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Great video! Right from the start, I was incredibly excited and surprised to see you cover Monster Party, because I never heard anyone talk about playing it, aside from my brother and I. Fun and delightfully weird! Loved the list!
Fellow gay JRPG obsessive here. Was watching this video on the couch (on my phone) next to my husband. The game title 'Just Breed' made us both (but especially my non-gaming husband) do a double take! 🤣 Amazing video as always! 💜
What does being gay have to do with this video and why do you feel the need to mention it? It's just weird like saying "Heterosexual cis Male here and I love retro gaming!" This is not the place for that buddy
Gemfire was also on the PC, I used to play it all the time. Gemfire and Genghis Khan 2: Clan of the Gray Wolf (also on the NES and SNES, Genesis and others) got me into Koei's other strategy games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
I was going to mention the pc port but you beat me to it. Played this game obsessively on Snes with my best friend in two player mode. Nice light strategy that can be completed in a reasonable time. Just don't abuse the grain buying/selling mechanic....
Unfortunately, because I was not alive at the time, I completely missed out on the NES, but it's been fun going back and playing some of the classics. There are some really cool looking games on this list I'll definitely need to check out.
I have such fond memories of Crystalis. It’s nice to hear someone talk about it. It’s on NSO and is still pretty fun. I forgot how vague it is in terms of telling players what to do next though. Still an awesome game that I wish more people talked about. Thanks.
It's not HUGELY vague, but there are a few parts (the water area, for one) where you might scratch your head a little trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. What kills a lot of people in Crystalis is the fact it expects you to grind, and people of today don't wanna grind in RPGs. Each boss has a minimum level to fight it otherwise your attacks straight up do nothing (complete with the loud "TING!" sound meaning your weapon had no effect).
@@sagepirotess6312 There are a few people who don't mind, but most balk at the idea and treat it like it's evil. "Oh. this is an RPG. it probably has lots of grind." ... even though even some of the older RPGs only asked you to take 10-15 minutes now and then to fight a few battles, they couldn't be bothered to do even that much.
@@sagepirotess6312 Yeah, I get _why_ older games were grindy and it never really bothered me to be honest, I just get tired of the younger generation whining about it lol. They gotta have their instant gratification.
I'm so glad you included Glory of Heracles II, it's a great game and an underrated series! I think III and IV are even better--III has an amazing story and IV has a cool body-switching mechanic.
@@codeninja1 Besides a spinoff title on the Game Boy (called GoH: The Snap-Story, a sequel to the first game) they are all standalone. In fact, I wouldn't recommend playing the first one. IV has aged the best and is the most approachable, but I would say III is the best overall.
I also love Crystalis. It's possibly my favorite NES game. I also loved Faxanadu. These two games felt to good and big to me that it made me upset with the amount of crap available for the system.
3:41 idk why Clash at Demon Head always triggers my feel good rose tinted memories. I discovered it via renting and it felt like I had discovered a true hidden gem. Loved it then and love it now. Thanks for the list David, awesome work as always.
I feel like no one talks about Magic of the Scheherazade, I loved it when I was a kid, all the modes the game throws at you, one moment you are in a zelda like game, then you play a turn based RPG. The music was great and the story was well told. Thanks for brining that out as well as others that I will need to look at, like the Hercules one.
Great list dave. As a child of this era a lot of these games have a soft spot in my heart. samurai cats, monster party & schewerazade are all deeply under appreciated to this day.
Fireball lvl 2 and you can mist coast at that point. I've tried to recreate the circumstances in the past of 1 shotting a good number of bosses. Love every aspect of that game
I don't know if this would be a hidden gem, but I always had a soft spot for Legacy of the Wizard. It's a metroidvania type action adventure where you have 5 playable characters exploring a dungeon, finding tools and treasures that specific characters can use to then explore a different areas and find OTHER treasures... And it just keeps going like that until you fight a final boss with some of the most intense battle music I've ever heard for an NES title.
This is a great list. I've been interested to see what else to emulate on NES besides big names like Mario or Megaman. I've heard many good things of Crystalis so I guess I have to try it now.
With the trend of finally, officially localizing games that never came out in the west, a part of me hopes the Glory of Heracles games can finally get an official international release. On a brighter note, quite a few games on here are available on modern(ish) platforms! Gargoyle's Quest II is available on Wii U, and Crystalis is a part of the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on PS4, Switch and PC, and is freely available to Switch Online members as part of the NES app!
Crystalis is tons of fun and there are some other great games on this list as well as others that look interesting that I have yet to play. I've wanted to play The Guardian Legend and Clash at Demonhead for a while now and seeing them in this video is an excuse to finally get around to doing so. Justbreed looks pretty great as well and I'll have to put that on my to-play list.
