I Ranked Every DATA EAST game on NES

Data East was a staple company for NES. Here's a look at all 22 Nintendo games from Data East.
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[@JohnRiggs]

Let's rank every SNK NES Game + binge the rest of the playlist. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5uuinSmn6mIq5o

[@JC-qu5lv]

Did you know Diner on the Intellivision was an Intellivision sequel to Burgertime? Just learned that a year or so ago.

[@the_sixxness]

Karnov is way more fun then Ghosts and Goblins.

[@psychodeviant8903]

As soon as Ring King came up I started saying "Mention the scene!!" and then sure enough there it was lol

[@FEO]

Oh man I must have been an innocent kid. Played this and never noticed that. Now, holy shit how did I not notice that.

[@amolochitis30]

Ring King is just so hard, but two players was great!

[@cbuckley5697]

Ha ha ha! The hair was top notch

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

I rented Ring King a couple times because it was a lot of fun. It didn't need to be Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! (my favorite NES game by far), it was good in its own way.

[@TheMaskedheel]

I actually sold some of my less played games through a mail order company called Funco to trade for this game. Funco of course became Game Stop.

[@MasterRoshi8974]

I freaking love Karnov! Great episode brother

[@RetroMMA]

I made it to just after Karnov jumps into the water level - really enjoyed it as well.

[@wh5027]

I remember beating this game as a kid and the ending was still to this day the most disappointing ending I've ever see in a video game.

[@t.b.8837]

I love these. I'll be sad when you run out of them. Lol

[@RockHarding]

Same here!

[@originalsleepyjon]

Yeah these are the best to watch

[@chaseman94]

You mean run out of NES publishers? Don't forget there's still Super NES and I have a feeling he'll eventually tackle Sega Genesis and Playstation 1.

[@louisdellalucca8969]

@@chaseman94 i believe he said he was gonna do Sega Genesis eventually

[@jasonmatteson9909]

He'll switch consoles

[@redatari]

Still laughing about the Ring King cut scene. It made my day!

[@Wheels8504]

I played Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing a lot growing up. I still love it today. I've got strange video game interests I guess.

[@tigmo55]

Al Unser Jr. wasn't a bad game! Granted, I still prefer Rad Racer 1 & 2 over it but it's decent at least. I have good memories of playing Al Unser at a friend's house as a kid.

[@Wheels8504]

@@tigmo55 I was young at the time and the music was cool. Even today I prefer games you can just pick up and play right away for a little while.

[@brian_keith]

Data East Tag Team Wrestling was a favorite of mine as a kid. once you got the hang on the move selection, it was fun seeing how far you could make it through all the titles you could win. My favorite holds were the neck hang, because that drained "The Bad Ones" health the quickest and the turnbuckle smash on the outside of the ring. i heard once that the "Ricky Fighters" are based off the Rock and Roll Express tag team from back in the day.

[@actionjackson7434]

I'm a bad enough dude to rescue The President.

[@hjalmarjohnson5846]

But are you a righteous enough chap to rescue the prime minister?

[@RetroMMA]

@@hjalmarjohnson5846 Yes, but are you White Knight enough to resue the damsel?

[@stevenewsome5306]

Thank you John for all the videos and helping to keep the nes alive. I love how you’re so positive and try to find the best in each game.

[@christopherearl8948]

You failed to mention that Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing has one of the greatest soundtracks of any NES game.

[@joserosa5931]

very under rated game

[@t.b.8837]

Ring King's cut scene is obviously what we remember. Lol. Does anyone remember uppercutting them out of the ring. I had no idea how, but every now and then....to the moon, Alice! 🤣🤣

[@hjalmarjohnson5846]

It always seemed odd to me how much Data East managed to slip Karnov into sooo many of their games, but all these years later I gotta say I love it.

[@jasonblalock4429]

13:35 Holy crap, that's genuinely some of the most impressive use of parallax on the NES I've ever seen. By my count, it's got SIX separate layers all moving at different speeds - and that's not counting the status bar. I'm guessing the gameplay is slow and dull because the CPU is too busy calculating all those horizontal interrupts!

