Tonydews
1993
Who knew that this charming pink bouncy ball that is Kirby would start a big franchise filled with simple, colorful fun and joy?
Kirby's adventure was a platformer game with physics that made Kirby feel great to play in general, but also with an interesting and original power system that gives Kirby many abilities to use by gobbling and swallowing his enemies. It is more challenging than I first expected, but not to the point of frustration.
Kirby's Adventure is a solid NES title from beginning to end, and still holds amazingly well by today's standards because of how simple and easy it plays.
Kirby's adventure was a platformer game with physics that made Kirby feel great to play in general, but also with an interesting and original power system that gives Kirby many abilities to use by gobbling and swallowing his enemies. It is more challenging than I first expected, but not to the point of frustration.
Kirby's Adventure is a solid NES title from beginning to end, and still holds amazingly well by today's standards because of how simple and easy it plays.
2007
Final Fantasy 1 offers a very simple D&D style of premise and gameplay. You head out on a quest with a party of characters that will grow stronger with every battle in order to restore the world from darkness and evil by liberating the four elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire.
Looking back at the time of release, it was a simple and straightforward, dungeon crawling style of story and gameplay. The game in general is simple enough from beginning to end for anyone to try out and play at their own leisure with reasonable difficulty.
The GBA/PSP ports are the definitive versions to play, as the original NES version was riddled with bugs and dysfunctional features. This is the first title of a big franchise with some of the best turn based RPGs out there.
Looking back at the time of release, it was a simple and straightforward, dungeon crawling style of story and gameplay. The game in general is simple enough from beginning to end for anyone to try out and play at their own leisure with reasonable difficulty.
The GBA/PSP ports are the definitive versions to play, as the original NES version was riddled with bugs and dysfunctional features. This is the first title of a big franchise with some of the best turn based RPGs out there.
2001
This game was a huge part of my childhood right here. When it comes to God games, Black&White is where it's at.
This game was very innovative and is one of the more ambitious titles of Peter Molyneux at the time. Albeit being a Molyneux title, it has a lot of missing content and flaws, because of his annoying bad habit of over promising during game announcements.
Nevertheless, this game still has a lot to offer and excels at making you play and FEEL like a God. The main selling point of this game was the possibility for the player to act either as a Benevolent, Neutral or Diabolical God. Your actions and choices have lasting consequences on the world and your overall divine appearance and environments will visually reflect your alignment (similarly to FABLE, another one of Molyneux's games).
Again, it is a Molyneux title, therefore it has a lot of interesting, and sometimes questionable elements. However, it was made in an era of experiments in gaming. An era full of interesting concepts and ideas to be tried and released on the market.
It's a game from a golden time in gaming, a time that many of us miss dearly. I definitely recommend trying it out at least if you like exploring retro gaming in general.
This game used to be sold on GOG, but was then removed a couple years ago because of disputes on Lionhead's rights being owned by EA. So unfortunately there is no official way to acquire this game as of 2024. You can either buy a copy from Ebay or download the full thing here on Abandonware.com and find a fanmade patch to make the game work on modern systems:
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/black-white-a33
https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/
This game was very innovative and is one of the more ambitious titles of Peter Molyneux at the time. Albeit being a Molyneux title, it has a lot of missing content and flaws, because of his annoying bad habit of over promising during game announcements.
Nevertheless, this game still has a lot to offer and excels at making you play and FEEL like a God. The main selling point of this game was the possibility for the player to act either as a Benevolent, Neutral or Diabolical God. Your actions and choices have lasting consequences on the world and your overall divine appearance and environments will visually reflect your alignment (similarly to FABLE, another one of Molyneux's games).
Again, it is a Molyneux title, therefore it has a lot of interesting, and sometimes questionable elements. However, it was made in an era of experiments in gaming. An era full of interesting concepts and ideas to be tried and released on the market.
It's a game from a golden time in gaming, a time that many of us miss dearly. I definitely recommend trying it out at least if you like exploring retro gaming in general.
This game used to be sold on GOG, but was then removed a couple years ago because of disputes on Lionhead's rights being owned by EA. So unfortunately there is no official way to acquire this game as of 2024. You can either buy a copy from Ebay or download the full thing here on Abandonware.com and find a fanmade patch to make the game work on modern systems:
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/black-white-a33
https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/
I had a lot of fun trying out this style of gameplay. HOMM 2 offers an interesting concept of turn based gameplay centered around grabbing resources around the map, while upgrading your heroes cities, powers and raise huge armies to assault your opponents with.
