While friends moved on to Super NES, I made do with Kirby. This game is infinitely more inventive than that. Yeah, it can do that too. My brother and I used to go there on weekends to rent games, and we rented Mega Man 2 so many times that the owners of the store eventually offered to sell it to us. That's right – if you've ever cursed the skies after falling prey to the infamous Blue Shell, you can trace the source of your rage all the way back to Rare's R.C. But the action/platforming was a lot of play to fun regardless. Metal Storm's awesome tech inspired me to seek out games with superior graphics, ultimately leading me to the used game store to trade in my NES and all my games, including Metal Storm, for a Genesis. And you had side-scrolling stages, the core of the game, in which your character ran, jumped and attacked the invading alien hordes with a laser-whip. And then there was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, the follow-up to the smash hit The Legend of Zelda. A stagnant, square-shaped screen presented the player's blobbish character with a puzzle. I think I've got the same fond memory for this one as everyone else does: skinny dude, medium dude, and fat dude. While Qix was never lauded for its graphical flair, the NES got not only the look but the mechanics of this strange geometric puzzler down perfectly. - Levi Buchanan, IGN Wireless & Retro Editor. - Sam Claiborn, Associate IGN Game Help Editor. I hear it all the time when talking to fellow gamers. For whatever reason, Nintendo didn't include a battery in the cartridge for the customizable track option, so if you turned off the system…poof! The Ice Climbers, as the two starring characters are popularly known, are relentless lovers of the alpine trek, and they'll stop at nothing to climb mountain after mountain just to reach its apex, where untold valuable items can be found. All that work, gone. Though Nintendo didn't develop Faxanadu in-house, it's easy to see why the company decided to grab publishing rights for it in America – it was a unique side-scrolling action/platformer with RPG elements reminiscent of the company's own Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This was so I could put on different weapons and gloat (because once you don the final tier of weapons and armor, you can't remove them). Its fast-paced 2D action style made it a game preferred by those with quick reflexes, and its arsenal of weaponry, which can be chosen from a Mega Man-like menu, gave the gameplay variety, with certain weapons working best against certain enemies and bosses. Definitely a bit of an under-appreciated classic. Strangely, though epic in scale, Rygar doesn't feature a way to save or even a password system, so make sure your NES is hooked up to a good power source before embarking on your quest. The very last project created by Irem for the NES, Kickle Cubicle appeared to be a straight rip-off of the aforementioned Adventures of Lolo, but had gameplay features of its own that made it a unique offering, and one worth anyone's time interested in the genre. This is the final work to whip up at least a beta demo for my game before the deadline so all other projects I have had to stop and I have published them to my blog posts. I only bought this game several years later, but in the meantime, I got a Mega Man 5 sticker in a box of Apple Jacks, and stuck it to a shelf in my room. Not content to just slash his foes to death, Niki had to slice and dice them with a whirlwind blade just to be that much more radical. What's funny about The Legend of Zelda's title was that the gamer played as a character named Link, who was in turn trying to save the famed princess named Zelda. But Slumberland is an unexpectedly dangerous place, and the game's advanced difficulty level no doubt took some unsuspecting youngsters by surprise. I couldn't stand the cartoon (I was a DuckTales sort of guy), but to my surprise the game was an addictive platforming masterpiece. You worked your opponent into submission, going for the pin, and victory gave you the chance to take on tougher challengers, but not before training your chosen warrior to be stronger with interstitial mini-games. A small contingent of NES gamers actually prefer Klax to its main competitors – the simple, but accessible, Dr. Mario and even to the great Tetris, which does seem a little stuffy when stacked against the Day-Glo extravaganza that is Klax. Constantly being outsmarted by the likes of The Adventures of Lolo, Kickle Cubicle proved to be an entertaining, action-packed alternative that was a little friendlier to all of us puzzle-stupid gamers. The nameless Boy and his pet Blob would overcome obstacles, defeat enemies and progress through the game by way of using special Jellybeans that would allow the Blob to become different objects and perform different feats. Either way, there's a lot to see and like about Fester's Quest. Although prominently featuring traditional Japanese settings and mythology, Demon Sword seems to have suffered from a poor North American localization, as evidenced by the goofy box art featuring a naked blonde guy glaring at his sword. Starting out in fairly straightforward space environments, things soon got weird in Gradius, with levels filled with Moais shooting donut rings. Primitive by today's standards, sure, but I remember being blown away when I first set eyes on it. So, if you just hack away with short, quick slashes each one will be pretty wimpy. The entire game can be played with a wingman, but make sure whoever it is can appreciate a heaping dollop of cuteness, served Japanese-style (with extra "cute" on the side). You'll soon realize how much better off you are without a rookie to keep track of. After all, it is 2009, and there's been a lot of time for Tetris and Dr. Mario. I came back the next day to challenge Joker, but I don't think we ever beat him. A balanced team, for instance, may include two Fighters, a Black Mage to deal damage and a White Mage to heal. Opening up the initial level of Robot Masters from six, as seen in the first game, to eight as seen in each subsequent Classic Series title, Mega Man 2 was also the only Classic Mega Man game to have a difficulty setting. Use that sword and you'll understand why this one has certainly earned its classic status. So what if it wasn't originally a Mario game? And since everybody seems to be teaming up, you may as well take on the combined forces of the Dark Queen and Shadow Warriors with a pal – the game's difficulty seems to indicate that it's built for two. I happily rediscovered Stinger despite its unfortunate title and packaging (A space ship with boxing gloves? The sequel features the same great stuff as the first: catchy, mead-swilling tunes; stylized fantasy graphics; and the peculiar use of "ye olde Engrish." It was a solid companion for the early Zelda games, and perhaps a factor in why Capcom was later approached to develop some portable entries in the Zelda series for Nintendo. And I get to hit him with a whip? It's like someone took the Gradius series' Vic Viper and transformed it from a spaceship into a jet ski. But Klax is more than just the sum of its '90s neon parts. Gradius' unique power-up system makes for some tough decisions: do you beef up your defenses in order to tough out that inevitable meteor shower? We'd head to Mr. Movies in Minnesota, I'd see the box art, freak out, and he'd pick up something else. The NES had its fair share of unique puzzle games, and Adventures of Lolo 3 might take the cake as the genre's quintessential title on the console. Gradius is all about pimping your ride. The top-loading NES replaced the classic system, the Super Nintendo was over two years old, and the 16-bit battle was waging all around it in full force. The game also offered the sibling heroes an upgrade to their fighting repertoires, with several impressive new skills like the unforgettable Cyclone Spin Kick, and some iconic new set pieces in which to do battle, like a stage that took place aboard a helicopter in-flight thousands of feet above the ocean. As the name of the game suggests, the idea of Ice Climber is to climb, climb, climb. This game was much tighter in control and actually gave a better sense of accomplishment to the player. Once you beef up your defenses, you're free to start amassing a sprawling arsenal, making aiming your shots somewhat irrelevant. It should come as no surprise that the man behind the rock is Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, a composer that worked on the Mega Man series, also distinguished for its 8-bit anthems. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a smash phenomenon in the late 1980s. And rely on it they did, making The Legend of Zelda one of the NES' most famous games, part of a franchise that thrives to this day. The visuals weren't as vibrant and the animations weren't as fluid, but the gameplay was spot-on. He then leaps down a nearby hole in the ground and disappears into a vast subterranean labyrinth without a trace. Out of all of the games on the list, Journey to Silius might have one of the most interesting histories. Ikari Warriors all over again garbage, dust off this old nes top down shooter and surprise yourself all over before! 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