When I wrote that bit, I felt like people wouldn't believe me for saying it, haha... knowing they were in there and could get me at any time just kept me on edge and excited and paying attention rather than just roaming around feeling bored.
River City Ransom was my go to game when I had friends over. When netplay came to the emulators I fell in love with it again playing with tons of random folks from forums.
bought the Hockey game of the series for my Famicom... had played it on emulator around 2000 and needed that in my life, MORE than River City Ransom. But I also got RCR last year for NES :D Still love Nintendo World Cup the most though for these characters and love Super Dodge Ball !!
@@Gatorade69 It's considered a remake, it's called River City Ransom EX. It's got quality of life improvements like an expanded moveset and battery backup to save character progress and there's also an optional boss fight against the Lee brothers from Double Dragon.
Yesss I love@@hungrygoriya 's transitions! Also in another video, you did a similar thing with boxes sliding in alternating directions for each game - very nice touch
You have very quickly become one of my favorite retro game channels. Starting with the best password screen song down doesn’t hurt. Thanks for another great one!
Wow, I'm so used to Goriya knowing such obscure hidden gem games that when I heard this was a list all about games you hadn't heard of, i expected some real, real niche stuff. Turns out I not only knew most of the games on this list, but I anticipated a few of them just based on their music! Incredible.
I've gotta mix it up once in a while eh? These are all games I played starting back in 2018 and never reviewed, and I've been itching to give them their due for a long while. This format felt right to me!
Thank you for posting this when you did! The first game in the list is a game I been trying to hunt for descriptor words to tell my friends about my entire 38 years on earth. Thank you for finally reuniting me with Guardian Legend.
Kid icarus was so far ahead of its time, it deserves a lot more praise and could probably have an entire video just on the complexity it has. Would like to see a video on StarTropics, this was my Aunt's favorite game and I have fond memories of playing it with her when I was a child, it's a very clever game and at the time, we didn't have the instruction manual, so she literally brute forced the code to progress like a boss, starting at 001 going up...just nuts.
If I truly understood all the ins and outs of how that game works, I'd be happy to review it more fully. That was my biggest hesitation for not spending an entire individual video on it. All of the stuff is hidden away and I have no idea how any of it works except through hearsay. Your aunt sounds like a real trooper, haha... good for her for pushing through like that!
I can also tell DW Duck was a Capcom game. The way the bullets bounce off of the enemies is a direct rip from Megaman. You should try that series. Megaman 2 is my favorite on NES, but Megaman 3 is often other people's favorite.
I looooved Blaster Master. I talked about it in my 8 Hardest NES Games video from a few months ago, and I tried to make this one about games I'd never discussed on the channel before. If I opened it up to all my favourite NES games here, this would've been hours long! Great choice!
YES! That side scrolling train level on Nemo drives me crazy. That's about where I always wind up quitting too. I have fond memories of this game from my childhood, now in my forties I found a used cart at my local game store... And I still love it, but man! That blasted level.
Haha I'm glad it's not just me that got mad and huffed away frustrated over the train level. I didn't play it for almost a decade out of principle, but a friend of mine encouraged me to give it a try again and I ended up loving it. I hope you can get past the train someday. I won't say it gets easier from there, but that's definitely one of the harder stages for me to get through.
The moment you asked for suggestions at the beginning of the video, I thought "GUARDIAN LEGEND!" and look what game you started with! Zelda + Lifeforce. It's nice to know that other gamers appreciate how good it is.
Plus, you can tell it was made by the same team that did Govelious on the Sega Master System, even having the same mascot Randar (the blue ball guy). Govelious is a little... lesser, than Guardian Legend, but that game captured my attention as a boy until Ys III stole it away.
@@ChargeQM Guardian legend is basically a sequel to Guardic, a vertical shoot em up, in Japan it's called Guardic Gaiden. It's made by Compile, which was the king of shmups in the 80s and 90s.
Strange, I was just reminded of Little Nemo for the first time in years earlier today, and I spent an hour listening to the soundtrack. What a coincidence!
@@hungrygoriya Nemo's House and Nightmare Land are my favorite stage music, but I think my overall favorite is the little jingle that plays when Nemo is asleep between levels lol
Back in middle school me and my best friend used to rent River City Ransom over and on Fridays and spend the whole weekend just causing mayhem. We never beat it, it was just a blast to beat up everyone and hear that satisfying money-collect sound. I think I always overlooked Xexys because I kept mistaking it for Xevious....
Oh the sound effects in RCR are really good! I agree! And you know what? Until I played Xexyz and put some personal experience to its name, I also always confused it with Xevious!
Your channel is honestly the best retro gaming channel on youtube and it has been for years. It looks like it's becoming more popular and recognized too. Well deserved! Also, Darkwing Duck is one of my all time favorite games
That's very nice of you to say! I'm really glad people are enjoying my videos here. This and livestreaming have both been very fulfilling hobbies for me and I'm really grateful for the experiences I've had and the people I've met doing it. Darkwing Duck was awesome! It was unexpectedly quick but still a lot of fun to play through. And I loved the controls too!
StarTropics is amazing and I'm surprised not many people I talk to seem to know about it. If anyone reading this hasn't gotten around to the sequel but liked the first one, it's definitely a must play as well.
I've tried to get into the sequel a few times and it has never stuck. I think I just love the first one too much and am always disappointed it's not exactly more of that! One day I hope to give it a full go.
I thought it was fantastic. Very trolly and mean, but I find that stuff hilarious rather than frustrating. I've yet to play the sequel, but it's definitely something I'm interested in trying someday.
Man, Faxanadu is still one of my absolute favorite NES games, the soundtrack is just *chef's kiss*! Nemo, also, absolutely made me rage quit on that stupid train level as a kid. Usually because id make it to the end and find out id missed one of the keys. Wizards & Warriors was a neat play. Took me FOREVER to beat it, but once i figured out that the kick was actually SUPER OP it wasnt as bad. W&W2 was a bit rougher around the edges but still fun, 3 however was a nightmare. It had AMAZING ideas at the time, but executed them kinda poorly. Xexyz was another game that almost nobody seemed to have heard of when i was a kid, but was fantastic
I'm really glad I'm not the only person who rage quit Little Nemo! I'm glad you liked W&W and Xexyz too. There's a lot of charm and mystery in both of those ones. I hope more folks will try them out soon. They're both good in their own way!
I'm pretty sure as a kid, I had nightmares about eggplant wizard rooms that I've suppressed over the years. Some of my earliest rage quits. But level 2 was a lot of fun. Also, I vote for a Magic of Scheherazade video!
the eggplant rooms are nerve racking! kid icarus was one of my favs as a kid, and i actually spent so much time in order to defeat medusa. was and is a satisfying event in my life. but screw having to run to the nurse to get cured of eggplantism!
Awesome choices!! As a kid I had Darkwing Duck(and the Rockman hack), also Adventure Island 3, Vice Project Doom, River City Ramson but all 3 japanese bootlegs and played them on black and White tv with VHF conecction. It didin´t matter as long as I could play and have fun. Here in Argentina, back in the day, an original game and/or console it was kind of a rare thing to see. The only thing you'll find were famicom knockoffs. It was super fun tradring cartridges with the kids in the neighborhood. Another of my favorites are Jackal, Boku Drakula Kun, Wherewolf The Last Warrior and "Robocop 3" but it was Tokkyu Shirei Solbrain.
Oh nice! Your extended list there has some games I'm really curious to try, especially Jackal! And I've heard about a lot of bootlegs and knockoffs in your part of the world. My best friend growing up had a Famicom knockoff cartridge that we played a ton. It was a 72-in-1 and it had so much good stuff on it! I'm glad you still got exposed to so many games despite not having the actual system back then.
I did not discover Guardian Legend until I was an adult but could only imagine the hours I would’ve spent playing it in my younger years. As far as wizard and warrior, I rented this game so many times at my local video store. The cover art drew me in and the hours that myself, my brother and father played it were probably into triple digits. Another great video! Love your channel!
I think I would've also really enjoyed The Guardian Legend as a kid. Maybe I would've developed some shooter skills back then to carry over to my adult years! Wizards & Warriors was just good clean fun to me. There was nothing egregious about it. Something about the music really drew me in as well! And thanks very much :) I appreciate you saying so!
They're both fantastic games. I especially love Little Nemo. It's so easy to pick up and play! The Guardian Legend is amazing and I need to replay it soon!
Oh, dang. I'd love to see a review of Magic of Scheherazade. And I'm glad to see you greatly enjoyed The Guardian Legend, as I only tried out the game a couple of years ago and found its combination of vertical shooter and top-down exploration to be both fresh and fun.
Of the four on the poll I created, that's the one I'm the furthest along in writing about. I'm curious to see how the results turn out, but that's a game I've rarely seen talked about and would love to cover. The Immortal too! Crystalis and StarTropics are both great but they've seen a lot more discussion over the years.
Just here for River City Ransom, and Adventure Island! Those are two of my favourites too! And though it might be a bit late for recommendations, I suggest giving Panic Restaurant a go!
They're both awesome games! And Panic Restaurant eh? I think I've seen a few people playing that one and it looks very cute. I'll see what I can do to give it a spin sometime. I don't think I'll ever own a physical copy due to how expensive it is.
Thanks very much! I've been trying to mix it up once in a while here, especially since there are so many games I've played but haven't had time to review. This was a good way to discuss a few titles I didn't really have a ton to say about.
I hope you enjoy Adventure Island 3. I thought it was more of the same as 2 but slightly more polished in some ways. Definitely keeps the difficulty high, but it was really rewarding to work through. And thank you so much!
I was about to also mention vice project doom but whan i looked at the time stamps i was suprised to see its already ther! Truely one of my top favorite games
The Guardian Legend holds up so well, especially since no game since has really scratched the same itch. Also helps that the heroine is so absurdly cool
It's pretty unique eh? I wish there was some kind of sequel or another game in its style. And the heroine's pretty great. I saw the Japanese cover art for the first time recently and it's gorgeous!
@@hungrygoriya yeah, now that we've had modern revivals of other 8 bit classics like Kid Icarus, Wonder Boy, Streets of Rage etc. I really feel like we're missing out on some kind of Guardian Legend sequel or reboot
River City Ransom is a game I come back to again and again; It was an open world sandbox before those were really a thing. I always loved how you level up your stats not buy tedious battles, but buy buying items in the shopping centers located around town. If you liked W&W, the sequels are even better(Ironsword is my personal favorite). And if you loved Darkwing Duck, you should check out the Rescue Rangers games. Edit: Spelling.
Having money replace experience points is a really keen way to do leveling up in a game, lets you choose for yourself how badly you need to upgrade your stats.
It was certainly neat being able to pick and choose which of your stats you developed. Could grind octopus sushi at the Grotto Mall for weapon damage one playthrough and save up for the expensive boots for big kicking power the next. =)
River City Ransom had some really neat mechanics in it but you're definitely right about how it's a neat open world experience. You can go anywhere if you can live long enough! I've actually beaten Ironsword long ago, but I cheated so I don't count it. I did some password manipulation to get more lives after the game stops letting you continue, haha... I need to do it legitimately one of these days. And I've played a little bit of Chip & Dale, but haven't gotten too far in it. Never touched the sequel either. Thanks for the suggestions!
