Top 50 NES Games You Couldn't Play - Good Japanese Nintendo Famicom Exclusives

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@TopHatGamingMan
A man in a Top Hat with a Moustache reviews rare video games in his massive collection. Appreciate the finer things in life. The Top Hat Gaming Man is currently traveling around the globe, playing the best games for the handheld around the world. The Best games are like fine wines and only get better with age. Today we look at the top 50 NES Games that were only released for the Nintendo Famicom in Japan.

[@Retroconsole]

For those who didn't get enough, here are some great Famicom exclusive games not mentioned in this video: Nuts & Milk, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Lunar Ball, Ninja Kun, Battle City (and Tank 1990), Mario Bros: Lost Levels, Circus Charlie, Wing of Madoola, Sword of Mushashi, King Kong 2, Layla, Doki Doki Panic, Zombie Hunter, The Maze of Galious: Knightmare II, Dragon Scroll, Pocket Zaurus: Ju Ouken no Nazo, Tsuppari Oozumou, Gegege no Kitaro 2, Arumana no Kiseki, Dragon Buster 2, Dark Myth: The Legend of Takeru Yamato... Happy digging :)

[@paleocat6354]

By far one of my absolute favorite retro game channels. Usually I don't like the channels irritating narrators but you are knowledgeable and not annoying unlike many others. Keep doing what you have been doing. Don't change!

[@itzgigaxx]

Great list! Adding some of those to my "digital collection" 😉

[@ilovelctr]

Thank you so much for the great work! I clicked on your video in the hope of finding Wai Wai World, which was a childhood memory for me. Back when I still didn't know how to speak English, I had no idea what this game's supposed to be called.

[@jleonardo8091]

Thank you for that list , really appreciate it

[@diyapia]

I used to always play The Goonies at my local Pizza Hut in Wisconsin. They had it on the Vs. machine...I always wanted it at home...glad to have it now. Great run down here, thanks!

[@ldrelick]

Really great list, some inclusions that I would have liked to see are Lagrange Point (one of the best 8-bit soundtracks ever) and Esper Dream 2.

[@Boojakascha]

lovely! I bet I took you quite a while to make this high quality video. Well appreciated!

[@NathanGatten]

These videos are always a grand way to start a morning! Thanks good sir! ☺

[@rj5485]

Awesome vid! I like that you speak with logics, truth and common sense! You're a true video game connoisseur/enthusiast!

[@thepolacek]

I have been watching your vids for about a year. I just found this video... and yes, I'm from the USA and never shut up about the NES! Very Nice!

[@maitlandvt]

Great list! Thanks

[@mdcvapor]

Getsu Fuma Den has to be one of the greatest Famicom titles ever produced. I don't know what it is, but something about those early Konami games just completely envelopes me in a nostalgia I seemingly never had...

[@JeffUy287]

8:24 THANK YOU!!! I've been looking for the title of this game. I remember playing this during my childhood.

[@omegasupreme1970]

another great video as always

[@Celthricify]

I was not expecting to see Fire Emblem as soon as the video started but I am pleased about it. :D

[@Djerique]

Correction: Parodius( 03:53) is not exclusive for the Famicom. It was ported to Europe under the same name.

[@georgerodriguez6720]

I suppose I should subscribe! Thanks for your videos bro.

[@Draconis422]

Great list! I'm familiar with a number of these titles, having played a lot of imports, and I'm glad you mentioned Captain Tsubasa Vol. II, a game that mostly goes unnoticed. It's one of my favorites on the system; cinematic anime football strategy/RPG at its finest. Getsu Fuuma Den is another great game. One of the best Konami titles that merges different styles/perspectives into one cart. If there's one game I could add, it would be Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu, a 1987 Konami action-RPG with a sweet soundtrack. Mind you, it's real cryptic (even more so than Castlevania II), but a fine game nonetheless.

[@bazdaniels7420]

In my opinion, not including the Kunio game "Downtown Special" was an oversight !! A sequel to River City Ransom and super fun!

