The Nintendo Entertainment System produced an absurd number of games during its lifespan, with its official North American library coming in at around 675 titles. That doesn’t take into account unlicensed games like Action 52 and The Ultimate Stuntman, nor the 350+ Japan exclusives that never made it to Western nations. While a few of the system’s juggernauts continue to be remembered fondly, plenty of massive NES games are entirely forgotten nowadays.
Just to be clear, I’m not talking about flops that came and went without leaving an impact; all these upcoming NES games were big deals when they came out, but they simply have not endured as forever-loved masterpieces. If you are really into this era, you probably have heard of some of these fading classics, but you are likely one of the exceptions.
Top Gun Got That Maverick Rub
A Forgettable Konami Flight Sim Elevated By Its License
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- Konami made a Top Gun game.
- The movie actually received a lot of games.
Fueled by the power of Tom Cruise, Top Gun became a global phenomenon in more ways than one, although its legacy tends to be distilled to just the movie. While the blockbuster didn’t receive a sequel until decades later, developers refused to stop releasing Top Gun games, producing around 12 between 1986 and 2012. Konami released two games specifically for the NES, both of which are combat flight simulators.
Top Gun puts you in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat for four missions, which generally involve shooting down enemies, executing frustrating-as-heck landing sequences, and refueling mid-flight. Except for the relatively easy dogfights, the core loop is difficult to the point of annoyance, and the gameplay is nowhere near good enough to make these flights worth taking.
With this NES game, we have a prime example of a release shot into superstardom thanks to brand recognition. Once that hype disappeared, all that remained was a mediocre flight sim that couldn’t reliably hit the target. The sequel, The Second Mission, is better, but who wanted a Top Gun game in 1990?
Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode Was A Cool NES Spy Thriller
About As Close To An “Adult” NES Game As You Are Likely To Find
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- Golgo 13 makes its NES debut.
- Tried to do a lot, but failed to do most of it well.
Anybody remotely into manga and anime should have heard the name Golgo 13, as Takao Saito’s long-running story about a cold-as-ice assassin has been around for literally decades. While not subjected to an avalanche of adaptations, the manga has received a couple of games over the years; more importantly, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode and its sequel were the only ones to release in North America.
Even if it wasn’t a particularly gigantic hit, Top Secret Episode proved successful enough in both Japan and North America to warrant releasing a sequel in both regions, and the game’s appeal kind of makes sense. As most NES games were sanitized and family-friendly, Golgo 13‘s “adult” story about a killer who engages in international espionage, shoots people in the face, and sleeps with women was something a touch different.
To its credit, Top Secret Episode tries to offer decent variety, with four relatively different styles of gameplay. None of them are particularly great or even fun, though, and the game became obsolete once the 16-bit era started to produce far better spy-themed adventures.
Pro Wrestling Saw Nintendo Step Into The Ring
A Winner Is You
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- Developed by Nintendo and TRY, aka Human Entertainment of Fire Pro Wrestling fame.
The NES Black Box sports games were HUGE, and there is absolutely no reason to play a single one of them today. Stuff like Soccer and Baseball are remembered for existing but nothing more, but the same cannot be said for Pro Wrestling. Yes, Nintendo developed and published a wrestling game that features 6 fake wrestlers clearly inspired by real figures like Antonio Inoki (Fighter Hayabusa), Ric Flair (King Slender), Hulk Hogan (Giant Panther), Tiger Mask (Great Puma), and Mil Máscaras (Star Man).
Honestly, from all the NES sports titles, Pro Wrestling might be the best and deepest, and plenty of its ideas would become staples of the genre. You have a rudimentary grapple system, rope runs, count-outs, and a colorful cast of larger-than-life characters. The game was absolutely massive, too, becoming the 22nd best-selling game on the NES (according to Wikipedia, anyway).
Once officially licensed wrestling games like WWF WrestleMania hit the scene, Pro Wrestling lost most of its value, and its legacy nowadays boils down to its infamous “A Winner Is You” victory screen.
Fester’s Quest Is An Addams Family Sci-Fi Romp
A NES Game That Gladly Feasts On Those Who Would Subdue It
- Awesome music and pretty good gameplay.
During the late 1980s, Addams Family fever swept the nation due to reruns of the 1960s show, culminating in the release of two fantastic live-action movies. During this time, Sunsoft also attempted to tap into the franchise’s momentum by developing a game revolving entirely around everyone’s favorite creepy uncle. Fester’s Quest is way better than it sounds, as long as expectations are kept realistic.
The top-down shooter tasks Uncle Fester with stopping an alien invasion, a fittingly bizarre premise for a series known for embracing the weird and wacky. Sunsoft put together three fairly expansive open areas that emphasized exploration, along with building stages that shift to a first-person angle. Impressive stuff for the era, and the soundtrack was and still is godly.
Like so many NES games, Fester’s Quest could be unfairly difficult at times, especially since you are “rewarded” with more powerful weapons that are harder to use effectively. Enemies also never stop spawning. Once the first movie came out, we got new Addams Family games from Ocean that ended up overshadowing Fester’s Quest.
Gyromite And R.O.B. Saved Gaming
And Then Faded Into The Sunset Like The Heroes They Are
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- R.O.B. became a legend while Gyromite was gradually forgotten.
OK, this one is a bit of a special case, as R.O.B. is among the most recognizable and lovable Nintendo blunders of all time, to the point of even becoming a Super Smash Bros. playable character. However, while the robot’s memory lives on, his original game, Gyromite, has been almost entirely wiped from history. The game and its robot were bundled with the NES Deluxe Set as a key factor in Nintendo’s attempt to market the console as a toy, making them a guaranteed part of more than a million households.
R.O.B. played an important role in revitalizing the gaming industry after the crash, but it was a means to an end.
The puzzle game was meant to be played by giving instructions to R.O.B., but it took so long to do anything that most people just ended up using a second controller to bypass the robot entirely. Gyromite isn’t terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but its selling point was also its worst feature. There is no reason to play without R.O.B., and it is painful to play with R.O.B.; consequently, the game became a footnote in history, especially once Super Mario Bros. hit the scene.
