NES Games that Were Open World | Friday Night Arcade

[@FridayNightArcade]

This was originally three shorter videos from a long time ago, but I decided to combine them all into one long video for simplicity sake and add in a few surprises. You know, like when an aging rock band puts out a Greatest Hits album with like 2 new "sorta okay" songs on it and a bunch of stuff you've already heard before.

[@MrDowntemp0]

Ah damn. I thought maybe you'd found some more open world NES gems. But having this as one big video is definitely the right move.

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

This is a really cool video, I played most of these when I was young . But I feel like Festers Quest could have made the list . Crystalis is 1 of my all time favorite games , I remember telling everyone that it would have been a better zelda 2 instead of link and so many people never even heard of it , such a great game

[@lexluthermiester]

@Friday Night Arcade You mentioned Crystalis AND you pronounced it correctly! Bonus points for you good sir!!

[@lexluthermiester]

@@youcancallmefunk4745 Same here. Crystalis is my Favorite NES game and in my top 5 of all time!

[@phantomdragonv2x]

I would also look into Clash at Demonhead, open world, exploration, upgrades, etc. Great game.

[@bruwin]

One of my proudest achievements was spending one saturday morning completing Blaster Master. No cheats, other than the pause boss battle. Took me roughly 5 hours, and I had a splitting migraine by the time I was done, but I finally beat it. Then I spent the rest of my weekend in my dark bedroom trying to sleep off the agony I gave myself. It was mildly worth it.

[@lennybrewster4673]

That game wasn't easy 👍. But the nes had a serious learning curve for a lot of software. The games today are a cinch in comparison.

[@RunplaysinHD]

@@lennybrewster4673 the games today arent even games lol they're mostly movies. Seriously, try to count how many hours in a modern AAA title you listen to dialogs, and how many hours you actually play a game. If we could call that a game, where you cannot even die and even if you die, you start right from this point. Whats the point of playing? Just to follow the plot? No, thanx, i better watch a movie or read a book

[@KehHs-l8b]

Nice

[@bannisher]

The Legend Of Zelda set my expectations for video games. Period. If you were there and experienced the magic of exploring Hyrul for the first time.... damn... you know.

[@notmewtwo4044]

I played it way later yet i fell in love with it. Just going around killing mobs is so much fun.

[@Savannah_Simpson]

Lol, love the game so much you don’t know how to spell Hyrule.

[@ianclair9243]

Clash at Demonhead belongs on this list I think

[@ColdNewdles]

Hell yeah!

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

My brother and I used to play Silent Service like it was Star Trek. One of us was the captain, giving the orders, while the other had to actually play the game, carrying out the orders of the other. It was a lot more fun than it sounds.

[@FridayNightArcade]

That actually sounds really fun.

[@russmeigs1100]

A great game no matter how you play it.

[@NESFriend]

Thanks for the shout out and this excellent video! Cheers!

[@alexzapf6422]

The opening music of Blaster Master gives me the feels every time. Loved that game. The different play mechanics. The awesome story albeit silly. Great graphics. Merry Christmas to all.

[@DragonAurora]

YESSSSS!

[@AJ72281]

It’s funny you said Merry Christmas because Blaster Master was a Christmas gift from my grandmother back in the day..... My cousin and I rented that game so much from Scarborough Video that she had to get it for me.....

[@danabell6811]

Clash at Demonhead was an open world game on NES, one of the best ones

[@DragonAurora]

LOVED that game...

[@barowt]

Faxanadu and Simon's Quest were some of the best weekend rentals of my childhood.

[@zzasdfwas]

Simon's Quest was destroyed by the bs obscure hints given by townsfolk. If you like it you should try La Mulana which also has obscure hints but I recommend it anyways.

[@barowt]

@@zzasdfwas Glad for Nintendo Power back then 😆

[@richardbunch6912]

@@zzasdfwas it was really badly translated. There's a romhack of it that changes the text boxes to what they are meant to say.

[@-Keith-]

The fact that I can click on this video and see the progress bar split up into a ton of segments makes me happy inside. NES was a great system.

[@DarthMohammedRules]

You missed Clash at Demonhead. One of my favs. And what about Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge? I also feel like Friday the 13th makes the cut for being an "open world" game. A lot of people really hated Ft13, but really, once you figure out how to move around the map, it's a fun, decent game.

