8 NES Games You Didn't Know Were Sequels (Nintendo Entertainment System)

PATREON ► / bigolewords
STREAMS ► Every Thursday 9pm EST here on KZbin
NES GAMES YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE SEQUELS ► I mean, not "YOU" obviously, YOU already knew all of this before I even thought it. Probably even before the games themselves were released. Nothing slips past YOU!
#retrogaming #nintendo #nes
A lot of your favorite games for the Nintendo Entertainment System received follow-ups in cartridge form, and for some reason many of them flew under the radar. This is the first in a series focused on these forgotten sequels, beginning with a few games you may or may not know already :)
Part one of this series can be found here: • Obscure Sequels to Pop...
Part two of this series can be found here: • Obscure Sequels to Pop...
Part three of this series can be found here: • Educational Spinoffs o...
Part four of this series can be found here: • Bubble Bobble and Its ...
► If you're looking to get into retro reviewing or streaming, here's some of the equipment I used for both or either. My current setup is what I love now, but honestly I'd say start out with the cheap stuff and get a feel for everything before throwing down a ton of cash on gear you may or may not need.
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CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO
0:00 - Intro
1:17 - Thrilla's Surfari
2:42 - Fire 'N Ice
3:53 - Flying Warriors
5:07 - Little Ninja Brothers
6:20 - Gun Nac
7:19 - The Mafat Conspiracy
9:18 - Snake's Revenge
10:55 - Zoda's Revenge
11:51 - Outro
After years of focusing on the best games for the NES, I decided to change gears and focus on lesser known cartridges that have, for one reason or another, generally escaped the public discussion and general nostalgia. This series highlights many of the relatively unknown, obscure, and unloved titles in the Nintendo Entertainment System's library. Some of these games are at best mediocre. Many are painfully bad, some of the worst NES games around. Most are hilarious for all the wrong reasons! Occasionally, OCCASIONALLY, a handful of them are actually good, borderline hidden gems.
While you won't find any of these on the NES Classic, some of these titles have managed to make their way onto the Nintendo Switch, so if you don't have an original Nintendo console or ROMs escape you ethically or technologically, there are several ways to play them.
Want more? Me too! Until then, lots of other articles where the pictures don't move and words have to be read can be found on my website: top100nesgames.com
/ awinnerisyou
/ bigolewords
nes, nintendo, retro gaming, retro games, gaming, video games,
nes games, 8-bit, old school, nintendo entertainment system, famicom, family computer, 8-bit games, nintendo games, Nintendo gamer, 8-bit gaming, 8 bit, 8-bit gamer, 8-bit music, chiptune, chiptunes, retro gamer, 80s, 90s, 80s video games, 90s video games, game collecting, game collection, retro game collecting, retro game collection, game room tour, gaming tour, NES Hidden Gems, Bad NES Games, Funny NES Games, Nintendo Hidden gems, metal gear, konami, startropics, golgo 13, solomon's key, t and c surf designs, Flying Dragon, zanac, kojima

[@BigOleWords]

This is probably my favorite series to work on, so if you dig check out the other four videos in the series! kzbin.info/aero/PLonSwd9DM1lLILr9K1601Gqt5xtrQR4Mg

[@mattsweeney3790]

Dude , I haven't thought of flying dragon in like 30 years.....core memory unlocked. Amazing video as always. You rock, man.

[@BigOleWords]

You rock too bud!

[@foxyfoxington2651]

The Golgo 13 sequel is little less obscure if you're familiar with the late 1960s manga it's based on (or any of its subsequent anime adaptations).

[@robmoore3176]

Thrilla's Surfari is honestly one of the most underrated games on the entire NES library and it's the best LJN game on the NES as well, and probably really just Maximum Carnage can claim to be a better overall game. The cut scenes are incredible, the game moves very fast and the music is really quite great. Eventually there are surfing, cliff diving and underwater stages that I don't want to spoil.

[@BigOleWords]

I would agree it’s really impressive. I have played it all the way through and while it’s extremely frustrating, it’s 100 times better than I was expecting

[@KurisuBlaze]

Couple of things I could also mention: 1. Flying Dragon is actually the second in the whole Hiryu no Ken series, with the first one being an arcade game localized as Shanghai Kid, which was purely the tournament fighting section. 2. While Renegade had a few sequels, the first game is officially the start of the River City series, which included Super Dodge Ball, River City Ransom, Nintendo World Cup, and Crash 'n' The Boys Street Challenge. Nintendo World Cup is sort of a spinoff of Super Dodge Ball, whereas Street Challenge is a sequel, itself, though its prequel was Japan-only before the remakes. (Heck, the whole Renegade 'family tree' branches out quite far, since it also includes Double Dragon as well as Kunio.)