[@PixelSlayers]

The DOS version of Battle Chess was legit how I learned to play chess as a kid. (DOS version actually runs at a decent speed too)

[@RetroMMA]

Fun anecdote: I linked my Amiga to a PC and the Amiga won 90% of the time...

[@untiltheinkdries325]

I really look to these. I love seeing games I loved and hated and how you review them. Thanks for these.

[@auburn1999]

Longtime subscriber. I absolutely love your videos. Especially videos like this so that I can learn about games that I didn’t know existed.

[@Exiled_Rouge]

Karnov was one of my favorite games as a kid. It didn't seem that tough to me. I also played the hell out of Kid Nikki.

[@LordNazerous]

This series is unique and wonderful! Thanks for keeping them coming

[@13lood13ath]

I know the real reason you gave Ring King a "D".

[@rustochango7542]

Aw man! I almost forgot how amazing the music was on Heavy Barrel. Thanks, dude!

[@ryancoke777]

Love how the ref dude in karate champ looks like Ron Jeremy lol

[@Swoll826]

I was thinking Ms. Crabtree, the bus driver from South Park

[@jasonshiers5771]

I remember Bad Dudes at the arcade, I also remember buying it and being heartbroken at how bad it was on NES.

[@RageOfTheTiger]

Not near as good but I still found it to be enjoyable. It had two player and I got to play it with kids in a campground park. Plus there was a contra like life code for it. I think its worth a B tier

[@Jarod_Schultz]

When you jump over the rocks on Break Thru, it's easier to go down to the bottom of the screen.

[@hamz7986]

Just found your channel. Great video! Now I have to watch all of them. I had very limited NES carts as a kid and Caveman Games happened to be one of them. It drove me crazy.

[@matthewlane518]

I do remember liking Ring King in the arcade

[@RetroMMA]

The NES wasn't that bad either - the power moves are always worth a laugh!

[@OldSchoolCurt]

Great episode and I’m glad you gave Rampage an A! That game is fun as hell! One of my all time favorite games on the nes! My friend and I back in the days got sour powers and plaza cola and played that game all Night and beat it! Goodtimes!

[@kenterminateddq5311]

I know Riggs covered the Evercade Collections but I wanna give a shoutout to Evercade for making a great collection of Data East games. :)

[@JohnRiggs]

A great way to play a lot of them all at once!

[@kenterminateddq5311]

@@JohnRiggs lol U haven't favorited my comment in ages. Oh well, it's great seeing your's and John Hancock's Let's Rank videos. Surprisingly, MJR has never made a Let's Rank video.

[@mrp4242]

Yeah, a lot of these great games on there as well as Battle Chess.

[@samalcis]

This is how I like to unwind on a Friday night after a long week. Keep these episodes coming!

[@O.G.Rex.]

JohnRiggs! Thanks, I was worried we had seen the last of your NES lists lol. You're awsome!

[@JohnRiggs]

Naw, too many more games to cover. Just wanted to knock out a a few SNES games first, and I"ll come back to SNES eventually, too.

[@skiprockjr.6881]

Holy crap. I just learned the name of the game Karnov from this video. I 100% remember what the character looked like and always wondered what game he was from. One of my life's mysteries is now solved. My brother's friend used to bring the game over to our house to play when I was a kid.

[@djbelc01]

Robocop 2 had some of the weirdest feeling controls of any game I've played. Why in the world did they make Robocop constantly slide around like he's on Clark Griswold's sled?

[@retrorystergaming577]

I remember it was really hard to control Robocop like he would slide everywhere

[@retrorystergaming577]

@@ittylink hahaha seriously the controls were no joke

[@mobe1949]

@Ben DC4L Yeah, but why did they do that? Nobody likes playing video games with that sloppiness.

