30 Years of the NES

30 years ago, Nintendo unleashed the original NES on the American populace...and things were never the same again for any of us. In the wake of the video game crash that came in the years before the release of the NES, no one wanted to touch video games. Did you know that Nintendo actually approached a still-reeling Atari in an effort to partner with so they would have an American distributor, since this was a relatively unfamiliar market for the Japanese giant. Could you imagine how different things would have been in the years to come if Atari and Nintendo would have teamed up?

Anyway, the NES was the first video game console I ever owned. Like I did before with the PS1, I've come up with a list of games here that are on the console that have meant the most to me as a kid, and still mean the most to me to this very day. Only difference is I'm just going to make a straightforward list of the 30 games that mean the most to me, instead of talking about each and every one of them. All I will say is that this is the console that introduced me (and all of us) to Mario, Castlevania, Zelda, Contra, Metal Gear, and more besides. This list is in no particular order in terms of what is the best or anything like that, so don't get all shitty if it's not in the order you prefer it to be.

So, here we go...

1. Super Mario Bros (1 & 3, not 2)
2. Castlevania
3. Contra
4. Blades of Steel
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
6. Baseball Stars
7. Legend of Zelda
8. Double Dragon II
9. Tetris
10. Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode
11. Ninja Gaiden
12. Paperboy
13. Rampage
14. River City Ransom
15. Bubble Bobble
16. Battletoads
17. Duck Tales
18. Batman
19. Tiny Toon Adventures
20. RC Pro Am
21. Jackal
22. Mighty Final Fight
23. Mega Man 2
24. Life Force
25. Smash TV
26. Bucky O'Hare
27. Kid Icarus
28. Metroid
29. Kirby's Adventure
30. Blaster Master

So that's that, anything you guys think I missed? Anything you wanna lynch me over? Well kiss my ass, I'm old.

What Happened to Mega Man?

I've always had a severe soft spot for Mega Man. I have many fond memories of playing the original ones, particularly "Mega Man 2", on the NES in my youth. I never had a Super NES while it was being supported, so I missed out on "Mega Man VII" and the first "Mega Man X" games until years later. "Mega Man 8" I played the shit out of on PS1, and I was never that bowled over with "Mega Man Legends". In the years to come, I ended up playing all the ones I'd missed, beating most of them as well. So yeah, I fucking love Mega Man.

A few years back, Capcom finally decided to give the fans what they wanted, and released the long awaited "Mega Man 9" and "Mega Man 10" as downloadable titles in the classic 8-bit style. They were mostly awesome, but goddammit, we still want more. What have we gotten? Jack shit is what we've gotten. There were a number of various Mega Man games that Capcom had in development at one point or another, all of which got shitcanned. That in itself is a damn shame, but the true shame about all this is that it looks like Capcom is just burying the whole franchise. Other than letting him appear in the recent "Super Smash Bros." game as a playable character, there's no new Mega Man-related game on the horizon at all.

Well, unless you count "Mighty No. 9", which is going to be ultra mega tits when that finally comes out, but that's another story.

Anyway, there was a time when Mega Man was the only real franchise Capcom was really known for by a majority of people. Before "Street Fighter II" ruled arcades and before "Monster Hunter" ever came around, Mega Man WAS Capcom. So why bury it? There's obviously still a desire and need for classic, challenging, 2D side scrolling action. I just don't fucking understand why they'd bury it like they have.

And oh yeah, I know there's been some re-release of the first six games of the series that literally just came out, but that doesn't count. The old Mega Man games have been repackaged and revamped so many times that it's just become redundant at this point. Get your shit together Capcom, for the love of fucking Gawd, get your shit together.