The cover to Batman: Return of the Joker with that smiling face and batsymbol eyes remains one of the most striking NES covers to me. Awesome video, Riggs 🎮
Well it was based off the movie where batman wore a black suit. And they couldn't do a black suit in the game because of the dark background. So they went with purple haha.
It's sad that to this day we haven't gotten a truly good Superman game. The closest we have gotten is Lego Batman 2, because Superman is pretty fun to play as in that game. Plus the iconic John Williams theme plays when you fly around so that's a major bonus.
Captain America and The Avengers was one of those games whose primary place in my memory is reading the insane amount of coverage Nintendo Power gave it. Back in the late 80s/ early 90s it was practically an event when the monthly issue of Nintendo Power came out, especially during the period right around the beginning of the SNES era.
Every bit as bad as he says. I wanted to like it because they were running a cartoon at the time. I even picked up an action figure or 2. The game is hot ass garbage tho.
Buying the at the time hidden gem Batman over the super common TMNT for my fifth birthday was probably the greatest decision five year old me ever made.
Honorable mention to Sunman, which I believe started as Sunsoft's attempt at a Superman game?! those guys know how to handle an IP! (hell of a lot more capable than LJN, that's for sure!) always fun to watch these!
@@HiNRGboy oh yeah I remember hearing about the termimator thing too, silius definitely had some terminator vibes even after everything they changed, so I believe it.
Just off the top of my head there was Dark Man for the NES. And did they make Dick Tracy or the Phantom? I don't recall but I'm sure a lot of obscure titles like that had games made.
Definitely was a Dick Tracy NES title. If you want to count comic strips, there was a port of Spy vs Spy as well as a Snoopy, Popeye, and a Garfield game. Spy vs Spy is the same as the first C64 game IIRC.
You can actually run in Swamp Thing. It works the same way as it does in the Bart Simpson trilogy (same developer, Imagineering) in that the jump button is also the run button. Now granted it doesn't make the game GOOD, but it does make it a lot more playable in that you aren't always a sitting duck.
@@FoxMcCloudFF7 I could be wrong but I want to say that Marvel produced a Captain Planet comic. Obviously it started as a show first though. Marvel published a lot of comics for television shows. Edit : I was right. There is a Captain Planet comic that was produced by Marvel. So technically it could have made the list.
Great video John Riggs! With the Olympics coming up, would be cool to see you do a list of the best NES games by sport &/or list of the greatest overall sports games on the NES.
Never realized there was a Captain America and the Avengers on the NES. It must’ve came out pretty late or was just obscure. I have the Sega Genesis one and it’s great
Oh no... You just gave me a new favorite joke and are responsible for any and all eye rolls\groans I get from here on out! LOVE Batman, might be my favorite NES game, but haven't made it to the joker, maybe one day!
How come they've never made any NES Games based off of any Other Comic Book Publishers like either Valiant, Archie Comics,Harvey Comics, Dark Horse, Eclipse or any other Comic Book Publisher that never had as much Notoriety as Marvel & DC ????
You answered your own question. They weren't as well known and most people knew of the all the big superheros from Marvel and DC. No one was going to sink money into a game that featured comic characters that no one heard of. Probably wouldn't sell well.
I started this video like "X-Men is gonna be dead last", mainly because my brain thought it was best I don't remember the Swamp Thing game existing at all. Its a shame there hasn't been any awesome Superman games though. I remember loving playing the arcade game at Chuck E Cheese as a kid, so it at least is passable.
I absolutely loved the superman game you ranked 3rd last. I used to play it all the time. I think it's possibly one of the best superman games ever made!
For this October, how about Ranking NES horror themed games... Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, Chiller, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Uninvited, Fester's Quest, Werewolf the Last Warrior, Maniac Mansion, Castlevania, Monster Party, etc.?
It's strange that Sunsoft came up with the "disc launcher gauntlets" years before they gave them to a comic book Batman (Azrael, Bruce' replacement for the run) during the Knightfall arc
I bet the writers had this game as a kid and thought that would be a really cool idea to actually put in the comics. Not actually, but that would be funny
Cool video as always. Very easy to agree with your rankings as well. I have to agree with you on the Superman preference. The Atari Superman game is better than the NES. Spiderman is debatable but a case could be made as well.
