The 35 Most Graphically Mind-Blowing NES Games

[@BitsBeats]

Although you will find some omissions, I hope you like the selection. I tried to make it as varied and balanced as possible. The NES catalog is spectacular! Enjoy

[@SparkyMK3]

I loved this video! Just when I thought ive seen everything, I see hardware pushers for the NES that Ive never even heard of before! This was super fun to watch!

[@BitsBeats]

@@SparkyMK3 I have one about the best graphics on the Neo Geo, but I will definitely make more videos about it. I love that machine. Many thanks Nicholas!

[@NobodyAtAll420]

Great video. Thank for showing me 3 games I've been missing out on. That usually doesn't happen. 👉🏆

[@Gojiro7]

you really should have highlighted the Famicom version of contra since it has multiple stages with animated backgrounds and story cutscenes

[@ratix98]

Not bad I was surprised to see cosmic epsilon but if you really want to get your mind blown and see what the nes/famicom can truly churn out and not have slowdown check out tetrastar. It's the same as epsilon as it's the same team behind it.

[@kakolicht]

Most of the games on this list are from Konami, a reminder that it was once a respectful game company, not the cheap deceitful crap we have today.

[@Hammi4Real]

Capcom should just do us all a favour and buy their IPs out of their hands, hell their entire library off the dusty shelves. I'm sure Konami wouldn't mind if deep pockets are involved.

[@bangrojai]

Konami really had it in the time of winning eleven....sadly....they didnt make the right choice that time

[@MrZeroExe]

Deceitful? Lmfao!!!! How have they “deceived you” oh hyperbolic one? We know what we’re getting from the now, crap. Not to mention that you can always wait for reviews which at the very least, come out the day of the release of them game. No one is deceiving you, you’re simply not smart.

[@Wallriss]

@@MrZeroExe Deceitful because Konami used to be a sign of quality. Now they create trash under the same name.

[@retro9173]

@@MrZeroExe - Heard they wronged Hideo Kojima ..

[@Nails077]

I remember when 3D graphics first started to become common. Everybody thought polygons were the future and that 2D spritework was outdated. Makes it kind of funny that NES visuals has aged a lot better than those very early polygon visuals.

[@vangelis7]

I hated the first gen of 3d games and how ugly they looked. At the time I thought it was big mistake to abandon 2d games.

[@youcantspellghostwithoutgo26]

Remember 3D World Runner?

[@ZeroConZx]

Mmm I love Bubsy 3D

[@lfhip-hop6794]

You mean you don't like Bubsy 3d?!

[@Fear2Stop]

Not for nothing, the ps1 era has dated the worst IMHO

[@deadsirius3531]

All this 8-bit music and imagery just makes me feel 11 years old again. If you're a bit younger it may be hard to understand but as primitive as this stuff looks today, if you were a kid back when this was the peak of home gaming, it was mesmerizing

[@EsmeAmelia]

I love the way NES games look in general. Yes, I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so I might have a nostalgic bias, but there's a certain charm about NES graphics.

[@JNAMOTORSPORTS]

A lot of these games has charm and it wasn’t about zombies and gore It was just plain fun

[@jasonsaunders3611]

i completely agree and the music of the 8 bit era had some of the best game music.

[@Vik1919]

I was born in 99 but I still love NES.

[@Vik1919]

@@JNAMOTORSPORTS Zombies and gore can be fun, too. Besides, "zombies and gore" was in Castlevania as well. I like to give credit where it's due.

[@jasonsaunders3611]

@@Vik1919 the nes diffinitly has charm i was born in 83 its always nice to see people who were born later share the same love for the system even with all the current systems out there its always nice to akways come back to the 8 bit goodness:)

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

You can tell the makers of Little Sampson were so proud of those 360 degree spin animations. They work them into as many scenarios as they can.

[@hell-yeah8776]

Agree with this one, especially with Kirby's Adventure and Battletoads. Those two are the winner for me. Castlevania 3 is my personal favorite. A perfect combination between awesome graphic, awesome gameplay, and awesome music.

