100. Gradius (Konami, 1986)
The first game in the long-running Gradius franchise, it was a hit in the arcades and arguably even moreso on the Famicom and NES, as it was a shockingly high-quality port that retained the look, sound and feel of the arcade. It also featured an innovative powerup system that let you power up your arsenal on your own terms, letting you store powerup icons and spend them once you had enough to unlock new weapons, boost your ship's maximum speed or even summon invincible "options" that fired whenever your main ship did, effectively multiplying your firepower (though one hit to your main ship will still take you out). It's also famously the first game to feature the Konami Code, which would fully upgrade the player's ship when input while the game was paused.
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 fuel 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 fuel 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 relatively fun game to play through regardless though, and the imagination employed in its visual design alone certainly makes it worth a look for fans of obscure gems.
The Japanese version might just have my favorite Engrishy title of all time, too: "The Lord of King."
97. Micro Machines (Codemasters, 1991)
Codemasters was definitely one of the most prominent unlicensed NES developers, with their distinctive gold and silver cartridges with the switches on the back, games frequently being sold on TV shopping networks and Nintendo trying (and repeatedly failing) to sue them into oblivion. Micro Machines was probably their most popular NES game; based on the toy line known for the fast-talking commercials with the Micro Machine Man (played by the always awesome John Moschitta Jr.), it was a top-down racer with a pretty clever gimmick. Basically, you drive tiny vehicles through tracks constructed in everyday places like a garage, a garden, a bathtub, a kitchen table or even a pool hall. You got quite a variety of them too, from Warrior cars with spiked fronts that could crush your opponent to boats to sports cars to helicopters to tanks (with fireable turrets, no less). A highly-regarded NES racer that spawned several sequels, with the Sega Genesis versions even having controller ports built right into the cartridge to eliminate the need for a four-player adapter. Fun stuff!
96. 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 well-made platformer with a lot of charm, and it's a shame it never really got that much attention owing to its late release.
95. 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 the protagonists' special finishing 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.
94. 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.
93. 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.
92. 1943: the Battle of Midway (Capcom, 1988)
1942 was Capcom's second game and was very popular in the arcades, so it had no shortage of home ports and inspired a number of sequels. While the NES port of '42 was very mediocre (thanks Micronics), Capcom themselves took the helm this time and released a very solid port of 1943. One with a few new twists added to the gameplay - namely that your plane now has five stats for offensive power, defensive power, maximum energy and the variety and amount of time you get for special weapons. You start with three points to spend and earn more by finding secrets as the game progresses. Energy management is also a major factor in the gameplay; it steadily decreases as you fly, getting hit eats a chunk of your reserve and your special dodge/screen-clearing lightning attack takes a sizable portion; once it hits 0 your movement and shots become slower and one more hit will take you down. It's also a fairly long game at 25 stages, though there is a password system to save your progress. 1943 may not be as elaborate as some other shmups on the platform, but it's a solid and well-made one that's worth playing.
91. Crackout (Konami, 1986 in Japan, 1991 in Europe/Australia)
A Breakout clone by Konami that was originally released for the Famicom Disk System, getting a cartridge release in Europe and Australia (with one also planned for North America, but ultimately canceled). It's a well-made one though, with colorful graphics, smooth animations and some clever powerups like a parachute to slow down your ball, the ability to send out projectiles from your ball to destroy bricks, and even launching a missile from your paddle to drop on blocks. Every few stages you'd also get a boss fight against odd creatures like a centipede or a dragon. There are the typical annoying late-game rooms where you have to make some really difficult trick shots to clear the stage, but all in all, a surprisingly good Arkanoid clone with that typical high bar for quality from Konami.
