The Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo’s first-ever game console. Many of Nintendo’s biggest franchises had their start on the system - Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and more saw their humble origins on the Nintendo Entertainment System and helped make Nintendo (as well as its mustached plumber) a mainstay in pop culture.
There were a total of 715 games released for the NES with only 677 making their way to North America, not to mention the 200 games for the Famicom Disk System. So with almost 250 games not coming to the West, there are sure to be many great games that we missed out on. To help bring some light to some fantastic NES games that you may have never heard of, here are 10 games for the system that were left in Japan.
10 Holy Diver
Holy Diver looks and feels very similar to the Castlevania trilogy for the NES. Like the NES Castlevania trilogy, Holy Diver is incredibly hard. The game is a subtle homage to the song and album by Dio of the same name.
There are many little subtle references to metal that you will find throughout the game, such as characters sharing the same names as Dio's band members and another character named Ozzy. There are many large sprites in the game that are very impressive for the system, with the bosses being especially detailed.
9 Ufouria: The Saga
Ufouria: The Saga is a very colorful and wacky platformer that has a lot of charm and its own personality. Throughout the game, you are tasked with saving your friends so they can later help you with their special abilities. Each friend you enlist has an ability that will help you traverse previously inaccessible areas of the game. There are many odd enemy designs with the blocks in the game even having odd faces. Your character makes weird movements, such as their crawling animation that has them sliding along the ground like a slug.
8 Summer Carnival 92 Recca
Summer Carnival 92 Recca is a shoot ‘em up developed by Naxat and is one of the most technically impressive games on the system. The game pushes the hardware to its limits and has different workarounds to ensure that the fast-paced action doesn’t slow down. The way this is done is by showing explosions at half the framerate as the rest of the game to get around the hardware’s sprite limitations. If you are familiar with the system at all, you will think that there is some trickery going on but it is really just impressive and ingenious programming.
7 Samurai Pizza Cats
Samurai Pizza Cats is a platformer based on an anime of the same name that was created by Tecmo, the same developers who made the difficult Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In Samurai Pizza Cats, you control all five of the Samurai Pizza Cats, all of which have different abilities that help you explore levels or take out enemies. One cat can smash through obstacles, one can fly, and each of them has different jump ranges, speeds, and attacks, giving the game a lot of variety.
6 Mitsume ga Tooru
Mitsume ga Tooru is also based on an anime and has you playing as a three-eyed boy. You can fire a range of projectiles from your third eye, such as a single shot and a triple shot. One of the gimmicks of the game is the ability to summon a trident out of mid-air and either use it as an attack or as a platform to reach higher points. There is an excellent use of sprites in the game, with the main character being especially well-drawn and slightly resembling Mega Man.
5 New Ghostbusters II
New Ghostbusters II not leaving Japan seems like an odd choice as it is based on the very popular American movie series. You play as one of 4 characters with a second character coming along and manning the proton pack. You must blast ghosts with electricity while your partner attempts to suck them up with the proton pack. It's played from a top-down perspective which allows you to strategically approach ghosts. The game captures a lot of the atmosphere created by the movies and television show with creatures like Slimer showing up.
4 Kid Dracula
Kid Dracula is a spin-off of the Castlevania series, where you, as the name implies, play as Dracula as a kid. Many of the enemies present in the Castlevania series also make an appearance in Kid Dracula like bats, Frankenstein’s Monster, and more.
As Kid Dracula, you can shoot out fireballs and over the course of the game to unlock different powerups such as a triple shot, a charged shot, and a homing shot. You also unlock the ability to turn into a bat and fly around for a bit.
3 Sweet Home
Sweet Home was developed by Capcom and based on a Japanese movie of the same name. The game plays out like a classic JRPG where you randomly run into enemies and must take them out to proceed. Where Sweet Home differs is with its permadeath feature, which has your party members stay dead if they ever reach zero health points. Sweet Home is all about picking the right party members and trying to keep them alive.
2 The Mysterious Murasame Castle
The Mysterious Murasame Castle was developed for the Famicom Disk System and created by Nintendo. It is very similar to the original The Legend of Zelda game, with a top-down perspective and a large emphasis on combat. Unlike the Zelda series, The Mysterious Murasame Castle’s levels are timed and play out more like a run and gun rather than an adventure game.
Each level has two acts, one when you are approaching a castle and the second when you are infiltrating the castle. Each level has a large branching path that can lead to dead ends or loop through the level.
1 Mr. Gimmick
Mr. Gimmick is a platformer with the main "gimmick" being the star that you can produce from your head. The star can either be used as a projectile to take out enemies or as a platform to reach high areas. Hidden in each level in a secret plant. In order to unlock the game’s true ending, you must collect all of the secret plants. The game is incredibly well made with some charming visuals and great tunes. Though the game may look cute and friendly, it provides quite a challenge.