With the upcoming release Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition On Switch, my mind is filled with NES games. What are the best games on Switch? Time to investigate! Note that I’m not including the Nintendo Switch Online NES app as that would make things too easy. However, I include the compilation. To be fair, there is only one per game. Anyway, here we have ten of our favorites, in no particular order, and as usual, we’ve added five more we’d like to see. Let’s go classic!
Mega Man 2 – Mega Man Legacy Collection ($14.99)
In terms of pure NES value for money, Mega Man Legacy Series Really hard to beat. Six great NES action platformers, and while some are better than others, they’re all worth playing. The star here is of course Mega Man 2, the game that made the series truly break out. Perfect? Well, no. Certain tricky stages can be especially annoying if you don’t know what’s going to happen next. But overall, this is a very fun, challenging, thrilling and thrilling game.
Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse – Castlevania Anniversary Collection ($19.99)
Another important franchise on the NES, CastlevaniaThe complete 8-bit chronology can be found at Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You can also get many other great non-NES games. Who’s the best between the first and third games, that’s a tough call to make, but I’m going to throw myself into it dracula’s cursering. You get to play with four different characters, tons of stages, and some of the most amazing music to ever grace the platform… provided you at least play the Japanese version that comes with the game.
River City Ransom ($4.99)
You can also play this game as Double Dragon and Kunojun Retro Fighting Bag If you want to maximize your investment. river city ransom was one of the games that didn’t get a lot of hype at the time, but over time became one of the most popular games on the NES. This is a beat ’em up game with RPG elements that can be played alone or with friends. The unique construction and excellent combat mechanics make it a must-have on the console, so it’s great to have it available on Switch at an affordable price.
Technique! Special Edition ($14.99)
Sunsoft made a lot of great games on the NES, and I guess someone would be right if they said this was the company’s finest hour. Still, not all of the publisher’s games are released globally. Technique! It’s a scarce game in the regions where it was released, and even the Japanese version is expensive. Don’t ask about the European version. If you want an incredibly difficult game with impressive physics, you’ll want to play Technique!and this special edition This is a great approach.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Series ($39.99)
There are four ninja turtles games on the NES, and the excellent Cowabanga Collection They have them all and some TMNT Games from other platforms. Everyone knows the first game, even if they didn’t like it, while the second game was praised for being an amazing port of an arcade game. There is less discussion about the other two games, just Manhattan Project,it’s a pity. This is a great beat ’em up game that’s designed entirely for console gaming, whether playing alone or with friends.
Hebereke Premium Edition ($9.99)
much like Gimmick! (Ufouria: Legend) is a Sunsoft game that was not released in North America at the time. unlike Technique!, Hebrew I think this is a game that anyone can enjoy, regardless of skill level. It’s an exploratory platformer where you gather a group of characters, each with their own abilities, and find items to help you access more maps. It’s a really fun game with the always great Sunsoft soundtrack, and it’s cool that everyone can get into it with this version.
Contra – Contra Anniversary Collection ($19.99)
There’s a lot of Konami on this list, but what can I say? The publisher has made some fantastic Famicom games and surprisingly has quite a few of them back in circulation. The original Contra, a run-and-gun classic that nearly everyone with an NES owned, didn’t appear in a console version for quite some time. The collection also includes its excellent NES follow-up, as well as many other Contra games you’ll want to play. Still a great game, but keep the Konami code in mind as you may need it.
Crystalis – SNK 40th Anniversary Collection ($39.99)
Generally speaking, when people think of SNK, they think of NEOGEO. Of course, this makes sense. But SNK produced a lot of games before releasing the hardware, and quite a few of them made it to the NES. Most of them are arcade ports, but there’s at least one really cool console version in the form of crystal. This fantastic action RPG feels like it’s so much more than SNK’s usual fare, and it’s amazing how good it is. You can play it in the Nintendo Switch Online NES app, but if you want to own it, this collection will make it happen. As a bonus, you’ll also have the NES port Ikari warrior. Wow! lucky!
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti – Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 ($19.99)
The two of them Namco Museum Archives There are a lot of great games in the distro, but the one I would choose to represent them all is Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, another game that was not released in North America at the time. I guess that unintentionally became the theme of this list. This parody of Namco’s classic horror series is as charming as it is enjoyable. Even if you don’t like the mainline game for whatever reason, you should give this game a try.
flea! – Parasite Pack ($7.99)
This list is mostly games released on the NES back in the day, but I’m going to use a slot to represent the cool things modern homebrew developers are doing on the platform. Both games are in parasite pack Both are great and I could go either way. but i will choose flea! Because I love the way it brings a decidedly modern game design style to the platform, while also feeling very much like a game that might have already existed. Select this setting. You won’t regret it.
Plus… 5 NES games we’d like to see on Switch
Batman: The Video Game
Fully understanding that this is almost certainly going to be a nightmare getting permission to re-publish is almost impossible, I will still ask for Sunsoft’s batman. This is one of my favorite games on consoles, and while it’s not a particularly expensive aftermarket game, I’d love to see it on a modern console for people who don’t have a clunky semi-functional toaster to play Gotta be happy. This is one of Sunsoft’s best games, and even if it needs some editing, I think it deserves another release.
Bionic Commando
Capcom has done a pretty good job of releasing a lot of older games, but its series-based approach means that many games are shelved. If there’s one Capcom NES game that doesn’t deserve this, it’s this Bionic Commando. This great action game is great fun to play and there aren’t many like it. It committed itself completely to its mission in a way that few other games dared to do, and succeeded beyond all expectations.
little samson
It’s a tough spot again, but Taito and Takeru’s little samson One of the most valuable NES games, it deserves wider release. Made by many veterans of Capcom and other companies, it’s a very tightly designed platformer with an interesting character-switching mechanic that gives you a variety of options to tackle various challenges. The fact that this (and many of Taito’s other late NES releases) was never re-released despite demand suggests it’s unlikely to happen, but it’s a wish list thing and I hope so.
Disney Afternoon Series
Seriously, what’s going on here? Sure, the Switch is a bit late to this particular party, but surely a way can be figured out to get these great games to the Switch? I’m not sure if it’s Disney or Capcom, but the two seem to be working together on this again Miracle A collection of fighting games and I’d love to see what comes next for this great series.
The original Ninja Gaiden trilogy
Did Koei-Tecmo forget that it had these among the many other great NES games? We got the first game on Nintendo Switch Online, but the others never showed up. I thought this was because Koei Tecmo had some kind of plan of its own, but after a few years nothing came to fruition. Ryu Hayabusa’s 3D Adventures is out now on Switch, but shouldn’t we also have his original work? At least, give me some Ninja Gaiden II.
That’s the list, friends. What are your favorite NES games on Switch? Is there anything you want to see? Feel free to sound off in the comments and let us know what you think! It’s always interesting to hear other people’s opinions on things like this. As always, thank you for reading!
