Fun fact: in The Guardian Legend, you can use the password "TGL" to play an alternate mode that cuts out the exploration, and only uses the SHMUP sections.
Funner fact: if you input a password of all capital-Js ('J'x32) it works, but you're softlocked in a portion of the map without the proper key to progress. I managed to find it by rage-mashing buttons after one of my passwords failed, because, y'know, terrible password system.
@@jrm78 I knew about the JJJJ password (and its weird effects including the softlock), but here's yet another fun fact: did you know that any password space that uses a capital A can simply be replaced with a blank space and vice versa because they share the same spot in memory? So technically I can use the TGL password, make it TGLA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA, and it will still work.
@@doutchebags I remember hearing about that before, but I forget where. Perhaps in Bisqwit's cracking videogame passwords episode on The Guardian Legend?
@@jrm78 pass word systems arn't so terrible... it was a way to avoid using a battery to save data. back then for a cart to hold data the chips that data was stored on needed constant power (albeit a tiny tiny bit). this is why battery based games can stop holding save data .. the battery died and there's no power goiing to the chip that stores data. in typiiical cost cutting fashion these batteries were soldered on the carts circut board ,. makein them a real job to replace in the future . many colectors just de-soldier the batterya nd swamp in a terminal that allows easy battery changes . that said i got about 6-7 NES games that ened a new battery and about 5 SNES games that do. no way to save data at all on them.. so yeah i don't mind a game with a password system.
I love Crystalis so much, I remember when I was a kid me and my dad would play NES games together, I remember going to toys r us and buying "Rocket Man" It sucked really bad so we took it back and bought Crystalis instead and we were hooked. It started my obsession with swords, lol.
Crystalis takes the best from Zelda and Y's and does it's own thing. It is one of the best action RPG's on the system which is odd because you wouldn't expect that from SNK.
I can still remember playing the original zelda and spending untold hours exploring the overworld....finding out secrets from friends at school...and finally beating it. For some reason it came together perfectly in this game.
There's *SO* many games that ...for some reason... Nintendo decided it was *OF THE UTMOST OF IMPORTANCE* that we *MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE* players would be aware that animals had buttholes. The Dragon Quest series seems absolutely wild about this, with Cat Buttholes and a bunch of other bizarre Butthole verification. Also, I would nominate the Dragon Quest series (as a whole) being "Zelda-like" with the main differences being not having lice adventure style combat in favor of Turn Based Combat, and the character inventory isn't including a map, though maps of the world (and some dungeons) are available as items, in some games. If you didn't catch it, I really enjoy your videos. They, and you by association, are AWESOME!!!
Oh! Guardian Legend kind of reminds me of Sigma Star Saga on the GBA! It's a top-down action adventure, but you're periodically zapped up to a ship(a random ship type) to do shooter segments.
@@BigOleWords It's alright. There is a chance you'll be randomly taken into a shooter stage with the largest ship and the narrowest corridors . . . the combo of ship and stage is somewhat random for those parts. But if you can deal with that - and from your videos, you seem to have a lot more patience with that kind of stuff than I do - the rest of the game is pretty fun and interesting.
I had Scheherezade as a kid, it was one of my favs. I mostly remember the turn-based combat, which means I was too dumb to know to skip it. I did beat it and there's a pretty great twist at the end.
The only complaint I had with MOS was at the end if you didn't pick the magician class you couldn't beat the game. I personally always compared it to another of my favorite News games, Little ninja brothers....... That game was awesome
I agree, Crystalis is absolutely amazing. Guardian Legend is a game I borrowed from a friend. I really liked it a lot. However, I did own Spiritual Warfare. I played the crap out of that game! At the time I did not know it was a clone game. But it was an amazing adventure to play. I recently even found out that Steam sells it in a collection for $10. Please keep these videos coming.
@@lukesmith9692 It was for sale at all my local Christian Bookstores. I bought it based fully off of the "Awesome looking" cover art. Some of the local Christian Bookstores would actually let you rent the Wisdom Tree games.
@@shortstoryslam9434 I bought robodemons recently because the box art was awesome. I find it interesting where people would find unlicensed and bootleg games back then
I played a few of the games you mentioned but may have to try Crystalis. I loved Willow though I never got super far (def a hard game like you mentioned lol). GL was an awesome game too but no game seems to match the vibe or feel of LoZ... there's just something about Zelda that gives me that instant nostalgia and desire to go back in, play it and beat the game again. I've done so a few times over my lifetime but it just keeps me returning. There's a game for Turbografx-16 called Neutopia that plays very similarly to Zelda... I enjoyed that one too. Great video! Gained a sub and like!
One game I always found very similar to Zelda but never gets mentioned in lists like this is Metal Gear. I think it probably would get a 7/8 at least. Maybe not an open world, but certainly items to help progress, real time combat, status screen, bosses, puzzles, etc. Essentially, Zelda with guns.
I like your analysis and can agree with you, he could've easily added Metal Gear to this list based on what you said. Hard game but enjoyed that one also! Hated the pitfalls Lol!
Willow is still one of my favorite NES games. When I was a kid a buddy of mine got it for xmas and was disappointed that it wasn't like the arcade, he never even played it and gave it to me and I played it to completion. Great game!
I just found your channel. Now I love your videos and have to watch them all. The NES/Famicom is probably my most played console right now. Great work!
I just REALLY found this channel today...I LOVE IT. Thank you for doing what you do. Much appreciated. I absolutely do not watch normal Television at all so channels like this are my main source of entertainment.
@@BigOleWords I loved video games as a kid in the 80's and still love to play all the games on emulators that I didnt get to experience as a kid, Theres something very fulfilling about playing a game now that as a kid you always wanted but either couldnt find or afford at the time. You do a GREAT job as a content provider in the retro gaming community, in my opinion one of the top 5 of the BETTER ones. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
Other suggestions... - Love Warrior Nicol - Grand Master - Nazo no Murasame Jou (~Riddle of Murasame Castle) - Dragon Buster II - Yami no Fuuin - Jajamaru Gekimaden - Maboroshi no Kinmajou
@@BigOleWords Yes, Murasame Castle was even released originally for the FDS and it's kind of a sister game to LoZ. They are all easily playable without knowing Japanese and I thought either you or the people watching this video might be interested in them.
