Nobody talks about Solar Jetman! I loved that game, and my friends that still retro play have never heard of it until I showed them. Great old game. Definitely(to me at least) a hidden jem.
@SNES Drunk - Definitely read the manual or watch a review (ProJared has a great one) of King's Knight cuz there are some very weird mechanics in that game like not all "powerups" help you, some will make your shot less powerful, or slow you down, etc.
I had Ultimate Air Combat on my nes, loved that game. The fact it changed to an Isometric view was a great change to the gameplay once you shot all the fighters down in the cockpit view.
Tombs and Treasures. I absolutely loved that game. Together with the Mysterious Cities of Gold, it sparked within me a life-long fascination with Mayan culture. The NES truly had something for everyone.
@@TheMaskedheel yep, robots, (and Transformers) d&d, magic the gathering, and a hobbyist geologist. Maps are cool.tooo. also love metal detecting. And ya, iron maiden is the best.
One obscure game that comes to mind. Gun-Nac, created by Compile, released by Nexoft. People must know it exists, because it is an expensive collectable. But yet, so few talk about it. Highly recommended to those who loved the vertical scroller stages of The Guardian Legend.
Ah yes, Mendel Palace. Not sure if I remember the gameplay off hand. Have to look up this one again, I do remember it being a very cool game. Thanks for reminding me.
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on the Nes is a great game. Its hard and a bit clunky, but still a fun action rpg style game. It feels almost like an Nes version of Skyrim in a way where you have to go out and do quests
Omg the game in the thumb nail , I been trying to remember it's name since I was a kid. I loved that game but 30 years dims the memories , you sir are a legend
Ultimate Air Combat was one of my favourite games as a kid. I like the way it changes into an isometric top down shooter on the second half of the level (you need to show that). As a child I was amazed! It was like a two in one game.
He only plays the games for a few minutes, he almost always misses to point out when a game has multiple play styles, he has no time to properly play games because he's too busy traveling to dork conventions and shoving anything edible down his throat with his ebegged patreon money
Ultimate Air Combat! Almost never hear this one talked about, well done! If you get past the dog fighting you progress to the mission objective part of the stage which switches to an overhead view and your plane controls completely different. Not bad per se, just takes a second to get the hang of it. Beat all four missions and you get some sweet upgrades to all three of your planes. Then the difficulty ramps up with four new missions. Learned about this from a friend who let me borrow it in the 90s. Good times! Thanks Riggs!
In Europe Nintendo World Cup was very common, while soccer or football as we call it is the biggest sport over here. Played it tons on the GameBoy back in the day.
Tombs and treasures was the game we discovered when we were very new into the NES. And I'm not sure how we came across it but it became a family favorite between my brothers and I. It's very mysterious and cryptic, There are puzzles Is galore to solve. I would love to see a modern day remake or sequel.
This is one of those games fun to go back and play as an adult. My Brookshire's Brothers grocery store in Texas had this and Ghost N Goblins for a couple of years.
ninja crusaders is still one of my top 5 nes games. played it so much growing up in the 90s. highly underrated and not spoken of enough. most of my gamer friends have never played it, some have heard of it. it kinda reminds me of a ninja version of contra in a sense. awesome game!
Nintendo World Cup is a fun game. I never thought I would be interested in soccer games, but when I tried it, I was laughing when I found out you can sweep the other characters, and they just lay there on the field. Normally retro gamers don't care about sports games, but I recently have been playing some, and I found some fun games. Looney Toons B-ball and Nolan Ryans baseball are fun on SNES.
I loved tombs and treasures. I was lucky enough to rent it randomly as a kid. I was so mad when I got trapped in the room you can't exit if you do it wrong lol
I love World Cup! I especially liked the super kicks you do if a teammate passed the ball to you and you kicked it while it was still in the air. The kick made it almost impossible for the goalie to block it.
Best NES soccer game for sure. I remember saving up and buying it one summer at a huge flea market in the south. Wow, played it forever! Super kicks were the best.
Dude!! I absolutely loved Thrilla Safari as I rented that one back during the summer of 1992! It's such an underrated game and I love the fact that you mentioned it here!