[@BigOleWords]

Very cool. I love the whole Kunio Kin series including the Famicom exclusives. So much fun gameplay and unique charm :)

[@AngryCalvin]

Arc System Works still makes really good games in the Kunio series that play much like the original games.

[@oscaruglyface]

I was in fact dangerously addicted to the puzzles in fire and ice growing up lol

[@BigOleWords]

Haha should've read the warning label! ;)

[@MegaHarv]

Little Ninja Brothers, yes! I have such strong nostalgia for that game. Legitimately one of my favorite NES titles. I don't know why 2 player co-op features in RPG type games aren't more common. Also Flying Dragon even has an N64 entry of the same name which is a fighting game with 2 modes. One is a mode where you can buy weapons and armor in a chunky Chibi style, while also having a more realistic fighting game mode also, which also happens to be produced by Culture Brain

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! I’d heard there was an N64 version out there but have never tried it :)

[@kevinstyles1991]

One of my favourites too and you almost never hear about it! Some serious nostalgia for Lil’ Ninja Bros!

[@CeeJayThe13th]

🪣

[@MegaHarv]

@@CeeJayThe13th Fancy meeting you here!

[@CeeJayThe13th]

@@MegaHarv I was thinking the the same thing!

[@AnthonyRiddle]

Really cool video. I thought I knew the entire NES library, but you surprised me with a few of these games. Looks like a couple of these are possibly hidden gems

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks! Yeah I’ll get around to many of these at some point but Little Ninja Brothers feels most likely to fit the hidden gem criteria.

[@lasersnake]

It’s so refreshing to watch an intelligent, Nes-focussed channel without the try-hard, cringey skits. Only Game Sack manages to get skits right.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks so much! BUT look out, I’m about to go full zany sketches! BOING!

[@WhiteHat94]

There are actually quite a few water levels in Thrilla's Surfari, most are functionally the same as the skateboarding ones just on rivers instead, but there are some underwater levels. The bosses are also pretty ridiculous. Looking forward to a full vid on it if you decide to.

[@BigOleWords]

Yessir! I played through it after I made this video and quickly realized my mistake :) working on a full review now though!

[@KaylaJoyGunn]

I loved the first person mazes of Lone Ranger. Hated the ones of Fester's Quest. Lone Ranger had few mazes, very simple in design, with plenty of hardcore light gun action. You use one hand on the controller dpad to move, and the light gun in the other hand to shoot. Frankly, it was awesome. Festers had complex mazes, if I remember correctly even including fake walls (bleh), with no action. I think that's why they sat so differently in my brain.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I’m definitely thinking of Festers Quest specifically here. I don’t think I realized Lone Ranger had these kinds of levels! It’s on my list of games to cover so I’ll know soon enough ;)

[@BillyReplies]

I think many of us agree that if some NES games would have been a little easier and more forgiving, they would have been infinitely more fun. It was so disappointing to rent a game on a Friday afternoon after school, play it for 30 minutes, and then not pick it up again for the rest of the weekend. 😂

[@BigOleWords]

Some are difficult and it's part of the appeal. Some are difficult to hide how poorly designed they are. And yeah for sure, some are so intentionally difficult that they prevented a lot of us from playing them for more than a few minutes despite their obvious potential. It's a fine balance that only a few developers could do consistently.

[@Whitehorse_crimefighter]

A lot of the difficulty being tough is because they wanted you to keep renting it. I had a game genie just so I could see the ending of those nes games.. unfortunately a lot of nes games had terrible anticlimactic endings

[@berzerkbankie1342]

I think many would not agree

[@GoodVibeCollecting]

I feel like the days where sequels had completely different names are gone. Not sure if it's because developers are afraid it will hurts sales or if they just want to keep the series uniform.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I agree and I think it’s entirely about sales.

[@DarkmanPoe]

I remember renting "Flying Dragon" and being like, "Wow, this game sucks." And then I proceeded to play the game to death the entire weekend and ended up buying it. 🤷‍♀ I also got "Kung Fu Heroes" for Christmas one year (I assume because it was cheap). I had no idea there was a sequel.

[@BigOleWords]

The beauty of playing NES games back in the day was having limited options and thus sticking it out with harder/crappier titles,

[@TobeyStarburst]

Did u beat it??

[@metalmat3651]

The side scrolling portions of the game are mediocre and it's a slog to get through each section in order to get to the far better tournament fighting parts. You even have to go through a training section before getting into the first tournament which I find unnecessary, that should've been a side option at the start screen. I'm sure many people turned the game off before getting to the first tournament.

[@dpgreene]

I came around to first person mazes when I delved into Wizardry on NES. Really you have to love making your own maps, which I do find surprisingly fun and engrossing. Though playing a dungeon crawler it comes with the territory and its part of the genre. It's kind of annoying in games with multiple genres, when you just want to get back to the action.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I think you're right. Someone mentioned Shining in the Darkness and I did like playing that game where that was the only gameplay style, but games like Fester's Quest and Mafat Conspiracy where you need to beat them in order to progress just rub me the wrong way.