I love it. Most of this list would totally be on my list of favorite NES games. Honestly, I'm shocked that some of these games have never gotten remakes, or even like HD remasters. I'd love to see a modernized version of a kooky game like Clash at Demonhead.
Gemfire and Crystalis were two of the first games I bought when I decided to rebuild my old collection (had to sell it off a few years ago). I had a ton of fun with those games growing up, and they still hold up.
When it comes to the NES I was more of a platformer kid. For that I'm grateful for videos such as this, that shine light on a bunch of games I had no idea ever existed. Need to add some of these to the list of games I need to look out for and hope to experience them first hand.
I loved Clash at Demonhead! I never beat it either, but I remember borrowing it from a friend and playing it so much. It still has the most badass name of any video game ever.
Crystails deserves its place on here but the best game from my childhood on this list is MONSTER PARTY!! This little leaguer back in the day loved this game! Didn't care for the difficulty and random BS but it was fun! Hours of time spent on this one. Also, Gemfire is great!! I played it too as a kid but I didn't really understand it till I got into a NES ROM spike myself back in my 20s and tried it again. I understood what giving food was, taking care of your people and defending your lands was all about then. Its a great title in the NES library!
Pretty Good list, a few that you missed though is Bucky O'Hare, Sweet Home, Silva Saga, Lagrange Point , and Momotarou Densetsu. All amazing Gems. Honestly though there was quite alot of great games on the NES.
Crystalis--yes!! Good action/RPG adventure! Using the different elemental swords and psychic powers to interact with the environment was a cool concept. (Saying you fight God, though?? You need a chainsaw for that! lol! I know: the game and sword are called "Godslayer" in Japan.) The Guardian Legend is also a fine shout-out. Although the NES was also my first console, those are the only two I've played. I'd give an honorable mention to Destiny of an Emperor: your troops are your 'HP', Tactics are your 'magic', and there's a huge roster of leaders to recruit.
Crystalis and The Guardian Legend are two my favorite NES era rpgs. I am not at all surprised to see them featured here. I was surprised to see that Gargoyle's Quest had a NES sequel. I never knew that even existed.
Every time I see a video like this I think: "Why does nobody ever talk about Monster Party?" And low and behold, it was the first entry. I had so much fun with this one growing up. It was the closest thing to a horror game I played at the time. So many bosses. So many wierd ass bosses for that matter. I also remember Gargoyle's Quest. Didn't play much of it, but enjoyed it. If you haven't already played its "sequel" Demon's Chrest on the SNES you really, really should.
I remember playing Just Breed several years ago, but not having much fun with it. Maybe it’s time I go back and give it another whirl to see if I was too hasty.
I remember renting and playing Crystalis a lot but not getting very far. The Guardian Legend reminds me of two other games I played a ton, just in that they both alternate on-foot and ship combat stages: Dinowarz and Xexyz.
Crystalis and TGL are two of my favorite NES games, too. The other 8 games I never played, though. One game that I almost never hear people talking about, would be Solar Jetman. I adored that game as a kid, and I credit that game for teaching me Newton's Laws of Motion when I was still in gradeschool (they don't teach that till mid highschool). I knew what the laws of motion were (or at least had a decent grasp on the concept) without even knowing that's what it was called, thanks to this game. I got it when I was like 8-9ish years old, and for anybody who's never played that, you need to have a good grasp of momentum, inertia, and gravity otherwise you are going to be absolutely terrible at the game. Within a year or so, I had pretty much mastered the game, and had a really good understanding of how these things worked in the process! Great educational game that's fun besides.
Glory of Heracles 2 is easily among the best hidden games I have ever come across and is easily among my top favorite RPG's on the NES. You should definitely check out Glory of Heracles 3 and 4 on the SNES since there also really good games!
If you haven't played it yet, I'd advise you to try destiny of an emperor. That was a great rpg back in the day, it did suikoden before suikoden. This game is the first I know of that offered an auto battle and there are over 100 recruitable characters.
Oh wow, that was my first JRPG ever (if you don't count Zelda, which I don't) -- It was so confusing as an 8 year old lol but I was hooked despite not knowing how to progress much... 😄
@@-TriP- yeah, I was only 8 or 9 too. I ended up getting to the iron ore part but I must have triggered the glitch that stops progress... I did go back and finish it on emulators later with a guide though, which is how I recommend playing it for anyone wanting to try it these days
It was heavily covered in Nintendo Power back when my mom got me a year's subscription in 1991. I don't think it's a hidden gem at all. It's just not one of the most famous games.
Hercules is basically an Romanized version of the Greek hero Heracles. Although they were probably different initially, Hercules took the pageant for most known iteration. They had the same mother but different fathers. Thanks Rome.
