Introduction Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos was developed and published by Tecmo, released on the NES in Japan in April 1990 and North America that May as the direct sequel to 1988’s Ninja Gaiden. Players once again control ninja Ryu Hayabusa, fighting through side-scrolling stages against the Jaquio’s forces after the villain…
Introduction Batman: The Video Game was developed and published by Sunsoft, released on the NES in 1989 as a tie-in to that year’s blockbuster Tim Burton-directed Batman film. Players control the Caped Crusader through a series of side-scrolling stages set in a shadowy, industrial version of Gotham City, using batarangs and a limited melee attack…
Introduction Adventures of Lolo was developed and published by HAL Laboratory, released on the NES in 1989 as a puzzle game built around navigating a blue creature named Lolo through single-screen rooms filled with enemies, moveable blocks, and treasure chests. Players must collect a set number of hearts scattered throughout each room, sometimes hidden inside…
Introduction Kung Fu was developed by Irem and published by Nintendo, released on the NES in 1985 as a home conversion of Irem’s own 1984 arcade game, known outside Japan as Kung-Fu Master. Loosely inspired by Jackie Chan’s film Wheels on Meals, the game has players controlling martial artist Thomas fighting his way up five…
Introduction DuckTales was developed and published by Capcom, released on the NES in 1989 as a licensed adaptation of Disney’s popular animated series of the same name. Players control the wealthy adventurer Scrooge McDuck, using his signature cane both as a weapon to bounce on enemies pogo-stick style and as a tool to smash open…
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…