Nintendo

October 1985

Action

1-2 Players

It's time to hit the ice... and I do mean that literally.  As Popo and Nana, the cute little Eskimo kids, you've got to retrieve your tribe's crop of vegetables from a cranky bird who's dropped them on the top of a mountain.  You'll hammer through sheets of ice on your way to the peak... and swear like a sailor when your heroes miss what look like easy jumps.

FAST FACT:  The Japanese version of Ice Climber featured sea lions as enemies.  When the game was released in the United States, the sea lions were changed to tiny yetis.  This alteration was made to protect Nintendo from the controversy surrounding the unpopular practice of clubbing harp seals for their fur.

Nintendo

March 1988

Sports

1-2 Players

Ice Hockey was released years after Nintendo's other sports games... and it shows.  The players are still squishy little runts, but the gameplay's got more depth and impact than in any of the sports titles introduced along with the NES in 1985.  Aiming for the other team's goal can be tricky, but the rough and tumble fights over the puck are satisfyingly intense.

SNK/Micronics

May 1987

Shooter

1-2 Players

You've got the machine gun.  You've got the grenades.  But do you have the guts to make it to the end of Ikari Warriors?  It won't be easy, and it's not just because of all the soldiers, tanks, and helicopters in your path.  The clumsy control which forces you to rotate into position before you can walk will also be a major stumbling block to your success.

SNK/Micronics

April 1988

Shooter

1-2 Players

When Vince and Paul are sucked into a mysterious time warp, they're dropped into a world that's part Rambo and part cheesy sci-fi movie.  In this strange land, the enemies are more imaginative, the gameplay is deeper, and the scenery is vastly improved.  On the downside, everything moves more slowly, and there are agonizingly long pauses after every boss fight.

SNK

February 1991

Fighting

1-2 Players

In Ikari Warriors III, Vince and Paul decide that they can take on entire armies of soldiers with their bare hands.  Hey, nobody ever said these guys were smart!  Unlike the past two games, this Ikari Warriors is a beat 'em up... a pretty lame beat 'em up, without the wide selection of moves or the fist-to-face impact of the Double Dragon series.

Irem

July 1990

Shooter

1-2 Players (alt)

There's never been a more thoroughly lackluster shooter on the NES.  Everything from the aggravating power-up system to the unappealing blue and orange color scheme of your ship and its enemies is a complete turn-off.  You'll be hard-pressed to find anything positive to say about this game... luckily, you won't have any trouble finding superior alternatives to it.

Electronic Arts

November 1990

Adventure

1 Player

Wow.  You're not going to believe the quality of the graphics and sound in this ambitious adventure game... they're both incredible!  The Immortal doesn't fare so well in the gameplay department, but even that's not bad.  In fact, it's quite good... but it's also very demanding, with way too many lethal traps and not nearly enough continues.

LJN/Sculptured

August 1994

Action

1 Player

This game, starring those wacky crash test dummies from the public safety announcements, is a side-scrolling platformer with one key difference from the rest.  Your dummy is balancing on a wheel, so all his movements have inertia.  Be sure to put on the brakes in advance when you see enemies ahead of you, or you'll be decorating the screen with plastic arms and legs!