The only one of these games that I've heard of is World Cup, but haven't played any of them. looks like a few gems. The flying game reminds me a bit of the Captain Skyhawk combat levels. Skyhawk I feel is an underrated game that I played a ton of as a kid. Great video John!
Rescue was always one of my favorites. The 3 levels with differing play styles (sniper, stealth, 1st person siege) was revolutionary… for me at least. It was so unique
World Cup was sold in Italy in cartridges with also Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt together, don't know about US or Japan... Puzznic i think is a masterpiece of puzzle games, there was a version on C64 and i guess surely Amiga
Alfred Chicken was also released for the SNES! Quite a few early 90s games were released for the NES and SNES, including Mario is Missing and Krusty’s Fun House! Robocop vs. The Terminator, while it did get an SNES release, was due an NES release too but that was cancelled! Alfred Chicken and Puzznic were later remade for the PlayStation, and the Lynx version of Jimmy Connor’s Tennis is now available for the Evercade as part of one of the Lynx Collections!
4:21 Unfortunately, ProJared fans have heard of King's Knight. I remember Jared not having a lot of fun while playing it lol. Has anyone else seen ProJared's video of King's Knight?
@@JohnRiggs You should watch it, Riggs. You might disagree with ProJared's views (I'm one of 'em at times) but I like his channel and your channel equally. :)
I've always liked "Totally Rad." A horror game for the NES nobody talks about is "Werewolf: The Last Warrior." I've never played the "Last Crusade" NES game you showed here. (AVGN reviewed it, too.) I played the other one. Not bad, but very difficult. The "Choose Your Own Path" feature was very interesting. You can actually skip major points from the movie if you want, but you won't get the best ending. Basically, if you watched the Grail Temple scene, with the three trials, you can get through the Grail Temple in the game. True story: I finished this game when I was growing up. But, I got a bad ending where the Grail Knight berated me because I skipped the German castle and didn't save Indy's father! (That castle is a MAZE!!!) LOL
Werewolf is pretty advanced platformer, but very difficult and the story is lulz. But definitely fun to play. It feels like a modern indie retro game, but instead is a legit retro game.
Great video! When I saw the title I thought I wasn't going to learn anything because I thought I knew the NES so well. It turns out 8 of 10 I had no clue. Would love to see another one like this - maybe for another system?
Mississippi Satsujin Jiken (Murder on the Mississippi), a Famicom game but there's English translations and it's on some of the older PCs. It's a murder mystery, P.I., adventure game. You walk all over a ship questioning suspects to find the killer. I hadn't seen anything like that on consoles for a long time, now it's common.
Soccer game was in the Kunio Collection recently. Not sure why they didn't wrap it closer to the very River City Ransom aka Kunio origions that it actually was back in it's age in the west. The game however was included on the same Nintendo Cartridge as a rather keen Volly Ball game.
Legacy of the Wizard and Magic of Scheherazade are finally starting to get some attention, so my votes go to Ufouria, Kiteretsu Daihyakka, and the Esper Dream series. If games that never made it to North America don't count, I'd say Wurm and maybe Vice: Project Doom. Castlequest and Mystery Quest don't get a whole lot of coverage, either, and I'd love to see a newer game in the style of the former.
The legend of ghost lion.(white lion in japan) Interesting rpg. Never finished it but it has a neat battle concept where you summon the ghosts of dead worriors to do different things in battle. Plus the usa cover art. That girl cant look any more 80s than that.
there’s one game that i keep on looking. it’s a famicom game. i don’t know if it was released in america. the name of the game is dutch boy or something like that. the cover of the game is like a boy carrying a rocket launcher. the gameplay is that you are controlling the boy in a birds eye view and he will set up traps. he can use the rocket launcher to destroy tanks.
Archon: The Light and the Dark (which is ONLY fun vs a human player 2), Conquest of the Crystal Palace, Magic of Scheherazade, Abadox, The Battle of Olympus, The Blue Marlin, Code Name: Viper, Faxanadu, Flying Warriors, Frankenstein: The Monster Returns, Isolated Warrior, Ghost Lion, Mechanized Attack, Mendel Palace, Mystery Quest, RoadBlasters, Robowarrior, Seicross, Silkworm, Solomon’s Key, Sword Master, Target: Renegade, To the Earth, Trojan, Wrath of the Black Manta, and Zombie Nation are my picks for least-known.