Addams Family, Bucky O'Hare, Dick Tracy, Fist of the North Star, Golgo 13, Little Nemo, M.U.S.C.L.E., Popeye, Rocketeer and Zen - Intergalactic Ninja are all franchises that originated as comic strips or books (Honourable mention to Duck Tales for Scrooge McDuck). Spy vs. Spy is the only one I can think of on NES that's based directly from a comic outside of Marvel or DC Does Strider count? I don't know if the manga's been translated to English.
If anybody's looking for an obscure superhero game it never actually came to market but was supposed to be sunsoft answer to Superman there is a prototype available wherever ROMs are downloadable called sunman. They ended up not getting a license for Superman hence the name sunman but for all intensive purposes it is a Superman game and plays like a Superman game so if you would like John and did not like the Superman game on this list then you may want to see that one out for a Superman experience possibly better than the game on here here
I re-watched this video for the second time today and caught the question about a great Superman game. I don't know about "great" but Death and Return of Superman was good, and seems fairly well known, also there's a damn good one from Sunsoft on the Genesis that apparently no one has heard of.
We were completely obsessed with X-Men as kids in the 90's...collected the cards, played the games, recorded the Saturday Morning cartoons with the VCR...the NES games were an abomination and never played them. SEGA did it right...
At the end of the video, you mentioned games based on just comics, did you mean all comics? cause I thought of a few. Spy vs. Spy, Popeye, Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular. Asterix if were counting PAL, and A week of Garfield if were counting famicom.
Let's Rank every LJN game for NES th-cam.com/video/yols92IkR3E/w-d-xo.html
Ranking every Sunsoft game for NES th-cam.com/video/roua33nZS8I/w-d-xo.html
Hi Riggs, "lets get into the list"
Hahaha 🤣 LJN ... and AVGN go hand and hand.
@Arcade Kaos good question dont know about Riggs but any X Men power would be cool with me, :)
At 12:09.... 🤔🤔🤔🤔???? Did you say "Alex Keaton"??🤭🤭😆
I kw that ljn makes crappie game is that why they door close
An Alex Keaton looking Batman? Finally, the Family Ties NES game we have all been waiting for!
Hahaha good catch!
Michael J Fox would have been an interesting choice for Robin back then.
_Bat to the Future_
Glad I'm not the only one who caught that!😅
@@bryangarcia5599 This comment needs more likes.🤣🤣🤣
Alex Keaton looking Batman…The Batman we didn’t deserve.
When his hippie parents were murdered, Alex Keaton vowed to make the free love world pay by becoming a free market creature of the night!
Bat man was a huge Reagan fan!
The cover to Batman: Return of the Joker with that smiling face and batsymbol eyes remains one of the most striking NES covers to me. Awesome video, Riggs 🎮
Agreed.
Agree as well. May just be my favorite label cover and box art on the NES.
@@wiz3421 🤟 so iconic, so memorable. Just a great art design
Alex Keaton looking Batman!?? 😅
The enemies in Batman on NES are actually Batman villains from the comics like Dead Shot, KGBeast, and Maxie Zeus
Killer Moth for level 1 boss was a huge surprise the first time I played this game.
Hello John, maybe you can do a video where you rank all the games you gave an S to with some of your awesome analysis. Woohoo!
Agreed, but he needs to drop that post black box list of Nintendo titles first!
i second that opinion
The Alex Keaton looking Batman. Sooo, Michael J. Fox? I'm TOTALLY down with that.
I had a Batman '89 skateboard. It's probably still sitting in my parents basement to this day.
A grey batman would be cool
Sunsoft "How about a Purple Batman" :/
Well it was based off the movie where batman wore a black suit. And they couldn't do a black suit in the game because of the dark background. So they went with purple haha.
I think he meant a gray Batman as a second player simultaneously. Which would *not* be cool. Lol
@@The_Bad_Guy. XD
@@brockalbert5111 XD why cant you play as "Adam West" Batman :P
Those Batman T-Shirts were indeed all the rage in the late 80's - early 90's!!
