I Ranked Every European PAL Game on NES 

I've ranked most NES games from Konami to Capcom and more. Binge the playlist! ru-vid.com/group/PLsOTz-tlvayLekfyjFF6OWMHU1WWWi8E3

as a UK gamer, I get a bit miffed at the way the internet passes off American gaming history as world gaming history . This is the sort of video I can get behind....

As a British person, I find the idea of British themed diners hilarious.

I'm always surprised at how unknown Asterix is in the US. He's basically as famous as Mickey Mouse or Mario here in Europe.

Great video as always! A few more PAL exclusives: Rainbow Islands (which is a different port than the NTSC version) Lion King Banana Prince Road Fighter Dropzone Mario Bros Classic Series Les Chevaliers Du Zodiaque Turrican Parasol Stars I may be missing a couple!

I'd personally recommend watching Asterix and the Twelve Tasks on Amazon Prime if you want to get familiar with the series and its characters in a hurry. It's a good film, albeit dated in parts. The Cliff Notes is that Gauls (early French, rather Viking-like) fight Romans to maintain their independence, and their best warrior is Asterix. In a tight spot, he drinks a potion to power himself up, like Popeye with his spinach. His friend Obelix was bathed in the potion at birth and thus is nigh invincible, but is also hugely obese and has a massive appetite.

Here in Quebec, Astérix is absolutely MASSIVE! The movies have been playing every year at Christmas for well over 30 years and everybody of my generation can recite them by heart! I'm glad that some of the games finally have started to make their way here! (and as a bonus, in French, they use the same voices as the cartoons!)

Woo hoo! Love from the UK John 🇬🇧 ❤ PS Asterix is huge in France and theres a theme park there, Asterix was here in England too but was not very popular.

Asterix is and was very popular in Germany the two people behind passed away and handed their work to a new team with new comic comic out frequently. Also with popular topic like a whistleblower. Asterix is french and has its own theme park.

Thank you John for making these! These have been a really interesting way to find out some new games.

Ufouria is an all-time favorite of mine, and the Hammerin' Harry series is great, too! Over Horizon also has an Edit Mode that lets you change up the weapons, adding their attributes to each other, so you can make homing bombs and stuff like that; definitely worth checking out. I also enjoyed my trip through Parasol Stars, which was mentioned here, but I don't think was ranked; I don't believe we got that in the US.

Loved the little candy breaks in between games!

The fact Elite is the basis for Elite Dangerous these days is awesome. And in terms of design, you can really tell

There was an animated "Prince Valiant" series in the early 90s.

Super turrican seems to have been left out of this list and would likely be the best of the lot - Great nes game!

This was a particularly interesting ranking vid, didn’t know of half of them. Great idea to incorporate the European treats!

Thank you for these ranking videos! Love watching these very entertaining videos!

The Chiptune versions of the Ghostbusters 2 soundtrack in New GB2 are pretty fantastic.

Elite has a lot going on for an NES game (originally release on the BBC Micro). The portion you compared to MULE is more like the trading in Sid Meier's Pirates, but more focused on trade rather than piracy (although you can be a pirate in Elite if you so choose). Flying between star systems, trading goods, and using the profit to upgrade your ship. Docking at space stations and fighting pirates along the way.

I’m always fascinated by what the UK got that we didn’t. Feel like I’m always discovering something new. Great vid!

The let's rank series is by far my favourite playlist on RU-vid. Thanks!!!

You need to read the Asterix comics! They are extremely funny books.

It's so weird that Asterix isn't as famous in the US. In Europe he's always been really popular.

You missed kind of a good one, at least a B, Banana Prince! It was released in Japan and...Germany.

Another great video man! Don't stop these, please!

I'm glad you did a video on all the European games because I was always curious what what the games where that just released in Europe. They also realize that played a lot of them without even knowing I was playing them

John Riggs always makes solid videos. good content

This is going to be great i cannot wait to watch it thanks John!

Over Horizon is one of the best shmups for the NES, the level design is very creative and the difficulty level is in the right spot, not easy but also not very hard.

The main thing I know about Asterix is that, in Europe, the Taz game for the Atari 2600 was reskinned and released as Asterix!

Excellent video! Thank you for doing this.

Elite is complex but definitely worth your time to learn. NES port isn't bad either. It's a legend in the UK.

I miss Washington State. I moved to Kansas back in 1994 and never went back. Visiting Seattle and Puyallup was real highlights for me that I really miss. I used to live in Tacoma, Wa, which wasn't too bad.

Oh wow!! I used to live just down the street from that place and always wanted to check it out. Looks like a trip to Puyallup is in order. Thanks for another fun vid!! 👍

Really enjoy your videos! Great nostalgia!

