Vintage video games

Lately, I've been dusting off my old 8 bit and 16 bit games and giving them a play. First was Breath of Fire for SNES, then The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES a couple of times (I can play through this one without dying and without turning the console off, as saving and quitting counts as a death). After that, I brought out my NES and started playing it.

Now, for the NES, I don't have that many good games. I have a few of the classics, like SMB 1 and 3, Final Fantasy, and Dr. Mario. One that I have that I've had since I was a kid is called Legacy of the Wizard. Somehow I managed to acquire a second copy of that title somewhere.

Anyway, that game got me thinking. What other relatively obscure games are out there that are really good? I'm looking to expand my collection, and obscure titles are cheap on eBay, even in the box. For example, copies of Legacy of the Wizard are on eBay for under $20 shipped, with the original packaging.

Jackal

Marble Madness

Excite Bike

1942

Contra

Mappyland

Battletoads

Now you're talking my language.

There are tons of great NES games out there. Unfortunately right now, obscure + good = $$$$$$$$$$$$$. There are games like Little Sampson, which is obscure and fantastic, going for $1000+ just for the cartridge alone. But not to discourage you, there are still tons of great games for the NES. Some of my favorites:

The Mega Man games: There are 6 for the NES. All of them are great. The 1st one and the 5th one are really pricey. The 2nd and 3rd are my favorites, and those are the most common; a little more than your average game but well worth it. In fact, the 2nd is probably my all time favorite NES game!

Legacy of the Wizard: Well, you mentioned it. It's a good game! It's actually part of a huge series over in Japan called the Dragon Slayer series, and the first in the series is considered to be the 1st Action RPG ever (think Zelda).

Tecmo SUPER Bowl: Everyone knows Tecmo Bowl, Bo Jackson and all that. Forget that game and get the sequel: Tecmo Super Bowl. It's the best football game of all time. Easy to play, all the players and teams from the 1990 season, customizable rosters and playbooks, etc. It rules.

Super Dodge Ball: One of the best 2 player games on the system. It's also part of a larger Japanese series, called the Kunio series about a teenager in a rough town and rival gangs.That leads me to another game...

River City Ransom: It's a side scrolling beat-em-up like Double Dragon, but better. Features the same "Kunio" guys from Super Dodge Ball and a bunch of other games. And the enemies say funny crap when they die!

P.O.W: Prisoner of War: Another side scrolling beat-em-up, but this time, you have to punch and kick your way out of a prison camp. It's like an 8-bit 80's action movie!

Iron Tank: from the same people that brought you P.O.W. comes this one. You command a little tank, and you have to infiltrate and destroy the not-Nazis! (They are definitely Nazis.)

Jackal: This one always flies under the radar. You have a Jeep, and it's your mission to rescue all the hostages, drop them off at the helipad, and then destroy the enemy! Tons of fun, especially with two players.

DuckTales: A Disney game that runs on the Mega Man engine. All sorts of nostalgic fun in this one.

Rad Racer: Remember Outrun in the arcades? This is as close as you get on the NES. Also, it was made buy SquareSoft, the Final Fantasy people, so you know it's good. And it had real cars!

Rolling Thunder: It's basically a James Bond-inspired side scrolling shooter. Plays really well, and challenging.

Rescue: The Embassy Mission: You command a special forces team that has to bust into a high-rise, rescue hostages, and kill all the terrorists. Lots of varied gameplay, and tons of fun.

I can go on and on....

My grandmother recently had some work done on her house, and needed to clear out one of her rooms. She said, "there's some stuff that I think belongs to you, come get it if you want it." I recovered my SNES, Mario All Stars, Zelda, a Link to the Past, Killer Instinct, Yoshi's Island, and Jurassic Park.

What's funny is that the SNES was in my N64 box. When I upgraded to N64 the SNES went into the N64's box. I mowed a lot of lawns to get that N64, I think it's in my attic, I should find it, and hook it up too, if it hasn't melted from the heat up there. In the box with my SNES I found a N64 controller and N64 Game Shark!

NES games, Appleseed hit most of the ones I'd pick, Excite Bike, Contra, and 1942 for sure, also Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 3 (I think 2 sucks), Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Duck Hunt (get the gun), Tecmo Bowl, Spy Hunter, Gotcha! (need the gun for this too), I'm sure I'll think of more, but those should keep you entertained for a while.

In reply to SilverFleet:

You, sir, have some great taste in NES games (Super Dodge Ball, Megaman, and POW were some of my favorites!)

May I also add: Dragon Warrior IV, Double Dragon (1 and 3 are my favorites), and Ninja Gaiden

You remind me I need to dig into my NES (flashing red light)

OOH! "The adventures of Bayou Billy" Has it all.

Side scrolling beat em up, driving/shooting, and your choice of controller or gun based shoot 'em up.

Probably my favorite game for the NES

Bare in mind, I was never an RPG guy. Fly, drive and blow stuff up was my bread and butter.

Forgot to mention

Captain Skyhawk

Double Dragon

Tengen Tetris

Paperboy

Metroid

R/C ProAm

Bomber man

Micromachines

Gradius

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

Off Road (especially if you have the four player adapter)

In reply to Hungary Bill:

Thanks! Those games rule too, although I'm partial to Double Dragon II.

If you guys want to cheat, you can always get one of these: Everdrive

Yes, it's over $100, but you can toss a SD card with EVERY game for the NES on it and play it on the original hardware. That is cool.

Some pics of my NES collection:

The shelves on the bottom hold 24 games per cube. The thing on top is a cassette holder. Inside that are my Famicom games. Famicom = Japanese NES. And that's a Donkey Kong arcade game bezel on there as well.

