Honorable Mentions [Most Memorable NES Games]

These are five games that I remember fondly, but just didn't make the cut for my Most Memorable NES Games list.  They are not in any particular order.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for the beginning of the my Most Memorable NES Games list!

Maniac Mansion

I close my eyes and think back to this game, and just feel joy.  I remember laughing so hard at parts.  This game captured my imagination through its amazing narrative like few games had.  Any game that lets you microwave a hamster is going to sit pretty well with me.

I played this when I was younger with my friend Adam.  We got pretty far, but I don't remember getting the best ending.  When I was in middle school, my brother, Joby, and I took a two mile trek down to J & J Pawn one afternoon.  We found this gem for $4 or something.  I played it a bunch again and finally got the best ending.

Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers

This was a 2 player co-op dream.  Disney and Capcom in the early '90s were gold.  Solid gold.  It was easy, but so fun.  My brother and I played this one to death.  I think my sister may have even gotten in on this action.

We played this one a bunch out on my dad's farm.  On another one of those gargantuan console televisions with the round clicky dials.  We'd make cheese sandwiches and totally put up with our dad yelling at us to go outside.  So worth it.

Metroid

I never appreciated this game until I got a little older.  The atmosphere and ambiance is crazy good considering it's an 8-bit title from 1986.  This was a very early rental for me.  I remember playing this on our old 9 in. black-and-white TV that my mom let my brother and me have in our room.  I was totally lost.  I had no idea what to do or where to go.  Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet, so I was stuck.

I came back to it a few years later with some help from my friend, Laramie.  We got through maybe half of it.  I finally finished this one while in middle school with some help from Nintendo Power and a few very late nights.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

I never owned this one, but it was a frequent rental.  My first memories of this game were on a PlayChoice 10 arcade cabinet at Big Cheese Pizza.  There's just something about greasy pizza and video games.  I'd race through my salad, which consisted mostly of cottage cheese and sunflower seeds, to go play a quick game before our pizza came.

It's a magically addictive game that even holds up today.  I still play it every once and while.  I bought a used copy in my teen years, although it was just called Punch Out!!.  Super Macho Man is as far as I've ever gotten.  But who could forget 007-373-5963 to go straight to Tyson, even if I can only get in one punch?

Back to the Future

This is one of the most reviled of all NES games.  And for good reason.  It is electronic vomit in a cartridge format.  The only reason it gets a nod is because it was the first game my brother and I owned beside Super Mario Bros. /Duck Hunt.

We got this for Christmas the same year we got our NES.  I was so pumped to play this.  The movie was awesome, the game had to be too, right?  Let's play this thing!  Yeah...  After playing for about seven minutes, I'd had enough.  To this day, I still cannot get past the milkshake challenge at the end of level one.  Jeez.