Top 10 Underrated NES Games! 

I loved Faxanadu!

I have that one!

Emerald kat , i remember when Faxanadu came out, my older brother spent his entire paycheck on it ( $74.99, no joke ). i have fond memories of this game, we played it alot and i was only able to beat it with a turbo controller...😁.

Big Dog what did you need the turbo for?

Emerald kat , i was probably 10 or so years old at the time, and i couldn't button mash fast enough to defeat the bosses, ( and i didn't spend time to learn the magic).

Seems like the Creators of Shantae took some Inspiration from that game

Hello 👋

Excellent game!

Agreed the first game i legitimate beat without cheating with the game genie

"Owned"? Did you trade your collection in for a Super Nintendo? I have heard that story quite often.

The Eternal Champion right? I couldn't believe Guardian Legend didn't make this list!

Yeah, I agree. He didn't even put up Kage and Mitsume ga toru

I have to agree with Lolo 3, it's such a unique game, and my favourite puzzle game of all time!

Journey to Silius has a savage soundtrack. I think it was going to be Terminator, but they lost the license before release and renamed it. It is an overlooked gem.

I heard Pat once played SCAT together with Ian.

The Guardian Legend is underrated by who?

Ufourria is nothing like gimmick, other than Sunsoft used similar looking art style.

@@KCUFyoufordoxingme Guardian Legend certainly isn't a well known NES game.

@@dorpth Bullshit. It has a remake, many covers, and on many top 100 nes lists. I would easily put it in the top 5% of well known nes games. It is way better known than Zanac, and even that has a fair sized fan base.

@@dorpth It is easily in the top 5% of well know nes games. Has a remake. Is on many well known personalities top 100 lists. Has numerous music covers. Is a sequel to Zanac which still has a fair sized fan base. I don't understand how it could be considered not well known.

It must not have gotten much attention back in the day either because i mail ordered it from funcoland when it was pnly $29

OMG someone else who knows this game! It is THE game that made me love rpgs. It was my second one to play and I just adore the play and the whole story. Also, getting that one expensive spell from the first merchant after you leave the starting town was totally worth the grinding. I remember spending hours to get it.

Faxanadu is a rather famous game, being it was pictured on the original packaging of the NES during its first NA release in '85, so it was rather well-known and IIRC, it was even a launch title, or very close to it. This list is about more obscure games that hardly anybody pays attention to, though I would have to say that Crystalis isn't that obscure/underrated as nearly anybody who has played that game loves it for how much they managed to cram into it.

@@Dhalin maybe to some, but even those who, like myself and my brother got an NES at launch, they aren't known. Maybe it's just my experience in our small hometown, but to even get the game (Faxanadu), we had to travel to the nearest city. Nowadays, I know no one who knows the game, except a few I meet online. Everyone remembers the really popular games, but it's kinda in that realm for me of Harvester on PC. A lot of those old titles seem to have been lost to only a handful of people's beloved memories and a handful of copies that are well used (not counting ROMS/Steam of course).

That's kinda strange, though, for a launch title to become obscure, especially when it was one of the more unique games on the system. It did Side-Scrolling Action RPG before Zelda 2 came around (and IMO, better than Zelda 2), really don't get why it wasn't more popular than it was. I always thought it was a well known game, because most of my friends either had it or played it. Huh. Okay. I will also point out that I never knew that it was part of the Xanadu series of games which I had somewhat heard of in recent years, which is somewhat closely related to the Ys series which I have really begun to love in more recent days thanks to the top-down action RPG games like Oath in Felghana and Origin.

I had the main menu theme as my ringtone for a long time.

I couldn't agree more ! I'm 34 and I'm playing it now for the first time good times

Jackal was the first game that I bought for the NES (other than SMB/DH which it came with). I remember, I think it was Ames before they closed down, me as a kid going there with mom with a huge wad of $1 bills with a couple fives and the poor cashier counting them all out just so I could buy this game, and we played it hours and hours and hours, singleplayer, doubleplayer. I loved how it had two 2P modes, one where you had two jeeps on screen, and one where 1P is the driver and 2P is the gunner. I remember the memories of her getting mad at me because she'd drive up to a tank expecting me to use the grenade/missile and I'd instead shoot it with the machinegun and we'd die... lol

Damn straight

I agree. Jackal was under-rated.

Rockin' soundtrack. I want a heavy metal band to play it.

GenerationGapGaming GGG!!!! What's up!!

Lord, I had that game and could never even remotely figure out what to do. I've watched playthroughs as an adult and was like 'how would anyone even think to do [whatever they did]?'

Oh god, fuuuuuuuck Legacy of the Wizard. The idea of a consistent dungeon exploration with Super Mario 2 style character selection should have been great. But it was IMPOSSIBLE. People point to Ninja Gaiden or Battletoads as the hardest NES game, but I can confidently say it was Legacy of the Wizard. Impossible to map out. Impossible to make boss runs even if you had a map in front of you! Even if you knew exactly where to go and which character you had to use, you still had to have the exact right item loadout AND play perfectly because you couldn't afford to waste any life or magic since restoration items took up precious slots that you needed. Legacy of the Wizard was so impossible, it the one game that Nintendo Game Counselors absolutely dreaded getting a call about. Go do a search on it. You'll find interviews with former counselors telling you what a nightmare it was trying to walk people through that game over the phone.