1:53 - It’s amazing what one little pixel can do, isn’t it? 😝 I was a huge fan of the _Willow_ movie (and I feel that it still holds up well today), but never saw that they had a game out like this. Those graphics even look pretty good, which is rare of movie games I find.
Golden Axe Warrior on the Sega Master System is an excellent Zelda clone that is more like Zelda then most of the games you have talked about in these videos. I understand your channel is all about the NES but the game is worth a look for any NES fan as the Master System was the closest competitor to the NES and had many similar games. Zelda is my favorite console game of the 8 bit generation and one of the few console games that could draw me away from my favorite PC RPG and Adventure titles of that era. There really is nothing else that truly captures the gameplay and atmosphere of the original. I first played it at a friends house in 1987 and instantly fell under it's spell. The music was so captivating and I was having dreams of the gameplay. I had to beg my mom repeatedly to buy an NES so I could play it and this was right after she had just dropped $1500.00 on my new Tandy 1000 computer setup. It took until my birthday in June of 1988 when I finally opened up that package. My new NES with Mario / Duck Hunt cart included. But there was a second smaller present. Inside was that shiny gold cartridge I had been longing for. Great memories.
I think Crystalis definitely is as good as the original Legend of Zelda and it murders the second game but I digress...what do you think about Master Blaster and would you consider it a Zelda clone as well? I ask because it is one of my all time favorite Nes games.
So many amazing games (and a few shit boxes) that are zelda-esque. Magic of Scheherazade, Star Tropics and Zoda’s Revenge are classics. I still need to track down Willow and play it. Heard lots of good things about it. Another great video. Loving this series dude. 🤙🏻
I'd say that Crystalis and Guardian Legend are arguably better games than Zelda even though I totally love Zelda 1. In 4th place, I'd say Willow. It's a really challenging yet not unfair game. Looking back, I'd it's got similarities with Dark Souls.
I’m so listening to remixes of Guardian Legend and Scheherazade music after I binge your vids a while. I got nostalgic. I loved the rpg battles in Scheherazade, once you had all of the characters there was a lot of strategy involved I always wanted to play that game more like that, I think it’s even why I played it, because Nintendo Power told about the chapter warp and I could just warp ahead and play the rpg battles.
We never actually owned The Legend of Zelda, but we owned Spirtual Warfare and Crystalis. I played Crystalis so much and it was one of the few games I could beat out of the ones we had.
I'll mention one that's closer to the Zelda 2/CV2/ Faxanadu formula. Whomp Em. Its a side scrolling platform adventure where you can max out your health, have a downward stab, and can pick the order that you do the stages. Its fairly fun.
Great series. I knew Crystalis would be the last one talked about! It’s without a doubt one of the best adventure games on the NES. Second only to Zelda! I agree with Willow and Magic of Shaherazade being acceptable alternatives. Really enjoyed playing through those the first time! Can’t wait to see what you bring us next!👊
@@BigOleWords you’ve inspired me to break out a Zelda clone for the Turbografx 16. To say that Neutopia has similarities would be the greatest understatement of all time. I’ll try to have the video next week!
"Fun" fact about Star Tropis, It has a copy-protection moment requring you to dip a physical letter Into water to get a code. Beter hope someone wrote the code on the cartridge.
Ah the era of required feelies. Forcibly doing some reading instead of a tutorial. And these days people complain about needing to watch the TV series to get that reference they made in the movie which will lead into a miniseries.
Your list would be probably four times as long if you were also investigating clones for other platforms. For example, God of Thunder for DOS PCs as I mentioned in the comments to the last part, Landstalker and on the Megadrive/Genesis, and Beyond Oasis for the same (coincidentally The Story of Thor everywhere that called it a Megadrive). The Gameboy was full of Zelda clones, like the licensed Quest for Camelot game, The GBC version of Crystalis. I'm sure there are plenty more. I think I'd like to see a video series on clones for other platforms. Like, what substitute did people on different platforms have while they wished they were playing Zelda, or Sonic, or Doom. Or maybe they didn't know it was a clone to begin with? For example, I played Jazz Jackrabbit without realising it was a Sonic clone until I was in my teens. Sonic but with a gun. As a DOS gamer in the 90s, the big hits on console just didn't penetrate into my world. My world of gaming was entirely fed to me by issues of PC Gamer. Sure, huge names like Street Fighter that were being ported to everything under the sun were there (I had some shady bootleg version of Street Fighter 2, that for some reason had Terry from Final Fight in it as Dan, no alternate colour costumes, and mirror matches just made player 2 completely green), but with the exception of big standouts like Doom and Descent, the PC was the poorer cousin of every platform but the Mac when it came to gaming in the 90s. Basically everything we had was a slower, uglier, lower quality port of a console hit, or a shameless clone, or sim and strategy games that would never have worked on consoles. While my friends were playing Super Mario World, I had Crystal Caves, Duke Nukem, and Commander Keen (Keen having started life as a demo to Nintendo by id Software for how Mario could work on PC).
This could be a thirty part series if we expanded it to other platforms ;). Definitely the first ones I think of are Neutopia, Golden Axe Warrior, and Crusader of Centy :)
This was really cool to watch, specifically because I JUST played Legend of Zelda for the first time this year. I need to finish it though. That friggin’ bibly game is hilarious. The praying your way to heaven thing made me laugh. Another great video! Thanks again for your Big Ole Words 😉
I love Spiritual Warfare. If the music wasn't so awful (although the old-timey hymns are a little hilarious), it'd be better, but it's pretty great still, especially when you get the sword of the spirit, which is like the sword beam from Zelda, but that explodes at the end like a bomb.
