NES Konami Top 10s wanted

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Back in the day IMO Konami were to the NES(+Famicom) what Activision were to the 2600.

 

Let me know your favourites!

 

To make sure that no game is forgotten, here comes a list of all Konami (+Palcom +Ultra) titles within the mobygames database. Let me know if there's anything missing or errors:

 

Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula-kun!
Antarctic Adventure
Base Wars - Cyber Stadium Series
Batman Returns
Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa
Blades of Steel
Bucky O'Hare
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse 
Circus Charlie
Contra
Contra Force
Crackout
Defender of the Crown
Double Dribble
Formula 1 Sensation
Ganbare Goemon 2
Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2: Tenka no Zaihou
Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ougon Kiseru
Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu
Getsufuu Maden
Gradius
Gradius II
Gyruss
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Champ...
Jackal
Kid Dracula
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
Kings of the Beach
Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
Konami Hyper Soccer
LaGrange Point
Laser Invasion
Life Force
Metal Gear
Mission: Impossible
Moai Kun
Mouryou Senki Madara
Nightshade
Parodius
Pooyan
Q*bert
Quarth
Rampart
Road Fighter
Rollergames
Rush'n Attack
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Silent Service
Skate or Die
Ski or Die
Snake's Revenge
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
Stinger
Super C
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
The Adventures of Bayou Billy
The Goonies
The Goonies II
The Lone Ranger
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland
Top Gun
Top Gun: The Second Mission
Track & Field
Track & Field II
Twinbee 3: Poko Poko Daimao
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
Yume Penguin Monogatari
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja

 

Fire away, what's in your Top 10?

[2600Lives]

10. TMNT 3

9. Castlevania

8. Gradius 2

7. TMNT 2

6. Super C

5. Castlevania 2

4. Contra

3. Castlevania 3

2. Snake's Revenge (forget the stupid story, the gameplay is AWESOME)

1. Metal Gear

[BillyTR]

My most wanted

 

1.Goonies 1 (Pal retail)

2.SuperC early unedited run

[Joe C.]

My top 10 would be....

 

 

10. Base Wars

9. The Goonies II

8. Skate or Die

7. Blades of Steel

6. Rush n' Attack

5. Rampart

4. Double Dribble

3. Gradius

2. Castlevania

1.. Contra

 

*Joe C.*

[PressureCooker2600]

can't really do them in a top 10 because they all rule: (i think you forgot Skate or Die 2)

 

Rollergames

Bucky O' Hare

Castlevania 3

Snake's Revenge

TMNT

Contra

Super C

Contra Force

Goonies 2

Skate or Die 2

 

Honorable Mentions:

Tiny Toons

Nightshade

Jackal

TMNT 2

[chrisbid]

i think skate or die 2 was published by EA

 

the original Track and Field is missing on the list

 

 

 

my picks from the list

 

Blades of Steel

Castlevania

Contra

Double Dribble

Jack Nicklaus Golf

Life Force

Pooyan

TMNT II

Goonies II

Track & Field II

[lost child]

My favorite from that list is Jackal!

 

Castlevania 1,2,3

Circus Charlie

Contra, Super C

Gyruss

Moai Kun

Rampart (I wish that someone would translate Konami's version... it's quite a bit better than the Jaleco version, IIRC)

Goonies (part 1)

[Cybergoth]

i think skate or die 2 was published by EA

 

I was surprised by that as well. It seems I always got it confused with Bad'n'Rad, which was only on the Game Boy. But Skate or Die 2 really is 100% EA it seems.

 

the original Track and Field is missing on the list

 

I added it. The Lone Ranger was also missing, so I added that as well

[AtticGamer]

Contra and Super C, can't add anymore.

[vdub_bobby]

Impressive list of games.

 

My top:

 

Contra

Castlevania

Jackal

Life Force

Gradius

TMNT

TMNT 2

Rush'n Attack

 

That's only 8, but of the rest I've either not played them so I can't offer an opinion or I have played them and I don't find them especially compelling.

[Cybergoth]

Impressive list of games.

