I Ranked Every TAITO game on NES

[@JohnRiggs]

While you're here, let's rank Data East games + binge the whole playlist from ranking other companies, too! kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3i9lmijr814nrM

[@bradmcgee4033]

Next rank Nintendo published games!!!

[@freddyvidz]

The Flintstones is an S

[@mcbaksteen]

@@freddyvidz you're an s!

[@freddyvidz]

@@mcbaksteen Lol, I sure hope that is a compliment 😅😄☺

[@rezterralico4369]

So is Qix better on the gameboy than NES? I remember in like 1993 or 1994 there was a two pack of Qix and Solar striker where the cardboard setup was weird (like think cheap) where it was a discounted box by Nintendo that had the games in the plaatic dust protectors and I think it still had the instruction boolets. Think like two cardboard bowls (angular bowls) and plastic used to wrap the covers of both bowls. Was like 40 cad (regular price for a top tier gameboy title). My pops got it for us but really it was Qix for him and solar striker for us. I think Qix is the only arcade tilte that my pops loves. He wasen't good with most action titles. Good times. Had to download the gameboy 1990 version on virtual console for 3 dollars.

[@bueno8191]

"It's great, it's a B, it's OK, it's wonderful, it's not bad, I love it." - John Riggs commenting on about 80% of NES games

[@OldSchoolCurt]

This comment it’s great, it’s a B, it’s Ok, it’s wonderful , it’s not bad, I love it, should it be an A…no it’s a B!

[@FightOstinFight]

🤣

[@Joetenka]

Bruh

[@stevesharpe3370]

I like way he talks it makes me feel calm

[@Brinta3]

‘It’s so bad it’s unplayable and I hate it.” - My opinion on about 80% of NES games.

[@MCastleberry1980]

Weirdly, Renegade was made by Technos, and distributed by Taito in the states, so Double Dragon was actually its spiritual successor, while the Kunio-kun series continued down its own path and we eventually got another of the sequels, "River City Ransom" down the line on the NES.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Also made some great arcade wrestling games

[@ratubadis7]

I came from third world country, and believe me, 2000's here is like 80's (at least in term of gaming). the fact that I play those game in 2005, when i was in elementary school, is such nostalgia. I know i was using bootleg console and games, but I and my brothers was growing up with it. we used to play elevator action, the flintstones (it's called 'super mario 8' for some reason) and many other NES bootleg games all night until our parents get mad and forced us to sleep. oh, and our father really like arkanoid.

[@Megarobotsquadron]

I hope that when you're done this wonderful list, you do one vid of all the S rankings across all of the developers. I'd love to hear you talk about the best of the best

[@HelciusCabral]

It would be awesome! I'm trying to build a library of games in the future, it would be a great lead

[@karate-ka]

Great idea! 👍

[@JohnRiggs]

great minds think alike! I was planning on doing exactly that.

[@HelciusCabral]

@algol29 i got myself an ANBERNIC retro portable console, and I'm planning on triming most consoles' libraries to the essentials + some hidden gems

[@Ex0rz]

Would even do one with A titles as well! Just a list of all the A titles without ranking them from best to worst.

[@aeter4352]

A lot of good games, but Power Blade for me is at least an A, maybe even an S.

[@mikeytappe]

Completely agree. Both 1 and 2 have phenomenal music.

[@hjalmarjohnson5846]

This might seem blasphemous, but I almost prefer Power Blazer. If you haven't tried it check it out. It's the famicom "version", and it was changed more for it's US release than just about any game I can think of. Both are really awesome games, though. The art style on Blazer is way more Mega Man-esque, but the awesome music is still there!

[@aeter4352]

@@hjalmarjohnson5846 I don't mind the cartoony look, but this game has so much nostalgic value for me that it just seems weird. I think it looks out of place. I like the 80s Schwarzenegger vibe of Power Blade. The cartoony look works in most games though. If you like the Mega Man style and series, try out Krion Conquest.

[@hjalmarjohnson5846]

@@aeter4352 I love Krion Conquest! and I guess the thing is for me I found out about Powerblade later in life when I started collecting, so it doesn't have the same nostalgia kick, but I envy you for having it be a part of your youth! My friend has a childhood copy of it he won't let go of for the same reason.