All 6 NES Mega Man games! The 5th and the 2nd are complete in box.

My Japanese, AV-modded Famicom.

Some of my boxed titles, under my Sega Master System and Vectrex stuff.

Another pic of the Vectrex shelf, but R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy is chillin' on top.

My early 1st party Nintendo games, housed in an original Nintendo game caddy from when I was a kid.

I also have two complete boxed NES consoles and one extra Control Deck box, a crap ton of controllers (including a boxed NES Advantage!) and the Power Pad.

The wife and I recently watched and thoroughly enjoyed this documentary(seems relevant):

Nintendo Quest

In reply to SilverFleet:

that reminds me, i haven't knocked the dust off the NES. i got an NES to famicom game adapter to play JDMYo games, and my cousin found me a copy of the japan only Goonies game while he was over there.

My oldest is finally getting to where he is interested in video games. We have a NES, but only the original Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt game. So, we use emulators on the Ouya. They don't sell them new anymore, but you can still find them:

http://www.ebay.com/p/Ouya-Android-Limited-Edition-8-GB-Brown-Console/141036973

Also, if you want an updated Tecmo Bowl... http://tecmobowl.org/

While not nearly as extensive as SilverFleet, i do collect some. Recently got this bad boy at a thrift shop for 10 bucks. Given that dmg01s are fetching 50+ on ebay for a good console (this is probably the mintiest one I've found in recent years) and i got 6 games, 4 with manuals. None of them are any good, but gotta get what you can.

If you have a Wii, they are also very easy to turn into an emulation machine.

www.Wiibrew.org Is where you want to go. I've done a few of them, and they are awesome.

mndsm wrote: While not nearly as extensive as SilverFleet, i do collect some. Recently got this bad boy at a thrift shop for 10 bucks. Given that dmg01s are fetching 50+ on ebay for a good console (this is probably the mintiest one I've found in recent years) and i got 6 games, 4 with manuals. None of them are any good, but gotta get what you can.

Score! I still have my original, but it's beat and nasty. Also, the screen is missing lines of pixels.

patgizz wrote: that reminds me, i haven't knocked the dust off the NES. i got an NES to famicom game adapter to play JDMYo games, and my cousin found me a copy of the japan only Goonies game while he was over there.

Weird trivia: Some of the very early launch titles had Famicom adapters inside. Nintendo ran out of 72-pin US boards, so they made a 60-pin (JDM) to 72-pin (USDM) adapter and shoved it all inside NES carts. I found one inside my Wild Gunman cart! They were also commonly found in Gyromite carts.

mndsm wrote: While not nearly as extensive as SilverFleet, i do collect some. Recently got this bad boy at a thrift shop for 10 bucks. Given that dmg01s are fetching 50+ on ebay for a good console (this is probably the mintiest one I've found in recent years) and i got 6 games, 4 with manuals. None of them are any good, but gotta get what you can.

Man, dad sold a car and my original "crystal clear" Gameboy was in the trunk. I don't know how he misted it? I had quite an extensive collection of games for it. After church one day, one of my older cousins came to me and asked, "you have a Gameboy right?" When I said yes, she asked me to wait a minuted, went to her car, returned with about 20 games, and gave them to me. Apparently she was pissed at her husband for always playing his Gameboy and gave all his games to me.

patgizz wrote: that reminds me, i haven't knocked the dust off the NES. i got an NES to famicom game adapter to play JDMYo games, and my cousin found me a copy of the japan only Goonies game while he was over there.

I own a copy of Goonies II, is there another one?

mndsm wrote: While not nearly as extensive as SilverFleet, i do collect some. Recently got this bad boy at a thrift shop for 10 bucks. Given that dmg01s are fetching 50+ on ebay for a good console (this is probably the mintiest one I've found in recent years) and i got 6 games, 4 with manuals. None of them are any good, but gotta get what you can.

True story:

My younger brother and I were getting together to drink some beers. We swing by the local qwick-e-shop, grab a 12-pack of Rainier and get up to the counter. The guy cards us (we're both 30+) and my brother didnt have his ID on him. The clerk said something to the tune of "Well how do I know you're over 21 if you don't have id?"

To which my brother replied by pulling a Nintendo Game Boy out from his jacket pocket and placing it on the counter.

We were sold the beer

There is an excellent book called "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" with each chapter dealing with small stories of the video game industry. The story of Tetris, how Atari started, the guy who made the Mario Bros theme song, etc... It's fantastic read.

I watched "Game Over" on Netflix about 6-months ago and thought it was a great watch. It deals with Atari and the Burial of the game ET but goes into the culture/history of early video games.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKpm5I1B4iY

I should post up pics of my collection when I get home next week...visibily bigger than Silverfleet's but spread across more consoles and the PC, and that's just the tip of the iceberg - most of it you can't really see, because it's digital-only, and I've shifted more to using emulators instead of physically collecting old came consoles and cartridges. I'm even shifting to emulators instead of new games and consoles...I stopped buying new consoles after the PSX but I can still play most newer console games

Wow I was just thinking I should go back and play Half-Life again, thats vintage to me....

In reply to java230:

If you liked the Command & Conquer series of games, there's OpenRA it's Red Alert-esque, and pretty fun for being free. I prefer Red Alert 2 over the rest of the series, but OpenRA still manages to kill an hour or two every time I open it.

I came across a full install of Sim City 2000 on the interwebs, requires a DOS emulator, DOSbox or D-Fend Reloaded (what I've been using) work pretty well. The DOS emulators allow you to play all the old DOS games, even windowed if you like.