The First 30 NES Games!

[@asurlybarber3620]

Getting the NES Action Set for Christmas in 1986 was the greatest gift I had ever or would ever recieve. It was an entire generation's Red Ryder BB gun, I suppose. Appreciate the trip down Memory Lane, it's one of the few decent neighborhoods left.

[@pharmcat8484]

I wish that was an exaggeration.

[@Fortefyre]

That's a beautiful memory, from a wonderful perspective! Thanks for sharing it Barber!

[@dougdig]

Super Mario Bros was literally the game changer that changed everything.....This is the very first video game that I played that wasn't a single screen. I mean before that I was playing games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, etc....when I first played Super Mario, it blew my mind when the screen moves. Equivalent to how it blew my mind when I went from old Nokia cell phone to the very first iPhone and used "scrolling" to navigate the webpage.

[@Fortefyre]

Hell, I remember accidentally hitting the internet icon and spamming the end button to get out so we didn't get charged lmao.

[@shigshug8581]

Exactly, Super Mario Bros side scrolling platforming really made all the other games before it look like fancy electronic "board" games. To me Super Mario Bros was the first real "video" game because it moved like an actual video.

[@o0GreyKnight0o]

Hey @Fortefyre, ever since I watched this video, I have been on a quest to find all 30 of these games and I only have 11 left which are Donkey Kong, Gumshoe, Gyromite, Hogan's Alley, Ice Climber, Pinball, Slalom, Soccer, tennis, Wild Gunman ("You gotta use your hands, that's baby stuff.") and volleyball. Thank you for the inspiration, keep making awesome videos!

[@Fortefyre]

You bet! I need to make more EGE products, those 30 lists are fun!

[@o0GreyKnight0o]

@ you should do a list of the black cart unlicensed games, the good, bad and ugly.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Super Mario Bros. is not just the best North American NES black box game, but also has the best black box artwork as well.

[@bildo1977]

Mario is about to die in the artwork. You do realize that, don’t you?

[@Fortefyre]

I never really paid attention to that lol

[@AndrewKnight-ll7gy]

You are quickly becoming my new favourite gaming KZbinr. Great stuff

[@Fortefyre]

Thank you! That's kind of you to say!

[@joe-yuugen]

Great Feature presentation of First 30 games for the iconic NES. I hope you have more of these planned. Great work

[@Fortefyre]

I do! I'm going to do one for every console library :)

[@bildo1977]

Fun fact: Vs. Super Mario Bros. used some levels that would be reused in The Lost Levels. Also the NES port took away the time bonus in the fortress levels, in which there’s an interesting (deliberate) glitch. If you grab the axe right when the timer hits 000, your time bonus will be worth 1,000 time units which is 50,000 points! I say it’s deliberate because it’s duplicated in SMB and The Lost Levels on Super Mario All-Stars.

[@Fortefyre]

Yep! 100%

[@richfutrell753]

Fantastic video as always! Loved your take on all the games - but regarding DK Jr Math - I think that would be super fun in a competitive arena like the new Switch Nintendo World Championship (I won a quarter-final spot in 1990 but my mom wouldn't take me back...thanks, mom!). Anyhoo... I want to say the early Capcom games - i.e. 1942, Commando, Ghosts n Goblins, Trojan, came out at least in our area before the Bandai trio of Chubby Cherub, Ninja Kid, and M.U.S.C.L.E. My first non-Nintendo-published NES game was either Commando or Ghosts n Goblins.

[@richfutrell753]

Also, M.U.S.C.L.E. was a trendy toy for young boys at the time. Weird little freaky creatures with, e.g., a literal hand or eyeball for a body, or a funny robot or minotaur...we would fight them and trade them like Pokemon... M.U.S.C.L.E. - "Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere"...

[@Fortefyre]

Then you got it a month early :P That's so cool you were involved with the 1990 NWC!!!!

