Sam's video game collection essentials

The story behind Super Mario Bros. 2 is an interesting one, and it’s very well-known among classic video game fans. You see, the Super Mario Bros. 2 you see here was not the first game to carry that title. In Japan, the Famicom had an add-on called the “Famicom Disk System” which was sort of like a new console, only it needed to be connected to a Famicom console to function. Games for the Disk System could be acquired cheaply, as you could bring a disk to a kiosk at a local electronics store and have your desired game written onto a disk at a cost far lower than buying a new Famicom cart. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was specifically made for fanatics of the first game that wanted more of a challenge, and it was almost like modern-day video game “downloadable content” to give you more levels to play at a low cost. The graphics and look of the game were barely changed, and it uses the exact same music as the original Super Mario Bros. Over in America, the Famicom Disk System was nev

I didn’t intend for item #100 to be one of the most famous and significant video games in history, but here we go. You knew it was coming. It’s Super Mario Bros.! The game that lit the world on fire in late 1985 and made Mario into one of the most recognizable cultural icons in existence. As I’ve said before, the NES resurrected the home console video game market in North America from almost literal death, but don’t forget that consoles themselves are nothing without their games, and this is the main game that was responsible.  What IS Super Mario Bros. exactly and how did it stand out? It’s a side-scrolling platformer game, and it certainly wasn’t the first platformer. I’ve already talked about Pitfall, for example, which came on the older Atari 2600. And it wasn’t even the first SCROLLING platformer (in other words, the screen moves with your character). But Super Mario Bros. so much raised the bar and set the standard for what a platformer is supposed to be that it blew everyone awa

This is the second Contra game, and if you remember, Contra is one of the games I’ve most highly praised so far in this series. Konami changed the name for this NES release from “Super Contra” to “Super C”, and the reason why was never revealed but it’s easy to speculate that it was likely due to the controversial “Iran-Contra scandal” that was on the minds of Americans at the time. The original Contra was one of the finest examples of a side-scrolling “run ‘n gun” action platformer, executing all the fundamentals of the genre incredibly well. And, thankfully, Konami decided to pretty much not mess with those fundamentals for the sequel, so we have another great game on our hands with Super C. There is a pretty notable difference, though, because there are no longer occasional levels with a behind-the-back perspective. Instead, the “mixup” levels in this game are from a top-down perspective of the action where you can move and shoot in eight directions (see photo). I think I’m in the m

This is the second “unlicensed” NES game on the list, meaning it’s a game that was made without the consent of Nintendo. Spiritual Warfare is an adventure game that largely draws inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, only it’s done with a Christian theme. Your main character is on a quest to defeat the Devil (who else?), and instead of a sword he fights by throwing the fruit of the spirit, which is a reference to a list of virtues found in the Bible, only these fruits are represented by actual physical fruits like apples and bananas. The enemies in this game are all non-believers who, upon getting hit with a fruit, are converted to Christianity as they smile and put their hands together before disappearing. Even as a lifelong Christian, I have to admit that this sounds rather cheesy. And Christian-themed video games, especially of this era and made by this same developer, are known for not being very good. But, surprisingly, Spiritual Warfare bucks the trend and is a legitimate quality

This is another example of where I bought the cheaper Japanese version of a game since the American release is so expensive. There’s a pretty significant difference between the two, as the Japanese version has a battery backup for saved games while the American release uses passwords instead. There are pros and cons to either. Solomon’s Key 1 was a good action platformer on the NES that I really considered adding to this list but eventually decided against it. For the sequel, they decided to go for something very different. In fact, from seeing the American release, you may not even know it’s a sequel since they took that name out of the title. This time around, the name of the game is solving puzzles rather than engaging in combat with enemies. There are balls of flame in each level, and you need to use your ice-making powers to eliminate them all. Succeeding in this game depends on knowing how your ice powers work so all your options in a given level are clear.  This game strikes a w

