The Guardian Legend is my favorite video game of all time! Its great to see more love for this amazing and underrated gem!

I appreciate how you can inform the community about games that you don't even like, but can find the good in them.

Faxanadu, Star Tropics, and Sheherezade were some of my all-time favourite NES games. Glad to see them getting some love. ☺

Clash at Demonhead is one of my favs on the NES that I always recommend. Nice to see it get some recognition.

I love the dichotomy of his overrated games boiling down to "games I couldn't git gud at", with his underrated games being "games you need to git gud at".

Good video as always my friend! And YES, by all means go through all the Nintendo Power mags! That would make for a cool series! I remember having them, when that 1st one with SMB2 arrived. We had a sub to it for a few years, I believe until 1993 if I’m not mistaken. Good times!

These are some pretty good choices. I'd also pick Gun*Nac, Cobra Triangle, and Baseball Stars, the deepest baseball game you were likely to find on a game console in 1989.

Startropics is soooooooo good!

Nice video but it's a little silly to say a bad game is 100% on the developers. Bad games don't get made in a vacuum. Publishers set the budget and the deadlines. If you underfund and set unrealistic deadlines then you get what you pay for.

Good line up. Faxanadu is a must play.

I’d never even heard of Scheherazade. Definitely underrated.

I loved Friday the 13th. I had a friend that straight out gave it to me because he just couldn't "get it". I'll admit, the game isn't something you just pick up and play - but once you really learn how to play it there's just so much depth to it.

So glad to see The Guardian Legend getting some love. I bought that game on a whim back in the day just based on the box art and ended up loving it.

I haven't seen any videos where they have gone through Nintendo Power and talked about the games and how they were viewed at the time compared to how they are actually remembered. That would be an interesting video indeed. Great video as always, my parents felt video games were for holidays or birthdays, so I missed out on the chance to find gems like these because I knew I had only had a few chances to get games so I had to get it right the first time. But thanks to videos like this, I have gotten alot of these games as an adult and look forward to going back in time. Cheers as usual Sir.

The Guardian Legend is hands down the best nes game ever

Props for ranking Crystalis and Scheherazade so highly!

Yes please go through all the Nintendo power magazines I’d watch that for sure

Have you ever watched someone speedrun Friday the 13th? They make Jason look like a chump.

Guardian Legend, Shatterhand, Whomp Em, Battle of Olympus, Startropics, Faxanadu, Gun Nac, Jackal are all amazing games that I rarely hear ppl talk about. Guardian Legend really is a must play though. So incredible.

When I clicked this, I was thinking this list screams The Guardian Legend. You know there's a fan site for The Guardian Legend that is still updated to this very day.

I tended to hate sports games as a kid, but I found myself playing a ton of Kings of the Beach volleyball. It was a good time for single players, but when we had four players going it became a party! Easy to play for a few minutes or for a much longer stretch.

I noticed a mistake at the beginning of the video: Kirby was not created in 1994, since he was actually created much earlier when he made his debut in "Kirby's Dream Land" on the original Game Boy back in 1992.

The Battle of Olympus. Absolutely underrated game.

Lot of my favorite NES games on this list! Monster Party is probably still my favorite underrated NES game, and was also my first NES game I got as a kid because my aunt got it for me strictly based on the cover. Because she knew I loved monsters.

Man, this was a master class…learned quite a bit and well researched and presented. Well done

Top 10 more very underrated games from my own library in alphabetical order Adventures of Rad Gravity Air Fortress Battle of Olympus A Boy and His Blob BreakThru Captain Skyhawk Castlequest Chubby Cherub Clu Clu Land Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine 10) Ah, Lolo...that little blue ball got me through some lonely times in college. That is one franchise I would love to see revived. 9) I love how all of the SF tropes in Street Fighter 2010 never came true. HM) I wish Friday the 13th was just a 100% Punch Out clone. 8) Faxanadu - awesome. 7) ShatterHand - yeah, Natsume is great. HM) Kickle Cubicle - Pengo but more fun! 6) StarTropics - Yusss! Good Sequel too! 5) Little Nemo - hard but fun! 4) Metal Storm - Great game! Yeah, Top 10 Games from Nintendo Power Cover Issues! 3) Magic of Scheherezade - Only people who know classical music or literature can pronounce this...great game! 2) Crystalis - Amazing Zelda Clo...uhhh...I mean, Action RPG! HM) Clash at Demonhead - Solid Game. 1) Guardian Legend - Top tier NES game.

