10 Hidden Gems for the NES

Played the living hell out of super dodgeball! The music jammed and there was nothing more satisfying than nailing your opponent with a well placed shot that sent them flying through the screen. Truly a gem indeed!

“Best known for their work on Earthbound” …I love Earthbound but Kirby exists lmao. Lolo and Lala are indeed pretty much the same as their Kirby counterparts

Crystalis is my favorite game on the NES and it's nice to see it included in this list. Would be nicer if it got sequels but considering it's made by SNK they would eventually become fighting games. Other NES hidden gems: Fire & Ice, The Guardian Legend and Battle of Olympus

Micro Machines. One of the best NES games ever that few know about.

I remember seeing the map screen from "Clash At Demonhead" in games magazines in the late 80s and being profoundly intimidated. Great memories of playing Adventures of LoLo with my mum back in the day. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

How is nobody talking about Solomons Key for the NES? This game was fantastic!

loved the Lolo games as a kid....and it's always nice to see Princess Tomato being referenced/mentioned, always been one of my personal favorite NES games and I'm happy I found a copy years ago ( though I lack an NES console to play it on... ) also worth mentioning that Nintendo put out a GBC remake of Crystalis ( it was made my NST alongside the incredible Bionic Commando: Elite Forces )

Clash at Demonhead is one of me all time favs. When I heard the band name in Scott pilgrim, I lost my mind and none of my friends got the reference.

Having all of these… It’s a solid list. But the best game on the NES that nobody played that is a true Zelda beater is the guardian legend. It combines everything there is to love about Zelda (exploration, item gathering, powering up…) and turns the dungeon crawls into bone fide space shooter sections! Based on the cover art, especially in the US, no one gave this game a second glance! It’s a shame! Other notable games not many have played are: little Sampson, Nemo the dream master, xexyx, low G-man, and Monster Party!

Clash at Demonhead and The Krion Conquest were games I always pulled out for my friends.

I actually owns the majority of these games on this list. It's really good to see somebody actually put names of games out there like galaxy5000 and Clash at demonhead. Those games were absolutely awesome

I'm happy to see Magic of Scheherazade on here. I was introduced to it by Chrontendo. There's a catgirl in it, so it needs some attention ;3

I owned several of of these as a kid (Super Dodgeball, multiple Lolo games, Princess Tomato, and Crystalis) and still own digital re-releases of many of them. Plus I played some of the others at a childhood friend's house.

Would have added The Guardian Legend to the list

Scheherazade was amazing! Played so much of that game.

I remember renting Clash at Demonhead at the age of 7… I instantly fell in love! My absolute favorite NES game and top 5 games of all time easy!

If memory serves, Kirby's Adventure was also developed by HAL Laboratory, the same developers as the Adventure of Lolo series. So, it wouldn't be a surprise that Lololo and Lalala are or related to Lolo and Lala.

This is lucky, I just received an nes from my grandpa in always and was looking to collect some obscure games

I also suggest Kabuki Quantum Fighter. Crazy story with hair-whipping action that’s reminiscent of Batman and Ninja Gaiden (though not nearly as difficult as the latter in particular).

Crystalis is excellent, but it suffered the same localization issues as Castlevania II. A guide is definitely needed for one particular section because the translation was pretty bad.