Here’s another gem from Natsume, the same people who made yesterday’s game, S.C.A.T. Shatterhand is another side-scrolling action platformer, and perhaps surprisingly, it was originally a licensed game, with the original Japanese release being based on the Japanese TV show “Super Rescue Solbrain”. One wouldn’t expect a licensed game like this to be one of the objectively best games on the whole system, but that’s what happened here.  By default, you start out with just a punch attack. But when you defeat certain enemies, you have a choice of getting a power-up labeled with either the Greek letter α or β. Once you collect three, a little robot buddy appears who you can use for a new type of attack depending on what combination of the three letters you chose! There are eight different combinations, and it provides for a great deal of variety and fun in the gameplay. You can pick up a different three to replace your current weapon, or if you pick up the same sequence with your robot still

That is, um…a very interesting choice of title. Perhaps it’s no surprise that they changed the name for the European release to “Action in New York.” Anyways, S.C.A.T. is a shoot ‘em up. One thing that’s different from your average game in the genre is that you can actually act forwards OR backwards, whereas most such games are designed for everything in the game to come from in front of you and therefore lock you into shooting in one direction. Another thing that’s atypical is that you have a health bar, whereas the norm is dying in one hit. Now, shooting in a certain direction requires facing that direction, which can be a pain, but there’s a remedy to this. There are a couple little satellite things that orbit your character, and you can lock them into shooting a particular direction whenever you want by pressing their button when they’re facing the desired direction. This way you can have them concentrate on one side and manually fire towards the other. And on top of all those thin

Nintendo had made their own baseball game at the start of the NES’s lifespan simply called “Baseball”, but it wasn’t very good and didn’t catch on. Enter esteemed developer Namco, who made a game called Pro Baseball: Family Stadium with real Japanese players, and greatly improved on the gameplay of previous baseball games. It was an enormous hit, so much so that not only did scores of other develops start copying Family Stadium’s gameplay style, but the series itself would go on to see yearly installments with, at the very least, roster updates to reflect currently-active pros, something that would become common across the sports video game landscape in the coming decade. R.B.I. Baseball is the American release of Pro Baseball: Family Stadium, sort of. It’s pretty much the same, except the teams and players are different. R.B.I. Baseball swapped out the Japanese players, and it became the first video game to actually get the MLBPA License and feature real major league players. The play

Here’s an example of a game that is not nostalgic for me, nor historically significant. Power Blade is on this list strictly because it’s just really freakin’ good. In this game, you play as a dude who appears to be plucked out of an ‘80s action flick, who starts out by taking on six levels (done in whichever order you wish) with his trusty boomerang. I don’t have a ton to say about Power Blade, it’s just one of those action games that executes pretty much everything well that I would like in an action game. The controls are real solid, you can shoot in eight directions, and there are power-ups to collect to make your character stronger and more fun to control. The best power-up is a special power suit that gives your character a REALLY strong beam attack, but if you get hit three times then you lose it, so you gotta be careful! My only real complaint when I played through this game was the boss fights, which felt a little uninspired. I also felt like the game was a little on the easy

This is another very early, fairly simple game from Nintendo. If you have any familiarity with real-life pinball machines then you already know the concept, which involves controlling a couple flippers to hit around a ball so it can collide with objects to score you points, and you want to hit it in a way that it won’t fall to the pit of death below your flippers. Pinball for NES has two screens’ worth of pinball action in its table, and they’re stacked on top of each other, meaning that if you’re on the lower screen it is possible to hit your ball up enough so that it reaches the higher screen. Each screen has its own pair of pinball flippers for you to control.  There’s also a special third screen you can reach which is different from anything you’d see in regular pinball. In this screen, you play as Mario holding up a small platform (as seen in the cartridge artwork) and move left and right so that the ball deflects off the platform he’s holding rather than fall into the pits below

Another Ninja Gaiden game that doesn’t mess with the formula, and another time I’m not upset about that. The plot this time is that Ryu’s girlfriend Irene has supposedly died after being chased by a Ryu-lookalike, and the real Ryu sets out to find out what happened and also to clear his name. There are small tweaks here and there that are noticeable in this game compared to the first two, such as Ryu shouting out loud when he swings his sword and the ability to see what a power-up is before you get it. This game is notable for making the American release far more difficult than the Japanese version, which was rather forgiving. This time, you have a limited number of continues before you have to start the game all over, something that not even the first two games did. You also take more damage from enemies. I have yet to really seriously try beating this game, and it’ll be interesting to see if I ever manage to do so because I’m definitely going to try at some point. Whether or not I ma

