Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES is frustration incarnate, but I know tons of us have fond memories of trying to get past the stupid water level, getting run over by steam rollers, failing impossible jumps…you know, all the fun stuff. 🎮
Tetris on NES is still pretty cool, but I prefer the Game Boy version. NES doesn’t have the classic song! 🎮
Dr. Mario is an interesting puzzle game, mostly because of the Mario aspect. To be honest, it’s not my favorite, compared to traditional stacker games like Tetris or even Yoshi. 🎮
Toy Story is definitely an example of the brutal difficulty games aimed at children had back in the 90’s! Many a swear word was (secretly) uttered getting to the RC car level and then immediately losing. Ah, memories… 🎮
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game was a 2 player must-play back in the day, because not everyone had access to the arcade game. I kind of like the NES soundtrack more, myself. Great adaption!
Another Genesis favorite, the original Vectorman was sort of like the Genesis Donkey Kong Country in a way, with psuedo 3D graphics and action oriented gameplay. Great EDM soundtrack too! 🎮
Battletoads is one of my absolutely favorite games of all time. I rented it so much I should have just bought it. I loved the insane difficulty, crazy animations, and the hilarity that ensued during 2 player, since friendly fire was a thing. And David Wise’s score! 🎮
Tiny Toon Adventures is definitely more than inspired by Mario 3, but I still like it, despite the brutal difficulty. 🎮
Earthworm Jim 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I frequently rented it many a weekend and to this day, I can still beat it without too much irritation. I love how it expanded on the original’s formula! 🎮
TMNT 3: The Manhatten Project is one of my favorite games ever, because it’s the first game that was ever my own, due to Kmart offering it on clearance when I was a youngin’. It took me forever before I could get past the first level… 🎮
Sonic 3D Blast is a weird letdown compared to what we were supposed to get with Sonic Xtreme, but it’s got a great soundtrack and some cool level designs. 🎮
Vectorman 2 is a great sequel…awesome sound and graphics, varied gameplay, and less insanely difficult (for me, at least). Surprised Sega hasn’t revived him yet! 🎮
Played through a recent release; the remaster of 2011’s Warhammer Space Marine. Honestly, I shut my brain off and just had fun plowing through the Gears of War mixed with melee combat gameplay. Played a bit over Cloud on a Logitech G Cloud handheld. I’ve got the sequel too, gotta tackle that soon! 🎮
My NES is now 2 player ready! Who wants to do a Battletoads Turbo Tunnel run and immediately crash and die? 🎮
I think pretty much everyone knows what Super Mario Bros. is at this point, but I like to break it out every now and then. It’s one of the first video games I ever played, since it came with our NES. 🎮
Double Dragon was another weekend rental staple when I was a kid, especially if I had a friend over. Spent more time beating on each other than trying to progress in the game. Classic Beat ’em up, great soundtrack. 🎮
Bubble Bobble is still fun to play. Great arcade action gameplay and graphics for it’s time. 🎮
I used to rent Rampage many a weekend from the local video store as a kid; I loved the animations and accidental hilarity that can ensue in 2 player mode! Still a good time. 🎮
I’d only played the remaster of A Boy and His Blob before, so it’s cool checking out what the original was like. 🎮
I finally played through the original NES Metroid in 2023, and it was worth it to see the foundation of one of my favorite Nintendo series. Definitely abused save states, though! 🎮