Had to comment on this one. Great video. Kinda surprised Little Ninja Brothers didn't make the cut. Adorable little RPG hybrid with two player co-op my mother also had to pretty much steal from Blockbuster to get.
The only game on this list I remember playing as a kid was Crystalis, and it was so much fun, even if I didn’t know what I was doing half of the time. And I need to find an emulator for that Hercules game, it reminds me of old school dragon quest.
Thank you David, a fun list! I remember seeing a bit of my aunt and grandmother playing Crystalis as a child and being fascinated with it. I finally played it as an adult and had a good time! That Heracles game does seem pretty awesome!
If you haven't already check out Radia Senki on the NES ( Chronicle of the Radia War) Awesome music, and a battle system that gives off a Star Ocean Vibe!
OMG! Thank you so much for making this. I kept racking my brain about the name of one of the games your listed. It was Clash at Demonhead. I played it when I was a little kid and LOVED it. It was hard as hell, and I really didn't understand what the heck I was doing but I had fun. I honestly started to think I dreamt the whole thing bc I couldn't remember the name. I didn't even know what to type online to search for it. Thanks again 😁
The guardian legend was my favorite NES game growing up. I still play through that one every so often, it never gets old to me. Also have you played Demons Crest on the SNES? It's the next game in the gargoyles quest series starring firebrand
I loved crystalis growing up. Its one huge flaw though was forcing grinding because you wouldn't be able to damage bosses. I think that's a huge error in an action adventure rpgs
My favorite nes gems are the ones that are hidden in plain sight and are dirt cheap because no one talks about them. Air Fortress, Astayanax, Dragon Spirit; games you can still find for less than $10 and are great fun
The Guardian Legend looks awesome. It made me think of the Kingdom Hearts gummy ship battles being between action rpg worlds and Nier Automata. I have to play it.
Magic of Scheherazade! I read about it in one of those paperback books of NES strategies. It made the game sound bloody cool. Never found it, though. I still want to play it. Guardian Legend looks really cool, too. I'm glad you mention Crystalis, though. I rented that game every weekend. I loved the hell out of it. EDIT: Glory of Heracles?? Whoa. The DS game was composed by Yoshitaka Hirota, who did the utterly unreal soundtracks for the Shadow Hearts games.
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the video. Dont know if this is a hidden gem but I always enjoyed willow on nes once I understood how RPGs worked. I think it's a gem because it's a movie licensed game that is actually good what a concept
Its great seeing love for Monster Party. One of my favorite hidden gems. Are you aware of the Japanese version using properties like Gremlins, Little Shop of Horrors, etc without permission for the bosses. Anyway it is a great game and David didn't come close to how strange it can get in his description of it.
There's this really old game that I played once, and I can't remember if it was on the Nintendo or Sega, but it had NES quality graphics. It was an Isekai (before that was even a genre), where a girl from our world is summoned to a fantasy world. You start off in a monster filled tower and at Level 0 (that really stuck out at me cause I had never seen it before), and the dialog boxes had anime-style heads of the speakers. It was super hard and, despite there being a save file with a high level character (I either rented it or borrowed it, but it wasn't my game), I couldn't even get out of the opening tower dungeon (also, I was a child) and I quickly gave up. I have been searching for this game FOREVER, and I've literally combed through tons of lists, spending hours upon hours, and I cannot for the life of me find any evidence that this game actually ever even existed. It doesn't help that I have no idea what it's called, lol. Have you, or anyone in the comments, ever heard of a game like this? It is a JRPG with a first person style turn-based combat system like DQ.
@@davidvinc hmm, it has a lot of similarities to what I remember and might be it. I could just be remembering wrong, but the discrepancies with this game and my memories: The girl in my memories was wearing traditional Japanese school uniform with skirt and everything; You get transported to the top of a tower at the beginning instead of a river with fairies; The girl was a redhead, not blonde. It is entirely possible I'm remembering the tower from the save game on it, because apparently towers are a thing in this game. Either way, thank you for the response. I'll check it out and see if it triggers any memories when I get a chance. This is literally more lead on this game than I've ever received before (and I've posted in several different forums over a long period of time), so REALLY, thank you, lol.
Destiny of an Emperor. If you're a fan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, give it a shot. Great game with a cult following and plenty of rom hacks to spice things up.
