it seems like whenever I get into a
conversation with anybody about the
original NES the topic that always seems
to come up is what are some good games
that we haven't played before people
that play the NES are all familiar with
the classics but are always in search of
games deep within the depths of the NES
library that are worth their time to
play we all know the NES had a lot of
junk titles so it can be hard to sift
through the crap to find the good ones
after helping to write reviews for years
I've become very familiar with the
entire NES catalog and I found a bunch
of great games that people never seem to
even mention so let's get started it's
cinemassacre top 10 obscure NES gems
number 10 here's an NES game that's
right up my alley Felix the Cat Felix
the Cat was the most popular cartoon
character of the silent era of animation
before Mickey tooted his horn in
Steamboat Willie
Felix was tearing up the silver screen
with his detachable tail and magic bag
he was the first character to have a big
following so it's only right that
eventually he got his own video game and
you know before I played this I would
have put money on it sucking mouse turds
but I would have gone broke because this
is actually a pretty solid game now
Felix had a cartoon series in 1995
called the twisted tales of Felix the
Cat but the magic bag and Professor that
appear in the game were from the 1950s
TV cartoon so the NES game is based on a
mix of the silent era character and the
50s cartoon for an NES game the graphics
are good and for me the controls are
perfect but the thing that makes this
game stand out are the awesome power ups
you collect these little circles with
Felix of space on them some give off
milk bottles and others give off hearts
the hearts will give you all sorts of
new abilities like becoming a tank plane
hot-air balloon or a cat submarine to
name a few and the milk will charge up
your heart meter allowing you to keep
the special ability for a longer period
of time the game's fairly easy I beat it
the first time I played it and after you
get the strongest powerup any other
heart you get after that will just
become a 1up you collect those so
rapidly it makes the game hard to lose
and on some levels you can just fly
right over everything kind of like
certain stages in super mario world
where you can just use the Cape to fly
above the level so that's my only minor
complaint it is a little too easy it
could have used a difficulty setting but
other than that it's a lot of fun and
it's a
shame that it was so overlooked because
it sure a hell of a lot better than
Ghostbusters and Top Gun which every kid
was duped into buying since it may be a
while before anybody makes epic felix go
ahead and try out the nes game in the
mean time number nine crazy creatures
here we have an unlicensed puzzle game
called crazy creatures on the surface
the game looks really stupid it's got a
bunch of cats and dogs and even pink
elephants like in Dumbo you're probably
gonna think I'm out of my mind to choose
this for the list but you'll have to
trust me on this one the reason I like
it is because of the gameplay it's
really good it was released in 1990 and
was made by American video entertainment
which also published Polly bear on the
know gang I know it doesn't look too
promising so this game is pretty dull of
the graphics but it's a lot of fun it's
really all about the gameplay you go
from stage to stage matching up groups
of animals which remove them from the
screen it's a very simplistic game it's
a race against the clock to try and
clear the whole screen if the entire
screen does fill up with animals the
game will be over so you're gonna have
to work fast and it gets really intense
which is I guess why it's called crazy
creatures what makes it fun is when you
get a really long row or if you clear
the screen right before the timer runs
out it gives you a real sense of
accomplishment when you do really well
with this one you really just have to
play it yourself and see what I mean
it's a lot of fun and I like it so let's
move on
number 8 Joe and Mac in this game you
play as two cavemen and you have to save
cave girls from other cavemen if you win
they all get together and watch Captain
Caveman on the television now that part
I made up it was originally an arcade
game and of course the graphics aren't
as good as in the original arcade but
the gameplay is still there I will say
this about the graphics though it's one
of the few NES games that I remember
where the background images moved by the
camera slower than the foreground images
and it created a nice illusion of depth
that you didn't get too often with the
NES the music's also good you get a few
catchy memorable tunes you get a few
different weapons to choose from the
basic axe stone wheels and boomerangs I
think the best one is the stone wheel it
seems to do more damage than the axe and
you can throw it further than the Boomer
I'm putting this lower on the list
because unfortunately it's not two
players at the same time player two has
to wait and some of the boss battles are
too difficult like the Giant Venus
flytrap where they give you know where
to stand so usually get eaten fill Oh a
few minor flaws aside this is a really
good NES game and it's often passed by
number seven is exes gee I wonder why
this game wasn't that popular hmm let's
see maybe it had something to do with
the fact that it's called sexes I didn't
even know how to pronounce the name of
the game for a long time until I
actually heard somebody say it it's a
shame that the title so bad because if
they would have named it something else
it might have been more well known and
the game deserves it it has three styles
