Video Game Meme - Ambassador NES - Best to Worst

(WARNING - Huge Chunk of Text ahead)
Hey everybody. It's been a while since I posted one of these. But this is what happens when you get bored.

You see, I bought my 3DS more or less when it first came out. As a result, I was able to take advantage of the "Ambassador's Programme" that came when the console hit a price drop, wherefore I could download 20 games for free...ten from the NES, ten from the GBA. I thought I could do something with this, and so I decided to write a little review, as to which games I thought were the best and which were the worst.

Today, I start with the NES games. I've spent ten days setting aside some time to play a single game each night, and here we go. I must stress, THESE ARE ONLY MY OPINIONS. Don't agree with it? Sorry, my list, not yours.

10 (WORST). I know I'm going to get a lot of slack here, rating Ice Climber so low on the list. Of course, I have my reasons...I can barely play the thing. The control, for me, has been awful. I understand the concept of it, but in execution it just doesn't work for me. It seems like a chore to get my Ice Climber to move up a level, and every time I jump, the distance I can move seems to change. I have NEVER been able to complete the bonus stages, simply because I keep missing the platforms so inconsistantly, and as a result, I feel it is a pain to play through. I couldn't even find any real reason to play it again, it was just so frustrating.

9. Now, I can understand that Donkey Kong Jr is a classic. One of the earliest games out there, and it's still able to grab the attention of the modern gamer, I respect that much. But for me it's just....completely average. Sure, the graphics are pretty nice for their year, but I just couldn't get into the gameplay. I understand it's a port to an arcade game, so it wouldn't be very long anyway, but what strikes me is that the second level is a pain to get through, yet the third and fourth levels are easy. Hence I'm stuck on this second level for some time, and frankly, I find little replay value in this.

8. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link certainly had a lot to live up to. Sadly, I just could not enjoy this as much as I did the original game (more on that later). I must say, I think the graphics and music are really cool, definately on par with the original, but TBH, I didn't like the gameplay itself as much. It seemed to be extremely awkward to get Link to hit most of his enemies. Also, I hate to nitpick, but it is WAY too hard. I couldn't even get past the first "cave", because I couldn't get past the invisible enemies. I know this sounds sad, but I tried three times, three lives each, with the same result.

7. I can't really believe NES Open Tournament Golf made it this high on the list. I must admit I didn't particularly like it. It took way too long to get used to the controls, even then I wasn't entirely sure what I was meant to be doing and, just like real golf, it was...well, boring. It only ranks higher than Zelda 2 because I felt like I was actually making progress. Still, Mario has since made Golf his own, so I may have to look into that.

6. Ah, Wrecking Crew...I had quite a bit of fun with this one. It may have had a simple design to it, but it was HIGHLY addictive. I kept playing through it again and again just to get through the next level. Which is surprising considering, if I'm honest, the gameplay isn't actually THAT spectacular. It sort of felt like it wasn't responding to my commands, but that might just have been me.

5. Let's get this out of the way...the graphics are a bit too simple, and the sound effects are annoying. There, I said it. Now onto the GOOD stuff Balloon Fight has to offer. Boy, I loved this game. It was....was just so addictive. I don't think I've ever played a game so unique in style. Basically floating around, popping the balloons of your enemies (which look like penguins to me) whilst trying to protect your own balloons. And it's so much fun. Control is fairly good, the difficulty goes up fairly, and it has extremely high replay value. I'd definitely recommend you buy this game.

4. You probably expected I'd include Metroid quite high up in the list. I will be honest, out of all the games in this selection, it looks and sound wonderful. The detail is beautiful and the theme music is catchy. It's also a pretty cool game to play through as well. The controls feel tight, Samus has some neat abilities and I have to admit, it is fun playing through this game again and again, no matter how many times you die. The only reason it isn't ranked higher is because...well, probably the one thing that'll most likely put off a lot of people from Metroid - there's a lot of backtracking, and half the time I simply did not know where I was meant to go. I kinda think that kills a lot of the fun for me.

3. STOP THE PRESSES!! I actually LIKED Mario & Yoshi. OK, OK, so it was a bit of a disappointment - I was expecting a platform type game, I got a Tetris rip-off instead....but I loved Tetris as a kid, and it feels exactly the same, except in reverse - you move the stacked objects rather than the ones being stacked. I was not exactly looking forward to this game, yet I got hooked so much, it was hard to put it down. It does get progressively difficult, and that's a good thing. The controls do take SOME getting used to, I admit, but I still thought this was highly enjoyable.

2. Yep, you knew it would be here, you knew it would be high. Super Mario Bros...who doesn't love this game? It is just pure nostalgia fest from start to finish. That iconic theme as you play through the overworld, those sound effects as Mario jumps...the game is addicting, and no matter how many times I died, I kept coming back again and again...even though I never got further than World 3. Yeah, I suck. But it's still awesome, and I can point out very few flaws....one being it isn't always easy to tell if you've landed a jump or not.

1 (BEST). And, at number one, right there at the top...you may have already guessed, it's The Legend of Zelda. This has been a series I've never really been into, but I'll say it now...I loved this game. The music felt suitable for the environments, and the graphics were pretty good for the era. The control is really good too. I felt I had full control over Link the entire time, unlike some games here. And it was fun. Real fun blasting through enemies, maybe getting them with a bomb or two. And unlike Zelda 2, I generally felt like I was making progress throughout the game. I can't think of many flaws for this game at all. I loved it, more so than any other of the NES Ambassador Games...although somehow, I bet I'll be replaying Super Mario Bros more. XD

BEST PRESENTATION - Metroid
BEST GAMEPLAY - The Legend of Zelda
MOST REPLAY VALUE - The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight

Next time, I'll be doing the Game Boy Advance games. ^^