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[lobdale]

Kirby's Adventure and Gimmick! are easily the top two, trust me I'm an expert.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Probably Castlevania 3.

 

[FrostuTheNinja]

Definitely Crisis Force or Moon Crystal. As mentioned before, the animation is Moon Crystal is mind boggling for an NES title.

 

[Jackano]

Watching all subbed GCCX episodes, I was impressed by Ninja Gaiden 2.

 

[gryz]

In terms of sheer technical achievement, how about Recca?

that just looks like a mess to me

 

[Fox Mulder]

Mr gimmick feels like a game that shouldn't exist on the console, and not just in the graphics department.

 

[1-UP]

Super Mario Bros 3.

 

[Gustav]

 

[eXistor]

I always thought Bucky o'Hare looked good. Can't really find great screenshots at the moment, but here's a playthrough on youtube. This way you can also hear the rockin' tunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHHM7_pBjUw

 

[brinstar]

 

[To Far Away Times]

The later Megaman games look really great and Kirby's Adventure is a great looking game too.

I've never heard of that Batman game posted earlier but that one might just take the cake. That type of sprite work shouldn't be possible in an NES game. That character sprite is huge and it animates really well!

 

[vagabondarts]

So many great examples in this thread already.

I thought the graphics in most of Capcom's games were standouts.

Here's a couple I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Conquest of the Crystal Palace had day to night transitions in a couple levels and massive boss enemies:

Batman Return of the Joker looks better than the same game on SNES and Genesis!


Adventure Island 3 is another clean sharp looking game:

I'm biased since the NES is one of my favorite systems of all time and I'm hopelessly bound to it by nostalgia and am still amazed by what developers were able to do with it.

 

[Tain]

that just looks like a mess to me

I find Recca to be impressive, and it's a good game (maybe one of the best early console-exclusive STGs), but it's definitely a bit of a mess. Especially on a real Famicom.

 

[DukeTogo1300]

The first Batman game looked great too. Hail Sunsoft.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

The first Batman game looked great too. Hail Sunsoft.

Man, fuck that game. It infuriated me as a kid :l

I'm gonna have to give it Metalstorm. That game was pretty mindblowing at the time. I played the hell out of Kirby's Adventure too, but I don't recall it looking too impressive? Definitely an impressive game though, and holds up well today

 

[DeuceGamer]

I may have missed it, but besides some that were listed above one that I thought had good graphics was Rush N Attack.

It was already mentioned but Little Nemo always looked amazing for an NES game.

 

[Currygan]

Prince of Persia and Gradius 2 probably

 

[Santiako]

What's the name of this? I remember loving it as a kid.

 

[Shion]

What's the name of this? I remember loving it as a kid.

Shatterhand.

 

[Santiako]

Shatterhand.

Thanks! That game was amazing, it was labeled as Robocop in my NES knockoff 56 in one cart. hahaha

 

[Lemming]

Fantastic adventures of dizzy had some great scenarios (and music! =D)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkvYxqT9bs

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Picture proof of why it is the best. Look at the size and detail of those sprites

Also notice the great detail in the backrounds

 

[revolverjgw]

Picture proof of why it is the best. Look at the size and detail of those sprites

Also notice the great detail in the backrounds

Whoa, check out that lighting.

 

[bengraven]

There was an old game for the NES that was digitalized (like Mortal Kombat or Lethal Enforcers). Can't remember it's name, but seeing it in one of those "200 Awesome NES Games!" magazines back in the day, it shocked me.

 

[bengraven]

Also: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo/nes/best-nes-graphics-sound

 

[Kuramu]

The first Batman game looked great too. Hail Sunsoft.

Came to post this. The game really stunned me back in the day, especially all the spinning gears

 

[Mango Positive]

Phantasy Star looked pretty good!

That's right. I had a Master System. What are you going to do about it?

At least my friends had NES.

I kid, I loved it. I had 3D games over 20 years ago.

 

[Loofy]

Not that great looking but the scale seemed incredible at the time. Made you feel like a ninja.
http://youtu.be/E82F45F4_Y4?t=17s

I didnt know there was a joe and mac on NES. It seems they sacrificed backgrounds to make the characters and foreground look as detailed as possible.
http://youtu.be/JVu2S92dXWY

 

[Reiko]

Oh yeah, that's pretty crazy. I only had Battletoads on Genesis and I never made it that far : p

You have got to be kidding. The difficulty on the Genesis version was toned way down.

