by mento
To celebrate the imminent conclusion of Jeff Gerstmann's Ranking the NES YouTube series, which has taken just shy of three years and 150 episodes to complete, I've put together here my own miniature version of the concept. Since Jeff only focused on North American releases, this list ranks the 33 English-language NES games that were released in PAL territories but skipped the western hemisphere. It's an eclectic mix of Japanese games that couldn't get distribution in the States for whatever reason and European games (plus a couple of Australian ones) that never left their home continent either because of their quality, the reach of their publishers, or the esoteric nature of their licenses.
No arguing that the slate of games that released on NTSC but not PAL is probably far more substantial (and includes Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, to my chagrin) but there's a few highlights here and plenty more oddities that made for some slightly bewildering playthroughs. My scientific process is probably closer to Mr. Wizard than Gerstmann's Einstein but hopefully this provides an elucidating look into a less renowned selection of early Nintendo games.
(N.B.: I did not include the 1987 TOSE/Bandai game Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque: La Legende d'Or, otherwise known as Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu, because it's an RPG that's entirely in French about an anime I know nothing about. I'm sure it has a certain je ne sais quoi, and I'm not just saying that because it's two layers of unfathomable.)
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(Sunsoft/Sunsoft, 1992) A.k.a. Hebereke (JP). Prototypical exploraction game that nonetheless has some fun ideas, like Legacy of the Wizard's multiple protagonists each with their own traversal skills that in this game you have to rescue first. Visuals are basic but work well with the system's limitations, giving the game a more timeless feel, and there's plenty of incidental humor to appreciate and varied items to find. A good introduction to Sunsoft's menagerie of mascot characters before moving onto the Puyo/party games they're better known for.
(HAL Laboratory/HAL Laboratory, 1991) This is the top-down shooter put out by HAL Lab and it's pretty rad. You work in tandem with a CPU partner, with you shutting down the ghosts with the proton pack beam while they snag them with a trap (though it might take some pathfinding for them to reach the ghost in time). Can be tough but carelessness costs more lives than anything unfairly unexpected. Charming aesthetic, pretty decent recreations of the movie soundtrack, and it even lets you choose Louis Tully as a playable character for all you Moranis-heads out there.
(KID/Takara, 1992) Released only in Japan and Germany, but the latter version was already mostly in English even before a fan translation completed the rest. Reminds me of Clash at Demonhead: there's a lot more going on under the surface of its cute platforming, including branching paths, vendors, various upgrades some of which are permanent, and whole bonus sections where you answer quizzes and play sugoroku. You can also plant vines to reach higher spots. Seems kinda hectic but it's cool that there's so much to unpack here.
(Tamtex/Irem, 1992) A.k.a. Daiku no Gen-san. Harry/Gen-san is Irem's blue-collar mascot platformer hero, akin to a hammer-wielding Mario from Donkey Kong (probably an inspiration), and though he saw many games from his debut in the arcades to a system as recent as the PSP very few of them made it to Europe and fewer still to the States. Somewhere between a brawler and a platformer, it's breezy, short, funny, and hard to dislike. LET'S GET BUSY.
(The Sales Curve/The Sales Curve, 1993) Jaleco's answer to Bubble Bobble with the slightly sus name was ported to NES by UK group Sales Curve back when they were still called Storm. Collect the flowers, defeat the enemies, and try to wrangle enough EXTRA letters to keep your life count in the positives. Despite the visual downgrade from the arcade/Amiga/ST versions it's still the same ol' Rod Land, which I'll admit to liking more than Bubble Bobble even if it can be just as evil. The NES version even has a toggle that lets you jump, which feels almost blasphemous.
(D. Braben & I. Bell/Imagineer, 1991) Serviceable enough console port of the classic space trader sim, first released on BBC Micro and ported to almost every other home computer of the era. With limited controller functions the game has a number of workarounds, like holding a button to navigate a toolbar that accesses different parts of the game: trading menus, a system map for choosing destinations, player stats, and of course the cockpit view for seeing where you're going. Didn't quite manage to dock at the first station but that's usually the make-or-break point for any Elite player; until you can buy a computer to dock for you, anyway. Definitely one of those games you'd ideally want to play on a system with a keyboard handy but this just about works if you have no other option. Honestly surprised the wireframe ships look as good as they do.
(Pixel & Hot-B/Takara, 1992) Excellent if somewhat derivative Gradius style horizontal shoot 'em up with a handful of upgrade options (lasers, homing shots, bombs) and a relatively gentle difficulty, at least compared to others for the system. Provides players with the rare ability to shoot behind them (A shoots forward, B shoots back) to take out enemies sneaking up on them or to attack bosses where they might be more vulnerable. Possibly my favorite shmup for the system, though I can't say I've played too many.
(Ocean Software/Ocean Software, 1992) Adequate port of the third Bubble Bobble, where you swing an umbrella to attack enemies directly or use it to collect water droplets to drown them out (as well as fall softly). The visuals and music are recognizable enough compared to the arcade original and there's what feels like a larger grace period to collect any item drops after defeating all enemies before you're whisked off to the next stage. (There's an odd disagreement where the game refers to itself as "Rainbow Island 2" on the box but "Story of Bubble Bobble III" in-game.)
(Bit Managers/Infogrames, 1993) Surprisingly solid platformer, albeit with a few movement quirks and a short-ranged attack that you can easily get used to. Plenty of secrets to find and they drop extra lives on you like nobody's business; since there's only four worlds with three stages each it's a relatively brief affair overall. Music's pretty good too: the composer's Spanish but clearly inspired by the mostly UK C64/Amiga (demo)scene.
(Konami/Konami, 1992) I.e. Parodius Da!, the sequel to the arcade original. The Gradius goof game was, much like the SNES version, exclusive to PAL and Japan; I guess they didn't think Americans could take a joke. Or maybe there was a hidden character that shot crucifixes, I dunno. Idea is to choose either Vic Viper, TwinBee, a penguin, or an octopus and try to survive waves of moais, clowns, and Vegas showgirls as you make it to the end of each stage. Huge amount of slowdown and flickering: the NES is fighting for its life trying to generate the typical amount of chaos in a Parodius level. While the slowdown is occasionally beneficial the flicker can really make it tough to visually parse projectiles coming your way. (Yes, they covered up the dancer in this version. Still got legs for days though.)