 

Back in the day Nintendo was limiting 3rd party releases to 5 games per year, per company. Konami cheated around this limitation by creating Ultra and Palcom. Amazing no, they established two whole companies just because of Nintendos strict release policies

 

(Regarding trash like the 20+ titles in the Popcorn Arcade series for the Wii, one actually might wish they still did so today )

 

That's only 8, but of the rest I've either not played them

 

 

You must definitely try Bucky O' Hare then

[Dr. Morbis]

10-Rush 'N Attack

9-Super C

8-Life Force

7-Gradius

6-Castlevania III

5-Castlevania II

4-Jackal

3-Goonies 1

2-Contra

1-Castlevania

[PressureCooker2600]

You must definitely try Bucky O' Hare then

 

I hope that wasn't a diss against Bucky O' Hare!!!

 

I LOVE THAT GAME!!!!!

[Roloking]

1. Castlevania 1

2. Contra

3-10. Goonies 2

 

Goonies 2 is actually one of my favorite games of all time.

 

"Ouch what do you do!"

[Cybergoth]

You must definitely try Bucky O' Hare then

 

I hope that wasn't a diss against Bucky O' Hare!!!

 

I LOVE THAT GAME!!!!!

 

Me too. It was supposed to be a recommendation

[madhatter667]

1. Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula Kun(Castlevania Dracula Special).... I still can't say the Japanese name right. Though the list said NES...this was a Famicom release... don't think it EVER saw a US release. Fun, and silly, hard to say no to.

2.Castlevania

3.Castlevania II

4.Castlevania III

(can you tell I like the Castlevania franchise?)

5.Gyruss

6. TMNT 2

7. Q-Bert

8.Contra

9.Metal Gear

10.TMNT (This game still frustrates me! It was hard then, it is still hard now! Ha ha ha!)

 

Anyway, that would be my top ten Konami titles, in no particular order.

[jboypacman]

Castlevania

Contra

Rush N Attack

Goonies II

Jackal

Gradius

Double Dribble

Blades of Steel

Stinger

TMNT The Arcade Game

[Ace_1]

10. Castlevania II-I'm always confused when I play this game, but I still like it.

 

9. Top Gun-may be boring, but I like flight sims.

 

8. Castlevania

 

7. Contra-damn tough, but I just can't put down shoot-em-ups.

 

6. Jackal-loved this game since the first day I got it.

 

5. Top Gun The Second Mission-hard as hell, but a game I just can't stop playing.

 

4. Castlevania III-who can go wrong with this one? My favorite platformer for the NES, but I need to get my hands on the Japanese version with its VRC6 sound chip.

 

3. Gradius-it just doesn't feel as polished as the other 2 Gradius games on the NES, but excellent, nonetheless.

 

2. Salamander/Life Force-this was the very first Gradius games I've played and is one of my all-time favorite Gradius games.

 

1. Gradius II-sure sucks this game didn't come to America. All because of that stupid VRC4 mapper chip. This is by far the best Gradius game(and shoot-em-up in general) on the NES.

[redglass77]

OK Everything on your list plus and yeah go ahead and laugh at me for this but the Adventures of Bayou Billy, come on, at the time... having a side-scroll fighting, driving stages and being able to use the light zapper all in one game was very cool

[opeygon]

1. stinger

2. silent service

3. metal gear

4. snakes revenge

5. castlevania II simons quest

6. jackal

7. contra

8. blades of steel

9. double dribble

10. top gun

[BassGuitari]

There first two TMNT games were done by Ultra. Or was Ultra part of Konami?

 

My Top Ten, no particular order:

 

Contra

Super C

Castlevania

Castlevania II

Life Force

Rush 'N' Attack

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (since we're counting it, why not)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (ditto)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Metal Gear

[gdement]

There first two TMNT games were done by Ultra. Or was Ultra part of Konami?

Ultra was an alias for Konami.

 

 

i think skate or die 2 was published by EA

I'm curious about the actual development of Skate or Die. I remember seeing a video where somebody from EA was demoing the C64 version of Skate or Die (1). So clearly they had a connection with that game also. Yet on the NES it was published by Ultra. If I were to guess, it doesn't look like a Japanese game to me.

 

Perhaps it was just a licensed title from EA, who as far as I'm aware wasn't publishing NES games back then.

Edited April 21, 2008 by gdement

[Cybergoth]

Skate or Die was an original C64 game from EA, of course. Konami just licensed it for the NES.