[@michaelsong5555]

Pretty much all Nekketsu games were great. Some better than others, but they were all great. Ice Hockey and Marching Song stands out the most (Marching Song is little too easy though).

[@Skysmeller1]

This video deserves more views, the editing alone on this video must have been brutal! If you have a raspberry pie or Odroid you can import the Famicom files and enjoy all these cool games.

[@nicolashoareau5992]

Awesome video, as per usual! About Captain Tsubasa 2: this game certainly had (and still has) a fanbase, given a whole community of people (even in the West) still talks fondly about it, and, generally speaking, about the whole series. Also, you will find similar (though not identical) gameplay in Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team (available on Android and iOS).

[@SinceSpacies]

Mate you smashed it. The Japanese pronunciations. You only got tripped up after more than 20 minutes in! My hat off to you my good sir!

[@faromeo1996]

i remember playing perman but forgot the name. and ive been searching for it on videos like top 100 nes games. finally i found it here.

[@Jikyuu]

Wai Wai World looks fun, I'll have to keep an eye out next time I'm in town.

[@LunaPrincessNinjato]

That Compile puzzle game tickled my fancy, I gotta check that out

[@AGTS10k]

A pity that you've missed Battle City. Here, in ex-USSR, where a famiclone called Dendy was the synonym of the 8-bit gaming, that game was as essential as Super Mario, and was bundled on many multi-game carts that came with Dendy and its clones. The game is a tank battle sim of sorts, where you control a tank and protect your base from enemy tanks on a single-sceen battlefield with destructable walls. Sounds simple, but there were also different power-ups, multiple wall/terrain types, multiple types of enemy tanks, and has a 2-player mode. Oh, and the game had a level editor. Be sure to check it out, that game was a blast!

[@Juanknes]

BFG1992 It's a very popular game here, in Argentina. Same as Famiclones...

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Aaaand Poland, where Pegasus famiclone reigned and is also a synonym of "8-bit console" (od even "console" in general). Great co-op arcade-y game. WarpMan, also made by Namco, is worth mentioning too, similar gameplay with some differences and in SPAAACE.

[@Rando1975]

BFG1992 I played it on a multi-cart and yeah, it was a great game.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

Yeah. I played that on one of those bootleg TV games that has a bazillion famicom games on it. And I have a weird hack of it on my NES 500-in-1 multicart called “Tank 1990” (or “90 tank” on the game selection screen). Still, I prefer the original. And Battle city is also a clone of an arcade game called Tank Battalion which came out about the same time as Pac-Man, and was made by Namco as well.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

IMO the main characters in warpman kinda look like dig dug with a gun.

[@StiffAftermath]

One lost gem was Lagrange Point - a sci-fi JRPG for the Famicom. And Metal Max which had a remake on the Super Famicom.

[@jc.1191]

Sounds interesting

[@MagesGuild]

In the puzzle game genre, 'Tetris II + Bombliss', 'Puyo Puyo', 'DeBlock', Moai-kun', ''Flipull', 'Quarty', and 'Egypt' are all shining examples of brilliant FC-exclusives. Further, here's a semi-chronological list of other (non-FDS) games, that I feel are must-play titles for the system, that were not on your list: 'Devil World', 'Tower of Druaga', 'Pooyan', 'Ikki', Bokosuka Wars', 'Circus Charlie', 'King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch', 'Spelunker II', 'New Ghostbusters II' (had a Europe release, but not in North America), 'Hottāman no Chitei Tanken', 'Arkanoid II', 'Fantasy Zone', 'Side Pocket', the 'Eggerland' games, 'Ys', 'Genpei Tōma Den', Saiyuuki World', the 'Wagyan Kand' series, the 'Don Doo Don'series, 'Yume Penguin Monogatari', 'Lagrange Point', 'Armadillo', 'Rampart' (this is a JP-only Konami version that is quite different to the NES version, 'Asmik-kun Land', 'Silva Saga', 'Just Breed'. ;)

[@ritchliz]

Thanks for that! =)

[@kir2847]

for everyone not finding "Quarty" footage, I believe you meant Quarth

[@brandong.1857]

