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Top 10 NES Action Platformers?

E

ElTopo

Banned
Pick only one per franchise and an action platformer is any game that is (1) a side-scroller where there are platforms that have to be transverse'd (2) you have a weapon from the get-go and have to kill enemies and are not meant to simply avoid them. So Mario and Ducktales wouldn't count. Certain beat 'em ups might count but Zelda 1 wouldn't count but Zelda 2 would. I was playing Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 again and thought a list might be fun to make.

My picks:

1: Shatterhand
2: Batman
3: Super C
4: Castlevania 3
5: Powerblade
6: Zen: intergalactic Ninja
7: Ninja Gaiden 2
8: Shadow of the Ninja
9: Vice: Project Doom
10: Journey to Silious

For me, Shatterhand is one of those near perfect games. Amazing graphics and music, perfect controls, a fun gimmick, and just the right kind of difficulty. Batman is very close behind it but the one problem I have with it (which is alleviated if you use Turbo input) is the hitbox for your punch is very small and requires precision and even if you're using Turbo you sometimes get hit anyway though it's rare. The other 2 NES Batman games deserve to be checked out as well. Super C and Contra are equally fantastic but Super C is a little more diverse, the overhead levels are fantastic and it's slightly harder when compared to Contra but it's still fair. Castlevania 1 and 3 are neck and neck but I chose 3 because of the branching paths and multiple characters. Powerblade is another great one, just has some very tough jumps, the sequel is almost as good as the original and should be checked out.

I love late-gen NES game in particular, that's when I think devs really got a handle on the hardware and pushed it to the limit and Zen is a great example of this. Great graphics and sound, tight controls, a variety in gameplay, if slightly obtuse and will take a couple of tries to figure out what exactly you have to do. Ninja Gaiden 2 has a more fair difficulty when compared to the first game (enemies don't immediately respawn as many times and the the new weapons and abilities are fun. Shadow of the Ninja is almost as good as the Gaiden series, just stick to the ranged flail weapon and you're good. It doesn't have the same "cheap-ness" as the Gaiden games when it comes to enemy placement but most of the weapons you get just aren't great and features a shockingly limited number of continues and lives. Vice: Project Doom is eerily like Gaiden but overall easier and features more variety in gameplay with shooting gallery and Spy Hunter-inspired levels. And Journey to Silious kicks ass. Fuck Megaman.

Honorable mentions:

Kabuki Quantom Fighter, Monster in My Pocket, Kick Master, Gargoyle's Quest 2, Bucky O'Hare, Choijin Sentai Jetman, Splatterhouse Winpaku Grafiti. and Bionic Commando.
 
Batman is a shitty game through and through. It has good music, but that's it.

I'd put Contra 1 Over Super C. I'd also have Guardian legend in the list.

BIONIC Commando is definitely Italy on the list. It's easily one of the most unique action games on the platform.
 
I won't bother with a top-10 seeing as it'll cover most of the same ground, but here are some good ones you didn't mention:

Little Samson
Street Fighter 2010
Holy Diver
Astyanax
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
 
I presume Megaman 4 is your top Megaman then, OP?

Interesting choice. Not a common sentiment.

MM4 is the hardest of all NES Megamen. That's why I never easily "loved it" but I wonder if there's a hardcore gamer's appeal there...
 
no mega man 2 WHAA

my personal favs i always come back to is MM2 and zelda 2. there are plenty of great ones but they gelled into my collective memory as one
 
While I'm here, I'm willing to go to bat for Battletoads, too. I've always been ambivalent about that game but I'm really starting to come around--sure, it's gimmicky and memorisation-heavy and the autoscrolling sections don't give you enough to do on subsequent replays, but it controls well enough, it looks/sounds great and it's generally pretty fair.

It's easily the best western action game on NES/Famicom, not that I can even think of too many other examples.
 
Well, at least I know what user to put on ignore. To say that NES Batman is "trash through and through" just shows profound ignorance. Just wow at that statement.