@@hungrygoriya I could not have gotten through the NES era without a game genie. I literally sold my NES and games after some kid absconded with said cheat device (not sure why it didn't occur to me to buy a new one) and I found i couldn't beat any levels anymore. I don't blame anyone one bit for cheating on older stuff. especially in the 16-bit era when games were deliberately made unfair, to stop people from just renting them.
Cher-a-zod-e is a hidden gem, Immortal has great music, StarTropics needs bonus sheet for frequency, Crystalis one of the best RPGs for the NES, with music that is top notch!
The Guardian Legend has inspired my imagination. Coming from the Atari, I was accustomed to filling in the gaps of a game that the technology would have to leave. The Guardian Legend has more going on than is being shown, and it makes my head tell stories.
I wish I'd started on the Atari just to have had this experience. I did dabble in some Vic20 back in the day though, but that was at the same time as I was playing NES. It would've been an awesome experience to have that "awakening" in this context.
Discovering games you love as an adult is always a little bittersweet for me, as I always have it in the back of my mind that I wish I knew it existed when I was a kid :(
I hear this! I do also look to the "better late than never" idea to reassure myself that there are still lots of good experiences to have, even as an adult.
So refreshing to see such an honest take on some obscure NES classics. Loved this, and appreciate the insight on each game! :D EDIT: Relatively obscure, I should say :P
Hey thanks man! I've been wanting to talk about most of these games for ages, but didn't really have enough to say for a full review. This was a good way to discuss them I think! Thanks for making the time to watch :)
Nice to see some retro gaming content come across my feed. I loved many of these games. Dream Master, Darkwing Duck, and River City Ransom were some of my favorites back in the day. Xexyz was the only one on this list I had never heard of. I would love to see a video on Startropics! I absolutely adored Startropics and Startropics 2!
Hooray! I'm glad you found me here and that you had such positive experiences with some of these titles. I hope to eventually review all four of the games at the end of the video here, and it looks like Crystalis is up first. StarTropics was an absolute joy to play so I'll be glad to speak on it when the time comes.
Fun video, Grumbles.. you know how I feel about NES and most of these are near and dear to my heart as well. I'm glad you've enjoyed experiencing these amazing adventures and that they now live in your heart now too :)
I'm slowly getting more & more into the NES library, and some of these games look great! Crystalis and Little Nemo were already on my list, too :) I just found your channel today, and I'm excited! Not only are the games retro, but your style and positive engagement feels very "retro youtube." I admire the thoughtfulness and passion evident in your videos.
Hey thanks so much for your kindness. I'm a hobbyist and have loved games since I was a kid, so it's nice to be able to share my experiences with everyone here. I hope you find some real gems in your search through the NES library. This video covers a few of my favourites I haven't talked about in other videos, but there are some other great games I loved too, like Legacy of the Wizard, Blaster Master, The Battle of Olympus, Solstice, and many many more. The NES has definitely delivered the most exciting experiences so far.
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River City Ramsom is such a great game. IMO the best 8-bit 2 player co-op with Double Dragon
@@hungrygoriya If you are to play any of them pick the second one. It improves on the first and the third is way, way too hard and unforgiving. In the last half of Double Dragon II it becomes a platformer and can be pretty infuriating but It's still great fun, especially that level in the helicopter. The second game has 2 player, the first actually doesn't have 2 player support.
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@@Gatorade69 The version for Master System has 2 players and it fantastic👌
@@Gatorade69 Good to know! Did you know that the Master System version of Double Dragon has 2 player co-op? It feels a little janky though... I only tried it for a few minutes!
Thanks very much! I like putting out something a bit different every once in a while. I first learned about Adventure Island 3 watching a streamer playing it one day, but not paying close enough attention to notice it wasn't the second game at first. And when they ducked, I was like "OH REALLY" and I immediately started looking for it, haha
I loved the Eggplant Wizards too! So fun. XD Excited to see you go through Star Tropics. That was a big source of enjoyment for me on the NES when I was younger! Crystalis too I think you'll really enjoy fully. Here's another 9 games you might enjoy that share similarities with the ones on your list and my apologies if I've forgotten that you've played some of them already: Air Fortress Conquest of the Crystal Palace Codename: Viper Ninja Gaiden II Power Blade Shatterhand Whomp 'Em Little Samson Strider Wizards & Warriors II: Ironsword is a bonus 10th on the list just because I'd be surprised if you hadn't played that yet if you enjoyed the first game. Maybe you mentioned it before and I forgot.
What a fantastic list!! Thanks so much for the suggestions here. I think I own most of those outside of Little Samson, and of the ones I've only played a little bit of, I haven't come close to beating yet. I did play Ironsword through to the end but had to cheat to win. I manipulated my password to give me more lives when the game stopped letting me continues, but I need to sit down with it again someday and do it legitimately!
Wizards & Warriors was one of the first games I ever got for the NES. Had a ton of fun with it. Also River City Ransom was always a blast with my brother. Among those games at the end I personally liked Star Tropics the best but Crystalis is also fun. Other games to consider are Karnov (tough but fun), Clash at Demonhead (hilarious and well out together), and GI Joe the Atlantis Factor (much more to it than I'd have first thought). Happy gaming!
It's great that you got to experience some of these as a kid. I'm glad I eventually got around to them. Did you happen to vote in the poll I posted about the game choice? I thought it'd be easier for me than trying to tally comments, but there's nearly a three-way tie. So funny! I've played Clash at Demonhead, but not Karnov or the second GI Joe game. Funny, I just finished the first GI Joe a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the suggestions!
I'm ashamed to admit that the only one on this list I've played is Darkwing Duck. The NES era Capcom games were always excellent, especially Bionic Commando. I remember my jaw dropping when I saw what happens to Master D. If you want to try something a bit different, give Metal Storm a try. It's a run & gun in the vein on Contra, but you play a mech that can invert gravity. And I'd love to see your take on Crystalis, as it's something I've been curious to try. Excellent vid, and keep up the great work!
Darkwing Duck's a great game, and it's cool that you got to play it. I didn't get around to it until a couple of years ago but liked it quite a bit. I just picked up a copy of Metal Storm a month or two ago now, so I'll definitely move that up the list. Noted your vote for Crystalis. Thanks for your kind words :)
Right on! The Immortal and StarTropics are pretty neck in neck with Crystalis at the moment. I'm going to eventually review them all, but I'll see which one comes out on top to prioritize here. I've never played Solomon's Key. That's the single-screen puzzle game eh? I'd like to try it out someday.
River City Ransom was a childhood favorite for me. As for great retro games discovered as an adult, I owe you my gratitude for bringing Faxanadu and Rygar to my attention. Of the games you showed at the end, I'd love to see a review of Crystalis next!
River City Ransom was so great. I wish it was a bit longer honestly, but with the guide, it went by pretty quick. I'm always glad to bring some others over to game I enjoy an awful lot. Especially Faxanadu! Thanks for giving the game a shot and coming out a believer :) Crystalis is in the lead, so you might just get your wish! Thanks for the thoughtful reply here.
The Guardian Legend looks very similar to Golvellius (great game) for the Sega Master System. I looked it up and they are made by the same developer (Compile). I will have to check this game out.
Thanks for the great video. I would love to see a review for all 4 of those games they are amazing titles. Some games I would recommend if you haven't played them are Ghost Lion, Dungeon Magic, Arkista's Ring, Blaster Master, A Boy and His Blob, Maniac Manson, GI Joe (Both are Great), Solar Jetman, Batman, Shadow Gate, Déjà vu, and Uninvited. Those are few I would recommend. My apologies if you have already played them.
Oooo this is a fantastic list! And no need to apologize. From your list there, I've played Arkista's ring (first loop), Blaster Master, Maniac Mansion, Shadowgate, and the first GI Joe. The rest of those are phenomenal recommendations though! Thanks so much!
Ooo, this is a solid list! Almost every NES game I've played besides Felix, Kirby and Mario have been as a teen/adult discovering them long after the fact. Adventure Island 3 and Little Nemo are among my most-wanted NES games, Guardian Legend I actually found at a thrift shop a few years ago for a really good price! Vice: Project Doom and River City Ransom are available as part of the NES Collection on Nintendo Switch Online, plus River City is not only available on almost every digital store, but is still getting new sequels and spin-offs to this day! A lot of them are really solid, too. In addition, Darkwing Duck is available on PS4, Xbox and PC as part of the excellent Disney Afternoon Collection, along with both Chip n'Dale and Ducktales games! My pick for the next game I'd want to see a review on would be Crystalis. It's a game I hope to play soon, myself!
I'm glad I'm not alone in coming to so many games later in life! And it's really awesome that so many games have become available again on different services over the years. Anything that gets people playing games is good in my books! I don't think I knew about this Disney Afternoon Collection. I have a snowball's chance in hell of ever owning Chip & Dale 2 or DuckTales 2, so I might just have to look into that. Thank you for the info, and for your vote. Crystalis is just barely winning my poll so I think that's going to be the winner. Always good chatting with you :) Thanks for stopping by here!
A full video on Startropics would be amazing. As a kid, I couldn't get past the graveyard! I played some later stages, though, at a friend's house. When people think of "quirky" in gaming Earthbound comes up a lot. I go to Startropics. It's such lighthearted fun, for the most part haha.
You know where I got stuck? In the submarine area because I didn't know how to dive at first, haha... I thought StarTropics was fantastic in a lot of ways and really enjoyed its sense of humour. I can see why you feel it's quirky. It's also trolly and very mean at times, which can be funny in their own ways too.
Fire and Ice is an awesome puzzle platformer and one of my favorite games growing up, if you haven't played it. Unfortunately it's price has exploded with the speculation market, so you might have to settle for a repro cart or an "any way you can" solution
I've been intrigued by Fire and Ice, but yeah... the price is not so great. I'll keep an eye out though! I still need to find a copy of Solomon's Key and give that a try.
Wow, great list! So glad to see Guardian Legend getting some love. That opening track has to be one of the most iconic tunes on the NES. I remember being blown away by this game nearly 30 years ago and it still holds up nicely today. Now I need to dig out my console and try a few of those other ones that I missed along the way. I think that I mentioned it before, but if you like these kind of games, give Flying Warriors a shot.
The Guardian Legend deserves all the love! I hope you have fun with some of these other games. And not to worry! I have Flying Warriors on my list of things to play sometime. Thanks again for the suggestion!
I haven't played Power Blade yet, but I did buy it a little while back. Thanks for the suggestion! I had all these games that I enjoyed at some point in recent years but hadn't had enough to say about them to make full review videos. I'm glad I got to shine a little light on each of these.
Glad to see Xexyz on the list! I loved that game as a kid, but I never got more than maybe half way through it. I might need to give it another go as an adult. Vice Project Doom looks awesome, I'll have to check that out sometime too. Thanks for another great video!
It's a shame that pretty much all the sequels were very inferior to RCR. Really makes this and its prequel (forget the name) stand out. The modern River City Girls is surprisingly amazing.
That Vice Project Doom stage with the electricity and conveyor belts looks so much like the Power Plant Stage from Batman. And my vote is for The Magic of Scheherazade.
I didn't see Metal Storm in your list. Do you have it? if not, it would be a great game in your collection. You would love playing it too, because it look like a lot games in your list.
Little Nemo was one of the NES greats I actually managed to beat on my own back when I was a kid. Excellent control, graphics and creative exploration mechanics with the different animal suits complemented the beautiful music perfectly. It was a little too easy to get lost admitedly, but otherwise one of Capcom's greatest. Great video and terrific selections!
