Top 5 NES Games

In year mid-80s where Nintendo Entertainment System had dominating the gaming market of third generation era. It is heavily regarded as being a most successful home consoles at the release which sold over 60 million units at worldwide due to cool looking hardware system filled with technically advanced 8-bit graphics that showing the power of the NES hardware, the controller were considered revolutionary at the times when they introducing d-pad controls, 2-action buttons and has select and start buttons which are used for extra playability, and it has most of the best NES library that packed with Platformers, Run n Guns, Hack N Slash, and RPGs.

I never had own the original NES at my good old 90's days until I have finally got hands on with the NES Classic Minis which is a miniature version of original NES was released in year 2016, so I had to pick it up so I can able to enjoy playing some classics like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and so on. I wanted to focus on my favourite NES game that I really liked for its story presentation, challenge, style of gameplay and best looking graphics.

So without go further do here is my top 5 NES Games.



5 - Ninja Gaiden

          



















The game that caught my attention was the Ninja Gaiden which is a Hack N Slash game was created by Tecmo. You take control of a Ninja Warrior named Ryu Hayabusa went on his mission in America to avenge death of his father was murdered by unknown assailant while searching for the archaeologist named Walter Smith who knew the information about Ryu's father and the ancient demon statues.

I was blown away by the story presentation filled with cinematic designed cutscenes and story dialogue in which I was impressed to see how developers can able to fit well in the whole NES cartridge. It has beautifully made animated sequences and fantastic storyline that are easy to understand the game's plot.
What really made Ninja Gaiden so great was the 2D gameplay style which is very similar to Konami's NES title such as Castlevania, but with added newer mechanics in the game such as ability to jump and climb walls which is very new to the genres. Ryu has abilities to use basic katana sword as primary weapon, while using his techniques as secondary attack such as throwing stars, twirling fireballs and jumping slash which is very useful for most of the levels and boss battles. The game was known for being ridiculously tough to beat as the whole game filled with the respawning enemies and having to remember all the enemy's patterns including boss characters is what really makes the game harder to play, but it really does adds up the fun factor of the game. The level presentation has cool looking stages including city, forrests and ancient temple which has well designed levels due to great use of parallax background effects, well builted stage design with great use of textures, flashy special effects and great character animation sprites are looking spectacular for NES hardware. This game also has the best original soundtrack of each story cutscenes and levels which really fits well to the series.

Ninja Gaiden is definitely a finest Hack N Slash titles of 80's which I highly recommend you all to play.



4 - Castlevania

            



















I was familiar with this series back in a day where I've played Super Castlevania IV on SNES which is one of my favourite game of the series that got me interest to play some of the Castlevania titles like Castlevania: Bloodlines on SEGA Genesis/Megadrive, Castlevania Advenures on Game Boy original and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on PS1.
The game that I really wanted to play was Castlevania on NES which is a action-platformer title was created by Konami, a same company was very known for their famous franchises of the retro gaming days like Gradius, Contra, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid.
You take control of vampire killer named Simon Belmont has set off his quest to defeat the vampire named Count Dracula as your goal is to reach at the Dracula's whereabouts by completing all of stages.

The game was known for darker and gritter presentation in the whole levels and the game mixes the genres with platforming and action styled gameplay.
Simon Belmont has a basic whip attacks while upgrading the whip makes it better for the longer range attacks and it has useful items attacks such as throwing knives, holy water, and throwing axe. The game filled with the types of enemies such as flying medusa's head, bats scatted around, dead skeletons, and knights are the highlight of the game for its difficulty as you have to memorise their attacking patterns which is great for its platforming gameplay, while this game has several of tough ass boss characters such as Death the Grimreaper, Frankenstein's Monster, Mummy Men, Phantom Bats, Medusa, and of course Dracula which really adds the epicness of the game.
I also liked the look of the graphics which has very gothic looking stage design and quite medieval looking enemy's sprites which really fits well to the series as I really liked the gritty styled castle building and horror style presentation that really adds the atmospheres, so if you're looking for a great action-platformers titles then this game is for you to play.



3 - Megaman 2

      
















      
Ahhh good old Blue Bomber, Megaman is considered to be a Capcom's legendary franchise was known for having a best boss battles, hazardous level design, catchy soundtrack, and cool weapons is what really makes the game so amazing to play and of course Megaman is also a lovable video game heroes that he can kick all the robots masters and Dr Wily asses in pieces.
Starting off with the NES original Megaman was first came out in year 1987 and it was well received at the release, but not quite successful as the later Megaman titles. It was praised for its overall game design and difficulty which is a biggest highlight of the game, but it was later improved for its better sequel called Megaman 2 was came out a year later after the first game which featured a password system, improved audio-visuals, and new power-ups. Unlike the first Megaman, the sequel had becoming a commercial success which sold over 1.5 million units and it also listed as being one of a greatest game of all-times.

I grew up playing several of the Megaman titles such as Megaman X for SNES, Megaman X4 for PS1, and Megaman 9 and Megaman 10 for PS3 in which I had fun playing over an hours, but until I got hands on with Megaman 2 on my NES Classic Mini which I considered this game as my favourite game in the series.
It is a action-platformer title that you take control of a blue bomber named Megaman has his mission to stop Dr Wily's evil plan once again as he has to take out those robot masters in order to reach at Dr Wily's whereabouts.
Megaman has abilities to use his blaster as primary weapons, while you can able to gain new weapons after beating stages such as Metal Blade, Atomic Fire, Quick Boomerang, Bubble Lead and more which is very effective to use heavy damage on any of robot masters depending what their weakness are being immune to. While the weapons are worked absolutely fine in the whole game especially with boss battles, the platforming stages are quite hazardous which requires players to avoid those enemy's projectiles and some dangerous objects without taking so much damage which really adds the fun of the game itself.
The game does also have an memorable characters including most of the robot masters did have an awesome concepts to the game and I say Dr Wily is by far the best villain of 80's gaming era. I also liked the graphic design in the whole game which is very futuristic and colourful which makes the whole environment looked amazing for its NES standards and it does have a catchy original soundtrack that Megaman series are also being known making it a memorable video game soundtrack in history.

