Genre: Platformer

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1988

Basic Idea: She got the way to move me Cherry, she got the way to groove me some extra lives.

Review: When we first got this game, I was disappointed.  At first I thought it was too difficult, but this was mainly because the game mechanics were so different from the first game in the series. With time, I began to get good at the game, but it took me years to really appreciate it.  Reworking Doki Doki Panic is one of the best decisions Nintendo of America made for the console.

There are so many wonderful aspects of this platformer, it’s hard to tell where to start.  Deciding which character you’ll go as before each level is a great idea.  While any character can win any level, there are advantages to one over another depending on the level.  Mario is all-around okay, Luigi is awkward but can jump super high, Toad is weak but quick and fast, and the Princess can float in the air for a few seconds.  Not only is the terrain a factor in your decision, but also your desire to be able to pick up and throw vegetables and enemies with more speed as well as collect coins in the subworld.  Ah yeah, the subworld, the place to get special mushroom energy and your best chance at extra lives.

I love that many levels have alternate paths through them. Some are quicker, but more dangerous. Some can only be accessed with certain characters.  And I absolutely adore the bosses.  Birdo is so pathetic it almost makes me sad to kill him.  He appears several times, but has different powers each time.  The stage bosses is where it’s at, though.  Mouser, Fry Guy, and TriClyde are all excellent bosses that take patience and skill to defeat.  What other games requires to build yourself a wall of defense before attacking the boss?  And then you have the door near the end of the game that comes alive and tries to eat you.  Classic.

The bosses aren’t the only enemies that deserve praise.  Bob-omb was so cool he became the only enemy to make it into future Mario games.  Nothing can beat the phantom, though.  I literally got nervous every time I picked up a key.  Finally getting to the locked door was a huge relief.

If all of these reasons weren’t enough to explain why this game is better than Super Mario Bros. 3, I present you with Wart, the final boss.  He is hands down my favorite final boss on the NES.  He never moves because he’s so fat but he’s deadly. He’s arrogant and relentless.  Even today it usually takes me a few times to beat him.

I was also completely blown away by the game’s ending.  Nearly every game I had won to that point had one screen congratulating me, often with misspelled words.  The ending to Super Mario Bros. 2 is several minutes long, complete with rolling credits featuring the game characters.  An incredibly satisfying game, through and through.

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Year: 1993

Basic Idea:  She loves ice, she loves ice not.

Review: If you like puzzles, you have to play this game.  If you like Adventures of Lolo, you have to play this game.  If you like iced tea, you have to play this game.  If you think fire was a good idea for civilization, you have to play this game.

The sequel to Solomon’s Key, Fire ‘N Ice makes its predecessor obsolete.  And Tecmo did it by simplifying everything.  You still play as Dana, saving the world or something, going level to level. Your only goal is to get rid of the fire on each level.  You do this by creating blocks of ice (or melting blocks of ice) and pushing them into the flames.  The learning curve is pitch perfect.  The first world is very easy as you get used to how the game works, and it gradually gets to the point where you’ll be replaying the same levels ten, twenty, thirty times in order to figure things out.

Over 100 levels await.  Like a good book, I did virtually nothing until I completed it, and I still come back to it every couple of years.  It’s that damn addicting.  There’s even a level editor if you’re into that sort of thing.  Fire ‘N Ice is still my favorite puzzle game of all-time.

Genre: Platformer/Shooter

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Year: 1988

Basic Idea:  SPREAD GUN, BITCHES!!!

Review: Pretty much the perfect 2-player game, Contra is a blend of non-stop action, awesome power-ups, fun bosses, and seamless teamwork.  Nearly every time I get together with friends to play games, Contra makes the list.

The learning curve is really solid, almost moving too slowly.  A decent gamer can probably get to the fifth level without losing a life after just a bit of practice.  The game does get gradually harder after that, with the last level or two being kind of a pain.  I’ve never won the game without the 30-man life code but I’ve come close.

The controls are nearly flawless, with only some difficulty on the vertical level with all the jumping around.  The music is not great, but energetic enough for the genre.  And the levels are a visual treat, with some of the most kick-ass looking bosses on the NES.