[@eri9326]

I fell in love with first-person dungeon crawls playing 4-player Swords and Serpents with some friends using the FourScore and no guide over the course of a summer.

[@josevillouta4588]

Good to see you back on track doing more good and interesting videos! I just found Zoda’s Revenge (and two other CIB games) at a very good deal today. Now I’m looking forward to play it even more! I finished the first one during Covid. Great game! Cheers!

[@BigOleWords]

I’m tryin! And that’s a nice pickup, Zoda is one of the best titles that folks don’t discuss to often :)

[@CONSOLETRUTH2]

No....if you take out to play the value will drop SIGNIFICANTLY!!!!@! HAHAHHAA, I say who cares. Games are meant to be playes and not to sit on a shelf collecting dust to how much they may be worth!!!!!

[@DC-FGC]

Nice list. It got me thinking of Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard and how they're part of the same branching ur-series. Now that's a rabbit hole of sequels you'd never guess in a million years.

[@BigOleWords]

That is a really weird one for sure. I played both as a kid and didn't realize they were connected for another 20 years or so!

[@DC-FGC]

@@BigOleWords Same here. If not for the internet, I wouldn't have put that together. For me, it was seeing the later Legend of Heroes games - the Trails stuff - and remembering the older PSP Legend of Heroes games that got me to look into it in the first place. Found out that there's a whole Xanadu line, including Faxanadu and Tokyo Xanadu. But the big surprise to me was Legacy of the Wizard. I have no idea why I got that particular game, but it's one of the games I actually owned as a kid. Played a lot of it, but never managed to beat it on my own(I did get a couple of the crowns on my own, which since I was just a little kid at the time I'll take as a good enough victory for me). I didn't know it was related to *anything.* But it's somewhere in the middle of its branch. Since you could only carry 2 items at a time, it made puzzling your way through some of the sections tough. It's one of those games with some very good memories, but also some frustrating ones.

[@toddhouchin3252]

I love the Faria mention. The Guardian Legend could be seen as a Zanac spinoff from Compile complete with Blue and Red Randar! I'll never call them Lander again after playing Zanac.

[@BigOleWords]

Love all the Compile games!

[@riggel8804]

You got to draw your own map with first person dungeon crawlers. I did this for the first time a couple months back with Shining in the Darkness. I enjoyed it.

[@BigOleWords]

I do actually really like Shining in the Darkness and did draw maps for that game. They got it right there

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

I did the same with Shining in the Darkness a few years back. Drawing the maps can really add to the experience. I had tinkered with Eye of the Beholder back in the day, but Shining in the Darkness was my first real dungeon crawler experience. And a great one at that.

[@namebrandmason]

Thrilla's Surfari is a contender for "most divisive NES game." I know people who enjoy it, and people who think it's as garbage as it's predecessor.

[@BigOleWords]

I don’t think it’s garbage, but I do think it’s incredibly difficult!

[@freddyvidz]

T & C Surf Design is not garbage.

[@fargoretro]

I remember having flashbacks to the NES Metal Gear when a friend said I should try Metal Gear Solid. 20 years later still haven't played it

[@BigOleWords]

Solid was my first MG experience and while way better than the NES game , that has it's charms as well :)

[@28Pluto]

Thanks for another new video. I definitely didn't know Flying Warriors was a sequel to another game.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks for watching!

[@BainesMkII]

There were maps for Mafat Conspiracy's mazes inside the instruction manual. They gave you the layouts, but not the locations of enemies or items.

[@BigOleWords]

Oh yeah? That’s pretty cool!

[@SyntheticCK]

Hahaha that David Cross/Mr. Show voice sample brings back so many memories.

[@BigOleWords]

Yayer! Love when people catch the Mr Show reference :)

[@coyote311]

Gun-Nac was such an amazing game! I played it forever and the first time I actually beat it was an absolutely epic moment as it took so much effort and focus!

[@BigOleWords]

Props to you then!

[@otakubullfrog1665]

As a kid, I always wished that Faxanadu would get a sequel only to find out that it technically was one (just not to any game released on the NES).

[@BigOleWords]

That whole thing is so convoluted! I played Legacy as a kid but had no clue it was related to one of my favorite games.

[@DarkmanPoe]

Always thought it was weird that "Mafat Conspiracy" said "Golgo 13 II" on the title screen, but nowhere else.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah it seems like an odd choice

[@BenWard29]

I had never heard of Flying Warriors- I'm going to have to check it out. Always nice to find new NES games! Thanks!

[@BigOleWords]

That game is pretty interesting for sure.

[@SBBurzmali]

I had Snake's Revenge growing up, it is a bit challenging to get used to, but with practice you can get to the point where you can handle the enemies fairly smoothly. The issue I always had was that it was possible to end up in a walking dead situation by exiting an area without one of the key cards, and I never managed to beat the title.