Thanks very much! Little Nemo was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of it. The controls/companion mechanics were awesome, but the music really elevated the entire experience for me. It's a game I've come back to a few times since finishing it.
hell 10 was a lot of games back then, I think I had... four cartridges. mario bros / duck hunt, mario 3, tmnt 2, and king of kings the early years... though of course through the magic of friends and rentals, I did get to play a bunch of others. I had no idea how expensive games were back then! nobody told me! I assumed they cost, maybe, the same as 4 action figures.. yknow, 6 at most. But those things cost 12 to 15 times what a figure would cost, so.. I was lucky to get those.. then again I never got any games new, always used from Funcoland.. buuut.. they really overcharged for those. a used NES in 1992 should not have cost 100 bucks.
You know, growing up with a relatively small family, we only ever got games on holidays as kids. And after I was old enough to learn about thrift stores/pawn shops, I was cruising around those looking for old games but didn't have enough money to buy them. I still remember buying A Link to the Past with the box but no manual, and the guy wanted $30. I remember being hesitant to buy that because of how expensive it felt to little kid me. It's only in the last little while that I've had the chance to branch out to new NES stuff, and I've really been enjoying what I've been playing.
There's a lot of great ones in here! Which ones didn't make mine that are on yours? I love a lot more than this, but I tried to keep this video just about games I've never spoken about on the channel before.
Apart from your great pacing and nice attention to detail by breaking down all of the parts of a game people are looking for (graphics, controls, music, story, difficulty, etc) what I love about your channel is that it helps remind me of the games I used to play and decide which ones are worth a revisit with my unfortunately sparse gaming time. Seeing The Guardian Legend on this list was delightful. I first encountered it when I was 11 or so and it was too hard to manage the first level. But when I found it again a few years later I remember having a really good time with it and it was the first game I recall seriously starting to map out. I'd love to see you do Star Tropics, (don't forget to bring the letter so you remember the radio frequency!) but Crystalis is DEFINITELY in your wheelhouse and I think you'll have a blast with it!
Awwww thanks so much! That's super nice to hear. I'm only experiencing a lot of these games for the first time these days, but I think it's so awesome that yourself and so many others had these memories as a big part of your childhoods. I wish I'd gotten to experience more back then myself! The Guardian Legend is sooooo much fun! I was surprised at how much I clicked with it given my inability to get much done in shooter games, but the exploration parts really shone for me. And I do plan to review StarTropics sometime. I played it through a few months ago, and someone who hangs out in the streams was kind enough to take a photo of their wet letter for me! And I just reviewed Crystalis not too long ago here if you're curious to hear about that one from me. Either way, thanks for a thoughtful comment!
You should play Sunsoft's Batman games, solid platforming and tight controls as well as challenging boss fights have made it part of my regular rotation over the past 25 years.
I played up to the final boss of the first Batman game but couldn't beat it, so that's one I need to get back to and finish once and for all soon. I'll look into the other ones! Thank you :)
Loved what I've played of nemo, darkwing, & vice project doom! Still can't get into kid icarus, but want to play wizards and warriors and xexyz still. Of your upcoming, I heartily recommend scherazade, crystalis, and especially startropics (havent beat any but got to final dungeon of star tropics)! I'd love a same graphics remake of startropics as an rpg. I just tried immortal on switch, but it hasn't clicked with me yet. Hope lifes good, HG!
Those four games I mentioned at the end are ones I've already played and really enjoyed. The Immortal's definitely an acquired taste, but once I got into it, I was hooked and couldn't stop laughing at how mean it was at times. I really enjoy when a game just hangs me out to dry in hilarious ways. I just played Shadowgate recently too and had a blast with it. And things here are good! We're finally rid of all the snow and I'm looking forward to getting my garden going soon!
@@hungrygoriya lol I once lived where it snowed, and I could do without it for the rest of my life! Yes, shadowgate is too funny in its meanness! Its so fun in games when the game takes a lot of humor in your death instead of just "you died", underrated part of game design. i hope your garden is successful, I'm a black thumb myself, raised on a gardening is punishment mindset.
That opening jingle is from Faxanadu's password theme. I used to pop in the cart and listen to that song all the time as a kid. I loved it! And thank you very much!
Great video HG, I agree that most of these are indeed great NES classics. I forget if you've played it yet or not, but if you find a copy of Arkista's Ring it's definitely worth picking up.
Thanks very much! I know I'm not saying much here that hasn't already been said, but I've been meaning to shine a spotlight on these for a long while. I have played Arkista's Ring, but not too far past the end of the first loop. Those ninjas are the worst!!!
I have recommended GI JOE to you before and I won't miss a opportunity to do it again! (white label Tengen, although you need to play both gi joe games). Shatterhand and Conquest of the crystal palace are top-tier action platformers I beat last year and played for the 1st time similar to your theme Tonight. Me and my buddy just beat river city ransom too! I'm glad you reviewed Guardian Legend and little Nemo as those are both games I have but haven't played yet and I just started hunting for Darkwing duck too! My vote for next review is Crystalis as that's yet another game I have but haven't played. Thank you for the great content keep it coming 👏 👍 🙌
Would you believe me if I told you that I just finished GI Joe the other day? I streamed it and really had a blast with it! I might've considered including it in this video, but it was getting a bit long. I might want to do a proper review on just that game in the future someday since there's a lot to it! Congratulations on getting through River City Ransom. And good luck with the game hunting. I hope your new games bring you some enjoyment once you find them! And thanks for taking the time to stop by. I appreciate it!
I had never heard of Vice Project Doom before. It looks incredible - I'll have to give it a crack! Love the love for Xexyz and The Guardian Legend - unappreciated gems I reckon. Crystalis and The Magic of Scheherezade are incredible, though I haven't played the latter since I was a kid. I was going to recommend a couple of others here but I realised you've covered them all already...! (Though if you haven't gotten to play Seiken Densetsu 3's fan translation yet - not NES, but incredible anyway - find a way!) Star Tropics is brilliant - Nintendo putting out a game on the late-era NES that combined all of the best Action RPG ideas that had been come up with to that point. Haven't played its sequel, but I assume it's also brilliant.
Enjoy Vice Project Doom if you give it a try. It's a quick and snappy game and felt almost like Ninja Gaiden lite to me. Those last four game I showed in the video were all extremely good. I wanted to include them in this video initially, but then decided I'd like to do more of a long form discussion about them because they're so great. Definitely looking forward to seeing how the poll turns out.
@@hungrygoriya yeah I kinda love them all! I mean Star Tropics is the least covered by the youtubers I like to follow - maybe because it's anything but a hidden gem - and I would love to see your take - but it's maybe the least interesting historically because it was later in the NES lifespan and got to build off so many great games that came before it. Crystalis is great and Scheherazade is way underappreciated - I was lucky to come across the latter as a weekend rental when I was mayne 9 or 10 years old. Couldn't make.much sense of it as a kid but it was great
@@projectmayhem6898 Nope, this was just a bigger video and took me more time to put together. I'm hoping to get a little faster with the next few since they'll probably just be single game reviews.
Guardian Legend looks interesting. I didn't know that Little Nemo had a video game, I just remember the movie (kind of weird, but still enjoyable). I can't remember playing any of these, and hadn't even heard of some of them. Xexyz kind of reminds me of Rygar, which was one of my family's favorites (well, my brothers and I... not so much my sisters). Great video, keep playing!
Guardian Legend is amazing, and so is Little Nemo! I've never watched the Nemo movie or read the comics but there are several games made around that property if you're interested in it in particular. Most of these are on the shorter side overall if you decide to play any of them. And thank you about the video!
Great video as usual! Some of these games I still haven't played, but several on your list are among my all-time favorites on the NES. I played The Guardian Legend as a kid, renting it at a local video store, but didn't remember the name. Years later, in my early-20s, I found a boxed copy at a local resale shop and bought it after looking at the gameplay images on the back of the box and realizing I'd found a long-lost childhood favorite game! I ended up selling it with my NES collection (380 games!) in 2009, which I still regret to this day! In any case, I just re-purchased it a few months ago, and started playing again. Such a classic, one of the best on the NES, and the soundtrack is fantastic! Wizards & Warriors is a great, though flawed game, that I have a ton of nostalgia for. Played a lot in the rental days but didn't pick it up until I bought it from a FuncoLand catalogue in high school, along with its sequel, IronSword. Played it a ton for years, and re-purchased it just a few years ago. River City Ransom is a superbly underrated game, with some serious depth you might not expect from the NES, especially a brawler! I still have to pick this up again, but it was one of my absolute favorites throughout high school, after picking it up from a friend who'd gotten rid of their NES, and sold it to me for like $5 or $10. It's climbed in value since then, and I saw it on eBay for like $40-50 for a loose cartridge! All the rest of your favorites on this video are on my personal wish list for future acquisitions, and I wish I'd known Xexyz was such a fun game! I hardly ever played it when I owned it in my early-mid 20s. Kid Icarus, too, was one I couldn't get very far on, but I have a vivid memory of a friend owning it in elementary school. I'd go and play NES at his house, and one time he popped Kid Icarus in and inputted the Nintendo Power exclusive code to warp to the final side-scrolling level before Medusa, and I loved watching the gameplay! Keep up the good work with your videos, hungry!
Thanks for sharing your memories about a few of these, especially the game hunting bits. I've been so sad lately at the state of collecting since I'm nearly priced out of some of the things I still want to pick up, so it's heartening to hear about the good old days of finding gems out there. I hope you'll get a chance to try Xexyz and Kid Icarus someday. They're definitely worth playing, even with their difficult aspects. I also need to finish Ironsword legitimately. I've only beaten it by manipulating my passwords to give me more lives towards the end, haha...
@@hungrygoriya You're welcome :D It has gone up, but there are plenty of attainable gems to be scooped up! I'm tempted to try some gaming conventions one of these years, those people tend not to gouge on prices, and if you are authentic, many of them will trade or sell for cheap if you aren't just scheming an angle on them, haha! Oh I will pick up Xexyz AND Kid Icarus, I really liked Kid Icarus in particular, same team at Nintendo that programmed the original Metroid, so I know it's a great game, just unique and ambitious for its time! IronSword is BRUTAL! Rare really knew how to make a challenging, relentles, and unforgiving game on the NES! I've never finished it, except with Game Genie! The furthest I've gotten is to the Fire Elemental, and it kicked my butt!
@@lawrencemcstephens308 Good luck on the convention circuit! There's lots of really great vendors out there, especially if you have good stuff to trade with them.
About half of these featured significantly in my childhood, and am introducing some of them to my children. Loved the reviews! Thank you for continuing to create and post. I don't know if I have NES recommendations to throw your way that you haven't already played through, but based on what you seem to like (and your penchant for graph paper mapping) I would be inclined to suggest Goonies II, the first Wizardry title, and possibly The Bard's Tale; on the platforming side I might suggest Shadow of the Ninja and Metalstorm.
Hey thanks for the suggestions. I have all of those cartridges except The Bard's Tale, but I'll keep an eye out for it. It's great to hear that you're carrying the retro gaming torch forward with your little ones, and I hope they're enjoying their time with the adventures so far.