[@blacksunshine7485]

Both are S for me. Blasphemous anything other than A upwards

[@mr.mooseknuckle9524]

Arkanoid was literally training for all future video games. Man I love the fact that I grew up with an NES

[@cadburybunny]

You had me as Bubble Bobble and Kiwi Kraze! Two of the machines that gobbled up a large chunk of my allowance.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Try getting the bubble bobble tune out of your head once it gets in there. Impossible

[@humorouserrectis5791]

Man when I was a kid I remember rummaging thought the Wolworth $20 NES bargain bin and picking up Wrath of the Black Manta , Phantom Fighter, and werewolf the last Warrior. Dam that was a fun weekend. Like number 57 is from me man! Keep up the awesome content

[@karate-ka]

You started with the best, Arkanoid. Brings back a lot of great memories...

[@not2tired]

The only thing it lacks is paddle control.

[@penismightier9278]

@@not2tired Look again. There's a paddle controller for NES and another one for Famicom specifically for Arkanoid.

[@digitolwonder]

Mr. Riggs. You are a true hidden jem. I have been following your ranks and am so glad you covered Taito. Thank you!

[@JohnRiggs]

haha, thanks buddy.

[@Tenkai917]

My daughter and I still play Bubble Bobble together, and she made a perler bead Bub just like the one on your wall.

[@JohnRiggs]

The new one on Switch is fantastic, too.

[@brianjl7477]

You didn't mention the armor power-ups in Power Blade 2 - that's the "something more" you were looking for. Taito did make some good stuff.

[@mikeytappe]

The music as well!! So good

[@retrorystergaming577]

How awesome were bother the power blade games though?? True gems

[@RoXolid]

I've been waiting for this one!

[@CastleManiaGames]

Demon Sword should have been a B at least :(

[@RoXolid]

@@CastleManiaGames I would agree with you but then we'd both be wrong

[@JSCadarn]

I have real nostalgia for Demon Sword. Used to rent it all the time as a kid.

[@redglass77]

I scored that for I think about $10 at the old Kay Bee Toys by my parents old house, circa early 90’s . Even after I beat it I went back to it a few more times lol

[@victorhugovaldezsoto]

Yeah! Great game! I recently had the urge to play it again!

[@MotherKojiro]

I thought Demon Sword was kinda neat, because of all of the weird secrets, but it's one of those games that you need to play over and over to really get into all of that, and I totally understand anyone not willing to put in the time. There's actually a sequel to that called Legend of Kage 2 on the DS. Bubble Bobble has a neat trick: if you pause and press select, you can sacrifice a life to bring in the second player; I use that to get the good ending when I'm playing solo. Panic Restaurant is one of those games that just DEFINES the late NES for me; Fire & Ice does, too. I think it has something to do with the visuals.

[@Ryan-xn3mt]

Wrath of Black Manta is one of my favorite NES games.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Same here dude it's a massively underrated game.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Same here dude it's a massively underrated game. I played the heck out of this and even did a school project on it lol

[@aaronhiggs]

Totally agree. I loved that game.

[@retrorystergaming577]

@@aaronhiggs could you work out the correct or of the 5 ninpo arts to defeat the final boss??

[@TrainmasterCurt]

@@retrorystergaming577 It was like an improved Shinobi 🥷🏻

[@TheTrueBro]

Being Taito a big arcade developer (both software and hardware), it's no wonder they pushed the limits of the NES in a lot of their games (originals, ports or adaptations). My favorite is Little Samson, too bad I don't have the cartridge anymore.

[@Bman4hire]

Finally my favorite developer for nes!! Been waiting for this episode and I agree with your rankings for the most part. I know most people think Renegade is a turd but for me its a C+ but it pales in comparison to the master system game

[@JohnRiggs]

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't always gang up on you the way they do, but I guess that's more true to life than just taking on people on at a time.

[@TheRealCaptainFreedom]

If you put your thumb in just the right part, it looked like it said “Wrath Of The Black Man.” ✊🏿🇲🇼 Great game btw.