Can’t forget the Batman , and Joker Converse all stars . I had the Joker ones.
Definitely. I was born in 87 and have some pictures of me at like 2 or 3 years old in my Batman shirt and Sweats.
Great video! Thanks for letting me take part. :)
That's not John Riggs.
That's Dr. Ivo Robotnik in disguise 😉
It's sad that to this day we haven't gotten a truly good Superman game. The closest we have gotten is Lego Batman 2, because Superman is pretty fun to play as in that game. Plus the iconic John Williams theme plays when you fly around so that's a major bonus.
The 2600 Superman is a truly good game.
11 year old me renting xmen and going to my friends house for a sleep over....still feeling the pain to this day.
@Stop Banningme it sure feels like it lol
Yup, same here, we knew within minutes that we got screwed.
Oh man.... I remember being at Blockbuster and some kid excitedly renting X-Men and I wanted to be like "No don't!"
I see Silver Surfer fighting the green floating heads and I think, "Where did you learn to fly?"
no mention of SunMan ? (Sunsoft's cancelled SuperMan)
worth looking into imho
We all get that you know stuff, but...
A) SunMan wasn't an official release.
B) SunMan wasn't a Marvel/DC comic, which is what this video is about.
Looking like a super villain ya self in them dope shades 😎 great video thanks my dude
Captain America and The Avengers was one of those games whose primary place in my memory is reading the insane amount of coverage Nintendo Power gave it. Back in the late 80s/ early 90s it was practically an event when the monthly issue of Nintendo Power came out, especially during the period right around the beginning of the SNES era.
Sega Genesis Punisher is Gold
I have total nostalgia for X-men. My friend and I played that one for hours.
Literally the worst x-men game and most disappointing nes game I can think of.
You left out Zen the Intergalactic Ninja and Bucky O'Hare.
A Riggs video on Sunday morning... Yes please.
Never even heard of the Swamp Thing game for the NES
You’re a lucky man. Lol
Every bit as bad as he says. I wanted to like it because they were running a cartoon at the time. I even picked up an action figure or 2. The game is hot ass garbage tho.
It even recycled the music from the Simpsons game lol.
Buying the at the time hidden gem Batman over the super common TMNT for my fifth birthday was probably the greatest decision five year old me ever made.
Honorable mention to Sunman, which I believe started as Sunsoft's attempt at a Superman game?! those guys know how to handle an IP! (hell of a lot more capable than LJN, that's for sure!) always fun to watch these!
Yeah it was supposed to be Superman they just lost the license. Journey To Silius was supposed to be the Terminater
@@HiNRGboy oh yeah I remember hearing about the termimator thing too, silius definitely had some terminator vibes even after everything they changed, so I believe it.
For next sonic movie u should play dr robotnic... the industry couldn't find a better person for part
" you can of course get good at it..." "but why would you WANT to?"
hahahahaha
You earned the upvote with the opening joke.
That intro was excellent :)
Just off the top of my head there was Dark Man for the NES. And did they make Dick Tracy or the Phantom? I don't recall but I'm sure a lot of obscure titles like that had games made.
The Phantom wasn't on NES, that was Super Nintendo.
Definitely was a Dick Tracy NES title. If you want to count comic strips, there was a port of Spy vs Spy as well as a Snoopy, Popeye, and a Garfield game. Spy vs Spy is the same as the first C64 game IIRC.
Did you say "Alex Keaton" instead of "Michael Keaton' ?
I'm sure there's Family Ties there somewhere.
@@ChaoticHoly haha you are probably right
I didn’t know Michael J Fox played Batman.
the crossover we needed
You can actually run in Swamp Thing. It works the same way as it does in the Bart Simpson trilogy (same developer, Imagineering) in that the jump button is also the run button. Now granted it doesn't make the game GOOD, but it does make it a lot more playable in that you aren't always a sitting duck.
I'd put Batman Returns in the number one, and maybe move swap thing up one spot, and put Superman last.
