NES Games No One Played: Letter V

I’ve got a pretty extensive NES collection and have for years been writing about the best games for the system while also trying to collect every title. As such, I feel like I’ve spent tons of time playing all the great games while the lesser known titles usually come in the mail and go straight onto the shelf. I wanted to make more of an effort to explore the entire library of the NES, not just the classics, and so I’m trying out some buddies I either popped in and immediately out or never played in the first place. There were only four official NES games released in North America that begin with the Letter V and since they’re all relatively obscure, I figured “hey, why not just review them all?”

• Letter A can be found here
• Letter B can be found here
• Letter C can be found here
• Letter D can be found here
• Letter E can be found here
• Letter F can be found here
• Letter G can be found here
• Letter H can be found here
• Letter I can be found here
• Letter J can be found here
• Letter K can be found here
• Letter L can be found here
• Letter M can be found here
• Letter N can be found here
• Letter O can be found here
• Letter P can be found here
• Letter Q can be found here
• Letter R can be found here
• Letter S can be found here
• Letter T can be found here
• Letter U can be found here

VEGAS DREAM | 1990

Alright, this week I’m gonna try to keep these short and sweet. The letter V doesn’t really offer the most essay worthy games (other than Vice: Project Doom of course), but every game’s got it’s own unique quirks right?! So let’s see what ol’ Vegas Dream has to offer.

As you can imagine, Vegas Dream is indeed a gambling simulator with four games to choose from: Blackjack, Roulette, Slots, and Keno. There’s really not much to say about any of them, if you’ve played Blackjack with friends, at a casino, on a computer, or on a toaster it’s still the exact same game: Blackjack. The same goes for the rest of lot. There are however a few surprising extra features to Vegas Dream. One, it’s got a save feature, which was not super common in NES titles let alone in games like this. Two, Vegas Dream is also a sort of RPG. On the first in-game night I played one round of Roulette, won ten bucks, and then a bodacious babe asked me out on a date to watch a Rockettes number. Awesome! I mean it’s not exactly Contra level action, but it’s slightly more entertaining than playing virtual Keno!

Hmm scratch that, Vegas Dream is really more like a Choose Your Own Adventure. You’ll be periodically confronted by various personalities who spill drinks on you, try to sell you stocks, ask for loans, etc. and depending on your choices you can make extra dough between games. Neat! There’s even a desired perfect ending which features you and your hot mulleted trophy wife lounging by the pool. Ahhhh, I get it. This is the a realization of the dream…of Vegas!

Similar Games: Casino Kid 1 & 2

VICE: PROJECT DOOM | 1991

Vice: Project Doom, what an inscrutable title that is! If you’re deep into the NES library, you’re probably already familiar with this game. Along with Shatterhand, Power Blade 1&2, and Shadow of the Ninja, Vice Project Doom is one of the best “hidden gem” action games on the system. You will find it listed in almost any Google search for “Top 100 NES Games” or for “Best NES Hidden Gems”. These search terms are also the best way to learn about the NES library, and also possibly lead you to my in-depth but functionally struggling website :)

The gameplay of Vice Project Doom is almost entirely a Batman style action platformer. Seriously, it bears a strong STRONG resemblance to the Sunsoft classic. You’ve got a main laser whip-like weapon and two projectiles that use ammo. At the end of each stage is a bossfight each of which are all pretty inspired. There’s also a couple of first person shooter stages a la Adventures of Bayou Billy, and there’s a couple of driving levels that are more vertical scrolling shooter than say Spy Hunter. Interspersed between each stage are these very well rendered cutscenes that propel a surprisingly in depth plot along. Seriously, compared to most NES games this is like a novel’s worth of exposition.

The stage design, sprite animations, and of course the cutscenes are some of the best on the system. The music is rad, the gameplay is diverse, the difficulty is pretty medium and won’t intimidate anyone thinking they’re in for Ninja Gaiden frustration levels here. Seriously, it’s one of the best NES games out there , if you haven’t played it at least give it a shot and see for yourself. Preferably you’ll get a physical copy so you can feast your eyes on the artistic goldmine that is its sweet sweet cover art.

