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Inspired by lolomfgisuck's rediculous goal of beating EVERY NES game released to American consumers I've constructed a severely simplified challenge for myself. Starting arbitrarily with Kid Icarus and ending with my all-time favorite NES game (what could it be?) I plan on beating the 107 best games released for the NES.

Why play a bunch of dusty old NES games? - Because they're awesome and they're still fresh and entertaining twenty years later. The NES was the first mass appeal system where developers truly had the freedom to bring their ideas to life. During the Atari era graphics were
minimal and game play was often limited. Gamers were forced to use their imagination to envision that chunky block as an F-1 racer.

On the NES we saw the creation of some of the most vibrant and memorable gaming experiences that are still being copied to this day. We trekked through dank caves as Samus, hopped and bopped through surreal worlds as Mario, fought insane robots over futuristic cityscapes as Megaman. Archetypes were created, game play concepts were set, genres were crafted. This is my way of paying tribute to the most important console ever manufactured.

What's the criteria for a game to be on this list? - There's not any formula that I'm running considered games through to give them a score. I'm just playing what I want to. A good deal of them are games from my childhood that I loved. The rest will be games that are generally recognized as great as well as any suggestions from the peanut gallery. Feel free to let me know what I should be playing.

Why 107 games? - It was 100 at first, but I thought it would be funny to ruin a nice even number by adding one, then I added six more for the hell of it.

How could you have never beaten so many great games - They're not "incomplete" in the sense that I've never finished them. I just compiled a list of great games that I'm going to play. Some have already been finished, some have yet to be finished, and some I've never played. Of course, I wasn't great at video games when I was little so the vast majority of these haven't been previously beaten.

<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Current Game~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>

Kid Icarus - A classic game from a time early in the NES' lifespan when Nintendo labeled the genre of every game they created right on the box (it was an adventure game). Outshined by Gunpei Yokoi's masterpiece Metroid, Kid Icarus was doomed to be one of the few Nintendo games that didn't blossom into a long running franchise. Kid Icarus was unique for its combination of upward scrolling levels, exploration sections where you moved by individual screens, and shooter segments.

<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Incomplete Games~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>

(This list is a work in progress. There are 107 games, but feel free to shit on any of the games if you think they're crummy and make any suggestions for games I missed. Just no turned based RPGs like Final Fanasy or Dragon Warrior, I can't stand them on the NES.)

1942
1943
3d World Runner
A Boy and His Blob
Abadox
Adventure Island
Adventure Island 2
Adventure Island 3
Adventure of Bayou Billy
Adventures of Lolo
Adventures of Lolo 2
Adventures of Lolo 3
Alien Syndrome
Arkanoid
Batman
Battletoads
Bionic Commando
Blaster Master
Bomberman
Bubble Bobble
Castlevania
Castlevania 2
Castlevania 3
Clash at Demonhead
Commando
Contra
Contra Force
Crysis Force
Crystalis
Deja Vu
Dig Dug 2
Donkey Kong
Double Dragon
Double Dragon 2
Double Dragon 3
Duck Tales
Excite Bike
Faxandu
Galaxy 5000
Golgo 13
Goonies II
Gradius
Gun Nac
Gunsmoke
Gyruss
Ice Climber
Kid Niki
Kung Fu
Life Force
Little Nemo
Little Samson
Low G Man
Maniac Mansion
Mappy Land
Marble Madness
Megaman
Megaman 2
Megaman 3
Megaman 4
Megaman 5
Megaman 6
Metal Gear
Metal Storm
Metroid
Mike Tyson's Punch Out
Nightshade
Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 3
Operation Wolf
Paperboy
Powerblade
Powerblade II
Princess Tomato
Rad Racer
Rad Racer II
Rescue Rangers
River City Ransom
Robocop
Rolling Thunder
Rush n' Attack
Rygar
Sector Z
Shadowgate
Shadow of the Ninja
Shatterhand
Snake's Revenge
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Star Tropics
Super C
Tecmo Cup Soccer
Tecmo Super Bowl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
The Guardian Legend
Uninvited
Vice: Project Doom
Willow
Xexyz
Zelda
Zelda 2

<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Complete Games~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<>

Super Dodge Ball

Don't forget to check out lolomfgisuck's NES challenge. It's much more insane than mine and even if he doesn't finish it he deserves a medal for at least attempting it.

Updated: 08/20/08 2:19 AM Log in to comment! | Share this!

The People Have Spoken

10 Comments

Aug. 16, 2008 | 11:24 PM groundpwndr says:

we don't know each other, but i watch you play at night, and i was wondering if you plan to complete them 100% or just beat em?

Aug. 16, 2008 | 11:46 PM Jercurpac responds:

I'm just going to beat them. I don't plan on using any guides so going for 100% on every game would at the very least double the length of my already lengthy endevour. That's just too much effort for me.

