 2 Japan is basically the same as the first game but with harder levels. Most people dunk on the lost levels so I'd say its underrated though, but Mario 2 USA is my favorite Mario game ever and people hate it too just because its a "ROM hack"... yeah but its lots of fun.
Good video, But i wildly disagree with this list. Mario 1 & 2 are still very enjoyable, Gaiden IS still a torture classic and on my book, Punch out is the best game on NES. And how is that expensive 1992 game overrated if only few people have played it?? Ok, those are your opinions, But maybe bit of trolling? 😄
No not trolling, I laid out the reasons why they are all overrated. I promise I wasn't trolling lmao.
I agree with you on River City Ransom. I thought it was just a random, run of the mill fighting game. But you couldn't be more wrong on Super Mario Bros. That was a landmark game that holds up today.
This is the only game on the list I agree with. This game isn’t for me because I hate the rpg elements. I much prefer the upgrade system of double dragon where you fight your way to improving.
Honestly I think Mario 1 is possibly even better than 3. Mario 3 has way too many autoscrollers and mindlessly easy boss fights. Plus it’s kind of a chore to get through the whole game in one sitting; it really could’ve used a password or save system. Still a great game, but it really shows how focused and well-balanced the first game is.
Facts!
I also felt the stages in Mario 3 were short and choppy. Yes it has 90 stages so making the stages longer would not be practical. Also no checkpoints in SMB3 Some stages have you sniped at the end.
I think the one thing the original SMB doesn't get nearly enough credit for is the coin system. It actually holds weight in that game since extra lives are so rare. Coins are almost meaningless in pretty much every Mario game following due to how overly abundant they are. It actually feels good to collect them in the original.
@@evan2902 Oh!? No credit for Level 1-1 literally being a Playable Tutorial without you ever knowing its a tutorial as it doesn't stop you every two seconds to teach you a new button??? How Tutorials SHOULD BE!
Star game, Run forward, Oh look a strange creature - How do I .. Oh I am dead! Lets try again, and Jump, Whoops I hit it and... Oh its Dead! OK So you kill Mushroom guys by jumping on them... And what this Question Mark in the Bricks, OH! POWER UPS! OK that's cool! Oh A Turtle I will just squash him and .. OH CRAP HIS SHELL BOUNCES AND KILLED ME... OK...
The entirety of Level 1-1 is teh Most Basic Tutorial you need! And every Level therein with every new feature it brings in gives you a level where you can get used to the new mechanics without stopping you playing! You are always making progress but also being taught!
These days, Every few steps its "Hey we got something new, Lets teach you how to use it... You cant play the game until you learned it ya know!"
Mario 3 was the worst to me, I love it except for world 8, complete bullshit autoscrollers that arent too hard per say but damn annoying to play though
This feels more like "acclaimed games of the era that are outdated now" and judging by modern standards as opposed to the standards of the era. I will push back on the "SMB2 was too hard for American gamers" narrative because its a half truth. Yes, it was difficult and purposely mean spirited, but another issue was it just looked and sounded like SMB. Since the NES didnt get a national reiease until '86 and started picking up more steam in '87, and SMB was a selling point, they knew they had to wait in releasing SMB2 until '88, at which point SMBJ was very outdated looking, so the other reason they reskinned Doki Doki Panic was because it looked great. Honestly, its the best decision they could have made, otherwise Doki Doki Panic would have just been some forgotten FDS game hyping an tech expo.
This is a great comment, thank you for taking the time to teach me something!
@Fortefyre great video even if i was like "wtf?" sometimes lol I agree that Metroid is really hard to go back to. I'd honestly recommend Super Metroid though, it basically keeps the things you liked about Metroid while fixing most of what you didn't.
@@MCastleberry1980 And "Zero Mission" on the GBA fixes everything else.
The controls of Super Mario Bros are perfect... excellent physics. Stands up to this day.
I really cannot understand your point... controls are cleanly felt.
For some weird reason, it just felt very slippery to me.
@@Fortefyre Mario does have more momentum in the original game than SMB 2 or 3. You see him actually twist his shoulders to change directions before changing direction in the animation. This is a hold over from the Mario bros game. In that game you could only jump sideways if you were running sideways before jumping. If you jump from standing, you only go straight up. They made the physics more realistic in that sense. If you play the Mario bros game, you will instinctively try change direction in the air, and won't be able to. You will find yourself probably dying in situations you would otherwise survive if you were playing the mini game version in SMB 3. (when you press the button on the space with another player, and you need race to 5 enemies or coins, that's the Mario bros game.)
Super Mario bros 1, gave some degree of air control to make you able to platform easier, but they kept the running largely the same as the mario bros game. So I could see you feeling like you slide around more because you do.
RC Pro AM is in an isometric view because you’re controlling a Radio Controlled car. That’s what “RC” stands for. It’s from your point of view. If you’ve ever tried steering an RC car it’s the same kind of learning curve as they recreated in the game. I think it’s actually very well done for the time.
Haha. I know.
I agree with a lot of your points. It's okay to point out flaws and to have unpopular opinions. Here's my unpopular opinion....
SMB2 USA originally had the Fuji TV characters because of Nintendo's deal to deliver a game for them. It started out as a 'Mario style' demo with vertical platform levels before this and is the work of the same team that made SMB1 and SMB3 (music composer, level programmers etc). Nintendo made the right decision to re-localised it as a Mario sequel. It's a Mario sequel in Japan too, originally released by Nintendo as Mario USA on a Famicom cartridge (Japanese NES) and has remained since. It even got a special Satellaview version there. There's a reason Nintendo chose to remake it a launch title for the GBA in Japan and their Lost Levels was relegated to a late release 'Famicom Mini' GBA cartridge.
Nice!
Should have just titled this video: "Let me shit on 10 of the most popular games on NES
I have extra toilet paper if you need it lmao.
Also unfairly. With bad takes. And reasoning that doesn't hold up over the kind of petulant, spiteful whining that most people grow out of when they reach 8 years old.
The only hard disagree I can commit to is SMB. It’s still fun today. Is SMB3 better? Yeah? But it’s still fun. Pinball and darts are old games, but they’re still fun.
Indeed!
I think SMB is the best Mario ever made and the praise is absolutely justified. The later Mario games even if they are great games still introduced too many mechanics that take away the charm of the original game which is its simplicity. SMB is a game that was designed such a way that a 5 year old child can pick it up with ease and that's attributed to its near perfect level design that cleverly teaches the core mechanics to the player instead of spoon feeding them with text. It set the standard for games that would follow.
Good take!