Fantastic video as always. Glad to see another Xexyz enjoyer. A childhood favorite for me. Here are some of my favorite lesser-known NES titles you may like that I don't think you've covered - some of these are a bit rare now! Arkista's Ring; Kick Master; Power Blade; Metal Storm; Kickle Cubicle; Toki; Jackie Chan's Action Kung-fu; Conquest of the Crystal Palace. Oh, and if you liked the shooting parts of Guardian Legend enough to want to try more like that, Compile designed two other very high-quality shooters for the NES that both demonstrate hardware mastery - Zanac and Gun-Nac. Looking forward to your next video!
These are all great suggestions! I think the only one on this list I've played so far is Arkista's Ring, and only to the end of the first loop once or twice since those Ninjas are just the worst. Thanks for such a great list of games to try!
@@hungrygoriya Oh man, I have done all four loops and I don't think it's actually worth it! Just one is fine. Since you've played Arkista's Ring I'll throw out one more obscure weirdo rec: Ninja Crusaders, also by Sammy.
Hungry Goriya, I am a fan of your videos. You are always thorough and explain your thoughts clearly. This video was such a fun trip of nostalgia! Thank you for sharing your zeal for retrogaming! ❤👍
That's awfully kind of you to say. Thanks so much for stopping in and leaving a thoughtful comment. And as always, for sharing out my videos elsewhere. I appreciate you!
Great selection, you had some of my favorites, and some that I never gave much of a look to. I'm really looking forward to hearing you talk about StarTropics, I discovered that one pretty recently myself and wish I hadn't slept on it. As for recommendations, can we include Famicom games? Because I'd suggest Cocoron if so. Probably the first console game I've seen with a character creator.
Thanks very much! These are games I've finished over the years (I think the earliest was in 2018?) and just didn't have enough to say about them to do a full individual review. Great games all around! StarTropics was so fun, even with its mean troll rooms. I was pretty floored that I liked it so much since I didn't exactly get off on the right foot with it, but all said, I came away feeling warm and fuzzy inside. There's a poll up right now to vote if you haven't already! I'm definitely happy to try some Famicom stuff. I have a Cocoron cart actually! Do you need to know English to play it? I feel like there's a few menus at the beginning but not sure how the rest of the game plays.
Great list! I played most of them at one point or another (getting Vice Project Doom from a clearance bin in the mid 90s) but others just kind of passed me up despite being aware of them. For absolutely adoring Adventure Island 2 I've never played 3, funny enough there is also a 4 on the NES but it stayed in Japan. Really happy to see River City Ransom as I was actually curious if it would make the list since it's one of my favorites as well.
If you're still into NES, I hope you get to play the rest sometime. And I loved Adventure Island IV! I had a full review on it already and didn't include it here because if I included all my favourites, this list could've easily been over an hour long...
The NES continues to amaze me with its library of games that I've just never seen or heard about. I grew up with it, but in short order we had the SNES and that became our go to platform for a long time. I'd recommend Star Tropics, since that's the only one of the four that I know for sure is fun!
To me, the NES library has rarely turned up a bad time. I can't wait to try out more games soon enough. I wish I could get into more SNES stuff. There's definitely some great games I've played, but I've had way more knockout experiences with the NES.
Hehe, I have a couple of those Consumer Guide Nintendo tips books. They are so weird and cool. Good video! I pretty much like all of the games you listed, although Wizards and Warriors can be a pain in the butt. I haven't played Adventure Island 3 though. Better hope I get it before it gets to ridiculously expensive.
I had the really short orange one growing up that only had a couple of games in it and just got the blue one a few months ago. I was so excited to find it! And thanks about the video. I've been wanting to talk about these games for a long time but didn't feel I had enough to say for a full-blown review. I hope you can find a copy of Adventure Island 3. I think I traded a second copy of Paper Mario for mine and I haven't looked back.
Great list. I don't know if I can ever enjoy Wizards & Warriors--I've tried--but I'll give it another look. My neighbor had Xexyz when I was a kid, and I remember liking it, but I couldn't remember the name, so thanks for this!
I felt like Wizards & Warriors was a breezy game. I started and finished it in the same session and I would've beaten it a lot sooner if it hadn't been for one terrible jump I kept missing. I liked it a lot! Xexyz is fun too. If you get around to playing that again, I hope you enjoy it! The bosses are pretty spectacular.
Nine mini reviews in one video! Kid Icarus is the only game on this list that I had any experience of playing during the era when NES was the current system. It was actually my friend's copy, and although I had a quick try at it every now and again, as a 1-player game, I mainly watched him determinedly trying to make it through to the end. The fact that it was a vertical scroller (in parts) made an impression on me, as did the music, which faithfully stuck in my memory for decades until I heard the soundtrack again just a few years ago. The jingle that plays when the Reaper goes crazy was especially memorable to me! Also, what a wonderful instruction booklet; how I miss not having a physical manual with new games. The only other game of the nine that I've played is River City Ransom, and that was only for about an hour, when my cousin brought a selection of games for us to try during Christmastime about 5 years ago. We had a blast with that one - we didn't really know what we were doing, but it was a real laugh! I haven't played it since... As for the other seven games in this video..... I can see I have some catching up to do!
It's great that you at least got to experience a couple of these, even if it was only a little. Kid Icarus was a thorn in my side for many years because I just couldn't understand why I was struggling so hard with it. It didn't seem all that difficult even compared to other things I'd mastered by that point, but when I finally broke out of world 1 and saw what lay beyond, it was like the clouds opened up and the angels sang. What a difference! One thing on my list of things to buy is the instruction manual for Kid Icarus. I'd love to have a physical copy for myself, though the scan of that one online is quite lovely and clear! River City Ransom feels like something I would've really liked as a kid but like you, wouldn't have known what the heck was happening. I hope you do get the opportunity to catch up on some of these sometime, or have time for a little more gaming in general. I'm still anxiously awaiting your inaugural stream of Adventure Island...
@Hundry Goriya This was a good list! That final four you mentioned? Looking forward to your perspectives on StarTropics and especially Crystalis(my favorite NES game of all time)! Cheers!
Thank you very much! And I'm itching to get more reviews out the door here. I'd like to review all four of them at some point, but hopefully these comments/the poll I posted will help me to prioritize what to tackle first.
Terrific work on this, and great analysis of these titles! If you haven’t already gotten to it, “Magic of Scheherazade” is one of the most unique games for the NES. It’s a lot of fun.
Love this video format. You should really make another one in maybe a years time. Even a shorter video with maybe 6 to 8 games would be very much appreciated.
Hey thanks! I play a variety of games on stream so it's not just all NES stuff all the time, which is why it takes me several years of gaming in general to find enough games for a list like this. I'll keep in mind that there's interest though!
“My absolute favorite though, was the eggplant wizards.” You have the true gamer’s spirit, my friend.
Great list.
When I wrote that bit, I felt like people wouldn't believe me for saying it, haha... knowing they were in there and could get me at any time just kept me on edge and excited and paying attention rather than just roaming around feeling bored.
River City Ransom was my go to game when I had friends over. When netplay came to the emulators I fell in love with it again playing with tons of random folks from forums.
Ever play the GBA remake? That one's pretty sick.
bought the Hockey game of the series for my Famicom...
had played it on emulator around 2000 and needed that in my life, MORE than River City Ransom.
But I also got RCR last year for NES :D Still love Nintendo World Cup the most though for these characters and love Super Dodge Ball !!
@@nopenop1495 There's a GBA remake ? Like an actual remake or is it just another Kunio Kun game that is similar ?
Oh no way! That's cool that you got to play it online like that!
@@Gatorade69 It's considered a remake, it's called River City Ransom EX. It's got quality of life improvements like an expanded moveset and battery backup to save character progress and there's also an optional boss fight against the Lee brothers from Double Dragon.
Crystalis is one of my all-time favorites on the NES.
100% I even remember where I got the game in NYC. I was many times before I said to myself "I need to get that."
It's a fantastic game! I played it a few years ago at this point and the music still pops up in my head a lot.
Crystalis is like a prototype of Secret of Mana with some great Miyazaki references tossed in.
It's SO good! I somehow owned this baby growing up, and it kept me stumped for a few years until I finally stumbled my way through it.
Absolutely brilliant game; one of the best on the NES, by far.
Sliding the carts to the side was a nice way to build suspense 👍
Hey thanks! I had a whole other transition set in the works that didn't end up panning out, so I'm glad you liked it!
Im just not getting away from the damn wizards and warriors music, am I?
@@hungrygoriya Loved it!
Yesss I love@@hungrygoriya 's transitions! Also in another video, you did a similar thing with boxes sliding in alternating directions for each game - very nice touch
Hungry's very good at the subtle details of delivery. Delivery is a big underappreciated part of making videos.
You have very quickly become one of my favorite retro game channels. Starting with the best password screen song down doesn’t hurt. Thanks for another great one!
Awww thanks so much! I appreciate it :)
Is that the intro music for the channel - I'd always wondered if it was out of an Nes game, do you know what it is?
must be one I don't own! 👍
@@infinityeight8705 Faxanadu
@@infinityeight8705 faxanadu
@@trialbyicecream Thanks - kinda embarrassing now, as I actually have the game, but have never played it!!
Wow, I'm so used to Goriya knowing such obscure hidden gem games that when I heard this was a list all about games you hadn't heard of, i expected some real, real niche stuff. Turns out I not only knew most of the games on this list, but I anticipated a few of them just based on their music! Incredible.
I've gotta mix it up once in a while eh? These are all games I played starting back in 2018 and never reviewed, and I've been itching to give them their due for a long while. This format felt right to me!
Thank you for posting this when you did! The first game in the list is a game I been trying to hunt for descriptor words to tell my friends about my entire 38 years on earth. Thank you for finally reuniting me with Guardian Legend.
Oh right on! Glad to help somehow :) If you get around to playing it again, I hope you enjoy it.
Kid icarus was so far ahead of its time, it deserves a lot more praise and could probably have an entire video just on the complexity it has.
Would like to see a video on StarTropics, this was my Aunt's favorite game and I have fond memories of playing it with her when I was a child, it's a very clever game and at the time, we didn't have the instruction manual, so she literally brute forced the code to progress like a boss, starting at 001 going up...just nuts.
If I truly understood all the ins and outs of how that game works, I'd be happy to review it more fully. That was my biggest hesitation for not spending an entire individual video on it. All of the stuff is hidden away and I have no idea how any of it works except through hearsay. Your aunt sounds like a real trooper, haha... good for her for pushing through like that!
Just seeing "The Guardian Legend" (which I've never played) makes me believe you'd LOVE Blaster Master. It's one of my most beloved NES games.
I can also tell DW Duck was a Capcom game. The way the bullets bounce off of the enemies is a direct rip from Megaman. You should try that series. Megaman 2 is my favorite on NES, but Megaman 3 is often other people's favorite.
I looooved Blaster Master. I talked about it in my 8 Hardest NES Games video from a few months ago, and I tried to make this one about games I'd never discussed on the channel before. If I opened it up to all my favourite NES games here, this would've been hours long! Great choice!
I've played Mega Man 2 so far, but no Mega Man 3. Those are the only two I have on NES so far.
@@hungrygoriya Yeah, I can't remember what everyone has played, but you asked for other games, so I thought I'd throw it out there! 😉
YES! That side scrolling train level on Nemo drives me crazy. That's about where I always wind up quitting too. I have fond memories of this game from my childhood, now in my forties I found a used cart at my local game store... And I still love it, but man! That blasted level.
