Why Do People Like Jackal? | Ranking Every NES Game, Episode 07

[@chappymcchapster6130]

I don't know when this will come to pass but I will state it here now and clearly. We will get to an episode where Jeff realizes that he has only has a few dozen NES games left and they'll all be RPGs.

[@aegisfate117]

Imagine being a game reviewer in those days having to play inscrutable 200 hour long NESRPGs

[@patrickripoll539]

The trade-off of no walkthroughs is you had publishing lead-up times and your review was ultimately going to be 300 words.@@aegisfate117

[@BenGoodsonModular]

I love how much time you gave Dynowarz.

[@Phished123]

as a member of the Jeff Gerstmann patreon i proudly say " I did this! 👍"

[@ice_queen9]

jackal looks like a game that's aware that it's a home game. it didn't murder you a billion times like an arcade game of that genre would. also that music was really good

[@GobblezTheGhost]

Really happy to see that Jackal holds up. I feel like they pulled off some kind of miracle with the movement, where it's loose enough to be maneuverable and feel pretty good/responsive while still feeling like you were controlling a vehicle. It always seemed crazy to me that it didn't become a franchise the way something like Contra did. Thankfully, albeit decades later, we finally got a spiritual successor in Renegade Ops, a game that delivered damn near everything you could want from a Jackal sequel, including some RPG-like elements and expanding the co-op to 4 players. Awesome games.

[@JeffGerstmannShow]

Yeah, Renegade Ops was cool as heck.

[@Alucitary]

Jeff justifying putting Rygar over Mario 3 is gonna be an interesting segment.

[@RetroDrew]

Honestly I'd back that up. I still think Little Samson should have taken the top spot and I pick that over Mario 3. But that's just me

[@sleepwalkusa135]

Jeff has mentioned before that he isn’t super into mario bros 3. I’m really wondering where mario bros 2 will ultimately wind up

[@manifestationnation]

RCR should be above Rygar imo

[@ice_queen9]

and The Legend of Zelda. should be fun :]

[@zerorisker9161]

If Rygar wins we riot!

[@blakejohnson4713]

Ice Hockey may still be my favorite sports title I ever owned, although that's admittedly a VERY small number of games. I still play it today. Just takes some learning curve.

[@misterburns103]

✊🏽 Nintendo Ice Hockey fan solidarity lol

[@misterburns103]

Ice Hockey was a go-to game with my older brother. Something about it was crazy competitive. At its best, with those close shots and scrambles, it becomes edge-of-your seat thrilling.

[@GreatistheWorld]

[dynowarz starts] haha yeah this one ain’t gonna last long [checks chapter timestamps]

[@octocoq]

Yet another episode closer to Metal Storm

[@Livingeidolon]

Can't wait to see if it tops Rygar

[@octocoq]

It certainly does in my mind

[@Duckyofalarcon]

Jackal is probably my favorite NES game I never owned as a kid. I rented it several times and played it at friends houses. I loved it as a kid.

[@michaelkitchin9665]

The one thing I'll say against Rygar is Jeff spent an awful long time levelling just so he could kill starter enemies in one hit.

[@RetroDrew]

There is a much better strategy that takes way less time, if you get the hookshot and head to the robot island you can max out in about 10 to 15 mins then get on with it. That being said, you still have to go through a somewhat tedious process before you can fly through the game.

[@dukeofthebump]

Exactly, like any good action RPG, it's all about choice of character build. If you want to spend time grinding in the beginning to make the game easier, you can. If you want to experience the leveling curve as intended, you can. If you want to skip experience to make the game more challenging, you can. It's quite ahead of its time

[@EmergencyChannel]

Could say the same thing about the Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior games, you have to grind a long time before the game becomes easier.

[@Gafgarion45]

I owned Archon (NES) and even played it not two weeks ago. It's such an odd game. You play as the light side, and the dark side just has cooler designs, much more life, it even feels like their attacks are better. So after you lose horribly, you play as the dark side. But the game has replaced the light side with Gods, and now you're jealous of them, because they wiped the floor with you. Such a weird, interesting concept. I've never been good at the game, but I still fool around with it now and then.