[@microvrml]

Now you done it! You've "inspired" me to either make a romhack or a new game...

[@redglass77]

Oh there used to be this retro game store near me in a city I used to live in and they had the price tag just covering the end of Manta, we used to laugh at that daily.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Was the best game seriously. This video has been great as I've not met many people that have played it. I've played it through countless times. It was a poor man's ninja Haiden but it had a lot of charm

[@retrorystergaming577]

@@redglass77 hahahHH no kidding?? That's hilarious

[@UCanBeatVideoGames]

I miss the single screen puzzle genre. Bubble Bobble, Rainbow islands, Snow Bros, Rodland - I can play these all day

[@kekeke8988]

None of those are actually puzzle games though, are they?

[@shenloken2]

Taito’s Trio of NES Holy Grails: Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, Little Samson and Panic Restaurant!

[@mcbaksteen]

Price wise maybe, but little samson is the only one actually worth it, kinda, flintstones and panic restaurant are fun to play too but little samson is really good! I'd put it next to megaman on the awesomeness scale

[@ES-qm5hr]

@@mcbaksteen I have Little Samson and it’s great. It kinda feels a little unfinished in terms of the cut scenes and story, but the levels themselves are excellent.

[@studiokadaver]

I’ve already watched all of this series... love it. NEED MORE 😁

[@JohnRiggs]

Bandai next week :)

[@kindermaschine2515]

This series of Rigg videos goes down well on a Sunday morning with a cup of cold coffee!

[@LNSLateNightSaturday]

POWERBLADE! That's it! I've been trying to remember that one for YEARS... Definitely one I rented a few times and have fond memories of, but I can see that it probably wouldn't hold up today. Thanks for the memory!

[@BigRAC83]

21:00 It's the Bret Hart gang.

[@iamryan9234]

Bubble Bobble is awesome! Keep up the good work, John 😁 almost to 100k subs!!! 💪

[@Invidente7]

The flintstones NES games are highly underrated, also The Flinstones: Search for Sierra Madre for the SNES is a highly fun game.

[@cooladee]

Both Flintstones games were developed by Taito, Jetsons was developed by Natsume.

[@freddyvidz]

That must be the difference. I liked the Jetsons, but the Flintstones ruled.

[@mikeytappe]

Power blades are also Natsume

[@tigmo55]

Are you serious?!?! I never knew that! I really enjoyed both the Flintstones and Jetsons games but to be fair, the Flintstones games seemed more...accessible or something (beat 'em both but the Jetsons was pretty tough). Speaking of Natsume, I picked up Abadox recently and I totally forgot that Natsume developed that one as well!

[@PsychomachineryEBM]

@@mikeytappe And Shatterhand

[@imadeitupinmyheadakaimiuim3617]

John, have I really been watching you 4 over 3 years wow. Thanks 4 the company

[@frankiegarcia2921]

puznic was incredible in my opinion. great concept, fantastic puzzles.

[@thedutchgoonie2989]

great video series, i love the NES, my favorite console. hope to many more videos like these 🎉👍

[@MayonnaiseVenusaur]

Puzznic is a super interesting game. You probably just got impatient. There's like 110 levels and each one is harder than the last.

[@walshja81]

I've lost count of how many times I end up talking with someone my age about playing the NES and mentioning Wrath of the Black Manta and getting a blank stare in return. I don't think I've ever come across someone who also played it as a kid. Definitely a hidden gem.

[@jamesback8024]

I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE! Thank you for mentioning Demon Sword! I actually loved that game, I played the heck out of it :)

[@haruruben]

I was blown away by Black Manta, I think I rented a million times. Those were the days...

[@Starscreamlive]

I love these ranking and reviewing videos!

[@vallaurianv6024]

Amazing Company. Took them totally for granted growing up but they deserve to be mentioned alongside Capcom and Konami in the 80s and early 90s. Bubble bobble, New Zealand story, rainbow islands, parasol stars, toki, etc - large part of a UK gamer’s childhood. played them all on Commodore Amiga and latterly on other formats. Amazing video thank you

[@GreenDragonPainting]

My favorite videos on KZbin. Love the rating system and all.