What an awesome list! Amazingly, Gemfire looks great even when compared to its 16-bit versions. Glory of Heracles II is on the level of the best Dragon Quest and Breath of Fire games - it's great to see it get a lot of love here! The NES definitely did have good strategy RPGs, and Just Breed is right up there with the Fire Emblem games. I don't know Japanese, but I imagine that the name "Just Breed" was an attempt to say something along the lines of "Righteous Lineage". Japanese developers are known for their strange choice of words when they consult their thesauruses. I wish they'd consult a native speaker of English too! :)
never even heard of just breed before and ive watched a bunch of vids about this. That definitely gets a like as it seems like a game right up my alley
Such a heartwarming video, Dave! Samurai Pizza Cats is so nostalgic to me. This is indeed an excellent Tecmo platformer. Monster Party and The Guardian Legend are underrated as heck! Heracles no Eikou II. Man, I've tried to love this game as much as you did but the breaking armor/weapon left me in a pissed amazement. By the way, did you try Radia Senki: Reimeihen? It's an easy 10-12 hour Tecmo action-RPG with nice cutscenes, great plot and also an exquisite OST.
Great list. I remember playing a big chunk of those when I was a kid and would have to rely on Nintendo Power to know what games to get. The box art never helped. Lol
This is a great list, there are several games here I’d like to play sometime for the first time. I totally recommend Clash at Demonhead. I wrote a “spoiler-free” walkthrough that’s on gamefaqs, which I’ve gone back and referred to it myself as I forget where to go sometimes. If you pick it up again sometime 🙂 love your channel and content 💙
I really loved your list David,i was never interested in Nes emulation because i thought that the SNES had all the great jrpgs but with This list i can see that that isn't the case😊,David is the glory of Heracles for the ds horrible?i was trying out the third game on the SNES and i like it so far
Awesome list! Of those games, I have many fond memories of The Guardian Legend and Crystalis and never heard of the others, but a lot of them peaked my interest too!
u should make a full review of MAGIC OF CHEHERRAZADE it is one of the most ambitious games ever made on nes, and the many twists and especially how u could get a game over after the last boss if u don't reply to the question was insane.
Your mom stole it from the store? My mom use to do that with bags of ice..she was like wtf they want me to pay for frozen water and pull out like 4x10lbs bags and just walk out...shes been gone for like 16 years now..god bless that women..
Wow i gotta check out the Gargoyles quest and the glory of heracles series, Though i am definitely not playing that DS game Though i wonder why the DS version is regarded as awful?
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Great video! Right from the start, I was incredibly excited and surprised to see you cover Monster Party, because I never heard anyone talk about playing it, aside from my brother and I. Fun and delightfully weird!
Loved the list!
Fellow gay JRPG obsessive here. Was watching this video on the couch (on my phone) next to my husband. The game title 'Just Breed' made us both (but especially my non-gaming husband) do a double take! 🤣 Amazing video as always! 💜
What does being gay have to do with this video and why do you feel the need to mention it? It's just weird like saying "Heterosexual cis Male here and I love retro gaming!" This is not the place for that buddy
Gemfire was also on the PC, I used to play it all the time. Gemfire and Genghis Khan 2: Clan of the Gray Wolf (also on the NES and SNES, Genesis and others) got me into Koei's other strategy games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
I was going to mention the pc port but you beat me to it. Played this game obsessively on Snes with my best friend in two player mode. Nice light strategy that can be completed in a reasonable time. Just don't abuse the grain buying/selling mechanic....
I played Gemfire mostly for the awesome music XD completed few times on NES and Sega. Didn't played on SNES.
Unfortunately, because I was not alive at the time, I completely missed out on the NES, but it's been fun going back and playing some of the classics. There are some really cool looking games on this list I'll definitely need to check out.
Do you have a NES mini? Modded, you can capture some of the excitement with a lot more convenience than we experienced in the 80s and '90s 😂
I have such fond memories of Crystalis. It’s nice to hear someone talk about it. It’s on NSO and is still pretty fun. I forgot how vague it is in terms of telling players what to do next though. Still an awesome game that I wish more people talked about. Thanks.
It was such a great game
@@sagepirotess6312 nice!
It's not HUGELY vague, but there are a few parts (the water area, for one) where you might scratch your head a little trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. What kills a lot of people in Crystalis is the fact it expects you to grind, and people of today don't wanna grind in RPGs. Each boss has a minimum level to fight it otherwise your attacks straight up do nothing (complete with the loud "TING!" sound meaning your weapon had no effect).
@@sagepirotess6312 There are a few people who don't mind, but most balk at the idea and treat it like it's evil. "Oh. this is an RPG. it probably has lots of grind." ... even though even some of the older RPGs only asked you to take 10-15 minutes now and then to fight a few battles, they couldn't be bothered to do even that much.
@@sagepirotess6312 Yeah, I get _why_ older games were grindy and it never really bothered me to be honest, I just get tired of the younger generation whining about it lol. They gotta have their instant gratification.
I'm so glad you included Glory of Heracles II, it's a great game and an underrated series! I think III and IV are even better--III has an amazing story and IV has a cool body-switching mechanic.