Don't forget the sweet little puzzle game Kickle Cubicle. The arcade version had even more of the trippy cutscenes that make this game classic: First released as an arcade game in 1988 in Japan under the name Meikyuujima, (“Maze Island”) it would eventually be remade in 1990 and released in the West under the name Kickle Cubicle on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

[@ohdaUtube]

I'm shocked the heavy hitters DB and DBZ series weren't mentioned. Especially DBZ2 Gekishin Frieza. People used to line up for that one as well. Also the hot blood kunio stores along with their sports games. Kunio soccer was pretty good

[@mustang10141980]

Holy Diver! Being a hard rock heavy metal fan, that is a great game. I wish I played that growing up!

[@rot105and]

ninja cat/pizza samurai cats were actually one of the first games i got for my Nes in Latvia,also had islander 4

[@dotdecorandmore7480]

Nice video of Famicom games! Some advice for your Japanese pronunciation. This vowel rule applies to every word in Japanese. a - "ah" as in allow e - "eh" as in elephant i - "E" as in enough o - "oh" as in open u - "oo" as in oops So, Wai Wai World would be pronounced as "Why Why World"

[@jackwhite6552]

Absolutely fantastic list sir. I hadn't heard of a lot of these, but now I want them all!!!!!!!!

[@lmello009]

Nice video! Some games I'd like to have seen in the list: - Cocoron - Over Horizon - Ys and its sequel Ys II (English patch available) - The Ninja-kun / Ninja Jajamaru-kun series - Hi no Tori - Just Breed (English patch available) - Lost Horizon (English patch available) - Tenchi o Kurau II (Destiny of an Emperor's sequel based on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms - English patch available)

[@Nitroxity]

Personally, I would've loved to see Cosmic Epsilon, one of my absolute favorite Space Harrier-type games ever made, second only to Space Harrier itself. It has VERY impressive scrolling effects for the NES, and one of my personal favorite soundtracks on the Famicom/NES. I feel like this is one of the more well-known Japanese exclusives, but it'll always be one that I keep coming back to despite its insane difficulty.

[@EricAndre615]

Yeah the Ninja JaJaMaru Kun games are great. Especially (I think it's the 3rd one) Ginga Daisakusan which is very different from the rest and obviously inspired by Super Mario Bros 3.

[@SonofSethoitae]

What's Lost Horizon? I've been googling it but can't find a Famicom game with that name

[@CleetusVanDamme530]

Surprised that Lagrange Point wasn't on here. With the VRC 7 chip (1 of only 2 games to use it) it had great music that rivaled the Genesis/Megadrive.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

The Goonies video game was actually released in America, but only as an arcade cabinet. It was, however, also included on the Nintendo Playchoice-10 machine, which suggest that there may have been a planned US release of the game for home video game systems that was canceled for some reason. Still, it’s a good game and definitely worth a few quarters if you see it at an arcade somewhere.

[@PKMNwww411_MkII]

Parodius was also released in Europe. The Goonies had a limited release in the United States on the PlayChoice 10. Some features from Gradius II were reused in Gradius III. Hello Kitty World was developed by Nintendo R&D1 under the alias of Mario Co.,Ltd. and published by Character Corp. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, Music by "Hip" Tanaka. Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa was released on the Famicom Disk System before being released as a Famicom cassette (we call it a cartridge). It also had a release on the Wii Virtual Console as an import title.

[@tomnamsa]

I've reached a point in life where I would only play 1 or 2 new release titles per year. Most of my free time I try to revisit my childhood consoles (NES, SNES, Dreamcast). Thanks for this compilation, will definitely try Moon Crystal. The main advantage we have nowadays are fan translated Japanese SNES games (still remember patching Tenchi Muyo and Seiken Densetsu 3 and playing them on zsnes).

[@guillermovaldezchavira8159]

I AM i'm the same position here nes anda snes had a Big library

[@samuelbaugh4952]

Nuts and Milk is a pretty great Famicom exclusive. It also has the distinction of being the first ever third party game on a Nintendo console

[@leandrotarsia7212]

Crazy climber seems to be inspiration to the Bartzilla level in Bart's Nightmare.