[@richfutrell753]

@@Fortefyre Yeah I mean collecting coins on world 1 of SMB I can do without thinking, I was a Tetris freak, so I had that handled. I was good at Rad Racer but I wiped out a couple times so I was worried about that, but I did get a semi final sticker amd invite. Ironically I was way more excited about the Altered Beast and Golden Axe arcade machines in the lobby.

[@KasumiRINA]

2:53 This is EXACTLY why 99% of people will forever have no idea what it is. You know, there's some ancient games we don't have rules for because when ancients wrote about them they assumed everybody knows the rules. Well, guess what, as a European who has friends in Asia and Africa, I can't ask ANYBODY what the rules of baseball are. Like this, they will be forever lost to time, and archeologists wouldn't be able to discover what's a "pitch".

[@Fortefyre]

FACTS

[@anna-puu]

Hehe, cool video! I used to have some of these games as a kid. Like Ice Climber and Wrecking Crew. Ice Climber had (still has) some weird ass control mechanics, and Wrecking Crew's level editor was fun

[@Tommi1981]

I found wrecking crew really depressing. Guess I was kind of depressed 😔

[@Fortefyre]

I need to play it, I've never messed with it lol.

[@Tommi1981]

@@Fortefyre it's pretty interesting I guess, historically. Mario as a demolition man. There is a dog also. dunno if he appeared after this game. Spike, i think is his name :)

[@gamebros87]

I loved duck hunt when it was new and still love it today

[@Fortefyre]

It's fun to watch my kids play it too!

[@EsmeAmelia]

It's always interesting to look at a system's roots. I was born in 1984, so I didn't experience the video game crash or the resurgence after it, but the NES definitely played an important part in my life later on and those 8-bit graphics and sounds always give me the warm fuzzies.

[@Fortefyre]

They do it for me as well!

[@johneygd]

Supermariobros and duckhunt were one of those first games i ever pkayed, it felt like magic to control something on screen, as if you were determining at what’s gonna happening on screen, and everytime i was beating a level i was wondering what’s gonna be next happening on screen.

[@Fortefyre]

That's awesome! Thank you for sharing your perspective!

[@gitgeronimo9375]

Yes, please do that home version versus Vs System version video! Fun but well-known fact: in 1986, when the team was porting SMB to the Vs System, some of the difficult levels they added (they didn’t want any repeating stages like on the home version) ended up in Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan

[@Fortefyre]

You got it :)

[@m0ocow_love783]

Great video format! Love it!

[@Fortefyre]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gingyberrie]

i will never forget the absolute joy and excitement when a nintendo was unboxed af christmas … myself and siblings played for daysssss .. i still have the original console, paddles and games .. i still play some of my favorites occasionally

[@Fortefyre]

That's incredible! I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to keep all my boxes.

[@NEStalgia1985]

Hey man. Good to see your making a good presence on here. You gotta do a video about the Famicom big three. Kid Icarus, Metroid, Zelda. I'm sure there's a good story there with the new mmc chips. Or you can do a video about the 1988 chip shortage with Zelda 2/smb 2. keep up the high output, I spend all day in an editing suite so I feel your pain.

[@Fortefyre]

Hmm, interesting! I might have to check it out!

[@joe-yuugen]

The comparison videos for Vs. arcade series and home carts would be awesome.

[@Fortefyre]

Sounds good I'll do it!

[@KasumiRINA]

It's hilarious that first games released on American version of Famicom are games that most people outside of United States would have NO IDEA how to play... might as well release "IRS tax counting" and "Walmart chase", or even "Imperial system simulator")

[@Fortefyre]

"Mario Teaches Proctology"

[@SamusGunship]

I now own a complete copy of every black box game that you presented. In fact I own a complete copy of every black box game that there is- I love them. Some more than others. It is hard to describe how special NES and in fact the black box games were when they first came out. The visual style, and the gameplay, and the music and sound effects were so refreshing, and the games have not lost their luster. But it still is hard to explain what they felt like when they were new. They just felt good. Super Mario Bros. was the star at the time, but it was so fun to have the other black box games that you could switch to. In actuality, I consider Wrecking Crew to be the best video game to feature Mario- that has ever been made. I say that as a strong Super Mario Bros. fan, and I know that very few, if any, people will agree with me. But I strongly believe it is superior to any Super Mario Bros. game.

