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Updated with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Enjoy!
Indiana Jones returned to cinemas in 2023 for one final crack of the whip. While rewatching the movies and whistling that John Williams theme awaiting Harrison Ford's return in The Dial of Destiny, we found ourselves looking back over Indy's video game library - and the release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Xbox (and then PS5, and now Switch 2) only made us more curious to dig up the past.
By our count, there have been a total of 16 Indy games released on Nintendo systems (well, 15 really, but we'll get to that in a moment), but which one is the best? That's where you come in.
We've got our opinions, but similar to our other reader-ranked polls, we asked Nintendo Life readers to rate every Indy game they've played over the years, and here are the results — every Indiana Jones game on Nintendo systems, ranked from worst to best, by you.
Missed the 'voting' period, did you? Ah, but you didn't. This ranking is created from User Ratings assigned to each game in our database and is subject to real-time change, even after publication. Registered Nintendo Life users can click on the stars below and rate the games out of 10, even as you read this.
If you've previously rated these games, thank you! If not, you can add your score to the game at any time, present or future, and it will still count and influence the order (though you'll need to refresh the page to see any potential changes).
All set? Time to search for the grail...
Note. Keen Indy fans will have no doubt spied the interloper below. Yes, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis never got its own release on Nintendo platforms.
HOWEVER, it is available to play on Wii as an unlockable in Staff of Kings. The latter game is easy enough to find, and the former — a seminal Indy title which was given Wii pointer controls here — is easy to unlock, too.
16. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game (NES)
NMS Software developed the Nintendo versions of this version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with Ubisoft on publishing duties, and there's another, earlier version published by Taito that's entirely different.
A side-scrolling platformer, this one isn't unimpressive (visually speaking) on Game Boy, but the NES game is essentially a straight port of the handheld version. Launching so late in the console's lifecycle, anyone who picked this up over the better Taito game would be rightly miffed.
It's games like this that gave licensed titles a bad name back in the day.
15. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (DS)
It's clear that of the two versions of this game, it's the Wii one you should investigate. Staff of Kings on the DS was filled with the familiar touchscreen control and microphone gameplay gimmicks, but failed to deliver anything approaching the sort of excitement you'd hope to find on an adventure with Henry Jones Jr.
Pointing and clicking (or tapping) was a joy on the DS, and would have been better served with an adventure game in the vein of Fate of Atlantis rather than crowbarring a full 3D game with frustrating fisticuffs and poor puzzling onto the console.
14. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (NES)
Two versions of this Atari-developed released on NES. One was published by TENGEN prior to a licensing disagreement and Tetris-related lawsuit from Nintendo that resulted in the removal of all its NES titles from store shelves. The other — the exact same game on the cart — had Mindscape taking over publishing duties.
Unfortunately, that detail is probably the most interesting aspect of this loose adaptation of the arcade game. You control Indy and wonkily work your way through various levels from a 'diagonal-down' perspective, swinging on your whip, recovering Sankara stones, saving children, riding in minecarts, and generally giving Thugees a thrashing with the items you find.
It's got the music, of course, and that goes a long way to firing up the Jonesian spirit, but it's not enough to transform a poor game into a good one.
13. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (NES)
Mixing in top-down areas and puzzles into its standard side-on platforming, this whip 'em up is far from the greatest game to feature the world's most reckless archaeologist.
However, as an 8-bit adaptation of the third movie, Taito's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade covers all the main plot points and features varied gameplay in keeping with its theme, plus a decent chiptune rendition of the soundtrack.
Given the relative lack of competition in Indy's gaming catalogue, this isn't a bad time.
12. LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (DS)
Despite being the DS version of the game, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues offers up fun level building and the same solid co-op gameplay to give Indy's brick-building series a new life.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull might take up most of the runtime, and we would have perhaps dropped the touchscreen controls and spread the love a little bit more among the films, but the new takes on the classic films and the level builder are decent fun.
If you have the first game, however, this one is probably worth a miss - or you should look at picking up the superior Wii version.
11. Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (GBC)
The Game Boy Color counterpart to Factor 5's N64 title, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine certainly looks impressive for the hardware and features puzzler gameplay that could generously (very generously) be described as top-down Zelda-esque.
It's let down by clunky controls and being a little too confusing, though. Still, HotGen offered up a fair portable puzzler with some Indy trappings that needn't be cast into the infernal fires.
10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (GB)
Expectations for Game Boy titles are generally lower given the tighter hardware restrictions, and while this version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade won't knock your socks off like the best system's titles, the slightly awkward controls and irritating time limit on levels don't grate like the NES version.
In fact, with the big sprites and decent facsimile of John Williams' bounding Raiders March, we've got a bit of a soft spot for this GB rendition.
9. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (NES)
A side-scrolling action platformer from Jaleco and Chris Gray Enterprises, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is absolute bog-standard 8-bit fare. There's nothing to get upset over, but also very little to get excited about.
Based on the TV series which, as per the title, chronicled the adventures of a young Indy, you journey across the globe fighting bad guys and, at one point, taking down the Red Baron himself in a shmup stage. There's some decent visual variety in the stages and the audio is listenable, but NES owners expected more by the time this launched in 1993.