I see the criticisms of these games as valid, but I don't think any of these games is overrated. I still play modern games to this day, and while game design and graphics are much better, the open challenge to gamers in the NES era was fantastic. They designed the games intentionally challenging, and atmospheric due to constraints of memory on chips of the time. The innovation that occurred during the NES and Super NES was perhaps the biggest leap forward in a single console generation. Of course, the jump to 3D was graphically the biggest leap, but the game design philosophy during the aforementioned NES/SNES era changed gaming forever. The subtlety of level design was far more sophisticated than the graphical limitations might indicate.
I don't like calling any game "over-rated", making this list was tough.
@@Fortefyre Thanks for the reply, dude! I've been digging into your channel lately, since your takes are controversial at times ;) While I am able to be more objective about the limitations and problems of NES-era games now in my 40s, there are still a plethora of landmark games that still mostly hold up today. I gotta say, my biggest snag on them is not having save files for your progress, or inputting passwords.
I still play my NES to this day, but usually stick to Super Mario Bros. 3, Tecmo Super Bowl, Mega Man 2-4, The Guardian Legend, Marble Madness, and a few others. I only have about 30 games, but do plan on re-purchasing a few others that I know I will still play.
To me, the best era was the SNES/Genesis games, and I go back to those the most. I did, however, re-acquire an N64 about a year ago, and recently completed Ocarina Of Time for the first time.
Also got a Switch for my birthday last April, and love it! I play Pokemon Violet, and just got Breath Of The Wild and Streets Of Rage 4 for Christmas. Modern gaming is still awesome!
The most overrated NES game is Super Mario 3. Mainly because there's not a single bad review of this game, ever... so it has to be overrated. Its still great though. Even though I prefer Mario 2 (USA) and Mario World.
This logic cannot be questioned, I yield XD
Of the list you gave, there's only one game I think is genuinely guilty of truly being overrated. That is Little Samson. Removing the huge price tag and just playing as a game for the sake of it being a game, it's alright, but nothing that blew my socks off when I sampled it. I played as rom, not someone who spent hundreds of dollars on it. Due to its lack of availability and high price it commands far more attention than it ever would have if it came out a few years earlier in greater quality. This game is guilty as charged.
The rest of this list I feel brings two completely different arguments beyond simply being overrated with how you're presenting them. Camp1, it's highly influential games that I don't feel aged well or Camp 2, Egregiously difficult games that I didn't really enjoy. This doesn't translate into a straight case of them being overrated.
Games like SMB1 and Metroid changed gaming when they were made, there's no if and or buts about it. To argument that makes them the greatest games because of that, I wouldn't agree as being influential doesn't always translate into being the best, as it's often being the first to do it reasonably well. The original Metroid is freaking unplayable by todays standards. Super Metroid and remakes of Metroid add so many much needed quality of life improvements. (Like in game maps.)
As for the really hard NES titles, that was more par the course of the time. I can't say I can view this part objectively as someone who grew up knee deep in these games and just accepted games were going be an uphill battle. Nintendo monetized hardgames with Nintendo power, so they had zero reason to nip this kind of game design in the bud. Most NES titles were in the ballpark of difficult most of your list that talked about being on the hard side. I get if that's not your thing, but games of this era were mostly guilty of being quite hard. It's like if you're don't care pizza, no topping we can offer you really going change your mind on that.
The List
SMB 1- The impact of this game cannot be overstated. Platformers as we know them are direct result of Super mario bros existing. I agree later entries are a more polished experience, but you can't have gotten to those without laying the groundwork. The closet game I can think of knocking on right door before it, was Pitfall for platformers before it(As it actually had an ending). Games when they came to the NES were so much deeper experiences than the Atari or arcade games. Games typically were just doing same thing over and over till you died off and got a high score. NES created a narrative you would see actually play out through the gameplay. SMB 1 has it's flaws, but it go so much right, and while simple game compared to it's later entries, it's still a completely playable game to even new players. (I had my youngest nephew play a bunch of NES mini titles fairly recently, and he enjoyed it a ton even if he died a bunch because his platforming skills were not there yet.) I don't see people overrating it as a game presently(If they rate highly it's probably due to influence). Back in 1985, yeah it deserved to be the gushed about, but it was one of the best games available at the time.
TMNT- The game hard, and the turtles are poorly designed as Don the only one who really holds his own. It's difficulty can be chop down by simply farming scrolls and wrecking the toughest parts. Shredder however is anticlimatic, he's such a pushover compared to the rest of the game. I don't feel like people place super high though in catalogue of NES titles. It usually gets a 7 or some other kind of above average rating. I wouldn't consider it overrated for that reason. I doubt it makes the 10 ten list for too many people for NES games.
Battletoads- I don't see people overrating this one since so many people never got past the 3rd stage. It's probably the hardest fair game there is. The game throws an idea at you, and just keeps tweaking it and ramping it up till you reach the end of the level where it reaches the crescendo and then the level ends. You see this play out with the Turbo Tunnel, as the barriers are pretty slow, and then it gets alittle faster, then they add blue objects that are in the air. It keeps getting faster and faster, and they throw a curve ball with the islands you need hop between. Finally, it reaches breakneck speed to where you need just tap up and down in a rhythm or you will crash. The game always gives you threats that object with in the same frame work of the skills you have to combat it. Its difficulty is a turn off for many, but I still think it's a really high quality game if you can get past that part. I think most people acknowledge this honestly, so I don't feel it's being overrated.
SMB 2(Doki Doki panic)- The Lost levels were just meanspirited far too often. I feel nintendo made the right call by not sending it to us. Yes, the reskin of DDP is a curve ball to the mario series, but so much of this game became part of the series as a result. It's crazy think how many bad guys and traits came from this happy accident. I doubt Mario 3 would made it a point have mario picking up objects if it wasn't for the US SMB 2 happening. It's DNA is all over the following games, so I glad it happened. It's a much better designed game than the Lost levels is. At the time it came out, games really hadn't locked into a formula or series the way they did with time. So having a Links Adventure, Simon's quest, or DDP/SMB 2 wasn't as remotely offputting at the time. People were still experimenting alot with games rather be behold to an exact way a game has to be. Plenty of fans were thrilled be able play as Luigi, The princess and Toad all while them have their own traits. We didn't know any of the background details to this being the US SMB 2, but most players really enjoyed it. Now ignoring the swap factor, I think it holds up well enough.
Lil Samsom- As I said above, guilty as charged. Overrated. Unlike the rest of these titles, it brought nothing new to the table and isn't remotely influential in any meaningful way, so it's just a middle of the road NES title known for it's rarity and high price tag.
RC pro Am- Rare use isometric layouts and controls with a couple NES titles. It was a means of making a game where players could navigate in 3 dimensions. Are the controls tricky at first yes, but they translated into other games besides it. (Cobra triangle, RC PRO Am 2, Super Off Road, Rock N Roll Racing, all used the same driving scheme.) As a first entry, it was a fine game, but I vastly prefer RC PRO AM 2, as I played with 4 players. (We'd use infinite lives with Game genie so no one had quit playing or waste all their money on buying continues and falling even more behind.)Given how many games operated the same way, players were more inclined to adopt and become good at it. Greatest game, no but who calling the best NES title?