[@livefreeprintguns]

Rygar was such a sleeper NES title, cheers for including it!

[@dolst]

Unknown feature about Silent Service: The D-pad on the 2nd controller rotates the periscope! Surf Wisely.

[@Omizuke]

The Guardian Legend is still one of my all time favorite games. Great game with awesome soundtrack.

[@brucemckinlay9739]

Finishing The Goonies II when I was a young kid(pre internet) was probably one of my biggest video game accomplishments.

[@daryl4841]

That is quite the accomplishment. I remember renting it as a kid and just wandering around a dozen rooms before I was lost and died. It was so cryptic and confusing.

[@cheshiredon]

This is basically a list of all my favorite NES games from my childhood.

[@luisarteaga9219]

Man! The Silent Service mention was awesome! I spent hours playing that game as a kid. Blaster Master is another game I enjoyed in my youth! Thanks for the nostalgia trip!

[@RagnarokB]

Great list, I'm glad to see you hit on Uncharted Waters here! I've never really played the NES version, but the SNES ports of both it and its sequel were real favorites of mine. As for more open world games on the NES, I'd also include the ports of Origin's PC games we got: Ultima 3, 4, and 5 (note: NEVER PLAY ULTIMA 5 NES!), and Times Of Lore.

[@ProfessorRetro1976]

Blaster master is one my favorites by far but the fact you mentioned it made me happy

[@nanoglitch6693]

Man, Crystalis and Faxanadu were two of my all time favorites. I was hoping they'd be on this list :)

[@aquariandawn4750]

Faxanadu fan here

[@SlayerRunefrost]

I love Crystalis but I don't really think it can be counted as "open world".

[@phillipicus7446]

Crystalis was pretty cool

[@mikerobinson938]

Crystalis is on this list

[@seeballgetball937]

Faxanadu very underrated, I remember having to tack back to the beginning to buy some sword or that only one shop had.

[@Wyrdwad]

Some additional suggestions, if you were ever to do another part: - Legacy of the Wizard (simply put, one of the best 8-bit games ever made) - Clash at Demonhead (a classic!) - Tombs & Treasure (this game doesn't get talked about nearly enough, and given your love of the Macventure series, I can't imagine you NOT adoring this oft-forgotten Falcom PC transplant!) - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (how come you didn't include this one, when you mentioned Zelda 1?!) - Friday the 13th (it IS open-world, after all!) - Solstice (there are outdoor sections and whole other buildings, so it very much counts, and is a highly underrated game!) - Mystery Quest (not especially good, but definitely open-world!) Probably a number of others, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. Great list, though, either way, and your videos are always a blast to watch! Love your enthusiasm!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Thanks so much for the great suggestions! I'll have to look for some of these.

[@chapd3]

@8:03 the music during the docking scene in Elite is The Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss, which is the same song used in the docking scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

[@CharlesMacro]

I loved playing Rygar as a kid. Me and my cousin both beat it multiple times. Classic.

[@corgibuttz2550]

Wow that tidbit about Elite on the PAL NES is really interesting!

[@andrewalexander4331]

Pirates was my favourite NES game as a kid. It just never got boring.

[@pawned79]

Merry Christmas! I started playing Elite Dangerous on PS4 this year, and wow it looks so much different and yet so similar to that 8bit version!

[@zzasdfwas]

You have to mention Legacy of the Wizard. That game has a greater feeling of exploration of pretty much everything on this list, and it doesn't require completing levels in a particular order. Some people will get frustrated by the maziness, but I think that's a pro, not a con. Honestly, Metroid is mazy, too, and that's part of its charm.

[@milesrost6674]

Congratulations!! This channel is going to have steady growth for years to come. Keep the content coming!!

[@ahjteam]

Festers Quest. Rad Gravity. Zelda 2. Addams Family. Star Wars. Willow. Maniac Mansion. Metal Gear. Bionic Commando. SMB3.

[@UnclePhil73]

I played the heck out of Pirates! on the PC. It got to where I memorized the map so if I even got the tiniest bit of a treasure map, I knew exactly where it was.

[@RepublicConstitution]

8 members of your party have been eaten by the Giant Ground Sloth!

[@doozy5184]

I wish I had that level of dedication to a single game.

