Man, I’m like the worst NES fan ever. I played the system to death, but I’ve barely spent any time with these two games. Which, I’m told by contributor Ben Elgin, were totally sweet. Maybe someday when I have a few hours of free time, I’ll make it a priority.
I do wonder when I will have a few hours of free time, though.
While I haven’t had the opportunity to read through Nemo’s original comic strip source, I did watch that obscure anime movie the game’s adapted from well over a decade ago. I don’t remember all the details, but I know there was some graphic stuff in regards to Nemo using the rod on the giant shark and Nightmare King. Nothing bloody-gory, but definitely beam-caused mutilation going around…..especially the shark.
Back on topic, I really loved Capcom’s takes on cartoons and movies! That kinda quality’s just not as common with popular TV and movie games as it was on NES. There were some bag eggs there too, but the good really outshined the bad.
It’s harder to find licensed gaming gems now that they’re buried in an evergrowing sea of mediocrity and crap. Well, I guess hunting down WayForward stuff’s a good start. Those guys and dolls know how to do awesome.
I was a huge fan of the Duck Tales game, and though Little Nemo was a bit difficult for me in ye olden years, I thought it was a given that it was one of THE essential NES games back then. As a statement to its greatness, I recall seeing the anime for it at a Wal-mart a year or two later, and demanding it like mad, so excited to see they’d made a movie of that awesome game!
I used to rent the holy bajeezus out of both of those games as a wee child, though I never beat either. Another great platformer around the same era was Darkwing Duck, and The Little Mermaid was a great game as well.
Good times.
I enjoyed Ducktales, but found it way too easy. Yeah, I know, all ages and stuff.
Never did play Little Nemo though.
Little Nemo was indeed great – perhaps one of my favorite NES games ever. I wouldn’t call it “the best” if I stuck to more objective criteria, but the whole thing fits together like a symphony, with sufficient contrast between levels to keep the action flowing nicely (as Ben was saying in the write-up).
At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I’ve stuck my own write-up of Nemo in my URL on this comment. Jeremy, if you do indeed get some time for it someday, you won’t be disappointed.
DuckTales! First game I ever beat. At first I was frustrated because the manual said ‘A then B’ to pogo-jump when it was ‘A then Down+B’ (sabotage!), but from then on it was a regular play-this-over-your-cereal-while-you-wait-for-the-school-bus game.
I couldn’t finish Nemo when I was younger (manta boss was a straight-up jerk) but I did so eventually. Bee suit was always the best.
Good times.