@@BigOleWords I beat that game several times. It has one really, really obnoxious feature. The final dungeon is actually the last two dungeons combined. You get your last piece of armor after beating the boss like in every other dungeon, and you'd think it's time to go find the last dungeon and beat the game, but no, you have to go deeper into the same dungeon and find the last boss there as well. I wandered for ages as a kid looking for another dungeon that didn't exist. Still, what other game is gonna let you perform an exorcism by whipping a banana at your neighbor's head?
I really love the Startropics 1st game. I'm still trying to find a copy of Zoda's Revenge to play and beat. I wish instead of including them for review as for clones many more games could just get their own review for themselves. I feel Startropics 1 doesn't get enough love and this video will turn people off, especially for mid and late game and all its hidden traps. like dungeon 1. you find a secret room for a potion, you find another pad that unveils another secret room similar for a free potion. then you find another secret button in the same room, opens a wall. you get greedy and it pushes you into a death room full of bones and insta death. the player got too greedy. Startropics downfall is late game Rob the robot (Yes ROB is an omage to NES ROB as an easter egg) but he asks you for a code. you were supposed to add water to the instruction booklet on a page to reveal a code and when I was younger my cousin had the booklet and called me over the phone with the code, we both didn't have internet then and it just built so many memories for me to finally beat. Especially late game where the whole game changes from dungeons to.... well, check it out. In my book it was a sudden twist for the story. Startropics is a 10 out of 10 game for story and ending. Please try to play it thoroughly even with guides and secrets and hidden areas, I'm sure I still haven't found them all. I'm 30 years old and remember playing this for months on my CRT when my brothers had the N64 and I hogged the NES for myself. I skipped your Zodas revenge section as I plan to buy a copy and either play it on my NES or emulate it for save states after I own it. But I wont emulate until I get a copy. Please give these titles justice. they are unique. Fun fact: the youtuber Shesez: boundry break, used Startropic sprites as his avatar for a very long time, I commented about asking if thats where he got it but he didnt comment. But it was Startropics. I only knew because I knew Startropics very well, that game was like no other story wise for me as a kid. Pig butt.
Sigma Star Saga (GBA), with a rerelease on the Switch/PC and Limited Run in 2024, is like TGL: there's alternating action RPG sequence and procedurally generated horizontal shooting stages (which can sometimes generate a dead end stage that forcibly takes a chunk of your health to bypass... Or reload back to an earlier save)
Crystalis is my favorite NES game. I bought it new with money I'd saved from odd jobs for weeks as kid. Got it from Toys R Us in the Fall of 1990. As great as The Legend of Zelda is, I objectively believe Crystalis is a better game. It's an example of a someone taking a recipe, adding their own twist to it, and somehow managing to make a better dish.
@@BigOleWords I Never Imagined So Many Incredible Games For Nintendo, Thank You So Much For Opening My Eyes To Such A Great World! I Have Already Passed 5 Games In A Row Of Those That You Have Mentioned In Other Videos! Thank You So Much ! 🤩💪🔥
Greetings from Costa Rica, I really liked your videos. I also have a Nintendo collection, but not like yours. Keep going, your content is excellent. If you can make a video of games, you will never be able to go through how difficult they are. greetings friends and pure life
heya i noticed that Guardian Legend uses the same music as Golvellius for Sega Master System, which is also a Zelda clone. Also, that little blue cute sphere character is in Golvellius as well. Golvellius also has the regular top down levels as the main over world and top down shooter style levels that auto scroll
The only ones here I've got/played are the StarTropics games. I never really played the second one, though. The first one gets f'in weird near the end.
Bro, I've been enjoying your channel since finding it recently but man, please, PLEASE never do that thing again where you focus on a pixellated animal ass and scream hella extreme forced laughter and shouts of positivity like you're getting saved at a Baptist church or something, like it's literally the best thing you've ever seen in your life and you live for animal genitalia, it kinda cramps the vibes lmfao Aside from that, Startropics 1 and 2 and Guardian Legend are pretty much my all-time favorite NES games that don't start with the words 'mega man' so it's always great to see more people covering them in any capacity.
I don’t know man if you don’t love me at my screaming at pig buttholes you don’t deserve me at my calmly discussing Australian exclusive sports titles :)
The best game on that list is The Guardian Legend. Zelda is a very close 2nd. Both have some of the best OSTs on the NES. TGL is more of a hybrid game with some Zelda-like gameplay. Really its only similarity is that its top down and open world. And where as Zelda has dungeons, TGL has flight corridors.
If you want to go off-system for some Zelda clones, Ys 1&2 (on Master System and TG-16/PC-Engine, as well as a modern PC port) draws inspiration from Zelda (actually plays more like Hydlide, but doesn't suck) and Neutopia and Neutopia 2 for TG-16/PCE are pretty much straight Zelda clones. Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys for TG-16/PCE, SNES, and Genesis/Mega Drive (aka The Oath in Felghana on PC) deserves a shout-out for taking heavy inspiration from Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link when you get to doing that video.
I remember playing Spiritual Warrior. I walked into a bar to try to convert the lost souls there and was met by an angel telling me that I had no business in bars. As a punishment, the breastplate of righteousness (or maybe the belt of truth, I don't really remember). Was taken from me. I got frustrated at that point since I felt like I was being punished for trying to do good. I quite the game soon after. (I still have the cartridge though). I love converting lost souls by throwing the fruits of the spirit at them. Lol.
Back in the day, Star Tropics was a AAA title. I remember my friends being super hyped when it came out and it was fantastic! Also, Guardian Legend reminds me of an 8-bit Nier: Automata
Crystalis is great. I love that you get a teleport spell. Too bad some of the control options are clunky. I dont like that you hafta level up to a certain level before you can even damage the area boss.