[@indioallinson8242]

glad to see my recommendation of holy Diver make an appearance

[@paleocat6354]

I didn't think anyone knew of it! My friend from college was from Hiroshima and brought games with him!

[@ficha13]

I'm trying to find a NES game from my childhood but I've had no luck in years. It was a split screen game where one player races on foot against the computer or another player, and one character wore a hat and jacket like Indiana Jones, while i think the other guy wore green clothes, might be mistaken there. You went through each level and there were always enemies and other things that would trip you up. It was hard as balls as well.

[@paula.5336]

capt tsubasa 2 was crazy hard, especially the final levels. i also had to write down the japanese character password for each level. lol.

[@AAKH1361]

The game was really hard I used to lose to the opposing team many times to increase the power of the players so that I could win against the opposing team. It is a very lovely game I finished the game more than ten times

[@mongooseonaunicycle2056]

Wai wai world looks really interesting never heard of it before

[@stapuft]

just played it, very fun comtrolls take getting used to, DOWN to go in doors, down and a for special, and up and a to transform, b regular attack and select nothing, they should have shown that button some love

[@eduardovelazquez6013]

great job here. You missed Choujin Sentai -Jetman

[@wolftickets1969]

Then there were those that were exported to the NES, but in severely crippled form, e.g. Mystery Quest (Hao-kun no Fushigi na Tabi, last two areas were cut due to the limited cartridge space relative to FDS disks at the time), Demon Sword (Fudou Myououden, missing half the stages, weapons, and bosses, as well as its entire story narration) Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (enemies deal double damage, and the player only has five continues instead of passwords) and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (which originally made use of a custom sound chip only supported on the Famicom, and had a more forgiving challenge there, plus throwing knives for Grant instead of the lame dagger in the NES version)

[@YSBunny573]

Probably super late but Hello Kitty World is a Famicom port of Balloon Kid, which eventually got a Japanese GBC conversion for the NP GB Memory Cartridge

[@MrJobocan]

A lot of great games here. My highlights in this video are Kai no Bouken, Wai Wai World and Getsu Fuuma Den. Really fun games with cool concepts. I'm especially sad we never got Getsu Fuuma Den here. Moon Crystal and Holy Diver are really nice too, though I don't own them. I assume a lot of these weren't released here because of Nintendo's rules limiting the number of releases from each publisher (even with Ultra Games as a shell company publishing Konami stuff we missed on a lot of it). And probably a lot of japanese arrogance.

[@GardevoirBoy1991]

​@Retrogamer Dell So basically, Nintendo didn't want to end up like Atari. Their American branch was a bit extreme in their video game handling but I guess they were worried about offending their gamer audience. I didn't like the heavy censorship, but I understand that they were being respectful to the gaming audience at the time. Even so, what makes Nintendo god's gift to the gamers is quality over quantity.

[@Aevilbeast]

@@GardevoirBoy1991 Yeah but they definitly don't have that quality over quantity mindset anymore...considering the absolute massive amount of shovelware that has plagued their systems since the Wii. It's been somewhat improved on the switch, but still most of the shovel ware have been relegated to the eshop as digital only releases, so it's not exactly a big improvement...

[@zeebooboo9663]

You can buy cool reproduction carts of these though

[@mikaela5938]

I started to play Fire Emblem 1 (Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light) on an emulator and it has aged horrendously. The Star Wars and Transformers games sound pretty interesting I'm going to have to try those out sometime.

[@luciferxyXX]

thx, I've been trying to find Wai Wai World, though I recall the title is Konami Heroes ? I had it but it was so long ago... good'ol game.

[@danieldavis2055]

Just an FYI- the two Megami Tensei titles mentioned here got Super Famicom remakes. Aside from vastly improving the graphics and sound, they added saving to the games (the Famicom ones used absurdly long passwords). They also have full translations as well.