[@BigOleWords]

Ooof I would've never played it again if that happened to me.

[@BrazenBard]

Those first-person mazes you complain about from Mafat Conspiracy - they work great in the Eye of the Beholder series, Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos, and Phantasy Star. Having an automap helps a *lot*, though...

[@BigOleWords]

For some reason it didn’t bother me in Shining in the Darkness. Something about the NES limits that make them so awkward and frustrating

[@RagingRowen]

A bit of Trivia: Flying Warriors, known as Hiryuu no Ken 2 in Japan, is vastly different from the Japanese original. The original has weaker graphics akin to the first game and notable differences in the gameplay, levels, and sound. The characters were also changed. The US version's new graphics are lastly akin to what's seen in Hiryuu no Ken 3, which never made it to the West.

[@BigOleWords]

Huh! Did not know that!

[@suddenlysarablog]

Surprised not to see "Commando" / "Bionic Commando", or "Gradius" / "Life Force" on this list!

[@BigOleWords]

Wait Bionic Commando is a sequel?!? And you’re absolutely right about Gradius/Lifeforce, can’t believe I forgot those!

[@suddenlysarablog]

@@BigOleWords Yup! Your mission in Bionic Commando is to rescue Super Joe, the hero of the first game.

[@BigOleWords]

@@suddenlysarablog haha no way! I had no idea!

[@ChristopherBurtraw]

I swear, Gun Nac looks just like Dragon Spirit. Is that just me? Cutscene animation, gameplay, and backgrounds are hitting a deep memory of mine.

[@BigOleWords]

Dragon Spirit? Hmmm I don’t know about that one. Both awesome games though!

[@thenewnostalgia]

The subplot of The Mafat Conspiracy is a really interesting meta analysis of nutrition dealing with both curds and whey.

[@BigOleWords]

Hahaha

[@MrMysterious420]

I had no idea that Flying Dragon was more than just an N64 game that I played 20 years ago. Turns out I could have also played this 30 years ago lol

[@BigOleWords]

Right? I had no idea!

[@BainesMkII]

When you know the history of the Metal Gear series, Snake's Revenge isn't as much of a surprise. Metal Gear was originally made for the MSX2. Konami decided to port the game to the Famicom/NES without the consent of the original development team, handing the source code to a new team and giving them three months to do so, allegedly with an additional order to deliberately make their port different. After the NES port was successful in the West, Konami decided to make a NES sequel for Western release (Snake's Revenge), without Hideo Kojima's knowledge. One of the devs told Kojima about the project, supposedly asking Kojima to make a "real" Metal Gear sequel. The next day, Kojima got approval to make Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2.

[@susanfit47]

I knew any Nintendo games had sequels. The ones I know are: Adventure Island II Adventure Island 3 Baseball Stars 2 Bases Loaded II Bases Loaded 3 Bases Loaded 4 Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team Bionic Commando Bubble Bobble Part 2 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 Contra Force Double Dragon II: The Revenge Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones DuckTales 2 Fire 'N Ice The Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak! Flying Warriors Goal! Two The Guardian Legend Gun Nac Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road Ikari III: The Rescue IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II Kirby's Adventure Little Ninja Brothers The Mafat Conspiracy Mega Man 2 Mega Man 3 Mega Man 4 Mega Man 5 Mega Man 6 1943: The Battle of Midway Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom Power Blade 2 Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 RoboCop 2 RoboCop 3 Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble Ski or Die Snake's Revenge Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Spy Hunter T2: Terminator 2: Judgment Day Target: Renegade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 II: The Arcade Game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 III: The Manhattan Project Top Gun: The Secret Mission Town & Country Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Safari Track and Field II Wizards & Warriors III: Korus - Visions of Power Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II and lots more...

[@joshuariddensdale2126]

Actually, and I only found this out through Wikipedia, is that The Black Bass is a sequel. The original was exclusive to Japan, so the one the US got is The Black Bass 2, thus the USA in the name.

[@BigOleWords]

Neat! Not a sequel to Blue Marlin?!

[@budz2355]

Nice. I didnt know Mafat was a sequel. Cant wait for part 6!

[@broncosbreaks]

T&C Surf Designs skateboard mode has a top ten music track. I could listen to it while I work out or drive fast in my car.

[@BigOleWords]

Hell yeah it does!

[@02drpyro]

I guess I just didn’t know better back then but Golgo 13 was one of favorite NES games. A classic.

[@BigOleWords]

It’s got a lot of great things going for it for sure :)

[@mattalan6618]

@@BigOleWords it really does. sad Nintendo didt bring it over to the SNES/GBA era

[@titantim]

Lots of love for Little Ninja Bros. It has one of the best fourth wall breaking jokes I've ever seen in a video game near the end. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may be curious. But my brother and I were PISSED.