[@gustavonunez5959]

And replay value.

[@AngryCalvin]

Castlevania 3 was the NES game I played the most. And it was one of the last games I bought even when it was on sale for $20. I was really happy with the Castlevania Aniversary Collection especially since the Japanese Famicom version of Castlevania 3 is even better.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Check out SOLSTICE to see the best graphics on the NES. Not the most technical game but the music also rocks

[@DenverStarkey]

one that always impressed me graphically was Battle of Olympus. It has such a massive color palette for an 8 bit game it also had a good number of enemies and varied landscapes.

[@mkapper9800]

Totally agree. One of the best for sure.

[@pivotalpancake5454]

The team behind Castlevania 3's pixel art really made sure that the limitations of the pixel art would benefit a lot giving the game it's atmosphere. The sharp shading, the bright colors, the disturbing content, it almost reminds me of Caravaggio's pieces funnily enough.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

METROID and KID ICARUS are some of the best looking NES games and they were FIRST. They use a different graphics technique but no extra chips

[@TheMichaelJordanofGambling]

Willow is omitted pretty regularly, but it’s probably the best looking NES title. I thought it was a SNES game when I first saw a play through, it’s that impressive.

[@OGM_OriginalGameMusic]

Crisis Force in particular blows me away. there's a proper sense of depth with the pixel art. amazing

[@ophidianmind333]

This is a nice list with many classic games on it. Batman: Return of the Joker on the NES surprisingly both looks and plays better than the Genesis version of the game. It's also nice to see Crystalis getting some attention, it's one of the best games on the NES in my opinion and it often gets overlooked. For some more visually impressive NES/Famicom games, check out: Metal Slader Glory (this game required a much larger than usual Famicom cartridge to case the extra hardware required to display the graphics), The Immortal, Getsu Fuuma Den, Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei II, Sweet Home (the battle graphics are great), Xexyz, Nightshade, Gargoyle's Quest II, and Zen: Intergalactic Ninja.

[@BitsBeats]

Every time many of you recommend games I realize more and more how presumptuous or bombastic my video titles are (maybe I should change that even if I end up getting penalized on KZbin SEO). Be that as it may, it's always a pleasure to learn from you guys and contrast video game choices.

[@sithlord1051]

Crystalis is an underrated gem! Faxanadu, too.

[@hkoizumi3134]

I used to program games in Assembly and I can appreciate these amazing visual more than average people. Some of the things that seem unnecessary was done just because it looks much more realistic. Such as splashes around the platform under waterfall. It's incredible!

[@codmott286]

you can tell the coders are flexing, like a sort of unwritten competition between developers that they all silently acknowledged.

[@gurvmlk]

The tiniest details usually make the biggest difference.

[@nikolaikalashnikov4253]

I wonder if their build script calculated the all the sizes (code, gfx, sfx, music) so that it'd make it easier to identify where they had to make changes during the development process ?

[@dropkickrabbit6168]

It really is incredible how they were able to pull off these kinds of graphics on 8-bit hardware back in the day, especially with Revenge of the Joker, Metal Storm, Gradius II and Kirby’s Adventure.

[@DJZeeJay]

I'm happy to see Captain Tsubasa on this list. One of the best looking games on the NES. Always blew me away how good the effects for the special shots looked.

[@louiszc999]

and the brillianr soundtrack- my fav game on nes

[@Vik1919]

I never got past those twin players. They were tough.

[@jitheshkumar4059]

Darwing Duck, Tiny Toon Adventures 1 & 2, Shadow of Ninja, Kunio Kun no Nekketsu Soccer League, Duck Tales, Mickey's Safari in Letterland, Double Dragon 3, Rush'n Attack.

[@kosiak10851]

1994 was one of the best years in gaming. I was given a brand new NES, and all of those newly came out games of 1990-1993 were available to me

[@scorpionwins6378]

You got a Nintendo system in 1994?? Man you joined in pretty late. By that time all of the kids had nearly forgotten about the NES and were caught up in the next-gen console craze!