Too bad the movie Batman Returns is the worst superhero movie of all time
the Alex Keaton looking Batman? 😄
well, he is a shorter batman
This guy remembers my childhood better than I do.
To paraphrase Lore Sjörberg, to make an accurate Superman game, the controller would have one button, and it would be marked WIN.
Love the glasses man.
That captain planet game... exists... glad you didn't brought that mess up though
Don't think Captain Planet is Marvel nor DC tho...
@@FoxMcCloudFF7 I could be wrong but I want to say that Marvel produced a Captain Planet comic. Obviously it started as a show first though. Marvel published a lot of comics for television shows.
Edit : I was right. There is a Captain Planet comic that was produced by Marvel. So technically it could have made the list.
Cool glasses john 😉😊
Another fun/great video. Thanks for posting it.
Great video John Riggs! With the Olympics coming up, would be cool to see you do a list of the best NES games by sport &/or list of the greatest overall sports games on the NES.
I always thought Superman Shadow of Apokolips was the best Superman game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Loving the Robotnik look again 😁👍
I think he’s got kind of a Dr. Lawrence Jacoby from Twin Peaks thing going on.
That dry humor is the best!!!
Batman has to be #1!
I was saying the same thing !
oh, great concept, more rankings like these please! Best-worst Spider-Man games next?
Honorable mention.... Sunman. The unreleased game from sunsoft was the closest thing to a great Superman game because they didn't have the license .
Not sure an unreleased title would merit a mention in a video that is showcasing released titles based on Marvel and DC.
Wolverine extracts his claws? Sounds painful, unless you meant extract them from enemies? I think it would be protract.
John, that opening joke was so bad that you truly gave the "killing joke".
Batman for the nes kick ass. 😀👍🎮
Never realized there was a Captain America and the Avengers on the NES. It must’ve came out pretty late or was just obscure.
I have the Sega Genesis one and it’s great
Had to rewind. Was like did he say “Alex Keaton”. Well he was played by a Michael. I can see the Family Ties there.
Oh no... You just gave me a new favorite joke and are responsible for any and all eye rolls\groans I get from here on out!
LOVE Batman, might be my favorite NES game, but haven't made it to the joker, maybe one day!
that superman joke got me and made me laugh more than it should of
Batman is my favorite nes game and Ninja turtles games are the best
The shout-out to the lil jon song made me smile.
How come they've never made any NES Games based off of any Other Comic Book Publishers like either Valiant, Archie Comics,Harvey Comics, Dark Horse, Eclipse or any other Comic Book Publisher that never had as much Notoriety as Marvel & DC ????
You answered your own question. They weren't as well known and most people knew of the all the big superheros from Marvel and DC. No one was going to sink money into a game that featured comic characters that no one heard of. Probably wouldn't sell well.
@@The_Bad_Guy. You are correct, however during the 16bit era we did see more games based on comics from smaller publishers.
I started this video like "X-Men is gonna be dead last", mainly because my brain thought it was best I don't remember the Swamp Thing game existing at all. Its a shame there hasn't been any awesome Superman games though. I remember loving playing the arcade game at Chuck E Cheese as a kid, so it at least is passable.
I absolutely loved the superman game you ranked 3rd last. I used to play it all the time. I think it's possibly one of the best superman games ever made!
That joke made me laugh more than it should have 🤣 btw ozzy called he wants his glasses back 😜
I really enjoyed the old Superman arcade brawler.
"From the window to the walls" lmao you sir are awesome
Can you use the zapper gun on the Punisher?
4:43 Superman's greatest power, his "weird breath", Lol!!
I had to give you a thumbs up 30 seconds in. Excellent opening.
I do think than the Prototype Sunman should have been mentioned since it was meant to be a Superman game at first.
For this October, how about Ranking NES horror themed games... Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, Chiller, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Uninvited, Fester's Quest, Werewolf the Last Warrior, Maniac Mansion, Castlevania, Monster Party, etc.?
I mean, In the Burton films, Batman loves using guns
The spiderman games on the original gameboy are good? The first one is a dumpster fire in my opinion but is 2 and 3 better?