[@mobe1949]

Like my uncle's new wife's oldest son said: this game sucks. (Robocop 2)

[@dereka4570]

I’m one of those people who loves Werewolf...stage 4 takes huge difficultly curve that turns it into a new game

[@tigmo55]

Werewolf is one of only a few NES games i have played at length but not beaten (Snake Rattle 'n Roll and Ghosts 'n Goblins are the two games I need to conquer at some point). I made it to the jungle/waterfalls stage which I believe was either Stage 4 or 5. I just remember it being INSANELY difficult and I honestly wasn't sure how to make it further in the game. Are there any tips or tricks that you can give me? I really did enjoy Werewolf but the difficulty spike turned me off. And I've beaten games like Battletoads and the Ninja Gaiden trilogy so it's not like I didn't try. Solid game though.

[@dereka4570]

@@tigmo55 yes, that’s stage, Jungle/Waterfall. You really just have to die by trial on memorizing those jumps. They mostly all involve attacking as you jump so you hit the flying fish things. Plus, there’s a hidden Werewolf upgrade at the start of the level if you attack one of the cliff sides it pops out. You’ll need it when you die in attempting the level.

[@MeanMrMustard1]

As someone who's not great at beating games, I had no problem beating Karnov. I only had a small handful of games when I first got my NES so I was able to spend more time on it than if I had dozens of games/so many choices. It's really not that hard once you get used to everything. Like any game, you memorize where enemies and powerups are. I've probably beaten in a couple dozen times. I'll admit that it's hard to get back into it if you haven't played it in years. Also, the arcade seems much harder.

[@tobiasmartin9788]

I always look forward to these ! Thanks. Loved bo Jackson's baseball as a kid, was my favorite baseball game.

[@tigmo55]

Wonderful video as always, John! :) I am only maybe a third of the way through it so far but dude...I honestly feel like we had a similar childhood at least as far as video games go! I grew up playing the heck out of Burgertime for the Intellivision and that game was always a favorite of mine. Just everything about the gameplay and trying to progress deep into the game (when you are 5-6 years old, those eggs and hot dogs coming after you could look a little scary!) made for a memorable experience. Ironically, I never really delved into the NES game but that's only because I played the Intelly one so much (still have my Dad's copy too!) Also, I agree with you about Captain America. It's a challenging game for sure but a solid one and certainly one of Data East's best titles. I completely hear you on Breakthru but I probably enjoyed that one just a bit more than you did since it was one of the earliest NES titles I played. I'd still give it a C though (squarely on the average side but nostalgic too). Your ranking videos are a real treat man. I am REALLY looking forward to the Taito one! Not sure if any of their games are an "S" but tons of "A" and "B" titles IMHO. Bubble Bobble is certainly an S when it comes to multi-player goodness! ;)

[@marctoad]

John, love you dude. You tend to like the same types of games I do so I always watch your videos to try out games I've never thought about before.

[@tentragic2162]

Love your videos! Keep up the rankings! Get super excited when I see a new one- hard to pinpoint why, but they’re great

[@tigmo55]

I feel the same way! I think for me it just goes back to the Nintendo Power days and how much I always LOVED to rank games. It's fun to hear someone else's opinions too. And John does it in a really fun way. I enjoy his positive reviews of great S-tier games but his expressions and fun sense of humor for the "F" ones is fun to watch too.

[@barkbentley4657]

Karnov a C??? That's a B, easily

[@nosferatu6821]

I agree

[@EddieTHead2266]

Yeah right? I'm thinking he juat prefers bad games.

[@Rountree1985]

It’s his opinion, you don’t get to decide how much someone else likes a game. Why do you want everyone to have the same opinion as you?

[@theusher2893]

​@@Rountree1985 OP was only stating their own opinion. Calm down.

[@mesutoezilfan6688]

Karnov and heavy burel are legendäry great I still love this games today

[@louisdellalucca8969]

YES! I've been waiting for this one! Well done!

[@RetroGameStream]

Been really enjoying these ranking videos.

[@Liquidcadmus]

I really like all your videos on this ranking series. good stuff!

[@PMichaelHamer]

Just started watching, really enjoy your vids John. Thanks.