[@ChrisLT]

Jackal's great. I remember watching Vinny and Dan plow through that game, then I tried it for myself after many years and had a fantastic time. Anyway, I think I've heard Jeff talk about dust more than anyone on the internet.

[@TheEDfromRED]

Fantastic Series! It’s crazy how much pure joy and happiness and utter frustration and despair was fostered by these 8 bit experiences

[@heathe3529]

Jeff Gerstmann: paving the way for Stage 2 experts

[@VSX0021OmegaGundam]

Oh man! Finally, someone other than myself who's played Dynowarz!!

[@furrymessiah]

I did too, but it was my friend who owned it.

[@ThreeMinuteGaming]

I played this game way too mucj

[@JohnBasedowYoda]

I played that damn Dino game on a mf black and white tv.

[@funforalgernon]

Those Rygar thoughts off the top are interesting and perhaps troubling…SMB3, Tyson, Contra……Simon’s Quest……surely a new challenger awaits

[@Tenfey]

I remember getting Jackal for Christmas, and then on my next birthday I got N.A.R.C. Talk about a hype year boys!

[@joecarnegy8978]

If the show was always these NES rankings... it would be worth donating to patreon. No question.. these are fantastic.

[@d.s.i.6722]

This series is so good. Growing up an 80's kid, my older brother made a hard-line decision one Christmas and decided we were going to be a Sega Master System family, so most of these lesser popular nintendo games like Dinowarz and Jackal are a complete mystery to me. Thank you for your service, Jeff 🫡

[@eliezer7779]

Man, that Ice Hockey music is pretty fucking incredible.

[@ItMeDwaeji]

2:51:27 We were the same way with Little League Baseball. 1 person was always NY, another Canada, and another Mexico. Little League Baseball is top tier NES

[@dunmer2947]

jeff ur lookin like a true cyberpunk fan

[@FoxBarrett]

A great man once said "if I die playing Jackal, it's a life worth living!!"

[@nomchonks]

7 episodes in and still have not seen a game i have played. there sure are a lot of NES games. archon is such a neat concept.

[@sleepwalkusa135]

you should tackle one of the heavy hitters (mario bros, metroid, zelda etc) every tenth episode or so

[@bdre5555]

As someone who grew up with the NES, and playing many many games, I'm loving these streams. I'm seeing some games I'm very familiar with, some I'm vaguely familiar with, and some I had no earthly clue existed. This is one of the streams I look forward to the most each week. It would be awesome if you did this for other older consoles in the future. Like the turbografx-16 would be awesome. We all need more Keith Courage in our lives!

[@3Dant]

Growing up I was in the weird situation where we got given a hand me down NES well past the point of games no longer being available to rent. That was probably only a year or two out from N64 release, or at least it seems like when I think back... So I only got to play the couple of games we got given plus a few more that my friend had. This series has been great for the combo of nostalgia and novelty of games I've never seen before!

[@tydigame]

It's amazing seeing some of these games, how lo-fi the graphics really were compared to my memories. It really shows how much artistry went into something like Mario 3, that had such a rich presentation and seemed so expansive despite the limitations of the console.

[@nomchonks]

i'm always forgetting SM3 was on the nes and not the snes

[@Seligsuper]

I caught up with this series in like one day so. If you wanna move this to a twice a week show or, maybe, just sayin, seven times a week. That'd rock. for me!

[@Duckyofalarcon]

The way you feel about Baseball is how I feel about Golf. I played it with my family when I was like 3 and I don't know if it has aged well at all but man I loved it as a small kid. All the sounds and the weird look of it are burned into my skull. I always thought the golfer was Mario as a kid too.

[@koalaschola81]

Pretty clear top 5 for me from this list: 1) R.C.R.; 2) Life Force; 3) Little Samson; 4) Batman; 5) Kickle Cubicle.