[@marywallace3620]

Faxanadu and Crystalis both deserve a GOOD remake (I know Crystalis had a slight remake on the gbc back in the day, but that was more of a remaster with some changes to the story a bit).

[@strain42]

Yes, I'd absolutely love a full video on The Goonies II. Merry Belated Christmas!

[@thundercactus]

Blaster Master; "like these guys that are just under the firing line of the tank's gun" *THATS WHAT THE THUNDER BRAKES ARE FOR lol

[@lizardking2407]

Please do a full review Goonies II !

[@GothicXlightning]

Seriously and again, thank you for choosing beloved SIMON BELMONT for the cover Simon's Quest is my most favorite Art cover of all time ad it makes the most sense for the topic of this beautiful video

[@scottg7660]

Merry Christmas my dude!! Solid video.

[@robintst]

I know you pronounced it correctly but decades of accepted denial will always make me pronounce it "Facks-anadu." 🤣 Those who are unaware, Faxanadu is an acronym for "Famicom Xanadu" as the Xanadu series was an off-shoot of Falcom's Dragon Slayer series only seen on MSX computers.

[@chrisd6287]

How have I never heard of Olympus?? That looks incredible. I will now go play it. Thank you FNA!

[@geophat75]

pool of radiance already covered?

[@jasonhull2163]

“What a horrible night to have a curse”. I remember going to Walmart with my mom and she bought me Castlevania 2 and I just starred at the game in the car all the way home. I was young that’s how excited I was to get this game I still remember clear.

[@ronmower]

My dad surprised me with it for Christmas. It has been one of my all time favorite games.

[@surawolf9069]

I played Pirates a LOT... sometimes trough the entire night. i once made it to be the Kings advisor at the end. good old times... 🙂

[@CharlesMacro]

Ahhhh man. Silent Service was awesome. It makes sense if Sid Meiers created it.

[@parimabartender]

Goonies 2 is the only game on nes I couldn't beat without a guide

[@TeamRocketHQR]

Wouldn't Dr. Chaos count too a bit? Was thinking of this in the middle of watching the video.

[@nickofthelivingdead88]

Guardian Legend had a slapping soundtrack

[@koopakape]

Don't get me wrong, love the vidoe and love content like this, I just think it's funny how you start out saying you'll not talk about 'too obvious' or 'Metroid-like' games and immediately hit us with well-known, extremely Metroid-like games i.e. Simon's Quest, Faxanadu and Rygar lol

[@FridayNightArcade]

Fair lol

[@RealHypeFox]

River. City. Ransom. !!! I could never remember the name of this game! You are a blessing!

[@BevaBanzai]

Oh! I've thought about a game I played a lot as a kid but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called. Then I cam across your video and now I know it's called The Guardian Legend! Thank you!

[@TheyCallMeBruce13]

Playing Blaster Master (which I'll have you know was a spectacular game), I always felt like I could do a couple of the fake bases to build up my gun, and then it was so easy to waste everything in the room that I'd really only get hit if I screwed up. It was confusing as hell, though. Getting to level 4 was such a hassle.

[@DarthMohammedRules]

You're right about farming for gun power. I think that's absolutely what the game designers intended, and specifically why they made the default gun so crappy and inconvenient to use. But the fully powered up gun? Jeez, that thing could mow through damn near everything. If you couldn't kick ass with the fully powered gun, you need to go play some Tetris or something. :D

[@jecobian]

4:06 Privateers were pretty much pirates that were contracted by a government

[@RolloTonéBrownTown]

Proud to say this is the video that got me to subscribe. Some very ambitious games for the technology of the time. In particular "Silent Service" looks like my kind of strategy game.

[@MyRetroLife]

So glad I stumbled upon this. This is GREAT retro content. Subbed and looking forward to more

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

Merry christmas everyone, about 1 game, FAXANADU , it was a revolution at the time, i loved the art, the music, the mood, the open world aspect, but i have 2 things i loved the most: 1- it was the first game i ever played that u could change the way u look with new armor, true it is nothing now, but back then , seeing ur hero wear the armor and weapons, was a miracle. 2- the grind, it was the first game i ever grinded money, in the first shop, a high level spell (the spiky ball) was for sale for a large sum of money, i grinded the early screens for hours until i could afford it, that long grind payed off a lot for what is basically the second best spell in the whole game. love the XANADU games, they still are around, with XANADU NEXT on ps2 being great and TOKYO XANADU on ps4 being the latest and also a great game, but i just widh they can remaster FAXANADU one day, there is a pic online of fanart for this game in HD and it looks amazing...love that game so much,.