[@JohnRiggs]

Thanks! There's plenty more where this came from.

[@Ripplin]

I had the Karnov Tiger Electronics LCD game. :p Took years before I actually played the real game!

[@landeny65]

Very nicely done. Always love a lengthy NES ranking. Can’t wait for Taito, and still holding out for a post-black box Nintendo published list!

[@tigmo55]

Same! A post -black box list would be great!

[@TheRmm1976]

that Burger Time music is the best!! *nostalgia*

[@tigmo55]

Amen to that! :)

[@matthewbarrios1028]

Captain America and the Avengers on NES was one of my absolute favorites as a little kid. My dad got me this when I was little and I played it for countless hours. The music hits good too.

[@louisdellalucca8969]

The dancing cave woman needs to be your outro from now on 😂

[@danielflynn8530]

I'd love to see a review of Blue Sky games unfortunately they only produced great Sega Genesis games. It would be cool content to see your thoughts on it.

[@gantoris3811]

I loved Caveman Games back in the day. It teaches you to move your thumb so fast that it practically vibrates. Not great for the health of your contollers, but my wife has no complaints.

[@simplericksfreedomwafersel7342]

Riggs. Never watched you much before, but this series got me. Solid work

[@JohnRiggs]

Thanks! I'll be around.

[@Peter_Morris]

Same here!

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

Love the framed picture from Princess Tomato on the wall behind you.

[@deedd4401]

i've seen a few episodes of the Queen's Gambit and loved it

[@JohnRiggs]

I'm not much for 'tv shows' but I did like this one.

[@deedd4401]

@@JohnRiggs the TV has evolved a lot within past few years .... many shows left the 20+ episodes with half being the filler content.... into 10 hour format, which to me .... many times ( if done right ) feels like a properly done movie * and the creative forces don't have to worry about what needs to be left out ..coz 2h+ movie would be considered too long. Anyway, Westworld is pretty cool .... .... and the Raised by Volwes is somewhat Ridley Scott production, or do i hear you say you aint no fan of classic cult scifi ? :D :) nice evening

[@karliekray8290]

Captain America was a fantastic game, I remember renting that as a kid more than once.

[@SA77888]

Ive been watching your videos for years but you never let me answer how Im feeling.

[@SeekerLancer]

I will always remember Al Unser Jr's Turbo Racing as the last NES game I rented over school break the Christmas before I got my Sega Genesis. It's wild how big of a character Iron Man has become. He was one of my favorite comic book heroes when I was a kid but in the 80's/90's nobody really cared about him.

[@shawntaylor7442]

Another nostalgia bomb. Gonna have to fire up my hacked Snes classic and play some of these. I played a ton of Tag team wrestling.

[@Cafulish]

Good job, man! Greetings from Italy

[@joseph_b319]

I can’t wait for your Taito list. I want to hear your thoughts on Bubble Bobble. Till this day I still love playing that game.

[@tigmo55]

I couldn't agree more my friend! Taito made so many wonderful "A" and "B" tier games such as Power Blade, Little Samson, and the fun Flintstones/Jetsons games. Bubble Bobble is the one game (off the top of my head) that might snag an "S" ranking. It's simply multi-player GOLD and one of the most enjoyable games to play with a friend. It's such a shame that Bubble Bobble Part 2 had only a 2 player alternating mode because that's a really fun game too...but not as good as the original due to the lack of a multi-player option.

[@Dagasm]

I have a lot of nostalgia for Kid Niki, played it over my cousin's house a bunch. Loved the boss music.

[@locke103]

huh, wow. last time i was this early to something, androids 17 and 18 werent activated yet.

[@CharlesHepburn2]

Great work again John. I stayed up until 4:00 am with my cousin playing Karnov for the NES when I was young. I remember almost beating the game, but we were forced to turn it off and go to sleep. I remember it was a hard game but not quite as hard as you described in the video. It was quirky but somehow the game grabbed us and we couldn’t stop playing it... until forced to. Lol so close!