[@Fortefyre]

This is EXACTLY what I was hoping to read. Thank you so much for providing an insight into that brief moment in time. I truly appreciate it!

[@SamusGunship]

@@Fortefyre Thank you for caring to hear what it was like at the time. I have been loving and playing video games my entire life, and now I work as an artist in video games. But that time when NES first came out, and we only had the original black box games to choose from was a time so special that there has never been any time at all like it since. And this is not nostalgia speaking. It just was such a beautiful springing up of extremely high quality games, all by Nintendo, all at once. You have to understand that right before, all we had had were consoles like Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision and I personally owned an Atari 5200. I appreciated these games somewhat, but I was very clearly aware that there was something profoundly wrong with them. They were not satisfying at all. NES was not merely better than what we had before. It was like coming home to a home that we didn't know about before. I can't stress that enough- NES was not merely better than what we had before. These games were made with love. While games prior did not feel like they were made with love. I think this is an important way to put it. And I recognized is as such, immediately. And even after all these decades, and so very many well made video games have been made since, when I play Black Box games on NES on a CRT (which I still do play them) I still feel that love that these games were crafted with. That sense has not gone away. I have a great admiration for these games. I have written a lot here, so I'll wrap up. But I have to point out some ancillary things besides the games themselves. For example, the boxart- you have to understand how appreciated that box art was. We were so used to Atari games that had beautiful paintings for their boxart, and then the game was visually ass, and we knew it. Even on the backs of Atari boxes, the screenshots of games would often be from the arcade versions, and there would be a disclaimer next to the screenshot that would warn that "these images may differ from actual gameplay". We were so used to such false advertising, and always being dissapointed. So Nintendo did the opposite, they put images that matched very closely the pixel art of the game directly on the front of the box, as you know, and demonstrated that the true game was beautiful enough to get us excited about the fun of the game. Even as a kid, I understood immediately what Nintendo was trying to communicate to us through their box art, and i very much appreciated it. And another thing- that d pad. My god, that precious d pad. As I mentioned, I only owned an Atari 5200 prior, and the controller for the 5200 is notorious for being quick to break. I hated joysticks, bad, and when Nintendo gave us that NES controller- well, it was love at first sight for me. I so so appreciated it. The quality with which it was made. How perfectly useful the d pad and other buttons were. It was bliss. I have never in my entire life loved a manufactured product as much as I loved the NES. And I doubt that I ever will.

[@Fortefyre]

Never worry about something being a long read, I read every single character, and you painted a landscape of a time where video gaming recovered during a period of uncertainty, and I'm beyond honored that you decided to take the time to write all of that!

[@SamusGunship]

@@Fortefyre You are so welcome. I so appreciate your videos on NES, and I love that you care to talk about these games with the respect that you do have for them. I'm going to keep on watching your videos. And, by the way, I see just now that you released a new one on the top 10 shortest NES games- great topic. You are holding up a copy of Double Dribble, which is a game I loved so much as a kid, even though I was not very much into basketball- I'm about to go watch your video now.

[@rylch44]

Awesome video. Bringing it back!

[@Fortefyre]

That's what I do!

[@rmfjedimaster7962]

Most definitely would be interested in the Nintendo system/ Verses System differences 👍

[@Fortefyre]

Sounds good!

[@smallmj2886]

I was around in those days, but in my neighbourhood everyone had moved from the Atari 2600 to home computers. In 1985/86 I was happily gaming on my TI99/4A, though I was envious of my cousin's C64 (we would get one in 87). I don't think I saw an NES until 89 or 90.