[@AzzureSky]

Good to see Kick Master getting on the list! It's one of better looking NES games I've ever see and barely anybody talks about it.

[@richardmeyerii5622]

I actually own it. Definitely good looking. A bit tough at times, but fun.

[@jasonsaunders3611]

i am also a big fan of kickmaster an amazing game

[@jasonsaunders3611]

@@richardmeyerii5622 i own it as well it goes for a pretty penny these days

[@Rahul016-d6k]

Same. I used to play it.

[@Rahul016-d6k]

@nemo pouncey LOL gameplay was top notch in nes days ; now it feels akward playing with thumbstick instead of D-Pad.

[@goatbone]

The Japanese version of Contra has animated trees in the opening level, probably should have shown that one.

[@Yoursoul101]

Makes you really see what it's like to have people who love their job with management who isn't pushing deadlines down their throats.

[@ScarfboyMrReese]

"Totally Rad" and "The Guardian Legend" might make this list for different reasons. "Double Dragon 2" is also a very nice looking game.

[@blackenedheart9592]

Totally Rad had some amazing graphical bosses.

[@gurvmlk]

Whenever I revisit Guardian Legend, there are certain stages that have so much happening on the screen that I'm just like, "How is the game speed not chugging?"

[@vguyver2]

Ninja Gaiden 2 as well though it's a bit redundant given NG3. But there are some things graphically done in that game that weren't done on NG3. Also the Megaman games started becoming more graphically impressive starting with MM4. Yes, MM1 was great, and MM2 and MM3 revolutionized gameplay for the franchise and future MM titles, but but people forget just how nice MM4-MM6 really looked.

[@eyokfla]

4:21 journey to sirius was AWESOME. Awesome gameplay, awesome music, awesome graphics. It was definitely a 16 bits game.

[@feenix219]

If they hadn't lost the movie license for Terminator, it would have been the one movie based game that didn't suck!

[@noaht2005]

Your misspelling makes me wander if it was meant to be Journey to Sirius and the Japanese developers got the l and r confused

[@adamlach6572]

The music is super awesome and the gameplay is really good

[@Thewickedjon]

kirby's adventure pushed the NES harder than anything else before or since. The game is a technical marvel and a masterclass in programming.

[@BrendanKSeguin]

A NES game I find had amazing visual and presentation is Gargoyles Quest II. I played it recently and was so surprised with how good it looks

[@arnausfr9224]

my visor detected a pure botasequies

[@PONTOCRITICO]

Famicom is one of the most reputable consoles in history especially for what its hardware was able to do. In fact, it went far beyond what was expected and was much brighter than its 16-bit successor, which had its project flaws there. Sometimes it is unbelievable to see certain games that were held for Famicom and say that they ran in such a simple system, but at the same time so elaborate and efficient.

[@mr.voidout4739]

I remember the last boss of Kirby being crazy when I was a little kid. It stuck out more than anything I had played.

[@SunnyTacos]

9:48 didn't know Tien/Tenshinhan had his own game.

[@GurdevSeepersaud]

Stained glass in Dracula's Curse is gorgeous to this day

[@fthprodphoto-video5357]

Return of the joker is probably the most impressive Nes game ever made. It came out very late (like castlevania 3) and I can still remember to purchase both of them brand new for 19.99$ (actually CHF in Switzerland) the SNES was already there since 1 year and nobody cared about Nes games anymore...we sold out Nes to get the snes but purchased the Nes again new for 59$ to be able to play Castlevania 3 but Batman impressed me even more technically !

[@annstevens6223]

It’s hard to beat SMB3. Amazing graphics and gameplay and controls. Not to mention replayability. Almost the perfect game.

[@leestevenson1236]

A system with a truly magical graphic style. It’s full of charm, character and clarity. When people have less, we create more.

[@pemegangkoencisyurga]

Captain Tsubasa Vol. II is the best thing that ever happened to my childhood. A Turn-Based Sport Simulator game with char just like the anime itself? Who would have thought? in fricking NES?

