Mindscape/Radical

Date

Education

1 Player

Talk about your bait and switch tactics.  Mario is Missing tries very hard to pass itself off as a legitimate Mario game, even borrowing its graphics from the Super NES game Super Mario World.  However, instead of fun platforming action, Mario is Missing just serves up annoying fetch quests which test your knowledge of geography (not to mention your patience).

Mindscape/Radical

Date

Education

1 Player

Those who hated Mario is Missing with a passion will find more to like about Mario's Time Machine.  Well, a little more, anyway.  This game abandons the clumsy interface of its predecessor and lets players break blocks and hop on turtles (the very things Mario was born to do!) while returning historical artifacts to their proper places and times.

LJN

Date

Action

1-2 Players

It's a good thing the X-Men comic teaches its readers tolerance, because they'll need a whole lot of it to get through this crummy game based on the long-running Marvel series.  As one of six mutant heroes, you'll team up with a partner (either a friend or the braindead CPU) and wade through brutally ugly stages filled with forgettable enemies and cheap one-hit deaths.

SNK

Date

Light Gun

1 Player

SNK did a fine job with this military shooter, although a game like Mechanized Attack isn't well suited to the NES.  You'll fire the Zapper many, many times to defend yourself against the game's endless barrage of soldiers, tanks, helicopters, and battleships.  After a few minutes of enduring the game's constant screen flashes, you'll be left seeing stars.

Capcom

Date

Action

1 Player

The first title in Capcom's timeless action series is more hard-edged than the later ones.  The backgrounds aren't as bright, the characters are less cartoony, and the gameplay is more demanding... some of the bosses will tear you apart if you're not prepared for them.  It may be extremely challenging, but Mega Man is the toughest game you'll ever love.

Capcom

Date

Action

1 Player

Capcom completely overhauled the Mega Man series with this daring sequel, giving the graphics a more distinctive cartoony style and adding more stages and better weapons.  Some of the best gaming you'll find on the NES is right here... the bosses are monstrous, the level design is brilliant, and the control is razor sharp.  It just doesn't get much better than this!

Capcom

Date

Action

1 Player

The third game in the series was a fan favorite, but it was not without its flaws.  The enemies are cheaper than in the second game, there's more slowdown and flicker, and the bosses, well... they're kind of lame.  I mean, really, Top Man?  Still, it plays about as well as the other Mega Mans, and there are new additions like the mysterious Protoman and canine sidekick Rush.

Capcom

Date

Action

1 Player

Mega Man 4 comes recommended, but not recommended as highly as the other games in the series.  It's got a new chargable Mega Buster that lets you triple the strength of your standard weapon, along with branching paths that make the game less linear than its predecessors.  However, both the levels and enemies are less memorable than in previous Mega Man games.