Yeah, after using a certain NES smart phone app based off a certain NES guidebook, I realized only a handful of those games are under the $100 price range. lol

MEGADAN29 MegaDan!

MEGADAN29 emulators bro.. its the way to go lol

da scarecrow Everdrive

Oh yeah. The carts are expensive. The NES Classic + hackchi2 can solve that problem.

Guerilla war(rank top 3,2-player games) could you imagine how it would be on PS4 or Xbox one & Indian great games!!! All this Technology and they fucked up two player couch games. I understand the online shit,it took me a long time to accept it. I also love how they make 2player split screen,again took a min for me to catch on,I use to REALLY hate them. They give you more freedom to navigate. I can go on a roof and cover you& etc. Thanks for reminding me if gorrila war. That's back when you go rent a couple games from Mom& pop rental stores they were all OVER.(fuck block busters

Not enough people talk about Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, though there's a glitch on the very last boss where he just won't show up. No time limit, so I had to restart the entire game and that's not exactly an easy game.

Sam Medley only one issue with it, if you get far and die, most of the time you are too disheartened to start over. it was basically mega man without continues.

Thank you! That is my number 5 game of all time and yet nobody talks about it. Oh wait, no, it's number 6 but it's still good.

I loved this game! It was great. Some of the best music on the system too. Only problem: no Baroness. 😟

Showing off his collection.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing

I was hoping somebody would say what I was thinking

Crystals is still cheap (imo better than Zelda) BUT price has increased alittle...I imagine the trend will continue.

He mentioned he used an emulator to play them, so it's hardly showing off his collection. These games are all free if you emulate them, so give them a go

@iFort agreed

Was my fav game as a kid!!!!

Xexyz i first played it at my cousins house. Played it all night long while everyone else was asleep. Really fun game

Fantastic game!

I'd say sweet home is actually the best nes/famicom game I've ever played!

Wasn't Sweet Home the basis for Resident Evil too?

@@thegreathadoken6808 I heard that too.

Yeah, Gun-Nac is essentially Compile's version of Parodius

I think Parodius is best in 16 bit. Compile shooters are just as good no matter how many bits are behind them, from Gun Nac to Blazing Lazers to Super Aleste to MUSHA. Just my humble opinion.

@@thegreathadoken6808 You mean like, you find Parodius games outside of 16 bit consoles less enjoyable? Btw there's also Zanac x Zanac on ps1, but I haven't played it, so I can't tell you whether it's as good as other compile games

Battle of Olympus will always be my number one NES game more people should play. I love it.

It is tough to say which NES game is my favorite. Possibly, Crystalis. But, Battle of Olympus was so awesome! I don't know how many times I played through it, but I pretty much loved each time! It was like a cross between Alundra and Zelda 2.

Solstice is one of my favorites on the system.

@@bfish89ryuhayabusa I wish they had more games like those on today's game systems.

YOU'RE awesome dude. lol. Thanks for the feedback. Crystalis is fantastic! Like I said in my video, it really should have been rereleased with the NES Classic Edition. There's not really anything like it on the NES.

I agree that Crystalis should be on the NES Classic Edition. It is my favorite NES game and is, as you said, fantastic and unique. Personally, I also rank it as my favorite action-RPG and one of the greatest games of all time. Admittedly, I am more into older games than newer games, but a true classic like Crystalis deserves to be played by new generations of gamers. The elemental swords that are strong or weak against certain enemies, and the different power levels you can charge your sword to, to fire projectiles or even screen-filling attacks, still make a brilliantly engaging battle system. The elements are also useful for breaking or crossing barriers. Magic spells and special items acquired through the adventure also have a variety of types of effects, including helping traverse environments that are otherwise deadly or impassable. Crystalis' environments are varied and visually appealing, and its soundtrack is enchanting, conveying adventure, danger, peacefulness, and heroic triumph. And, to make the game even more worthwhile for its full duration, the story is interesting and top notch overall for an NES game; it's not overly complicated, but it is well developed and covers enough ground that I think it fares favorably when compared against the basic elements of more-well-known RPGs' stories.

I didn't even know they made a Willow game, loved that movie as a kid.

You know, I haven't played the GBC version but, yeah, I heard a lot of people weren't too happy with the port. But either way, its definitely a game worth playing. lol

Great game, going back to it recently, it felt like Secret of Mana a bit :P

Crystalis is great, and was known as one of the greats though... it's why they made ports. It's the jewel in the new SNK anniversary collection. A game not mentioned here or anywhere is Battle of Olympus, which is one of the best games ever made.

Good news. They just recently added the NES Crystalis to the Nintendo Online library for the Switch. (yes, the GBC version blows)

Kage was fucking awesome. I think thats the 2nd one, with the first one being way clunkier and a little ugly. Shadow of the Ninja was incredible, just short. But like shatterhand i can play it over and over

Indeed. One of the best NES games.

Lee Fischer Captain America waa a phenomenal game on all platforms.

Lee Fischer Guardian Legend was great indeed.

Svarte Dauden had guardian legend that game was fun challenging and i really liked the music. But dont get that password wrong or hours of gameplay lost. Shatterhand was my second fav game behind blaster master. Still never beat shatterhand though.

YES Burai Fighter is so good and I never see it mentioned

You seem to like games developed by KID.