[@kistar3460]

Great list, but I miss Track n field II in it, that game has some nice graphics and was ahead of its time.

[@williamcrowe2576]

Graphically, Battletoads was impressive. Difficulty-wise, it was punishing.

[@maevethefox5912]

So many levels that I had no idea existed until I saw them on KZbin at 35 hahaha

[@Mistraker]

Kirby's Adventure has all the visual appeal without the punishing difficulty. Super fun, and a normal human can beat it without having to memorize the entire game by dying over and over again.

[@vguyver2]

@@maevethefox5912 It also had some fatal Glitches. Even if you mastered the game, you would fail in 2 player due to them.

[@FoundOasis]

One of the best KZbin channels of all time so underrated I swear

[@NavinBasnetTarku555]

Awesome list ! glad you included the OG - Contra 🔥🔥🔥🔥⭐⭐⭐⭐❤️❤️.

[@jaya_surya_a5118]

I d know who's that composing behind Konami games and sunsoft....deserves an award 😅 for best song composition

[@Usualsuspect101]

Im upset that you didn't include Nekketsu games like Goal3, Gnabre dunks and Crash n Boys games those were the epic gaming days on my childhood, played with lot of my cousins and elder brothers, those Nostalgia man!

[@Halbared]

Marvellous vid, out of all of these I had; Super Mario Bros 3, Blaster Master and Gremlins 2. I so wish I had gotten Castlevania 3 and Batman 2 back then. It was a mistake not to. Gimmick looks fun. Sunsoft, Rare and Konami did amazing stuff. You should do a follow up video.

[@64retrogamer11]

You forgot to mention "Street Fighter 2010 the Final Fight" that game was so colorful for an NES game.

[@Dj.D25]

Agree, looks great for the time it was released.

[@johanneshiden]

I remember a games magazine telling how Castlevania 3 would have exceptional graphics also on a technical level, but the aspect that hit me much more in the game was its awesome soundtrack.

[@danielmilyutin9914]

I recall some more: Power blade 2 Mortal Arms Prisoners of war TMNT tournament fighters Namco games (dirty football and many more)

[@AngryCalvin]

Most of my favorite game rentals of all time are on this list. I see games like Shatterhand, GI Joe, Vice Project Doom, Kick Master, Gremlins 2 wishing they were still available. I have over 100 NES games but missing these ones. I have Castlevania 3, Super Mario Bros 3, Kirbys Adventure, Battletoads, Contra, which are still favorites of mine. I like everything on this list except Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Kid Dracula, and Slalam I also own all 3 of them. Wish I could trade them for some of the others. Otherwise this is a great list. I would have put Double Dragon II, Snake Rattle and Roll, and Punch Out over the 3 bad games on this list and would easily call them superior in every way possible. I guess my disappointment in Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers is because I was 15 when it came out not a kiddie. No nostalgia here but I cringe at this game. I was disappointed it wasn't DuckTales which is the only series of Disney games I will play. GI Joe games were really awesome! I doubt they will ever see the light of day again due to legal reasons. It would be a miracle if they were not to remain abandonware forever.

[@Bloodreign1]

I wasn't a kid when Chip N Dale 1 came out on the NES, didn't like it back then, but you know what, they grew on me as I got older. I have both games in the series, as well as Kid Dracula, and Slalom, would not get rid of them for anything. I had that same feeling years later with Yoshi's Island that I did with Chip and Dale (and Duck Tales, a friend of mine had it and C&D), but wouldn't you know it, Yoshi's Island grew on me, and I got to feel like a kid again, even though Yoshi's Island basically came out when I was around 20 years old. Age should not deter you from liking a game, hell sometimes later in life you start to appreciate the games you didn't back then, unless it's something like Hydlide, which is terrible at any age, and one I am unfortunate enough to own a copy of, thanks to a friend giving me it, and Ghosts N Goblins when his bike, a backpack full of his games, plus my copy of Super C NES, all got stolen.

[@mentalhell4846]

I'm shocked by there graphics because I spent my childhood playing low graphics quality games with very simple graphics like Donkey Kong. NES is quite a beast.