[@wh5027]

The ending of Karnov is seriously the most disappointing ending of a video game I've ever experienced, so trust me, you didn't miss anything by not finishing it.

[@digitolwonder]

Awesome! I was hoping you had not forgot about Data East in this series :) Looking forward to Taito!

[@mosiarmstrong]

At 7:39 I love how that one caveman's name is just Vincent while the others have stereotypical caveman names.

[@guillaumeleclerc3335]

I like that you don't automatically complain about everything like most youtubers tend to do. I mean i like avgn and stuff like that, but it's actually refreshing to have someone give a fair chance to every game and try to find some good things to say about them!

[@matthewbarrios1028]

Joe and Mac on the NES is the version I had as a kid and I loved it. It's all about the wheel weapon!

[@VandrothSoryn]

"B should never be jump" Hard, HARD disagree. I can't play a lot of NES games emulated on other Nintendo consoles because hell if my brain is going to accept jumping with the "East" (A) button in Super Mario.

[@bkova4857]

what are you talking about, A is jump in like %90 of all games ever including mario

[@RockHarding]

@@bkova4857 is right. What you smoking, Dirge?

[@AS-fu1kd]

Crack is a hell of a drug man

[@duffman18]

Dirge, they're not talking about modern controllers where B is jump and Y is shoot/attack/run/whatever. Have you seen what an NES controller looks like? It's got only 2 action buttons, not 4. B on the left and A on the right. So the only way to comfortably be able to play Mario is with A as jump so that you can hold B down to run and then move your thumb downwards to hit A when you wanna jump, without taking your thumb off of B. On modern controllers, they switch the buttons round so B is jump and Y is attack/run/etc because that's even more comfortable than the flat buttons of the NES. Hell even on the SNES remakes of the 4 mario games for the NES, Mario Allstars, they change the button layout so that the default is B to jump and Y to run. But that's not what we're talking about here. We're saying that on a 2 button NES controller, A should always be jump and B should always be the action button. If you're complaining about the NES games on the Switch NES Online app where you can't use the typical B is jump and Y is action button layout, then they only did that because it's uncomfortable to play handheld with the joycon B and Y buttons being so close to the right analogue stick. But that's why for _THOSE_ games you use A as the jump button and X as the run/action button. And it works perfectly that way. It doesn't take any amount of time to get used to it, it feels the exact same as using the typical B to jump and Y to run/shoot. Though if you still really don't wanna do it that way, on the Switch you can remap buttons in the Switch settings tab.

[@jakeelder8069]

Heavy barrel is a personal favorite of mine on the nes. Great game

[@ostiariusalpha]

Simply one of the very best top-down shooters that ever came out on the NES. Way better than Commando or Ikari Warriors.

[@jakeelder8069]

@@ostiariusalpha I agree :)

[@christopherlemp]

Can we just appreciate how cool the Werewolf box art was? Plus it came with a wicked comic book :)

[@JohnRiggs]

I loved you could see the circuit board behind him.

[@acefrehley28]

Karnov was legend when I was a kid... The unforseen twist was growing up to look like him.

[@LEXRAPS]

Dude, I love you content man. I’m a huge retro gaming fan as I grew up starting with the Atari 2600 and then the NES! I feel like the 80s and early 90s had the best games and systems!

[@robinprwood]

Glad to see your back to Nes! There is alot more to cover.

[@bobinestoroski8880]

I luv how u like new games but prefer retro I'm exactly the same with movies too especially 90s and early 2000s also music

[@jeff97ish]

Karnov is still a favorite of mine. pretty good game that holds a ton of nostalgia for me. I rented it a lot from our local Video Plaza as a kid.

[@scootermcg9910]

I love karate champ. U learn the moves, learn the hit detection, get a pal, have a brew...and your ready for a hilarious 20 min. Nice warm up before Ice Hockey.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Arcade is way better, both versions

[@Kai0nTheMoon]

I remember back on Christmas 1989 I was bummed out because my mother had just started a new job and had to work on Christmas day, so she let me open a present in the morning before she left for work and that present was Bad Dudes. Kind of a dumpy game, but I was still so happy to get it. Played it on and off for most of the day until she got home from work.

