Would you recommend Final Fantasy NES?

@wiiplayer26 only if you're the patient type.

If you have a GBA, I would recommend Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls.
It's a bit easier and a lot nicer looking than the original release of Final Fantasy.

Otherwise, I would say Final Fantasy is still a fine VC purchase.

Well, I'm not the patient type. What about Phantasy Star SMS?

If your not the patient type, then I suggest staying clear of RPG's full stop.

Well I loved SMRPG. I wanted another RPG to keep me very busy.

@Wiiplayer: PS1 takes a ton of grinding early on, which may try your patience. It's still a very solid RPG and the battles are fun to look at compared to most 8-bit RPGs.

Oh, and if you want a Final Fantasy game, FF2 on the Super Nintendo is a good pick. It's a bit slower than the Mario RPGs, but the battles are more strategic.

@pixelman

Well, If the grinding is not tedious. I would not mind it.

@wiiplayer26- U should try Secret of Mana. Its an action RPG, so its pretty fast-paced compared to traditional turn-based RPGs. The difficulty is REALLY up there, though, and gets kinda irritating after about 3 hours, so if you're looking for an easy game, you may not one wanna look into SoM.

I'm looking for a good 500-point RPG. Should I get Final Fantasy or Phantasy Star?

Final Fantasy. Phantasy Star is alot more tedious.

Even though I started gaming in arcades in the 80s, I didn't get back into it fully until I got a GameCube. I'm so used to the modern conveniences of more recent games (saving progress, gradual difficulty curves, etc.) that it's hard to figure out what to get on VC. I never had any console before the GCN, so there's no nostalgia factor for me either. I've only tried a few NES games since I got my Wii. SMB is good and I made it to the last world before getting frustrated, but my other experiences have been weaker:

Kirby's Adventure: bored me to tears.
Castlevania: good, but I got stuck on the level 4 boss team.
SMB3: stuck halfway through world 2.

I have good memories of arcade games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Gauntlet, Gyruss, Space Harrier, and more. I'm not too patient and I don't have time for too much frustration, so I prefer games that offer more immediate fun and are highly playable. I love shmups, but their reputed difficulty gives me a lot of pause (as does NL's review of Space Harrier, the main reason I haven't bought it yet).

Okay, with all that out of the way, where do I begin to (more successfully) explore the world of the Virtual Console?

If I were you I would go with Star Force for the Virtual Console Arcade which is 500 points. It is a Shump and has a fairly easy difficulty. I would also reccomend The Tower of Druaga for the Virtual Console Arcade which is 500 points.It is a find the key type maze game. It will test your patience if you don't know how to play it right. The character might move too slow for your taste, to remedy this get to the second floor of the Tower and kill two black Blobs and find the tresure chest and you got the boots that make you go faster. I would also reccomend Pac-Man and Galaga on the NES. Both are 500 points.

@wiiplayer26: Thanks for the recommendations. I did a quick try-out from a questionable emulator site (I don't feel guilty, even with my religious views, because I only do a five-minute or less tryout to help me decide on games I'm interested in purchasing) and Galaga is a definite purchase. I've played it before, but I got bored with it on the DS. It's better on a larger screen! Pac-Man's differences in graphics and sound effects bothered me despite my love for the game. I haven't been able to track down the GCN Namco Museum or I'd already have the arcade version. I've tried Tower before and tried it again, and it's definitely too slow for my tastes. I'll have to search out gameplay videos for Star Force, but I love shmups so it should be good. Thanks again for giving me a starting point.

@Moco Loco: Well, if you like shumps and you want one that's not hard, I'd go with Star Parodier. It's the easiest shooter on the VC and also one of the best. Another good game I'd recommend is Paper Mario. It's one of the best RPG's on the service. If you like platformers, then Bonk's Revenge is definitely for you. It's one of the best Turbografx-16 and it's got different difficulty modes so you can get better at it. You should also give the classic Castlevania games another chance and get Super Castlevania IV. It's not as difficult as Castlevania.

@cheetahman91: How many buttons does Super Castlevania IV use? I've been holding off on SNES releases because I don't have a Classic Controller yet. I've been waiting for the Pro, because the grip looks more like what I'm used to. Paper Mario is on my summer list, as I remember that The Thousand Year Door was very time-consuming (and fun!). I like platformers in theory, but sometimes my skills aren't where they need to be. Bonk's Revenge might be worth a look with the difficulty modes. Thanks for the recommendations!

@Moco Loco: You can configure the buttons on SCIV, so it's perfectly playable on the Gamecube controller.

One thing I forgot to mention about Bonk's Revenge that's important involving the difficulty. You can only play through the entire game on the hardest difficulty. The other two difficulties are mainly for practice, they give you more hearts but only let you play a few worlds.

Legendary Axe I... please. make it happen.

I'm debating if I should get Phantasy Star or Secret of Mana still .Is there is anymore games that are good and within the 900 point price range.

I'm also planning to get the VCA version of Tecmo Bowl. Should I get this or a different game?

Anymore help will be very appreaciated.

Well Secret of Mana is supposedly great, I can assure you that the first few hours are not good at all though. It may get better, but I doubt it increases in playability so much as to go from bad to great.

Breath of Fire II is a really good RPG. As is Final Fantasy IV.