NES Games No One Played: Letter A
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. Since I’ve got them organized alphabetically, let’s start with the Letter A (the numbers are pretty boring except for 3D World Runner).
ADVENTURES OF DINO RIKI | 1989
It’s a Hudson soft game, and they all tend to have a certain familiar feel. The music and main character are very reminiscent of Adventure Island while the sprites remind me of ol’ Milon’s Secret Castle. I thought for certain this was a platformer, but I think I confused it with Dino Niki Radical Caveman. It’s a vertical scrolling shooter which I definitely wasn’t expecting and for a shooter it’s at least somewhat forgiving. I’ve always been awful at shooters regardless of which direction they scroll, and the real soul crushers are the games with one hit deaths like Gradius. Dino Riki at least gives you 3 hearts and you can find more as you progress to re-up your health. Also there’s platforming which is super awkward jumping from the bottom of the screen to the top.
I’m not a masochist and as I can only make it about 30 seconds into this game before a Game Over screen, I’m gonna give this guy a hard pass. If you like vertical shooters you may dig this and the demo screen at the beginning showcases some cool enemies, level designs, and music so there may be a reward in there for the right person (one of the weapon upgrades turns Dino Riki into a giant, vain beefcake caveman who shoots mirror images of himself, that’s awesome!)
Similar Games: Gun-Nac, Dragon Spirit, Jackal, Legendary Wings, Image Fight
ADVENTURES OF RAD GRAVITY | 1990
First of all, I love the name Rad Gravity, it sounds like a chapter in my 4th grade Science textbook. Second, I like the Blade Runnerish cyberpunk look of the first level. Third, I like the teleporting from your ship thing where you can access any area by choosing to return there or simply dying. Not sure what the purpose is exactly, but I like the concept.
And that’s about all the nice things I have to say about The Adventures Rad Gravity.
The sprites are pretty lackluster, the stages are full of muddled colors and confusing platforms, the music is annoying and repetitive, and the gameplay is dull. It reminds me of those terrible Color Dreams / Wisdom Treegames like Sunday Funday especially when your dead enemy splits into four pieces and flies away in opposite directions.
Similiar Games: Sunday Funday, Deadly Towers, Ghoul School
AMAGON | 1989
Gotta say, this game has got a lot of charm. I love the title screen with AMAGON in bubble letters and your boring unassuming chump of a hero just standing there, arms at his side, frowning like he forgot to renew his Spotify subscription. Then when you start the game he’s running and grinning like crazy, gleefully rifleing the shit out of the usual island enemies of bats, snakes, bees etc. You can “transform” Altered Beast style into a buffer version of yourself who can’t shoot but can uppercut bad guys. His punching is not super effective, but he has an actual lifebar in this form so it for sure makes things easier than captain shrimpy one-hit kill.
The music’s great, the visuals are bright and colorful, and the sprites are decent, but it also has one hit deaths, cheap enemies, obstacles you can’t see until it’s too late; all traits that a majority of the NES platformers share. I think if I’d owned this 30 years ago, I’d probably be pretty good at it but that’s the tough thing about playing these kind of games now. Most people sleep on Astyanax because it’s kind of generic, but I owned it as a kid. Since I didn’t have any other games or anything better to do, I grinded away on it til I knew where every enemy was on every level and I eventually mastered it. Unless you’re willing to play Amagon over and over and over again til you reach full wizard, you’re not going to have much fun just picking it up and playing because you will die, a lot, and there’s a million other options out there that didn’t exist in 1989.
Similar Games: Adventure Island, Kid Kool, Kabuki Quantum Fighter
ARKISTA’S RING | 1990
I’ve heard people compare this to Legend of Zelda, but I feel like that’s only based on the top down perspective and setting. Arkista’s Ring is really more of an arcade style game where you must defeat every enemy on the screen before you get a key that opens the door to the next level. Along the way you can get power ups that you can use to defeat certain arrow immune enemies, and also armor and other accessories which I think are really just a way of extending your life bar since you lose them when you get hit.
Arkista’s Ring is pretty fun, and while the gameplay isn’t exactly Diablo levels of addictive, the quick pace of the levels definitely make you want to keep going. However once you realize there’s 125 stages and the monotony of the experience starts to set in, you’ll probably want to try a different game. I will say though that the music in this game is pretty good for what it is, especially that hot Dungeon Theme. It reminds me of the Monster Party music once things go batshit crazy.
Similar Games: Gauntlet, Spiritual Warfare
OTHER LETTER A GAMES (CLASSICS)
Adventures of Lolo 1–3 | Abadox | Adventures in the Magic Kingdom | Astyanax
OTHER LETTER A GAMES WORTH TRYING
Adventures of Gilligan’s Island | Anticipation | Air Fortress | Archon
OTHER LETTER A GAMES WORTH AVOIDING
Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Attack of the Killer Tomatoes | Alfred Chicken | Athena