River City Random- Beat em ups are always more fun with friends. It definitely brought together the concept of a beat em up/rpg like no game before it had. Yes, later versions of it are better, but comparing PS4 games to NES titles isn't exactly a fair comparison. NES games usually found a way pack alot of gameplay into a small amount of memory.
Punch Out- I have never been the biggest fan, but it was a cool idea for the time. I agree it's not a true sports game by any means, as it's more of an arcade style game how NBA jam or Mario kart aren't pure to their genres either.
Metroid- I wouldn't recommend playing the NES version, I'd say play one of the remakes or just play super metroid. I wouldn't tell someone play Final Fantasy on NES , as the GBA remake is so much better experience. This game guilty of being too ambitious for it's own good, and couldn't quite deliver what it aimed to. Highly influential but didn't age well.
Ninja Gaiden- Yeah it's a really hard game. There's things to curb the difficulty, like art of firewheel helps get through alot of cheap shots. (Like the freaking birds) I'm not a huge fan of these games, but it has unlimited continues, which makes it something you can learn and beat. It's still playable game even if I wouldn't put in my top 10 NES titles. It's quite influential as the story telling was leaps and bounds above what was being done elsewhere, as it made some very impressive cut scenes for the NES.
Great take!
You become a real man after you beat ninja gaiden 😂💯
A single hair grew on my chest after!
@@Fortefyre 💪🏽💯🤣🤣
XD
Are you just trolling with this one?
Ok, after watching this a few times and thinking about some of your points. You are not trolling. I'll still leave my orginal comment in this one. Idk if overrated is the right word. I played most of these games as a kid and only ever beat Super Mario Bros 1 and 2. To this day the only way I able to finish Mario 1 is to turtle tap in 3-1. As far as Mario 2, I am only getting through that game by getting lucky with the slot machines. I say all that just to say that these games are not really over rated, they are just ridiculously difficult as were other games of this era. Other games were just as difficult but not nearly as cool or interesting. Take Friday the 13th for example, or Back to the Future. Both these games were hard and dumb! However, something is just good about Ninja Giaden and TNMT, even though they are difficult as hell. So, I have to agree with all of your points except these games being overrated as they have a firm place in gaming history for a reason. They are just really hard to the point of being almost unplayable with out cheats. And lets be honest, anyone who grew up in the NES era didn't beat most of these games without the game genie. I say all the time "I could play these games as a kid!" But in reality looking back, my NES either stopped working while playing a game (because I kept blowing into the cartridge thinking it would help) or I got fed up afer dying 1000 times by the same stupid enemy that just respawned out of no were because I walked backward 1 inch.
Awesome insight! Yeah making this video was tough, because I don't like calling anything overrated. But it was a viewer request, so I did it :)
Dude dont let the original metroid keep you from the amazing super metroid. Im saying that as someone who played it recently
I'll bear that in mind!
Agree with Metroid & TMNT. Disagree a lot with Punch-Out & Ninja Gaiden. I’m confused about the supposed differences between the Tyson & Mr. Dream versions though. There’s no difference in the gameplay.
Yeah they are the same. I just didn't know if Mike and Dream fought the same.
@@Fortefyre they do. FYI, I really like the channel.
Oh thanks! I appreciate the kind words!
The impression I get from many in regards to the first TMNT is that it seems to be regarded as the worst of the NES installments. It's not just an AVGN thing.
Metroid NES is generally agreed to have its janky aspects.
To give credit to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out/Punch-Out: Featuring Mr. Dream, it was an improvement over the arcade installments.
I've never played any of the other TNMT games, I need to check them out!
I think TMNT 1 was pretty good and unique. The TMNT 2 Nes game was good too but it was an arcade port, so it didn't have the same amount of originality or creativity as the first game. The first game is more like an adventure game where you explore and hunt for items, and you can switch turtles whenever you want. Its very flawed but you can't say it wasn't ambitious for its time and thats why i like it.
@@Fortefyre yeah, its worth doing that.. NES had 2 more TMNT games: a port of the first arcade and a game in it's style. Well technically it had TMNT Tournament Fighters... but... yeah, about that. XD
@@Fortefyre
The arcade version of TMNT: The Arcade Game is obviously the best. The Cowabunga Collection is a good way to play that game. The NES version is a good attempt. However, TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project is an improved version of the previous one.
TMNT: Turtles in Time on SNES is the definitive version of the game. The Hyperstone Heist on Genesis is good as well, but is more of its own thing. As for the original arcade version, it's only recommended if you can find a minimum of two other people to play with you. However, having all four players is more so recommended.
As for Tournament Fighters on SNES vs Genesis; the SNES version is more fun.
Good video to get views and comments. On topic starting from the top-
1- super mario bros. I somewhat agree. I had this game when I was a little kid, and beat it every day, all day, day in and day out, never die, keep running til I hit all beetles etc. And I thought it was pretty good. That said, I thought it was dated by the time I was playing it (and the stiff game play wasn't as fun as duck tales, castlevania 3 or mario 2 etc) which was about 1989 and '90. And I suppose had I been playing it around 1985 or even '86, maybe I'd have thought differently, but that's how I see it.
2- tmnt- don't agree at all. In fact I think it's underrated because of avgn and the hive mind it created. As a kid, I played it maybe a year after release and we all loved the game.. It is nails, but it's a great game and captures the turtles feel very well for a 1989 game. I can still play it to this day. I understand the frustration, but I still think it's great.
3- battletoads. IDK. I hear the difficulty, and you just give up, but it's still very good. A really high end graphic nes title, and play smooth and has good music. I think it was a bit overrated back in the day, however now, I think it get ssome down votes, so it's about right.
4- super mario bros 2- no way. Not for me anyway. It's one of the best games o the console. Top 5ish. It was the game to get when I was a kid, this and punch out.
5- little samson- It's good. A late release so technically it plays very well, just like a lot of other later releases. I don't think it's as good as ppl try to say it is, which is probably influenced by it's price.
6- rc pro am- I like it. Always have, played it a lot on gameboy. I'm not sure if it's overrated, but it's a top 50 game on the nes for me. If someone said top, I'd think they are either rating it very high, or that they had it as a kid and played it tonne.
7- river city ransom- yeah. it's alright. But I got to it late, so that could affect my rating. I still think double dragon 2 is far better, while some ppl think rcr is better. so yeah I agree I guess.
8- tyson's Punchout- don't agree at all. I was a kid at the time of release, it was great. Very great. Another top 5 ish, maybe top 10 game for me on the nes.
