The Nintendo Entertainment System
represented a sea change in what video game consoles could do and how
they were received at home. Released in 1985 in North America, the
NES came out at a time when the American market was still reeling
from the great industry crash of 1983. Compared to the Atari 2600
which was the previous home console of choice, the NES had better
graphics, sound, processing power, and yes, gimmicks. The 1985 launch
was actually limited to New York City for the holiday season, and was
then expanded in 1986 when it was clear to be a success.
The history of the console and its
impact has been exhaustively covered elsewhere, but I wanted to touch
on the games themselves. Specifically, the games that launched in
1985 with the console. So I revisited them to see what's genuinely
worth playing in the modern era. For purely educational purposes.
I still don't really believe in
numerical ratings, so I'll divide it up between “Not Recommended,”
“Meh” (which is effectively “its not bad, but you're not
missing out on anything if you don't play it”) and “Recommended.”
(Almost) all of the games were released
on the familiar black boxes with pixel animation art that lent a nice
unified theme to the launch titles, but if you see Famicom box art
below, its because I think the art's cooler, which is the only metric
that matters.
Not Recommended
10-Yard Fight
A 1985 port of a 1983 arcade game (both
from Japanese developer Irem), 10-Yard Fight is an awkward, clunky
approximation of American Football. Its not good, and the music of
the NES version gets grating quickly, but hey, its an American
Football game for the American launch year.
Baseball
Internally developed by Nintendo, this
is a better approximation of the sport its based on than 10-Yard
Fight is on its own sport, and features all of the standard baseball video game
mechanics, but the controls are pretty bad, especially when trying to
control the outfielders.
Tennis
Another internally developed sports
game, and more playable than the ones mentioned above, and the
character moves responsively. Unfortunately the racket controls are
lacking.
Pinball
Also internally developed, this is a
reasonable approximation of a pinball table with some decent ball
physics and a minigame zone where you can play as Mario doing a
little Breakout game. But the presentation is merely okay, and lacks
an energetic presentation to elevate it above an average Pinball
table. Its just barely on the wrong side of “Meh.”
Gyromite AKA Robot Gyro
One of two games for the R.O.B. Robot
gimmick, here there are two game modes: one where you navigate
platforms and collect bombs and avoid monsters using the robot to
lift and lower barriers, and a second one where you lift and lower
barriers to guide a sleepwalking scientist. The graphics, music, and
animations are all really good, but the gameplay is sorely lacking,
and most people don't have a working R.O.B. To even get that far.
Stack Up AKA Robot Block
The other R.O.B. game. This one is even
more dependent on the robot to move stacks of physical objects.
Needless to say, without R.O.B., this is effectively unplayable.
Meh
Clu Clu Land
An NES port of a 1984 Nintendo arcade
game, Clu Clu Land is like Pac-Man, only aquatic themed and the
character is controlled by grabbing onto posts to change direction
and avoiding enemies. So not that much like Pac-Man at all, really. Its okay, but
the controls take some getting used to.
Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman
Two of the light gun games
for the system. Hogan's Alley is a police themed shooting gallery
game where you shoot criminal standups and avoid civilian ones. Wild
Gunman is a cowboy themed dueling game. The presentation looks good,
but they're dependent on having a light gun and a CRT TV to play them
on. If you don't have either, you're not going to have a good time.
Ice Climber
Climb a mountain, break blocks, collect
vegetables, there's a bear with sunglasses. Ice Climber has extremely finicky jumping controls, which
is a problem since the game is all about verticality. If you can
adjust to that, the game has a real charm. Its good enough to get
into Smash Bros.
Kung-Fu AKA Kung-Fu Master
Another Irem game, this one's loosely
based on a Jackie Chan movie, but is more notable as one of the first
Beat 'Em Up games. Its rough around the edges, but the elements are
all there: punch, kick, jump, crouch,boss fights, girl kidnapped by
evil guy that you're trying to rescue. Everything is there there, along with some
digitized voices, but doesn't really gel together into what the genre
would become.
Recommended
Golf
Its...golf. A surprisingly decent and
fun golf game without any pretense. Challenging and deep enough
without going overboard. The most fun sports title in the launch window is a golf game.
Duck Hunt
Odds are, if you had an NES, you had
this game. Arguably the best of the light gun games, this had two
modes: duck hunting where if you miss, your dog laughs at you, and
skeet shooting, where you shoot skeet. If you want to play an NES
light gun game, this is the one (fun is dependent on having a working zapper and a CRT television).
Elevator Action
A dark horse entry from developer Taito, and
based on their 1983 arcade classic. Ride elevators and escalators
down a building, sneaking into specific rooms to get files and
shooting enemy spies along the way. A solid port of the arcade game,
and thoroughly enjoyable. Except for the music. The music's terrible.
Excitebike
Bike excitedly across a motocross track
as you dodge obstacles, other bikes, ramps, and speed boosts as you
try to manage your overheating meter. There's also a track creation
mode that's hindered by an inability to save the tracks on the NES
version.
Wrecking Crew
Navigate stages and smash up walls,
doors, and other objects while avoiding giant animated wrenches and
the occasional fireball in a puzzle platformer. It feels incredibly solid to figure out the
right path to solve the map and its funny seeing Mario in a hardhat.
Mario? Then that means....
Super Mario Bros.
If there is a single game from the 1985
NES lineup that is obligatory playing today, its Super Mario Bros.
Graphics, music, controls, power ups, secrets, art design, level
layout, EVERYTHING. Everything clicks for this game, and more than
any other game in this lineup, ushered in the next generation of video games. You
could play a bad Football game on the Atari, but you couldn't play
anything like this. This was Nintendo's “killer app” in 1985.
Hands down the best game on the system in 1985.