[@Fortefyre]

Ah gotcha, that makes sense. I do have a TI99/4A, but the only game I have for it is Burgertime

[@smallmj2886]

@@Fortefyre If you can find Tunnels of Doom you should grab it. It is a fantastic dungeon crawl. Trouble is that you need both the cartridge and the tape or floppy. Plus you need to a tape or floppy drive. Parsec is a decent horizontal shooter, Munchman is a good Pac-man clone, and TI Invaders is a very good Space Invaders clone.

[@Riz2336]

I'd like to see a comparison of the NES and VS. versions of the games. I played I'd say the really popular games out of these but a good portion of them I just skipped because of they're age

[@Fortefyre]

Say less! I'll add it to the list!

[@mattirealm]

My family had an NES from Christmas 1985 and while I like the early games, it was later on that did better for me. 1987 through 1990 gave us 90% of the famous titles for the NES and that is the era I remember best. I am actually surprised the system didn't launch with more in the US, but they certainly made up for it; releasing some of the most famous video game titles ever in that 4 year period I mentioned above.

[@Fortefyre]

Absolutely! I'm working on the "middle" 30, episode for the NES as well.

[@mr.milehi9883]

MARIO BROS for the Atari 2600 is a good time that even though most items are blocks not the fun is all there. It was one of the first games after the 83 video game crash that they had a commercial for. It's cool not this was great. I'm glad to sit through your longer videos you put a lot of effort into them and boy do I appreciate to sit through your longer videos you put a lot of effort into them and boy do I appreciate it.

[@Fortefyre]

"MARIOOOO WHERE ARE YOUUUUU" haha. I remember that commercial.

[@joevchar1388]

I don't know how that I've played balloon fight and not some of these other games. Haven't heard of ice climber until about four or five years ago. I did own baseball at one time and of course Mario duck hunt. I remember having three copies of Mario duck hunt and also Mario Bros itself

[@Fortefyre]

That's alot! I get tons of copies myself when I buy lots, makes good trade-ins.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

For the Super Famicom Broadcast Satellaview, there's a Mario themed Excitebike. Honestly, it seems more fun than the original and I'd like to try this out some day.

[@Fortefyre]

Interesting! I didn't know about that!

[@jessragan6714]

Good subject. Yeah, definitely compare the NES games to their VS counterparts! Some of those games are ridiculously hard compared to their NES counterparts.

[@Fortefyre]

Added to the list ;)

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

I've played Balloon Fight before and it's decent. There's also a Balloon Fight inspired mini-game for Nintendo Land.

[@Fortefyre]

Awesome!

[@pharmcat8484]

In the future, it might be worth your time to email Nintendo and see if they have an official list of release dates. Just a thought.

[@Fortefyre]

I could, but I doubt they would get back to me.

[@HypnoGenX]

**insert obligatory engagement for engaging content**

[@Fortefyre]

You are the real MVP lol.

[@pharmcat8484]

Kung Fu was fun, but the hit box on the final boss needed some work.

[@Fortefyre]

I don't think I've ever beaten Kung-Fu OR Kung-Fu Master.

[@pharmcat8484]

I was around when these came out, but I was 1.

[@Fortefyre]

Ah gotcha!

[@bildo1977]

Vs. Excitebike had a feature that allowed your temperature gauge to be frozen if you wrecked five opponents’ bikes without wrecking yourself. You would lose it if you wrecked.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh wow! That's interesting!

[@RandyFarrow]

You left little the Capcom Games on Release day of NES i bought Ghost N Goblins and could of bought Mega Man on Release Day. Any Reason why u left them out? Cause their not Nintendo made games their Capcom but you have Bandai Games i see inaccuracies but good job on the review? I enjoy the nostalgia

[@Fortefyre]

I'm sorry but Ghosts and Goblins was released in November of 1986, and Mega Man was released in 1987. The first 30 mainly occupied a majority of 1985 and early 1986.