I don't know why I'm just now catching this video but I'm super glad that I did. One of the games that you covered (King's Knight) was a game that my parents bought for me and my brother. I had actually forgot the name of it until I saw the gameplay and the name and let me tell you that the nostalgia came over me like a tsunami wave!!
Hey John, my favorite NES game growing up was "Thrilla Surfari" and you didn't mention it but there is surfing stages and boss stages where you fight bosses throwing coconuts on a vert ramp. I figured you didn't mention it because the game is tough, but it was one of the few games I owned. Now with my big ass collection I still play it as a favorite.
Okay, I've heard of Alfred Chicken, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, King's Knight, and Kid Klown, but not the rest... PS, Kid Klown was Mickey Mouse 3: The Dream Balloon, but since Capcom has the rights for Disney games at the time, Kemco has to change it to a generic game for the US release.
How about Ghost Lion? I had a similar selling experience that one. Several years ago I sold a loose copy for $40, now it's worth about $140. As you said, those things happen.
One I always bring up is Arkista’s Ring by American Sammy (same company as Ninja Crusaders). Overhead action game you play as a female elf with a bow and you clear stages and dungeons slowly collecting power ups and useful weapons. It’s a lot of fun and very unique. Plus there are Ninja who are tough as hell. It was a favorite growing up and almost no one has heard of it. Reminds people of Zelda and Gauntlet.
Alfred Chicken is one of the better late releases for the NES. Kind of feels like an old school arcade game, not from the golden era, but more like 1988-1989.
I randomly bought Tombs & Treasure on eBay years ago, and was pleasantly surprised with how fun it was, and I LOVE the tunes in it. I hear you threw in some Air Fortress music at the end, and that is a game not a ton of people know about but certainly should.. very challenging one that might not have a ton of variety, but is still very fun.
I've never seen "TROG!" mentioned, I know it's a port of an arcade game but I never hear anyone talk about the arcade version either! I love the cover art for it on NES
Best hidden gem for the NES is Bucky O'Hare, hands down. Such a great platformer. I also think that Super Sprint is a fun (albeit simple) game, which blows RC Pro Am out of the water. I have a similar story to John's with Kid Klown.. mine was absolutely mint condition too. Live and learn I suppose.
@@junebug3254 Yeah, at this point I'd call it an "unhidden gem" or something like that; a game which used to be a hidden gem, but became well-known as a result of its hidden gem status.
King's Knight looks interesting, reminds me of Knightmare on the MSX. Did you know that Alfred Chicken (alright, a guy in a costume) tried to win a seat in the British Parliament? And there were two Last Crusade games on home computer - the famous SCUMM adventure game, and an "action" game that plays a lot like the NES platformer (the action game was developed by British company Tiertex and published by US Gold). I enjoyed Puzznic on the C64, but it doesn't have the gravity mode. Great video!
My top 12 NES which include some hidden gems. TOP 12 NES GAMES 1. Zelda 2. Little Ninja Brothers 3. Super Mario 3 4. Boulder Dash 5. Archon 6. Blades of Steel 7. Dig Dug II 8. Road Runner 9. Dr. Mario 10. Punch-Out 11. Mega Man 2 12. Double Dragon II
World Cup's best/funniest thing was when an injured player just stayed down/died on the field and you didn't notice until you moved back onto that side of the field and he was still down LOL
I think you should have made a "10 More NES Games You've Never Heard Of" video instead of having so many honorable mentions in this one. Either way, great video - and almost all of these were games I hadn't really heard anything about.
I recently found an old notebook page in my storage with a couple passwords and clues I wrote down when I played Tombs and Treasures back in the day! Now to find another copy...
World Cup was the best. Bicycle kick and knocking out plays for the rest of the game was awesome. I bought it for switch in the combo release. Well worth the price of admission.
Guess I'm not the only one who thinks a pickleball game on a classic system would be cool! Watching players in an intense game near the kitchen lines reminds me of Pong in real life!