Contra was Probotector because of Germany’s strict censorship rules at the time. And Ninja Turtles was Hero Turtles because the UK originally had a law that banned ninja related material even weapons, Michelangelo’s Nunchaku (or simply Nunchucks) were censored in the cartoon and movies but not the games, but the name was still changed until the Movie where it’s now Ninja Turtles in UK too. The same issues also applied to Ninja Gaiden/Shadow Warrirors and even the Tenchu games on PlayStation systems. But these laws are no longer present. So they can use the US and Japanese counterparts now. Oh and Mr. Gimmick was also released in Japan too as simply Gimmick.

Love this! Great work!

I love how John always has killer snacks to review as well 👍

Best thumbnail ever. John Riggs keeping it classic. Great video.

We need a video of the best PAL games for the NES. Not only exclusives. There are many best of NES lists from a US perspective, but 1/3rd the titles were never released in the EU. So a top 50 or so PAL NES list is much needed.

Just wanted to say that a PAL release doesnt mean it was only published in UK. For exemple you say that Astérix was only released in UK which isnt true at all; it was a popular game in France, Spain and Germany. In fact most PAL games were released at least in Belgium, Switzerland, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, etc, and even Australia. The three main markets in the european PAL region were still France, the UK and Germany. It remains more or less the same nowadays.

Oh 😳. Yeah, by the way my friend, Learn Elite, then give it the S rank it so rightfully deserves.great channel John. Keep up the good work

John, you forgot the PAL Arcade version of Mario Bros. with the original cutscenes

Finally! Was wondering if you would create a pal ranking vid..and so you have. Great work! Would love to see a SNES version as well ✌😎

Loved Asterix toon movies as a kid!! Disney Channel showed them back in late 80s early 90s here in the US

I'm not a big fan of the NES game, but Asterix really is a fantastic series of comics. It's popular all over Europe, and while the comedy relies quite heavily on puns and word play, I've found that generally the translations hold up quite well (at least the English, German, and Dutch ones, as these are the ones I've read). The only thing that does tend to get lost in translation is the many satirical references to French celebrities and politicians. Still a great comic to read in English, though.

Coffee and a Curly Whirly on the drive home from work. Perfect! Like a perfect punt through the middle of the 'spokes'! 😂 Great stuff. 👍

Ufouria is a game we rented. I've remembered it since childhood but could never find it until seeing this! And Hyper Soccer! Thanks for the nostalgia.

Just some info: Elite is a space based, open world strategy/rpg/economic simulation game hybrid. Games like the X series, freelancer, privateer, No man's Sky, and Elite dangerous are all revisions of the original concept. It's not surprising you were lost when engaging with the economy; it has a steep learning curve, and no tutorial. It was originally released for the BC micro in *1984*. Elite is a true sandbox, used procedural generation to create a vast cosmos to explore and exploit, with potentially millions of planets to visit. It might seem insane to condense that into an NES cart, but they had it on a single 5.44 inch floppy on the Commodore 64, so it's not unthinkable. Edit: there are 8 galaxies, with 256 planets, but they are procedurally generated

Nice video , keep it up. Looking forward to them now 😎

Prince Valiant is the most gorgeous comic strip ever made. I have a ton of the collections.

Great video to share some PAL love. Where is Super Turrican though? It’s a great version of Turrican that was programmed by one man only - Manfred Trenz. I actually prefer it to its SNES namesake - not as good as Mega Turrican though

You're missing quite some games: The Lion King (a crappy port of the Game Boy version which is missing half of the game) Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque (a game based on an anime and it's in French) Rainbow Islands (an entirely different port than the US/Famicom version) Parasol Stars Mario Bros. (Classic Version) (an improved version, it has better controls and added some intermissions between levels) Banana Prince (a game in German) Championship Rally Dropzone Road Fighter (an 1985 Famicom game which was released in Europe around 1991) Formula 1 Sensation Super Turrican

Elite is a space trading game where you track prices on different planets. You can trade in forbidden items like drugs and slaves and it changes you status (like GTA). if you are a bad guy cops attack instantly. IF you play clean you get protection from them. You can upgrade your ship to add weapons, and more importantly a solar scoop that lets you get fuel from flying near the sun instead of having to buy it. The scoop also allows you to pick up space debris and floating cargo to sell for free credits.

That Asterix game, Ufouria, and a couple others look a lot of fun!

Awesome topic 👏👏👏

Another game worth looking at is Rainbow Island 🌈 🏝 The U.K. / PAL version was by Ocean and is VERY different to the U.S. / NTSC version (worlds apart, U.K. version looks a lot more like the arcade) 🍺 🍏 🍒 🍓 ⭐️ 🐛 “GOAL IN!” 🇬🇧

The unique mechanic of controlling two characters with each button in New Ghostbusters 2 makes for a very fun experience. There's a side-scrolling Ghostbusters game for the Sega Genesis, witch gets a lot of praise, but a think the top-down perspective along with the unique mechanic of controlling two characters makes NG2 stand out more.