I love seeing Spiritual Warrior get some recognition. I got a copy of it as a kid from the fundamentalist parents of one of my friends and played it to death. I didn't get into the philosophy of the game at all, I just love me a good Zelda clone. To this day, every time I buy a pomegranate at the grocery store I want to go throw it at a sinner
Shouldn't the title of this say "Pt. 2", not "Pt. 1"? Great video, by the way! I like these dives into NES games. I consider myself a NES buff but there are a few games that slipped past me back in the day, like The Guardian Legend and The Magic Of Scheherazade. I should remedy that someday.
Guardian Legend is really cool, but i suck at shoot em ups, and i didn't really understand what to do during the exploration parts. 😅 I'd say its probably a bit closer to Blaster Master.
I was waiting for you to mention spiritual warfare. Wisdom tree put out alot of shit but I agree this game was really fun I used to play it alot as kid. I'm definitely down to hear take on it in a deeper dive. Always look forward to your uploads thanx man! And by the by the butt holes in star tropics always had me and my friends laughing at sleep overs lol!
@Big Ole Words only game I played all the way through on my old iphone 4 with controller. Of course only nes game ive played all the way through on my retropi was chip and dale rescue rangers, so who knows what that means.
Part 2 definitely was the meatier portion of the topic but I can see how you wanted to cover the more superficial title comparisons to Zelda first mainly to avoid inevitable comments about them later. Yeah it's a funny thing in the past where the perception was that a Zelda clone was a bad thing to make, but why would it be bad to have more of a good thing?🤨 Always interesting to hear title names spoken differently, I tend to say Crystàlis like Cri-stahl-is, not saying your way is wrong but it is easy to make it sound like chrysalis(butterflies) instead.🙂
the pig butt was the funniest thing in the world as a kid
I’m jealous you got to experience that back in the day!
Fun fact: in The Guardian Legend, you can use the password "TGL" to play an alternate mode that cuts out the exploration, and only uses the SHMUP sections.
That’s cool!
Funner fact: if you input a password of all capital-Js ('J'x32) it works, but you're softlocked in a portion of the map without the proper key to progress. I managed to find it by rage-mashing buttons after one of my passwords failed, because, y'know, terrible password system.
@@jrm78 I knew about the JJJJ password (and its weird effects including the softlock), but here's yet another fun fact: did you know that any password space that uses a capital A can simply be replaced with a blank space and vice versa because they share the same spot in memory? So technically I can use the TGL password, make it TGLA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA, and it will still work.
@@doutchebags I remember hearing about that before, but I forget where. Perhaps in Bisqwit's cracking videogame passwords episode on The Guardian Legend?
@@jrm78 pass word systems arn't so terrible... it was a way to avoid using a battery to save data. back then for a cart to hold data the chips that data was stored on needed constant power (albeit a tiny tiny bit). this is why battery based games can stop holding save data .. the battery died and there's no power goiing to the chip that stores data.
in typiiical cost cutting fashion these batteries were soldered on the carts circut board ,. makein them a real job to replace in the future . many colectors just de-soldier the batterya nd swamp in a terminal that allows easy battery changes .
that said i got about 6-7 NES games that ened a new battery and about 5 SNES games that do. no way to save data at all on them.. so yeah i don't mind a game with a password system.
I love Crystalis so much, I remember when I was a kid me and my dad would play NES games together, I remember going to toys r us and buying "Rocket Man" It sucked really bad so we took it back and bought Crystalis instead and we were hooked. It started my obsession with swords, lol.
Crystalis takes the best from Zelda and Y's and does it's own thing. It is one of the best action RPG's on the system which is odd because you wouldn't expect that from SNK.
Yeah compared to the other stuff SNK developed it’s definitely an outlier!
With the exception of Arcade ports it seems any game SNK developed for home consoles were outliers and unexpectedly good.
I can still remember playing the original zelda and spending untold hours exploring the overworld....finding out secrets from friends at school...and finally beating it. For some reason it came together perfectly in this game.
There's *SO* many games that ...for some reason... Nintendo decided it was *OF THE UTMOST OF IMPORTANCE* that we *MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE* players would be aware that animals had buttholes. The Dragon Quest series seems absolutely wild about this, with Cat Buttholes and a bunch of other bizarre Butthole verification. Also, I would nominate the Dragon Quest series (as a whole) being "Zelda-like" with the main differences being not having lice adventure style combat in favor of Turn Based Combat, and the character inventory isn't including a map, though maps of the world (and some dungeons) are available as items, in some games.
If you didn't catch it, I really enjoy your videos. They, and you by association, are AWESOME!!!
MORE buttholes?! Yes!
Honorable mention, Golden Axe Warrior for the sega master system... different system yes but otherwise its as close as they come
Yeah for sure :)
Oh! Guardian Legend kind of reminds me of Sigma Star Saga on the GBA! It's a top-down action adventure, but you're periodically zapped up to a ship(a random ship type) to do shooter segments.
Whoa that game looks rad!
@@BigOleWords It's alright. There is a chance you'll be randomly taken into a shooter stage with the largest ship and the narrowest corridors . . . the combo of ship and stage is somewhat random for those parts. But if you can deal with that - and from your videos, you seem to have a lot more patience with that kind of stuff than I do - the rest of the game is pretty fun and interesting.
I had Scheherezade as a kid, it was one of my favs. I mostly remember the turn-based combat, which means I was too dumb to know to skip it.
I did beat it and there's a pretty great twist at the end.
Neat! I’ve only made it maybe a 1/4 of the way but it’s pretty fun.
This is my favorite game on this list. I never thought of it as Zelda like at the time but, it does meet the criteria for this video.
The only complaint I had with MOS was at the end if you didn't pick the magician class you couldn't beat the game.
I personally always compared it to another of my favorite News games, Little ninja brothers....... That game was awesome
Really?! I never made it that far, but that sucks!
Wait really? That's dumb.
I’m so glad I found your channel! Great stuff man, been binge watching.
Awesome, glad you dig it :)
I agree, Crystalis is absolutely amazing.
Guardian Legend is a game I borrowed from a friend. I really liked it a lot.
