Top 111 NES Games, #100-91

100. The Goonies II (Konami, 1987)

Goonies II is a strange case in many ways.  While there was a game based on the Goonies, it actually never got a home release outside of Japan, only appearing in the west on the Playchoice-10 and VS systems in the arcades.  Then, as if that wasn't odd enough, Konami decided to produce a sequel to it even though there wasn't a sequel to the movie.  It changed up the format quite a bit, taking cues from games like Metroid; you explore a very large environment, uncovering clues, finding upgrades for your character, and eventually rescuing all of the Goonies from captivity.  Even at this early stage, though, Konami definitely showed off the quality in their games with some detailed visuals, smooth animations and a quite good soundtrack (including a rendition of Cyndi Lauper's "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough").  It may not have had a corresponding film, but Goonies II was a classic game just on its own merits.

99. Sqoon (Irem, 1986)

Shoot-em-up style games were already a pretty well known genre well before the NES hit the scene, and it continued to get quite a few throughout its life, with a lot of them being unremarkable ports of arcade games with pretty basic gameplay and minimal variation, so I tend to glance over a lot of them.  Sqoon is a relatively early one for the NES, but its design is anything but basic - there's quite a lot of mechanics that you'll have to juggle to get far.  There are the usual waves of giant enemies to blast away for points, but other sea life appears too - orcas are harmless to you, but will eat up any people you blast free by bombing buildings, crabs drop gold bricks you can collect and turn in for points, and the odd sea slug will drop a magical necklace if you bomb it enough times, which grants a 1-up and a chance at a bonus stage. In between all of this, you'll have to free captured humans, touch them to bring them aboard, and once you have nine of them, drop them off on the "floating island" that appears (one by one, with the B button), which is the only way to replenish your constantly dwindling oxygen supply and gain powerups to upgrade your weapons.  The aforementioned gold serves as a more efficient means of doing this - all you need is one live human and a gold brick to get the island to appear again, though this will only refill your oxygen and not upgrade your weapons (which makes it a better option when you've already hit max upgrade).  Sqoon is chaotic and outlandish even by shmup standards, but undeniably unique and quite a lot of fun once you get into the swing of it.

98. Astyanax (Aicom, 1990)

A fairly popular game in its time that isn't talked about much these days, Astyanax was quite a sight to behold on the NES.  Large sprites with a surprising number of animation frames, elaborate and detailed backgrounds, some imaginative (and gruesome) boss designs, and gameplay slightly reminiscent of Castlevania.  The player gets a choice of three weapons, though the way they operate is slightly odd - some get more damage from simple swings but cause the player's magic attack to consume more or less of the gauge in return.  A bit odd for sure, but it's a relatively fun game to play through, and the imagination employed in its visual design alone certainly makes it worth a look for fans of obscure gems.

97. Swords & Serpents (Interplay, 1990)

A lot of early PC dungeon crawlers got NES ports, though their execution was often not the greatest; whether due to prominent bugs (Might and Magic, Wizardry), a substantially downgraded presentation (Bard's Tale) or just dragging pacing in general.  Swords & Serpents is one not based on an existing computer game, but rather an entirely original offering, and they did a good job taking advantage of the NES's capabilities rather than working against them.  The unsettling atmospheric music and grotesque monster graphics definitely aided with that, as did an uncomplicated UI and even an onscreen minimap to aid in navigation.  Also unique among dungeon crawlers on the platform, this one is multiplayer, supporting up to four players via the NES Satellite or Four Score.  It is a bit of a pain to save your game and come back later (there are FIVE passwords to keep track of - one tracking your progress through the dungeon and one for each of your four characters), but Swords and Serpents is nonetheless a fun time for RPG dorks.

96. Solomon's Key (Tecmo, 1987)

A surprisingly faithful port of the arcade title of the same name, Solomon's Key is one of the better-remembered early NES games for good reason.  Basically a mashup of action, platforming and puzzle game, your goal was simple enough at a glance - get the key and get to the door before time ran out.  Of course, like any good puzzle game, it quickly proved to have a lot of hidden challenges and secrets to uncover.  Figuring out how to evade enemies, searching the boards for hidden items, and using your limited supply of fireballs to strategically defeat enemies and advance all became key strategic elements.  The game also featured three different endings depending on how many hidden goals you completed - if you wanted the best one, you had to free the fairy princess and collect both missing pages of Solomon's Key on your way to the final stage.