[@BigOleWords]

I haven’t made it that far but I’ll be on the look out for it!

[@mattferrigno9750]

9:45 - 'I Feel Asleep' was hilarious. They obviously didn't have a good translators.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s the truth!

[@GenerationPixel]

You just need some grid paper and a pencil 😉 Some very interesting titles in here. Gogol and the Mafat Conspiracy pair caught my interest the most 😎👍

[@BigOleWords]

That definitely is a must, i just got so much lazier in my old age!

[@obthree2830]

I remember my cousin had Thrillas Safari. I’d go to my Grandmothers house after school and sit and play that for HOURS! I absolutely loved it! Pretty difficult but a very cool game imo when I was a kid! This, Darkwing Duck, and Little Nemo were my absolute favorites! When I was a young kid!

[@BigOleWords]

That’s awesome. I’d say it’s pretty interesting, but maybe one of the hardest NES games out there!

[@Jebbreh]

I enjoyed the originals games to Flying Warriors, and The Little Ninja Brothers, but I fell in love even more with the SNES third in the series releases. The crossover appearance each have in Super Ninja Boy is great.

[@BigOleWords]

What?! Crossover!?! That's amazing!

[@Jebbreh]

@@BigOleWords I shouldn't have said crossover as in a huge part. But atleast two or 3 characters from other Culture Brain games. They do use a song from flying warriors when you are speaking or around the part where get first introduced.

[@shortstoryslam9434]

I made the mistake of trying to solve the fp mazes. Life was so much Hader before the internet

[@BigOleWords]

Even with a walkthrough they’re still hard to navigate!

[@beauwalker9820]

Another one people don't realize is, "Galaga" is a sequel to "Galaxian." Though, the NES version of Galaxian wasn't released in America, much like the Famicom adaptations of Mappy, and Dig-Dug. (Though, they were later released in officially licensed mini toy arcades, and plug-and-play systems.) Like Galaga their sequels were released instead. (Dig-Dig 2, and Mappy-Land.)

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! The NES Galaga had that rad subtitle “Demons of Death”!

[@Starhawke_Gaming]

I never played Flying Dragon/Flying Warriors, but I do remember them publishing a comic over the course of several months in Nintendo Power magazine that helped hype the game and flesh out the story

[@BigOleWords]

Really?! That’s cool, I never knew about that!

[@Starhawke_Gaming]

@@BigOleWords - I double checked my memory, it wasn't Nintendo Power, they did other comics but not Flying Dragon. It was actually Game Pro and a few other smaller gaming magazines that hosted the multi-part monthly comic. I found an archive of all the chapters, but of course KZbin will not let me link directly to the URL.

[@BigOleWords]

@@Starhawke_Gaming Ok cool, I'll search around :)

[@xtlm]

Is Flying Dragon a spiritual successor to Karate Kid? That game has 1v1's and side scrolling stages too. It's immediately what I thought of when I saw it and also thought he was going to say it was a sequel lol

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah kinda! Just weirder and a little more complex.

[@RewindArcade]

I had no idea Zanac and Gun Nac were connected. Very interesting!

[@BigOleWords]

Me either til recently!

[@SirIzzyBlack]

Flying Dragon and Flying Warrior might have had a 16-bit follow up. The fighting system and other elements look similar to Culture Brain’s Golden Fighter.

[@BigOleWords]

Yep I believe you are right!

[@alejandromedrano6366]

I love these videos, KZbin for once recommended me some good shit and fell in love with this channel inmediatly

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks so much! :)

[@georged7627]

This has been on my mind since I can remember like grade 3 and I'm 46 now... Africa looks like Australia but on its side... anyone 🙏🏽compare them 👍🏾

[@JKRetroGaming]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing

[@BigOleWords]

You got it!

[@retrogecko2859]

6:20 Zanac was one of the first NES games my dad bought when we first got the system back in the 80's. Never beat it until I was an adult in my 30's and good God did my thumbs hurt for two days afterwards!

[@BigOleWords]

Props to you, I can’t get anywhere in that game!

[@scottwilson3741]

If I remember correctly, which is no guarantee, I think Nintendo Power called Snakes Revenge a Metal Gear sequel

[@BigOleWords]

Not sure but I wouldn’t be surprised!

[@tubesami]

Cool I only remembered the name "Solomon's Key" but now that I saw Solomon's Key 2 I remember playing that a lot!

[@BigOleWords]

Nice!

[@Anjin-qg3ie]

I remember for YEARS every store in America had Zodas revenge in a bin for a dollar, they still didn't sell. I think it's because people (myself included) didn't know it was a star tropics sequel.

[@vinylanddigital1559]

I’m surprised this game is even on this list. The box indicates the game is Star Tropics II under Zodas Revenge. The commercial I remember also called the game “zodas revenge star tropics 2” plus the last boss of the first one is Zoda. I think it didn’t sell well because it came out a year after SNES.