However, I did own Spiritual Warfare. I played the crap out of that game! At the time I did not know it was a clone game. But it was an amazing adventure to play. I recently even found out that Steam sells it in a collection for $10.
Please keep these videos coming.
It was a unlicensed game. Where did you find that back then ?
That’s awesome you owned Spiritual Warfare back in the day!
@@lukesmith9692 It was for sale at all my local Christian Bookstores. I bought it based fully off of the "Awesome looking" cover art.
Some of the local Christian Bookstores would actually let you rent the Wisdom Tree games.
@@shortstoryslam9434 I bought robodemons recently because the box art was awesome. I find it interesting where people would find unlicensed and bootleg games back then
@@lukesmith9692 very, very true. You might have gotten lucky at a pawnshop, or a flea market. I got some great games at flea markets.
I played a few of the games you mentioned but may have to try Crystalis. I loved Willow though I never got super far (def a hard game like you mentioned lol). GL was an awesome game too but no game seems to match the vibe or feel of LoZ... there's just something about Zelda that gives me that instant nostalgia and desire to go back in, play it and beat the game again. I've done so a few times over my lifetime but it just keeps me returning. There's a game for Turbografx-16 called Neutopia that plays very similarly to Zelda... I enjoyed that one too. Great video! Gained a sub and like!
Crystalis raging sea music in the background at the start is my favorite nes song of ALL time
That’s a good one!
One game I always found very similar to Zelda but never gets mentioned in lists like this is Metal Gear. I think it probably would get a 7/8 at least. Maybe not an open world, but certainly items to help progress, real time combat, status screen, bosses, puzzles, etc. Essentially, Zelda with guns.
I like your analysis and can agree with you, he could've easily added Metal Gear to this list based on what you said. Hard game but enjoyed that one also! Hated the pitfalls Lol!
Bahaha dude, I died when you started laughing at the pig's smelly corn hole! Love the content, Bro!
Haha thanks bud :)
Willow is still one of my favorite NES games. When I was a kid a buddy of mine got it for xmas and was disappointed that it wasn't like the arcade, he never even played it and gave it to me and I played it to completion. Great game!
That’s a good friend right there!
the arcade game is awesome, i can see why he was upset. the nes game rocks too though
I rented is so many weekends as a kid, it took me a while to beat the boar boss as a kid. Awesome game
That was nice of your friend.
Great series. Makes me want to check out Crysalis.
It’s a rad one!
Crystalis is my #1 pick for NES of all time.
It’s up there for sure!
I just found your channel. Now I love your videos and have to watch them all. The NES/Famicom is probably my most played console right now. Great work!
Hey awesome! Welcome :)
I played a heck of a lot of Crystalis...
Awesome video! I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Even if they take a little longer, I'm sure they'll be worth the wait!
Nice list. I must try few of them.
Lookout! Lol.
Love me some startropics. It's the first game I ever beat. I felt like badass
Nice!
Nicely done! A couple I haven’t checked out before. Looking forward to more like this!
🤣🤣🤣 dude, I just found your channel today and I have to say, I love your intro! Lol 🤣🤣 awesome! Lol.
Hey thanks so much!
I just REALLY found this channel today...I LOVE IT. Thank you for doing what you do. Much appreciated. I absolutely do not watch normal Television at all so channels like this are my main source of entertainment.
Hey thanks so much!
@@BigOleWords I loved video games as a kid in the 80's and still love to play all the games on emulators that I didnt get to experience as a kid, Theres something very fulfilling about playing a game now that as a kid you always wanted but either couldnt find or afford at the time. You do a GREAT job as a content provider in the retro gaming community, in my opinion one of the top 5 of the BETTER ones. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
@@davidwalden309 Very kind of you to say, hopefully I don't disappoint!
@@BigOleWords I think you'll be just fine Sir.
Other suggestions...
- Love Warrior Nicol
- Grand Master
- Nazo no Murasame Jou (~Riddle of Murasame Castle)
- Dragon Buster II - Yami no Fuuin
- Jajamaru Gekimaden - Maboroshi no Kinmajou
Hey thanks! I’m assuming those are Famicom titles? My knowledge isn’t too deep there.
@@BigOleWords Yes, Murasame Castle was even released originally for the FDS and it's kind of a sister game to LoZ. They are all easily playable without knowing Japanese and I thought either you or the people watching this video might be interested in them.
@@mrgustav Awesome, great to know :)
muramasa is basically the sister game to zelda
@@mrgustav oh shit i just read your second comment after comenting the same thing. oh well
1:53 - It’s amazing what one little pixel can do, isn’t it? 😝
I was a huge fan of the _Willow_ movie (and I feel that it still holds up well today), but never saw that they had a game out like this. Those graphics even look pretty good, which is rare of movie games I find.
It’s way better than I ever expected it to be!
@@BigOleWords also i've seldomly seen a NES game with so much animation within the background tiles like in this one.
The story of willow on NES is also a bit different than the movie as well.
I remember laughing as a kid, at the butts in RCR when I had enough 💵 for the sauna.
Star Tropics is as good as any game mentioned, including LOZ.
Yes it is!
Golden Axe Warrior on the Sega Master System is an excellent Zelda clone that is more like Zelda then most of the games you have talked about in these videos. I understand your channel is all about the NES but the game is worth a look for any NES fan as the Master System was the closest competitor to the NES and had many similar games. Zelda is my favorite console game of the 8 bit generation and one of the few console games that could draw me away from my favorite PC RPG and Adventure titles of that era. There really is nothing else that truly captures the gameplay and atmosphere of the original. I first played it at a friends house in 1987 and instantly fell under it's spell. The music was so captivating and I was having dreams of the gameplay. I had to beg my mom repeatedly to buy an NES so I could play it and this was right after she had just dropped $1500.00 on my new Tandy 1000 computer setup. It took until my birthday in June of 1988 when I finally opened up that package. My new NES with Mario / Duck Hunt cart included. But there was a second smaller present. Inside was that shiny gold cartridge I had been longing for. Great memories.