[@plasticbutler]

A Famicom game you should try is Hi no Tori Hououhen: Gaou no Bouken. It's an action-platformer made by Konami. The music alone is amazing.

[@ROMBomb001]

I just checked out this game based on your comment and I really like it. Thanks for sharing!

[@bobinestoroski8880]

Ur a legend bro respect from Macedonian in Australia

[@DarkwingMantis98]

Goonies was actually on some Playchoice 10 NES Arcade systems here in the US. Had one at my local bowling alley. Played the shit out of Goonies

[@TheBrainScratcher]

20:28 DAM! also those distortions at 22:55, impressive °_°(reminds me of earthbound, yes im one of those annoying EB adepts).

[@8bitsniper568]

I actually found out Quest of Ki is actually a port loosely based on an arcade game by Namco called "Tower of Druaga", which is an "Adventure (Atari)" style adventure maze game.

[@Julayla]

I played some of them, but I noticed you forgot to mention Cocoron for some reason.

[@SNARC15]

Goonies was a weird one because while it didn't have an NES port here in the US, there was an arcade version of it as part of Nintendo's VS. System lineup. Not sure if there was also a PlayChoice-10 version though. And where did you get that fan translation of Famicom Wars? Looks a lot different compared to the one I usually play.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I remember seeing the PlayChoice-10 version as a kid.

[@richardlong773]

I know this video is old and someone else probably also said this, but you said you weren't talking about FDS games in this video but you then mention Joy Mech Fight which is a game for the Famicom Disk System

[@alejandrochavarria7096]

How did you get them translated? Emulation? Retron5 patch? English repros? Thank you, I was just thinking about getting into famicom collecting seeing all the sunsoft games we never got. Great video! Maybe do a video on your top 5 developers during the 80s? Cheers

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

There are loads of fan translations knocking about online for most good games, this is a reason as to why I am perplexed so much about people harping on about getting Mother 3 translated. Firstly it is translated already online! Secondly, there are hundreds of better games than Mother 3 that have also missed Western releases, which for some reason get completely ignored!

[@caropohjola]

So you used translation patches mostly? None of the Japanese games originally had English text?

[@mariusamber3237]

I'm guessing most of them didn't, like Getsu Fuma Den or Moon Crystal... not to mention the RPGs. I remember checking a list out of curiosity, and there are apparently still about 30 untranslated RPGs and adventure games each for the FC, but very few platformers, so as THGM mentioned the vast majority of the good ones can be found online.

[@hdofu]

Hello Kitty for the Famicom is a port of balloon kid, you might notice some of the blocks to reshape the playable area... that was because the game boy has a smaller resolution

[@masakanistriku6203]

I remember this Famicom game similiar to FuumaDen but you can choose between protagonist 2 gunmen and 1 samurai. It is sidescrolling but in certain lever become 1st person 3D dungeon exploring. Cannot find it anywhere.

[@punkydudester3]

I really like this series, keep them coming.

[@AAKH1361]

The captain tsubasa vol 2 was really hard I used to lose to the opposing team many times to increase the power of the players so that I could win against the opposing team. It is a very lovely game I finished the game more than 10 times

[@Pliskins024]

My most favorite is Captain Tsubasa Super Striker ll & Dragon Ball Z: Kyōshū! Saiyan!!They where totally a different type of genre from other games to me. AND it's just memorizing the layouts of the game without knowing Japanese language ..lol!So much fun..good memories..so gd tht i still play it on my phone's emulator.. :)

[@NinSonyFan]

Captain tsubasa 2 is actually one of my favorite famicom games ever! I grew up with a bootleg famicom in Cuba, and we played most of the titles in this video having no idea there was an american version, we thought the NES was a completely diferent console back in the day.

[@RandomAssaultPodcast]

as filthy youtubers we played Wanpaku as well but it really is a great game, it's so much fun and the ending is hilarious

[@uhhh_adam]

Balloon Kid did come before Hello Kitty World I think, making it a pretty awesome game

[@LeonStephan]

I knew about Wai Wai World but not about its sequel, nice.

[@michaelsierra9]

Devilman bro! Love your work sir!