I don’t have a ton to say about Ninja Gaiden II, because it largely follows the same formula as the first game. That’s not a bad thing by any means, since the basic formula was so good. Ninja Gaiden II is another tough-as-nails action platformer that again incorporates storytelling between its levels with impressive cutscenes, as Ryu tries to thwart the plans of the dark lord Ashtar. There are two very notable gameplay additions to Ninja Gaiden II. One is the ability to actually climb up and down on walls rather than simply cling to them. The other is a cool power-up that creates clones of Ryu (visible in the photo). These clones travel in his wake and attack as you attack, leading to some very cool strategic possibilities where you can get to a strategic defensive position but still have one of your clones in a spot to dish out damage with its sword.  Ninja Gaiden II is still really hard, but thankfully its final boss encounter is not as ruthlessly unforgiving as the first game. It ac

Originally, Ninja Gaiden was an arcade game, but rather than simply bring that game to the NES, Tecmo decided to build an entirely new game from the ground-up, tailored for the console, and it paid off.  Ninja Gaiden is a side-scrolling action platformer that takes place across a series of linear levels. You play as Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja armed with a sword, the ability to cling to walls, and to use power-ups that you find throughout the levels which grant strong and important attacks with a limited number of uses. The controls are tight and the game just feels good to play. And what is perhaps most notable about this game are the cutscenes in between areas. Previously, the stories in most NES action games were pretty simplistic, and sometimes not even mentioned in the game itself, only the instruction manual. But Ninja Gaiden takes things to the next level in making the story an integral part of the experience, as you guide Ryu to get revenge against those responsible for his father’s

This is probably the best golf game on the NES. It’s also very notable for being the first ever sports game released in the U.S. where you play as Mario. Previously Mario had appeared as a referee in “Tennis” for NES, but that doesn’t count. Several years and a couple console generations into the future, you’ll see that Mario sports games wind up becoming a big thing. Nintendo had made a few sports titles before this, including the aforementioned “Tennis” and one just called “Golf”, but these games were just okay at best and I chose not to mark them as essentials. The game features three courses. In addition to obvious multiplayer modes, there’s a single-player tournament mode where you compete against a crowd of computer-controlled players (no, you don’t watch them all). There’s a surprisingly wide array of features here, including the ability to customize the set of clubs you use and the ability to save replays of your best shots. The characters provide a welcome bit of personality t

It shouldn’t be a surprise that companies made video game adaptations of popular board games as early as it was feasible. With Monopoly being so popular, it has seen a great many renditions in video game form. This NES version, however, is my favorite of all the ones I’ve seen. I got to play it in my younger days, too. I think my neighbor Jason might have had it. But regardless, it was another one of my early NES games that mom grabbed at a yard sale. Why is it my favorite Monopoly? Not merely for nostalgia, actually. This is basically a board-game-to-video-game conversation executed to perfection. The main advantage of having a video game version is the convenience of not having to set it up or mess with physical objects, plus there’s the opportunity for a little extra charm with things like music, sound effects and graphics. Monopoly on the NES has everything you’d want. It’s really easy to get into, snappy and fast-paced if you want it to be, and it has a pleasant bit of charm to go

Here’s another very popular NES title from Nintendo. And it doesn’t play quite how you’d think from the title and the cover. In the future, most sports games with the endorsement of a real-life athlete are games that try to accurately simulate the sport. But that’s not what Punch-Out!! is at all. It’s a rather cartoony, unrealistic game about pattern recognition. Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! were originally arcade games, both released in 1984. They had impressive graphics for the time and featured the player character with a transparent “wirefame” body so as not to obstruct the enemy boxer too much. Nintendo wanted to bring Punch-Out!! to the NES, but the graphics and wireframe effects were too advanced for the hardware. But that didn’t stop them. Punch-Out!! on the NES is not so much a direct port of the arcade games but rather the same concept reimagined with a lot of the same opponents and built comfortably within the restrictions of the NES, and that was really the right way t