Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Final Thoughts + New Additions

I knew I had a tall task ahead of me when I selected the NES as my console of the month of December. This is the console I have the most history with and the most games, peripherals and other various media (i.e. magazines, books). I was looking forward to reminiscing about my Christmas of 1987, playing the NES with my friends growing up and my feverous anticipation and the sheer Nintendo-mania I was experiencing as a 12 year old leading up to that glorious Christmas. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to playing and writing blurbs about all 150 or so games in my collection but after it was all said and done, I received lots of great recommendations and suggestions on games that I hadn’t given much of a chance in the past. Clearly I’m not alone when it comes to NES fandom. The feedback I’ve received from the retro gaming community on the volume and variety of the NES library in conjunction with “hidden gems” (an overused term admittedly) forced me to look past the obvious classics (Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid) and dig a little deeper. As a result, I am now playing through games I’ve had in my library for years but never gave more than a cursory shot. Little Nemo, Monster Party, Legendary Wings and Blaster Master are just several titles commented on by readers as being classics I needed to give more of a chance to. Feedback like this was one of the primary reasons I started my blog so I appreciate all comments, even if you disagree with how I rated one of your favorite games.

As a collector, I knew I had many more games and peripherals I wanted to add to my NES collection so I took advantage of it being “NES month” to knock some titles off my wish list. In addition, I am working towards a complete in box set of all the black box Nintendo titles that were released from 1985-1987 so I added quite a few boxes and manuals to my collection this month. Most were cheap to obtain but Donkey Kong has gone up in price significantly so my CIB DK is now one of my most expensive games in my collection.

Black box manual and boxes added to my collection:

• 10 Yard Fight (box and manual)
• Baseball (box and manual)
• Golf (box and manual)
• Hogan’s Alley (box and manual)
• Excitebike (box and manual)
• Ice Climber (box and manual)
• Donkey Kong (game, manual and box)

There are still quite a few NES games that are not too expensive despite the fact that all things NES have increased drastically in popularity and collectability over the past 5 years. I was able to add these titles to my collection this month for relatively cheap.

• Rygar (game only)
• Duck Tales (game only)
• Track & Field 2 (game, manual, box)
• Kirby’s Adventure (game only)
• Yoshi (game, manual)
• Bubble Bobble (game only)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (game only)
• Bomberman (game only)
• Dragon Warrior 2 (game only)

One of the local video game stores sells loose manuals for a low cost so I was able to place a couple orders for manuals to games I already have.

• Double Dribble
• Kings of the Beach
• John Elway’s Quarterback
• Duck Hunt
• Kung Fu
• Pinball
• NES Play Action Football
• Nintendo World Cup
• Lee Trevino’s Fighting Golf
• Racket Attack

Last but not least, I wanted to collect the NES Mega Man series bookends, the original Mega Man and Mega Man 6. I had played the first Mega Man as a rental but never owned and then owned Mega Man 2-5 as a kid. By the time Mega Man 6 came out in 1994, I was done with the NES so it never crossed my radar. The first Mega Man is highly sought after and it took me the entire month to win an Ebay bid for a loose copy at a price I was comfortable with. I bought Mega Man 6 off a local collector for a nice price to round out the set.

• Mega Man (game only)
• Mega Man 6 (game only)

The elusive little bastard, R.O.B., did not find his way into my collection this month despite my efforts. There are plenty of R.O.B.s out there for sale but most of them are not complete with claws, gyros, spinners, tray for the controller, etc. I am not willing to spend the kind of money required to own a R.O.B. unless he’s ready to fire up and join me on a Gyromite gaming quest so the search will continue.

In summary, the NES is the most iconic classic gaming console and has transcended my generation as what people now think of when they think of classic or retro gaming. The Atari 2600 used to hold this title but it has been passed on to the NES. The question is, will the NES continue to hold this crown or will it eventually be passed on to something else that kids born in the 90’s and 2000’s will cherish (PS1, PS2, N64?) I know for me personally, the NES will always be the one console I will cherish above any others and will be my favorite to collect for.

Overall grade: A+