The combat is interesting and challenging enough because you have to take in account every numbers laid out (damage, hitpoints per units, unit sizes, speed etc.). It's a more intricate style of chess (or checkers even) that requires you to think ahead against your opponent's different army setups.
The main campaign is really good in the challenges it brings, without necessarily over stretching the length of gameplay. Although I will warn you, the AI is both very smart and dumb. You WILL need to think carefully in your decision making.
As for the expansions, I can't really say much as I haven't tried them, but I've read that they are hit or miss. I personally had enough with the main campaign alone, so I might just skip them altogether and go straight for HOMM3 instead.
You can grab a copy on GOG for relatively cheap prices (and often goes on sale for less than 5$):
https://www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_2_gold_edition
The combat is interesting and challenging enough because you have to take in account every numbers laid out (damage, hitpoints per units, unit sizes, speed etc.). It's a more intricate style of chess (or checkers even) that requires you to think ahead against your opponent's different army setups.
The main campaign is really good in the challenges it brings, without necessarily over stretching the length of gameplay. Although I will warn you, the AI is both very smart and dumb. You WILL need to think carefully in your decision making.
As for the expansions, I can't really say much as I haven't tried them, but I've read that they are hit or miss. I personally had enough with the main campaign alone, so I might just skip them altogether and go straight for HOMM3 instead.
You can grab a copy on GOG for relatively cheap prices (and often goes on sale for less than 5$):
https://www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_2_gold_edition
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! has great re-playability with some good challenge to offer. You start in a boxing ring from Junior leagues, up to the World tournament (and in this version, against Mike Tyson himself as a final opponent!).
You juggle between your punches and dodging while trying to figure out how to send your opponent to the floor. Also, it becomes even more fun when you learn about different tricks and move sets on how to defeat your opponent quickly. I myself rediscovered how to go through this game with this guy's tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cd3fAwR6TQ&list=PLzJ3rxOw8cbgudowBFUF30UoyNswCdDON
Frankly, it's one of the most well programmed and well polished games on the NES out there. It's a simple, yet complex boxing game for such an old console. Nonetheless, it still delivers on the fun and challenge for players!
I hereby recommend this one as it became one of my favorites on the NES!
You juggle between your punches and dodging while trying to figure out how to send your opponent to the floor. Also, it becomes even more fun when you learn about different tricks and move sets on how to defeat your opponent quickly. I myself rediscovered how to go through this game with this guy's tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cd3fAwR6TQ&list=PLzJ3rxOw8cbgudowBFUF30UoyNswCdDON
Frankly, it's one of the most well programmed and well polished games on the NES out there. It's a simple, yet complex boxing game for such an old console. Nonetheless, it still delivers on the fun and challenge for players!
I hereby recommend this one as it became one of my favorites on the NES!
1988
Coming from childhood here, you cannot simply skip on Contra when it comes to NES classics! It's the best run and gun on this console you can play. Challenging alone, but easier and more chaotic when played with a friend.
The military and secret alien base thematic really brings out the 80's trends. I recommend to grab that "S" power up and blast the whole screen away with multiple bullets, it's just so satisfying and fun to play with!
The military and secret alien base thematic really brings out the 80's trends. I recommend to grab that "S" power up and blast the whole screen away with multiple bullets, it's just so satisfying and fun to play with!
1991
I had first abandoned the first game because it bored me to tears and was too repetitive to my liking, but then decided to give its sequel a try...
Oh boy! It's a much better improvement over the first! Definitely was more fun, with shorter levels, unique mounts to use, better boss fights and less slippery controls! Difficulty scales properly the further you go from island to island.
Definitely worth trying out, it's one of the better titles for the NES at this point in my opinion...!
Oh boy! It's a much better improvement over the first! Definitely was more fun, with shorter levels, unique mounts to use, better boss fights and less slippery controls! Difficulty scales properly the further you go from island to island.
Definitely worth trying out, it's one of the better titles for the NES at this point in my opinion...!
It's a cute and very simple game that is not hard by any means, but it is very repetitive in the sense that every area (up to 8), stages and bosses are nearly identical from one another and it all plays the same from beginning to end. I played up to Area 4 then dropped it all because I would much rather play one of the classic Mario games at this point.
It's fun enough for casual playing and killing a bit of time, but not motivating enough to beat.
It's fun enough for casual playing and killing a bit of time, but not motivating enough to beat.