It's strange that Sunsoft came up with the "disc launcher gauntlets" years before they gave them to a comic book Batman (Azrael, Bruce' replacement for the run) during the Knightfall arc
I bet the writers had this game as a kid and thought that would be a really cool idea to actually put in the comics. Not actually, but that would be funny
Very nice video John. I have Batman on my list of games for this year. Looking forward to it.
You won't be disappointed. It gets challenging but rewarding to beat. They are all worth owning if you love Batman/NES in my opinion.
@@wiz3421 thank you. I’ll consider more of the games 4 aure
You got them all! I bought Swamp Thing to review in 2014. It certainly wasn't as cheap as your copy, haha.
Riggs looks like Dr. Robotnik with those glasses.
Cool video as always. Very easy to agree with your rankings as well. I have to agree with you on the Superman preference. The Atari Superman game is better than the NES. Spiderman is debatable but a case could be made as well.
You know what’s odd about the Superman NES game? TheJapanese version has the John Williams theme as the title music but the American one doesn’t.
Addams Family, Bucky O'Hare, Dick Tracy, Fist of the North Star, Golgo 13, Little Nemo, M.U.S.C.L.E., Popeye, Rocketeer and Zen - Intergalactic Ninja are all franchises that originated as comic strips or books (Honourable mention to Duck Tales for Scrooge McDuck).
Spy vs. Spy is the only one I can think of on NES that's based directly from a comic outside of Marvel or DC
Does Strider count? I don't know if the manga's been translated to English.
Rocketeer was a great game
12:59 make sure you check out those villeos!!! :D
Loooool that joke was funny
Next time line up the round background light reflected in your glasses with your pupils, you will have laser looking eyes all through the video!
If anybody's looking for an obscure superhero game it never actually came to market but was supposed to be sunsoft answer to Superman there is a prototype available wherever ROMs are downloadable called sunman. They ended up not getting a license for Superman hence the name sunman but for all intensive purposes it is a Superman game and plays like a Superman game so if you would like John and did not like the Superman game on this list then you may want to see that one out for a Superman experience possibly better than the game on here here
Was there a good superman arcade game?
Punisher is epic. Wolverine has kickass music, underrated. Original Batman is a masterpiece.
Batman and Captain America surely deserve the first two spots. They really stand until today
Missed out on Zen Intergalactic Ninja published in 1987
Hidden Gem: a Superman Beat Em Up arcade game...and it's good.
hi everyone, Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles , very good one of my favs,:)
I re-watched this video for the second time today and caught the question about a great Superman game. I don't know about "great" but Death and Return of Superman was good, and seems fairly well known, also there's a damn good one from Sunsoft on the Genesis that apparently no one has heard of.
i feel like the joke at the beginning was old, but i didnt know it and found it hilarious. :-D
This was the best list I have ever seen.
John Blue Glasses Riggs
Good call on the Silver Surfer soundtrack - it's great! The game, not so much, but there is an invincibility code that you cana use to get through it.
The Alex Keaton Batman! I didn’t know Family Ties and Batman were in the same universe! I had a big crush on Batman’s sister Mallory when I was a kid.
We were completely obsessed with X-Men as kids in the 90's...collected the cards, played the games, recorded the Saturday Morning cartoons with the VCR...the NES games were an abomination and never played them. SEGA did it right...
@JohnRiggs did you steal those glasses from geddy lee?
Death and Return of Superman on the SNES was pretty good; the enemies got kinda spongy at the end, but it's the best Superman game I know of.
I actually really like Wolverine. Defeating Sabertooth is really satisfying. I will be out on the lookout for Spider-Man & the Captain America games.
At the end of the video, you mentioned games based on just comics, did you mean all comics? cause I thought of a few.
Spy vs. Spy, Popeye, Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular. Asterix if were counting PAL, and A week of Garfield if were counting famicom.
I would add in Zen the Intergalactic Ninja and Bucky O'Hare. I know he's sticking to Marvel and DC, but those two are solid games.
I was expecting you to pull out a piano and a Donald Duck suit. I was hoping for Elton John and got Lil Jon.
I salute you for putting Batman as nro 1 on this list. Couldn't agree more.