Rate With Friends: Top 5 NES Platformers

For the Rate With Friends series, I will be pairing up with different cohorts to rate our individual "top 5" of a given category of game. To start it off, My friend Andrew (of the blog Yes, These Things Matter) and I break down our top 5 favorite NES platformers.

===== 5 =====
Andrew -
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I can almost guarantee that if I were to revisit this game today I would be chucking the system across the room within an hour. The game was impossible, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure whether or not the difficulty level was due to unfair game design. All I know is that I spent hours attempting to work my way through it, and I don't think I ever made it to the end. Being frustrated by this game is one of my most vivid memories from my video gaming past, and just for that it has a place in my top 5.

The Ocotillo Kid -
Bubble Bobble

When I was young, Bubble Bobble was like a religion to me. The game is simple, fast to learn, and people that would never self-identify as gamers enjoyed it just as much as I did. The co-op is spectacularly fun, the music and graphics are cute, and in later levels it gets into the sweet spot of just the right amount of difficulty to make for a solid challenge.

===== 4 =====
Andrew -
Ninja Gaiden

Very much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Gaiden is a NES title synonymous with brutal difficulty. This seemed to be a defining feature for many NES games; because the total content/length of the games were fairly small, the difficulty had to be amped up to the extreme, prolonging the experience. At age 6, I was willing to brave the unforgiving world of Ninja Gaiden. Today, there would be such an enormous amount of pent-up frustration that my head would probably explode. Modern gamers have no idea how easy they have it.

The Ocotillo Kid -
Ninja Gaiden

We chose our lists completely separate from each other, I swear! Ninja Gaiden was my first experience with a really challenging game. The buttons were simple and the levels were always laid out the same each time, so learning it was only a matter of practice. Lots and lots of practice. The wall climbing mechanics blew me away because it was the first I had ever seen such a thing in a video game. Revisiting it now made me ask myself, "How in the world did I play this as a kid, and now as an adult it's beating me to a pulp?"

===== 3 =====
Andrew -
Ducktales

It would be easy to write this game off because of its affiliations with a long-lost Disney television show spinoff. Disregarding it would be a mistake, because it's one of the best platformers of the NES era. Solid platforming action, distinctive environments, and some of the most memorable 8-bit music ever made (the Moon theme in particular is a classic), they all combine to form a classic NES experience that I still remember fondly to this day.

The Ocotillo Kid -
Megaman 2

Megaman 2 is my favorite in the original Megaman series. It's an improvement upon the first, but still manages to stay really straightforward in the gameplay department. The ability to choose which world you wanted to go to was a delight, and figuring out which weapons were most effective against which bosses had me keeping post-it notes at hand every time I played. It had its fair share of cheap, "Oh come on!" moments, but all of them were passable with enough determination.

===== 2 =====
Andrew -
Metroid

Calling this a simple platformer is somewhat of an understatement, because it's really so much more than that. While it doesn't come near the brilliance achieved in Super Metroid, Samus' original adventure is still one of the best NES games ever made. For me, what has always been great about the Metroid series is its terrific minimalist style. Very little plot, an enigmatic central character alone on a unknown world, very little guidance as to how to proceed. There was a great sense of isolation in Metroid, and that quality is something I've always gravitated towards in future gaming experiences.

The Ocotillo Kid -
Kirby's Adventure

The underlying gameplay structure of Kirby games makes me giddy. See that boomerang guy over there? I'll take that, thanks. Actually, I'm a bit bored of throwing boomerangs. Let me CONSUME THAT LASER SWORD MAN ALIVE and get myself a laser sword. So long as they put new levels in front of me, I will enjoy any Kirby game. The freedom to take flight at any time, and take any weapon you want, is amazing on so many levels. Cute as the little pink puff ball may be, he has some seriously fun games, and this was my first foray into the series.

===== 1 =====
Andrew -
Super Mario Bros. 3

There really isn't anything that needs to be said about this game; chances are, if you have any kind of fondness for video games, you've played through Mario's third adventure a countless number of times, and you'll continue to do so in the future as well. Unlike many NES games, Super Mario Brothers 3 is big, with several different worlds, special items, mini-stages, and boss battles. There were secret areas to find and special shortcuts to take; you could be on your fifth play-through and still find something you had never seen before. It's a complete experience, a jam-packed, well-rounded package that remains just as impressive today as when it was first released.

The Ocotillo Kid -
Super Mario Bros.

As much love as I have for Super Mario Bros. 3, I reserve my #1 spot for the inception point of what is possibly the most beloved game series ever. I got my Nintendo as a reward for swimming across the pool unassisted (no floaties!) for the first time. When my 3-year-old self wasn't killing ducks by pressing the light gun directly against the television screen, I was playing Super Mario Bros. I'll never forget the first time I beat the game, only to find that it all starts over again once you get the princess. Devastating, but the first major landmark of my gaming career.