Best 1v1 games on NES?

[thetallguy24]

What would you consider to be your top-5 or 10 games on the NES for playing 1v1? Please don't include co-op or turn based games. I'm just talking about playing against each other simultaneously.

 

My top 5 would be:

 

• Blades of Steel
• RBI Baseball
• Nintendo World Cup
• Tecmo Bowl
• Super Dodgeball

 

Of course, it seems most NES games that were 1v1 were sports related. What would you say were the best non-sports games that featured 1v1?

[Giltygear]

Tecmo Super Bowl

Ice Hockey

Super Dodgeball

Urban Champion

Baseball (black-box Nintendo Baseball, not that RBI garbage)

[Hatta]

North & South

[BydoEmpire]

1. Ice Hockey

2. Double Dribble

3. Blades of Steel

4. Tecmo Bowl

5. Baseball

 

The line between vs and co-op is fuzzy imho... I'd call Mario Bros & Balloon Fight two good vs games, even though they kind of straddle the line.

[slab0meat]

RBI Baseball, Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo Super Bowl, Double Dribble, Bases Loaded, Vs. Ice Hockey, Vs. Baseball, Blades of Steel

[thetallguy24]

Did the NES have any decent 1v1 fighting games? Not sure if I agree about Urban Champion being good

[Torr]

I gotta say, circa 1987-1988, me and a friend who owned Urban Champion used to have a BLAST with it. We could easily sink 30 minutes to an hour into at least once a weekend.

However that was over 25 years ago. Since then MANY great one-on-one fighting games have come and gone, and Urban Champion can't hold a candle to most (except dregs like Time Killers and whatnot).

 

So as a question, IS Urban Champion a good game?, I'd have to say yes, it's just overshadowed by so many other great fighting games that have come since. On the topic of good 1v1 games on NES, most of the later-greater fighters aren't available on NES (are ANY now that I think of it?), so in it's own world of the NES library I'd say it IS a good game.

 

Anybody else remember having fun with this game back in the days before SFII and MK hit the scene?

Edited April 6, 2015 by Torr

[thetallguy24]

I gotta say, circa 1987-1988, me and a friend who owned Urban Champion used to have a BLAST with it. We could easily sink 30 minutes to an hour into at least once a weekend.

However that was over 25 years ago. Since then MANY great one-on-one fighting games have come and gone, and Urban Champion can't hold a candle to most (except dregs like Time Killers and whatnot).

 

So as a question, IS Urban Champion a good game?, I'd have to say yes, it's just overshadowed by so many other great fighting games that have come since. On the topic of good 1v1 games on NES, most of the later-greater fighters aren't available on NES (are ANY now that I think of it?), so in it's own world of the NES library I'd say it IS a good game.

 

Anybody else remember having fun with this game back in the days before SFII and MK hit the scene?

 

Were there just not that many 1v1 games outside of sports on the NES?

[Torr]

Possibly. I never had an NES growing up, but I played a lot at friend's houses because everyone else had one! (I had an SMS)

 

When I think of competitive play I can only think of:

 

Urban Champion (big surprise, right?)
the VS mode on Double Dragon

Duck Hunt (someone playing as the Duck)

*OH, and I forgot M.U.S.C.L.E! It was Craptacular! But it was something to duke it out with each other on!

and only two sports title, Blades of Steel & Snoopy's Silly Sports.

 

Me and my Urban Champion rival also used to have fun with Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight (as already has been mentioned).

My friend got the NES (with SMB/Duck Hunt) and a 31-in1 pirate cart that had Urban Champion, Mario Bros, and Balloon Fight (among others) on it for Easter (how timely!) in 1987. We had just come off the Atari VCS for gaming so high scores were still meaningful to us at the time. We would always play to beat the other persons score. In Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight we were as afraid of each others character as the enemies! Looking back I still feel that's the way they should be played... the game just loops forever so co-operation isn't gonna help you "beat" the game. I guess you could add your two scores together after Game Over and "Share" a high score in the notebook, but we were too competitive for that! You COULD maybe put a star next to the person's name that got the higher of the two added together, but again, you'll just be breeding competition!

Edited April 6, 2015 by Torr

[BydoEmpire]

For what it's worth, I always liked Urban Champion back in the day. It wasn't a great game per se, but I always had fun with it.

[+wongojack]

I remember having fun with volleyball

 

Edit - I looked it up and there is a version of Karate Champ for NES, but I've never played it.

[+madman]

There's also Micro Machines.

