Genre: Baseball

Developer: Midway; Namco
Publisher: Tengen
Year: 1988

Basic Idea: Blaze around the basepaths with a fat, white Vince Coleman while wondering how Al Pedrique made the All-Star team.

Review:  I have a distinct memory as a child.  One morning when I was about nine, I woke up and went into the living room.  My dad was playing this game and excitedly told me that he had already hit three homers with Don Mattingly and was hoping to hit a fourth.  He didn’t.

I originally had this game ranked much higher due to nostalgia (go Twins!), but when I really compared it to the 36 other games I couldn’t justify it.  R.B.I. Baseball was the first non-awful baseball video game ever made.  Play control is flawless.  Defending is really smooth.  And to top it off, they got an MLBPA license.  Despite only having the eight playoff teams and two all-star teams from 1986 and 1987 (and despite getting a lot of the stats wrong), it was a real treat to play with real players for the first time (the game Major League Baseball had the teams but the players only were identified by number, which is simply not fun).  The game really gets the flavor of each team right.  The Tigers and Twins are mashers.  The Astros and Cardinals rely on pitching and brute speed.  

The only significant criticisms I have of the game are problems every baseball game had at the time.  The computer AI is awful, especially with defense and baserunning. Vince Coleman can never be caught stealing, except for home.  Home runs are comically easy (though that’s not necessarily a bad thing).  There is no DH for the American League.  There is also no season mode, though you can play through all 9 opponents if you don’t reset (plus get a nifty newspaper and boxscore at the end of each game).

Many prefer Baseball Stars due to the season mode, RPG elements, and more stylish play.  It has its place, but if I want a quick, ten minute baseball game, I can’t think of a better option.

One of my favorite fan sites on the net is Dee-Nee.com, which goes into insane amounts of detail to show off their love for this game.

Genre: Beat-em-up

Developer: Technos
Publisher: Acclaim
Year: 1990

Basic Idea: After embarrassingly allowing Marian to be killed right after you save her, seek revenge while trying to keep your buttons straight.

Review: Double Dragon was an amazing arcade game.  The best part was getting to end of the game, saving Marian, then having to have a fight to the DEATH with your partner over the hand of the lovely Marian.  Unfortunately, the NES game was a major disappointment.  Not only were the graphics less sharp, it was only a one-player game.  You also had to earn your special moves by defeating enough enemies over the course of the game.

The second game, to everyone’s delight, fixed these issues.  The graphics are brighter, better defined. You have all your moves right from the get go.  The levels designs are more creative (including fighting inside a helicopter with the door open!).  Most importantly, you can play with a buddy.  The controls take a while to get used to, as the buttons change depending on the direction you’re facing, but this can be adjusted to fairly quickly.  There are some RAM issues as is typical with Technos games, but it’s not as bad as most of them.

The most annoying aspect of the game is that there are three difficulty levels, and the only way to actually win the game is to play on the hardest level.  On the two easier levels, the game just stops after reaching a certain point.  Changing the ending based on the difficulty level makes sense, but stopping the game?  Blargh.

Double Dragon III was creative but insanely difficult.  If you are more of a casual lover of beat-em-ups like I am, this game is the way to go.

Genre: Platformer/Rail-Shooter/Driving

Developer: Aicom
Publisher: American Sammy
Year: 1991

Basic Idea: Just say no to drugs, and kill everyone making them!

Review: The best hybrid game on the NES.  The game begins with a racing stage, much like Spy Hunter.  After completing this stage is when you see the title screen.  Then, much like the Ninja Gaiden series, there are frequent cinematic breaks to advance the plot.  Most of the stages are platformers, and they are solidly designed with good play control.  Some cheap falling deaths are the game’s greatest problem.  The power-ups are also fairly unimaginative.  There are also some rail-shooter stages like you often see in the arcade and another driving stage.

The graphics are stunning at times and it’s impossible to get bored as there’s something new around every corner.  If you like Ninja Gaiden you can’t pass this up.

Genre: Beat-em-up/RPG

Developer: Technos
Publisher: Technos
Year: 1990

Basic Idea: Save your high-school while learning martial arts by reading books.

Review: One of those NES games that is more popular than it is great, but it’s still pretty damned great.  If this were simply a Double Dragon RPG, I might rank this even higher.  It being a Technos game, however, they insist on using these butt-ugly blocky guys that are funny to look at but awkward to control and have questionable hit detection.  The game is hilarious.  Players make funny faces and even barf at times.  The shopkeepers are amusing.  Attacks are creative.  And the ways in which you improve your stats and your skills lends to humor much like in Earthbound.

Sadly. the game has some annoyances.  It’s non-linear, but in the annoying way in that you may have to backtrack through multiple levels to get something you need.  The password system is also fifty miles long, which is inexcusable for a game released in 1990.  Finally, the game has RAM issues like every other game by Technos; characters flicker like crazy when too many get on the screen.  It doesn’t kill the game like it did with Super Dodge Ball, but it’s enough to annoy me here.

Worthy of a play by anyone who is a fan of beat-em-ups.

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: Atari
Publisher: Tengen
Year: 1988

Basic Idea:  Pray for that long tetrad after you pile a skyscraper on one side.

Review:  Most people first played this on the Gameboy, but sometimes you just want a big screen. Easy to learn for anyone in any culture and incredibly addictive.  There have been many a night I’ve gone to bed, closed my eyes, and couldn’t help but see falling tetrads.

The version released by Nintendo is fine enough.  It’s crisp, user-friendly, and has some cool endings depending on how many points you get or lines you complete.  However, I prefer the unlicensed game by Tengen.  Not only does it have the basic game, you can also play against or with a friend, or against or with the computer.  The variety easily makes it the more interesting game.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Natsume
Publisher: Jaleco
Year: 1991

Basic Idea: Shatter shit with your hands.

Review: A game I had never heard of until I began this countdown, this is an exceptional platformer I’d probably rate higher if I owned it as a kid and had the chance to obsess over it.  The concept is really basic.  Destroy everyone with your cybernetic hands.  The power-up is a floating robot that attacks (exceptionally well) when you do, and this robot has eight different attacks depending on what you collect.  The game is very, very difficult, but fair.

More than that, though, the execution is superb.  The layered graphics are gorgeous and the soundtrack always seems to fit the mood perfectly.  The level designs themselves are a little pedestrian; as such, the game may not be as memorable as others.  But it’s hard not to enjoy yourself while playing.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Year: 1991

Basic Idea: Throw your controller a lot.

Review: I struggled where to rank this game more than any other.  It is widely considered one of the most difficult games of all time and it certainly earns that honor.  It is also one of the most creative games on the NES.  The toads are drawn and move in such a way for humor while still being functional.  The first stage is as great a hook as there is, with your toads bopping and thwomping their way through a very colorful landscape with rockin’ music.   The first level’s boss is fought from the boss’s perspective, as you throw things at the screen to defeat it.  And the difficulty curve to this point is fine.  Then it gets ridiculous.

While the levels are inventive, ranging from racing, surfing, rappelling, and swimming, there is no sense of fairness present throughout.  If the game had unlimited lives, I might be able to tolerate the difficulty.  As it stands, the only way to enjoy this game long-term is to use a game genie or play it on an emulator and save frequently.  I did this, and enjoyed myself immensely, which is why I find it difficult to rank.  If the game were at all fair, it would probably rank in the top 20 if not top 10.