[@xtlm]

Dang, it seemed that he liked the Dino game while playing more then it's ranking lol He kept at it for a while!

[@VancedBoi]

Did any of us realize that when we saw this the first time we were watching history being made? Spondylus is a way of life.

[@ice_queen9]

whoa the nets in Ice Hockey are huuge. that reminds me, when i was looking up River City Ransom i saw that there's a kunio kun hockey game called Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness, and i had to look it up because i'd never seen a japanese hockey game before. it's got style, and a cool sounding story (i think it's supposed to take place at the same time as Super Dodge Ball?), but it never came out in english officially, unfortunately

[@unholyhiltsy]

I only ever had Mario and Duck Hunt as a kid so it's very cool seeing some of these other NES games. I went down a Three Stooges hole after seeing that game so I'm getting my fill of science and history.

[@Aetilus]

Jackal is fucking incredible mr gerstmann please bow to da jeep

[@harlequin0823]

Late to the comments here. Best Archon clone has to be Dark Legions by SSI. It's sick, should check it out.

[@bdre5555]

Honestly it should be zero surprise that Jackal is as polished as it is, it's Konami! And shout out to the absolutely killer soundtrack in Jackal.

[@teddmatrix]

Jackal Soundtrack is awesome and a great game to play. #WordUp

[@bdre5555]

I'm so curious to see Mach Rider on here. It's such a bag full of high highs and low lows. Really unique post-apocalyptic setting. And absolutely killer soundtrack, I think mach rider has one of the best NES soundtracks ever. But the actual gameplay experience is very hit-or-miss, to say the least.

[@chappymcchapster6130]

I love this series. That is all.

[@nightcitywanderer]

Jeff would you consider setting a one-minute timer or something and doing a little summing-up review of each game to be cut out later for posterity, since you're sort of doing that anyway? might be a neat collection to have at the end of all this.

[@christianwalker7308]

Dammit I wish the science of fighting games would return. including guest scientists via zoom

[@namelessjedi2242]

Jackal is one of my favorite games, period. Great action, music and challenge. 👍

[@nathanburnham6337]

I would love to see a new age Archon. Mortal Kombats' take on it was fun. With great combat mechanics, it could be a game to keep coming back to. I think it could be a big esports game.

[@tylerscramble]

Dynowarz song reminds me of All-Pro Basketball

[@Achoohorsey]

The peace symbols on the side of the weed farm where the Rambo dudes are shooting you is a bit ironic

[@prismaticowl]

My main beef with Jackal is one I have with a lot of games of that type - it's a bit too zoomed in. It feels like sometimes you don't have enough time to react to something popping up at the edge of the map. Spy Hunter and a lot of top-down games kinda suffer from that. I didn't have the reflexes for it as a kid and I definitely don't as an adult!

[@IgnatiusAlpha]

Another good episode. Slowly catching up. I've had Ice Hockey music stuck in my head for days after watching this. Great game, but I also have a rough time making goals like you did. NARC is cool, but they needed to turn down the "arcade hard" switch down a couple notches. Jackal is a classic as is City Connection. Archon is a weird one. Good to know I'm not the only one that gets taken out fast, lol!

[@TheFizzjunior]

So you're saying Captain Skyhook is the new Zoa Fruit Punch line

[@MrSeanWelsh]

I enjoy these

[@meadowlarklemonist8712]

Captain Skyhawk #1 baby!

[@sleepwalkusa135]

uncensored NARC would have been a great fit on the genesis

[@rygar8bit2]

On the plus side, Dinowarz had great boxart, just the MC doming a t-rex.

[@julius7058]

Will Jeff be open to reorganizing the list a bit as this series goes on? I think if he plays a bit more of Little Samson it might jump past Rygar and River City Ransom...