Tombs and Treasures I love the the music, sometimes repetitive but good. Nintendo World cup I still have it since I was a kid, I have the one the comes with Super spike V' ball. I love them both. Even memorize all passwords, for the matches.
I recently picked up Puzznic and Kings Knight (thanks to NESFriend for his vids on those). I don't see many people discuss The Lone Ranger, which is a pretty fun game with multiple game modes
The only two games I'd heard of, Puzznic and World cup, are in fact in my small collection. World Cup is rather fun with 4 players, excellent music, too.
Dude! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been trying to remember the name of Ninja Crusaders. I played this game at a friends house as a kid and loved it. You have solved a great mystery for me
No one talks about Shingen The Ruler. When the new generation discovers it they just whine about the interface and don’t take time to rule the kingdom. It’s turn based military combat like Advanced wars. I could never manage to rule more than 3 countries. Loved it....was my Jr year in high school vice.
Yeah I've played a lot of these mentioned in this video I've always had a soft spot for the obscured games growing up and as a child of the 80's I grew up with NES.
Funny thing is...I've heard of them all and even rented them back in the 80s. Now Princess Tomato...that's a gem.
Princess Tomato is an amazing game that no one really talks about. Definitely a hidden gem.
Nobody talks about Solar Jetman! I loved that game, and my friends that still retro play have never heard of it until I showed them. Great old game. Definitely(to me at least) a hidden jem.
That game is almost endless and really takes skill. I played it for hours as a kid.
Dude, that hat is mint!! Love it.
The NES Alfred Chicken looks a lot more fun than the SNES version. Also King's Knight looks friggin awesome
You and Riggs have the best gaming channel Snes drunk!
Whenever I hear "play by any means necessary" I always interpret that as a low-key SNES drunk shout out.
SSSSSSSSSSNES DRUNK!
@SNES Drunk - Definitely read the manual or watch a review (ProJared has a great one) of King's Knight cuz there are some very weird mechanics in that game like not all "powerups" help you, some will make your shot less powerful, or slow you down, etc.
I bet the inside of that hat stinks
I had Ultimate Air Combat on my nes, loved that game. The fact it changed to an Isometric view was a great change to the gameplay once you shot all the fighters down in the cockpit view.
I thought it was weird that Riggs didn't talk about that, it's the more innovative part of the game.
Tombs and Treasures. I absolutely loved that game. Together with the Mysterious Cities of Gold, it sparked within me a life-long fascination with Mayan culture. The NES truly had something for everyone.
Same here, loved tombs and treasure. Love south American history.
I played this as well... Loved it!
Yes an awesome game, love it
Yeah my brother loved it. He’s a geologist/ cartographer. He also loved Godzilla, robots, d&d, and Iron Maiden. Go figure.....
@@TheMaskedheel yep, robots, (and Transformers) d&d, magic the gathering, and a hobbyist geologist. Maps are cool.tooo. also love metal detecting. And ya, iron maiden is the best.
So insane that there were 2 Last Crusade games for the same console. There has to be an interesting story behind that flub.
One obscure game that comes to mind. Gun-Nac, created by Compile, released by Nexoft. People must know it exists, because it is an expensive collectable. But yet, so few talk about it. Highly recommended to those who loved the vertical scroller stages of The Guardian Legend.
I loved Mendel Palace growing up and I feel like no one ever talks about that crazy game.
Ah yes, Mendel Palace. Not sure if I remember the gameplay off hand. Have to look up this one again, I do remember it being a very cool game. Thanks for reminding me.
I just came here to say that. The shuffling floor tiles, that was a great game.
Same guy that created pokemon
Image fight is a cool lesser mentioned title. Mendel Palace is another. The Lone Ranger is a total gem as well
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on the Nes is a great game. Its hard and a bit clunky, but still a fun action rpg style game. It feels almost like an Nes version of Skyrim in a way where you have to go out and do quests
The Blue Marlin, such a fun game with an amazing sound track
Omg the game in the thumb nail , I been trying to remember it's name since I was a kid. I loved that game but 30 years dims the memories , you sir are a legend
Ultimate Air Combat was one of my favourite games as a kid. I like the way it changes into an isometric top down shooter on the second half of the level (you need to show that). As a child I was amazed! It was like a two in one game.