Haha I'm glad it's not just me that got mad and huffed away frustrated over the train level. I didn't play it for almost a decade out of principle, but a friend of mine encouraged me to give it a try again and I ended up loving it. I hope you can get past the train someday. I won't say it gets easier from there, but that's definitely one of the harder stages for me to get through.
The moment you asked for suggestions at the beginning of the video, I thought "GUARDIAN LEGEND!" and look what game you started with! Zelda + Lifeforce. It's nice to know that other gamers appreciate how good it is.
It's a great suggestion! I would really like to replay that one someday.
I just wrote pretty much the same thing to her about Guardian Legend! 😂💛
Plus, you can tell it was made by the same team that did Govelious on the Sega Master System, even having the same mascot Randar (the blue ball guy). Govelious is a little... lesser, than Guardian Legend, but that game captured my attention as a boy until Ys III stole it away.
@@ChargeQM Guardian legend is basically a sequel to Guardic, a vertical shoot em up, in Japan it's called Guardic Gaiden.
It's made by Compile, which was the king of shmups in the 80s and 90s.
Good way to describe it
Strange, I was just reminded of Little Nemo for the first time in years earlier today, and I spent an hour listening to the soundtrack. What a coincidence!
Fantastic music. Junko Tamiya is a legend.
Indeed! Topsy Turvy's my favourite tune from that game. Do you have a favourite?
@@hungrygoriya Nemo's House and Nightmare Land are my favorite stage music, but I think my overall favorite is the little jingle that plays when Nemo is asleep between levels lol
@@Toast_Points I love that too!
Back in middle school me and my best friend used to rent River City Ransom over and on Fridays and spend the whole weekend just causing mayhem. We never beat it, it was just a blast to beat up everyone and hear that satisfying money-collect sound.
I think I always overlooked Xexys because I kept mistaking it for Xevious....
Oh the sound effects in RCR are really good! I agree!
And you know what? Until I played Xexyz and put some personal experience to its name, I also always confused it with Xevious!
Your channel is honestly the best retro gaming channel on youtube and it has been for years. It looks like it's becoming more popular and recognized too. Well deserved! Also, Darkwing Duck is one of my all time favorite games
That's very nice of you to say! I'm really glad people are enjoying my videos here. This and livestreaming have both been very fulfilling hobbies for me and I'm really grateful for the experiences I've had and the people I've met doing it.
Darkwing Duck was awesome! It was unexpectedly quick but still a lot of fun to play through. And I loved the controls too!
StarTropics is amazing and I'm surprised not many people I talk to seem to know about it. If anyone reading this hasn't gotten around to the sequel but liked the first one, it's definitely a must play as well.
I've tried to get into the sequel a few times and it has never stuck. I think I just love the first one too much and am always disappointed it's not exactly more of that! One day I hope to give it a full go.
I thought it was fantastic. Very trolly and mean, but I find that stuff hilarious rather than frustrating. I've yet to play the sequel, but it's definitely something I'm interested in trying someday.
@@hungrygoriya The story of the sequel is ridiculous which, for me, made it seem like a cult classic B-Movie but in game form.
@@hungrygoriya I've played both, but the original is the one I keep coming back to.
@@KittyFae- I look forward to seeing what it's all about sometime! That sounds awesome!
Man, Faxanadu is still one of my absolute favorite NES games, the soundtrack is just *chef's kiss*!
Nemo, also, absolutely made me rage quit on that stupid train level as a kid. Usually because id make it to the end and find out id missed one of the keys. Wizards & Warriors was a neat play. Took me FOREVER to beat it, but once i figured out that the kick was actually SUPER OP it wasnt as bad. W&W2 was a bit rougher around the edges but still fun, 3 however was a nightmare. It had AMAZING ideas at the time, but executed them kinda poorly. Xexyz was another game that almost nobody seemed to have heard of when i was a kid, but was fantastic
I'm really glad I'm not the only person who rage quit Little Nemo! I'm glad you liked W&W and Xexyz too. There's a lot of charm and mystery in both of those ones. I hope more folks will try them out soon. They're both good in their own way!
I'm pretty sure as a kid, I had nightmares about eggplant wizard rooms that I've suppressed over the years. Some of my earliest rage quits. But level 2 was a lot of fun.
Also, I vote for a Magic of Scheherazade video!
Oh no, hahaha... I can understand why. They're so scary, but as an adult, I thought that was hilarious rather than scary at least!
the eggplant rooms are nerve racking! kid icarus was one of my favs as a kid, and i actually spent so much time in order to defeat medusa. was and is a satisfying event in my life. but screw having to run to the nurse to get cured of eggplantism!
I enjoyed Magic of Scheherazade too!
Awesome choices!!
As a kid I had Darkwing Duck(and the Rockman hack), also Adventure Island 3, Vice Project Doom, River City Ramson but all 3 japanese bootlegs and played them on black and White tv with VHF conecction. It didin´t matter as long as I could play and have fun.
Here in Argentina, back in the day, an original game and/or console it was kind of a rare thing to see. The only thing you'll find were famicom knockoffs. It was super fun tradring cartridges with the kids in the neighborhood.
Another of my favorites are Jackal, Boku Drakula Kun, Wherewolf The Last Warrior and "Robocop 3" but it was Tokkyu Shirei Solbrain.
Oh nice! Your extended list there has some games I'm really curious to try, especially Jackal!
And I've heard about a lot of bootlegs and knockoffs in your part of the world. My best friend growing up had a Famicom knockoff cartridge that we played a ton. It was a 72-in-1 and it had so much good stuff on it! I'm glad you still got exposed to so many games despite not having the actual system back then.
I did not discover Guardian Legend until I was an adult but could only imagine the hours I would’ve spent playing it in my younger years. As far as wizard and warrior, I rented this game so many times at my local video store. The cover art drew me in and the hours that myself, my brother and father played it were probably into triple digits. Another great video! Love your channel!
I think I would've also really enjoyed The Guardian Legend as a kid. Maybe I would've developed some shooter skills back then to carry over to my adult years!
Wizards & Warriors was just good clean fun to me. There was nothing egregious about it. Something about the music really drew me in as well!
And thanks very much :) I appreciate you saying so!
Great list, all winners in my book but the first four are particular favorites of mine... Guardian Legend and Little Nemo specifically!
They're both fantastic games. I especially love Little Nemo. It's so easy to pick up and play! The Guardian Legend is amazing and I need to replay it soon!
Oh, dang. I'd love to see a review of Magic of Scheherazade. And I'm glad to see you greatly enjoyed The Guardian Legend, as I only tried out the game a couple of years ago and found its combination of vertical shooter and top-down exploration to be both fresh and fun.
Of the four on the poll I created, that's the one I'm the furthest along in writing about. I'm curious to see how the results turn out, but that's a game I've rarely seen talked about and would love to cover. The Immortal too! Crystalis and StarTropics are both great but they've seen a lot more discussion over the years.
Just here for River City Ransom, and Adventure Island! Those are two of my favourites too!
And though it might be a bit late for recommendations, I suggest giving Panic Restaurant a go!
They're both awesome games! And Panic Restaurant eh? I think I've seen a few people playing that one and it looks very cute. I'll see what I can do to give it a spin sometime. I don't think I'll ever own a physical copy due to how expensive it is.
I love your channel 😭 you make me want to play my NES and Master System again.
Do it!
Great video! The Guardian Legend looks like the kind of game I would enjoy. I like format of this video. It’s nice to see a selection of games.
Thanks very much! I've been trying to mix it up once in a while here, especially since there are so many games I've played but haven't had time to review. This was a good way to discuss a few titles I didn't really have a ton to say about.
The Guardian Legend is 10/10
I really need to get into Adventure Island 3 since, like you, the second one has been a favorite of mine for most of my life. Great selection, btw.
I hope you enjoy Adventure Island 3. I thought it was more of the same as 2 but slightly more polished in some ways. Definitely keeps the difficulty high, but it was really rewarding to work through. And thank you so much!
Excellent video. Some definite classics.
Hey thanks so much!
I was about to also mention vice project doom but whan i looked at the time stamps i was suprised to see its already ther! Truely one of my top favorite games
It's phenomenal! I really need to replay it again. It's been a few years since I played it last and that's far too long.
I really need to check it out. Always been on ,y "To play" list.
The Guardian Legend holds up so well, especially since no game since has really scratched the same itch. Also helps that the heroine is so absurdly cool
It's pretty unique eh? I wish there was some kind of sequel or another game in its style. And the heroine's pretty great. I saw the Japanese cover art for the first time recently and it's gorgeous!
@@hungrygoriya yeah, now that we've had modern revivals of other 8 bit classics like Kid Icarus, Wonder Boy, Streets of Rage etc. I really feel like we're missing out on some kind of Guardian Legend sequel or reboot
River City Ransom is a game I come back to again and again; It was an open world sandbox before those were really a thing. I always loved how you level up your stats not buy tedious battles, but buy buying items in the shopping centers located around town.
If you liked W&W, the sequels are even better(Ironsword is my personal favorite). And if you loved Darkwing Duck, you should check out the Rescue Rangers games.
Edit: Spelling.
Having money replace experience points is a really keen way to do leveling up in a game, lets you choose for yourself how badly you need to upgrade your stats.
Barf !
It was certainly neat being able to pick and choose which of your stats you developed. Could grind octopus sushi at the Grotto Mall for weapon damage one playthrough and save up for the expensive boots for big kicking power the next. =)
River City Ransom had some really neat mechanics in it but you're definitely right about how it's a neat open world experience. You can go anywhere if you can live long enough!
I've actually beaten Ironsword long ago, but I cheated so I don't count it. I did some password manipulation to get more lives after the game stops letting you continue, haha... I need to do it legitimately one of these days. And I've played a little bit of Chip & Dale, but haven't gotten too far in it. Never touched the sequel either. Thanks for the suggestions!
@@hungrygoriya I could not have gotten through the NES era without a game genie. I literally sold my NES and games after some kid absconded with said cheat device (not sure why it didn't occur to me to buy a new one) and I found i couldn't beat any levels anymore. I don't blame anyone one bit for cheating on older stuff. especially in the 16-bit era when games were deliberately made unfair, to stop people from just renting them.
Cher-a-zod-e is a hidden gem, Immortal has great music, StarTropics needs bonus sheet for frequency, Crystalis one of the best RPGs for the NES, with music that is top notch!
The Guardian Legend has inspired my imagination. Coming from the Atari, I was accustomed to filling in the gaps of a game that the technology would have to leave. The Guardian Legend has more going on than is being shown, and it makes my head tell stories.
I wish I'd started on the Atari just to have had this experience. I did dabble in some Vic20 back in the day though, but that was at the same time as I was playing NES. It would've been an awesome experience to have that "awakening" in this context.
Discovering games you love as an adult is always a little bittersweet for me, as I always have it in the back of my mind that I wish I knew it existed when I was a kid :(
I hear this! I do also look to the "better late than never" idea to reassure myself that there are still lots of good experiences to have, even as an adult.
So refreshing to see such an honest take on some obscure NES classics. Loved this, and appreciate the insight on each game! :D
EDIT: Relatively obscure, I should say :P
Hey thanks man! I've been wanting to talk about most of these games for ages, but didn't really have enough to say for a full review. This was a good way to discuss them I think! Thanks for making the time to watch :)
So happy to see Xexyz made your list! Really love this whole list and the trip down memory lane. Glad you're keeping up with your stream and UA-cam!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. And I love the hobby... I can't imagine my life without either channel!