Yeah I don’t crossover too much but it would be fun to talk about GAW or Govellius.
Theres beyond oasis on sega genesis too, which has unique beat em up elements.
Another great video! Some games I need to check out for sure.
Hey thanks! There’s some good ones in there :)
I think Crystalis definitely is as good as the original Legend of Zelda and it murders the second game but I digress...what do you think about Master Blaster and would you consider it a Zelda clone as well? I ask because it is one of my all time favorite Nes games.
Blaster Master is a tough one as it’s kinda half Zelda / half Metroid. I’ll probably talk about it in the Metroid video.
@@BigOleWords
Now that, will be sweet. Blaster Master is a truly hard game that loves to kick you right square in the....never mind.
So many amazing games (and a few shit boxes) that are zelda-esque. Magic of Scheherazade, Star Tropics and Zoda’s Revenge are classics. I still need to track down Willow and play it. Heard lots of good things about it. Another great video. Loving this series dude. 🤙🏻
Hey thanks! Willow’s great, not my favorite of the clones, but really good nonetheless.
I think I'm the only person who has fond memories of Fester's Quest.
Probably because he reminds you of your boy Sandusky.
@@BigOleWords doy
Guardian Legend literally namedropped Legend of Zelda in its commercial. They deliberately wanted people to know its like Zelda.
Huh did not know that, but it makes sense that they’d try to appeal to Zelda fans!
There's another good thing about Crystalis: You can play it now. It's on the SNK 40th Anniversary collection. It's on Steam, Switch, XBone and PS4.
That's awesome.
Im a new fan and im glad to be here. Avgn suggestions led me here and im thankful
Thankful you’re here too!
I'd say that Crystalis and Guardian Legend are arguably better games than Zelda even though I totally love Zelda 1.
In 4th place, I'd say Willow. It's a really challenging yet not unfair game. Looking back, I'd it's got similarities with Dark Souls.
I’m so listening to remixes of Guardian Legend and Scheherazade music after I binge your vids a while. I got nostalgic. I loved the rpg battles in Scheherazade, once you had all of the characters there was a lot of strategy involved I always wanted to play that game more like that, I think it’s even why I played it, because Nintendo Power told about the chapter warp and I could just warp ahead and play the rpg battles.
Interesting, I never made it too far in MOS but those RPG battles gave me fits!
We never actually owned The Legend of Zelda, but we owned Spirtual Warfare and Crystalis. I played Crystalis so much and it was one of the few games I could beat out of the ones we had.
Those are two solid substitutes!
A stellar second part 👏 I won't lie, it was Guardian Legend that piqued my interest the most. I do like a good genre mashup 😎👍
It’s a really interesting one for sure!
I'll mention one that's closer to the Zelda 2/CV2/ Faxanadu formula. Whomp Em. Its a side scrolling platform adventure where you can max out your health, have a downward stab, and can pick the order that you do the stages. Its fairly fun.
Great series. I knew Crystalis would be the last one talked about! It’s without a doubt one of the best adventure games on the NES. Second only to Zelda! I agree with Willow and Magic of Shaherazade being acceptable alternatives. Really enjoyed playing through those the first time! Can’t wait to see what you bring us next!👊
Hey thanks man! This was actually my first time really playing Magic of Scheherazade and I was really into it. Way fun!
@@BigOleWords you’ve inspired me to break out a Zelda clone for the Turbografx 16. To say that Neutopia has similarities would be the greatest understatement of all time. I’ll try to have the video next week!
@@oldschoolgamesstories Jealous! I've held back on the TG16 for years but have dreamed of playing Neutopia 1 and 2. Looking forward to it!
Did not know there was this many Zelda like games on the nes thanks
I didn't expect there to be so many games similar to Zelda. But I guess that's not too surprising. It was a revolutionary game.
Right? That’s what drew me to the idea, just the ripple effect certain games have on the development of future titles.
@@BigOleWords This a great retrospective. Can't wait to see what you have in store for the future.
"Fun" fact about Star Tropis, It has a copy-protection moment requring you to dip a physical letter Into water to get a code. Beter hope someone wrote the code on the cartridge.
I still have never seen that paper!
Ah the era of required feelies. Forcibly doing some reading instead of a tutorial.
And these days people complain about needing to watch the TV series to get that reference they made in the movie which will lead into a miniseries.
Crystalis is freaking great....u put the music on your intro. I respect that
Your list would be probably four times as long if you were also investigating clones for other platforms. For example, God of Thunder for DOS PCs as I mentioned in the comments to the last part, Landstalker and on the Megadrive/Genesis, and Beyond Oasis for the same (coincidentally The Story of Thor everywhere that called it a Megadrive). The Gameboy was full of Zelda clones, like the licensed Quest for Camelot game, The GBC version of Crystalis. I'm sure there are plenty more.
I think I'd like to see a video series on clones for other platforms. Like, what substitute did people on different platforms have while they wished they were playing Zelda, or Sonic, or Doom. Or maybe they didn't know it was a clone to begin with? For example, I played Jazz Jackrabbit without realising it was a Sonic clone until I was in my teens. Sonic but with a gun. As a DOS gamer in the 90s, the big hits on console just didn't penetrate into my world. My world of gaming was entirely fed to me by issues of PC Gamer. Sure, huge names like Street Fighter that were being ported to everything under the sun were there (I had some shady bootleg version of Street Fighter 2, that for some reason had Terry from Final Fight in it as Dan, no alternate colour costumes, and mirror matches just made player 2 completely green), but with the exception of big standouts like Doom and Descent, the PC was the poorer cousin of every platform but the Mac when it came to gaming in the 90s. Basically everything we had was a slower, uglier, lower quality port of a console hit, or a shameless clone, or sim and strategy games that would never have worked on consoles. While my friends were playing Super Mario World, I had Crystal Caves, Duke Nukem, and Commander Keen (Keen having started life as a demo to Nintendo by id Software for how Mario could work on PC).