[@richardjames14]

Excellent work my man, this series is the best Eva! 🤘👍🤙

[@Threestrand1]

I worked at the Seaside, OR arcade (Funland & Skeeball Palace) for most of the 90's. We'd stay after work for hours playing games. Loved that job. A few of my coworkers are still there.

[@BipolArteMusic]

dude! I love your channel! you have a great gamer personality! I keep having flashbacks with every video you post! thanks!

[@superduty2023]

Great Great video Mr. Riggs! I wish I would have bought many boxes of Taito NES games back in the day

[@jasonshiers5771]

Some great memories of games in this vid Riggs

[@thatwasprettyneat]

Arkanoid ROCKED. thank you for posting another one of these videos, young man

[@burrri]

Never even knew there was a sequel to the legend of cage. Awesome video

[@bonemasterd1]

Wow. I never realized how many awesome games Taito made.

[@JohnRiggs]

LOTS!

[@ostiariusalpha]

Well, technically you should say published. They knew how to pick good developers, that's for sure.

[@kekeke8988]

@@ostiariusalpha Most of these were also developed by Taito.

[@ostiariusalpha]

Dungeon Magic - Natsume Indiana Jones - Software Creations The Jetsons - Natsume Kick Master - KID Kiwi Kraze - Software Creations Little Samson - Takeru Panic Restaurant - EIM Qix - Novatrane Renegade - Technos Sky Shark - Software Creations Target: Renegade - Software Creations Toki - Daiei Seisakusho Wrath of the Black Manta - AI

[@ostiariusalpha]

That's half the games that were completely developed by other companies. And the Flinstones games were mostly developed by Sol Corporation; and Natsume did most of the work on the Power Blade games. Taito only developed 9 out of the 26 games they published on the NES by themselves.

[@rdm2604]

operation wolf...i believe that the zapper didnt work at all on the nes version....yes, it was controller only.. great video series Riggs!!!! thanks you for your time and your hard work....much love, and much respect for you!!!

[@Spacemutiny]

Elevator Action is my favorite arcade and NES game!

[@Drinkabeerandplayagameofficial]

Everyone talks about Capcom and a Konami for good reason, but Taito had such interesting games for the era. Demon Sword is like it Ninja Spirit wasn’t good. Enjoyed the vid!

[@retrorystergaming577]

Yea I seriously think taito didn't get the praise it deserved

[@danholo]

What a solid list of good games. Thanks for these videos, a bunch of new ones for me!

[@urinefromuranus]

Another excellent ranking video

[@RaulGomez-oi3ug]

Thanks for the video, for me power blade 2, panic restaurant, flinstones rescue dino hoppy, little samson and the awesome kickmaster are S clases with no doubt.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Wrath of the black manta was one of my favourite games growing up. I did a 3rd grade presentation on where I just wrote out the NES manual for it and read it out

[@unity6926]

I love this series of videos man, especially for some of the lesser known companies.

[@cook1tj]

Mmm. I always get excited when I see these. I hope you rank wrath of the black manta high like I would have!

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

Sky Shark is definitely one of my most played NES games of all time. One of my favorite NES soundtracks, too. An A in my book, for sure.

[@tomwaters5090]

The best strategy I found in renegade John is jump kick you get hit less by doing jump kicks.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

Love your videos John. Keep up the great work.

[@benkizer9509]

Great video. Bubble Bobble is an all-time classic and deserving of the S rating. Renegade I agree with you, hated that game, especially that weird maze level where you are given no clues on where to go and can just loop around over and over again.

[@conorl1894]

Great video John, really enjoyed it having loved many of these growing up

[@michaelsegal3558]

One great Taito NES game that unfortunately never made it to North America was Flipull I was only able to play it because I have it on NES multi-game carts that I have

[@Yomeidient]

I had that Wrath of the Black Manta game. I forgot the name until just now. Good looking out.