[@BigOleWords]

Also it was one if the last NES games released. It’s a shame as that game rules!

[@LordMarlle]

Great list with many games I hadn't heard about

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks!

[@hazmatt20]

Man, the wall of games at Toys 'R Us is such a specific memory.

[@BigOleWords]

Right? Surprised there was footage of it

[@davidburnett5049]

I had no idea Flying Warrior was a sequel. I did know it was super cool and I couldn't beat it as a kid, though.

[@BigOleWords]

I have not made it too far…yet. It’s on my list of games to dive into soon.

[@davidburnett5049]

@@BigOleWords small advice. Use the more complex control scheme lets you avoid punching the enemies heads. If you punch for the head then you can get thrown when they block.. Or just use the spinning kick which is cooler anyway. And you only get the real ending on hard

[@Jennifer-jt9cb]

To me, _Zoda's Revenge_ looks more like the portion of _Blaster Master_ when you enter doors where Sophia 3 Can't go.

[@BigOleWords]

I can see it!

[@maesdejardin8648]

Golgo 13 is based on an anime of the same name, if you weren't aware. The first person maze section sucks a lot, but if games like Dungeon Master, or even Phantasy Star have taught me anything, it's that they were popular enough to spawn sequels.

[@BigOleWords]

There's a sequel to Dungeon Master?!

[@maesdejardin8648]

@@BigOleWords Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skull Keep Was ported to many PC, PC-like platforms, and the Sega Genesis

[@BigOleWords]

@@maesdejardin8648 Now that's a subtitle!

[@OldSchoolCurt]

Ok I thought flying dragon was a fever dream! I remember that game and it was way too hard!

[@BigOleWords]

Haha nope it’s real!

[@OldSchoolCurt]

@@BigOleWords awesome video dude!

[@themole9898]

I remember going through my NES collection and I didn't realize I had Top Gun and Top Gun 2 the second mission I thought I just had a double of Top Gun LOL!

[@BigOleWords]

They have incredibly similar covers!

[@themole9898]

@@BigOleWords Right? LOL

[@SullySadface]

Didn't know Gun Nac was a thing. Zanac was a pain.

[@BigOleWords]

It rules, plus it’s way more forgiving than Zanac!

[@RobertWhittington-fp2zd]

Here's a couple Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard. Ya, little knew they were part of a series of games called the Xanadu games in Japan.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah that whole series is super confusing!

[@Whitehorse_crimefighter]

Spent hundreds of hours playing goonies 2 and I always thought "where is the first one I never heard of" I later played the original goonies game and realized it was crap and that's why it never was seen. Damn tho, goonies 2 is incredible

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I always wondered the same thing in the pre-internet days. And agreed, Goonies II rules!

[@robinthrush9672]

Had a lot of fun with T&C Surf Design. I've never understood why the devs changed from Metal Gear to Metal Gear Solid as the franchise.

[@BigOleWords]

T & C has a lot of charm for sure

[@kfcnyancat]

They wanted people to not feel like they had to play Metal Gear 1 and 2 first since there was nearly a decade separating Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid, not to mention the only versions of Metal Gear 1 the US got were butchered ports (owing to the fact that MSX had near-zero market share in the US) and neither the US nor Europe got the proper Metal Gear 2 (not Snake's Revenge) at all.

[@mikefisher4834]

When you started describing little ninja brothers Legend of Zelda 2 was the first thing I thought of🎮💙🔥

[@BigOleWords]

Right?! It’s definitely got that look to it.

[@DankRedditMemes]

I'd never guess a game with the explicit subtitle of 'Startropics II' would be a sequel

[@jovalleau]

I remember "Ninja Brothers" as "Kung Fu Heroes" which I always thought was a sort of spiritual successor to Kung Fu. It has all the same sounds, at least. I was no good at it, because I couldn't figure out the hit boxes!

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah Kung-Fu and Heroes are not related but Little Ninja Brothers and Kung Fu Heroes are ;)

[@safetinspector2]

Never heard of Gun Nac! Zanac was my favorite on the NES due to its music, deep power up system (I'm waiting for another 6 to come around!) and lots of secrets (shoot the first enemy with your secondary weapon diagnal and it turns into a one-of-a-kind rapid fire power-up). If I'd known they'd made a cute-em-up sequel I would've been all over it! Guess I need to dust off the ol' emulator now...

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! Yeah Gun-Nac rules, one of best games period on the system:)

[@Dorelaxen]

I adore Snake's Revenge. It adds so much to the basic Metal Gear gameplay, and the music is FANTASTIC. If they just have removed the insane stuff from the manual, it would be a more highly regarded game, I'd say.

[@BigOleWords]

Agreed on all points there!