[@liususanto]

surprised too. I thought I already knew all the NES games 😍 apparently there are still many games with good graphics, with moving backgrounds too. Here are my recommendations, I think the graphics are good 😀: 1. Zen Intergalactic Ninja 2. Power Blazer 3. Argus no Senshi

[@samus-rd1channel]

3:41 Wow, I didn't know this game existed, it looks amazing, that intro was great!

[@phil_matic]

Honestly... 2002-2004 was a great time for retro gaming because there were plenty of NES/Super Nes games showing up in Gamestop and man I was able to play them while I was in high school.

[@michaelmcgee2026]

Never heard of moon crystal. It's amazing that after all these years I'm still finding out about new games

[@soulreaver1983]

Awesome!!! I always really loved the castlevania one ! Where Trevor is in meditation in front of the cross before the battle!!!!😎👍👍

[@privatejokerful]

How I loved "Little Samson". It is an all time favorite

[@frun]

Mitsume ga toru is INSANE! Kickmaster and Backe-o-hare are awesome. Castlevania III is in reality Castlevania I 0:18

[@lonewolf8304]

Double dragon 3 , Batman , Faxanadu , Spiderman return of the sinister six are some of the best

[@rgerber]

Rad Racer - which is basically Outrun on the NES and especially the first stage but also night levels are mighty impressive for 8-bit!

[@scottythegreat1]

When Square hired Nasir, Masafumi Miyamoto wanted to show off Nasir's 3D programming abilities (they also used this on 3D World Runner).

[@StoicNatsoc]

I was not expecting to see Shatterhand on this list. but i am so very glad i did. Its my favorite NES game and the one i played the most during the later 90s and start of 2000s

[@bluenothing720]

This collaboration is great. Thanks

[@BlankSpacePub]

Good list. I might add River City Ransom. Its graphics were simple but stylish.

[@Peter_1986]

I like how this video showed the Famicom version of "Castlevania 3 - Dracula's Curse" (or "Akumajô Densetsu = "The Legend Of The Devil's Castle", as it is called in Japan"); the sound in that version really takes the whole game to another level.

[@xsytrance175]

I'm very shocked to not see Little Nemo on here. Nice list though!

[@maevethefox5912]

Kirby's Adventure was one of the first games I ever completed as a kid, and the graphics were so good I largely remember it as an SNES game

[@Dagasm]

Super Spy Hunter is one that always comes to mind. I first played it not long after the SNES was released and thought it could pass graphically as an SNES game. It was a great game as well and a sizable upgrade over the original Spy Hunter for NES.

[@fiftyshadesofurban]

Some of the best gfx here are seen in Batman and Crisis Force. The way they made it look like it has parallax scrolling is brilliant. Basically they created an animation a few frames long that makes it look like this huge moving clouds that are in 3D. Moon Crystal has really super nice animation, so smooth for an NES title. Not even SNES games had that level of animation most of the time.

[@Elephra]

Simply amazing. I had most of these gems back in the day. A truly nostalgic and inspiring time travel to the golden age of gaming. Thank you so much for this. 😃

[@arnausfr9224]

yor foquin moma is may niu bitech

[@wobblingpixels3921]

Good selection mate. I consider Batman still the best looking NES game IMO.

[@mastrorj68]

I loved that game but man was it tough lol have you ever played gi Joe?

[@AlexanderKontsevoy]

Batman is definitely a gem for NES, animation and gameplay are so smooth. Honestly, I’d change a lot of game titles in this list: Battle Toads & Double Dragon looks more superior and polished than first Battle Toads; Zen Intergalactic Ninja looks really good; and for the real masterpieces - Crash and The Boys game series from Technos Japan.

[@ivanb8126]

I support your comment 100%. I was looking for the first Sunsoft Batman on the list and I was going to write a comment claiming its deserved place. I'm glad to know that other people feel alike. Batman has one of the best 8 bit graphics ever, second to none. A very unique style in NES graphics that would be great to see in new indie games. Best

[@ocramknight]

Good selection! I've also seen from a collection at a friend's house that Battletoads vs Double Dragon pushed even further at the time.

