With the upcoming release of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition on the Switch, I’ve got NES games on my mind. What are the best ones available on the Switch? Time to investigate! Note that I’m not including the Nintendo Switch Online NES app, because that would make things too easy. I am, however, including compilations. Only one game from each, just to be fair. At any rate, we’ve got ten of our favorites here in no particular order, and as usual we’ve also added five more we’d like to see. Let’s get classic!
Mega Man 2 – Mega Man Legacy Collection ($14.99)
In terms of pure NES bang for your buck, the Mega Man Legacy Collection is really hard to beat. Six great NES action-platformers, and while some are better than others they are all worth playing. The star of the show here is of course Mega Man 2, the game that made the series truly break out. Is it perfect? Well, no. Some of the Wily stages in particular are a bit annoying if you don’t know what’s coming. But overall, this is a highly enjoyable, challenging game full of thrills and spills.
Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse – Castlevania Anniversary Collection ($19.99)
Another important franchise on the NES, Castlevania‘s 8-bit chronology in its entirety can be found in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You get a bunch of other great non-NES games, too. It’s a toss-up between the first and third game as to which one is the best, but I’m going to throw my hat in Dracula’s Curse‘s ring. You get four different characters to play around with, tons of stages, and some of the finest music to grace the platform… provided you play the included Japanese version of the game, at least.
River City Ransom ($4.99)
You can also get this game as part of the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle if you want to maximize your bang for your buck. River City Ransom was one of those games that didn’t get a ton of hype at the time but grew over time to be one of the most beloved games on the NES. It’s a beat ’em up with RPG elements, playable alone or with a friend. The unique structure and excellent fighting mechanics make this a must-have on the console, so it’s great to have it available affordably on the Switch.
Gimmick! Special Edition ($14.99)
Sunsoft made a lot of wonderful games on the NES, and I think a person wouldn’t be wrong if they said it was the company’s finest hour. Still, not all of the publisher’s games made it out globally. Gimmick! was a scarce title in the regions it did come out in, and even the Japanese version is expensive. Don’t ask about the European release. If you want an extremely difficult game with some very impressive physics, you’ll want to play Gimmick!, and this Special Edition is a wonderful way to do it.
TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project – TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection ($39.99)
There were four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games on the NES, and the superb Cowabunga Collection has them all along with some TMNT games from other platforms. Everyone knows the first game even if they don’t like it, and the second game is lauded for its surprisingly decent port of the arcade game. There’s less talk about the other two games, and in the case of The Manhattan Project, that’s a shame. This is a fantastic beat ’em up that is fully designed for console play, and one to enjoy whether alone or with a buddy.
Hebereke Enjoy Edition ($9.99)
Much like with Gimmick!, Hebereke (Ufouria: The Saga) is a Sunsoft game that missed out on a North American release back in the day. Unlike Gimmick!, Hebereke is a game that I think just about anyone can enjoy regardless of skill level. It’s an exploratory platformer where you need to gather a group of characters, each with their own abilities, and hunt down some items to help you gain access to more of the map. It’s a really fun game with that usual excellent Sunsoft soundtrack, and it’s cool that everyone can get their hands on it via this release.
Contra – Contra Anniversary Collection ($19.99)
A lot of Konami in this list, but what can I say? The publisher made some fantastic NES games, and it has been surprisingly good about getting a fair number of them back into circulation. One that had been absent from console releases for a shockingly lengthy period is the original Contra, the run-and-gun classic that just about everyone with an NES owned. This collection also includes its excellent NES follow-up, plus a bunch of other Contra games you’ll want to play. Still an excellent game, but keep that Konami Code in mind because you might need it.
Crystalis – SNK 40th Anniversary Collection ($39.99)
Generally speaking, when people think of SNK they think of the NEOGEO. And sure, that makes sense. But SNK made a lot of games before it released that hardware, with quite a few landing on the NES. Most of them were arcade ports, but there was at least one very cool console exclusive in the form of Crystalis. This fantastic action-RPG feels so far outside of SNK’s usual wheelhouse that it’s remarkable just 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 that happen. As a bonus, you’ll also own the NES port of Ikari Warriors. Wow! Lucky!
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti – Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 ($19.99)
The two Namco Museum Archives releases have a bunch of great games on them, but the one I’ll pick to represent them is Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, another game that didn’t get a release in North America back in the day. It’s accidentally a theme of this list, I suppose. This is a parody take on Namco’s classic chop ’em up horror series, and it’s as charming as it is pleasing to play. Even if you don’t like the mainline games for whatever reason, you should give this one a shot.
Flea! – Parasite Pack ($7.99)
This list is mostly sticking to games that came out on the NES back in the day, but I am going to use one slot to represent the wonderful things modern homebrew developers have been doing on the platform. Both of the games in the Parasite Pack are excellent, and I could have gone either way here. But I’ll choose Flea! because I love the way it it brings a decidedly modern style of game design to the platform while also feeling very much like a game that could have existed back in the day. Pick this set up. You won’t regret it.
And… 5 NES Games We’d Like to See on Switch
Batman: The Video Game
With full understanding that this is almost certainly a nigh-impossible licensing nightmare to get cleared for a rerelease, I’m still going to ask for Sunsoft’s Batman. It’s one of my favorite games on the console, and while it isn’t a particularly expensive game to find on the aftermarket, I would love to see it out there on modern consoles for people without fiddly half-functioning toasters to have some fun with. It’s one of Sunsoft’s best games, and even if it requires a few edits I think it’s worth having available again.
Bionic Commando
Capcom has been doing a pretty good job of getting a lot of its older games out, but its series-based approach means that a lot of titles are falling between the sofa cushions. And if there’s one Capcom NES game that doesn’t deserve that, it’s Bionic Commando. This excellent action game is ridiculously fun to play, and there’s not much like it out there. It fully commits to its bit in a way that few other games dared to, and succeeds with it beyond all expectations.
Little Samson
Another difficult reach, but Taito and Takeru’s Little Samson is one of the most valuable NES games out there, and it deserves to get a 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 offers you a lot of choice in how you want to tackle various challenges. The fact that this (and many other of Taito’s late NES releases) hasn’t ever been reissued despite demand suggests that it is unlikely to ever happen, but this is a wishlist and I am wishing.
The Disney Afternoon Collection
Seriously, what happened here? Sure, the Switch came a little late to this particular party, but surely something could be worked out to get these excellent games on the Switch? I’m not sure if it’s Disney or Capcom, but the two seem to be working together again on that Marvel fighting game collection and I’d love to see this great set arrive in its wake.
The Original Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
Did Koei-Tecmo forget it owns these among many other excellent NES games? We got the first game on Nintendo Switch Online, but then the others never came. I assumed it was because Koei-Tecmo had some kind of plans of its own, but years later nothing has come. Ryu Hayabusa’s 3D adventures are available on the Switch, but shouldn’t we have his original outings as well? At the very least, hit me with some Ninja Gaiden II.
And that’s the list, friends. Are there any NES games you enjoy on the Switch? Any you would like to see? Feel free to sound off down in the comments and let us know what you’re thinking! It’s always interesting to hear the opinions of others on this kind of thing. As always, thanks for reading!