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.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Year: 1989

Basic Idea: Solve a mystery or rewrite history!  Wooo-ooooh!

Review: Another great effort by Capcom with a license, this is a solid platformer that I won as a kid over several rentals.  You control Scrooge McDuck, trying to get as much money as possible while killing bosses who try to get in your way of more money.  Control is solid and creative, with your cane able to be used as a weapon or a pogo stick.  The music is fantastic and the graphics are above average.

The gameplay is similar to Mega Man in that you choose the order of the stages, but the game is non-linear, requiring you to come back some stages later.  This would be annoying if the game was huge, but it’s pretty well contained.  If the play control had been just a little bit tighter, I would have likely ranked it higher.  As it stands, it’s still pretty damned good.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Rare
Publisher: Acclaim
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: Jump and fall and jump and fall and never say die.

Review: I had no idea this game was made by Rare, as it doesn’t have the company’s usual feel.  It’s graphically colorful, but the backgrounds are stale and uninteresting.  It’s also not conceptually all that amazing or different from a few other games.  It is certainly weird.  You play a knight with a limp sword, trying to find your way through each level by jumping all over the place looking for keys and exits.  You can use your sword, but it doesn’t seem all that necessary since enemies die just by running into it.  You can die, and you will die often.  But you always revive right where you died just like in the modern LEGO games so it’s more important to focus on not falling than it is avoiding death.

The review hasn’t seemed like high praise, but the game is still oddly enjoyable to play.  The music is catchy and upbeat.  The play control is fluid.  And each level has its own appeal despite the mediocre graphics.  If you weren’t virtually invincible, I wouldn’t like the game that much.  Proof of this is that I’ve never been able to get into the game’s two sequels.  But I still enjoy playing this one even today.

Genre: Pocket Billiards

Developer: Data East
Publisher: Data East
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: Become the best pool player in the world and get a girl to look at you longingly.

Review: Most people prefer Lunar Pool, which is more physics game than pocket billiards.  But despite the awesome idea, it pretty much bored me.  I’ve spent many hours playing Side Pocket despite some serious problems with the game mechanics.  You can play against a friend in 8-ball or 9-ball, or you can play solo and prove your worth to the world and some chick who follows you along to each tournament.  It’s a neat set-up, trying to win each level by pocketing balls consecutively and by number to earn points.  There’s also trick shots you have to make to advance as well.

Where the game falters are the actual shooting mechanics.  The most powerful shot in this game is still half as powerful as I can shoot in real life; thus, the break often leaves many balls still close together.  Worse yet, aiming is often futile, as you’re given maybe four spots on the ball to aim at; oftentimes, all four options leave it impossible for you to make a shot, when in reality there should almost always be a correct angle.

The SNES version is a little bit better, so there’s little reason to play this version even if you want to play an older pool game.  But it provided a lot of entertainment twenty-five years ago.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Year: 1991

Basic Idea: Take Buster, Daffy, Dizzy Devil, and Furball along to try and defeat all of the baddies of Acme.

Review: This is widely considered to be a clone of the Super Mario Bros. series, and it’s really impossible to deny it.  You defeat enemies by jumping on their heads.  You enter secret rooms to be given short-term power-ups.  And at the end of each world, you face one of Montana Max’s henchmen.  Each level you can pick which sidekick you want to bring with you (like Mario 2). Even the falling red curtain that ends Super Mario 3 ends this game.

Of course, there are worse things than copying one of the most successful platformers of all time.  They also added some nice touches.  I mentioned you get to pick which side-character to bring with you on each level.  Well, on each level you start as Buster, but if you get a certain power-up, you become his more powerful ally.  Also, unlike Super Mario 3, the final enemy on each level requires more than just jumping on their heads.  I love the way in which you need to defeat Elmira, who is trying to “love” you.

The play control is great and the music is familiar and catchy.  Where this game falters is the graphics, which are incredibly bland considering the year this was released and the company that released it.  Also, the game is incredibly easy, winnable in a day by probably any decent gamer.  Still, it’s fun while it lasts.