9- metroid- yes. I agree. I even played it a bit as a kid, and just didn't think the graphics, or exploration, or enemies were that great. A bland title for me. I actually really like it's sister game, kid icarus a lot more. That game I'd put in my ten on the console as well.
10- ninja gaiden- yeah I agree. It was just missing something. It's a fine game, it just didn't quite have the draw to it, just a bit generic. It's fine.
I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't a viewer request lol.
Oh man, SMB 1&2, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and Metroid are some of my favorite games. I think Japan did the entire world a favor by not releasing their version of SMB2 in America, I’ve played it and can’t really get into it, it felt like a step sideways whereas the American SMB2 was such a left turn that it became a leap forward for the franchise and prevented it from becoming stale. Plus it introduced great characters into the Mario universe. I will say Metroid’s difficulty level especially without a map is EGREGIOUS. Still love it especially because of the soundtrack.
-Cast
Happy New Year Cast! I shot you all an email, my email is fortefyregaming@gmail.com don't know if my dumbass ended up in a spam folder lol.
@@Fortefyre awesome I will check in a bit and get back to you! Happy New Year to you too and congrats again on monetizing!
Mad respect for your fearless hot takes and putting them out there. Everyone should be bold and put out “their own lists”!
I guess I’m surprised that Ghosts and Goblins didn’t make it on and SMB2/Metroid did based on the pattern of reasons for each game. G&G seems super repetitive and difficult for the sake of being difficult, and then it makes you go through it again to see the end. It’s overtly punishing and sadistic to reward you with a cheap screen with typos for a few seconds
That's always the difficulty with subjectivity in these overrated/underrated videos, they are ones that I dread, but they need to be made, it offers forum for people to share their opinions!
Super Mario Bros is the best game ever made
I don't know about that....
Smb3 is the best game ever made
There's no way. Most important game? Sure. Best? I mean....everything about the game was improved upon by most games after it...
Great channel, just found and subscribed the other day.
I found my initial reaction in shock, but then shifted to thinking of all the good times I had playing the crap out of these games and grinding away with my friends. Great times. The maps we made, the teamwork with someone scouring magazines for tips. Just can’t be recreated.
Yeah, some of these are fun to revisit and it’s a joy to get into the graphics and music again.
..but with limited time and many other systems to experience you have to cut your losses. It doesn’t make sense to grind away in frustration on titles like you mentioned. 👍
Thank you for approaching with an open mind! I truly do appreciate that. Many folks are rude about how they perceive others not liking their game, and I think you'll fit in just fine here! Welcome to the community!
You should play Super Metroid. It fixes pretty much all the problems of the first one.
I know, and I'll do it eventually. I just dread it.
@@Fortefyre You shouldn't, it's actually a really good game. I agree the original didn't age well, but the series worked out the issues you had with it. I've done 100% runs that are under 4 hours to get all the stuff and the best ending multiple times as something I play every couple years. Super Metroid is the game that made me pick Samus as my main character in Smash bros. (Her whole moveset basically came from Super Metroid.)
Super Mario Bros. 2 > Super Mario Bros. 2
P.S. Howard Phillips was right.
SM2 WAS THE WORST MARIO HANDS DOWN
I think your points are valid, but I played these games during their initial launch windows, so each one that I played at the time still has a nostalgic draw. They're also among the last games that I've added to my retro collection to help round it out. The main reason for that being, I played them to death back in the day. 😆
Which is exactly what you should do! There's a comfort in going back to those moments that made you happy!
I’m curious, did you play the games you mentioned when they were relatively new, or did you play them recently?
I wasn't born when these were new, but I played them when I was 5-6, and then for the Twitch side of things, I played them within the last 6 years.
Gotcha. I think many of those games are appreciated for certain innovations that are unique to that time. I see your points, especially considering you didn’t play them closer to the time of their release.
They were some of my first exposures to gaming though.
Not even 2 mins into the video and this guy went straight for the juggler calling SMB overrated! Heathen lol
😂 I have firewood for the pyre!
It’s interesting. As a kid I would’ve said the same as you about Super Mario 1. Mario 3 was infinitely better than the first, but I actually enjoy it better now as an adult than I did as a kid. Still no Mario 3, but I do think SMB1 is good.
And again, you are right about how good SMB3 is too, it’s a higher level of quality and designed platformer than pretty well every other game on the NES.
Ninja Gaiden is an awesome game… EXECPT that damn knock back and crazy respawn. That is a pain in the bum
Tropes for days
man..... my head hurts so bad from all the hard facepalming i had to do 🤦🏻♂️ ouch
I do have malpractice insurance LMAO
I was already a young adult when the NES came out, But I remember years later I told a coworker who considered himself a master gamer, that I beat Tyson’s Punchout both ways, by knockout & decision, and he didn’t believe me, because he never could, I even wrote down the date and time in the instruction manual, also I’ve beaten Ninja Gaiden probably 50 times back in the late 80s, btw the enemies only respawn if you take the slightest step backwards or get knocked backwards by mistiming your slash, And I definitely enjoyed Mario 2 as it was different, but of course Mario3 is the ultimate, I vividly remember how mesmerized I was in my early 20s when I got and played Mario3 upon release, it was awesome! I’m still a gamer in my 50s, but I no longer like to suffer with extremely difficult games, I like to actually relax and have fun.
I think as we get older, we just realize we DON'T have to subject ourselves to nonsense like we did when we were younger lol.
Zelda 2. Zelda 1 a bit. Metroid. Castlevania 2. TMNT 3. Any NES-era Final Fantasy/Fire Emblem/JRPG really. Advance Wars or whatever its predecessor on the NES was called. Overrated
Super Mario Bros 1/2, Ninja Gaiden - definitely not overrated
I think it was called Nintendo Wars. I'd have to check.
There's a guy that does a series called debunking the difficulty that makes all these games look easy.
He's not the hero we want, he's the hero we deserve.
@@Fortefyreindeed💁♂️
As someone who lived through the 80s and 90s, you're wrong and right about 50/50. If you ever wanna grab drinks and go over why, I'd be more than happy to do it. ;)
If you're ever in the florida panhandle let me know!
As a kid, I played all of these games as they came out. I can say without a doubt in my mind that not a single one of these games you mentioned is overrated. However, I respect your opinion either way.
I appreciate it! This wasn't an easy video to make!
Wait you judged the entire Metroid franchise based on the first game?
I highly recommend Metroid Zero Mission on GBA to reintroduce you to the series.
I'll get there at some point. I'm just not that great at metroidvanias.
I've beaten a lot of games on the NES, but I never kept track of how many. Thought there's more than 760 something games. Makes me think of my number of games beaten is probably smaller than I thought
768 games were released on the NES. I have around 650+ of them.
Might be time to create your own list:) it would be nice to go back and check out games from a time where life was a little bit easier to live.
