nes top down shooter
I still believe that the NES original is the greatest top-down racer ever developed. American gamers weren't privy to subsequent releases until Dragon Warrior VII hit the PlayStation in 2001. It was a solid companion for the early Zelda games, and perhaps a factor in why Capcom was later approached to develop some portable entries in the Zelda series for Nintendo. I felt such a sense of relief every time I returned to the vehicle from an on-foot segment, like running indoors to escape the Boogeyman in the woods. Atari 2600 titles like ET set the stage for what is still known today as a group of games best avoided. The Guardian Legend is an action-adventure/top down shooter released for the NES in 1989. Dragon Warrior IV, released in the US in 1992, tried to buck this trend with a unique approach to unraveling the game's overarching narrative. The variety in power ups kept me endlessly entertained and I cherished every moment with the blaring microphone attack. The company got its start with Ikari as its first major hit, and the success of this game fueled the studio to go on and ultimately create classic fighting franchises such as Fatal Fury and King of Fighters on the Neo-Geo, as well as the timeless Metal Slug series. Kung Fu is an enigma. It featured actual cut-scenes in an era when such things were considered extraordinary. I couldn't stand the cartoon (I was a DuckTales sort of guy), but to my surprise the game was an addictive platforming masterpiece. What a glorious game, from the overall design down to the visuals and music. But it was this release combined with Super Mario Bros. (and sometimes World Class Track Meet or Gyromite) as a bundled-in offering with the NES made it one of the most proliferated games on the console. Unfortunately, this game didn't satisfy everyone. Demon Sword's ninja is surprisingly agile, with the ability to hop to tree tops in matter of seconds. The visuals weren't as vibrant and the animations weren't as fluid, but the gameplay was spot-on. Fusing action with platforming, and even some RPG elements, Kid Icarus is one of those key first party NES games that often finds itself ignored. Another epically popular franchise to this day, Nintendo's Metroid came to the United States in 1987 and immediately floored gamers not only with its slick presentation, interesting protagonist and open world, but from the fact that it was non-linear in nature. I first played this in arcades with relatives manning all four joystickscalling dibs on pizza for health was futile as everyone else was older (and bigger) than me. Jackal; A remake of the NES top-down shooter of the same name, graphically enhanced to take advantage of the Amiga (OCS-ECS) hardware. But the Balloon Adaptor and Wire Adaptor didn't elude me for long, as useless as they were. Speed boosting strips placed directly on the track also made their first appearance in this design, which was so well received that it went on to inspire several sequels as well as influence the creation of Nintendo's own hybrid combat/racing series, Mario Kart. The fourth game in the franchise had little to offer fans that was different, other than a new cast of interesting Robot Masters, a new character (Eddie) and a new ability for Mega Man to exploit (charging your arm cannon). Ask anyone who played this game extensively and they'll tell you, it was one of the hardest games of all time. Dragon Warrior is an old-school grinding RPG that necessitated acute attention to leveling up, equipment management and smart planning. If you are wondering, that formula is one part Aliens, two parts First Blood, and perhaps a dash of Predator to keep things exotic. Released in 1988, it pioneered something very important for the racing genre. Since the beginning of console gaming, movie licensed titles have held the stigma of being awful. And if you somehow run out of those, you can always steal one from your unsuspecting partner. After all, it is 2009, and there's been a lot of time for Tetris and Dr. Mario. Before Baseball Stars was released in the summer of 1989, the NES wasn't looked at for its ability to simulate real sports. In a cool adventure gaming twist, you'll need to meet a certain booty (diamonds, not damsels) quota before being able to exit each area, but don't expect a sign reading "Here Be Treasure." As a bonus, your stunned partner can double as a bludgeoning tool. Choreographing delicate rescue operations with my cousin was a blast, sending one Jeep to collect P.O.W.s while the other threw out cover in the form of myriad bullets and grenades. Its fast-paced 2D action style made it a game preferred by those with quick reflexes, and its arsenal of weaponry, which can be chosen from a Mega Man-like menu, gave the gameplay variety, with certain weapons working best against certain enemies and bosses. It's an undeniable classic. While the first game was an arcade platformer directly inspired by the movie, The Goonies II did its own thing. Though a bit cumbersome to control with just an NES D-Pad and menu bar of potential actions to take, this tale of seven diverse high school kids exploring a kooky manor populated with wacky, blue-skinned mad scientists and alien tentacles was nevertheless addictive, thanks in large part to the great variety of ways to win. Before you knew it, your screen was full of viruses with scant a place for your pills to go. Fester's Quest also takes its cues from a hodgepodge of genres, which will appeal to many kinds of gamers. Jackal - A top down shooter based around the NES version get a new Amiga v6 demo via