For being a small KZfaqr, you sure are pushing out some good content. Definitely enjoy all your videos. I'll be around in the comments to support you for a long time to come.

It's good that you mentioned Natsume, specially because I think there's a game that, I think, is even more underrated, which is Dragon Fighter. They developed it, however Sofel was the distributor in US. For me, one of the best Famicom/NES games ever.

Star tropics is definitely one of my favorite games. Having to put the note in the water and playing the notes to get through the level. I freaking loved it. Beat it without the game genie, but damn using it was so much fun.

Friday the 13th has quickly become one of my favorite NES games. Probably a bit more praise than it deserves, but honestly the gameplay loop is so satisfying once you know how to get the torch. Also early Atlus game, which is cool.

I can't think of 10, but GI Joe (the first one, not the Atlantis Factor), was not only underrated, but one of the best NES games for the system. A ton of good boss battles, good graphics and good replay value. Copies now are expensive, but it is worth adding to your collection if you are a NES collector.

Little Nemo can’t be underrated because Your Favorite Martian mentioned it in 8-Bit World. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

About the AVGN comment, I'd like to add that James did say that he has had the nerd hate some games that he actually liked. Friday the 13th being one of them.

Good list but it's missing the most underrated NES game ever. That game is Destiny of an Emperor.

Wraith of the Black Manta,Magic of Sherazade,and The Guardian Legend. I'm starting to repeat myself...but these three games didn't get enough mention for as fun as they were. Also PowerBlade,a fun MegaMan like game.

Great list! I didn’t know about number one but compile is one of my favorite developers. Definitely will have to check it out. A few underrated games for me are Lode Runner and Sky kid. The former is a great puzzle game that once you get the hang of has the perfect NES difficulty you spoke of. Sky Kid is a unique shmup that has some forgiving mechanics and is co-op but has brutally hard rng like Doneky Kong. Love both of them and will play them through time to time. Can’t say that about many NES games that don’t start with Super Mario.

Well done...you've got a good thing going here dude

Adventures of Lolo, Faxanadu, Star Tropics, and Little Nemo were not hidden gems or even Underrated. All of those games were heavily featured in video game media during their time and never lost any popularity. The other games are pretty decent depictions of underrated titles however. One game that absolutely believe should have been on this list was Arkista's Ring. Its a little top down action game that has a similar feel to Zelda but with its grid style movement feels more tactical than reaction based. Its random loot drops also ensure that no two playthroughs are alike.

I own 3 of those from the list... Crystalis, Guardian Legend, and Faxanadu (CIB). I never even played the others!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING STAR TROPICS ON THE LIST! This game was so good. And get the bananas out of your ears!

Faxanadu! Easily in my top 10 of all time. I love that game so much.

My list includes: Kabuki: Quantum Fighter - Slick action platformer by HAL. The control is really tight. Not a terribly long or difficult game but worth a playthrough. I believe it is on Wii virtual console. Snake Rattle n Roll - Isometric 3D platformer by Rare. It is very difficult at higher levels, but not Battletoads difficult. The graphics and sound are incredibly polished, and the presentation is great. Worth a try! Captain Skyhawk - Mainly an overhead shooter that plays like a fast and fun Zaxxon. The presentation is very slick. Solar Jetman - Another game by Rare, and a difficult one at that. It does have their great graphics, music, and polish. I know this is an acquired taste, but for anyone who likes gravity physics in their games this is really fun. I love the feeling of struggling against gravity to tow a heavy piece of equipment back to your ship. These were all $19.99 budget games back in the day, which is why I know about them. As far as Crystalis, Faxanadu, and Shatterhand - I am glad they were included but I also think those games have become such well known 'underappreciated' NES games that they now have the appreciation they deserved, and Friday the 13th has the cult following that it deserves.

Crystalis is one of my favorite NES game and I think the first RPG game I ever played. It needs more love

Maybe underrated 15 years ago, massive coverage from AVGN, HVGN, Pat the NES punk, etc. None of these constitute "hidden gems" anymore. For example, when HVGN did his first video on Metal Storm I went and picked it up for $20, now it's over $100. These games have had so much exposure.