I like your thumbnail, with the mug. As a Welsh person, much appreciated.

Nice video man 😎!

I love this variant of the ranking videos! This is stuff that I don't usually get exposed to. I would have rated Elite a lot higher! I know it well because of the DOS version. It's crazy it made it to NES.

loving the welsh mug, great choice

Thanks for the ranking videos! Will you be doing more NES and SNES soon?

Asterix is really big in Quebec, Canada actually... so most games I remember I had the Genesis ones and definitely all his movies and comic books came out here, but yeah this guy even has his own theme park in France.

Pinky Out is completely class 😄 "When in doubt...."

Great video! I know that some NES clone systems have a switch that lets you switch between NTSC and PAL, but I have no idea how well PAL games work on any of them.

Elite in an awesome game, but steep learning curve, not one for a short blast. Funny how all the chocolate names are mixed up, in the UK Snickers were called Marathon until the 90s when they renamed them Snickers.

Gotta be honest...Aladdin looks a lot like one of those unlicensed games you might find on one of those pirate multicarts

Came for the pinky raise in the title card; stayed for a great list and the vibe.

that part in GB2 with the corridors and office with red carpet reminds me so much of Space Quest 3 when Roger is at the scumsoft offices/cubicles vaporizing the trash

John Prince Valiant was based on animated series from the early 90’s which aired in Europe. I watched and loved it as a kid. Prince Valiant was an original character in medieval times and interacted with all of the Knights of the Roundtable including King Arthur and Merlin.

The snacks segment reminded me of Arinosan and the retro game master series. Maybe you can do a tour of the arcades in future episodes.

Awesome video!! You should try a full English breakfast with a cup of Yorkshire tea ☕😁

Thanks for this video, I have an NES emulator and every game you mentioned is on my games file.I'll play some of those.

We also had a marathon bar in the uk. Its a snickers bar and it was rebranded in the 90s to match the rest of the world. Same with starburst they used to be called Opal fruits

Asterix and Obelix on the Atari 2600 were my favorite games as a kid.

cool vid! nice showcase of PAL exclusives. Even PAL is devided in 2 parts. PAL A with UK, Italy and Australia and PAL B consisted of most other European countries with Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden ( Scandinavia). Later Hong Kong and South Korea got PAL B and India PAL A. There are even exclusives to PAL A and PAL B and PAL releases to limited countries.

You should also take a look at game freak’s games and rank them.

Finally😂 When does ranking every Nintendo published NES Game?

Coffee crisp is my favorite candy! 😋

dude so many awesome games I did not know about. I need to see if I can find these. I remember seeing carts of Mr Gimmick at portland retro gaming expo

9:50 Man I love customation.

I’m just here to celebrate Footscray taking the early lead over Collingwood. Carn the scraggers.

You get a like for the Wales mug! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 In the UK the NES wasn't really a thing for most of its lifetime, the Master System sold way more. But the SNES was popular and then they brought the NES back for a second attempt as a budget console (SNES was significantly more expensive in the UK than America). I guess that's why we got later games like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, when the American market had already moved on, and also why the Master System got so many PAL exclusive Megadrive and SNED ports.

You missed some, especially Super Turrican, which is awesome (entirely made by Manfred Trenz alone) and has nothing to do with the SNES game. There's also a platformer called Banana Prince, only released in Germany I guess, and decent enough. Among those you covered, I love Ufouria. It's basically a very cute Metroid where you can unlock new areas after you find each of the other characters, who have different abilities. The soundtrack is Sunsoft-awesome as usual.

Love the Welsh mug on the thumbnail 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The reason Curly Whirlies taste the same as Marathon bars is because Cadbury is manufactured in the US by Hershey.

I´m glad you mentioned Probotector. For me It still feels weird nowadays when I play as a Human in a Contra Game and not as an TOTALLY AWESOME ROBOT! ;-)

I'm surprised how many of these games I have not seen. And Ghostbusters 2 never seen it and now I'm going to try and buy it

Aladdin 😍 I bought it a few months ago on gog, but very tricky Jump&Run

We had lots of Asterix in canada in the french schools, also Mr.Gimmick is giving me some megaman vibes

It's funny that Curly Wurly is called Marathon bar, because in the UK we had a Marathon bar but ours the old name for Snickers.

Elite was amazing on the 8 bit computers!!!!

Please do a follow up! There are enough games you missed that could make another video. Good excuse to go back for a sausage roll too!

There was a Prince valiant cartoon in England

In Rodland you can create ur own ladders pressing up+fire, makes the game much fun!

Prince valiant was a cartoon! I think it was on the family channel back in the day!

In the UK a marathon was a snickers, curley wurlies have always been curly wurlies.

Man you know how to snack!!!

I thought Prince Valiant NES was based on the animated show from the early 90's.