Neeso Games! Set in an ancient Greece-inspired future (mind blown yet? Mickey Mousecapade was the first of these, and although it was published by Capcom in the US, it was developed by Hudson and has a different, more primitive feel than the great Disney platformers that succeeded it. Journey to Silius wasn't experienced by many gamers in its time, but it has more than earned its place on our Top 100 for its smooth gameplay alone. Watching elaborate slams and suplexes in the glorious 8-bit cinematics captured my imagination immediately. The care gameplay is right on, the visuals aren't bad at all, and it stinks of Mega Man inspired robot blasting. Kid Icarus' extreme difficulty has turned off many a gamer in the past twenty years, but there's a lot to love as soon as you turn on the game. Funny that both of these defining characteristics have carried over through the years into modern day Gaiden sequels. And that's where Lolo's difficult gameplay comes in, because it's getting those icons that are the true feat. shipped in two forms on the NES, one featuring Mike Tyson as the final boss and the other with him removed. Along the way you'll explore via many, many knightly leaps lofty treetops, labyrinthine caverns and an unexpectedly tall castle tower. Around the corner from my house growing up was a rare sight these days a mom and pop video store. The main game is an arcade-like collect-athon with a puzzle-solving aspect. If the name "Willow" isn't immediately familiar to you, we suppose you can be forgiven but you really should get to know it. Let me make sure I'm using the correct term. I obsessed over Metroid for months, explored every nook and cranny of the game world, bested Mother Brain in battle dozens of times and still couldn't get enough. Why is Baseball Stars so important? When the game culminates on the sixth and final stage, Scrooge is a force to be reckoned with. Maybe most surprising of all, though, is that the NES was also the first place Americans ever met Solid Snake. Known as Dragon Quest in Japan, Dragon Warrior was one of the NES's early smash hits that didn't come from Nintendo itself, even though it was released nearly three years after it saw the light of day on its native Japanese Famicom. When you aren't pounding all manner of non-amphibious fauna, you are racing speeding vehicles, repelling down pits and performing various other stunts uncharacteristic of your every day brawler. Punch-Out!! I lived in Maine when Mega Man 5 came out, which was an SNES-dominated era in my life. The Cobra Triangle gunship was a versatile vessel, and the power-ups it could obtain were what made this one a blast to play. It wasn't so. The Game Pak is truly worth tracking down for its multiplayer selection, including a wacky cooperative mode. Batman didn't try to do anything unique, but rather took a cue from a few already-established NES staples to make Batman a fun, worthwhile experience. Above all else, what surprised me most about Rescue Rangers is that it was so fun to play. Admittedly, the exhilaration of burning past the beach-going VW beetles in your red Ferrari 328 (the F1 was significantly less radical) is indeed worthy of such high self praise. Qix is one of the finest examples of the NES's prowess at emulating arcade classics. The classic Tecmo-created action game remains etched in my mind for a couple reasons. Note: the Power Glove will not enhance gameplay, but you'll look pretty darn rad, we promise. When I first encountered Zombie Nation it was love at first sight: the disembodied head of a samurai destroying buildings with what appears to be vomit? After ripping open all of my other presents, all I cared about was Mega Man 3. Gradius was hard but fully powering up the Vic Viper made things a lot easier. And explore you did. It wasn't until a decade or two later that I finally understood that a poor localization was responsible for the game's extreme weirdness. I doubt anybody would rank the title in their top 10s, but for a 20-plus-year-old action romp, it was as the title suggests pretty rad. I'm a lifelong boxing fan, so being able to "sim" matches this early was something of a breakthrough for me. Get ready to relive the days when shooting down enemy forces and dodging oncoming fire while sipping a can of Surge was all we needed for a quick adrenaline rush. What makes the game so special, then? And while all Robot Masters since Mega Man 2 have been designed by the Japanese, Mega Man 6 totes a few created by North Americans. In Kid Icarus, gamers take the role of Pit. Though the dog, mocking me with laughter, encouraged delinquency. Snake parachuted into the jungle fortress of Outer Heaven with nothing but his courage and a pack of smokes, and skillfully avoided detection while sneaking through the enemy encampment to find and destroy the titular weapon of mass destruction or, if sneaking didn't work, he beat the snot out of the soldiers in his way. Officially titled The Dark Sword of Chaos, the gameplay remained true to the original, with one notable addition: While Ryu always could (and in many cases had to) grapple to walls to get around, Ryu could now scale up and down walls easily. For whatever reason, Nintendo didn't include a battery in the cartridge for the customizable track option, so if you turned off the systempoof! chasersgaming. - Mark Ryan Sallee, IGN Game Help Editor-in-Chief. Goonies never say die! This game is infinitely more inventive than that. Mega Man's unique approach is what initially made it so interesting to gamers. 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