He only plays the games for a few minutes, he almost always misses to point out when a game has multiple play styles, he has no time to properly play games because he's too busy traveling to dork conventions and shoving anything edible down his throat with his ebegged patreon money
@@EddyHamilton123 Yikes! Show us where the bad man touched you!
@@EddyHamilton123 Danm...who pissed in you're Cheerios
Ultimate Air Combat! Almost never hear this one talked about, well done! If you get past the dog fighting you progress to the mission objective part of the stage which switches to an overhead view and your plane controls completely different. Not bad per se, just takes a second to get the hang of it. Beat all four missions and you get some sweet upgrades to all three of your planes. Then the difficulty ramps up with four new missions. Learned about this from a friend who let me borrow it in the 90s. Good times! Thanks Riggs!
My brother was a nerd for Tombs and Treasure. I remember it being featured in Nintendo Power.
Dr. Chaos. Once you learn how the first person Goonies-like areas control, it's a fun game
In Europe Nintendo World Cup was very common, while soccer or football as we call it is the biggest sport over here. Played it tons on the GameBoy back in the day.
Tombs and treasures was the game we discovered when we were very new into the NES. And I'm not sure how we came across it but it became a family favorite between my brothers and I. It's very mysterious and cryptic, There are puzzles Is galore to solve. I would love to see a modern day remake or sequel.
Loved this game, but the ending.... The idea of what happens creeps me out.
They did remake it, for the Saturn.
Elevator Action!
This game was always interesting to me as a kid. Can’t remember why. I might need to pop that game in some time soon!
You should play the sequel, Elevator Action Returns, it's on Saturn and Arcade (and probably in some Taito collection)
This is one of those games fun to go back and play as an adult. My Brookshire's Brothers grocery store in Texas had this and Ghost N Goblins for a couple of years.
ninja crusaders is still one of my top 5 nes games. played it so much growing up in the 90s. highly underrated and not spoken of enough. most of my gamer friends have never played it, some have heard of it. it kinda reminds me of a ninja version of contra in a sense. awesome game!
Nintendo World Cup is a fun game. I never thought I would be interested in soccer games, but when I tried it, I was laughing when I found out you can sweep the other characters, and they just lay there on the field. Normally retro gamers don't care about sports games, but I recently have been playing some, and I found some fun games. Looney Toons B-ball and Nolan Ryans baseball are fun on SNES.
I loved tombs and treasures. I was lucky enough to rent it randomly as a kid. I was so mad when I got trapped in the room you can't exit if you do it wrong lol
I really enjoyed a game named “Solstice” on the NES when I was a kid It’s an Isometric action adventure game with puzzles.
Solstice is so awesome. But very difficult for sure. If I remember correctly, there was a sequel for the SNES. Called Equinox.
Definitely heard of Nintendo World Cup, because I had it as part of a double-game cartridge with Super Spike V-Ball.
I love World Cup! I especially liked the super kicks you do if a teammate passed the ball to you and you kicked it while it was still in the air. The kick made it almost impossible for the goalie to block it.
It was one of my FAVORITE games to play!
Yes! I just could never beat the hardest levels. They got ridiculously hard, but the music still resonates within me today!
Best NES soccer game for sure. I remember saving up and buying it one summer at a huge flea market in the south. Wow, played it forever! Super kicks were the best.
I think 'Arkista's Ring' is another NES game no one speaks of. And it's really neat.
Dude!! I absolutely loved Thrilla Safari as I rented that one back during the summer of 1992! It's such an underrated game and I love the fact that you mentioned it here!
I just loved how he would explode into pieces when you failed.
That always makes me laugh still to this day.
One of the best games ever if you stick with it. So smooth.
The only one of these games that I've heard of is World Cup, but haven't played any of them. looks like a few gems. The flying game reminds me a bit of the Captain Skyhawk combat levels. Skyhawk I feel is an underrated game that I played a ton of as a kid. Great video John!
I wish that someone would release the rom for the NES port of Leisure Suit Larry. Seems extremely hard to get the physical (or even digital) version.
The box art for King's Knight is pretty epic!
