Genre: Baseball

Developer: Tengen
Publisher: Tengen
Year: 1991

Basic Idea:  Standard baseball game, with all the teams from the 1990 season plus every playoff team from 1983 to 1989.

Review: The second and third games of this series are virtually identical, with the exception that the third game added said playoff teams to the mix, allowing the player to match-up various good teams from the decade.  The third game makes the list because of this nice addition.  Like all the RBI games, the controls are pretty easy to master and there’s virtually no frustration with the gameplay.  The ability to jump and dive were added as well.  However, the game has retained its arcade type scoring without the arcade feel.  It was if the series decided to get serious, but kept the computer AI dumb and the home runs ridiculously easy.  At least you get distance markers for your home runs.  I remember our family kept track for a while who had hit the longest one.  At one point I held the record with Howard Johnson.

Playing one-player is pretty monotonous, but it can still be fun with two players.  However, there are better bangs for your buck as far as two-player NES baseball games go.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Year: 1990

Basic Idea:  Somewhat based on the Keaton/Nicholson movie, you go around Gotham killing baddies armed with several types of weapons and a wall-jump.

Review: I’ve known several people who insist this game is awesome, so I’ve given it a shot several times.  The graphics are top-notch and the music ain’t bad either.  The weapon choices rock as well.  But when on the first level of the game I continually fall into pits and crash right into enemies, I have a hard time mustering the strength to keep going.  It also ain’t just because the level design is difficult.  Batman’s jumping ability (and its responsiveness on the controller) leaves a bit to be desired.  The one thing I can say is that the game gives you unlimited continues, so if you’re good enough to get through a stage on three lives, at least you never have to start from the beginning.

Why is the game ranked #99 despite the tepid review?  Well, it does have some positives going for it.  Mainly, though, I had a hard time filling out my top 100.  I played many, many, many games trying to fill it out, and many of them couldn’t make the cut either.  So I thought I’d give the final two spots to two classic games that I don’t personally love but I can see why others do.  The remaining 98 games are all ones I do get enjoyment out of playing.

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Year: 1988

Basic Idea:  You defeat enemies by blowing bubbles and capturing them inside said bubbles.  Then you stomp on them, collect some power-ups, and do it about another 100 times.

Review: I admit I have never played this game with two people, which I hear is where most of the fun lies.  As a 1-player game, it’s a little repetitive.  Not nearly as much as Pac-Man, but it’s still a bit simplistic for my tastes.  The graphics are distinct but drab, and the repetitive music doesn’t hold me either.  That said, it is easy to learn, with responsive controls and an appropriate difficulty curve.  I’ll take it for granted (especially since this game often hits top ten lists) that the game is pretty awesome with two people.

When I was a kid I had Nintendo Power.  While the magazine was mostly awesome (in both a helpful and an 80’s sort of way), it always had a list of all the games I didn’t have.  I dreamed of one day owning every single game.  You know, when I got older and was rich.  I was so excited when I learned about emulators.  Imagine my disappointment when I realized most NES games sucked hard.

There are 785 titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and that doesn’t include Famicom titles that didn’t make it over from Japan (I decided not to include Famicom titles).  And I think 781 of them are either shooters or platformers.  I don’t have anything against those two genres (in fact, many will make my list), but if the NES library came to life it would be attack of the clones.  I have not played every game.  However, I have played many of them, if not to completion, at least long enough to know they sucked.

A lot of sites will break down scores for graphics, sound, control, etc. when reviewing games.  Bah. The only score that matters is “How likely am I to want to play this?”  All of those subcategories affect my enjoyment, but I like different games for different reasons.  For example, there’s one game with atrocious sound and underwhelming graphics that is in my Top 20.

I hope you will join me in fondly remembering and discussing these classic games.  I hope there are some hidden gems you’ll discover.  I hope that there are some hidden gems that you all can educate me about.  I also hope there is at least one game Rhubarb has played, hated, and is high on this list.

Game #100 will be posted next Monday.  Starting tomorrow and throughout this week, I will post games I am confident would make my Top 100 if I bothered to play them.  But because they are long and I no longer have the patience to go through them, I didn’t feel right just randomly giving them a spot in the countdown.  Perhaps some of you have played them and can enlighten me further.  If by chance I do wind up playing a game and adding it to the list before it’s over, I’ll simply cram it between two games on the countdown where it would be.

Enjoy this list, and boot up your emulators, because now you’re playing with power!