[@patandmacmusic]

Loved Pirates!

[@MotherKojiro]

Faxanadu's hero isn't nameless; he's Jesus. JUST LOOK AT HIM! Ufouria's another fantastic game that I can't get enough of; it's a shame that none of the other Hebereke games were anything like it. If you're looking for others for a part 3 (I can't seem to find part 1), you might want to check out Spiritual Warfare (yes, really), Clash at Demon Head, Castlequest/Castle Excellent, and if Japan-only titles count, Cocoron, Esper Boukentai, Jikuu Yuuden Debias, and Majou Densetsu 2: Daimashikyou Galious.

[@michaelhoule2134]

Oh heck yes please do a review of Goonies II please

[@draketungsten74]

8:02 Oh that's awesome with the Blue Danube music, straight out of 2001!

[@TheLokiBiz]

5:03 - If the graphics of Pirates! for NES _really_ are bothering you that much, it's worth noting that there are also ports for Sega Genesis and Windows that are pretty much the same but with improved graphics (the windows one was released in the early 2000s, so it's probably the best looking of the bunch)

[@parimabartender]

Does anyone remember as a kid hearing the boss music in river city ransom??? Ph man the feels

[@natsune09]

'Raid on Bungeling Bay' was a very early open world game, you pilot a heli and have to destroy factories before they build up and and overwhelm you and your carrier. It was also note worthy for being the spark of influence for designer Will Wright who would then make 'Sim City.'

[@J.B.1982]

So many great dynamics in these games. I fee like they were doing more, creatively, back then than now.

[@Thumper770]

In The Legend of Zelda, if you make a new save and name it Link, you'll start off on the 2nd quest.

[@coliseumemployee909]

I thought you named it Zelda?

[@Thumper770]

@@coliseumemployee909 maybe. It's been 20 years.

[@Mirauge]

Watched a couple of your vids and then just realized I should be subbed. Thanks for the great content. 👍

[@-JvO-83-]

A full episode about the Goonies II would be awesome!

[@classicmikecade]

What a solid video Aaron. Top of the line man. Watching seeing games I never knew existed. Merry Christmas to you and family man!

[@brianjohnson5272]

Ah, zelda those notes and I am right again ready to save the day.

[@dee5298]

My dad literally found a copy of Pirates! on the ground. It is really good.

[@romannikonenko7325]

A video about 8bit RPGs would be sooooo nice!

[@LeoStaley]

These days, if you're gonna play Simon's quest, you want to use a romhack to fix the most grevious annoyances. When you do, it goes from frustrating to amazing.

[@je7055]

does it patch in the Graveyard Duck? because i could never find him and his damn silk bag

[@unsure8824]

At 16:58: what game was that? It looked like a style of Shadowgate, nevermind I think it was De Ja Vu.

[@justme9781]

Ultima and Might and Magic are kings of this

[@stevebobhorace]

Definitions of open world can differ but this is a great compilation, haven't heard of most of these before either

[@mrburns366]

Simon's Quest.. when I was a kid I was SO LOST! lol

[@SOLIDPEDINI]

Great video but no Metal gear? Or is it in another video

[@anthonylewis4433]

Rygar was My favorite game I would play every day back in time

[@zachmcclintock7431]

Great job Aaron always enjoy your episodes, hope you and your family have a great holidays and new year

[@Didi_Meow_Records]

whenever i think of Sid Meier i ofc always think Pirates Gold! Still wishing for just one more remake..... all other pirate games can not compare....

[@Mike28625]

I just had a flashback of playing goonies in the back room of the local pizza place. It was odd but fun.

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

The Goonies was also on the playchoice VS cabinets that held Mario Brothers and Castlevania VS. I played Goonies the first time on those old Red arcade cabinets at pizza hut.

[@DragonAurora]

Rygar and Blaster Master had top 5 NES music.

[@ichaukan]

I loved River City Ransom. We never got very far in it though because we'd always just end up fighting each other.