[BillyHW]

In no particular order:

 

Sports Games

 

1. Ice Hockey

2. Blades of Steel

3. Super Dodge Ball

4. Baseball Stars

5. Pro Wrestling

6. R.C. Pro-Am 2

 

Non-Sports Games

 

1. Mario Bros. (also in Super Mario Bros. 3)

2. Double Dragon (vs. mode)

3. Tengen Tetris (I think there's a mode where you can compete on points, but it's not as interesting as the Gameboy vs mode)

4. Marble Madness

5. Spy vs. Spy

6. Bomberman

 

Also: Did Tengen Ms. Pac-Man have a 2-player competitive mode?

Edited April 7, 2015 by BillyHW

[+GoldenWheels]

I actually don't consider it a great game but I played a good amount of competitive Caveman Games. It was fun for what it was.

 

Obviously played a lot of Tecmo Bowl and Blades of Steel as well, but clearly we ALL did.

[Giltygear]

Not sure if I agree about Urban Champion being good

 

Bite your tounge.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Giltygear

[7800fan]

Anticipation

 

Not as dangerous as Monopoly but it can still ruin friendship

[BassGuitari]

Did the NES have any decent 1v1 fighting games? Not sure if I agree about Urban Champion being good

There was TMNT: Tournament Fighters. No idea if it's any good, though.

[SoulBlazer]

Don't forget about MULE either. Very good port from the computer originals.

[Drixxel]

There's definitely a lot of versus-appropriate stuff for NES that isn't sporty. Some of the most entertaining competitive play can be had with puzzle games, IMO. A handful of games not mentioned yet that are definitely fun for 1v1 times:

- Dr. Mario

- Little Ninja Brothers 'Field Meeting' mode

- Nintendo World Cup

- Super Sprint

- Tetris 2

- Yoshi

 

There's a highly enjoyable and largely unknown YouTube channel called RetroStadium where these two dudes play nothing but 1v1 and co-op games on retro consoles, the NES being a platform featured routinely. They do tons of sports titles, but anything goes. Totally check it out if you're looking for ideas of what to play with a buddy. https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroStadium/videos

Edited April 8, 2015 by Drixxel

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Blades of Steel, Tecmo Bowl, and Major League Baseball!!

[Tecmo Bowl]

My top 3 sports games are very easy to pinpoint.

1. -Tecmo Bowl (the original/1989)

2. -R.B.I. Baseball

and a distant 3rd would be....

-Ice Hockey

 

The rest in the discussion.....

-Tecmo Super Bowl

-Double Dribble

-Blades of Steel

-Baseball Stars

-Pro Wrestling

 

My buddies and I have our reasons for preferring Tecmo Bowl over Tecmo Super Bowl, but obviously TSB is probably one of the greatest video games EVER made hands down from any era, or gaming genre.

 

As for the ongoing Baseball Stars vs RBI Baseball debate, I think BS is really a great game. I feel it's the better game for 1 player mode with the GM aspect and the season mode vs the computer. However the actual MLB players in RBI works for me, along with all the varied player abilities they have. RBI has far more depth in that regard. RBI IMO has a far superior batter/pitcher interface...It's not nowhere as good in Baseball Stars. The pitcher/batter sequence is really the focal point of a baseball game anyways. That's where the battle is forged in baseball. I'll take RBI 10 times out of 10 in 2 player mode.

 

Blades of Steel is also a great game, but as far as I know, there is no difference from one team to the next in terms of player ratings, so it really boils down to player's ability to control the team. Same with double dribble. That's where the variances of Tecmo and RBI really stand out. Ice Hockey at least offers the choice in 3 different player skill sets that you can use to create the make-up of your team.

 

Pro wrestling is a lot of fun, but after about 6-7 matches I've gotten my fill. With that said, the 1st handful are super entertaining.

 

My buddy and I have plowed through over 800 games of Tecmo since 2004, so it's obviously got staying power with us. All the different team personnel, varied playbooks, and all the different possible match-ups keep us coming back for more. My crew and I have only played about 300 games of RBI over the years though, but its just as intense.

[thetallguy24]

My top 3 sports games are very easy to pinpoint.

1. -Tecmo Bowl (the original/1989)

2. -R.B.I. Baseball

and a distant 3rd would be....

-Ice Hockey

 

The rest in the discussion.....

-Tecmo Super Bowl

-Double Dribble

-Blades of Steel

-Baseball Stars

-Pro Wrestling

 

My buddies and I have our reasons for preferring Tecmo Bowl over Tecmo Super Bowl, but obviously TSB is probably one of the greatest video games EVER made hands down from any era, or gaming genre.