I think half of Battletoads is good but the other stages are lack luster and/or simply too hard for their own good. And the controls for all the Battletoad games (even the arcade game oddly enough) always feel floaty. When I jump I never feel like my character has weight. Punching just doesn't have that stopping power when you initiate a punch, you feel it when you complete a combo and you give them the boot or bull horns or whatever, but punching feels weak.
 
Certainly not a lack of choice on the Famicom. I still haven't played some sweet-looking games so I can't feel good about making a list. Shatterhand is excellent though, so props to OP.

Most recently I played through Gimmick! and it is totally top tier.

I really need to play Gun-Dec/Vice.

btrboyev said:
Batman is a shitty game through and through.
Click to expand...

No way. Can you elaborate?
 
Several of those didn't come out over here, but I'll vote for Megaman 3.

According to the 3DS log I put 30 hours into it last year in addition to tens of hours on the NES in the early 90s.
 
Ninja Gaiden 2
Contra
Megaman 2
Ninja Gaiden
Super C
Megaman 3
Megaman 4
Castlevania 2
Rygar
Batman

Honorable Mention: Zelda 2
 
@MUWANdo said:
While I'm here, I'm willing to go to bat for Battletoads, too. I've always been ambivalent about that game but I'm really starting to come around--sure, it's gimmicky and memorisation-heavy and the autoscrolling sections don't give you enough to do on subsequent replays, but it controls well enough, it looks/sounds great and it's generally pretty fair.

It's easily the best western action game on NES/Famicom, not that I can even think of too many other examples.
Click to expand...

I'll support Battletoads here as well!

I struggle to think of a NES game with better level variety than Battletoads, and I also think it controls very well on pretty much every stage (except the annoying swimming). It is hard and requires memorization, but I can finish it blindfolded these days and have stacks of fun doing so.
 
1. Mega Man 2
2. Zelda 2
3. Contra
4. Ninja Gaiden
5. Castlevania 3
6. Shadow of the Ninja
7. Batman
8. Little Samson
9. Gargoyle's Guest 2
10. Bionic Commando

Tons more that could be included, since the Nes have probably the best selection of such games of all time.
 
1. Castlevania
2. Mega Man 2
3. Ninja Gaiden 2
4. Contra
5. Shadow of the Ninja
6. Batman
7. Street Fighter 2010
 
I'm so glad that Street Fighter 2010 is getting some love in this thread. Whenever it comes up, people seem to constantly knock it for not being a proper Street Fighter game, and ignore that it's damn fun.

Metal Storm also needs more recognition.
 
Leynos said:
I'm so glad that Street Fighter 2010 is getting some love in this thread. Whenever it comes up, people seem to constantly knock it for not being a proper Street Fighter game, and ignore that it's damn fun.
Click to expand...
I think the reason it's often overlooked is because that game can kick your ass HARD.
 
1. Ninja Gaiden 2
2. Bionic Commando
3. Mega Man 2
4. Zelda 2
5. Akumajō Densetsu
6. Ninja Gaiden
7. Mega Man 3
8. SF 2010
9. Battle of Olympus
10. Astyanax
 
Leynos said:
I'm so glad that Street Fighter 2010 is getting some love in this thread. Whenever it comes up, people seem to constantly knock it for not being a proper Street Fighter game, and ignore that it's damn fun.
Click to expand...

I think the controls kill it. Being able to only shoot once while jumping, having to position your self to jump and shoot down (again, only one shot) and pressing down to shoot diagonally up ruins the experience. It's a pretty decent game aside from the controls and I wished Capcom acknowledged it with an SF 2010 outfit for Ken in SF4.
 