of gameplay side-scrolling platformer
and shooter stages that really helps
prevent the game from getting overly
monotonous though even with all the
variety
I'll admit once you start getting to the
later stages it does seem to become the
same thing over and over you don't just
go from left to right blasting stuff now
there's more to it you have to find
hidden rooms and defeat mini bosses that
give you this thing called a four star
that allows you to access another part
of the island called the mechanics
castle where you'll find the levels boss
also along the way are shops and
characters they give hints which usually
aren't that much help
one guy tells you to kill the boss you
need to hit him in the eye wow I never
would have guessed
there's also fairies and hot tubs that
need your help wow this game is weird
what's also weird is this bonus area
where to open the treasure chest you
have to hit a ghost with your head and
knock it into the chest above I think
the designers were on drugs there is a
nice variety of weapons and abilities
that you can acquire as you play like
being able to walk on air or the ability
to clone yourself so that you have twice
the firepower you can also turn into a
tornado and kill enemies just like the
Tasmanian Devil it kind of sucks though
because the weapons don't last for very
long at the end of each shooter or
platforming section there's a different
boss to fight they usually move in
predictable patterns and they range in
difficulty one thing that I don't like
is when you have to choose doors when
you play inside the mechanics castles
you ride on vehicles shooting things
while the screen Scrolls at the end to
each one of these they make you pick a
door to advance if you pick the wrong
door you have to do the section over
again
I think that's pretty cheap and it just
wastes your time it's like putting all
your money on red at the roulette table
and then having to come up black why
include that in a game like this it's a
fantasy adventure not a casino if you
beat the game they'll give you two
passwords one password lets you go
through the whole game with the side
scroller levels only and the other
password lets you do the shooter levels
only kind of cool if you prefer one over
the other and at least they reward you
with something where many other games
don't it's not the best game on the NES
by any means but it's pretty good
lots of variety and a large interesting
world it deserves more praise than a god
number six
new Ghostbusters - this is by far the
best Ghostbusters game released on the
NES it had all the characters you could
want and it had great gameplay I
recently did a video called Ghostbusters
leftovers where I did a full review on
the entire game so I'm not going to go
into any more detail if you want to know
more just check out that review it's a
game that should be included in every
NES collector's library number 5
flash at demonhead you play as a guy
named bang and your goal is to stop a
bomb on the top of Def head mountain
from exploding or else it'll destroy the
world not only that but there's an evil
demon that's trying to prevent him from
defusing the bomb instead of the typical
game where you go from stage the stage
in a linear order here after you
complete an area you're taken to a map
screen where you can choose your route
and depending on which way you go you
find different things to aid you in your
quest some routes lead to dead ends
while others lead to stores items and
weapons that you need to complete your
mission you travel along side-scroller
style and you kill enemies for money you
can use the money at a shop which is
something Bank can call and it appears
out of the sky how weird is that imagine
if you wanted a package of soda and a
7-eleven appeared out of the sky
that's NES logic for you in the store
you can buy weapons and equipment
there's a suit to swim underwater and
there's even a suit to swim in lava
which you'll use to get a stone that you
need to open a sealed door occasionally
you'll get two temples with a boss
inside these can be rather difficult so
you'll want to try and find the
appropriate power-ups before trying to
tackle each boss if you do kill a boss
you'll get a medal and you're gonna need
all of them to get to the final area
there's a lot of really cryptic stuff to
do which might seem bad but you know
Zelda Metroid and Castlevania all had
lots of cryptic stuff in them and
they're considered classics so why isn't
this game
just for one example of a part that's
cryptic is when you're supposed to know
to keep going back to this person who's
sick over and over so you have to walk
to the left
climb up a ladder walk off the screen go
back down again down the ladder back to
the person and you have to do this like
five times before they eventually turn
into a skeleton and you get their power
how the hell are you supposed to know to
do that unless you get insanely lucky
that is what I call a Nintendo power
game and sometimes the controls can get
slightly annoying I don't really like
how you select the areas on the map by
having to go to a number it really could
have been simplified and I'd also get
annoyed a lot when I hit my head trying
to jump gaps but that's pretty minor
stuff along the way you mean an old
hermit that gives you power ups and he
gives you the best power in the game as
far as I'm concerned it's the ability to
teleport it takes forever to walk all
over this map so you're gonna be
thankful when you get that it cuts your
walking time down immensely there's a
lot of variety to the different areas
that you visit with lots of different
backgrounds and a large number of
characters to me they did a great job
creating a huge land with all sorts of