I adore the music and cuteness of Little Nemo but goddamn I find it hard to play. 😅

Star Tropics and Faxanadu are excellent. I didn't know about the connection with Legacy of the Wizard which I also enjoyed

"Destiny of an Emperor" is not appreciated enough. It is where I was first introduced to the characters in the Dynasty Warriors games. (Romance of the three kingdoms)

Adventures of Lolo is unbelievably addictive. Played fit the first time a couple years ago and completely lost track of time. So good

You have a pleasant speaking voice and you speak clearly as well. Your videos relax me and I appreciate it

Your opening struck me as weird (“I’ve played a lot of NES games” seemed like a strange boast). Then I realized not everyone in the world is old and had played or read about these games growing up. Back in the day, I think everyone enjoyed Street Fighter 2010. Friday the 13th was played by everyone, cuz that series was still current when it came out, and most of us weren’t old enough to actually see the films. So we lived vicariously through that game. And like the films, we’d all die. As for the reviewing Nintendo Power issues, DO IT! I’m thinking of Cartoonist Kayfabe’s rise to fame on KZfaq (RIP), a large part was likely due to having two active cartoonists reviewing the old 90s issues of WIZARD magazine.

Finally, someone gives credit to Kickle. Great game.

Solid list, but I would’ve put A Nightmare On Elm Street as the honorable mention rather than Friday The 13th.

Crystalis to this day is still one of my favorites

I’d say The Adventures of Lolo and Star Tropics no longer have any level of obscurity since they’re on the Nintendo Switch Online. Underrated might be a bit of a stretch there.

I loved all these games! I used to own a few but they were all frequent rentals back in the day.

i didn't know crystalis was underrated i loved that game as a kid, hell we rented it for like 2-3 weeks because we got stuck even my mom was trying to help beat it

Baseball Simulator 1.000 is another great Culture Brain title on the NES

The Adventure of Lolo 1-3 were amazing and I have sunk HOURS into them. I love a good puzzle game and these REALLY scratched that itch for me when I was younger. Revisiting it as an adult showed it to still be a solid game that has aged well. Still engaging and I still found myself saying "I can fight this out!", shunning the sinful notion to check online. (To everyone that was born after the internet became a common household thing: Video games were way harder when you couldn't hop online and look up how to get past a part. Or find a cheat code. Or learn a secret. Or...anything. But you know what? My god, was it rewarding when you finally figured it out on your own. You felt like you actually accomplished something vs something holding your hand my god was it rewarding. Looking stuff up severely hampers that insane dopamine reward.) StarTropics is one of the best NES games ever made. Top 10 IMO. I play it annually and just beat it about 3 weeks ago. Will we ever get an updated version? MetalStorm also belongs in the top 10. And it's "kris-stah-liss", not "kre-stall-is". The word Crystal + the iss sound like "miss". :P

Agreed that Friday the 13th is not as bad as the masses will have you believe. Faxandu I did not discover until later in life, but it was a fun play through, solid game. I had Street Fighter 2010 as a kid and always liked it. Kickle Cubicle is another fun puzzler as well as Fire N Ice. Both Star Tropics games are very good. Little Nemo is such a cool concept and solid game. Crystalis is widely regarded as one of the best on the system, but yes it's not as popular as say Legend of Zelda.

Did you know that little nemo is actually a horror survival You are a little boy trapped in dream worlds that you can only escape by searching for keys and opening a resident evil door at the end of each level You are being hunted by zombie vesps, zombie snails and crabs and zombie giant seeds that all want to kill you Your only chance to survive is to crawl into the stomachs of wild animals and if you escape a world your mom will send you back to bed in your wet sheets And when you're halfway through the horror, the princess you wanted to save laughs at you, puts a mace that's as big as you in your hand, tells you everything up to this point was just a joke and sends you into a true horror world is ruled by the King of Nightmares And if you Face the brutal difficult of this game than you feel feare for death in your heart I have a very good hitten gem for you If you like Castelvania you should try Holy Diver

I love Nightshade. It’s my all time favorite!

TGL is Top 5 all-time games for me. One of the few I own CIB and it will never EVER be in the store as an available piece. It'll likely be buried with my corpse.

Little Nemo: The Dream Master is an work of art 🎨 from Capcom. 😀👍🎮

Another great video

I used to own a copy of Faxanadu; it cost me 49.99 golds. Wish I could remember why I got rid of it...

I remember playing a game called Abadox. It's rarely ever mentioned in underrated lists but it was one of the best NES games I ever played and the graphics were ahead of its time. Check it out

Would love to see you go through the Nintendo power magazines would love to see you go through the Nintendo power magazines don't be showing them on screen though. Seriously, Nintendo suing anybody that takes any piece of those archives. And they are fucking serious about it!

9:49 🤣 greetings from Panama 🇵🇦 🫡

I love that you mentioned friday the 13th. This is a survival horror OG that doesn't get enough love. I swear, this is gonna sound crazy, but all you have to do is READ THE MANUAL and you will have the basics down. If only we had the patients as kids to do that this game and many others would be remembered far more fondly.