Comments 46
Staff of Kings on wii is guilty pleasure for me, far from perfect, some of the motion controls are broken especially that last motorbike level, but it did feel like indy, graphics while lo res were great I thought for wii
Considering the IP that is a pretty unspectacular list of games tbh. Looking forward to what Bethesda can do with the IP. Maybe Tomb Raider 2014 or Arkham City style would be awesome.
I've been watching through the Indiana Jones films with my dad in preparation for The Dial of Destiny (only got Kingdom of the Crystal Skull left!) so this list couldn't have come at a perfect time for me. Can't say I've really heard of many of these outside the Lego crop but, as someone who got their old Wii up and running again, I'll definitely be taking a look at Staff of Kings/Fate of Atlantis!
Fate of Atlantis is such a treasure for its time. It’d be amazing if it saw a re-release on modern consoles and PC with or without an HD remaster.
@Speedo Indeed, I'm not going to try and convince anyone about Staff of Kings, but I really like it, because you do feel like Indy playing the game, and that's the most important thing for an Indy game. Graphics might not be spectacular, but I like them too.
And the fact Fate of Atlantis comes with makes it an essential Wii title for me.
I did think the Lego ones for the Wii would rate high. I played one of those and found it really fun at the time.
The movie was very good. I was little kid when I watched it. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Yess they are making sometimes the games from the movies and it looks the same to.
I've only played a handful of these, with the SNES title being my personal favorite (despite it being almost unfairly difficult).
The Fate of Atlantis has always been regarded as a must play, but I've never had the chance. Maybe some day I'll have that chance, or I'll just find a walkthrough on Youtube.
Infernal Machine on gbc should be higher, far from a great game but pretty ambitious, and better than bad.
I bought The Staff of Kings because it came with The Fate of Atlantis.
Indiana Jones as a concept appeals to me but I'm always disappointed by the movies and games. I only really enjoyed the first movie. I never played the LEGO one. Those games are always fun. When are any of these coming to Switch?
I was just downloading La Mulana 2. I always just considered him to be Indy.
Fate of Atlantis can be easily bought on Steam for $6 or less for both Mac and PC. The game's from the 1990s so it'll run on a potato. If you love Indiana Jones and haven't played that game, you owe it to yourself. It's the real Indy 4.
Fate of Atlantis was one of the best PnC games of the era. I'd forgotten about Infernal Machine. I need to return to that one. But, FoA was really good.
@wilforce Fate is on steam for less than $10 and so elite, but would also love a switch version
Staff of Kings was surprisingly enjoyable. And at the time I thought the graphics were rather good for a 3rd party Wii game.
AdventureGamers ranked Fate of Atlantis the #11 best adventure game of all-time.
Portal 2 was #10.
If you've ever liked any old point-and-click adventure games, it's a no-brainer. I got mine on GOG.
@dringosa I almost picked it up a few years ago, but I’ve drifted away from playing games on PC a while ago. While my rig is fine, my setup is not ideal so it takes a good 20 minutes to pull everything out for a PC gaming session.
Usually I don't leave angry comments but lego indiana jones 2 for the ds is better then the one on the wii and it is much better the lego indiana jones on the ds.
I‘m missing the Indy Jones Pinball table from Pinball FX3 (Switch) in this list. Would be my number two behind Fate Of Atlantis
Nah temple of doom for NES was way better than sole of the games you listed here. I call BS
You forgot Indiana Jones: The PInball Adventure once again. The table is considered a pinball classic by aficionados and the FX3 game, while not universally loved because of how they separated it from the rest of the package, is still a good translation that took forever to come to fruition.
I played both of the Lego Indiana jones on the wii when I was younger. Probably the best Lego games I’ve played
I'm a little surprised to see any of the Nes games on this list. As i recall none of them were good but my memory is a little fuzzy on those. I remember renting last crusade and not particularly enjoying it but i was also Like 10 or something. Was i wrong about it being as bad as i remember?
I used to have infernal machine on N64. That one was pretty awesome but a bit clunky and confusing like the early Tomb raider games. I Don't think it's aged exactly well.
@Cashews @sportvater
I wholeheartedly agree! When Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure hit the arcades in 1993 it was immense fun (literally immense, as it was a widebody pin and those things weighed a ton) and still is very fondly remembered - today it sits at number 5 on the Internet Pinball Machine Database's fan-rated top 10 list of solid-state pinball machines. I'd daresay it outshone any Indiana Jones videogame in the arcades or on home consoles at the time.
I was excited to see the pin digitized and added to Pinball FX3 a year or two ago. It's a licensed game with authentic art, music, and voicework, so the port cost more than a typical pinball sim, but it's well worth it if you enjoy video pinball sims and remember playing Indy in real life.
I think Zen's attention to detail and hard work rounding up the licenses needed to port this classic deserves more than a shout out here.
@dartmonkey Can't you please consider including it into this Best Indy List officially?
Edit: After all, Zen's Star Wars Pinball made NintendoLife's "Best Star Wars Games" list.