GI Joe was and it's still pretty fun:

GI_Joe_NES_ScreenShot2.jpg
 
1. Mega Man 2 + Mega Man 3
2. Castlevania III
3. Contra + Super C
4. Ninja Gaiden II
5. Metal Storm
6. Shatterhand
7. Little Samson
8. Batman
9. Blaster Master
10. Shadow of the Ninja

Honorable Mentions:

Bionic Commando
Journey to Silius
Vice: Project Doom
Rygar
Gimmick
 
The "Avoiding enemies" point is a little vague to me, since I totally steamroll everyone in Ducktales and other similar games. Feel free to correct me on any of the following games I'm about to list. I think my personal top 10 would include Batman, Mega Man 2, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Faxanadu, Gargoyle's Guest 2, Little Samson, Mr Gimmick, Shatterhand and Castlevania 3. Not sure about the way I'd order them, but it's not really all that important to me. These orders change way too often depending on my mood.

I think Mr Gimmick and Little Samson are definitely highly overlooked compared to their quality. I assume this is due to the lateness of their release and the rarity of the games. Still, they are both incredible achievements on the NES and really fun. My personal favourite of the moment is probably Gargoyle's Guest 2. Some of the best mixes of platforming and shooting I've seen in any game really. Both types of gameplay highly intertwine and complement eachother. Great stuff.
 
BocoDragon said:
MM4 is the hardest of all NES Megamen. That's why I never easily "loved it" but I wonder if there's a hardcore gamer's appeal there...
Click to expand...

nah.. MM1 is easily the "hardest". MM4 however may be the last NES game to not be a cakewalk. though the mega buster kind of broke the game
 
btrboyev said:
Batman is a shitty game through and through. It has good music, but that's it.

I'd put Contra 1 Over Super C. I'd also have Guardian legend in the list.

BIONIC Commando is definitely Italy on the list. It's easily one of the most unique action games on the platform.
Click to expand...

I legitimately want to take you to task on this. I was a true NES-head and while not in my top 10 (overall), Batman was hands-down one of the best games on the system which I consider to have aged fairly well. It still looks and sounds excellent, and - especially considering I wasn't having very high hopes for it - it does play considerably well. It's worst crime might be to consider it "above average" in many regards (lack of length, cheap item grinding, pushover bosses) but the whole package was very satisfying especially in light of much of the platformer drek that was releasing around the same time.

It's a little on the harder side, which some may complain about, but it is a really fair game overall and not a pain in the ass like some other games (Ninja Gaiden, which I still love, but let's face it that game can be frustrating for many reasons). I'm gonna guess you haven't given it a fair playthrough?

I'll agree with you, Contra 1 is superior to it's sequel. Super is quite fun and still holds up, but the first one - even with the "crappy" behind the shoulders levels - just feels way more fresh and solid. A little clunkier and earlier, but it really feels like it absolutely busted the run-n-gun genre open like no other game really did before it. I guess this is really a good thread to consider what else led up to it?
 
I have a theory that Contra and Super C were programmed in such a way that it was very difficult for other developers to imitate the 8-way firing because there is literally nothing else like it on the NES except for Contra Force but that has other big issues. Other games that tried to imitate the gameplay (off the top of my head) Terminator and the Robocop games have you stop and aim diagonally.

And in the 16 bit era you still didn't see many games with 8-way firing until Treasure made Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier.
 
AlexSA2 said:
I have a theory that Contra and Super C were programmed in such a way that it was very difficult for other developers to imitate the 8-way firing because there is literally nothing else like it on the NES except for Contra Force but that has other big issues. Other games that tried to imitate the gameplay (off the top of my head) Terminator and the Robocop games have you stop and aim diagonally.

And in the 16 bit era you still didn't see many games with 8-way firing until Treasure made Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier.
Click to expand...

you're quite right, there really were not many, were there.. I have wondered by that was the case also, it seems like a pretty basic game genre. You have games like Crossfire which approach it, but nothing nearly so derivative. And it's not like those games were not popular! I'm sure if I ground my brain on it, I could think of a couple more.
 
1. Zelda 2
2. Metroid
3. Kid Icarus
4. Bionic Commando
5. Super C
6. Mega Man
7. Castlevania
8. Rygar
9. Ninja Gaiden
10. Wizards and Warriors
 
AlexSA2 said:
I think the controls kill it. Being able to only shoot once while jumping, having to position your self to jump and shoot down (again, only one shot) and pressing down to shoot diagonally up ruins the experience. It's a pretty decent game aside from the controls and I wished Capcom acknowledged it with an SF 2010 outfit for Ken in SF4.
Click to expand...