Mike Tyson’s PunchOut and the non-Tyson PunchOut are the exact same game, with the same timing and everything. The only thing that is different is Mr Dream instead of Tyson, and all he is is a reskin of Tyson with the exact same move set. Kind of hard to enjoy one and not the other since both games are the exact same thing! Haha. That said, love your channel, and have subbed. Keep up the great work bud!
Thank you so much!
I like how you're playing devil's advocate to some of nes most beloved games. It gives us an opportunity to overlook nostalgia and look at our favorite games from a different perspective. I doubt I will ever find these games overated, but still gives some new retro content that's actually different to watch. Great job!🙂
Thank you for the kind words!
Holy smokes, I love this channel, but Battletoads is objectively a terrific game. The weeks I spent learning the game were definitely worth it. imho it’s one of the closest things to a 16 bit looking game on the NES. Anyway, Happy New Year and congrats on Partner Program!! 🎉🌟✌️💥
I don’t like it. I think it’s hard but not in a fair way. Contra is a good example of a game that’s difficult but can be mastered with patience. Battletoads is just designed poorly
@@Metallizombie battletoads was designed with great care. Warps for advanced players to skip ahead, enemy and play variety, great controls and animation, lots of levels, creative boss battles. It’s hard but when I finally beat it I was so pumped.
Contra is amazing, I was just playing it literally today. Battletoads combines elements of platforming and fast paced action very well.
Fingers crossed! It's from viewers like yourself that made it possible to even apply!
@@cougar2013 I guess I just don’t see it. I think it’s geared to kill you in cheap ways, especially the vehicle levels. Maybe I’ll have to revisit it and see if my opinion has changed.
it's better on the Mega Drive
_I only agree with the NES TMNT._
Otherwise very bad list.
Well we all can't agree :P
Nostalgia clouds a lot of memories. There is a soft spot in my heart for many of these games, but I get it. I agree, Metroid is much more enjoyable with a map. Super Mario Bros was amazing in its day, but later games are much better. Ninja Gaiden was brutal with the knockback, and some people love the challenge, but I'm not that enamored with it. I think I remember hearing something about the restarting thing on the last level as being a mistake in programming. Not sure. Also, I'm not aware of any differences between Mike's version and the other Punch Out, but I could never get to him anyway. And yeah, it is a rhythm game.
Thanks for agreeing with me lmao. It's funny to see general public respond to my videos a certain way, and then see the way twitch streamers who do this everyday respond differently.
So any game you have difficulty with, was a bad game?
No. I've beaten tons of games that are difficult. I look at games as to "why" their difficulty exists.
Most of the games on your list were extremely popular at the time they were released because they were groundbreaking games that included features that had never been done before. They completely changed the publics perception of what video games could be. I still have my original copies of almost every game on your list (don't have Little Samson) and still go back and play them occasionally because I still find them to be really enjoyable games.
Oh absolutely, no doubt about that lol.
As a kid, I used to rent games and only buy quality games w/ gameplay variety across levels like TMNT and Battletoads. I played the heck out of them. Back when NES was the most powerful computer in the house…
This is very true lol
For the time, Super Mario Bros. was not overrated. It was one of the best games available on any home console of the time, and was a perfect introduction to acquire the feel of the NES. It deserves it's place with the royalty of gaming history. Here is where my big but comes in. If you take the entire NES library and remove the nostalgia you get from playing games you played as a kid (I was 8 when the NES came out and so many games seemed like the coolest ever), you are left with the first Super Mario Bros in probably the middle of the pack. Good game? Yes! Great game? No! Would I still be happy to play it? Yes! Mostly for nostalgia sake. I loved TMNT and Ninja Gaiden as a kid. TMNT I never owned, just rented. I didn't have much problem with the dam, but I had to return it before I could beat it. I recently purchased it and look forward to playing it again....with save states😁. I can think of bad NES games, but not too many overrated ones. Maybe Metal Gear or Rushin Attack or Elevator Action or the Golgo 13 games. We all can't love everything everyone else does. I like hearing different opinions because it can bring you a different perspective that can help you understand the love or hate a game gets.
That's a great outlook. 100% SMB is one of the most important games, especially in a post-crash environment.
Hell yeah! I'm all for this concept! However calling Super Mario overrated is insanity!! The rest are all good spicy picks.
I knew this video would be tough, but that's the way it goes!
I never played RSR, Little Samson, or Battle Toads - so I can't share my opinion there... But the only game I can agree that was over rated was Punch Out. It was totally a pattern memorization game. The rest of these games are gems.
Did you race RC cars? If you did then you'd get the steering mechanics for RC ProAm. I played the Ninja Gaiden series to death. It was a crazy thrill and sense of accomplishment to beat these - and this was back in the day before emulators and save states.
A lot of people don't like the OG Metroid but it was revolutionary, and I still replay it every other year.
Personally, I don't know that I have a "Most Overrated" list for the NES, but if I did Gyromite would be on it. I bought the deluxe system with my hard earned paper route money because I thought ROB looked cool. What a let down...
Also... I don't understand how you can dislike SMB but defend the Lost Levels... but I subscribed anyway.
I will happily watch any of the first 3 or Punchout whenever I see someone speedrunning them.
For me personally, I would probably have Z2, Kid Icarus, Rygar, and Chip & Dale on here.
I am so glad to see Metroid here. Metroid I think is the most overrated NES game and maybe the most overrated video game of all time. I didn't start with Metroid. As a child I played a little bit of Metroid 2 and then a little later sometime after the original Super Smash Bros came out but which I played already by then I got Super Metroid which is I think the greatest SNES game ever made. Super Metroid is an amazing game and the map system is so helpful.
So maybe for people who aren't already used to the games that came out later the original Metroid might seem amazing, but honestly whenever I've played the original Metroid I just don't enjoy myself. So many rooms look identical to one another and it's really hard to know where you're going. I think it's incredibly stupid that Samus has a pathetic little pea shooter that shoots a shorter distance than how far you can throw a damn rock. At least now there's Metroid zero mission which I did play on the GBA 20 years ago and was a little disappointed with how short it was but remembered still enjoying it and now it's available to play on switch. What's your minds me pretty much my first experience with the original Metroid was actually playing it on Metroid Zero mission because after you beat the campaign on Metroid zero mission you unlocked the original Metroid.
Super Mario Bros being overrated actually makes sense to me. I get that it saved the video game industry, but the game as a whole which is a lot of fun yes, it has a lot of levels that are completely identical to one another. Especially when you're doing the hard mode where you're in the Star worlds where literally these levels are 100% identical to one another even down to the enemies themselves. When they were able to release the second game and I know it was on the famicom dish system sure, but when they were able to do that and make every level different with the exception of 7-3 being the same as c-3 and 7-4 being the same as c-4, what's the excuse for having so many levels in the original Super Mario Bros being completely identical to one another?