95. Felix the Cat (Hudson Soft, 1992)

A game loosely based on the iconic cartoon character and likely made to cash in on the film released a few years prior (though the game has no connection to the movie's plot).  Felix stood out for its high-quality presentation, with some fluid animation and amazing music for the NES, and for being a fun platformer with some creative design.  Collecting Felix icons allows Felix to transform his magic bag into new armaments, changing up his attacks - you start with a basic punching glove, upgrade to a magic wand that spreads stars in all directions, upgrade again to a car with a long-ranged horn, and finally to a tank on land, with sky and underwater stages having their own sequence of transformations.  While not a very difficult game overall - it's very generous with powerups and extra lives - it's a great, very charming platformer with a lot of charm, and it's a shame it never really got that much attention owing to its late release.

94. Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (Tecmo, 1991 in Japan)

If you watched a lot of cartoons in the '90s, you might remember Samurai Pizza Cats - a dub/recut of the Japanese anime "Kyatto Ninden Teyandee" that ramped up the silly humor to the nth degree.  I also got into emulation around that time, which led me to learn that there was a game tie-in to the show, so it quickly became one of the very first Famicom games I emulated.  It does a good job recreating the feel of the show, with animated cutscenes between stages and before boss fights, several recognizable characters as bosses and recreating most of the protagonists' iconic special moves.  Even the Rescue Squad appears, allowing you to traverse various obstacles the main cast can't - punching through blocks, tunneling through dirt, swimming through the water at great speed or even flying for short distances.  While not an amazing game on its own, the fact that it captures the feel of the show so well and has such nostalgic factor will always earn it some points in my book.

93. Wario's Woods (Nintendo, 1994)

The NES's only appearance of Mario's evil doppelganger, it also holds the distinction of being the only NES game rated by the ESRB, as well as the very last licensed NES game released in North America - in December of 1994, no less.  It was also a fairly unique take on puzzle games, having you control a character on the play field (Toad!) who would have to climb around, move monsters and bombs around (either picking them up and dropping, or just punting them into place) and try to clear the board as quickly as possible.  Boss fights get added in too, with enemies who like to disrupt your setups and quickly fill up the screen, requiring you to stay sharp and sneak in hits whenever possible. It's not the most talked about puzzle game on the NES, but it's a unique and fun one once you've gotten used to it. 

92. Ai Senshi Nicol (Konami, 1987 in Japan) (FDS)

Ai Senshi Nicol ("Love Warrior Nicol") is a surprising one - a high quality Konami game that never got a cartridge release, let alone a localization.  Moreso because it's built on the model of games like Zelda and Metroid with its large open stages.  Each one is many screens tall and wide, and has you collect powerups to bypass certain obstacles, blast enemies and finish each stage with a big boss fight.  All with surprisingly good graphics for the time period - it came out in 1987 and yet looks and sounds almost as good as NES games from the 90s.  The latter also uses the extra sound channel on the Disk System to provide some nice music that the base hardware simply wasn't capable of.  A very cool and overlooked game that's well worth your time if you can track down a copy and the hardware to play it on.

91. Kickle Cubicle (Irem, 1990)

A relatively unique and well-crafted puzzle game by Irem, where you play as a snowman-esque character named Kickle who can create ice pillars and freeze enemies with his breath to turn them into cubes.  Said cubes can then be pushed into the water to create floors, or pushed into other enemies to eliminate them, or ricocheted off of springs or hammers to redirect their motion (though they can easily clobber you as well, so you must be careful).  Your goal in each stage is to collect the three "dream bags", though as in any good puzzle game, this quickly becomes a daunting task - avoiding enemies, being careful not to trap yourself and setting up pillars in the right time and place to avoid hazards are all skills you will have to master (especially in the bonus stages, unlocked after completing the main game).  There are boss fights too, which require some quick movement and reaction speed to overcome.

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