 

As for the ongoing Baseball Stars vs RBI Baseball debate, I think BS is really a great game. I feel it's the better game for 1 player mode with the GM aspect and the season mode vs the computer. However the actual MLB players in RBI works for me, along with all the varied player abilities they have. RBI has far more depth in that regard. RBI IMO has a far superior batter/pitcher interface...It's not nowhere as good in Baseball Stars. The pitcher/batter sequence is really the focal point of a baseball game anyways. That's where the battle is forged in baseball. I'll take RBI 10 times out of 10 in 2 player mode.

 

Blades of Steel is also a great game, but as far as I know, there is no difference from one team to the next in terms of player ratings, so it really boils down to player's ability to control the team. Same with double dribble. That's where the variances of Tecmo and RBI really stand out. Ice Hockey at least offers the choice in 3 different player skill sets that you can use to create the make-up of your team.

 

Pro wrestling is a lot of fun, but after about 6-7 matches I've gotten my fill. With that said, the 1st handful are super entertaining.

 

My buddy and I have plowed through over 800 games of Tecmo since 2004, so it's obviously got staying power with us. All the different team personnel, varied playbooks, and all the different possible match-ups keep us coming back for more. My crew and I have only played about 300 games of RBI over the years though, but its just as intense.

 

Amen brother. I've gotten blisters from Tecmo Bowl lol

[BillyHW]

I actually don't consider it a great game but I played a good amount of competitive Caveman Games. It was fun for what it was.

 

Obviously played a lot of Tecmo Bowl and Blades of Steel as well, but clearly we ALL did.

 

I think I'm the only person who never played Tecmo Bowl. I went straight from Intellivision football to Madden.

[+wongojack]

My top 3 sports games are very easy to pinpoint.

1. -Tecmo Bowl (the original/1989)

2. -R.B.I. Baseball

and a distant 3rd would be....

-Ice Hockey

 

The rest in the discussion.....

-Tecmo Super Bowl

-Double Dribble

-Blades of Steel

-Baseball Stars

-Pro Wrestling

 

My buddies and I have our reasons for preferring Tecmo Bowl over Tecmo Super Bowl, but obviously TSB is probably one of the greatest video games EVER made hands down from any era, or gaming genre.

 

As for the ongoing Baseball Stars vs RBI Baseball debate, I think BS is really a great game. I feel it's the better game for 1 player mode with the GM aspect and the season mode vs the computer. However the actual MLB players in RBI works for me, along with all the varied player abilities they have. RBI has far more depth in that regard. RBI IMO has a far superior batter/pitcher interface...It's not nowhere as good in Baseball Stars. The pitcher/batter sequence is really the focal point of a baseball game anyways. That's where the battle is forged in baseball. I'll take RBI 10 times out of 10 in 2 player mode.

 

Blades of Steel is also a great game, but as far as I know, there is no difference from one team to the next in terms of player ratings, so it really boils down to player's ability to control the team. Same with double dribble. That's where the variances of Tecmo and RBI really stand out. Ice Hockey at least offers the choice in 3 different player skill sets that you can use to create the make-up of your team.

 

Pro wrestling is a lot of fun, but after about 6-7 matches I've gotten my fill. With that said, the 1st handful are super entertaining.

 

My buddy and I have plowed through over 800 games of Tecmo since 2004, so it's obviously got staying power with us. All the different team personnel, varied playbooks, and all the different possible match-ups keep us coming back for more. My crew and I have only played about 300 games of RBI over the years though, but its just as intense.

 

 

Great first post! I played the heck out of the original Tecmo Bowl as a kid, and I somehow moved on to computer gaming and away from NES before I got into TSB. I did play the SNES version with some friends and it was awesome. That being said, playing the original Tecmo Bowl may have been one of the most enjoying gaming experiences of my entire life. I always struggle to place it on a list of all time NES games (and my personal all time list) because of the existance of superior games like TSB and the equally great memories I have of playing other classics like Zelda and Metroid. Still, Tecmo Bowl should never be forgotten as one of the killer apps for Nintendo and a game that really helped them grab a firm stranglehold on the US gaming market.

 

I also went through a serious RBI phase and hold very high praise for that game. BitD, I purchased MLB instead of RBI when I had the chance. I didn't discover how awesome RBI was until I was in college. Just wondering, how do you guys punish abuse of the missing infield fly rule?

 

I'm also a fan of Pro Wrestling. I wish I could come play games with you guys . . .

[7800fan]

 

I think I'm the only person who never played Tecmo Bowl. I went straight from Intellivision football to Madden.

 

You're not alone brother. Over the last 30 years, I think I've spent a grand total of 1 hour playing any of football game (most of them on Atari 2600) as I prefer to watch than to play.