I'm actually surprised that TMNT made the list only because I thought people recognize the game was bad. Look I didn't grow up playing the NES although my older brothers played some NES before I got into playing video games as I grew up with the SNES at N64 as well as Genesis and PS1, but when I finally played TMNT for the NES via the Wii virtual console I did not enjoy it. When it came to TMNT I played the first two games on the Game Boy. The very first game I ever played on the Game Boy was TMNT 2. So much fun! So happy I have TMNT cowabunga collection on my switch.
And mind you I know some people will be like oh only people started hating TMNT on the NES thanks to the reviewers out there, but the reviewers have a reason to hate the game so you can't just blame them because actually when I first played TMNT on the NES on my Wii way back I actually wasn't aware of AVGN and I already disliked the game before watching his hilarious reviews of it.
Yeah those games have a tendency to just be irritating as hell, there's a fine line between solid game design and licensed stuff just being shit out. Metroid, well the whole idea of Metroid on the NES irritated me, no concept of understanding where to go was just...unfathomably boring to me.
I don't agree on mario, mario 2. Mario 3 is the goat sure. But mario 2 introduced us to multiple characters, the shy guys, a enemy that is NOT bowser for the 1000 the time. So many great moments.
Facts
SMB - Disagree
TMNT - This game sold like hotcakes but I don’t think people rate it very highly
Battletoads - Agree
SMB 2 - Agree
Little Samson - Overhyped for sure, I can get behind this one
RC Pro Am - Agree
RCR - Agree
Punch-Out - Hard disagree
Metroid - Agree
Ninja Gaiden - Disagree
Enjoyed this list, and digging the content!
Thank you! I appreciate your opinions on it as well :)
While a few of your picks cut my childhood deeply, I absolutely agree with TMNT and Battletoads. Hard as balls. When I was 8, no one I knew could even get to the Technodrone, much less beat it. And everyone owned that game!
Everyone!
This list is wild...Mario 1 and 2 are NOT over rated...#2 IS UNDERRATED! and Tysons punchout is a top 5 nes game ever....
The only game I agree with you on was Battletoads. The game was a lot less battle and more hyper difficult racing/platforming. This was remedied ironically with Battletoads/Double Dragon.
One day I'll beat it haha.
I saw a video by Ryu debunking the difficulty of TMNT.
I’ve never understood what’s so great about _Mike Tyson’s Punch Out_ either because it looks boring and it’s been so dissected by speed runners to be nothing more than an overglorified QuickTime event.
_Ninja Gaiden_ always seemed kinda dull to me. I’m not a ninja fan and I didn’t grow up with this game so I’m not terribly enticed by it but I understand its love by others.
I personally would love to say I could sit down and finally finish _Super Mario Bros. 2_ as I never owned it and could only ever get so far before ultimately having to return it to the rental store having died repeatedly and be sent back to the beginning.
Give it a shake!
Yeah them's some spicy takes. I get your point on a lot of them. I think more accurately, they aged poorly rather than being over-rated. Except mario 2. that game rules to this day
SPICY.
At first glance, this video seems ubiquitous of UA-cam and a topic that arrives typically throughout the years. But, after listening through your opinions, takes, and ideas, the question that came to my mind is “what does ‘overrated’ mean to Fortefyre?” You‘ve shared comments regarding games aging poorly, difficulty of specific levels, gameplay and entire games, bad “design” decisions by developers, “dumb” games, and even questioned what makes a great game. So I sit here wondering what makes a game ‘overrated’? Does it mean a game that’s ubiquitously loved although incorrectly lauded as “good” or “fun”? Subjectively speaking, this list is hard to agree with.
If we look at this era of video games we can see a lot of different kinds of games and a lot experimentation, learning, unique ideas, and more. We certainly can see what we now know as “bad game design”, but we all have to consider that this was a completely new frontier for gaming with new and limited technology. The age before was mainly Atari, and we know that games then consisted of blips and boxes, so evaluating a game like Super Mario Bros as “aging poorly” feels silly when you consider both the technological and cultural impact it made.
I can continue on to other games, but my last point about this generation that you may seemed to have missed is the idea that these games were hard on purpose. While yes I can imagine some developers did troll us with difficulty, I think it’s naive to expect that these games were meant to be “accessible” and that which constitutes what makes a game fun tells me that you’re unfairly comparing NES games to perhaps the next generation or even our current generation of gaming where players are typically handheld far too much. In a time when video games at home were a relatively new idea, a lot of these games were hours of fun. There are definitely some bad games that we love and see with rose-tinted glasses at times, to say some of these important classics are overrated is beyond a spicy take, it hints at a bit too much ignorance for me.
Thanks for creating this video and opening up a discourse on the best generation of gaming ;)
I LOVE exploring the mindset of 2nd generation, it was truly a frontier of wold thoughts. I didn't want to make this list, calling anything historically overrated is tough, and it was a viewer request lol. Thank you for breaking that down, I appreciate it.
The first Double Dragon. I remember in school everyone was hyped for Double Dragon on the NES because the Arcade one was so popular. It was disappointing because it was 1 player and much of the game was changed.
Oh no!
@@Fortefyre Acclaim created the NES version of Double Dragon 2 and it was much better. One of the best games. In fact it was one of the titles on the NES Classic.
You put Double Dragon's main theme to River City Ransom??
They are the same theme. Technos recycled it.
Your content is quite fun (recently suscribed), & I agree a lot with your takes here. I have just one slight request: please check out the volume between the presentation of the video & your voice over exposition. Maybe its just my setup, but I'm watching this at night, while everybody is sleeping, & the intros to every segment explode in loudness, & when I control that, you begin speaking & I have to turn the volume up back again because I can't hear you.
Cheers for the content! :)
You know I still to this day struggle with audio balance lmao. I try to keep the background noise on the reveal to around eh...6 dB, and then I tend to knock it back to -8 dB when I speak. I've historically been bad at it lmao. I do want to learn how to it better!
@@Fortefyre I don't know what editing software you're using, but there should be a normalization option. If not, search how to normalize audio with such software. That's the term used in audio editing to balance the db of all the inputs to a same level. Regards from a non English-speaking country (if my wording is weird, I'm sorry 😅)
No you're fine! So the only audio I run through Audition is my voice over, which I use a parametric EQ for, then I use a compressor, and normalize it. But the audio for background music, I just...pop it in lmao.
@@Fortefyre maybe it is a bit of an overwork, but, if you can check the audio signal & contain the height of the spikes, you may control the overall balance of the audio. I may be being too picky, but I think it would improve the outcome. Thanks, again, for your content. :)
It's wonderful feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to share it with me!