[@DMmm-is5pu]

Snake's Revenge is a weird game. I don't recall all the details, it's only kind of a sequel. The original game released on MSX2 and was ported to the NES. It did well here so they started on a sequel without Kojima's input. I think that explains the lack of references and the unusual story. Afterwards Japan got a more official sequel (on MSX2 again) which came to the US as part of MGS Subsistence.

[@kurisu628]

Snake’s Revenge was a sequel made without the permission or even the knowledge of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. It was made by Ultra (A branch of Konami in America) and wasn’t even initially released in Japan. There was an “official” sequel (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake) that came out on a Japanese computer platform called the MSX2.

[@Dorelaxen]

@@kurisu628 Oh, sure. I'm aware of the background of the whole thing. But, it's still an excellent game in it's own right. I've always considered it a worthy side story to the whole Metal Gear line.

[@CptJistuce]

​@@kurisu628 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was only made BECAUSE of Snake's Revenge. Kojima had no intention to make a sequel until one of the Snake's Revenge staff ran into him on a train and was like "So yeah, they have me making a new Metal Gear. It's kinda dumb, they want us to action-game it up. You should make another REAL Metal Gear!" And, well... he wasn't wrong. Konami management wanted a Metal Gear 2 because the Nintendo port had sold significantly better than expected, especially in the west. So they wanted a sequel, and wanted it designed to meet the action-hungry tastes of westerners. But to say Snake's Revenge isn't "official" is odd. Konami, not Kojima, owns all the rights. No one argues that Gradius V isn't "official" because it wasn't helmed by Hiroyasu Machiguchi, or that a Castlevania without Hitoshi Akamatsu isn't "real". Also, Ultra wasn't really a "division of Konami" so much as "a second name Konami used to get around Nintendo America's rules about how many games you can release in a year". There wasn't really any difference in management or staffing.

[@snoredizzle3242]

Very cool video, loved Flying Dragon as a kid, going to play Flying Warriors

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! It's like a Metroid version of Flying Dragon!

[@tylerd4884]

the flying dragon games are combination of multiple hokaro no ken famicom games

[@TheRealJPhillips]

Nice video.👍🏾 Subscribed

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks!

[@richardcooper]

Zanac is one of my favourites NES Games, love the music and sounds :)

[@BigOleWords]

It is amazing, and insanely hard

[@ChicagoRetroGamer]

Oh man, Zoda's Revenge was great!

[@BigOleWords]

Agreed!

[@DemonyxsLair]

Flying Warriors have their own spin off for the Game Boy, called Fighting Simulator 2in1, aaaand the sequel on SNES, called... Ultimate Fighter...

[@BigOleWords]

Ok word, did not know that!

[@DemonyxsLair]

@@BigOleWords Culture Brain have chosen a strange naming policy. The first game was terrible, so renaming the second was a wise decision. But they advertised the second one very actively, held tournaments, even ordered a series of comics advertisements in GamePro magazine. And why they renamed the third and fourth, with the more or less successful second one, is a mystery to me. In Japan, these games are part of the Hiryu no Ken series. And the very first game in the USA was released on arcades under the name Shangai Kid.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

As a kid, my step-brother had Metal Gear (and Wizards & Warriors) and I enjoyed playing it (them) and beating it (them). Since I liked the first game(s) so much, I bought the sequel(s) Snake's Revenge (and Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II). Never did beat it (them) though. I knew Snake's Revenge was a sequel to Metal Gear, so it being a sequel must have been mentioned in the advertising. I guess I might have read a review mentioning the sequel fact, but I would put money on seeing it on an advertisement.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I would guess in ads or Nintendo Power or something? Like I knew they were related because of the internet but I was surprised to see Metal Gear wasn’t mentioned at all in the packaging.

[@DadRacer]

Nice! I used to love Thrillas Surfari! Looks like your copy is in decent shape. That label is usually trashed.

[@BigOleWords]

The contents are too gnarly to stay intact for long!

[@Illgaia]

5 points for me actually knowing about Kung Fu Heroes and Little Ninja Bros. LNB was a lot of fun, but the final boss was NOT balanced with the rest of the game. Those were both games in the "Super Chinese" series from Japan, which also had an entry on the SNES that was localized, Super Ninja Boy. I still have my copy of that, and it's still fun to play through (I just did a while ago), but the random encounter rate can seem really annoying at times. Zoda's Revenge is also a solid game, even though it now has nothing to do with the Tropics, and they made several quality of life improvements over the original. It's also up there among the last handful of titles to be released for the NES, coming in 1994.

[@tait316]

@8:49 My sentiments exactly. I was really having fun until this point. ~_~ Every time I try to play it I'm like....yup..I can do it this time...I can get through it....nope. ~_~

[@BigOleWords]

Many people pointed out that the manual has maps for these parts. That would’ve been super helpful!