This could be a thirty part series if we expanded it to other platforms ;). Definitely the first ones I think of are Neutopia, Golden Axe Warrior, and Crusader of Centy :)
This was really cool to watch, specifically because I JUST played Legend of Zelda for the first time this year. I need to finish it though.
That friggin’ bibly game is hilarious. The praying your way to heaven thing made me laugh.
Another great video! Thanks again for your Big Ole Words 😉
Man “bibly” is the greatest word I’ve never used until now! And thanks so much!
Man I love this channel!
Hey thanks so much!
WIllow is amazing, and the sooundtrack is awesome too
All true!
I love Spiritual Warfare. If the music wasn't so awful (although the old-timey hymns are a little hilarious), it'd be better, but it's pretty great still, especially when you get the sword of the spirit, which is like the sword beam from Zelda, but that explodes at the end like a bomb.
You’ve progressed way further than I have! Totally agree about the music.
@@BigOleWords I beat that game several times. It has one really, really obnoxious feature. The final dungeon is actually the last two dungeons combined. You get your last piece of armor after beating the boss like in every other dungeon, and you'd think it's time to go find the last dungeon and beat the game, but no, you have to go deeper into the same dungeon and find the last boss there as well. I wandered for ages as a kid looking for another dungeon that didn't exist.
Still, what other game is gonna let you perform an exorcism by whipping a banana at your neighbor's head?
@@bananonymouslastname5693 Yeah that's my only complaint. I put it down a week ago and I already have no idea where I was going.
@@BigOleWords , I personally would go with Famitracker covers of songs that were from Skillet, P.O.D., and other actually good Christian music myself.
7:52, or Oracle of Ages/Seasons.
Crystalis ftw
It’s the best!
I really love the Startropics 1st game. I'm still trying to find a copy of Zoda's Revenge to play and beat. I wish instead of including them for review as for clones many more games could just get their own review for themselves. I feel Startropics 1 doesn't get enough love and this video will turn people off, especially for mid and late game and all its hidden traps. like dungeon 1. you find a secret room for a potion, you find another pad that unveils another secret room similar for a free potion. then you find another secret button in the same room, opens a wall. you get greedy and it pushes you into a death room full of bones and insta death. the player got too greedy. Startropics downfall is late game Rob the robot (Yes ROB is an omage to NES ROB as an easter egg) but he asks you for a code. you were supposed to add water to the instruction booklet on a page to reveal a code and when I was younger my cousin had the booklet and called me over the phone with the code, we both didn't have internet then and it just built so many memories for me to finally beat. Especially late game where the whole game changes from dungeons to.... well, check it out. In my book it was a sudden twist for the story. Startropics is a 10 out of 10 game for story and ending. Please try to play it thoroughly even with guides and secrets and hidden areas, I'm sure I still haven't found them all. I'm 30 years old and remember playing this for months on my CRT when my brothers had the N64 and I hogged the NES for myself. I skipped your Zodas revenge section as I plan to buy a copy and either play it on my NES or emulate it for save states after I own it. But I wont emulate until I get a copy. Please give these titles justice. they are unique.
Fun fact: the youtuber Shesez: boundry break, used Startropic sprites as his avatar for a very long time, I commented about asking if thats where he got it but he didnt comment. But it was Startropics. I only knew because I knew Startropics very well, that game was like no other story wise for me as a kid. Pig butt.
Sigma Star Saga (GBA), with a rerelease on the Switch/PC and Limited Run in 2024, is like TGL: there's alternating action RPG sequence and procedurally generated horizontal shooting stages (which can sometimes generate a dead end stage that forcibly takes a chunk of your health to bypass... Or reload back to an earlier save)
Crystalis is my favorite NES game. I bought it new with money I'd saved from odd jobs for weeks as kid. Got it from Toys R Us in the Fall of 1990. As great as The Legend of Zelda is, I objectively believe Crystalis is a better game. It's an example of a someone taking a recipe, adding their own twist to it, and somehow managing to make a better dish.
It is really really good!
This Channel Of RUclips Is Amazing ! 🤩 You Are Great !
Haha that's kind of you to say :)
@@BigOleWords I Never Imagined So Many Incredible Games For Nintendo, Thank You So Much For Opening My Eyes To Such A Great World! I Have Already Passed 5 Games In A Row Of Those That You Have Mentioned In Other Videos!
Thank You So Much ! 🤩💪🔥
Greetings from Costa Rica, I really liked your videos. I also have a Nintendo collection, but not like yours. Keep going, your content is excellent. If you can make a video of games, you will never be able to go through how difficult they are. greetings friends and pure life
Hey Costa Rica! Hoping the Ticos make the World Cup! And thanks for the kind words :)
for the music alone, christalis is worth playing.. damn those tunes are rocking hard
heya i noticed that Guardian Legend uses the same music as Golvellius for Sega Master System, which is also a Zelda clone. Also, that little blue cute sphere character is in Golvellius as well. Golvellius also has the regular top down levels as the main over world and top down shooter style levels that auto scroll
I had not noticed that, but they’re both made by Compile so I guess that makes sense!
There is another game kinda like Guardian Legend on GBA called Sigma Star Saga. Definitely recommend checking it out
Sounds neat!
The only ones here I've got/played are the StarTropics games. I never really played the second one, though. The first one gets f'in weird near the end.
Bro, I've been enjoying your channel since finding it recently but man, please, PLEASE never do that thing again where you focus on a pixellated animal ass and scream hella extreme forced laughter and shouts of positivity like you're getting saved at a Baptist church or something, like it's literally the best thing you've ever seen in your life and you live for animal genitalia, it kinda cramps the vibes lmfao
Aside from that, Startropics 1 and 2 and Guardian Legend are pretty much my all-time favorite NES games that don't start with the words 'mega man' so it's always great to see more people covering them in any capacity.
