Introduction Donkey Kong is Nintendo’s original 1981 arcade platformer, the coin-operated cabinet that later inspired the NES home conversion, built around four distinct single-screen stages that each represent 25 meters of a construction site Mario, then called Jumpman, must climb to rescue Pauline from the giant ape Donkey Kong. The first stage has players navigating…
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 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 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,…
Introduction The Goonies is a 1986 platform game produced by Konami and based on the Richard Donner film of the same name, released for the Family Computer in Japan in February 1986 but never officially published outside the country on cartridge, though Nintendo did bring a US-exclusive arcade conversion, VS. The Goonies, to PlayChoice-10 and…
Introduction Shatterhand was developed by Natsume, with programming by Kazuhiko Ishihara, art from Shunichi Taniguchi, Norihide Mizoguchi, and Sachiko Matsuura, and music by Iku Mizutani and Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, originally releasing in Japan in October 1991 under Angel (a Bandai label) as a licensed tie-in to the live-action tokusatsu series Super Rescue Solbrain. For the Western…
Introduction Mega Man 6 was developed by Capcom and released in Japan in October 1993, but by that point Capcom’s Japanese arm had largely moved on from the aging NES, so for the first time Nintendo of America stepped in to co-fund and publish the game in the West itself, bringing it to North America…
Introduction Mega Man 5 was directed by Ichiro Mihara and produced by Tokuro Fujiwara, with Keiji Inafune once again handling character design, and released in Japan in December 1992 as part of Capcom’s continued annual cadence for the series. Rather than reinvent the formula, the team focused on refinement, again running a public design contest…
Introduction Mega Man 4 was developed and published by Capcom, produced by Tokuro Fujiwara with Keiji Inafune continuing on as character designer, and released in Japan in December 1991 under the studio’s push for annual sequels following the series’ continued commercial success, reaching North America the following month. The biggest gameplay addition was the Mega…
Introduction Mega Man 3 was developed by Capcom and released in Japan in September 1990 and North America that November, arriving under a troubled production: original director Akira Kitamura had left the company, and his replacement, programmer Masahiko Kurokawa, clashed with the rest of the team over the series’ direction badly enough that lead artist…
Introduction Balloon Fight was developed by Nintendo together with HAL Laboratory, produced by Gunpei Yokoi, designed by Yoshio Sakamoto, and programmed in part by a young Satoru Iwata in one of his earliest collaborations with Nintendo before he went on to lead the company as its president. It debuted as the arcade cabinet VS. Balloon…