Similar Games: Shatterhand, Batman, Ninja Gaiden

VIDEOMATION | 1991

Since the other three titles on this list are not exactly obscure (and my goal with this series was to highlight the neglected and obscure NES titles), I thought about covering solely Videomation this week. However, if you’ve played Videomation you’ll know that there’s really not a ton to say about it other than the description on the cover is extremely accurate: “Not a game! A drawing and animation system!” Well at least it didn’t say anything misleading!

Videomation is…well it’s more of a Microsoft Paint style drawing program. You’ve got a blank screen and a few tools to choose from like a pencil, paint bucket, shape creator, etc….standard old school features. You can only select from ten colors, and they’re a really bizarre pallet choice. There’s white, green, and a violet purple, but there’s also these awful early 90’s chevron patterns that remind me of the shitty wrapping paper I used to sell door to door for school. With these colors and tools you can draw to your heart’s content! I mean it’s not the most primitive program I’ve seen, and it’s certainly better than Color a Dinosaur, but that’s really not saying much. There’s also some pre-drawn stickers if you’re feeling not so creative.

There are “animations” that you can add to the screen, but they’re more like preset patterns. They kind of remind me of like silly screen savers from the early Windows, just a plane that randomly flies across the screen or a baby that awkwardly crawls in one direction. You can kind of guide their trajectory, but otherwise you have no control over their actual animation and for sure there’s no way to animate your own drawings. It’s as basic as it gets and I honestly can’t imagine anyone past present or future “playing” with this for more than 5 minutes.

The most hilarious thing about Videomation is that it advertises that you can save your animations with your VCR. At first I thought “whoa shit, that’s some deep tech for 1991!”, but then I realized that this only means that while you’re playing the game you just hit record on you VCR. Meaning that no, this isn’t some grand innovation, it’s the exact same thing as you recording your Super Mario speedrun or those brief moments of almost boobs from the scrambled signal of the Playboy channel.

Similar Games: Tiny Toon Adventures: Cartoon Workshop, Color a Dinosaur

VOLLEYBALL | 1987

Alright, Black Box! I didn’t get an NES until the Mario / Duck Hunt era of the system and as such I never really played the original Black Box sports titles like Soccer, Tennis, Golf, or Baseball. Thing is though, I knew those games existed even if I didn’t know anyone that owned them. However, it wasn’t until 20 years later that I learned about the existence of Volleyball. Well, time to grab the Q-Tips and the Brasso and put this old timer to work!

For starters, this is the only game I can think of where you’ve immediately got the option to play as either women or men, with the women option coming first. How progressive! Next to the options there’s sprites of either two women or two men jostling back and forth. With the women it looks like they’re twerking, but with the men it looks more like they’re power thrusting with their arms out. Is that just my own gender bias? Holy shit, once you start the game all your teammates just stand there twerk thrusting their little hearts out! Hahaha, dear god I could watch this on loop forever.

The gameplay itself is very typical of the era: simple screens, simple sprites, simple gameplay mechanics. It’s honestly a lot like Tennis only oriented horizontally. I have no idea why, but they made the volleyball itself about half the size of the person hitting it so when you’re waiting to serve it just looks like your player is humping the shit out of that oversized ball.

Y’all, it doesn’t really matter what else I say. If you were thinking this game was just a primitive sports title, well, it is. If you weren’t expecting possibly the most arousing 8-bit spritework around, well then hold onto to your butts!

Similar Games: Super Spike V-Ball, Kings of the Beach

OTHER LETTER V GAMES (CLASSICS)

Ummmmm….

OTHER LETTER V GAMES WORTH TRYING (TENGEN)

Vindicators

OTHER LETTER V GAMES WORTH AVOIDING (UNLICENSED)

Venice Beach Volleyball