The first TMNT games actually good. Ppl hate on it but it was really different when released. They tried some different stuff tried give u a story n make it feel real. It's a foundation for a incredible game if they teaked some stuff... imagine open world n the lvls better designed n little better life quirks fixed. Yes it's tough for kids n 80s but the tech back then was tough. It could been great but we had a blast w it as a kid man....
Absolutely!
You should return to Metroid games. They fixed the issues you mentioned with save points, recharge stations, and a map. You just need to remember which areas take what to visit like cold resistance and stuff
Oh I plan to at some point!
I didn't have all these games, but I'll say this. Mario (1) was an early title and it was so much better than the consoles kids had, if they had one at all. Objectively it was not even close to Mario 3 but I think high rankings come from it being people's first game. I thought Turtles was a fine game but I hear people complaining about it being too hard and not fun the whole time. I don't think that makes it overrated; it's just not for everyone. Once you figure it out it's pretty easy. You can toggle between 4 lifebars the whole time after all. I tried Battletoads but I couldn't finish it because it was a loaner. I can see the point here because the speed levels that require a lot of memorization are a bit much, plus the fact you can't save. Mario 2 was a wonderful experience for me, so zany and exotic. Again, a lot of people hate on it, I don't see how that makes it overrated. I'm happy at least you brought up Metroid. It's a slow and uninspiring game and it isn't even hard if you have a map and grind for all the energy tanks. And I hate the vertical jumping.
Great opinion! Thanks for sharing it.
It's not Japan that thought Mario Bros 2 was too hard. It's the people at Nintendo of America. Too hard and too similar to the first one visually. Howard Philips hated it as he playtested it, and Minoru Arakawa followed his advice and asked Japan to provide something else before Mario Bros 3 came out. (fun fact, our SMB2 and the japanese version of SMB3 came out the same year)
Also, there's absolutely no difference between the two versions of Punch Out on the NES aside from the final boss graphics.
Thank you for your insight! I appreciate it!
The Ninja Gaiden punishment going back to stage 6-1 always felt like a kick to the nuts.
A running start kick!
While I respect your opinion about what you think is overrated, I did not like that you put two Mario games in this list. Again, it’s your opinion. I don’t agree with it, but I do respect it. Keep doing what you’re doing. I will continue to support your page
Thank you!
Is this list of games you consider overrated as how they compare to other NES games, or how they've held up in history?
How they compare to other NES games. Historically most of these games are incredibly important.
10- I Disagree. Super Mario Bros. 1985 was revolutionary and mostly fair.
9- I Agree. TMNT was too punishing. There should’ve been infinite continues.
8- I Agree. BattleToads difficulty is stupid. A waste of a game. Horrible level design.
7-I Disagree. Super Mario 2/Doki Doki Panic is really unique and fun. I like change in my games. It’s hard, but beatable.
6. I Agree. It’s a late platformer that wasn’t that unique, though the graphics were good for NES standards.
5. Never played RC Pro AM
4. I disagree. River City Ransom is a unique Kunio game from Japan that brought something new to the NES.
3. I agree. Mike Tyson’s Punchout can get tedious. It’s a unique NES title, but too much memorization involved makes it frustrating.
2. I agree. The Metroid series is amazing, but the NES one is way too hard. Unlike Mario 1985, Metroid 1 doesn’t hold up.
1. I agree. Ninja Gaiden is unfair and a waste of your time. It’s designed to screw you over with stupid enemy placement. I like the cutscenes, but that doesn’t save the game.
Thank you for sharing your breakdown! It means alot to me!
Punch-Out! sold because of more than just Mike Tyson's endorsement. It's a fun game! Throwing punches as Little Mac, the characters you go up against, Doc's coaching, the cartoon artwork... The difficulty increase is too steep by today's standards, but it felt so empowering to beat a boxer for the first time. Bald Bull wrecked me until, out of total desperation, I tried throwing a gut punch during his Bull Charge. And it worked! The game is in my top 10 NES favorites, but it's toward the bottom, somewhere in slots 8-10, because of the intense difficulty increase and my lack of desire to memorize patterns and stay on such high alert.
Mario Bros. 1 is the first video game I ever owned. Yes, I'd rather play Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3, but it's engaging enough that if somebody was firing up the game, I'd want to sit down and join them. It's also the only Mario game I've ever beaten.
Other than those two, I agree with your list! And even with those two games, I do understand some of your criticisms. Followed.
Thank you! I appreciate your insight and welcome to the channel!
Where I mostly disagree is some of these games are more underrated, or get more hate than they deserve. Super Mario 2 and Ninja Turtles for example. Not that they aren’t flawed or even arguably bad, I just think to be overrated, they’d need to be more unanimously praised or at least generally praised. But I definitely agree with Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden and especially RC Pro AM. I also agree to a lesser extent with Punch Out and Metroid. Punch Outs hype was also about its great visual presentation for the time and tight controls, but memorizing arbitrary enemy patterns is definitely not beyond criticism. I love Metroid, but it’s unplayable without the Nintendo Power map. You’re wrong about the original Super Mario though. It holds up surprisingly well and is still very playable, but of course it doesn’t hold a candle to 3.
Thank you for sharing your opinion with me! It means alot!
It's easy to call anything overrated from the past as time progresses and things evolve and younger people who may not even have been alive when something blew up in popularity coin overrated. The same can be said for anything in entertainment. Even music albums that changed the landscape of music can be considered overrated by a new generation. Whether someone is a fan of gaming (my kind of people) or a silly fanboy(loyal to one brand) they can't knock the huge impact a game like Super Mario, Sonic, Street Fighter 2, Pacman etc.
I like your take on this!
@@Fortefyre Yeah , as I get older (over 40) I just look back and enjoy the timelines of stuff. I know certain things didn't age right compared to modern society but I can still put myself in the timeline and enjoy.
Will subscribe. Be well
I personally enjoy the hot takes. Keep em coming. Goldeneye sucked back then and it sucks now!
Perfect Dark was MUCH better lol.
Super Metroid is one of the best games i've ever played, so either Metroid on NES is just inferior or you're not just a fan of exploration platformers.
I'm really not into them no, lmao.
My opinions:
1) Super Mario Bros - You must be too young to have spent a significant amount of time playing the Atari 2600 or it's contemporaries. Super Mario Bros was beyond anything that came before it. I think it has aged very well. 10 out of 10 when it came out, 7.8 out of 10 in 2024
2) TMNT - I wouldn't say it is overrated because as far as I recall it was considered mediocre back in the day and I don't think that has changed at all. 6.4 out of 10. It would be 6.7 out of 10 without the Dam level.
3) Battletoads - I agree it is overrated. I think that is mostly because it is a great looking game, but that doesn't matter if 80% of those who played it couldn't get past the early part of the game or the turbo tunnel. It was too inaccessible for most. 6.3 out of 10. 6.5 out of 10 if they ditched the turbo tunnels.