I 100 percent agree with Willow. It's one of my go-to games when firing up the NES. I also have font memories of Xexyz although it is one of those attack at the air to make random items and powerups appear type games. It's actually a bit of a combo platformer and spaceship shoot em up game. I would say that another game I remember being quite fun is Dragon Spirit. It's a game where you start off playing as a guy who takes a sword and transforms into a dragon and you have an into sort of stage and a boss. If fail in your battle, you get to play the rest of the game as the gold dragon and play through many of the easier stages, but if you succeed in the battle, you get to play as the blue dragon through all of the stages. The game has some cool music and weird translations, but I would definitely recommend trying it out. Please note that this is not Dragon Power, the game based on the Dragon Ball series.

Bro i would love to see a Nintendo power episode. Still have some of the issues, but there definitely not in good condition. 30 plus years have definitely shown the age.

culture brain also made baseball simulator 1,000 which was my favorite baseball game on the nes

I still feel 30 something years later Air Fortress is very underrated.

Love your videos 😊

I wish I liked Little Nemo and Startropics better than I currently do, but they just never clicked with me. Honestly, I find Startropics II way more enjoyable. Guardian Legend is really fun, though.

I got one for you its called City Connection simple game easy concept good music decent graphics I always found it very enjoyable when I was a kid

Great video! I don't always agree with your opinion, but you are someone I know who has played a lot of games and has real knowledge, I highly respect your opinion regardless. Keep up the good work and F the haters, never stop being you bruv!

Hey man, what’s the best way you’ve learned to get a stubborn game to play on an NES, other than blowing the connectors?

Yesss! Friday The 13th is a really good game imo. It was the first game I beat as a kid. Took me little over a year but i did it with the help of friends and tips from the playground.

I always thought Silent Service was underrated. Absolutely loved that game. Same goes for Goonies II.

Startropics is brilliant. 😀👍🎮

Kirby's adventure came out in 93 and I thought Kirby was started earlier.

Crystalis is an brilliant SNK game. 😀👍🎮

Friday the 13th isn’t as bad as it is made out to be. I agree it has its own challenge. I tend to enjoy it

River city ransom, dizzy, there was this one game i cant find or remember it was a sidescroller adventure, almost like zelda but theres no overworld. The only hint i can drop about it is theres a point where giant thornbushes block your way and you have to burn them away to pass, and another point you had to find an area with a sunset and play the harp for the pegasus to arrive. Its all i can remember but it was a fun but hard, think outside the box, kind of game if anyone can tell me what it was

Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight. Capcom attempting to capitalize on TWO IPs in a game that has nothing to do with either one. 😮

How do you know Faxandu is underrated if you haven't even played it?

i always thought Motor City Patrol was underrated i remember your a cop car who pulls over speeders or shoot at red vans who were robbers, youll play day shift for one week about 30 mins irl. then switch to nights doing the same, i always got to night but couldnt see nothing so would loose. i had a friend who played Snake Rattle n roll but thats a bit more popular.

I didn’t like Friday the 13th back then and I certainly won’t be giving it another try anytime soon. 🤣🤷‍♂️ Since you showed the cover art of Shatter Hand, I got to thinking that maybe someday you can make a video of your top 10 worst nes cover art boxes. Mega Man 1 is infamous for being one of the worst. Great video by the way! Nice work! 👍

Friday the 13th was not a good game. Enjoyed the music though. The Guardian Legend was great also.

Shatterhand is awesome. 😀👍🎮

Big underated 2 player sports game ...you should check out Dusty Diamonds Softball

The Little ninja brothers nes was a fun underrated game imo. Cheers

I'd really enjoy a series going through Nintendo power, I've found a few videos but they are very short, skip around a lot and don't read most of it. If you do end up doing it please consider being a bit more thorough and actually reading through some of the articles and not just look at the pretty pictures lol Thanks

This list is very weird, Like 8 of the choices are extremely popular and beloved classics that are constantly mentioned In best-of lists

I never understood the flak for friday the 13th i thought it was good! I also enjoyed a nightmare on elm street! The game that use to scare me and trip me out as a kid was splatterhouse!

Faxanadu got killer graphics.😀👍🎮

Isolated Warrior is a nice isometric shooter (kinda like Zaxxon or Viewpoint)

I think the problem i have with friday the 13th is the controls during fights in the cabins. Otherwise it's not as bad as everyone says

I love these games, especially Little Nemo 😅