Rescue was always one of my favorites. The 3 levels with differing play styles (sniper, stealth, 1st person siege) was revolutionary… for me at least. It was so unique
I had totally forgotten about King's Knight till I saw that gameplay footage! Played that so much as a kid. I'm digging that one out!
You’re on a content roll; keep it coming big dawg.
Zombie Nation. One of the weirdest NES games ever made.
And super super fun too.
I've had Tombs&Treasures since 1990...as good as new yet.
World Cup was sold in Italy in cartridges with also Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt together, don't know about US or Japan... Puzznic i think is a masterpiece of puzzle games, there was a version on C64 and i guess surely Amiga
8 Eyes, The Mafat Conspiracy and Kickle Cubicle ( bought following your suggestion)
Alfred Chicken was also released for the SNES! Quite a few early 90s games were released for the NES and SNES, including Mario is Missing and Krusty’s Fun House! Robocop vs. The Terminator, while it did get an SNES release, was due an NES release too but that was cancelled! Alfred Chicken and Puzznic were later remade for the PlayStation, and the Lynx version of Jimmy Connor’s Tennis is now available for the Evercade as part of one of the Lynx Collections!
4:21 Unfortunately, ProJared fans have heard of King's Knight. I remember Jared not having a lot of fun while playing it lol.
Has anyone else seen ProJared's video of King's Knight?
I haven't but I didn't get into RUclips until I started making videos and discovering people who have been around longer after that.
@@JohnRiggs You should watch it, Riggs. You might disagree with ProJared's views (I'm one of 'em at times) but I like his channel and your channel equally. :)
I've always liked "Totally Rad." A horror game for the NES nobody talks about is "Werewolf: The Last Warrior." I've never played the "Last Crusade" NES game you showed here. (AVGN reviewed it, too.) I played the other one. Not bad, but very difficult. The "Choose Your Own Path" feature was very interesting. You can actually skip major points from the movie if you want, but you won't get the best ending. Basically, if you watched the Grail Temple scene, with the three trials, you can get through the Grail Temple in the game. True story: I finished this game when I was growing up. But, I got a bad ending where the Grail Knight berated me because I skipped the German castle and didn't save Indy's father! (That castle is a MAZE!!!) LOL
Werewolf is pretty advanced platformer, but very difficult and the story is lulz. But definitely fun to play. It feels like a modern indie retro game, but instead is a legit retro game.
Great video! When I saw the title I thought I wasn't going to learn anything because I thought I knew the NES so well. It turns out 8 of 10 I had no clue. Would love to see another one like this - maybe for another system?
Mississippi Satsujin Jiken (Murder on the Mississippi), a Famicom game but there's English translations and it's on some of the older PCs. It's a murder mystery, P.I., adventure game. You walk all over a ship questioning suspects to find the killer. I hadn't seen anything like that on consoles for a long time, now it's common.
Wait is that air fortress music at the end of the video?!?!
Jimmy Connors Tennis is awesome...I only discovered it like 10 years ago, but it's great, you nailed it. More great content, Big Riggs...great job!
Plot twist: All the puns were intended.
Soccer game was in the Kunio Collection recently. Not sure why they didn't wrap it closer to the very River City Ransom aka Kunio origions that it actually was back in it's age in the west. The game however was included on the same Nintendo Cartridge as a rather keen Volly Ball game.
I have a Videomation cart since 1994.
I also remember a cousin renting Super Cars back then and hating it...
Legacy of the Wizard and Magic of Scheherazade are finally starting to get some attention, so my votes go to Ufouria, Kiteretsu Daihyakka, and the Esper Dream series. If games that never made it to North America don't count, I'd say Wurm and maybe Vice: Project Doom. Castlequest and Mystery Quest don't get a whole lot of coverage, either, and I'd love to see a newer game in the style of the former.
The legend of ghost lion.(white lion in japan) Interesting rpg. Never finished it but it has a neat battle concept where you summon the ghosts of dead worriors to do different things in battle. Plus the usa cover art. That girl cant look any more 80s than that.
Wow Ultimate Air Combat looks great for a NES game. I'm going to check it out.
Not sure of any games for this list... though there's a few I _wish_ I never heard of!
Indiana Jones kind of looks like a Spectrum game to me...