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

Michael Sierra. Thank you. We have devil man on the NES in Europe.

[@michaelsierra9]

Top Hat Gaming Man Ah, ok, thought it never came out in the U.S. or Europe, thnx for the info. Btw, i still have that Namco (it has Namcot on the case) Star Wars, one of my faves back in the day, it had a nice open death star lvl where you had to explore multiple rooms until you found princess leia and SPOILER ALERT: if you opened all the prison cells in the detention area, Boba Fett was in one of them. It also had a really nice top down X-wing lvl for the last stage, overall a really great game in my opinion. Thanks for the great work you put in your videos sir, they're really appreciated. Have a great one!

[@nytr0s96]

that music from quest of ki sounds a lot like tower of druaga

[@paxhumana2015]

This is why translation teams and aftermarket NES cartridge and chip manufacturers exist.

[@ChefTroll]

Faltó Super Mario 2 (Japonés)... aunque lo hayan lanzado remasterizado para el SNES, nuncoa salio para el NES

[@realamericannegro977]

All the games that we couldn't play always has the sickest graphics

[@AustinOllar]

You missed the Kunio Kun Nekketsu Series. There's about 5 famicom games including a soccer game, basketball and fighting game

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Never been a fan of Kunio-Kun sport games, but I gotta agree, these are top-notch.

[@gamesforyou2351]

You only did 50 that's why

[@rafagruszka8212]

PrekiFromPoland

[@Kcwright415]

Great video, most of those games would of sold great if released outside of japan what were they doing

[@MrMattycourt]

You get the feeling that Japan wanted to keep the good shit

[@Garychan726]

You should include the super robot war game too because it was a famous game also

[@erintheangry]

did the kunio-kun series get a mention anywhere?

[@ToploadedGaming]

I would have included Salamander only because life force only has two options where as Salamander has 3 I would assume that is also do to a better mapper chip in the famicom version. I sure wish nintendo of america had allowed konami to use custom mappers. Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten left out on these games

[@sangeetsubedi9509]

How come no one mentions Ganbare Dunk Heroes! That was one of my favorites!

[@joedent3323]

It's because we all hate you.

[@HitoKingLove]

I remember a gamed called Saiyuuki World. It's a great game and luckly got a translation

[@majinbu3737]

12:10 finally i found my childhood game

[@moishtar]

Part 2 please?

[@mkwong98]

I would recommend Hiryu No Ken 3, Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu and Destiny of an Emperor 2

[@ukrpgfan4029]

Great video, anything to do with Japanese games is alright by me..They have always had the best games...

[@arielfrancodelaserna3404]

Lot of games from the video and comment will go to my launchbox collection 😏😏

[@r2rovids569]

i played all japanese exclusves living in southamerica because in that time we didnt had original games we had 100 in 1 cartrdige with all this amazing games

[@8bitsniper568]

Isn't there an unlockable parody version of Banana in Animal Crossing where the mole is Tom Nook?

[@raymartrevillon1073]

Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula kun - is the BEST!

[@curtistaylor6433]

One fun fact... the Goonies was an arcade cabinet in america

[@bojiam4818]

Wai wai world was known as KONAMI world in the philippines when we played it at our local family computer place

[@eircal6990]

I was glad to see MegaTen.

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Transformers: Convoy no Nazo on this list?? Ya gotta be kiddin' me.

[@bartek8309]

@Preki And Zyuranger?! This game sucks

[@erict3322]

Cool time to add some new games to the wii

[@kennyryan4173]

Wai Wai world looks great, but I really wish they would fix that scrolling problem. They need to center the character instead of having it scroll when you're all the way to the side of the screen. No time to react to enemies showing up.

[@kennyryan4173]

Nevermind. Got it fixed, and on a cart.

[@hdofu]

Little upset you didn't mention Tetris 2 Bombliss seeing as how it was the best tetris game released for either the NES or Famicom

[@mr.vidjagamez9896]

Really disappointed we never got a "de-localized" versions of Hello Kitty World on the NES, with its original GB style sprites returned to it.