I'm gonna vote for Scherezade. It's fairly obscure but it's a very creative rpg that never gets enough respect.
It's a lovely game. I'd love to review it!
Nice to see some retro gaming content come across my feed. I loved many of these games. Dream Master, Darkwing Duck, and River City Ransom were some of my favorites back in the day. Xexyz was the only one on this list I had never heard of. I would love to see a video on Startropics! I absolutely adored Startropics and Startropics 2!
Hooray! I'm glad you found me here and that you had such positive experiences with some of these titles. I hope to eventually review all four of the games at the end of the video here, and it looks like Crystalis is up first. StarTropics was an absolute joy to play so I'll be glad to speak on it when the time comes.
Fun video, Grumbles.. you know how I feel about NES and most of these are near and dear to my heart as well. I'm glad you've enjoyed experiencing these amazing adventures and that they now live in your heart now too :)
Hey, most of them are games you kindly recommended to me back when I was looking for some cool new games to try. So thank you for that!
@@hungrygoriya It always feels awesome when friends enjoy a game you love too
I'm slowly getting more & more into the NES library, and some of these games look great! Crystalis and Little Nemo were already on my list, too :)
I just found your channel today, and I'm excited! Not only are the games retro, but your style and positive engagement feels very "retro youtube." I admire the thoughtfulness and passion evident in your videos.
Hey thanks so much for your kindness. I'm a hobbyist and have loved games since I was a kid, so it's nice to be able to share my experiences with everyone here. I hope you find some real gems in your search through the NES library. This video covers a few of my favourites I haven't talked about in other videos, but there are some other great games I loved too, like Legacy of the Wizard, Blaster Master, The Battle of Olympus, Solstice, and many many more. The NES has definitely delivered the most exciting experiences so far.
River City Ramsom is such a great game. IMO the best 8-bit 2 player co-op with Double Dragon
I still have to try it co-op sometime. And I still need to play Double Dragon!
@@hungrygoriya If you are to play any of them pick the second one. It improves on the first and the third is way, way too hard and unforgiving. In the last half of Double Dragon II it becomes a platformer and can be pretty infuriating but It's still great fun, especially that level in the helicopter. The second game has 2 player, the first actually doesn't have 2 player support.
@@Gatorade69 The version for Master System has 2 players and it fantastic👌
@@Gatorade69 Good to know! Did you know that the Master System version of Double Dragon has 2 player co-op? It feels a little janky though... I only tried it for a few minutes!
Love the presentation of this video.
I didn't new about Adventure Island 3!
First one was my mum's favorite game.
Thanks very much! I like putting out something a bit different every once in a while.
I first learned about Adventure Island 3 watching a streamer playing it one day, but not paying close enough attention to notice it wasn't the second game at first. And when they ducked, I was like "OH REALLY" and I immediately started looking for it, haha
I loved the Eggplant Wizards too! So fun. XD
Excited to see you go through Star Tropics. That was a big source of enjoyment for me on the NES when I was younger! Crystalis too I think you'll really enjoy fully.
Here's another 9 games you might enjoy that share similarities with the ones on your list and my apologies if I've forgotten that you've played some of them already:
Air Fortress
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Codename: Viper
Ninja Gaiden II
Power Blade
Shatterhand
Whomp 'Em
Little Samson
Strider
Wizards & Warriors II: Ironsword is a bonus 10th on the list just because I'd be surprised if you hadn't played that yet if you enjoyed the first game. Maybe you mentioned it before and I forgot.
What a fantastic list!! Thanks so much for the suggestions here. I think I own most of those outside of Little Samson, and of the ones I've only played a little bit of, I haven't come close to beating yet.
I did play Ironsword through to the end but had to cheat to win. I manipulated my password to give me more lives when the game stopped letting me continues, but I need to sit down with it again someday and do it legitimately!
@@hungrygoriya I hope you have a wonderful time and find a couple new favorites!
GG HG! A video on The Immortal would be awesome and someday you should try Astyanax
You bet! I'll make a note of your vote here.
Wizards & Warriors was one of the first games I ever got for the NES. Had a ton of fun with it. Also River City Ransom was always a blast with my brother.
Among those games at the end I personally liked Star Tropics the best but Crystalis is also fun.
Other games to consider are Karnov (tough but fun), Clash at Demonhead (hilarious and well out together), and GI Joe the Atlantis Factor (much more to it than I'd have first thought). Happy gaming!
It's great that you got to experience some of these as a kid. I'm glad I eventually got around to them. Did you happen to vote in the poll I posted about the game choice? I thought it'd be easier for me than trying to tally comments, but there's nearly a three-way tie. So funny!
I've played Clash at Demonhead, but not Karnov or the second GI Joe game. Funny, I just finished the first GI Joe a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the suggestions!
@Hungry Goriya I did vote in the poll, thanks for checking! Always look forward to new videos.
I'm ashamed to admit that the only one on this list I've played is Darkwing Duck. The NES era Capcom games were always excellent, especially Bionic Commando. I remember my jaw dropping when I saw what happens to Master D. If you want to try something a bit different, give Metal Storm a try. It's a run & gun in the vein on Contra, but you play a mech that can invert gravity. And I'd love to see your take on Crystalis, as it's something I've been curious to try. Excellent vid, and keep up the great work!
Darkwing Duck's a great game, and it's cool that you got to play it. I didn't get around to it until a couple of years ago but liked it quite a bit. I just picked up a copy of Metal Storm a month or two ago now, so I'll definitely move that up the list.
Noted your vote for Crystalis. Thanks for your kind words :)
@@hungrygoriya better late than never when it comes to the NES library. Hopefully you enjoy Metal Storm!
Definitely wanna see your review of Startropics!! Have you ever tried Solomons Key?
Right on! The Immortal and StarTropics are pretty neck in neck with Crystalis at the moment. I'm going to eventually review them all, but I'll see which one comes out on top to prioritize here.
I've never played Solomon's Key. That's the single-screen puzzle game eh? I'd like to try it out someday.
River City Ransom was a childhood favorite for me. As for great retro games discovered as an adult, I owe you my gratitude for bringing Faxanadu and Rygar to my attention. Of the games you showed at the end, I'd love to see a review of Crystalis next!
River City Ransom was so great. I wish it was a bit longer honestly, but with the guide, it went by pretty quick.
I'm always glad to bring some others over to game I enjoy an awful lot. Especially Faxanadu! Thanks for giving the game a shot and coming out a believer :)
Crystalis is in the lead, so you might just get your wish! Thanks for the thoughtful reply here.
Star Tropics. Absolutely adore those games.
This, fantastic couple of games, on par to Zelda at the time.
StarTropics 1 is my favorite game of all time
I've only played the first one so far, but I'm curious to see how the second one stacks up.
The Guardian Legend looks very similar to Golvellius (great game) for the Sega Master System. I looked it up and they are made by the same developer (Compile). I will have to check this game out.
Yeah! I played Golvellius first and when I saw Randar (as they spell his name in that game) as the shopkeeper, I was very excited about it!
I would love to see you play Crystalis, followed by StarTropics. I loved both of those games as a child!
They were both excellent. I can't wait to flesh out some thoughts about them both.
Little Nemo the Dream Master is one of my favorite games. I remember beating this with my brother when we were kids. Great video!
It's really fun. I'm glad you two got through it back then. Nightmare Land is no joke!
Thanks for the great video. I would love to see a review for all 4 of those games they are amazing titles. Some games I would recommend if you haven't played them are Ghost Lion, Dungeon Magic, Arkista's Ring, Blaster Master, A Boy and His Blob, Maniac Manson, GI Joe (Both are Great), Solar Jetman, Batman, Shadow Gate, Déjà vu, and Uninvited. Those are few I would recommend. My apologies if you have already played them.
Oooo this is a fantastic list! And no need to apologize. From your list there, I've played Arkista's ring (first loop), Blaster Master, Maniac Mansion, Shadowgate, and the first GI Joe. The rest of those are phenomenal recommendations though! Thanks so much!
Ooo, this is a solid list!
Almost every NES game I've played besides Felix, Kirby and Mario have been as a teen/adult discovering them long after the fact.
Adventure Island 3 and Little Nemo are among my most-wanted NES games, Guardian Legend I actually found at a thrift shop a few years ago for a really good price! Vice: Project Doom and River City Ransom are available as part of the NES Collection on Nintendo Switch Online, plus River City is not only available on almost every digital store, but is still getting new sequels and spin-offs to this day! A lot of them are really solid, too. In addition, Darkwing Duck is available on PS4, Xbox and PC as part of the excellent Disney Afternoon Collection, along with both Chip n'Dale and Ducktales games!
My pick for the next game I'd want to see a review on would be Crystalis. It's a game I hope to play soon, myself!
I'm glad I'm not alone in coming to so many games later in life! And it's really awesome that so many games have become available again on different services over the years. Anything that gets people playing games is good in my books! I don't think I knew about this Disney Afternoon Collection. I have a snowball's chance in hell of ever owning Chip & Dale 2 or DuckTales 2, so I might just have to look into that.
Thank you for the info, and for your vote. Crystalis is just barely winning my poll so I think that's going to be the winner. Always good chatting with you :) Thanks for stopping by here!
@@hungrygoriya Ye, I always enjoy your videos and chats :D
And the Disney Collection is $20 USD and regularly goes on sale for $5-$7
I have a few of these games. They're excellent. The ones I don't have I plan on getting. They look good.
...good look with Little Nemo.
@@Marc_Araujo Why? Is it hard?
@@TheMultiGunMan Whoops...I got Little Nemo confused with Little Samson (the most expensive NES game)...that keeps happening to me.
A full video on Startropics would be amazing. As a kid, I couldn't get past the graveyard! I played some later stages, though, at a friend's house. When people think of "quirky" in gaming Earthbound comes up a lot. I go to Startropics. It's such lighthearted fun, for the most part haha.
You know where I got stuck? In the submarine area because I didn't know how to dive at first, haha... I thought StarTropics was fantastic in a lot of ways and really enjoyed its sense of humour. I can see why you feel it's quirky. It's also trolly and very mean at times, which can be funny in their own ways too.
@@hungrygoriya Very true. The insta-death secret rooms definitely discourage secret hunting. It does have a mean streak.
@@jayjasespud They taught me well in one of the first dungeons about the troll rooms. Very rude, haha
Fire and Ice is an awesome puzzle platformer and one of my favorite games growing up, if you haven't played it. Unfortunately it's price has exploded with the speculation market, so you might have to settle for a repro cart or an "any way you can" solution
I'll second that, and the brutally difficult predecessor Solomon's Key is also great if you're a persistent player.
It's also on Nintendo Switch Online if you're willing to pay for it!
I've been intrigued by Fire and Ice, but yeah... the price is not so great. I'll keep an eye out though! I still need to find a copy of Solomon's Key and give that a try.
Wow, great list! So glad to see Guardian Legend getting some love. That opening track has to be one of the most iconic tunes on the NES. I remember being blown away by this game nearly 30 years ago and it still holds up nicely today.
Now I need to dig out my console and try a few of those other ones that I missed along the way. I think that I mentioned it before, but if you like these kind of games, give Flying Warriors a shot.
The Guardian Legend deserves all the love! I hope you have fun with some of these other games.
And not to worry! I have Flying Warriors on my list of things to play sometime. Thanks again for the suggestion!