[@cooladee]

Taito made some of my favorite games for the NES. I have played most of them. My favorite is Power Blade, which like many of the best NES games was developed by Natsume. The ones I don't have are Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, Power Blade 2, and Panic Resturaunt.

[@kingdavid9252]

Never realized I like Tiato games so much. Wrath of the black manta and Bubble Bobble was favorites.

[@jjang2922]

Great list. I remember wanting to try a bunch of these games reading Nintendo power as a kid

[@gemini92406]

Was about 7 years old when bubble bobble was released. I played it till my fingers cramped... it has a huge nostalgia factor for me.

[@robertanderson2898]

Man, I know these are your views and rankings (and I agree on most of them), but you really have to say Taito was one kick-ass company! Lots of great games. I've mentioned before i found a copy of Panic Restaurant (before the value went way way up). Got rid of that one, and most of my NES games in 2010 (mistake), but I've since found 2 that i got rid of (Ninja Gaiden II, Tecmo Super Bowl). Another like !

[@JohnRiggs]

Everyone talks highly of Konami and Capcom (As they should) but Taito is WAY up there with them for sure.

[@whispersignal1]

The Power Blade series reminds me of Batman and Shatterhand from sound design, to graphics.

[@westlancsflips]

I love these videos John. A highlight every week.

[@mattb9664]

Bubble Bobble was so much fun as a kid! You needed two players for the best ending. First game I ever played which had multiple endings.

[@msguysmiley]

I'm sure this has been commented 100 times/no one cares, but in the slide puzzle the piece in the bottom left at 8:47 should be a couple higher.

[@JohnRiggs]

I did get it there, but when I did was edited out from the footage.

[@rayvinson1414]

Forgot how many hidden gems Taito had. Thanks for sharing

[@tigmo55]

Awesome video as always, John! I have personally been looking forward to your Taito video for quite some time and it didn't disappoint at all. I agree with you wholeheartedly on giving Bubble Bobble an S (a real sentimental favorite of mine...and a wonderful 2-player co-op game) and it was great to see some of Taito's lesser known games score well. Kickmaster is *amazing* and I loved how you called it one of those "where have you been my whole life" games! :) I too rented the Flintstones and Jetsons games from our local Marsh store and I loved them all. The only beef I have with you is giving Power Blade a "B." Not to nitpick (these are of course your opinions after all) but how are Kiwi Kraze and Toki better than Power Blade? Come on man! ;) In all seriousness though...I loved the video. I always think of Capcom, Konami, and Sunsoft as the best third-party companies on the NES but truth be told...Taito is right there too! Looking forward to your Bandai video next week buddy. I LOVED Monster Party as a kid...looking forward to seeing how you grade it.

[@xAjido]

Dungeon Magic was one of my favorite games, I actually went and bought a boxed copy just to have that's in pretty good condition. I'm not really a collector but just a cool item to have for me. I also want to get Wizardry but a good box is a little pricey.

[@jameskm03]

I love this game too. You need some help to get started and be told about the map spell but once you learn that it’s a ton of fun.

[@pequalsa]

It was actually a rental store, Ron's Video that was not actually my family's usually store, but the owner recommended it when I told him I liked RPG and Adventure games. I picked it up later for a good price. The magic system definitely should make it a B alone. Even though it gets a little redundant on effects and is a bit cryptic, I can't think of any other NES game that attempted something like that. Ultima IV with needing regiments to mix is maybe the closest.

[@RyanTreks]

haha, you talk about subscribing every time the video starts. Not remembering if I was subscribed, I clicked on this video....only the 10th one I've watched today...and realized I'm subscribed!! hahaha Your method is working! Though I have a working RetroPie (using Raspberry Pi 3+), I still prefer to play the NES games on my original NES. But the Pi is for ALL of the other games and consoles and arcade machines I never bought. My 5 year old LOVES Metal Slug 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, X, and 7. Both of my boys really like the NES games but they hate the limited lives and I will not let them use the Game Genie haha.

[@allenmitchell09]

John, I noticed your thumbnails from a year ago you had an almost shaved head. Congrats on getting a permed mullet in a year! That’s awesome!