4) Mario 2 - I agree it is overrated, mostly because it has Mario in the title but doesn't feel like Mario. and didn't need to be part of the Mario series. I do think Nintendo was smart to give us this as Mario 2 instead of the Japanese Mario 2 which felt more like a ROM hack than an sequel. 7.5 out or 10 or 7.6 out if 10 if "Mario" was not in the title.
5) Little Samson - I agree it is overrated. Being expensive doesn't make it better. From what I played of it I think it is a solid 7 out of 10 but I think there are a lot of better games including the entire Mega Man 1-6 series. I would give it 7.2 out of 10 if it went for under $20
6) RC Pro-Am - Great game. Not overrated. I love the way cars handle, the weapons are fun, being able to upgrade to different cars is cool, it was quite innovative, the graphics and sound are great, etc. Yes, more tracks with different environments would be nice and so would a difficulty selection and password but it is fondly remembered by a lot of people for a reason. 8.6 out of 10
7) River City Ransom - I have mixed feelings. It was genuinely innovative and fun but every time I play I get stuck somewhere and can't figure out what to do. 7.1 out of 10 because I never figured it out but that could just be me being an idiot
8) Punchout - On my top 5 NES list. There was nothing like it and there still isn't. I can understand the criticism about it being a rhythm game, but IMO it's a dang good one. 10 out of 10 for the version with Mike Tyson. 9.9999 out of 10 for the version with Mr. Dream
9) Metroid - Somewhat overrated IMO. I appreciate it's innovation but it hasn't aged well. Without backgrounds everything looks the same. Blaster Master with a password system (or using save states) would have been a much better example of the genre. It is important as a starting point but not great in it's own right. 6.5 out of 10 as it stands. If they added actual backgrounds 6.79 out of 10. if they added a map 7.3 out of 10. If you didn't have to grind to replenish your life and resources after death 7.5 out of 10. If there was a way to teleport around the map sections you have already explored 7.66 out of 10
10) Ninja Gaiden - I am not a fan but have to say not overrated because it's "faults" are generally understood and acknowledged by everyone. The general consensus is that it is a difficult game not for everybody. This is different from battletoads because the difficulty is fair instead of bullshit. You have a chance to improve your Ninja Gaiden ability if you have enough base skill and determination, which is not as much the case with Battletoads IMO. 3 out of 10 for me personally because I suck at it. 7.2 when I take into account that other people are good at it.
Just my opinions. I respect the opinions of others so please respect mine.
This is a great review of the titles. It's really difficult to call any game "over-rated" and it was incredibly tough to make this. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me!
How old are you? Will help me understand some takes. Mainly just the SMB2 take. Thanks!
I'm 31! I know my opinion can be stupid lol.
@@Fortefyre Not at all! It just makes more sense now. I am 41 (almost 42) and I remember playing SMB2 for the first time. Super different but def fun. Fast Forward like 30 years when I learned what happened behind the scenes to make it what it was and wow. That said, from what I’ve read/watched, it was Nintendo’s US rep that thought that JPs SMB2 was too similar/difficult for us dummies haha.
I forget the guys name lol. But yeah, once I hit 2000 subs, I'm making a special video that explains my mindset, my gaming origin etc, it might not be the most entertaining video, but it'll serve as a catchup for folks who think I'm 20 and playing NES games LMAO.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess… but you lost me by opening with smb… SMB3 is better isn’t an argument, then later on you say Japan smb2 is better than US
Just an opinion lol.
Super Mario Bros. did set the standard for how the difficulty scale should be handled for casual games. It's definitely not overrated by any means, since if not for that game, the video game industry likely would've gone down an unthinkable road.
I agree for the most part. I think people would have figured it out eventually, but Mario definitely mitigated the amount of time it took to recover post crash.
@@Fortefyre Yeah, for a console that was infamous for having a lot of hard games, the Super Mario series easily stood out for focusing more on accessibility and fun; something that casual gamers have to feel grateful for. Of course, The Lost Levels was the black sheep of the family; it was deemed too difficult, as Nintendo of America likely didn't want the Super Mario series to go down the same road as the likes of Mega Man, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, and Ghosts 'n Goblins.
About 90 percent of the NES library is overrated simply because of difficulty. The difficulty of most NES games will ruin the experience for most people.
I 100% agree, but I do give them SOME leeway, because with the SMS and NES, they revitalized an industry, but at the same time, they really kicked our butts!
Damn, i strongly disagree with all your picks except rc-pro am. That beong said, i like how your opinions are certainly not boring.
Thank you!
I never owned a NES. I played a couple games on a friend's NES, but coming from Atari joysticks on the Atari, C64, and Amiga, I hated the gamepads. To this day, I've played more NES games through emulation than on the real thing. It pains me to say it, but I'm not the best gamer. I don't have the patience to laern most games enough to beat them. In fact, the only action game that comes to mind as my having beaten it without cheating is the Amiga version of Robocop. That said...
Super Mario Bros. - I never liked the inertia based controls. I didn't like the computer ripoff, The Great Gianna Sisters either, for the very same reason.
TMNT - I played the Amiga port (which admittedly isn't the best) and got sick of it within a minute or two. Actually, as I recall, there were two different ports of this game from different companies. I didn't like either of them. I just found the game bland.
Interesting!
Is that the Double Dragon theme with River City Ransom?
It is :) It occurs when you fight the Dragon Twins in RCR.
i like how you were just like "f*** it, I'm using the Double Dragon Theme" for River City Ransom
You are the ONLY person who found that Easter egg! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
It’s not out of place at all. Technos Japan developed Double Dragon and River City Ransom and the last two bosses of the game the theme from Double Dtagon does actually play.
So yeah, him using this track actually fits perfectly well!
The song IS from River City, but they did use the same theme in Double Dragon. But I used a little psychology to add it in, because I figured it would be a song that folks recognized and made a cognitive connection with :)
This is Awesome!!! Thanks for doing this video! My opinion for my number two and one pick would be Paperboy and Excitebike. I know they got their fans but it's a 10 minute most playtime for me.
I blame you for all the mean comments XD
@Fortefyre lol nah, you put up great points so at this point it's all up to them if they want to accept it or not. Mario 1 has ALWAYS been slippery and a bit of a mess to control. Also, just because something was done first, doesn't stop it from making it done right with any of these games!
I had fun with mario 2. Learn how to jump through the flying bees. And finding the doors to skip levels. Jumping in quicksand to skip through a level. Using Luigi to jump high and skip through most of some levels.
It is cryptic but clever!
I've never noticed the subscribe button start glowing at video triggered moments. Trippy. I had to press because it was glowing. Lol. Plus I like retro games.
I didn't even realize that lol!