My favorite co-op game on the NES, Contra is a must-have in any library.

Genre: Action RPG

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Year: 1989

Basic Idea: Defeat Bavmorda and save Elora Danan, though not quite like Ron Howard envisioned.

Review: A game that more or less plays like Link to the Past, Willow is a fine adventure marred only by some uninspiring landscapes and enemies (with some fun but mostly easy bosses).  Playing as the title character, your job is to travel from town to town, meeting up with characters from the movie like Franjean and Rool, save Fin Raziel and Madmartigan, turn Sorsha against her mother, and then take on Bavmorda.  Along the way you will take on a few other miscellaneous tasks and fight some bosses, all while upgrading weapons and shields, and learning spells.  There are definitely some unique spells that fit the theme of the game and are fun to use.  One of my favorites is a spell that can turn stronger enemies into weaker ones…maybe.

What I enjoy about this game is that you never have to buy anything.  Everything you need can be either found, given to you, or learned from others.  What I don’t enjoy about this game is the level-building.  Now, the game isn’t terribly difficult, so there’s no need for endless level-building in order to defeat enemies.  But in order to defeat Bavmorda, you must turn Fin Raziel back into a human.  To do this, you must be at a level that’s far beyond where you actually need to be to defeat Bavmorda.

While there’s little about the game that is memorable, the game has charm in spades.  It helps that the characters use better English than in most NES games, but the characters themselves tend to be more distinct and have their own motivations.  If you like the Zelda games, there’s a good chance you’ll like Willow as well.

Genre: RPG

Developer: Chunsoft
Publisher: Enix
Year: 1992

Basic Idea: Learn more about the mysterious Erdrick and also what it’s like for the sun to set.

Review: The final game in the Erdrick trilogy is easily the best one.  While it suffers from the same thing as the first two games in the series (endless level-building), its story is epic and infinitely more interesting than the previous two games.  There is a day/night cycle, the first of its kind in a straight RPG.  Not only are enemies more plentiful and difficult at night, the towns change, with some areas only accessible at night (and others closed).  Best of all, there are more metal babbles.

Dragon Warrior III is the only game of the first five in the series that has you hire your party members (the main hero is the one constant) from a guild.  Being as there are seven options and only three slots, I agonized over who to take.  I hated it then, and still hate it now.  Like Final Fantasy, your characters can mature at the half-way point in the game, though in a different fashion.  When you reach a certain level, you can change your party member to another class and start at level 1 (but maintain all of the spells/abilities you had as the other character).  And if you have the goof-off in your party (who is useless and potentially dangerous), he can mature into a supremely powerful character. I never did that, as I didn’t want to hate the first half of the game.

Other than that, the game is wonderful.  The world map is a caricature of Earth, ripe with stereotypes in each land.  The American translators went a bit too far, especially in Japan, but it is fun to recognize different areas of the game.  Without spoilers, I’ll say the last area of the game is probably my favorite in an RPG on the NES, and it neatly wraps up the saga of the Erdrick line.  While the series remains infinitely more popular in Japan that it does in the States, it’s worthy of a play by RPG fans, especially the Game Boy Color port which eliminates most of the game’s issues on the NES.  For those wondering, you do not need to play the first two in the series to enjoy this one.

Genre: RPG

Developer: Square
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1990

Basic Idea: Learn patience by fighting Imp after Imp, and run the fuck away from the Cockatrices.

Review: Square was about to go under when Nintendo decided they might take a chance and see if this whole RPG thing would catch on.  Well, whaddya know?

While the game has become more user-friendly with recent ports, the original suffered a bit from the same thing all 1980 RPG’s suffered from: endless battles to level up and get gold.  Picking the right party to go with you can make the game more palatable.  My first time, I chose two fighters, a white mage, and a black mage.  Why two fighters?  Well, black belts were wimpy and couldn’t equip hardly anything.  Little did I know that black belts become extremely powerful later in the game, and that fighters are insanely expensive.  I have distinct, angry memories of spending hours outside Melmond fighting beasts to raise enough money for two long swords.  I also have distinct, angry memories of wasting a turn attacking blank space after an enemy I had chosen to attack had just died.