Its my first time hearing about it. Sounds good. Do you need to play the first one?
@@codeninja1 Besides a spinoff title on the Game Boy (called GoH: The Snap-Story, a sequel to the first game) they are all standalone. In fact, I wouldn't recommend playing the first one. IV has aged the best and is the most approachable, but I would say III is the best overall.
Crystalis is one of my favorite games of all time. Its a shame how relatively obscure it was. I've always wished they made a sequel to it.
They actually planned a sequel but cancelled it super early in development :(
Same. It's super underrated.
@@nanoglitch6693 Probably to do the neo Geo and focus on hardware. 🤷🏻♀️
I also love Crystalis. It's possibly my favorite NES game. I also loved Faxanadu. These two games felt to good and big to me that it made me upset with the amount of crap available for the system.
J C. I think the sequel was planned for the Neo Geo. But who knows what’s real and what’s not in the grapevine
3:41 idk why Clash at Demon Head always triggers my feel good rose tinted memories. I discovered it via renting and it felt like I had discovered a true hidden gem. Loved it then and love it now.
Thanks for the list David, awesome work as always.
Same for me. I rented it and loved it.
Thanks for the things to look out for! As of right now my NES is just a Tetris machine, so looking forward to tracking some of these down.
Scheherazade, Guardian Legend and especially Gemfire... great callouts!
I feel like no one talks about Magic of the Scheherazade, I loved it when I was a kid, all the modes the game throws at you, one moment you are in a zelda like game, then you play a turn based RPG. The music was great and the story was well told. Thanks for brining that out as well as others that I will need to look at, like the Hercules one.
Great list dave. As a child of this era a lot of these games have a soft spot in my heart. samurai cats, monster party & schewerazade are all deeply under appreciated to this day.
The Guardian Legend is so great. Definitely deserves the attention and could've been great had they kept going with it.
The Guardian Legend is my favorite all time game for NES. Haven't met a person who's played it that didn't like it. Always glad to see fellow fans
@@danielwilliams7562 I've played it every year for decades. It's so good, great soundtrack, tons of weapons, fast paced, just enough difficulty.
Fireball lvl 2 and you can mist coast at that point. I've tried to recreate the circumstances in the past of 1 shotting a good number of bosses. Love every aspect of that game
I don't know if this would be a hidden gem, but I always had a soft spot for Legacy of the Wizard. It's a metroidvania type action adventure where you have 5 playable characters exploring a dungeon, finding tools and treasures that specific characters can use to then explore a different areas and find OTHER treasures... And it just keeps going like that until you fight a final boss with some of the most intense battle music I've ever heard for an NES title.
This is a great list. I've been interested to see what else to emulate on NES besides big names like Mario or Megaman. I've heard many good things of Crystalis so I guess I have to try it now.
With the trend of finally, officially localizing games that never came out in the west, a part of me hopes the Glory of Heracles games can finally get an official international release.
On a brighter note, quite a few games on here are available on modern(ish) platforms! Gargoyle's Quest II is available on Wii U, and Crystalis is a part of the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on PS4, Switch and PC, and is freely available to Switch Online members as part of the NES app!
Heck yes, Crystalis FTW! I wish they'd do a sequel or full remake of this. Too bad the rights got bought out and redone for that godawful GBC port.
I did not have much experience with the NES other than Mario, so this list is a great introduction to games on the console.
Crystalis is tons of fun and there are some other great games on this list as well as others that look interesting that I have yet to play. I've wanted to play The Guardian Legend and Clash at Demonhead for a while now and seeing them in this video is an excuse to finally get around to doing so. Justbreed looks pretty great as well and I'll have to put that on my to-play list.
I love it. Most of this list would totally be on my list of favorite NES games. Honestly, I'm shocked that some of these games have never gotten remakes, or even like HD remasters. I'd love to see a modernized version of a kooky game like Clash at Demonhead.
Hell yeah Monster Party and Gemfire!
I do prefer the Genesis version of Gemfire though, wayyy better music
I'm surprised Ghost Lion wasn't on here. Now if you want a tricky RPG, try Faria for the NES.
This was a nice watch. I might look for these games and try them out sometime.
Gemfire and Crystalis were two of the first games I bought when I decided to rebuild my old collection (had to sell it off a few years ago). I had a ton of fun with those games growing up, and they still hold up.
When it comes to the NES I was more of a platformer kid. For that I'm grateful for videos such as this, that shine light on a bunch of games I had no idea ever existed. Need to add some of these to the list of games I need to look out for and hope to experience them first hand.
I loved Clash at Demonhead!
I never beat it either, but I remember borrowing it from a friend and playing it so much.
It still has the most badass name of any video game ever.