I think you would really like Power Blade, if you haven't tried it already. This was a great idea for a video.
I haven't played Power Blade yet, but I did buy it a little while back. Thanks for the suggestion!
I had all these games that I enjoyed at some point in recent years but hadn't had enough to say about them to make full review videos. I'm glad I got to shine a little light on each of these.
@@hungrygoriya Cheers. Awesome content as usual
Glad to see Xexyz on the list! I loved that game as a kid, but I never got more than maybe half way through it. I might need to give it another go as an adult. Vice Project Doom looks awesome, I'll have to check that out sometime too. Thanks for another great video!
I hope you give them both a try and have some success with getting through. And thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
River City Ransom was amazing. Way ahead of its time.
It's a shame that pretty much all the sequels were very inferior to RCR. Really makes this and its prequel (forget the name) stand out.
The modern River City Girls is surprisingly amazing.
yup, mechanically better than Mighty Final Fight,
but graphically nothing on NES compares to MFF.
Love RCR !!
I am a fan! I think I'd get crushed on the harder difficulty, but I'd certainly like to try it someday!
@@michaelp4122 Renegade ? I mean technically Renegade was a prequel... In Japan where the games were in the Kunio Kun series.
@@Gatorade69 That's the name, never played Renegade, but it looks as good as River City Ransom.
That Vice Project Doom stage with the electricity and conveyor belts looks so much like the Power Plant Stage from Batman.
And my vote is for The Magic of Scheherazade.
I agree! Batman's also a really great looking/sounding game. I need to finish that one someday!
And noted about The Magic of Scheherazade! Thank you!
I didn't see Metal Storm in your list. Do you have it? if not, it would be a great game in your collection. You would love playing it too, because it look like a lot games in your list.
I actually just bought Metal Storm a few weeks ago from a friend, but I haven't had the chance to play it yet. Good to know it was a good purchase!
Little Nemo was one of the NES greats I actually managed to beat on my own back when I was a kid. Excellent control, graphics and creative exploration mechanics with the different animal suits complemented the beautiful music perfectly. It was a little too easy to get lost admitedly, but otherwise one of Capcom's greatest. Great video and terrific selections!
Thanks very much! Little Nemo was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of it. The controls/companion mechanics were awesome, but the music really elevated the entire experience for me. It's a game I've come back to a few times since finishing it.
hell 10 was a lot of games back then, I think I had... four cartridges. mario bros / duck hunt, mario 3, tmnt 2, and king of kings the early years... though of course through the magic of friends and rentals, I did get to play a bunch of others.
I had no idea how expensive games were back then! nobody told me! I assumed they cost, maybe, the same as 4 action figures.. yknow, 6 at most. But those things cost 12 to 15 times what a figure would cost, so.. I was lucky to get those.. then again I never got any games new, always used from Funcoland.. buuut.. they really overcharged for those. a used NES in 1992 should not have cost 100 bucks.
You know, growing up with a relatively small family, we only ever got games on holidays as kids. And after I was old enough to learn about thrift stores/pawn shops, I was cruising around those looking for old games but didn't have enough money to buy them. I still remember buying A Link to the Past with the box but no manual, and the guy wanted $30. I remember being hesitant to buy that because of how expensive it felt to little kid me. It's only in the last little while that I've had the chance to branch out to new NES stuff, and I've really been enjoying what I've been playing.
Solid list, especially River City Ransom. Having that sprite rock knuckle-dusters and chowing sushi made for standout memories.
Wow our favorite NES games are almost idenitcal!
There's a lot of great ones in here! Which ones didn't make mine that are on yours? I love a lot more than this, but I tried to keep this video just about games I've never spoken about on the channel before.
@@hungrygoriya Just Xexyz and Vice Project Doom! Id probably swap them out for Startropics and Gargoyles Quest 2
@@BoundaryBreak Right on! I still need to play Gargoyle's Quest 2, but I loved Demon's Crest and the first game on Game Boy. Great choices!
one of the best retro game channels. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
That's very kind of you! Thank you :)
Apart from your great pacing and nice attention to detail by breaking down all of the parts of a game people are looking for (graphics, controls, music, story, difficulty, etc) what I love about your channel is that it helps remind me of the games I used to play and decide which ones are worth a revisit with my unfortunately sparse gaming time.
Seeing The Guardian Legend on this list was delightful. I first encountered it when I was 11 or so and it was too hard to manage the first level. But when I found it again a few years later I remember having a really good time with it and it was the first game I recall seriously starting to map out.
I'd love to see you do Star Tropics, (don't forget to bring the letter so you remember the radio frequency!) but Crystalis is DEFINITELY in your wheelhouse and I think you'll have a blast with it!
Awwww thanks so much! That's super nice to hear. I'm only experiencing a lot of these games for the first time these days, but I think it's so awesome that yourself and so many others had these memories as a big part of your childhoods. I wish I'd gotten to experience more back then myself!
The Guardian Legend is sooooo much fun! I was surprised at how much I clicked with it given my inability to get much done in shooter games, but the exploration parts really shone for me. And I do plan to review StarTropics sometime. I played it through a few months ago, and someone who hangs out in the streams was kind enough to take a photo of their wet letter for me! And I just reviewed Crystalis not too long ago here if you're curious to hear about that one from me. Either way, thanks for a thoughtful comment!
You should play Sunsoft's Batman games, solid platforming and tight controls as well as challenging boss fights have made it part of my regular rotation over the past 25 years.
I played up to the final boss of the first Batman game but couldn't beat it, so that's one I need to get back to and finish once and for all soon. I'll look into the other ones! Thank you :)
Loved what I've played of nemo, darkwing, & vice project doom! Still can't get into kid icarus, but want to play wizards and warriors and xexyz still.
Of your upcoming, I heartily recommend scherazade, crystalis, and especially startropics (havent beat any but got to final dungeon of star tropics)! I'd love a same graphics remake of startropics as an rpg. I just tried immortal on switch, but it hasn't clicked with me yet. Hope lifes good, HG!
Those four games I mentioned at the end are ones I've already played and really enjoyed. The Immortal's definitely an acquired taste, but once I got into it, I was hooked and couldn't stop laughing at how mean it was at times. I really enjoy when a game just hangs me out to dry in hilarious ways. I just played Shadowgate recently too and had a blast with it.
And things here are good! We're finally rid of all the snow and I'm looking forward to getting my garden going soon!
@@hungrygoriya lol I once lived where it snowed, and I could do without it for the rest of my life!
Yes, shadowgate is too funny in its meanness! Its so fun in games when the game takes a lot of humor in your death instead of just "you died", underrated part of game design. i hope your garden is successful, I'm a black thumb myself, raised on a gardening is punishment mindset.
Man just love your channel. Love the oppening jingle, love what you have to say. Commenting at the beginning of the watch. :)
That opening jingle is from Faxanadu's password theme. I used to pop in the cart and listen to that song all the time as a kid. I loved it! And thank you very much!
Great video HG, I agree that most of these are indeed great NES classics. I forget if you've played it yet or not, but if you find a copy of Arkista's Ring it's definitely worth picking up.
Thanks very much! I know I'm not saying much here that hasn't already been said, but I've been meaning to shine a spotlight on these for a long while.
I have played Arkista's Ring, but not too far past the end of the first loop. Those ninjas are the worst!!!
I have recommended GI JOE to you before and I won't miss a opportunity to do it again! (white label Tengen, although you need to play both gi joe games). Shatterhand and Conquest of the crystal palace are top-tier action platformers I beat last year and played for the 1st time similar to your theme Tonight. Me and my buddy just beat river city ransom too! I'm glad you reviewed Guardian Legend and little Nemo as those are both games I have but haven't played yet and I just started hunting for Darkwing duck too! My vote for next review is Crystalis as that's yet another game I have but haven't played. Thank you for the great content keep it coming 👏 👍 🙌
Would you believe me if I told you that I just finished GI Joe the other day? I streamed it and really had a blast with it! I might've considered including it in this video, but it was getting a bit long. I might want to do a proper review on just that game in the future someday since there's a lot to it! Congratulations on getting through River City Ransom. And good luck with the game hunting. I hope your new games bring you some enjoyment once you find them!
And thanks for taking the time to stop by. I appreciate it!
@Hungry Goriya YES! I knew from watching your reviews you would like it! Congratulations 🎊
I had never heard of Vice Project Doom before. It looks incredible - I'll have to give it a crack! Love the love for Xexyz and The Guardian Legend - unappreciated gems I reckon.
Crystalis and The Magic of Scheherezade are incredible, though I haven't played the latter since I was a kid. I was going to recommend a couple of others here but I realised you've covered them all already...! (Though if you haven't gotten to play Seiken Densetsu 3's fan translation yet - not NES, but incredible anyway - find a way!) Star Tropics is brilliant - Nintendo putting out a game on the late-era NES that combined all of the best Action RPG ideas that had been come up with to that point. Haven't played its sequel, but I assume it's also brilliant.
Enjoy Vice Project Doom if you give it a try. It's a quick and snappy game and felt almost like Ninja Gaiden lite to me.
Those last four game I showed in the video were all extremely good. I wanted to include them in this video initially, but then decided I'd like to do more of a long form discussion about them because they're so great. Definitely looking forward to seeing how the poll turns out.
@@hungrygoriya yeah I kinda love them all! I mean Star Tropics is the least covered by the youtubers I like to follow - maybe because it's anything but a hidden gem - and I would love to see your take - but it's maybe the least interesting historically because it was later in the NES lifespan and got to build off so many great games that came before it. Crystalis is great and Scheherazade is way underappreciated - I was lucky to come across the latter as a weekend rental when I was mayne 9 or 10 years old. Couldn't make.much sense of it as a kid but it was great
Thanks!
Much appreciated! Thank you again!
@@hungrygoriya It's nice to see you back to posting videos. Were you on vacation or something?
@@projectmayhem6898 Nope, this was just a bigger video and took me more time to put together. I'm hoping to get a little faster with the next few since they'll probably just be single game reviews.
Just found this channel ,great list of games I didnt even know about! Gonna have fun with these on my anbernic. Looking forward to more vids! 👍🙂
Thank you! I should have one out in the next week or so. And I hope you enjoy these if you take them out for a spin.
I was just about to recommend Crystalis! Nice to see it in the honorable mentions - that was one I played as an adult and was absolutely floored by.
It won my poll so I'm currently writing up a video for it. I'm excited to get that out for you all :)
Guardian Legend looks interesting. I didn't know that Little Nemo had a video game, I just remember the movie (kind of weird, but still enjoyable). I can't remember playing any of these, and hadn't even heard of some of them. Xexyz kind of reminds me of Rygar, which was one of my family's favorites (well, my brothers and I... not so much my sisters). Great video, keep playing!
Guardian Legend is amazing, and so is Little Nemo! I've never watched the Nemo movie or read the comics but there are several games made around that property if you're interested in it in particular. Most of these are on the shorter side overall if you decide to play any of them.
And thank you about the video!
Great video as usual! Some of these games I still haven't played, but several on your list are among my all-time favorites on the NES. I played The Guardian Legend as a kid, renting it at a local video store, but didn't remember the name. Years later, in my early-20s, I found a boxed copy at a local resale shop and bought it after looking at the gameplay images on the back of the box and realizing I'd found a long-lost childhood favorite game! I ended up selling it with my NES collection (380 games!) in 2009, which I still regret to this day! In any case, I just re-purchased it a few months ago, and started playing again. Such a classic, one of the best on the NES, and the soundtrack is fantastic!
