Introduction Hudson’s Adventure Island was developed and published by Hudson Soft, released on the NES in 1988 as a loose adaptation of Sega’s 1986 arcade game Wonder Boy, reworked with an original cast and story after Hudson lost the rights to use Sega’s characters directly. Players control Master Higgins, a shirtless island adventurer racing left…
Introduction Darkwing Duck was developed and published by Capcom, produced by Tokuro Fujiwara with a score by Yasuaki Fujita, adapting Disney’s 1991-1992 animated series into a platformer that reached North America in June 1992 and Europe the following year. It followed the same basic Mega Man-derived formula Capcom had already used successfully on 1989’s DuckTales,…
Introduction Front Line was developed and published by Taito, originally released to arcades in 1982 as one of the earliest overhead-view run-and-gun shooters, predating and helping establish a genre template that countless similarly themed games would follow throughout the 1980s. Taito handled the Famicom conversion itself, bringing it to Japan’s console in August 1985, years…
Introduction Super C was developed and published by Konami as an enhanced NES conversion of the 1988 arcade game Super Contra, known in Japan as Super Contra: The Alien Strikes Back and released across Europe as Probotector II. The NES cartridge programmed by Shigeharu Umezaki with art from Kengo Nakamura and Setsu Muraki reached Japan…
Introduction Contra Force was developed and published by Konami, programmed by Mitsuo Takemoto with art from Koji Horie and a score by Kenichi Matsubara and Tomoya Tomita, releasing in North America in September 1992 as the third NES entry carrying the Contra name after the original Contra and Super C. Its history is unusual for…
Introduction Jackal was developed and published by Konami, originally released to arcades in 1986 under the North American title Top Gunner before the NES conversion arrived in September 1988 as a genuine remake rather than a straight port, restructured into six distinct stages instead of the arcade’s single continuous level. Konami renamed the console version…
Introduction Dragon Warrior IV, known in Japan as Dragon Quest IV, was developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix, originally releasing for the Famicom in February 1990 before Enix’s American subsidiary brought it to the NES in October 1992, making it the last Dragon Quest title that subsidiary would localize before it closed a few…
Introduction Rad Racer, known in Japan as Highway Star, was developed and published by Square, directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and programmed by Nasir Gebelli, with art from Kazuko Shibuya and an early soundtrack credit for Nobuo Uematsu, several of whom would go on to build the original Final Fantasy together the very same year. Square…
Introduction RoboCop for the NES was developed by Japanese studio SAS Sakata and published by Data East in 1989, following on from Data East’s own 1988 arcade version but built as a distinct, console-tailored adaptation of the Paul Verhoeven film rather than a straight port, with Ocean bringing it to Europe in 1991. Players control…
Introduction Mighty Final Fight was developed and published by Capcom, produced by Tokuro Fujiwara, and released in Japan in June 1993 before reaching North America that July, arriving as a spinoff of the studio’s own 1989 arcade brawler Final Fight rather than a direct port. Its most immediately obvious change is the art style: the…
Introduction Tiny Toon Adventures was developed and published by Konami, directed by Kazuyuki Yamashita with programming by Yuji Shibata, art from Kazumichi Ishihara and Hirotaka Fukuda, and a score credited to Jun Funahashi, Masae Nakashima, and Satoko Miyawaki, releasing in December 1991 as the animated series’ first video game adaptation on any console. Its stage…
Introduction Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers was developed and published by Capcom, produced by Tokuro Fujiwara off the back of his work on titles like Mega Man 2 and Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and released in North America and Japan in 1990 following Europe the next year. It was Capcom’s second Disney-licensed platformer after 1989’s DuckTales,…