[@TopStilers]

Mitsume Ga Tooru, Kick Master, Battletoads проходил, нравятся эти игры))

[@Sam1787]

Blaster master and Crystalis- 2 of my favorite games from the NES. Criminally underrated. Love the gameplay and control over the characters is so smooth.

[@DarkPuIse]

Ahh, man. I saw Shatterhand and I was thinking "Man, Vice: Project Doom better be on here." You read my goddamn mind. So proud to have owned (and beaten!) that game as a kid. A super-hidden gem. Should caveat Castlevania 3 though: What you got is footage of the Japanese version (Akumajou Densetsu) that had extra sound capability the US version didn't have (which is still good, just not AS good) due to having a custom chip that added extra sound channels. It also had some pretty interesting differences (Grant plays totally differently, for example) if you're interested in looking it up! Also, fun fact: Capcom didn't publish Megaman 6 in North America. Nintendo themselves did! I guess Capcom didn't feel that it would sell all that well...

[@Marius150PL]

Shatterhand is good, but I prefer Japanese Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain, because it has a better version of Area C and this theme is a pure gold and for me it has more sense (e.g. if you have the same symbols 2 times in a row you have a gun, not armor). Best game of my childhood. Generally there are some differences between Shatterhand and Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain and Natsume/Angel ihmo was best developer of 8 bit games.

[@Dembilaja]

All six Mega Man games were looking great on NES. Battletoads was probably best looking NES game, not only that it looked like it wasn't NES title, but it didn't played either. Oh yeah, Kirby also looked great on NES.

[@danwatts9537]

I like how this is just all of the games we all played and not really anything specific. It goes to show how great the graphics were in general.

[@wiremesh2]

Should have included the Japanese versions of Castlevania 3 and Contra. In Japan they had the freedom to produce their own mappers, so CV3 (Akumajo Densetsu) got extra sound channels for upgraded music and Contra featured extra scenes and background animation.

[@PSYCHOBEVO]

I'd say the original NES Batman game is a stand-out in terms of graphics. The artists who drew all the background tiles for that game had a clear mastery of portraying shadows, like the classical artistic technique of chiaroscuro. It's very impressive to achieve that look using the NES's 8-bit graphical capabilities.

[@lastclassairman]

Metal Storm is such an underrated adventure title. Love these videos.

[@DarthEquus]

You should mention that many of these games use enhancement chips. It doesn't make them any less impressive, but Crisis Force and Cosmic Epsilon would have been impossible to do on stock NES hardware.

[@JanetStarChild]

I'm glad to see that Gimmick (it's just 'Gimmick'; no "Mr.") made the cut! What a gem of a game!

[@laser90]

The best thing about Kirby's Adventure are its backgrounds. Iirc they were hand-drawn and then put into sprites. Two of the best examples are the Airship level in Grape Garden, and Orange Ocean 6. My favourite tho is the room where you fight Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright. It is a beautiful sunset, which dynamically changes to be either day or night based on which one of them is up.

[@Nelbroth]

It must be hard to imagine now, but Super Mario 3 was absolutely mind blowing back in the day.

[@mastrorj68]

I remember being in the movie theater seeing it debut

[@longdong3972]

It’s just so crazy how good the software gets towards the end of the life cycle of the NES. Look at all of the early released NES games and then compare them to sone of the games on this list, and you wouldn’t even be able to guess they are even running on the same hardware. Honestly, I feel after the famicon disk system, games started to get better. After this disk system they found out better ways to store games on physical cartridges, allowing them to cram more data into games. I love going back and watching videos, and just seeing tech advance over the years.

[@youcantspellghostwithoutgo26]

Glad to see NG3:ASOD was on here. I loved TGL, LifeForce, DS:TNL, and W:TLW as well.

[@ultimosis]

I really like that you considered games from the entire Famicom library. Great video.

[@theesophisticatedcarrot7470]

The sound tracks were so good. Bangers...