[@livefreeprintguns]

I never heard of Breakthrough... very reminiscent of Moon Patrol on the Atari 2600.

[@wretchpin]

Cobra command brought back hella nostalgia! Thanks Riggs! Side pocket was also in my childhood...I remember thinking how cool my older cousin was cause he knew exactly where to put the angle and 'English', on all the trick shots! Heh

[@Tchernobog]

all i had growing up was 4 bad nes games and i'd just play them over and over because it is all i had. i cant believe we live in a world where you can play all these on emulator. i couldnt imagine that as a tiny child.

[@Sammy3Peat]

I’m hooked I can’t stop watching

[@dajuanmenzies1292]

Remember that movie blood sport with the karate champ arcade.

[@originalsleepyjon]

My aunt had Karnov when I was a kid growing up and it was definitely the best game in her library back then. I remember playing that game vividly at her house.

[@bryansteele832]

This is a cool idea and way to review NES games.

[@ikehoward4835]

Keep up the good work John.

[@MrKanejoe1]

I played Cobra Command a bit when I was a kid and got it again as an adult. Played for an hour in complete frustration before I realized that pressing select changes your direction from forward to backward.

[@HelloMyNameIsRED]

Good list, but i gotta say what surprised me the most was battle chess and karate champ. I feel like even though battle chess is slow its still controls good which is what you can't say about karate champ xD

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

John seems so nice and good-natured. I love this channel.

[@christophermoody6840]

Well next you gotta do every game from Trade West... just to be fair. *Edit* oh crap... I was trying to be a smart ass but you actually already did it!

[@RobotMonkeytron]

Another great video, keep up the good work! My only disagreements, based on which of these I've played, is that I'd bump up Kid Niki and Karnov one level each, to an A and B, respectively. Might be the nostalgia talking, but I used to love playing those two at friends' houses, but never owned them myself.

[@Ruudos]

The first RoboCop wasn't developed by Ocean. Ocean did own the license for the movie though. It was developed by Data East and Sakata SAS.. The second was outsourced by Ocean to Painting by Numbers. They made more games for Ocean like Darkman and Hook.

[@mattm7798]

OH my gosh that Ring King cutscene...seriously, how did that pass QA?

[@igrecha]

We had only pirate cartridges in 90s in ex Soviet countries, so we used to play a weird Heavy Barrel hack called Chip & Dale 3 where the main characters are these little guys. I've never met it in original these days.

[@NateTheGnat]

Caveman Games is an A tier for me. Just because of the memories... and Rampage should be S tier.

[@dslking]

Great rankings

[@heymanheyhey]

Man it is crazy how many of these games I owned as a kid. I loved Ring King as a kid, but when I try to play it now I only last about 20 minutes. That game is just rough now

[@dznutzonfyre4432]

I’m glad u smiled during caveman games. It’s not clunky it’s just difficult. EVERY mini game relies on who is quicker and all about timing. Youngest of four so I suffered a lot. Love this game. Btw u outrun the other guy, not the saber tooth tiger

[@OctoberFallsToPieces]

I played Heavy Barrel as a kid, but in Russia where I'm from, it always was a hack called Chip & Dale 3 the WAR, where player sprites was changed to some kind of bears/chipmunks

[@Curbjaw]

The thing that made Al Unser Jr's game so good, was you could customize the color scheme of your car, I'm not sure if that was common in the NES days

[@terrykmoney]

Breakthru was great. You're right the jumping is the hardest but once you learn it it's a great game I've beat multiple times. The levels go vertical if I remember right

[@Thrashpotato]

i was a rampage fanatic! wore it out on the commodore 64 then on the nes! my cousin is in Yakima! tell Chris i say hello (like you know him or something lol) great vid!

[@Projectwolfie21]

Bad Dudes is a chonker.

[@JohnRiggs]

so chonky