I don’t know man if you don’t love me at my screaming at pig buttholes you don’t deserve me at my calmly discussing Australian exclusive sports titles :)
The best game on that list is The Guardian Legend. Zelda is a very close 2nd. Both have some of the best OSTs on the NES.
TGL is more of a hybrid game with some Zelda-like gameplay. Really its only similarity is that its top down and open world. And where as Zelda has dungeons, TGL has flight corridors.
Crystalis.
Just saying.
If you want to go off-system for some Zelda clones, Ys 1&2 (on Master System and TG-16/PC-Engine, as well as a modern PC port) draws inspiration from Zelda (actually plays more like Hydlide, but doesn't suck) and Neutopia and Neutopia 2 for TG-16/PCE are pretty much straight Zelda clones. Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys for TG-16/PCE, SNES, and Genesis/Mega Drive (aka The Oath in Felghana on PC) deserves a shout-out for taking heavy inspiration from Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link when you get to doing that video.
No mention of Golden Axe Warrior?! UNSUBSCRIBE ;)
Enjoyable watch Ole mate
Thanks bud :)
Star Tropics is such a classic. The last few stages were horribly hard, as a small kid :D
I remember playing Spiritual Warrior. I walked into a bar to try to convert the lost souls there and was met by an angel telling me that I had no business in bars. As a punishment, the breastplate of righteousness (or maybe the belt of truth, I don't really remember). Was taken from me. I got frustrated at that point since I felt like I was being punished for trying to do good. I quite the game soon after. (I still have the cartridge though).
I love converting lost souls by throwing the fruits of the spirit at them. Lol.
I did a review of Spiritual Warfare and that same thing happened to me. I couldn't stop laughing! ruclips.net/video/iwI4jzWBP68/видео.html
Back in the day, Star Tropics was a AAA title. I remember my friends being super hyped when it came out and it was fantastic!
Also, Guardian Legend reminds me of an 8-bit Nier: Automata
Crystalis is great. I love that you get a teleport spell. Too bad some of the control options are clunky. I dont like that you hafta level up to a certain level before you can even damage the area boss.
Chrystalis is a 10 out of 10 , copyright problems was the villain that stopped us from getting more
I love seeing Spiritual Warrior get some recognition. I got a copy of it as a kid from the fundamentalist parents of one of my friends and played it to death. I didn't get into the philosophy of the game at all, I just love me a good Zelda clone. To this day, every time I buy a pomegranate at the grocery store I want to go throw it at a sinner
Yeah that game surprisingly rules!
I tried Schererazade, i didn't get very far due to a faulty rom. I've heard its fun and unique as you go farther along.
The guardian Legend was developed by the same folks as Zanac and feels a lot like a combo of Zelda and Zanac
Zanac is great. Gun Nac even better!
Shouldn't the title of this say "Pt. 2", not "Pt. 1"? Great video, by the way! I like these dives into NES games. I consider myself a NES buff but there are a few games that slipped past me back in the day, like The Guardian Legend and The Magic Of Scheherazade. I should remedy that someday.
Hey you’re right, whoops!
Guardian Legend is really cool, but i suck at shoot em ups, and i didn't really understand what to do during the exploration parts. 😅 I'd say its probably a bit closer to Blaster Master.
What about Blaster Master...???
Yeah that’s a tough one that I probably should discussed. Kinda like a Metroid/Zelda hybrid.
I was waiting for you to mention spiritual warfare. Wisdom tree put out alot of shit but I agree this game was really fun I used to play it alot as kid. I'm definitely down to hear take on it in a deeper dive. Always look forward to your uploads thanx man! And by the by the butt holes in star tropics always had me and my friends laughing at sleep overs lol!
What about Robowarrior? I think it checks off at least a couple zelda-boxes.
Hmmm yeah it kinda does, good call!
I love the Willow movie, I'm not sure I'd wanna try the game.
Always enjoy videos like those. Subbed
Hey thanks so much!
Btw, the Japanese version of Crystalis is called God Slayer 😆
The greatest game title ever!
Sigma Star Saga on the GBA from Wayforward has the same gameplay structure as Guardian Legend.
Startropics is one of my favorite games
Crystalis is my favorite game on the NES.
Crystalis is far better than Zelda - by a long shot.
Different strokes for different folks!
Crystalis is my all time favorite game!
I will go out and say it, I don't care if it's Sacrilege: Crystalis on the nes is Way Way WAAAY better than either of the nes Zelda games.
Woah woah let’s not get wild here!
Love me some Crystalis.
Ain’t that the truth!
@Big Ole Words only game I played all the way through on my old iphone 4 with controller. Of course only nes game ive played all the way through on my retropi was chip and dale rescue rangers, so who knows what that means.
Seems like quality should have been criteria #9
Part 2 definitely was the meatier portion of the topic but I can see how you wanted to cover the more superficial title comparisons to Zelda first mainly to avoid inevitable comments about them later. Yeah it's a funny thing in the past where the perception was that a Zelda clone was a bad thing to make, but why would it be bad to have more of a good thing?🤨
Always interesting to hear title names spoken differently, I tend to say Crystàlis like Cri-stahl-is, not saying your way is wrong but it is easy to make it sound like chrysalis(butterflies) instead.🙂
Cryatalis and Guardian Legend are both better than Zelda 1. But we did need Z1 to lead the way.
Crystalis is an improved version of Zelda for sure. GL though is such a different game
@@BigOleWords VERY different. It took the Z1 concept, tacked on a shooter, and somehow made a masterpiece.
Spiritual Warfare is one of the better Zelda clones and absolutely the least bad Wisdom Tree game.
where is rambo for nes? that game reminds me so much of zelda 2
I’ll be come back to Zelda 2 clones soon
LOL @ 1:56 🐖🫏🕳️
The best!
@@BigOleWords I mean.... IT'S RIGHT THERE !!! 😆
Another zelda clone is Neutopia on the TurboGrafx-16
Star Tropics is more fun than Zelda 1 or 2!
Hot take!