[@RandyFarrow]

Wrong dont care what the data says i was one of first to get the NES especially in my neighborhood when i went to store them games were on the shelf i bought Ghost n Goblins on NES release Day with Gyromite and Duck Hunt Super Mario wasnt even out yet

[@Fortefyre]

Sounds like your store just didn't stock everything lol.

[@WillACarpenter]

I remember bearing super mario Bros for the first time. Then my cousins friend immediately lying and saying he beat it.

[@Fortefyre]

Kids are so full of it sometimes haha.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

There's the GBA remake of Mario Bros and it's a large improvement; especially visually (especially as they understandably replaced the shellcreepers with spinies). Though obviously it still doesn't look as good as Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros 2; where the washed out colors ironically work in its favor by giving off the feeling of Mario, his brother, the princess, and Toad running through a dream world.

[@Fortefyre]

I want to say, I played it as a kid.

[@TobeyStarburst]

What is the vs you keep talking about?

[@Fortefyre]

Nintendo Vs. System. It was basically a NES in the arcades.

[@jeffdaigle5487]

This is gonna be good

[@Fortefyre]

The video was out for one minute Jeff LMFAO. I hope you enjoyed it!

[@elicash233]

I always assumed Pro Wrestling was one of the debut carts.

[@Fortefyre]

No, but I did realize a mistake, I'm pretty sure I only did 29 games lol.

[@shigshug8581]

The Birth of the Nintendo Empire.

[@Fortefyre]

Absolutely!

[@pharmcat8484]

I read somewhere that MarioKart was the first racing game with weapons. They lied.

[@Fortefyre]

I'm sure there were even more that predated Mach Rider, hell, I think Crashing Race let you use items to to damage the other racers.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

I like the concept behind the black boxes (along with the Metroid and Kid Icarus gray boxes later on); giving us a representation that tries to capture the style and gameplay concept. However, I can still understand why Nintendo of America eventually phased out the concept.

[@Fortefyre]

I like consistency, especially with Sega games and their box colors.

[@darklordyianni4463]

Nostalgic af.

[@Fortefyre]

I'm glad I could revive some older memories :)

[@datadude295]

Saying Doremon has a cult following in Japan is like saying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a cult following in Canada

[@Fortefyre]

Well it did lol. Doraemon is a national treasure.

[@geoaltman9344]

i enjoyed the video. i laughed, i cried! i subbed n liked. thithermore onward.

[@Fortefyre]

I'm glad to have you onboard!

[@LoffterGames]

Yo this is like... really good shit

[@Fortefyre]

Thanks Loffter

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

The seal of quality had nothing to do with actual quality. It was just Nintendo's way of saying the game will safely work on their system. Also, the seal is just called the Official Nintendo Seal these days in North America.

[@Fortefyre]

That's right!

[@jeffdaigle5487]

Are you serious about the rob price? I still have mind and it works Np.

[@Fortefyre]

Oh definitely!

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Nintendo needs to one day bring back Ice Climbers and Mach Rider with new installments. Heck, Mach Rider is one of the few dark IPs Nintendo has alongside Metroid.

[@Fortefyre]

Nintendo is a fiend when it comes to legacy games.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

I prefer both North American versions of the Zapper over the Japanese original. The North American designs even famously made it into Splatoon.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Speaking of; ROB will wield either the Japanese original Zapper or the orange NES Zapper in WarioWare: Smooth Moves's Star Fox mini-game depending on the region.

[@Fortefyre]

Well to be fair, it wasn't called a Zapper in Japan originally, that particular model is the Beam Gun if I recall. You would know more than me.

[@DongCorleone]

That Cherub is creepy as fuck!

[@Fortefyre]

Yeah he opens his mouth like a conehead lmao.

[@rucu8311]

Used to smash the hell out of kung fu.

[@Fortefyre]

Nice!

[@rucu8311]

@@Fortefyre hey man you got a business email?

[@Fortefyre]

[e-mail]

[@randallross420]

MUSCLE is so bad it looks like an Atari game

[@Fortefyre]

It would make more sense LMAO.