So I've finally managed to get an NES Classic after trying intermittently since it's release. One of the main reasons I had been wanting one was that while I had played bits and pieces of most of the games included in it in various forms, I had never actually finished any of them except Kirby's Adventure. I never owned an NES myself; the first Nintendo system I ever had was the Game Boy. The most no-brainer game to start with would probably be Super Mario Bros., but seeing as this is an opportunity for something of a fresh start, I'm going to start by playing each of Nintendo's games in release order. I've been really into shows like Retronauts, Norman Caruso's Gaming Historian, and Jeremy Parish's Game Boy World/Good Nintentions/Mode Seven for how they focus a lot on the historical context behind the development and design of the games and devices they talk about, and while I can only wish I was as knowledgeable as Norman Caruso and Jeremy Parish, I'm hoping I can get a sense of Nintendo's progression as a developer and what it might have been like at the time to play a new Nintendo game in light of the previous ones that had come out.
I'm going to be playing each of Nintendo's games in the order of the first release of their gameplay, meaning I'm also considering arcade versions where appropriate and using Doki Doki Panic's July 1987 release date for Super Mario Bros. 2. I'll be playing them in the following order:
Donkey Kong (arcade July 9, 1981)
Donkey Kong Jr. (arcade August 1, 1982)
Mario Bros. (arcade July 14, 1983)
Balloon Fight (arcade November 1984)
Excitebike (November 30, 1984)
Ice Climber (January 30, 1985)
Super Mario Bros. (September 13, 1985)
The Legend of Zelda (February 21, 1986)
Metroid (August 6, 1986)
Kid Icarus (December 19, 1986)
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (January 14, 1987)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic July 10, 1987)
Punch-Out!! (Japanese gold cartridge version September 18, 1987)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (October 23, 1988)
Dr. Mario (July 27, 1990)
StarTropics (December 1, 1990)
Kirby's Adventure (March 23, 1993)
I intend to play each game to completion before moving onto the next one. For endless arcade-style games, I'm aiming to complete at least one difficulty loop and to play all available modes. I also reserve the right to move onto the next one before completion if I'm getting really, really frustrated and not enjoying myself.
#1: Donkey Kong
Trivia: Future Nintendo of America CEO Howard Lincoln began his relationship with Nintendo as the lawyer of their North American distributors Ron Judy and Al Stone and helped them trademark the title in America.
Donkey Kong is so well known these days that I'm not entirely sure what to say other than thoughts about various aspects. At a glance, the fall damage seems ridiculously harsh; Mario can barely fall his own height without dying. But with how the levels are actually designed, you're very unlikely to actually die from falling. Everything is pretty straightforwardly laid out to connect platforms with ladders and very small jumps that have room for error. I like how much variety there is between the different levels in terms of hazards and scoring opportunities, with the first level having predictable enemies (the barrels), no gaps, and hammers for scoring, the second level having heavy platforming with less predictable enemies (the fire sprites) and item collection for scoring, and the third level having something of everything with more gaps to mind as you get farther in the level. Various people at Nintendo over the years have talked about how the first thing they do when they're making a game is to perfect the basic controls before moving onto anything else, and you can see that even here with how satisfying the simple act of jumping over barrels is, and with how lenient the barrel jumping is, you can do things like jump over two barrels at once or jump a barrel while moving in the same direction to score repeatedly (possible with very good timing since the barrels move faster than Mario). I was also impressed with how you can play it just trying to progress levels and still have it be a challenge, or you can go after the scoring opportunities and have a different kind of challenge. Funny enough, the save states can be used to fix the issue with the cart version losing high scores when the power is turned off, and if you wanted to, you could use them to save four different high scores from different players.
I'm going to be playing each of Nintendo's games in the order of the first release of their gameplay, meaning I'm also considering arcade versions where appropriate and using Doki Doki Panic's July 1987 release date for Super Mario Bros. 2. I'll be playing them in the following order:
Donkey Kong (arcade July 9, 1981)
Donkey Kong Jr. (arcade August 1, 1982)
Mario Bros. (arcade July 14, 1983)
Balloon Fight (arcade November 1984)
Excitebike (November 30, 1984)
Ice Climber (January 30, 1985)
Super Mario Bros. (September 13, 1985)
The Legend of Zelda (February 21, 1986)
Metroid (August 6, 1986)
Kid Icarus (December 19, 1986)
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (January 14, 1987)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic July 10, 1987)
Punch-Out!! (Japanese gold cartridge version September 18, 1987)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (October 23, 1988)
Dr. Mario (July 27, 1990)
StarTropics (December 1, 1990)
Kirby's Adventure (March 23, 1993)
I intend to play each game to completion before moving onto the next one. For endless arcade-style games, I'm aiming to complete at least one difficulty loop and to play all available modes. I also reserve the right to move onto the next one before completion if I'm getting really, really frustrated and not enjoying myself.
#1: Donkey Kong
Trivia: Future Nintendo of America CEO Howard Lincoln began his relationship with Nintendo as the lawyer of their North American distributors Ron Judy and Al Stone and helped them trademark the title in America.
Donkey Kong is so well known these days that I'm not entirely sure what to say other than thoughts about various aspects. At a glance, the fall damage seems ridiculously harsh; Mario can barely fall his own height without dying. But with how the levels are actually designed, you're very unlikely to actually die from falling. Everything is pretty straightforwardly laid out to connect platforms with ladders and very small jumps that have room for error. I like how much variety there is between the different levels in terms of hazards and scoring opportunities, with the first level having predictable enemies (the barrels), no gaps, and hammers for scoring, the second level having heavy platforming with less predictable enemies (the fire sprites) and item collection for scoring, and the third level having something of everything with more gaps to mind as you get farther in the level. Various people at Nintendo over the years have talked about how the first thing they do when they're making a game is to perfect the basic controls before moving onto anything else, and you can see that even here with how satisfying the simple act of jumping over barrels is, and with how lenient the barrel jumping is, you can do things like jump over two barrels at once or jump a barrel while moving in the same direction to score repeatedly (possible with very good timing since the barrels move faster than Mario). I was also impressed with how you can play it just trying to progress levels and still have it be a challenge, or you can go after the scoring opportunities and have a different kind of challenge. Funny enough, the save states can be used to fix the issue with the cart version losing high scores when the power is turned off, and if you wanted to, you could use them to save four different high scores from different players.
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Been looking for this thing at retail for months.