[@beatchef]

I'm not sure about that but I hope so. Jackie Chan was played for less than 5 minutes and dismissed as 'one of those games'. Maybe there could be a patron sponsored 'another chance' stream. However in the end, this is in a way a successor to Ranking Of Fighters where the rankings were all over the place somewhat on purpose and fighting game fans got so mad lol

[@pointblank0020]

@@beatchefI didn't grow up with the NES, only played a handful of games or so, so this is the perfect feature for me cause my attachment is almost none. If he started ranking PS1 or Sega I would probably get really mad, lol

[@xtlm]

He has so many games to go and only does like 7 a week. Sooooooooooooo my guess is probably not lol

[@andmoons8158]

Thanks for this series Jeff, I’m loving it.

[@redbaron2455]

But is dynowarz destruction of spondeloose better than dynowarz destruction of spondeloose?

[@ThreeMinuteGaming]

Dynowarz was one of three games my cousins owned. I remeber thinking it was like shitty blaster master

[@EsDeib]

To me NES Narc is the real version if that game. Let me tell ya. I loved that game, lol.

[@sneeze7652]

Love this series!

[@houdin654jeff]

From memory, Blades of Steel is a better game than Ice Hockey, but that’s because Blades of Steel isn’t a hockey game; It’s a fighting game briefly interspersed with hockey.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

Purple Heart, Medal of Valor, Shipyard Parking Star.

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

NES golf cash game is wild af. 😂

[@massivepileup]

Quake 3 Archon was a pretty cool mod too

[@onkkell]

He was probably on PCP, broke every bone in his hand and wouldn't feel it for hours. There was this guy once, you see this scar?

[@Laserbeak219]

I'm starting to think maybe the three stooges may not be in the top 50 when this list is finally complete. What am I talking about it's 38 how far can it actually drop.

[@EmergencyChannel]

Top 700 NES game

[@3Dant]

I love Mr. Touch & Rank

[@Aeonfell]

Everybody knows you gotta go all fat guys or all skinny guys in ice hockey

[@blikketty77]

Hard disagree on Archon. As someone who played the Atari 8-bit version, both against the computer and friends, I think the NES version is terrible. The two state flopping version of the obstacles during a fighting sequence ruins the combat in the NES version. The obstacles that essentially were less in the way as the background color of the ground changed to match them in the 8-bit versions was brilliant and an essential part of the game. The NES enemies move in a jittery vaguely towards you way, that makes hitting them almost random. Whereas with the 8-bit version, they tracked you a bit more directly, so you could kind of "fake them out" to shoot or hit them on the other side of an obstacle. The NES movement doesn't seem as reactive, and also the pieces seem to have 3 distinct move/fire speeds whereas in the 8-bit every piece kind of had their own distinct move/fire speed. On the 8-bit version, you could get close to 50/50 beat all but the toughest enemies with a pawn, once you knew how to move and use the obstacles, especially on a space that was trending toward your color. It just seems like the people who made it were more concerned about getting the board play identical, but didn't realize the combat skill portion made the game fun.

[@YerNewUncle]

"Theme From Narc" Pixies cover!

[@aegisfate117]

Gerstmann Flow 3

[@buzzclikverifyme]

I had no idea there was a NES conversion of Archon! The C64 iteration is one of the all-time great computer titles. As a fan of jumping cars, though, Jeff, where do you stand on LED Storm?

[@Polyh3dron]

The final boss in Jackal is damn near impossible for me on anything that is not either real hardware or a MiSTer on a CRT. Everything else I've tried is far too laggy.

[@Red7Rogue]

I think this is one of those Harambe got shot and changed the multiverse episodes because I don't remember any of these games!

[@moviebully]

Narc seems really sensitive

[@steve43ful]

The music in Archon is the worst thing that has happened to me this week.

[@cybersub4693]

Is duck hunt never happening?

[@GamingWithDrew]

Anyone know Jeff Gerstmann's RA account name?

[@onkkell]

P is stored in the gun

[@MissAshley42]

JEFF JEEF JEEP

[@RW-ij1ci]

50:09 lol you got cheated there, go look at that in slow motion :P

[@ParallelTwinWings]

TANK 1990 please.

[@itselisha222]

Zamboni time.

[@EricHostile]

A NARC movie would be awesome.