I LOVED "King's Knight", whenever I reminisce about it nobody remembers it! Awesome to see it on this video.
there’s one game that i keep on looking. it’s a famicom game. i don’t know if it was released in america. the name of the game is dutch boy or something like that. the cover of the game is like a boy carrying a rocket launcher. the gameplay is that you are controlling the boy in a birds eye view and he will set up traps. he can use the rocket launcher to destroy tanks.
Archon: The Light and the Dark (which is ONLY fun vs a human player 2), Conquest of the Crystal Palace, Magic of Scheherazade, Abadox, The Battle of Olympus, The Blue Marlin, Code Name: Viper, Faxanadu, Flying Warriors, Frankenstein: The Monster Returns, Isolated Warrior, Ghost Lion, Mechanized Attack, Mendel Palace, Mystery Quest, RoadBlasters, Robowarrior, Seicross, Silkworm, Solomon’s Key, Sword Master, Target: Renegade, To the Earth, Trojan, Wrath of the Black Manta, and Zombie Nation are my picks for least-known.
I don't know why I'm just now catching this video but I'm super glad that I did. One of the games that you covered (King's Knight) was a game that my parents bought for me and my brother. I had actually forgot the name of it until I saw the gameplay and the name and let me tell you that the nostalgia came over me like a tsunami wave!!
CRASH AND THE BOYS! Nobody ever talks about this game. I can't tell you how many times I had friends over and played this.
Certainly wasn't as popular as Super Dodge Ball or River City Ransom.
This game was so fun. The swimming and fighting events always stood out to me.
Kabuki Quantum Fighter. Never heard of it but quite surprised it has Ninja Gaiden style gameplay with a strange story. Kind of a hidden gem.
Congrats on your win at SummerSlarm.
Your right...I've never heard of these! But now my interest is peaked!
Hey John, my favorite NES game growing up was "Thrilla Surfari" and you didn't mention it but there is surfing stages and boss stages where you fight bosses throwing coconuts on a vert ramp. I figured you didn't mention it because the game is tough, but it was one of the few games I owned. Now with my big ass collection I still play it as a favorite.
Okay, I've heard of Alfred Chicken, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, King's Knight, and Kid Klown, but not the rest...
PS, Kid Klown was Mickey Mouse 3: The Dream Balloon, but since Capcom has the rights for Disney games at the time, Kemco has to change it to a generic game for the US release.
How about Ghost Lion? I had a similar selling experience that one. Several years ago I sold a loose copy for $40, now it's worth about $140. As you said, those things happen.
They always do. Epic box art.
One I always bring up is Arkista’s Ring by American Sammy (same company as Ninja Crusaders). Overhead action game you play as a female elf with a bow and you clear stages and dungeons slowly collecting power ups and useful weapons. It’s a lot of fun and very unique. Plus there are Ninja who are tough as hell. It was a favorite growing up and almost no one has heard of it. Reminds people of Zelda and Gauntlet.
King's Knight looks incredible. Never heard of it. Thanks!
Alfred Chicken is one of the better late releases for the NES. Kind of feels like an old school arcade game, not from the golden era, but more like 1988-1989.
That Kunio kun soccer looks funj. I worked in a secondhand video game store and I never even heard of it. You get cool points for that one.
Awesome list John! One that no one talks about is Dragon Spirit The New Legend.
The Last Crusade game looks like it was ported from a computer, like one of the ones from the UK.
Kings Knight, The Mutant Virus and Kid Clown are now a must to see, to me. Thanks.
I randomly bought Tombs & Treasure on eBay years ago, and was pleasantly surprised with how fun it was, and I LOVE the tunes in it. I hear you threw in some Air Fortress music at the end, and that is a game not a ton of people know about but certainly should.. very challenging one that might not have a ton of variety, but is still very fun.
I've never seen "TROG!" mentioned, I know it's a port of an arcade game but I never hear anyone talk about the arcade version either! I love the cover art for it on NES
Ultimate Air Combat was the poor kids Desert Strike. I didn’t get a SNES till much later, and I played the hell out of this in the meantime.