The controls are a bit unorthodox, but they work for me. The Mega Man games, however, just make me want to tear my hair out. You can't aim up, down, or diagonally, and pisses me off to no end. I really enjoy the music in Mega Man, and keep telling myself that the controls aren't that bad, but whenever I play, I get extremely frustrated by the limited control scheme. I cannot fathom why Capcom went that route, and still to this day has not fixed it!
 
Leynos said:
The controls are a bit unorthodox, but they work for me. The Mega Man games, however, just make me want to tear my hair out. You can't aim up, down, or diagonally, and pisses me off to no end. I really enjoy the music in Mega Man, and keep telling myself that the controls aren't that bad, but whenever I play, I get extremely frustrated by the limited control scheme. I cannot fathom why Capcom went that route, and still to this day has not fixed it!
Click to expand...

But that was how Mega Man is supposed to control! All of the old greats (Mario, Castlevania, Metroid) had their very unique "feel" to them which was never exactly like another game. You could tell from the standouts that they put a lot of time and focus on getting that gameplay feel/character control just so, for how they would maneuver in each world. Mega Man was absolutely no exception in this.

Sure, the controls could feel limited and frustrating, but once you adjusted to them then it was synergy. In fact, I felt like they "broke them" when they tried to enhance them (Mega Buster, slide, Rush). Polish and simplicity is key.

Also with MM, like many of those other games - one of the big points was to increase your powers as you progressed through the game (pickup different weapons, etc). Specific to this game there were lots of more subtle strategies involved based on how you wanted to play; did you simply want to charge and dodge your way through the levels, or did you want to employ the proper weapons at the right time to take out whatever various enemies and obstacles? In these games in particular you could certainly get all manner of weapons which would dramatically increase/alter your range; of course the reserves were limited (also, changing weapons was never "smooth") so it wasn't perhaps the best implementation of the concept, but still fun to play that way if you chose.
 
image.php


I remember seeing that in some old nintendo power or egm ads. I need to play this game...

Also, Japan GAF, are there any good japanese games that were never localized that fit into this genre?
 
akachan ningen said:
image.php


I remember seeing that in some old nintendo power or egm ads. I need to play this game...

Also, Japan GAF, are there any good japanese games that were never localized that fit into this genre?
Click to expand...

Shatterhand is indeed GDLK. It's a franchise we deserved. Anywho, Natsume (the developer of Shatterhand) released two other action platformers on the NES and exclusive to Japan.

Choijin Sentai Jetman. It's all right. It's just very, very easy. You'd beat it in about 20 minutes without really trying. I'm shocked it was never released in the U.S. to capitalize on Power Rangers, it would have been a very late gen NES title (I think 93 or even 94) but it would have been easy money for Bandai. There's very little text to translate.

Mitsume ga Tooru. I believe it's based on a manga but it has an interesting gimmick in that you actually have to buy upgrades to proceed. It's okay, I found it very slow and enemies have too much health.

Other great Natsume titles (that came to America) include: Shadow the Ninja, the poorly titled SCAT, the Lifeforce-clone Abadox, and for the SNES you have Ninja Warriors (I didn't like it, but others dig it), Pocky and Rocky, and the amazing Wild Guns. Afterwards, Natsume made a couple of forgettable licensed games and now makes Harvest Moon games...
 
I can only go by what I've actually played back in the day. Never really revisited the system via emulators.

Batman
Ninja Gaiden series
Contra (only the first)
Megaman 2-3
Ghosts n Goblins
 
petran79 said:
also TMNT1 wasnt that bad compared to NES platformers back then
Click to expand...

In the grand scheme of things it was okay. Not horrible but not really great either. It's one of those games where if a few key problems were fixed it would probably be a great game.
 
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