Crystails deserves its place on here but the best game from my childhood on this list is MONSTER PARTY!! This little leaguer back in the day loved this game! Didn't care for the difficulty and random BS but it was fun! Hours of time spent on this one. Also, Gemfire is great!! I played it too as a kid but I didn't really understand it till I got into a NES ROM spike myself back in my 20s and tried it again. I understood what giving food was, taking care of your people and defending your lands was all about then. Its a great title in the NES library!
Pretty Good list, a few that you missed though is Bucky O'Hare, Sweet Home, Silva Saga, Lagrange Point , and Momotarou Densetsu. All amazing Gems. Honestly though there was quite alot of great games on the NES.
Crystalis--yes!! Good action/RPG adventure! Using the different elemental swords and psychic powers to interact with the environment was a cool concept. (Saying you fight God, though?? You need a chainsaw for that! lol! I know: the game and sword are called "Godslayer" in Japan.)
The Guardian Legend is also a fine shout-out. Although the NES was also my first console, those are the only two I've played. I'd give an honorable mention to Destiny of an Emperor: your troops are your 'HP', Tactics are your 'magic', and there's a huge roster of leaders to recruit.
Crystalis and The Guardian Legend are two my favorite NES era rpgs. I am not at all surprised to see them featured here. I was surprised to see that Gargoyle's Quest had a NES sequel. I never knew that even existed.
Every time I see a video like this I think: "Why does nobody ever talk about Monster Party?" And low and behold, it was the first entry. I had so much fun with this one growing up. It was the closest thing to a horror game I played at the time. So many bosses. So many wierd ass bosses for that matter.
I also remember Gargoyle's Quest. Didn't play much of it, but enjoyed it. If you haven't already played its "sequel" Demon's Chrest on the SNES you really, really should.
I remember playing Just Breed several years ago, but not having much fun with it. Maybe it’s time I go back and give it another whirl to see if I was too hasty.
I remember renting and playing Crystalis a lot but not getting very far.
The Guardian Legend reminds me of two other games I played a ton, just in that they both alternate on-foot and ship combat stages: Dinowarz and Xexyz.
Darn I've never checked out a NES rpg before. I grew up in the PS1 era, will absolutely have to check these out. So much charisma in them!
I don't give enough credit to the NES. Those games looked dope. I only played Chrysalis on the switch the rest were unknown to me.
Crystalis and TGL are two of my favorite NES games, too. The other 8 games I never played, though. One game that I almost never hear people talking about, would be Solar Jetman. I adored that game as a kid, and I credit that game for teaching me Newton's Laws of Motion when I was still in gradeschool (they don't teach that till mid highschool). I knew what the laws of motion were (or at least had a decent grasp on the concept) without even knowing that's what it was called, thanks to this game. I got it when I was like 8-9ish years old, and for anybody who's never played that, you need to have a good grasp of momentum, inertia, and gravity otherwise you are going to be absolutely terrible at the game. Within a year or so, I had pretty much mastered the game, and had a really good understanding of how these things worked in the process! Great educational game that's fun besides.
Glory of Heracles 2 is easily among the best hidden games I have ever come across and is easily among my top favorite RPG's on the NES. You should definitely check out Glory of Heracles 3 and 4 on the SNES since there also really good games!
I had forgotten about Samurai Pizza Cats! That was a crazy show to wake up to before school.
If you haven't played it yet, I'd advise you to try destiny of an emperor. That was a great rpg back in the day, it did suikoden before suikoden. This game is the first I know of that offered an auto battle and there are over 100 recruitable characters.
Oh wow, that was my first JRPG ever (if you don't count Zelda, which I don't) -- It was so confusing as an 8 year old lol but I was hooked despite not knowing how to progress much... 😄
@@-TriP- yeah, I was only 8 or 9 too. I ended up getting to the iron ore part but I must have triggered the glitch that stops progress... I did go back and finish it on emulators later with a guide though, which is how I recommend playing it for anyone wanting to try it these days
I actually really like the Heracles game for DS. I think it is underrated, fun, and intriguing. Great list as always, though.
Silkworm is a sidescrolling shooter. Co-op. One plays a helicopter. The other a tank that jumps. Pretty sweet.
Was Crystalis obscure? I always hear so much about it, even when I was a kid it was fascinating. Maybe I was just in the know, haha.
It was heavily covered in Nintendo Power back when my mom got me a year's subscription in 1991. I don't think it's a hidden gem at all. It's just not one of the most famous games.
Hercules is basically an Romanized version of the Greek hero Heracles. Although they were probably different initially, Hercules took the pageant for most known iteration. They had the same mother but different fathers. Thanks Rome.
Had to comment on this one. Great video.
