darthmix

Yeah, this game is a 10. It feels stupid to say it's better than Super Metroid, since this game wouldn't exist without Super Metroid. But if you love that style of game, they just don't get any better than this.

Well, if nothing else, this has been a pretty good excuse to play through SMB3 again. The SNES graphics are nice; they don't dramatically improve the game but the game itself is ridiculously solid.

Yeah this game rules. I'm late to the party but super addicted at the moment. Just a straight old-fashioned arcade racer with an awesome sense of speed.

I adore the look of Cuphead but I just know I wouldn't enjoy the game all that much. An endless boss rush is not my thing. But if they bring Ori to switch I'd eat that up, that's the 1 game that kind of makes me regret skipping Xbox this gen.

So from everything I've heard the port is actually fine. This reviewer just didn't care for the game. Which is also fine.

I played the crap out of this on PS4 so I probably won't double dip. But if you didn't, and a heavily souls-like metroidvania sounds interesting to you, for real give this a try. I think you are in for a treat.

I adored this on PS4. And I'm not even that big of a Souls fan. Maybe this is just a bad port?

Kinda surprised by how excited I am for this.

It probably helps that Retro is the one doing it.

So I only got to play it for a little while last night, and I'm just on level three. But as of right now I'll say this is a solid FPS; not mind-blowing, yet, but a fun corridor shooter. I definitely understand the comparisons to Perfect Dark; the game has that slick, cool, X-Files/superspy feel to it, as opposed to the epic all-out war feeling that a game like Halo gives you. The levels so far are discreet, not huge, but focused and well layed-out, with plenty of corners to creep around and stuff to duck behind; good places for firefights. The controls are definitely a high point, maybe my favorite FPS controls on a console so far, definitely my favorite on Wii. One complaint I have is that the levels I've played are very straightforward; Perfect Dark at least required some backtracking and exploration, but the levels in this game have a defined route from start to finish. Hopefully that will change later. Again, I'm commenting based on just the very beginning of the game.

The more I hear about this game the more I want it.

Definite instant purchase. Nintendo, this is how you get my money.

Instant buy.

I guess this could be useful if you have an Amazon gift card and you want to use it to buy World of Goo. I mean, you could just use the Amazon card to buy Wii points instead, but then you'd have to wait for the card to ship.

Yay, a positive review. I always felt this game got sort of a bum rap from reviewers, particularly as time went on.

@Jogurt: I think the "step back" is supposed to refer to the fact that the player character and point-of-view have more in common with the older arcade games than with the NES game. IIRC the protagonist in this game is not Little Mac; he's never named, and is comperable in size to his opponents.

@Ian Daemon, Ikiosho: The NES Karate Champ is a port of the dual-joystick arcade fighter of the same name. IIRC International Karate follows Karate Champ's model REALLY closely, to the point that it could almost be called a ripoff or clone. But the NES port didn't come out until some years later, so this was as close as you got to the Karate Champ experience on a home system for a while.

wait in the car-

Now that we're getting C64 games on the Virtual Console, Montezuma's Revenge is at least a possibility.

Between those three, assuming you've never played any of them, I'd go with Super Metroid, which is one of the best games ever made for any system. Then MM2, which really is one of the pinnacles of NES action-platforming and a definitive game of the time. Gunstar Heroes would be third; it's a great game, but it's kind a niche action title for Treasure fans and its hyper-frantic pacing might not appeal to everyone.

I've never been the biggest Mega Man fan - I dunno, the series always felt sorta repetative to me - but I do have fond memories of this game. It's well-designed, the sprites are beautifully drawn, and the action-platforming is totally solid. The theme from Flash Man's stage is probably my single favorite piece of music from an NES game. Looking forward to it.

Eh. It was the best-looking beat 'em up of its day, but the lack of 2-player support on the SNES version REALLY hurts it. It definitely has its moments if you don't mind going solo but for this sort of thing Streets of Rage 2 & 3 are better in nearly every way, especially if you've got a friend along.

You know, honestly, there's a reason this game didn't "make it" as a key Nintendo franchise the way Metroid and Zelda did: it isn't nearly as good. There are little kernels of greatness; the three "dungeon" stages at the end of each world have hints of Zelda-esque design, for instance. And the final shooter-type stage, when Pit is at full power, is cool. But that's too little too late; the bulk of the platforming levels never really transcend their early NES feel. They're not just hard; they're sparse, and you feel you just aren't doing very much as you slog through them. The boss battles are made artificially hard - also, tedious - simply by forcing you to land a ridiculous number of hits before they'll die. the game isn't bad, I guess, but unlike Metroid (its sister title) this game just never rises above its 8-bit roots.

No, it's not 720. It was clearly aiming for 720's market, hence the title, but this is more of a "Summer Games" type of game, i.e. a collection of discreet, unconnected events.

It actually wasn't a bad game on its own, though the different events are hit or miss. I remember playing the downhill course over and over and over again to improve my time. I got so I could get to the bottom in less that twenty seconds every try.