[@danbauer3669]

When I was a kid I got Mafat Conspiracy and thought it was great, 3D mazes included. I loved anything "3D" in gaming at that time and those mazes and the ones in Fester's Quest didn't become complete garbage until Wolfenstein 3D and Doom perfected the 3D maze. I discovered Top Secret Episode later and didn't get into it as much because it didn't look as good graphically. It still had the sweet first-person sniper action, though! In fact, that bit was probably better in Top Secret Episode from a gameplay perspective.

[@BigOleWords]

That's a great point, I didn't mind them as a kid until better first person games came out. Now going back to them I find these mazes unbearable.

[@danbauer3669]

@@BigOleWords you know something, fella, I wasn't expecting a response as this was the first of your videos that I've watched. I think you just earned a subscription! I'll check more of your channel now.

[@BigOleWords]

@@danbauer3669 Awesome, hope you dig em' :)

[@NoobixCube]

I feel like the makers of Thrilla's Surfari could have sued Rare or Nintendo over Funky Kong.

[@BigOleWords]

It does really look like him right?!

[@TheRealCaptainFreedom]

I thought saying “shit” in the first five seconds was instant demonetization, yet I saw an ad.

[@ChairmanMeow1]

If you like puzzlers, fire n ice is really fun.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s the truth!

[@Heymrk]

I consider The Mysterious Murasame Castle to be a sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda. Sort of. You probably don't have it, but we've talked about it during your streams before.

[@BigOleWords]

Certainly in terms of gameplay design!

[@draketerrell4309]

King Neptune's Adventure by Color Dreams go hard in the PAINT!!!!111

[@BigOleWords]

Haha I love your enthusiasm!

[@CalTheHogNosedBat]

5:12, excuse me, what am I doing with my friend?

[@BigOleWords]

You know, friend stuff ;)

[@romanninjaprincess4477]

Little ninja brothers also got a sequel on the super nintendo called Super Ninja Boy, which was basically Little Ninja Brothers but with better graphics and a slightly different combat phase. I had both Kung Fu Heroes and Super ninja Boy as a kid and didnt realize they were in the same franchise but it makes a lot of sense.

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! I’ve never played the SNES one but it looks rad.

[@kri249]

I'm not sure if it was released in North America or if it was a PAL exclusive title but in Australia I found a rare rental called Uforia. It was a metroidvania style game and I know nothing of its origins but I've seen on several retrogame related channels a tetris style game with those specific characters. This could be an entry for your next video on this exact same topic but it feels like Uforia was made as a sequel to the tetris style game but it had an actual story for them rather than just be blocks.

[@BigOleWords]

Love Ufouria! Hmmm I do not know about any prequel or sequel to Ufouria, but I did review it for my PAL games series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4mXoGN3qaiFrdE

[@JoypadDivison]

It's called Hebereke in Japan, and there are a bunch of games for a variety of systems. Ufouria is the first one, but the rest of them aren't "Metroidvanias" unfortunately. A shame since it's a great game.

[@MurderWho]

"Has anyone ever enjoyed these first person mazes?" It is I! The one person who loves labyrinths, mazes, every first person dungeon crawler to ever exist, and yes, even these crappy and laughably limited NES maze levels from the likes of Fester's Quest and the Lone Ranger :)

[@BigOleWords]

Aww man, I love Lone Ranger but never made it as far as the mazes! Noooooo!!

[@MurderWho]

@@BigOleWords the mazes are mainly excuses for gallery shooter levels there! there is only a very mild maze element to them

[@Mari_Izu]

Hiryuu No Ken (Flying Dragon) series survived until the N64 days, most games of the series were Japan-Only tho

[@BigOleWords]

I’d heard that but never played the N64 games

[@roleplayingpain4349]

Golgo 13 was the very first NES game I ever owned, along with Mario/Duck Hunt. It was somewhat anti climatic when I opened it. I had no idea what I was looking at. My mom saw my confused look and said 'I thought it looked really neat in the store'. It ended up becoming one of my favorite games. My buddies and I used to giggle at the hotel sex scene

[@BigOleWords]

Props to her for seeing the potential! It’s not my favorite, but it is way more interesting than most NES games

[@theimortal1974]

snakes revenge is why hideo kojima created his own sequel. if snakes revenge had never been made we might not have everything that was released including the solid series.

[@BigOleWords]

Then it was worth it!

[@kurokoro]

Flying warriors is a actually an americanized sequel, they took the graphics of the third game(japan only) and the japan only sequel which graphics are more kin to the first game and combined them to make this game. They did this a lot to other hiryu no ken games and change the characters looks and name(from Ryuhi to Rick).

[@BigOleWords]

Huh, had no idea! Neat!

[@namebrandmason]

Rented Little Ninja Brothers in days of yore. The overworld music is one of the catchiest songs on the NES.

[@BigOleWords]

Yes it is!