stuff to explore just watch out when you
make it to the very end because if you
don't defuse the bomb correctly boom the
whole world explodes and it says the end
and they don't let you continue ever get
the bad ending in Bubble Bobble well
that's what it's like number 4 what
would you get if you combine contra with
life force action in new york but better
than contra here you get two orbiting
satellites for additional firepower and
you can program them to fire in any
direction that you choose they can go in
a regular pattern or a fixed position
this game was released after the heyday
of the NES when the console was in
decline which is probably why it was so
overlooked it was also named scat
special cybernetic attack team I find
both titles funny
the name action in New York would make
you think that it's gonna take place in
Manhattan or something but I don't see
anything to indicate that you were in
New York City looks more like a
futuristic spaceship or something if you
ask me and as for the name scat were
they serious with that were they not
aware scat means eating your own [ __ ]
truly the worst title to any game ever
for the NES the graphics are awesome and
the animation on the enemies and the
backgrounds are all really impressive
though there is one board where you're
travelling upwards and the background
Scrolls so fast it makes me kind of sick
if you were a fan of contra or super see
you'd love this the game's best feature
is that it can be played with two people
at the same time and I always felt that
there wasn't enough NES games where it
was two at once so I was glad to stumble
upon this one there's not much of a
difference in difficulty if you have
another person so playing with a friend
adds a big advantage this is a game I
think is great but just don't play it
alone number three gun knack the plot of
this game is essentially everything in
the galaxy is going into chaos
giant rabbits are eating up the city's
dogs and cats are raining from the skies
etc so all the government's sent out a
soldier named gun Mak to save the day
which basically means just blowing up
everything that he sees the gameplay is
a lot like other shooters such as
Gradius or super r-type but here you're
going vertically instead of horizontally
the a button shoots and the B button
releases bombs it couldn't be more
simple there was a ton of shooters
released for the NES and a lot of them
are really boring Light Force was a
great shooter and that's the one that
everybody really remembers but gun knack
is the other great NES shooter that
nobody seems to talk about the first
thing you'll notice is that there's five
different numbers you can get which
indicate the weapon you'll have then
there's letters and they'll show you
which type of bomb you'll have the bombs
really come in handy when things start
to get too intense it's impressive that
they give you so many different weapons
to play with but it doesn't stop there
if you get two of the same weapon your
power will increase and it has a
different animation you can also upgrade
the ship as well which will let you take
more than one hit I guess what sets this
game apart from other shooters that get
kind of boring is that this game gives
you a ton of variety the shots you fire
are all different and interesting shapes
and the enemies could be anything from a
giant cat or a giant rabbit
to a bunch of flying logs come on killer
logs how can you not want to play this
it also has difficulty settings and you
can switch it to make your shots bounce
off the enemies which makes it a lot
harder not that it needs to be any
harder some of the later stages are
insanely difficult with a billion
projectiles being thrown at you all at
once but regardless the replayability is
strong with this one
if you can hunt down a copy be sure and
try out this under song shoot-'em-up
classic number two bucky o'hare i wasn't
too much a fan of the bucky o'hare
cartoon show it always seemed to me to
feel like some sort of ninja turtles
wanna be told to be with the theme song
talked about mutants the enemies were
all green toads and bucky was even green
why make a rabbit green it just left a
bad taste in my mouth I don't think the
show is too popular which is why I don't
think many kids bought the NES game and
that's a shame because it's terrific
each one of Bucky's crew members are
taken captive and you have to rescue
them
as you get them back you can hit select
and switch between the characters and
each one has a different ability for
example blinky can melt ice and if you
charge them up he'll fly for a limited
amount of time or there's Deadeye who
can climb walls for a short period of
time like grant and Dracula's curse
since you can switch between characters
whenever you want you'll find that
there's certain characters that are
better for different situations for an
NES game that was pretty unique you
won't just be walking right blasting
stuff the whole time this game is filled
with puzzles that you'll have to figure
out and it gives the game a lot of
substance which is one of the things
that makes it so good but be warned it's
not easy
there's definitely some classic Nintendo
[ __ ] stages which are really
frustrating but at least you can keep
redoing the section as many times as you
want until you beat it one level that
pissed me off was this one it reminds me
a quick man stage in Mega Man 2 you
travel downwards and have to avoid being
hit by lava if you make even one mistake
you are dead so you'll have to do this
part over and over until you get the
exact pattern down it's all about trial
and error and knowing which route is the
right one to take
and speaking of trial and error then