 

[GitarooMan]

I'd vote Little Nemo or Crystalis. Most of the Capcom Disney games are also very nice.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

its not graphics but someone got an nes to play the rickroll audio clip (i wont link to it, because I dont want a rick roll ban) but i never thought the nes capable of playing that level of audio.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I like the original Castlevania's graphics more than its two sequels.

Pitch-perfect use of colors and compliments* (red/blue, blue/orange.) The gothic atmosphere and architecture remain a high point for all 2D games.

*Sequelitis goes over this point pretty well.

 

[tmarques]

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

Battletoads.

 

[biggersmaller]

Little Nemo looks almost un-NES-like pretty imo.

Agreed. Pictures to support:

(original intro was widescreen)

 

[foogles]

I think Battletoad's rotating level looked better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDfqKZMj08&feature=player_detailpage#t=2966s

Believe it or not, these games weren't the first to do this! Behold: Nebulus for the C64, released in 1987. Not really relevant to the original topic, but it shows that maybe the tech wasn't really that insane, especially considering the C64's graphical capabilities were pretty far behind the NES'.

As far as just straight up best graphics go, I'd have to stick with Battletoads regardless, because it had a kind of speed and fluidity that even many SNES games didn't have. Best pixel art? Close to it. Delivering it at blistering speeds? Yeah, I am gonna count that.

 

[Jake Tower]

Sword Master - looked '16-bit' with multiple planes of parallax scrolling

 

[Ahasverus]

Batman Return of the Joker by faaar

 

[Bending_Unit_22]

The rotating building blew my mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8BeYrEhCoQ&t=5m11s

You and me both. Of the games I recall actually seeing during the NES' life, Kirby's Adventure is definitely one of the best looking I remember thinking at the time. The other game that blew me away was Batman: Return of the Joker. I actually thought when I first played it that graphics couldn't ever get better than that. I was 11.

Batman: Return of the Joker was pretty great looking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Ivxnpbd5Y

Batman Return of the Joker by faaar

And here I was going to also note that I've never seen anyone else mention Batman: Return of the Joker in these threads which seemed odd to me. Well I can't say that anymore.

 

[Fox Mulder]

And here I was going to also note that I've never seen anyone else mention Batman: Return of the Joker in these threads which seemed odd to me. Well I can't say that anymore.

Sunsoft was on fire back then.

 

[xir]

mario sleeping at the end of smb2 is pretty insane level of full screen animation

 

[Barkley's Justice]

It does a great job with a few colors at a time.

That does not look better than smb3.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Mario 3

Nailed it.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

Batman: Return of the Joker was pretty great looking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Ivxnpbd5Y

Sunsoft had some crazy developers. They had a lot of good looking games:

This one
Gremlins 2
Fester's Quest
Master Blaster

 

[RadarScope1]

I think this article has this pretty much covered: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo/nes/best-nes-graphics-sound

Nice. I helped write that one. Been a while since I've been active on the RB forums.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Whoa, check out that lighting.

definitely running DX11 SSAO

 

[GhaleonQ]

Nice. I helped write that one. Been a while since I've been active on the RB forums.

It's a terrific site!

I think this article has this pretty much covered: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo/nes/best-nes-graphics-sound

Dang! I was going to catch you, but Lagrange Point just snuck in there at the end. People only know it for its audio. Phantasy Star fans ahoy! http://hardcoregaming101.net/lagrangepoint/lagrangepoint.htm http://hardcoregaming101.net/lagrangepoint/lagrangepoint.htm Apparently, Just Breed is just packed. I remember it being better looking.

Otherwise, yeah, I'd go with Crisis Force.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Would something like this count?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkFxSBKeFs

Metal Slader Glory. It's a graphic adventure. I saw it on an episode of GameCenter CX and couldn't believe that it was an NES game.

 

[GhaleonQ]

Would something like this count?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkFxSBKeFs

Metal Slader Glory. It's a graphic adventure. I saw it on an episode of GameCenter CX and couldn't believe that it was an NES game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q8F6VOQhHY

It's gorgeous, but, of course, the scenes are almost entirely static. Diving through the late period Famicom games blew my mind the 1st time through. I think its endgame was more impressive than the 16-bit era's.

 

[magicalsoundshower]

River City Ransom and Mega Man 5 for me, my biggest issue with NES graphics is the palette which doesn't seem all that well-suited for warm and vibrant-looking games. Those two games look like they belong on a different system most of the time.