Gaming NES Classics Impressions

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]This is becoming a bad habit.

I bought the NES Classic version of Zelda a few days ago... it wasn't for the fact that I knew it would be outstandingly good, neither was it for any sentimental reason, but because it, and all the other NES Classic games, were going for half the price of any other game, brand new.

When I first heard about NES Classics, I immediately could tell which games would be most popular, but after elusively playing Zelda and absorbing in all that retro goodness, I realised that I've seriously underrated each and every one of these.

So at this point right now, I'm hugely considering the other titles in the series aside from the impartial Bomberman and Super Mario Bros.. Anyway, I'm looking for opinions and recommendations here. It doesn't matter if you're judging the game after playing it from the NES itself, or from the SP, it's all good. As long as I've got a more than vague idea, then I'm happy.

I'll do Zelda if you want. Just to repay a favour. ;)

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Gameplay is flawless. You can't complain... unless I've missed something. The main reason I think this is because of the two-button set-up. You're not confined to heaps of options, you just hack, slash, and go with the flow. There is a lack of puzzles though, but that only makes the game a lot more fluent as you won't find yourself stuck against all odds. Good in it's own way.

Lifespan is great. I've played through quite a lot but I feel that I've done very little, heh. I know that there are [spoiler]nine dungeons[/spoiler] in total, and even though I'm already on the fifth, I still don't feel any sense of accomplishment. It must be to do with the basic-ness of the menu.

There are drawbacks, however, but they're not legible enough of a reason for you not to play it. When the screen gets over-crowded, the game completely slows down, even the midi. My main issue is the save system though. I can understand that this is an old game -- in fact it was the first game to feature a save system for the NES, or something like that -- but Nintendo could've at least sorted it out before putting it on the shelves. You have to die when you want to save, which means you restart in the Overworld no matter what, with like four hearts. That means you must go all the way to the fairy before hitting the dungeons, which sucks.

I've heard of the 'second controller' trick, but I'm not playing on the NES. Also, displaying the number of deaths on the menu screen is mocking. You HAVE to die if you want to save. Not very modest. Whatever though, I just leave it on sleep mode when I'm not playing. It's on right now, actually lol.

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Show me the money.[/color]

[natetron46]

Oh Super Mario Brothers, say no more. Im there! You should definitely pick that up, this is a great idea. I seriously wish that some of those games could be ported to newer systems, because the fact that I sold my NES is killing me now. :(

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]lol. With all that commotion, I forgot to mention that I was talking about the GBA NES Classics.

...and Nintendo have already ported those games to the GBA.[/color] :whoops:

[Burori]

Whenever they might do this try out these two amazing games. Ice Climber and Shadow of the ninja.

Two games that are in my opinion great. Ice climber is annoyingly challanging and Shadow fun as hell.

[Semjaza]

I'd read through the Zelda manual and see if it has another way to save... on the NES, a second controller could be used to enter the save menu, I believe. They must have come up with an alternative for that.

I'm kind of annoyed that Nintendo didn't bother to fix the errors that were present in the NES games. The slowdown and such is present in the original NES game as well and happens in the same places on the GBA version... same with the PCM music (it's not midi, really).

I can't justify paying $20 for these games, honestly. Especially when the manuals are black and white (Nintendo has NEVER done that, so lame) and they don't have any of the collection value that the awesome Japanese sets have.

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]"Save your game progress as it was when you were last defeated" is all it says on the matter in the instructions booklet. Killing yourself to save is tedious, especially when you have the Blue Ring...

I've never played these games before because I never had a NES system, that's why I'm into them.[/color]

[Brasil]

[quote name='Wingnut Ninja][color=teal']Killing yourself to save is tedious, especially when you have the Blue Ring...[/color][/quote]
Blue Ring is nothing when you've got the Red Ring. Now [i]that's[/i] a pain. Of course, how many people here have found the Red Ring? Am I the only one who hasn't? I seriously still can't find that damn thing...stupid Level 9...

Like Tony, I refuse to pay 20 bucks for a [b][u]GBA[/u][/b] game (in 2004) that cost 50 bucks when it was released on [b][u]NES[/u][/b] (in 1987), regardless of it being LoZ or SMB. Considering you can just buy Animal Crossing, an Action Replay, and unlock LoZ, SMB, and about 5 other games that include Punch-Out, Ice Climber, and Wario Woods, doing some quick and rough math, that's about the same price...probably even a better deal to pick-up AX and an Action Replay.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]I think you can press up and select at the same time on the item screen to go to the save screen in the Classic NES version. I don't (yet) have the game myself, however, so I can't say that it works for sure.

I also have a hard time justifying the cost for these. And in the case of Zelda, I already own the game twice over (original NES cartridge and the Collector's Edition) -- three times if I ever happen to get an e-card for unlocking it in Animal Crossing. (I wouldn't buy an AR, seeing as I'd never use it except for getting NES games in AC.) I figure I'll wait until I can find them for cheap before picking up Zelda and maybe Super Mario Bros., though I think I'd rather get SMB3 instead of the original, even if it costs a little more.[/color]

[BlueYoshi]

Okay, I tried pressing up+select like you said, and it works. The three options "Continue, Save, and Retry" come up. However, when you do save using that method, you will have to restart the next time with four hearts, regardless of whether or not you had more or less than that in the first place.

If you choose to continue, you'll restart your game at the starting point of the Overworld no matter where you where previously, with again, four hearts.

Other than the fact that it's a quicker to save this way, as they have the same effects, I'd say that the only probable good thing about it is that your death count won't increase, but that never bothered me in the first place. It just looked bad.

[natetron46]

[QUOTE=Wingnut Ninja][color=teal]lol. With all that commotion, I forgot to mention that I was talking about the GBA NES Classics.

...and Nintendo have already ported those games to the GBA.[/color] :whoops:[/QUOTE]
Thanks for clarifing, unfortunately I seem to have "misplaced" (lost) my gba at the moment :(

[Desbreko]

[QUOTE=Wingnut Ninja]Okay, I tried pressing up+select like you said, and it works. The three options "Continue, Save, and Retry" come up. However, when you do save using that method, you will have to restart the next time with four hearts, regardless of whether or not you had more or less than that in the first place.

If you choose to continue, you'll restart your game at the starting point of the Overworld no matter where you where previously, with again, four hearts.

Other than the fact that it's a quicker to save this way, as they have the same effects, I'd say that the only probable good thing about it is that your death count won't increase, but that never bothered me in the first place. It just looked bad.[/QUOTE]
[color=#4B0082]Yeah, that's exactly how it works in the original NES version. The main purpose of the trick is so that you won't have deaths on your record just from saving. It's pretty much only meant to be used when you're done playing -- it's not a "save before the big baddie in case you die" sort of thing.[/color]