Kinda surprised Little Ninja Brothers didn't make the cut. Adorable little RPG hybrid with two player co-op my mother also had to pretty much steal from Blockbuster to get.
The only game on this list I remember playing as a kid was Crystalis, and it was so much fun, even if I didn’t know what I was doing half of the time.
And I need to find an emulator for that Hercules game, it reminds me of old school dragon quest.
Thank you David, a fun list! I remember seeing a bit of my aunt and grandmother playing Crystalis as a child and being fascinated with it. I finally played it as an adult and had a good time! That Heracles game does seem pretty awesome!
If you haven't already check out Radia Senki on the NES ( Chronicle of the Radia War) Awesome music, and a battle system that gives off a Star Ocean Vibe!
OMG! Thank you so much for making this. I kept racking my brain about the name of one of the games your listed. It was Clash at Demonhead. I played it when I was a little kid and LOVED it. It was hard as hell, and I really didn't understand what the heck I was doing but I had fun. I honestly started to think I dreamt the whole thing bc I couldn't remember the name. I didn't even know what to type online to search for it. Thanks again 😁
The guardian legend was my favorite NES game growing up. I still play through that one every so often, it never gets old to me. Also have you played Demons Crest on the SNES? It's the next game in the gargoyles quest series starring firebrand
Getting notified for a new video coming from you always makes my day. Great content as always
Yessss these are my favourite topics for videos. Happy new year, David! Wishing you all the best for 2022!
My two favorite jrpg hidden gems are tenerezza on the original xbox and Brightis on the ps1.
I loved crystalis growing up. Its one huge flaw though was forcing grinding because you wouldn't be able to damage bosses. I think that's a huge error in an action adventure rpgs
My favorite nes gems are the ones that are hidden in plain sight and are dirt cheap because no one talks about them.
Air Fortress, Astayanax, Dragon Spirit; games you can still find for less than $10 and are great fun
Still havent seen it but added to my davidrpg playlist. Will watch after i clock out.
The Guardian Legend looks awesome. It made me think of the Kingdom Hearts gummy ship battles being between action rpg worlds and Nier Automata. I have to play it.
Magic of Scheherazade! I read about it in one of those paperback books of NES strategies. It made the game sound bloody cool. Never found it, though. I still want to play it.
Guardian Legend looks really cool, too. I'm glad you mention Crystalis, though. I rented that game every weekend. I loved the hell out of it.
EDIT: Glory of Heracles?? Whoa.
The DS game was composed by Yoshitaka Hirota, who did the utterly unreal soundtracks for the Shadow Hearts games.
Every game in the Heracles series is amazing, especially the DS version.
The overworld exploration part of the Guardian Legend reminds me of the dungeons in Blaster Master.
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the video. Dont know if this is a hidden gem but I always enjoyed willow on nes once I understood how RPGs worked. I think it's a gem because it's a movie licensed game that is actually good what a concept
Its great seeing love for Monster Party. One of my favorite hidden gems. Are you aware of the Japanese version using properties like Gremlins, Little Shop of Horrors, etc without permission for the bosses. Anyway it is a great game and David didn't come close to how strange it can get in his description of it.
There's this really old game that I played once, and I can't remember if it was on the Nintendo or Sega, but it had NES quality graphics. It was an Isekai (before that was even a genre), where a girl from our world is summoned to a fantasy world. You start off in a monster filled tower and at Level 0 (that really stuck out at me cause I had never seen it before), and the dialog boxes had anime-style heads of the speakers. It was super hard and, despite there being a save file with a high level character (I either rented it or borrowed it, but it wasn't my game), I couldn't even get out of the opening tower dungeon (also, I was a child) and I quickly gave up.
I have been searching for this game FOREVER, and I've literally combed through tons of lists, spending hours upon hours, and I cannot for the life of me find any evidence that this game actually ever even existed. It doesn't help that I have no idea what it's called, lol.
Have you, or anyone in the comments, ever heard of a game like this? It is a JRPG with a first person style turn-based combat system like DQ.
Ghost lion for the NES?
@@davidvinc hmm, it has a lot of similarities to what I remember and might be it. I could just be remembering wrong, but the discrepancies with this game and my memories: The girl in my memories was wearing traditional Japanese school uniform with skirt and everything; You get transported to the top of a tower at the beginning instead of a river with fairies; The girl was a redhead, not blonde. It is entirely possible I'm remembering the tower from the save game on it, because apparently towers are a thing in this game.
Either way, thank you for the response. I'll check it out and see if it triggers any memories when I get a chance. This is literally more lead on this game than I've ever received before (and I've posted in several different forums over a long period of time), so REALLY, thank you, lol.
Destiny of an Emperor. If you're a fan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, give it a shot. Great game with a cult following and plenty of rom hacks to spice things up.