Wizards & Warriors is a great, though flawed game, that I have a ton of nostalgia for. Played a lot in the rental days but didn't pick it up until I bought it from a FuncoLand catalogue in high school, along with its sequel, IronSword. Played it a ton for years, and re-purchased it just a few years ago.
River City Ransom is a superbly underrated game, with some serious depth you might not expect from the NES, especially a brawler! I still have to pick this up again, but it was one of my absolute favorites throughout high school, after picking it up from a friend who'd gotten rid of their NES, and sold it to me for like $5 or $10. It's climbed in value since then, and I saw it on eBay for like $40-50 for a loose cartridge!
All the rest of your favorites on this video are on my personal wish list for future acquisitions, and I wish I'd known Xexyz was such a fun game! I hardly ever played it when I owned it in my early-mid 20s. Kid Icarus, too, was one I couldn't get very far on, but I have a vivid memory of a friend owning it in elementary school. I'd go and play NES at his house, and one time he popped Kid Icarus in and inputted the Nintendo Power exclusive code to warp to the final side-scrolling level before Medusa, and I loved watching the gameplay!
Keep up the good work with your videos, hungry!
Thanks for sharing your memories about a few of these, especially the game hunting bits. I've been so sad lately at the state of collecting since I'm nearly priced out of some of the things I still want to pick up, so it's heartening to hear about the good old days of finding gems out there.
I hope you'll get a chance to try Xexyz and Kid Icarus someday. They're definitely worth playing, even with their difficult aspects. I also need to finish Ironsword legitimately. I've only beaten it by manipulating my passwords to give me more lives towards the end, haha...
@@hungrygoriya You're welcome :D It has gone up, but there are plenty of attainable gems to be scooped up! I'm tempted to try some gaming conventions one of these years, those people tend not to gouge on prices, and if you are authentic, many of them will trade or sell for cheap if you aren't just scheming an angle on them, haha!
Oh I will pick up Xexyz AND Kid Icarus, I really liked Kid Icarus in particular, same team at Nintendo that programmed the original Metroid, so I know it's a great game, just unique and ambitious for its time!
IronSword is BRUTAL! Rare really knew how to make a challenging, relentles, and unforgiving game on the NES! I've never finished it, except with Game Genie! The furthest I've gotten is to the Fire Elemental, and it kicked my butt!
@@lawrencemcstephens308 Good luck on the convention circuit! There's lots of really great vendors out there, especially if you have good stuff to trade with them.
About half of these featured significantly in my childhood, and am introducing some of them to my children. Loved the reviews! Thank you for continuing to create and post. I don't know if I have NES recommendations to throw your way that you haven't already played through, but based on what you seem to like (and your penchant for graph paper mapping) I would be inclined to suggest Goonies II, the first Wizardry title, and possibly The Bard's Tale; on the platforming side I might suggest Shadow of the Ninja and Metalstorm.
Hey thanks for the suggestions. I have all of those cartridges except The Bard's Tale, but I'll keep an eye out for it.
It's great to hear that you're carrying the retro gaming torch forward with your little ones, and I hope they're enjoying their time with the adventures so far.
liked. shared. commented.
great list!
Thanks very much!
Your videos are so perfect to watch before sleeping. So perfectly done. I absolutely love them.
Thought you should know😉
Oh thank you very much! I'm glad they help you to relax.
Fantastic video as always. Glad to see another Xexyz enjoyer. A childhood favorite for me. Here are some of my favorite lesser-known NES titles you may like that I don't think you've covered - some of these are a bit rare now! Arkista's Ring; Kick Master; Power Blade; Metal Storm; Kickle Cubicle; Toki; Jackie Chan's Action Kung-fu; Conquest of the Crystal Palace.
Oh, and if you liked the shooting parts of Guardian Legend enough to want to try more like that, Compile designed two other very high-quality shooters for the NES that both demonstrate hardware mastery - Zanac and Gun-Nac.
Looking forward to your next video!
These are all great suggestions! I think the only one on this list I've played so far is Arkista's Ring, and only to the end of the first loop once or twice since those Ninjas are just the worst. Thanks for such a great list of games to try!
@@hungrygoriya Oh man, I have done all four loops and I don't think it's actually worth it! Just one is fine. Since you've played Arkista's Ring I'll throw out one more obscure weirdo rec: Ninja Crusaders, also by Sammy.
Crystallis is my favorite NES action-adventure game. Even more so than TLoZ.
It's a wonderful game. I really love the soundtrack.
im looking forward to the Crystalis and Immortal reviews. thanks for playing!
Right on! Thanks for stopping by and taking some time out of your day to watch.
Hungry Goriya, I am a fan of your videos. You are always thorough and explain your thoughts clearly. This video was such a fun trip of nostalgia! Thank you for sharing your zeal for retrogaming! ❤👍
That's awfully kind of you to say. Thanks so much for stopping in and leaving a thoughtful comment. And as always, for sharing out my videos elsewhere. I appreciate you!
Great selection, you had some of my favorites, and some that I never gave much of a look to.
I'm really looking forward to hearing you talk about StarTropics, I discovered that one pretty recently myself and wish I hadn't slept on it.
As for recommendations, can we include Famicom games? Because I'd suggest Cocoron if so. Probably the first console game I've seen with a character creator.
Thanks very much! These are games I've finished over the years (I think the earliest was in 2018?) and just didn't have enough to say about them to do a full individual review. Great games all around!
StarTropics was so fun, even with its mean troll rooms. I was pretty floored that I liked it so much since I didn't exactly get off on the right foot with it, but all said, I came away feeling warm and fuzzy inside. There's a poll up right now to vote if you haven't already!
I'm definitely happy to try some Famicom stuff. I have a Cocoron cart actually! Do you need to know English to play it? I feel like there's a few menus at the beginning but not sure how the rest of the game plays.
Crystalis is one of my favorite games on the NES, but your playthrough of The Immortal was really good, so I would love to see either of those.
I'd be happy to talk about either game. Thanks for voting!
Always good to see a new upload from you HG, surprised the immortal didn't make the list :D
The Immortal needs its own video, haha... that one and Shadowgate were pure awesomeness.
Great list! I played most of them at one point or another (getting Vice Project Doom from a clearance bin in the mid 90s) but others just kind of passed me up despite being aware of them. For absolutely adoring Adventure Island 2 I've never played 3, funny enough there is also a 4 on the NES but it stayed in Japan. Really happy to see River City Ransom as I was actually curious if it would make the list since it's one of my favorites as well.
If you're still into NES, I hope you get to play the rest sometime. And I loved Adventure Island IV! I had a full review on it already and didn't include it here because if I included all my favourites, this list could've easily been over an hour long...
The NES continues to amaze me with its library of games that I've just never seen or heard about. I grew up with it, but in short order we had the SNES and that became our go to platform for a long time.
I'd recommend Star Tropics, since that's the only one of the four that I know for sure is fun!
To me, the NES library has rarely turned up a bad time. I can't wait to try out more games soon enough. I wish I could get into more SNES stuff. There's definitely some great games I've played, but I've had way more knockout experiences with the NES.
Fantastic video!
Excellent choice of outro music. StarTropics would be a great next review, but I’d love to see coverage of Crystalis.
We'll see how the poll shakes out! I can't wait to see what wins. It's currently tied and has been all day, haha
Hehe, I have a couple of those Consumer Guide Nintendo tips books. They are so weird and cool. Good video! I pretty much like all of the games you listed, although Wizards and Warriors can be a pain in the butt.
I haven't played Adventure Island 3 though. Better hope I get it before it gets to ridiculously expensive.
I had the really short orange one growing up that only had a couple of games in it and just got the blue one a few months ago. I was so excited to find it! And thanks about the video. I've been wanting to talk about these games for a long time but didn't feel I had enough to say for a full-blown review.
I hope you can find a copy of Adventure Island 3. I think I traded a second copy of Paper Mario for mine and I haven't looked back.
Great list. I don't know if I can ever enjoy Wizards & Warriors--I've tried--but I'll give it another look. My neighbor had Xexyz when I was a kid, and I remember liking it, but I couldn't remember the name, so thanks for this!
I felt like Wizards & Warriors was a breezy game. I started and finished it in the same session and I would've beaten it a lot sooner if it hadn't been for one terrible jump I kept missing. I liked it a lot! Xexyz is fun too. If you get around to playing that again, I hope you enjoy it! The bosses are pretty spectacular.
Nine mini reviews in one video!
Kid Icarus is the only game on this list that I had any experience of playing during the era when NES was the current system. It was actually my friend's copy, and although I had a quick try at it every now and again, as a 1-player game, I mainly watched him determinedly trying to make it through to the end. The fact that it was a vertical scroller (in parts) made an impression on me, as did the music, which faithfully stuck in my memory for decades until I heard the soundtrack again just a few years ago. The jingle that plays when the Reaper goes crazy was especially memorable to me! Also, what a wonderful instruction booklet; how I miss not having a physical manual with new games.
The only other game of the nine that I've played is River City Ransom, and that was only for about an hour, when my cousin brought a selection of games for us to try during Christmastime about 5 years ago. We had a blast with that one - we didn't really know what we were doing, but it was a real laugh! I haven't played it since...
As for the other seven games in this video..... I can see I have some catching up to do!
It's great that you at least got to experience a couple of these, even if it was only a little. Kid Icarus was a thorn in my side for many years because I just couldn't understand why I was struggling so hard with it. It didn't seem all that difficult even compared to other things I'd mastered by that point, but when I finally broke out of world 1 and saw what lay beyond, it was like the clouds opened up and the angels sang. What a difference! One thing on my list of things to buy is the instruction manual for Kid Icarus. I'd love to have a physical copy for myself, though the scan of that one online is quite lovely and clear!
River City Ransom feels like something I would've really liked as a kid but like you, wouldn't have known what the heck was happening. I hope you do get the opportunity to catch up on some of these sometime, or have time for a little more gaming in general. I'm still anxiously awaiting your inaugural stream of Adventure Island...
Adventure Island??? ......... Who knows what the future holds for us, eh? 😊
You started with one of my favorite games of all time, so that's an immediate follow.
Hey thanks very much!
Oh man, Startropics and Crystalis are so good.
I liked them both very much!
@Hundry Goriya
This was a good list! That final four you mentioned? Looking forward to your perspectives on StarTropics and especially Crystalis(my favorite NES game of all time)! Cheers!
Thank you very much! And I'm itching to get more reviews out the door here. I'd like to review all four of them at some point, but hopefully these comments/the poll I posted will help me to prioritize what to tackle first.
Terrific work on this, and great analysis of these titles! If you haven’t already gotten to it, “Magic of Scheherazade” is one of the most unique games for the NES. It’s a lot of fun.
I actually played The Magic of Scheherazade a few months ago, and I loved it. I can't wait to get my review written for it!
Love this video format. You should really make another one in maybe a years time. Even a shorter video with maybe 6 to 8 games would be very much appreciated.
Hey thanks! I play a variety of games on stream so it's not just all NES stuff all the time, which is why it takes me several years of gaming in general to find enough games for a list like this. I'll keep in mind that there's interest though!
I used to play wizards & warriors and river city ransom with my brother when we were young. Thanks for stirring up the good memories!
I'm glad you have such good memories from that time in your life! Thanks for stopping in here.