Aug. 17, 2008 | 11:00 AM Ehwaz003 says:

Too bad you won't get achievement points for them... LOL ;)
Anyway, I killed A LOT of time (wasting time, basically) on many NES games.
First of all, a complete list of the games you intend to play would be a good thing to add. Furthermore, a post for each game would be nice: this way, you can get help from others who played the game a long time/a while ago.
You propably want to do it all by yourself, but in case you get stuck, you could get help (you mentioned using no guides, but you didn't say you don't want help from friends or users here)

I hope it all turns out well.

I don't know how I ended here in the first place either... I was looking for a guide to become a mod here and I ended up clicking your green colored username. Help, get me out of here! ;P

Aug. 18, 2008 | 1:54 PM Sun-and-Moon says:

you still haven't beaten the original zelda!?

good because I havent either

Aug. 19, 2008 | 1:22 PM MissingNYC says:

how have you not beaten zelda?!

Aug. 19, 2008 | 2:02 PM Jercurpac responds:

Sorry if I was unclear. I'm not trying to beat NES games that I've never beaten. I just made a list of great NES games and I've set a goal to finish them all. They're just games that I've compiled into a list that I will beat. Some I've previously beaten, some I've never completed, some I've yet to play.

That being said I've never completed the original Zelda, my cartridge never worked as a kid. I just never meant to give any indication within my post that any of the games had never been completed.

Updated: Aug. 19, 2008, 2:12 PM

Aug. 19, 2008 | 1:55 PM kidray76 says:

Actually guys, I never been the original zelda game till early on this year. And I actually own the golden cartridge for years.

Fair warning about zelda 2, it is a HUGE change from zelda one and probably the worse zelda game ever. You'll see what I mean.

Of course, how could you not of beaten gradius? One of the best side scroller, plane action games?

Faxandu. God I love that game, just could never beat it. You'll love that game, just the controls will piss you off. Also excitebike pretty easy, just a good hour for that.

Mario bros, you never beaten not one of those? Cmon, you had of at least beat 3. Of course, 2 is my favorite. Also thorougly surprised with all those megamans. Those shouldn't take more than a day worth per game.

Mike tyson punch just fucking impossible without an emulator. So it's understandable.

Castlevania's are cool, just the first one is hard, and the adverture one is fucking great.

Last, battle toads are hard and double dragons are always so damn routine. River city ransom always gets a thumbs up.

Aug. 19, 2008 | 2:07 PM Jercurpac responds:

I checked out Zelda 2 jus to see what it was like, I didn't get far, but I enjoyed it. I'm not always a fan of RPG elements in NES games though, it usually amounts to grinding that only serves to artificially lengthen a game (the reason I've excluded any turned based RPGS). Case in point, Willow; which is still good, it's just that grinding every time you reach a new area is a bitch. I've heard some people just shit on Zelda 2, but from my, admittedly short, play time it seemed very solid. It's interesting to see a Zelda game where Nintendo wasn't afraid to try something new.

Aug. 19, 2008 | 4:56 PM kidray76 says:

I'll give nintendo that. They will at least attempt creativity and thinking outside the box. Case in point of mario. Mario 1 was something new and just amazing. Mario 2 was different, not recieved as good, but still fun to play. Mario 3 blew you away. And snes just took off from there.

Just with zelda 2, that did not go over well when the first one was soooo damn good. Overall, it sold horribily compared to it's predecessor. It's like NFL 2k2 and NFL 2k3. Your playing NFL 2k2 and just thinking, this is just amazing. Get NFL 2k3, and your like "wtf they did just do?!?!?"

Overall, I like the concept of zelda 2, and I can appreciate the risks, but just wasn't my cup of tea because game play was hard and lack of just variety in the game play. Only fun thing I found out of that game was just using the downward stab ( as seen in smash bro :) ) over and over again on a enemy.

So just my opinion, if you were to never beat or play zelda 2, wouldn't miss out on much. Kinda like sonic on xbox lol, yeah, might be fun, but falls short of glory.

Aug. 25, 2008 | 2:18 PM killerrob says:

Good for you, i own all the NES games Japan or USA i beat about 508 of them

Sep. 6, 2008 | 1:33 AM Anti-pie says:

Holy shit thats alot of games. Atleast there the good ones. Go forth my son!

Sep. 6, 2008 | 9:43 PM Jercurpac responds:

Dad?

Sep. 11, 2008 | 11:00 PM Hybrid-Of-Souls says:

Battletoads, too?
Ho boy...

Oct. 1, 2008 | 11:23 PM LTmatt says:

emulated?

Oct. 1, 2008 | 11:39 PM Jercurpac responds:

Nope, this truck was driving past my house and a box of NES games fell out of it. I felt like I had hit the video game lottery.