What an awesome list! Amazingly, Gemfire looks great even when compared to its 16-bit versions. Glory of Heracles II is on the level of the best Dragon Quest and Breath of Fire games - it's great to see it get a lot of love here!
The NES definitely did have good strategy RPGs, and Just Breed is right up there with the Fire Emblem games. I don't know Japanese, but I imagine that the name "Just Breed" was an attempt to say something along the lines of "Righteous Lineage". Japanese developers are known for their strange choice of words when they consult their thesauruses. I wish they'd consult a native speaker of English too! :)
never even heard of just breed before and ive watched a bunch of vids about this. That definitely gets a like as it seems like a game right up my alley
I've been debating on buying a copy of gargoyle's quest 2 but man that's a pricey meatball.
Such a heartwarming video, Dave!
Samurai Pizza Cats is so nostalgic to me. This is indeed an excellent Tecmo platformer.
Monster Party and The Guardian Legend are underrated as heck!
Heracles no Eikou II. Man, I've tried to love this game as much as you did but the breaking armor/weapon left me in a pissed amazement.
By the way, did you try Radia Senki: Reimeihen? It's an easy 10-12 hour Tecmo action-RPG with nice cutscenes, great plot and also an exquisite OST.
Great list. I remember playing a big chunk of those when I was a kid and would have to rely on Nintendo Power to know what games to get. The box art never helped. Lol
My 4 favorite hidden gems are:
Both Golgo-13 games
Dusty Diamonds All Star Softball
Clash at Demonhead
The Guardian Legend is an absolutely wonderful game. Great list. :)
One NES RPG I never hear anyone talk about is Lagrange Point
Omg Gemfire!! 😯
Yeah! Which family did you prefer to play as?
@@thehoff3189 Blanche, he just looked like a main character, I played it on the snes, never saw the nes version looks really nice.
@@rorkirbabtista9429 I liked Ander alot but for a challenge I'd go Molbrew
This is a great list, there are several games here I’d like to play sometime for the first time. I totally recommend Clash at Demonhead. I wrote a “spoiler-free” walkthrough that’s on gamefaqs, which I’ve gone back and referred to it myself as I forget where to go sometimes. If you pick it up again sometime 🙂 love your channel and content 💙
I really loved your list David,i was never interested in Nes emulation because i thought that the SNES had all the great jrpgs but with This list i can see that that isn't the case😊,David is the glory of Heracles for the ds horrible?i was trying out the third game on the SNES and i like it so far
Awesome list! Of those games, I have many fond memories of The Guardian Legend and Crystalis and never heard of the others, but a lot of them peaked my interest too!
Crystalis!
u should make a full review of MAGIC OF CHEHERRAZADE it is one of the most ambitious games ever made on nes, and the many twists and especially how u could get a game over after the last boss if u don't reply to the question was insane.
I actually played it on the DS and the game wasn't that bad but I like to know that it actually does have an original series
This is a legit hidden gems list!! Nice video!!
Did you ever try Destiny of an Emperor? It’s a unique JRPG on the NES. If you haven’t it’s worth your time to check out.
YES GUARDIAN LEGEND! I freakin loved that game so much
Crystalis was one of my faves growing up!
nice to see a list of games I've genuinely never heard of :D
i had in mind Princess Tomato would had fit in
lots hate it but i find it has a great charm
I had Monster Party that game was SICK but very difficult at 6 years old
Good choices Dave! Haven't you played sweet home? That would be a great Halloween Video!!
Crystalis is one of my favorite games!! Some of these on your list I've never heard of. I'll check them out. Thanks for sharing!!!🙂
I had Gargoyle's Quest on the Gameboy but never played the sequel. It was a good game.
Your mom stole it from the store? My mom use to do that with bags of ice..she was like wtf they want me to pay for frozen water and pull out like 4x10lbs bags and just walk out...shes been gone for like 16 years now..god bless that women..
Damn that's savage AF I don't think I'd put that out there bro
Wow i gotta check out the Gargoyles quest and the glory of heracles series, Though i am definitely not playing that DS game
Though i wonder why the DS version is regarded as awful?
I'm going to be the annoying guy that tells you Sigma Star Saga is not on the DS, but the GBA... =)
True, I think he made a mistake with Sigma Harmonics. :)
That Hercules one looks like a Dragon Quest clone
Power blade was my favourite nes game.
as a kid I LOVED Crystalis!
Really liked this one David.
Another great video! Thank you, David! I'm a sucker for top 10's.
Now this is a video I'm gonna love the shit out of
I'm kinda surprised Willow didn't make this list.
The fact that your mom "stole" a game in which the objective is to kill god has got to be one of the best things I've heard on your channel