I’m also not a huge fan of choosing my party.  I’d much rather be given distinct, fleshed out characters then to put myself in the role of a cipher.  And once you know the best party (Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, Black Mage) it’s hard to choose any other if you want to just enjoy the game.  Making it harder (e.g. picking all mages) holds no appeal for me.

All that said, this game still holds up today.  I don’t think anyone raised on Final Fantasy VII would enjoy it much, but it is still more than nostalgia for the rest of us.  I have so many fond memories of the game.  Passing Corneria’s bridge for the first time.  Battling the nine pirates.  Dying multiple times in the swamp cave after having my whole party turned to stone.  The hall of Giants.  Talking to the twelve wise men and raising the airship.  Maturing the party.  Praying against encountering Warmech on Tiamat’s Plank of Death.  I also loved that this was the first RPG that showed the act of fighting (somewhat) with bright colors used for weapons and spells.  The music is classic and most of the soundtrack is still used in the series.

Chaos, the final boss, is not terribly difficult with the right party members in tow.  Sadly, though, he remains one of the more difficult final bosses in the long history of the franchise.  The first time I beat him I was excited, as I believe this was the first RPG I won.

I was originally sad that Square didn’t have another game in the series in the U.S. until Final Fantasy IV, but having played through half of Final Fantasy II and hating every minute of it (before getting permanently stuck), I’ve gotten over it.  I have come back to the original game, however, on more than one occasion.  Final Fantasy is a classic through and through.

Genre: Action Adventure

Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: If you ever needed to grapple really bad…

Review: In my review of Blaster Master, I lamented the lack of any way to save the game considering its expanse and significant backtracking.  I also mentioned I could have forgiven that if I was blown away by the game.  I was blown away by Rygar.

The first thing one notices when they start this game is how insanely good the music is.  If there was a game from 1987 that had better music, I haven’t played it.  Each section of the game has its own theme, and each one is highly addicting.  I am not bullshitting when I say that leaving one area for the next is an emotional letdown for me because I immediately miss the music I was just listening to.

The graphics are not far behind.  The graphics in the platforming scenes are simply stunning for the time.  A sunset framed by purple mountains with a scrolling horizon?  Tecmo was way ahead of its time.  The overhead areas have decidedly more pedestrian graphics, but they’re still serviceable.

Of course, neither sound nor graphics do a game make.  What does make a game like this is intense action with great play control.  The diskarmor is a great weapon, again one of my favorites on the system.  Like Castlevania, it can be upgraded with more experience.  Unlike Castlevania, there are no other power-ups in the game.  You are allowed a couple of magic spells that strengthen your attack and one to heal yourself.  The game makes up for the lack of weapons with the various tools you need to collect to advance.  While the game doesn’t tell you where you need to go, it is linear in the fact that you need tools to get into other areas (though some parts can be done in a different order).  From a grappling hook to a crossbow to a wind pulley, these items must be used creatively to access new areas of the game.

My favorite part of the game are the bosses that guard each section.  Each one is unique and fits the theme of the area you’re in, and some of those special items you collect can also be used creatively to make the boss battles easier.  The game is consistently difficult, but also consistently fair.  The final boss in the game is worthy of the title.

The game does have two moderate flaws, unfortunately.  As mentioned, there is no save feature, which is almost unforgivable.  One would need at least three hours to defeat this game, and that’s assuming you virtually never die.  Five to six hours is more likely, and that’s once you know where everything is.  What makes it tolerable is that there are infinite lives.  Also, you don’t lose experience or items when you die; you just have to start at the beginning of whatever stage you are in.

The second flaw involves using the wind pulley.  There are chasms you must cross on a rope, using the pulley to swing across.  On the overhead levels, it is very easy to misjudge the rope and wind up falling into a chasm.  More of an annoyance than anything, but there it is.

Less annoying but still worthy a mention is some slowdown issues in areas with too many enemies.

With save states, the two primary problems with the game are rendered moot.  So if you’re looking for an old-school game in this vein, fire up an emulator and give Rygar a try.