Granted, that was a full retail & eshop release, whilst Indy is just DLC for Pinball FX3. Hmm... I'll stop pestering now.
Oh that's easy, it's La-Mulana and its sequel La-Mulana 2, superb games both with some of the best video game music ever.
Didn't realise Indie had so many games! Loved the first Lego game a ton as a kid, my copy of the sequel was faulty
...I suppose that reflects on the quality of the Crystal Skull.
The original Temple of Doom arcade is great! I used to pump quarters in that thing at the mall. The NES port is unfortunately not as good.
The only Indiana Jones game I've ever played was a demo (?) of Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures on Windows wayyy back in the day (going back nearly 30 years, I think), which was kind of an RPG game.
I remember liking it a lot, but I think I would've gotten stuck quite early on and not knowing what to do or where to go next.
Why include 5 games that are rather bad on the list? Just leave the bad ones out and mention them in 10 best ones.
I wouldn't mind the better games representing this film series being remastered on the Switch tbh (any of the top 6 in your list here). I liked the older films from back in the day. Good fun.
I actually barely played any of these games.
I wish Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures would be re-released somehow.
Indiana Jones really doesn't lend itself to a game, most movies don't. I think Great Circle is good for one playthrough and that's basically it. You would think it would translate more but puzzles are better if not realistic. Zelda will always outdo Indy games
@MontyCircus Translation, there's an epic gap in 10 to 11.
Mine is Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) as I was hooked on point & click games in the 90’s ❤️
That "Ubisoft" Last Crusade game I thought was developed by Tiertex, and I thought it was ported to seemingly every other 8-bit console and home computer under the sun and even the Genesis.
That Young Indiana Jones NES game... was it really developed by Chris Gray Enterprises? I only learned about it a few years ago from a streamer who played it and it absolutely screamed of a contracted Japanese developer in the best way. Way too off the script to believe LucasArts made it (see the difference between the Namco and LucasArts' "Star Wars" NES games) and definitely a bit above the quality mark we'd usually expect of Jaleco and Chris Gray.
You play enough NES platformers and can sense a certain quality of unnamed Japanese developer origin in the visuals and music. (Not at all suggesting they specifically made this but I mean it in the sense that you can "smell" a Natsume 8- and 16-bit action game, from their consistency, even in their uncredited contracted work.)
And that Indy Jr. can freakin' punch a tank!
I recall hearing The Infernal Machine was rather buggy, to say the least, on official N64 hardware, let alone the process of emulating it (including clone hardware in that). Though I could be thinking of Rogue Squadron (where I recall the same developer Factor 5 created the unique challenge to digital presrvationists by being one of if not the only game to upload its own engine to the N64 video chip rather the stock Nintendo driver, so I've been told).
Also with the topic of best Indy games, how have we gone this far without a Hydlide joke?
I didn't know Fate of Atlantis was on the Wii as well. Definitely one of the best Indy games, that one and Great Circle, of course.
The Great Circle is awesome. Hands down, the best Indy game. It could have been a movie, a better one than some...
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/pinball-fx-indiana-jones-the-pinball-adventure-70050000053621-switch/ Let's add this to the list! 😁
It will likely never happen unless some sort of time-traveling jiggery-pokery is involved in the story, but it would be really cool if there was a video game that crossed over Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and Uncharted. I would love to see Indy, Lara Croft, and Nathan Drake all meet and work together to save the world.
Never knew the history was so… troubled. It’s almost like the films. There are some fantastic entries, bonafide classics. On the other hand, a lot of stinkers.
The general trend shows more respect to the series overtime, and I’m glad to see so many others enjoying The Great Circle.
I am excited to see where MachineGames goes next.
The very bottom game, the NES one, has a huge nostalgia for me, but on the ZX Spectrum which received a version in 1989 (along with all 8-bit and 16-bit home micros in the UK). Objectively, I know it's quite rubbish, but there was a playable demo with the first computer magazine I ever bought myself, and I got the full game as part of the 'Hollywood Collection' compilation. Good times!
(It's weird that the NES version was released so late though, and from a different publisher...)
So, overall, the Indy games are pretty bad with only a few high notes. I'm glad to see the latest entry is an exception to the rule. For me Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis will always be the best game, because nostalgia.
To be honest, I was never a fan of the character, even though I enjoyed his movies. I think Spielberg's directing style had something to do with it, which is why I didn't worship him.
On the other hand, I also enjoyed his video games, and in my opinion, the SNES version is the best, and that's a firm no-brainer. I only played the Wii version briefly and then left it lying around. I also have the DS version, which is still sealed, and next month I'm going to buy the Switch 2 version. In my entire collection of NES and Game Boy games, I'm sure I have the Young Indiana Jones game somewhere, or maybe another one I can't remember, and I think I have one more for Game Boy.
The Infernal Machine game for N64 is one of the few games I'm missing for that console. I had the chance to buy it back then, but I didn't have the money, and by the time I got paid at the end of the month, someone had already bought it.
By the way, they left out Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb for PS2.
Wow I wasn't aware that the Fate of Atlantis had been ported to the Wii, it's arguably one of the best point and click adventures ever made. It would be great to play it on the Switch too, maybe even with touch controls.
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