Tag Archives: Nintendo Entertainment System

Konami, NES/Famicom, Ultra Games

Snake’s Revenge, NES

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Snake’s Revenge is a sequel to Metal Gear that was developed specifically for the North American and European NES markets by Konami and Ultra Games. It first came out in North America in 1990, and in Europe in 1992. Why there was a two-year gap between those releases is anyone’s guess.

Hideo Koijima wasn’t involved in the making of Snake’s Revenge and it is considered ‘non-canonical’, but he did make Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX in response to it. I’m guessing that he wasn’t particularly enamoured with the idea of another team working on his signature series, but ultimately he (rather diplomatically) says that Snake’s Revenge is “not a bad game“.

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Konami, NES/Famicom, Ultra Games

Metal Gear, NES

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This reworked Nintendo Entertainment System port of the MSX version of Metal Gear first came out in 1987 (1988 in North America), just three months after the original. While it’s considered (rightly) to be inferior to the original MSX version it was a major hit and went on to sell over a million units in the United States alone.

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NES/Famicom, TAD Corporation, Taito

Toki, NES

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Toki is a conversion of the 1989 arcade game by Tad Corporation and it features a jumping ape who can spit bullets at his enemies. It’s a platform game with relatively short levels and occasional boss fights, and it is known for its rock-hard difficulty.

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Activision, Bits Laboratory, NES/Famicom

Ghostbusters, NES

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The Nintendo Entertainment System version of David Crane‘s Ghostbusters is known for being a bit of a mess, compared to all the other versions.

It was initially released in Japan in 1986 and later in North America in 1988. Why the two year delay? Probably something to do with the fact that the game is terrible…

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Codemasters, NES/Famicom

Micro Machines, NES

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This 1991 release from Codemasters is the first game in the award-winning Micro Machines video game series and – boy – does it kick-start the series in style!

In fact: it established the staples that make the series so good, like the themed tracks, and the ‘race-to-the-edge-of-the-screen’ style racing.

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Culture Brain, NES/Famicom

Little Ninja Brothers, NES

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Little Ninja Brothers is the second game in the “Super Chinese” series* and the predecessor of Super Ninja Boy on the SNES. It was developed and published by Culture Brain in Japan in 1989. North America got it in 1990 and Europe in 1991.

It is an excellent one or two-player level-grinding RPG, with random battles, but instead of turn-based combat you get real time beat ’em up action instead, and works very well.

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Imagineer, NES/Famicom

Elite, NES

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Developed by Imagineer, the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Elite is pretty good – considering that the NES isn’t particularly suited to generating wireframe 3D graphics. Yes, the wireframe 3D is slow (like in all the 8-bit versions of Elite), but not to the point where it makes the game unplayable.

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Capcom, NES/Famicom

Mega Man 6, NES

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Mega Man 6, released by Capcom in 1993, was the last of the Mega Man games on the Famicom/NES. The first Super Nintendo Mega Man game – Mega Man X – also came out the same year as this. Which is a bit of a shock when you compare the games side by side…

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Capcom, NES/Famicom

Mega Man 5, NES

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1992‘s Mega Man 5 on the Famicom/NES starts with a jaunty tune and a comic book style intro, and then after that it’s back to more of the same platform shooting.

This time Mega Man is up against Stone Man, Gravity Man, Crystal Man, Charge Man, Napalm Man, Wave Man, Star Man, and Gyro Man.

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Capcom, Company, NES/Famicom

Mega Man 4, NES

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Mega Man 4 was published by Capcom for the Nintendo Famicom in 1991.

Other than a new intro sequence (still not making much sense having been badly translated into English), a new set of bad guys, and some newly-designed levels, there’s not a great deal different in this game to what has preceded it.

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