Megaman 2 is a better choice that I highly recommend playing this on not just the original NES, but it is also available on Switch, PS4, XBONE and PC as part of the Megaman Legacy Collection.



2 - The Legend of Zelda

  
  















"IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS"  Memorable Quote from Unnamed Old Man in The Legend of Zelda   

Zelda franchise is always be my all time favourite Action-Adventures series that Nintendo has ever produced. Going for quest to save a Princess Zelda, defeating evil Ganon, gaining three triforces, solving the puzzles, retrieving an items from open chest, collecting rupees and running around the overworld is what made Zelda series so much fun.
It's regarded as being one of the Nintendo's most successful video game franchise had received acclaimed titles such as Breath of the Wild, Link To The Past, The Windwaker, Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask and of course the legendary title Ocarina of Time had won several video game awards and being listed as greatest video game of all-time.

I had fun playing some of the Zelda's titles back in my days where I had SNES, N64, Gamecube, and Wii, until I finally had a chance to play The Legend of Zelda on my NES Classic Mini. The story set in the fantasy land of Hyrule is been horribly invaded by evil Ganon and his army. In attempts to stop Ganon from stealing the triforce, the hyrule Princess named Zelda has splitting the triforce in eight pieces and hides them into secret underground dungeons before she being kidnapped by Ganon. You get to play as the Hyrule's hero named Link setting off his quest to collect eight missing pieces, defeat Ganon and rescue Zelda.

The game is actually mixed with the genres of open-world Action-Adventures and RPGs elements which was played on overhead perspective allowing players to explore the large map of overworld with various environments. The combat gameplay is much more simple and easy to use as Link uses his sword as primary weapon while some items such as bomb, boomerang, and arrow are the secondary weapons which is very effective for some different types of enemies. There are some useful items that adds the variety of gameplay elements such as candle for its dark area, life potion to increase health, rings that reduced hit damage, and stepladder to walk past the small spans of water, lava and pits which makes the game so unique to its genres. What makes the game really entertaining was the dungeon stages which filled with clever puzzle solving, great exploration to discover the new areas including secret passage, and excellent boss battles which adds the fun factor of the game itself.
The game was praised for its fantasy setting presentation, memorable musical score, detailed graphic design, and non-linear gameplay which makes the franchise a biggest pioneer of the Action-Adventures genres.



1 - Super Mario Bros

                  


















"THANK YOU MARIO, BUT OUR PRINCESS IS AT ANOTHER CASTLE" Memorable Quote from Toad in Super Mario Bros

Yes everyone, we all know that Super Mario Bros is always be the greatest game ever made.
Starting off with mastermind video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto who had previously worked on his early 80's arcade title like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. He wanted to make a different Mario title that focused on more of the Side-Scrolling platformer which is Super Mario Bros was originally released at the year of 1985. During the release of the Super Mario Bros on NES, it became worldwide successful which sold over 40 million copies making it a best-selling games of all time and it is also listed as being the greatest game of all-time which turns the popular franchise into a worldwide phenomenon. The success of the franchise had spread with numerous sequels, spin-offs, animations, movies and merchandises.

Mario is always be my favourite video game heroes that loves spending time to jump on goombas, kicking koopa's shell, throwing fireballs, entering warp pipe, saving Princess Peach all the times from King Bowser, you name it because it's f***ing Mario, so everyone loves their favourite Italian plumber hero. I grew up playing several of Mario titles back in my childhood days when I had SNES, N64, GBC, GBA, and GC kept at my bedroom to play games like Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Land, and Super Mario Sunshine that really defining my gaming life as a kid, but in my nowadays I have finally had my NES Classic Mini to play those classic games especially with Super Mario Bros is by far my favourite NES game of all-time.
You take control of heroic Italian plumber named Mario to rescue Princess Peach from that mean ass Koopa King named Bowser.

The game is very straight-forward to play as it plays on side-scrolling gameplay style where your goal is to beat all the stages without wasting time limit by heading straight to finishing flagpole in order to enter King Bowser's castle. Along with the goals, you had ability to jump and dash as the main part of the gameplay action which is used for jumping over the obstacles without falling off the stage and there are koopa's minions that gets in your way such as brown mushroom shaped goomba, bouncy turtle Koopa Troopa, non-stop hammer throwing minion hammer bro, big black missile bullet bill, and of course chomping pipe creature piranha plant that you are requiring to dodge or kill those enemies is what adds the overall challenge. The flower power and star invincibility are also comes in handy which allows you to attack enemies quicker which is a great addition to its side-scrolling elements.
It has memorable stages including overworld level, underground area, seawater stage, and King Bowser's castle are the main highlights of the game. The graphics are looked phenomenal which has aged remarkably well over the years and lets not forget the Koji Kondo's famous theme song in the game are widely considered to be a huge landmark of video game music genres which turned into a biggest signature song of Mario franchise.

While I've also enjoyed playing another sequel such as Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 which are also fantastic overall, but Super Mario Bros is still remains my number 1 favourite NES game of all-time.




Honorable Mentions:

Kirby's Adventures
Contra
Batman
Battletoads
Blaster Master
Kid Icraus
Metroid
Final Fantasy
Punch Out
Gradius
Startropics



If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.


This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.