[@telios13]

Nes power !! Gameplay that is hard to find at newer generations of consoles

[@mr.mooseknuckle9524]

Agreed! When the options for displaying media were limited game companies were forced to think outside the box!

[@retrorystergaming577]

Yea truly a special console. Feel lucky to have grown up on it

[@gravitywaves2796]

Oh my god wrath of the black ninja. I remember renting that game as a kid several times and loving it. I couldn't figure what it was as I thought it was Shanobi but for NES and never found it. Time to go search this one out. Thanks!

[@theunfungamer7263]

Taito was so damn good on the NES. Loved this list. Would've liked to see Arkanoid and Samson get an S but I can't complain about an A! Looking forward to more

[@billsuszynski6549]

Just realized you are from Seattle. My family and I lived in Marysville from 1980-82. Beautiful state! And I miss Olympia Pizza :(

[@RoXolid]

Ohhh, @CastlemaniaGames is not going to be happy with your Deamon Sword rating! But I completely agree!!

[@JohnRiggs]

I don't hate it, it's just not great.

[@wwar5237]

Bubble bobble is my favorite game of all time. Btw you can get the potion and reach door on single player. It's incredibly tight but doable. I manage to do it about 15 or 20 percent of the time. Managed to get good ending on a single player run by using the life steal on second controller right before popping super drunk. I absolutely love this game

[@stezton]

It was weird to realize I had NO Taito games on the NES. I feel like I really missed out.

[@retrorystergaming577]

Yea I always felt taito didn't get the praise it deserved. Some real gems

[@noelito7866]

Man i love this series thank you for this!

[@negativezonestudios2343]

Breaking down the music (Bubble Bobble) in the key of C, I love it!

[@JohnRiggs]

Any time I was at a museum or something that had chimes or bells in a c-octave scale I'd always play the bubble bobble song :)

[@fredhill5379]

My favorite arcade game company!. Elevator action, Bubble bobble and Rastan.

[@JohnRiggs]

Wish we got Rastan on NES

[@annonnimis4000]

Bubble bobble is probably in my top 10 games of all time. I spent so much time playing it.

[@kornsin]

Bubble bobble was always a favorite and honestly I still think it has one of the best theme songs ever created.

[@MrTableDesk]

That Indiana Jones game has an incredible soundtrack

[@retrorystergaming577]

Haha I remember the soundtrack too was awesome

[@hamz7986]

What a boss, Mr Riggs. That Indiana Jones game drove my eight year old self crazy.

[@JohnRiggs]

still better than the ubisoft version. yikes!

[@hamz7986]

I've not yet played that one. Thanks for these videos. Really great.

[@lurkerrekrul]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - You failed the sliding tile puzzle because of the piece to the left of the base. If you look carefully, you'll see a little half-round piece. That's part of the large handle above it.

[@777sibannac]

Renegade was actually a decent NES port of the arcade game. I would give it at least a B. Enjoying the videos brotha!

[@zandelscomicsandcards7543]

Your videos are awesome. If I ever want a new NES game to buy I know where to look for a recommendation. Thanks.

[@leozar69]

Way back, I had The Flintstones game, and I love it so much..💭♥ I still play it to this day on my steam deck 🥰 I didn't have the second Flintstones game.

[@oaf-77]

5:06 elevator action for the gameboy is the best version of this game, hands down.

[@JohnRiggs]

...not sure I've ever played that one! I'll have to check it out, now.

[@oaf-77]

@@JohnRiggs the controls are much tighter , there’s weapon power ups and you have the ability to survive a 1 floor drop, it changes the game dynamics completely. I can’t recommend it enough.

[@iankempster7007]

Taito made some serous gems. Great video as always.

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Ah, yes, Kickmaster. A biographical game about Shawn Michaels.

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

I could never get past that one stage in the bar, but the game still provided me some Sunny days. 😂

[@mrmanjumac3454]

"Only you with your kicking techniques can save the princess" lol

[@thirtyworld]

For whatever reason, I went through a little Flintstones phase at about the time the NES game came out. It really *was* well-done.

[@GibCQ7]

Finally the ranking that i was waiting for