[@Mitsuraga]

Both Moon Crystal and Comic Epsilon are games I've never heard of, but look totally up my alley. Side note, I love how the music in Captain Tsubasa goes perfectly with the player's run cycle.

[@dobrozner7784]

The sprite animations in Moon Crystal, when I just saw that, actually shocked me. Fantastic animation.

[@chrisd6287]

So many cool games I never even knew about. And that's why the NES and retro gaming for that matter is so amazing!

[@wongyc5585]

Super Contra, Gunnac, Guerilla War, SCAT and Guardian legend should be on the list as well.

[@Autotrope]

Happy to see blaster master on here. It's the one NES game I reference as being a game that could easily have been made as a modern day indie game

[@stringedaz]

Battle toads and Kirby blew my mind as a kid. I played the heck out of those.

[@MKF30]

Great video! Some nes games look like snes at times which is crazy.

[@cynicalguy9509]

If you notice, a lot of the games with the cool graphics were released around 1990-1992. I remember reading somewhere that it was around those years when game devs really mastered the NES system. It definitely shows.

[@2kBofFun]

Which is amazing as the system goes back to 1983. You can almost say there was a NES 1.0, the years they had no clue, with titles like Super Mario Bros, Duckhunt, Legend of Zelda, with graphics more like an Atari 2600, and the NES 2.0, running in parallel to the SNES, with titles often outperforming the 16-bit baby brother. Double Dragon 2, Isolated Warrior, Power Blade, Felix the Cat, Duck Tales, games that were so good I wonder if they could actually be ported to the SNES.

[@brettvogel8418]

​@@2kBofFunlol have you seen atari graphics? Zelda and mario bros easily blew them out of the water.

[@2kBofFun]

@@brettvogel8418 2600 was really bad, but a game like Zelda looks as 2600-ish compared to a game like Power Blade, which invades SNES territory.

[@brettvogel8418]

@@2kBofFun if you compare it to an atari 2600 game side by side, no it doesn't. What a ridiculous claim.

[@2kBofFun]

@@brettvogel8418 It is a nice progression. The distance Atari 2600->Zelda is about the same as Zelda->Power Blade and the like. From a late 1990's NES perspective, early NES games are unbearable visually. Every bit as much as the NES walked over the 2600. No other console has such a huge leap within the lifespan.

[@rwilcox_71]

That G.I. Joe game had some really high level pixel art! The red highlighted background cave walls looked like something out of a comic book! Great stuff here!

[@barnamocsari436]

+1: Power Blade 2. A hidden but true gem of the NES

[@ludwikd]

All of them look amazing.

[@LaGranjaHumanaMX]

Bucky O´Hare and Little Samson uffff really the best games for the NES. far beyond its time. i hope there would be new games like those with multi characters in plaform.

[@briangruessner4453]

I'd never heard of Moon Crystal before, but the quality of the animation in that game is so silky smooth that it's hard to believe that I'm watching an NES game.

[@dejongejohan]

A friend of mine got Batman Return of the Joker when it came out and we we're blown away by it's graphics, in our minds it looked just like a early SNES game.

[@codmott286]

I would stumble upon some of these games at random rental stores on occasion and immediately knew something about them was special, even at age 9. I could tell these titles were a cut above the rest, the kind that non of my friends had ever seen before, and possibly never would.

[@StarrCreations]

Great list but DEFINTELY should have shown footage from the jungle level in Return of the Joker! The plants blowing in the wind is so badass :)

[@alexandrefilho9988]

Awesome. Good things , old Memories. 80 's forever

[@patrickc1216]

Thanks for making this; an interesting list to be sure. But a glaring omission - BIONIC COMMANDO. Insane gameplay, variation of backgrounds, and epic enemy animation.

[@nezahual2000]

Amazing recopilation, but I really think you could have added "Tecmo Super Bowl" and "Double Dragon 2 or 3" (maybe the one with the Battletoads). Apart from that, great vid! 👍

[@Kohgilofi]

great video! "Werewolf: the last warrior" was amazing too!