Never Played NES

[Arjak]

You've never played NES, huh? You're in for a treat! Here's a few suggestions of games that are excellent (IMO) that are not talked about too much:

Adventures of Lolo - A unique puzzle game series by HAL. Known as the Eggerland series in Japan.

Power Blade - A fun, often overlooked action game. Not to be confused with Power Blazer, the much-inferior Japanese version.

Blaster Master - A unique take on the MetroidVania genre.

Goonies II - Another decent (but strange) MetroidVania based on the classic movie from the '80s.

River City Ransom/Street Gangs - A Beat 'em up/RPG with tons of personality.

[cho_aniki]

I have also never had a NES. In fact I don't think the NES was ever released in South Africa where I grew up. I can remember a rich friend had one as his father had managed to import one somehow and I did play it a few times when I visited his house.

Is it generally cheaper to collect PAL titles or NTSC titles? And which version of the hardware should one get?

[Tatsujin]

why in the hell would one possibly like to collect PAL games for the NES?

And since you seem to be located in japan(?), certainly non of the above :idea:

[cho_aniki]

I play a lot of my consoles in PAL format and being from South Africa I have a large PAL collection. Having said that, I don't even have a PAL Turbografx. It really depends on the console, for some like the Megadrive I have a lot of both.

One of the huge advantages of many PAL consoles, for me anyhow, is the Peritel/Scart connection which means getting the best possible picture without having to do any modifications.

As far as the NES is concerned, I don't really know which is why I was asking.

[Tatsujin]

I play a lot of my consoles in PAL format and being from South Africa I have a large PAL collection. Having said that, I don't even have a PAL Turbografx. It really depends on the console, for some like the Megadrive I have a lot of both.

One of the huge advantages of many PAL consoles, for me anyhow, is the Peritel/Scart connection which means getting the best possible picture without having to do any modifications.

As far as the NES is concerned, I don't really know which is why I was asking.

so then you're not located in japan as implied in the otehr thread?

euro scart wouldn't do much good on NTSC-J ground anywhy.

you can hook up almost any console via scart, having the appropriate cable. this wasn't exactly a feature of the PAL console itself, but much more of the TV sets sold in PAL fields which preferably supported RGB input more than in the US/JPN fields.
(btw. there were no PAL consoles sold, which came with a scart cable ex-works. if you wanted to use RGB, you had to buy your cable somewhere else).

And yeah, the NES only had AV at best anyway. so no difference there, except that PAL did run like 17% slower and came with huge PAL-bars on the top and bottom.

[cho_aniki]

I am living in Japan but I am from South Africa and have most of my games collection with me here.

I use multi-region CRT televisions for playing my games so I am not stuck with NTSC-J at all.

Most French consoles (technically SECAM) came with a Peritel cable and some output RGB directly (Atari 7800 and Sega Master System for example). The difference in quality is huge when compared with the RF output of the consoles which were sold elsewhere. In this case, it is not simply a question of switching the cable as the consoles sold elsewhere do not output RGB despite being from the same region (ex. UK Atari 7800 and UK Sega Master System). This is why I tend to only use French consoles for playing those systems. Of course the more modern the console, the easier it is to get around this.


But if the NES only outputs AV, then as you say, it makes no difference. My question was more in relation to the games themselves and in which region they would be cheaper to acquire.

[BlueBMW]

Classic DOS games are also a field I'm missing out on.

I shed a tear when I read this sentence....  When you're ready to enter the vast world that is DOS gaming, you just let me know

[Tatsujin]

I am living in Japan but I am from South Africa and have most of my games collection with me here.

I use multi-region CRT televisions for playing my games so I am not stuck with NTSC-J at all.

Most French consoles (technically SECAM) came with a Peritel cable and some output RGB directly (Atari 7800 and Sega Master System for example). The difference in quality is huge when compared with the RF output of the consoles which were sold elsewhere. In this case, it is not simply a question of switching the cable as the consoles sold elsewhere do not output RGB despite being from the same region (ex. UK Atari 7800 and UK Sega Master System). This is why I tend to only use French consoles for playing those systems. Of course the more modern the console, the easier it is to get around this.


But if the NES only outputs AV, then as you say, it makes no difference.

yeah. but as stated above, those where already modified/beefed up consoles and not original off the shelf ware from nintendo, sega, NEC & co.

and i don't know about the 7800 (never had one), but the SMS 1 had standard RGB output everywere, and so did the mega drive and any major console from the PSX era upwards. all you had to do was to purchase a extra RGB cable.

and also as stated above already, without any hardware modification, PAL games (unless they were properly ported, which was almost never the case) would run ca. 17% slower than their NTSC counterparts and also featuring huge PAL bars (about 100 lines -> 625 lines PAL (visible 576) vs. 525 lines NTSC (visible 483)) on the top and bottom screen, which was always a huge minus in my eyes.

My question was more in relation to the games themselves and in which region they would be cheaper to acquire.

and again, since you're located in japan, nothing would be cheaper than aquiring japanese (famicom) games (except for few very expensive rarities) :idea:

also PAL games can be quite pricey at these days, since many of those hipsters jumped on the retro train for descovering their youth a 2nd time.

[esteban]

Karnov is under-appreciated. I consider it a gem.

A lot of folks disagree, but Cobra Command (no! Not the game you are thinking of! A different one) is a brutal game that I absolutely adore. It's Choplifter done better, but I'll warn you, it is challenging (I love it).

There are too many top-tier games for you to play, but when you get a chance, take a break from them and try Karnov and/or Cobra Command.

[Tatsujin]

nothing can be done better than choplifter (arcade, sms) :idea:

[BlueBMW]

Cobra Command on NES is excellent!  I loved acquiring all the various upgrades.  And yes, it was hard.

Now Jackal... that was a fun game...

[Arkhan]

both Cobra Command and Jackal are excellent.

Anyone who disagrees is a retard.

[TR0N]

One gem i can recommend i know it had a pal release.It can be pricey,unless you buy a reproduction of it or have a flashcart.

[DragonmasterDan]

Some of my favorite NES games are

Platformers: Super Mario Bros 1,2 US, 3. Kirby's Adventure, Felix the Cat, Ninja Gaiden 1,2, Castlevania 1,3
RPGs and RPG style games: Dragon Warrior 1,2,3,4 The Legend of Zelda 1 and 2, Crystalis, Star Tropics
Shoot Em ups/Run N Guns: Gun+NAC, Guardian Legend, Stinger, Contra, Super C
Action Adventure games: Metroid, Kid Icarus, Goonies II, Rygar, Little Samson
Simple arcade style games: Kung-Fu, Snow Bros, Bubble Bobble, Ice Climber

There's so many fantastic ones I'm leaving out. But these are all recommendations

[Nando]

There's also this thread with some recommendations

https://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=15308.msg312229#msg312229