Best hidden gem for the NES is Bucky O'Hare, hands down. Such a great platformer. I also think that Super Sprint is a fun (albeit simple) game, which blows RC Pro Am out of the water. I have a similar story to John's with Kid Klown.. mine was absolutely mint condition too. Live and learn I suppose.
Not sure Bucky O’Hare is considered a “hidden” gem.
@@junebug3254 Yeah, at this point I'd call it an "unhidden gem" or something like that; a game which used to be a hidden gem, but became well-known as a result of its hidden gem status.
Ufouria on NES, fantastic game. PAL only release I believe but still worth a mention.
King's Knight looks interesting, reminds me of Knightmare on the MSX. Did you know that Alfred Chicken (alright, a guy in a costume) tried to win a seat in the British Parliament?
And there were two Last Crusade games on home computer - the famous SCUMM adventure game, and an "action" game that plays a lot like the NES platformer (the action game was developed by British company Tiertex and published by US Gold). I enjoyed Puzznic on the C64, but it doesn't have the gravity mode. Great video!
I didn't know about Tomb and Treasures. Also you're bang on with Indy originally being a Gameboy title.
My top 12 NES which include some hidden gems.
TOP 12 NES GAMES
1. Zelda
2. Little Ninja Brothers
3. Super Mario 3
4. Boulder Dash
5. Archon
6. Blades of Steel
7. Dig Dug II
8. Road Runner
9. Dr. Mario
10. Punch-Out
11. Mega Man 2
12. Double Dragon II
World Cup's best/funniest thing was when an injured player just stayed down/died on the field and you didn't notice until you moved back onto that side of the field and he was still down LOL
I think you should have made a "10 More NES Games You've Never Heard Of" video instead of having so many honorable mentions in this one.
Either way, great video - and almost all of these were games I hadn't really heard anything about.
I recently found an old notebook page in my storage with a couple passwords and clues I wrote down when I played Tombs and Treasures back in the day! Now to find another copy...
World Cup was the best. Bicycle kick and knocking out plays for the rest of the game was awesome. I bought it for switch in the combo release. Well worth the price of admission.
Played the hell out of Nintendo World Cup as a kid . Always felt great to pull off a super shot
Guess I'm not the only one who thinks a pickleball game on a classic system would be cool! Watching players in an intense game near the kitchen lines reminds me of Pong in real life!
Never really hear anyone talk about Robowarrior, or at least I never hear anyone mention it.
I have a couple times. Yeah, not mentioned as much like you said.
Dang, thought I was going to go the whole video without recognizing one until you got to King's Knight.
Also played Ninja Crusaders and World Cup.
Tombs and Treasures I love the the music, sometimes repetitive but good. Nintendo World cup I still have it since I was a kid, I have the one the comes with Super spike V' ball. I love them both. Even memorize all passwords, for the matches.
I recently picked up Puzznic and Kings Knight (thanks to NESFriend for his vids on those). I don't see many people discuss The Lone Ranger, which is a pretty fun game with multiple game modes
The only two games I'd heard of, Puzznic and World cup, are in fact in my small collection. World Cup is rather fun with 4 players, excellent music, too.
I can't believe I forgot about Kings Knight, I used to play that game a lot!
My childhood friend and I used to play Ninja Crusaders a lot when we were kids. The dragon was the best!
Dude! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been trying to remember the name of Ninja Crusaders. I played this game at a friends house as a kid and loved it. You have solved a great mystery for me
I had ninja crusaders. It was pretty fun, kind of wish I knew where it was.
No one talks about Shingen The Ruler. When the new generation discovers it they just whine about the interface and don’t take time to rule the kingdom. It’s turn based military combat like Advanced wars. I could never manage to rule more than 3 countries. Loved it....was my Jr year in high school vice.
King's Knight got a "re-release" as a mobile game a few years back. It had updated graphics but it didn't last long and was shut down.
Power Blade is great
These were new to me so I subscribed after watching for a year or so - seemed like a fair “trade.”
Advanced D&D: Dragon Strike deserves more love !!
Kings Knight looks like a fun twist on a genre, similar to Pinball Quest
Yeah I've played a lot of these mentioned in this video I've always had a soft spot for the obscured games growing up and as a child of the 80's I grew up with NES.