There's no denying that this is a classic, or that its significance on gaming history is massive. But for me, playing it today, it just doesn't have the depth to keep you coming back in the way that Mario's other 8-bit adventures do. Platform gaming really matured on the NES, and SMB1 is at the beginning of that curve. It's a nice distraction, and worthwile for its historical value, and it obviously deserves endless respect for the empire it set up but on its own it just doesn't have the epic feel of some of the other Mario classics on the VC. Unless I had points to burn I'd probably skip this and download SMB3 or World.

Yeah, it's hard. It probably is just a little too hard - if the difficulty weren't quite so punishing, this would be on all sorts of SNES favorites lists. The presentation is fantastic, the graphics and music are shining examples of the SNES era, and the levels are interesting enough that you're usually willing to fight on to see what's next. It's too bad the difficulty will turn so many people away, but I guess that just makes it a favorite of the hardcore. I just barely beat it on my SNES, and once was enough for me, so I probably won't download it now; but if you're looking for a real challenge, it has that, and quality to go with it.

The defining platform game of the 16-bit generation. That's right: 16-bit. SMB3 might have 8-bit graphics, but its gameplay and design defined platforming conventions for the entire next generation of consoles. It was the first such game to use a map screen - and its used it better than nearly any platform game since, with power-ups that affect the map and levels that actually move from location to location. The levels themselves are masterpieces of design, both complex and accesible. They scroll right, left, up, down... sometimes on their own, so that Mario must be quick to keep up. And they're brilliantly varied - there's the standard grass-and-cloud levels, cave-like pyrmaids in the desert world, labrynthine castles. World 4 is filled with giant enemies, world 7 is a maze of pipes - both on the map, and in the levels themselves. The final world is gloomy and wonderfully climactic. Super Mario World is a great game, but it's really just an evolution of the marvelous innovation found here; not until Yoshi's Island would Nintendo top this 2D platforming masterpiece.

My all-time favorite "shmup" game. I can't even say what it is, exactly, that puts this game above Gradius III, or Gate of Thunder, or even more recent shmups like Einhander for me. I guess it's that the level design is superb and the force-weapon and power-ups seem to be more thoughtfully designed than any other shmup I've played. It's wonderfully hard, but thanks to supsend points on virtual console you don't even have to beat it in one sitting like you did on the SNES. If you like shooters, this is a no-brainer.

Yeah, I thought this game was pretty overhyped. Take away the graphics and you've got a fairly standard, really easy 2D platform game. It's not bad, but on gameplay terms the other popular platformers of the day - Mario World 1 & 2, and the Sonic games - absolutely blow this out of the water. The sequel was a big improvement that finally delivered on the gameplay promises this game made. Don't get me wrong, for 800 points it's a bargain, but DKC2 is a much better value for the same price.

If this game didn't have the Zelda name on it, but had the exact same gameplay and design, it'd be one of the most fondly-remembered NES games. It's only in comparison with the the rest of the Zelda games (which make up one of the most brilliant franchises of all time) that this seems to suffer. On its own it's a terrific 8-bit adventure, deep and challenging and fun.

What else is there to say? It's a masterpiece. My second-favorite SNES game, after Super Metroid.

It was fun in its day, but it's got that very-early-NES feel and aside from the track editor the game itself just doesn't have enough to recommend it. The N64 sequel was awesome, though.

I guess this means Nintendo FINALLY got blast processing.

(that's a joke btw)

This is probably my favorite racing game of all time. It's simple, easy to pick up and play, and it's incredibly exciting. Nintendo sacrificed visual detail to achieve a liquid-smooth framerate, and it was a good trade. GX is an okay game but it didn't come close to the pure joy of this one.

If they bring it to North America VC, I'll download it. This was one of the cooler-looking games that I never got a chance to play the first time around because my family didn't own a Genesis.

Great platformer. The first game was a bit overrated; it was too straightforward, and a bit on the easy side. Here, though, everything's working right: the gameplay is more refined, the levels are more complicated and have more variety, and the difficulty ramps up nicely as you go. And the thing that WAS great about the first game - the graphics - is just as great here. If you're torn between DKC1 and this, this one is a much better value.

Looks like Montezuma's Revenge with scrolling.

A terrific action game. Can't wait for this.

A classic. Nothing bad to say about this game.

But, I'm gonna wait for Super Punch-Out. Sorry.

This is Castlevania perfected. The later Metroid-vanias (SotN, and the GBA games) are fine, but they're fundamentally a different animal. This takes the concept and spirit of the original NES game and amps it up in every way. We've seen thousands of get-to-the-end-of-the-level-and-kill-the-bad-guy action games, but few are done as stylishly or with as much care as this. Super Castlevania IV is the defining action game of its era, and one of the best games ever made.

I remember getting this and Super Castlevania IV around the same time, and this game really suffered from the inevitable comparison. The action/god sim combo was a nice idea, but I can't help feeling that neither element really stands on its own, and aside from the absolutely phenomenal music the action levels are only decent. Actraiser II focused entirely on the action and was a better game for it. That would make a nice VC addition. Still, there are much worse games than this in the VC library right now.

Dear Nintendo,

Please bring Yoshi's Island SNES to the VC, as it was the greatest platform game ever made for that system. Yes, better than Mario world and way better than DKC. If you do this for me, I will give you a great big manly hug.

Love,
darthmix