there's the rail car stage you have to
travel rapidly on a cart going along a
track and you have to jump to the next
cart before you fall off eventually
spikes start showing up and not only do
you have to jump off but you have to
duck under the spikes and it requires
split-second reactions the difficulty is
extremely high so this isn't a game for
everyone it's for people who like a good
challenge each level ends with a
different boss and they all do different
things the one I hate the most is this
alligator you have to fire at him
continually while he shoots missiles at
you every fifth missile or so will
freeze the ground and if you don't jump
you'll get stuck in the floor and
injured not to mention as the water
rises their spikes up top on the ceiling
that'll also kill you if you're not fast
enough this is definitely one occasion
where you're gonna want to break out
that turbo controller I also want to
mention that the soundtrack to this game
is really well done it has some of my
favorite music on the NES you'd have to
enjoy memorizing puzzles to like this
game but if you do it's one of the best
for the NES even though there's some
parts that'll make you want to pull your
hair out I still highly recommend it so
before we get to number one I want to
give a few shoutouts to a couple games
that I nearly considered for this list I
didn't include metal Stormin because I
don't think it's quite as obscure as it
once was
it's a great game though and everybody
should check it out a few others sweet
home little samson mighty final fight
panic restaurant and mr. gimmick those
are all good games that i considered but
they're pretty rare so I figured I
wouldn't include anything that's too
hard for most people to actually get and
now for number one The Guardian
yes when the makers of gun mad comes the
Guardian legend it was a very advanced
game for its time this is a multi shanwa
game that also combines elements from
Zelda and Metroid as well and after you
enter a corridor the game switches modes
where you become a jet and now it's a
vertical shooter so it's also like gun
knack as well but with a lot more to
offer there's also an experience counter
in the upper left the more monsters you
kill the stronger you get so any fans of
Final Fantasy or Zelda 2 will also dig
that aspect and there's also an
exploration mode which reminds me a lot
of the original Legend of Zelda with the
top-down perspective but more than that
backtracking is also possible where you
go to an older area to find a new one
and that's where the Metroid aspect
comes into play it's seriously like
getting all your favorite nes games
rolled into one when the Guardian legend
was released there weren't many other
games that had female characters for the
lead role other than Metroid and Miss
pac-man and what's cool is this girl
also turns into a plane so it's even got
a touch of transformers thrown in there
this game has it all it takes place on a
giant spaceship that's on a collision
course with earth
you have to go from area to area to
launch the self-destruct sequence and
destroy the ship there's a map system
that tells you where you need to go next
which is an improvement over the
original Metroid and that's something
that wasn't included until Super Metroid
for the SNES and that's just one thing
that shows you how a head of its time
this game was for an NES game the
graphics are all really good and the
backgrounds are all buried and there's
just a ton of bosses enemies and mini
bosses which keeps the game from ever
getting really dull not to mention each
area has its own unique background music
but what I love the most about this game
are all the upgrades and weapons you get
so many of them and they all do
different things
there's grenades lasers fireballs you
name it and the thing is you get a huge
sense of accomplishment after beating a
boss and then going back and killing
enemies that were hard before with your
newly acquired parts oh you thought you
were real hot stuff before huh I'll take
this
this is a very difficult game and it's
really long but that's a good thing you
get your money's worth it's also not so
difficult that it's impossible you'll
gradually get stronger so as long as you
keep trying to advance if you defeat the
game it'll give you a code where you can
play through the entire game again
intruder mode only it's nice to actually
get a reward for all your effort it's
kind of like doing the second quest in
Zelda I do have a few minor complaints
but they're pretty trivial
I think the password is too long for one
thing but the game redeems itself
because you can only just save your game
I wanted to save spots but you will have
to be willing to keep your Nintendo
turned on also the covered of the game
really sucks it doesn't represent the
atmosphere of the game at all and that
may be the reason not many people bought
it which is a real shame the European
version the game had alternate box art
which is far superior I think they
should have used that everywhere oh and
one thing I find kind of funny is that
there's these little shops all over the
ship and these little round guys that
look like Lolo sell you objects and guns
and stuff to help you along in your
journey but why would they help her if
our goal is to blow up the ship do they
have a death wish or something another
great thing about this game is that it's
a common title it sells for about $2 so
anybody can afford it well anyway next
time somebody starts talking about how
great Zelda or Super Mario Brothers 3
was for the 10 millionth time bring up
the Guardian legend or one of these
other games it may be late but I still
say that these obscure NES games deserve
their time in the spotlight