[@brucewrigleysgumchewz4667]

Haha. That game was awesome. I loved how you could pick up other guys and use them to beat other enemies with. This game is a blast! I still play it now on emulators.

[@yeethuus7009]

I was surprised to see Blaster Master without Fester's Quest. Also, I haven't played it enough to verify this, but you could go wherever you wanted in Metal Gear, right?

[@DarthMohammedRules]

Fester's Quest wasn't really "open world." I mean, yeah, the levels themselves were open, but once you got past one area, you couldn't go back to previous ones. Absolutely right about Metal Gear, though, and its sequel, Snake's Revenge.

[@brianeych]

The trick with powering up in BM is to keep going in and out of the top down areas where you know the closest power-ups are, it is a great game and the remake keeps the good stuff in tact but give quality of life improvements and it has a sequel that doesn't suck.

[@JLAvey]

I still have a bunch of Koei games from SNES and Genesis, including New Horizons, the sequel to Uncharted Waters. I played those games for hours on end back when I was in school. I do have to point out the game mentioned is pronounced No-bu-na-ga. Don't know if anyone cares but if anyone ever wondered how to pronounce Japanese names transliterated into our alphabet, syllibals (which I can't spell) typically start with a consanent (can't spell that either) and end with a vowel. Just plain 'n' can be added at the end of a vowel, like in nin-ten-do. And then there is the double consanent (I'm going to be consistent in my misspelling) and stand alone vowels sometimes pronounced separately and now I'm going way off track. Anyway, I still play Koei games from time to time and they haven't gotten old after twenty-five years.

[@nufi20]

Merry Christmas, thank you for this gift

[@DarioDAversa]

Wow, what a nostalgia rush watching this. I pretty much played all the games in this list that were available in North America at the time. My English was bad back then, so some games were hard to navigate blindly -- but that was the beauty of open-world games, as kids, we didn't care about all the meta crap, we just kept playing and playing, sometimes purposedly taking the longe routes because it was fun!!!

[@PlayStopRewindFilms]

I know these games are now on my list to enter my collection! I often don't stray from my childhood experiences which already are 100 titles just for NES not to mention my 2 full billy ikea cabinets of retro games!

[@jeffr23817]

Goonies II was one of my FAVORITE games from the NES!!! I never understood where I was supposed to go after a certain point in the game, but I didn't care! I just really enjoyed playing it!

[@darklink539]

:D a nice Christmas present for Dad. Guardian Legend is underrated. Merry Christmas

[@parimabartender]

My dad LOVED faxanadu and zelda 2. As a kid I figured my dad wouldn't like those games as his first but they were. RIP, Chaz Sternberg.

[@redwolflancer3051]

In The Guardian Legend you don't play the last of the people left,you are the Guardian of Earth sent to stop Naju From reaching Earth and its lifeforms from taking over.But great vid,really listed some of the best games I loved as a child,and still do

[@o0Skull0o]

Man Blaster Master and Guardian Legend 👌👌👌

[@spoffproduction]

Would Clash at Deamon head would be included in the Open world games catalogue?

[@DerekBarns]

Where's Clash at Demonhead?

[@retrorystergaming577]

Massively underrated game

[@sidneyvandykeii3169]

I'm pretty sure the game I put the most time into on this list was Uncharted Waters. Thats where I learned to Buy Low and Sell High when buying commodities.

[@zachmcdowell2634]

The Guardian Legend and Crystalis are two of the most underrated games on the NES. I'm surprised enough people don't even know about them, much less talk about them

[@phubans]

These games were so influential to me as a kid in the 80s. Many of them are what inspired me to be a game developer and some games that I've created were heavily influenced by a few of these. I made a game called The Indie Game Legend that had a lot of Guardian Legend influence and a game called Night Manor for the upcoming UFO50 collection was directly inspired by games like Shadowgate and Uninvited. I love all of these games. By the way, was Willow mentioned in your other video? That's another good one!

[@CharlesMacro]

Maaan. I loved the Goonies II. It was an awesome game. And wondered about the name too. My cousin and I played it all the time and beat it many times.

[@kadrinathug]

Blaster master was my favorite . In and out of tank was mindblowing.

[@natejoe9924]

Man The Goonies I miss being a kid