Maligned Games Are The Real Hidden Gems
Games that are often described as maligned or mis-categorized are the real hidden gems of the NES.
Playing a game is like reading a novel. Consider the experience of reading a book for the first time. At first you are confused and unsure. Who are these characters? What is happening? Can I keep this all straight? Then as time passes the characters start to coalesce with the setting and plot, and the book flows, and you are lost in the current of the narrative. When the book ends you wish there was more. Games are like this. At first they are confusing, disorienting, and often your initial experience is not even remotely similar to the rest of your time with the game.
An issue is that when you have lots of games (I have 85 on the NES alone, a small number for this forum) you seldom get past that initial confused state when trying a new game because you don’t put in the time. And these experiences color our modern, post-NES era, including the pervasive “hidden gem” lists.
For example, at the start of this summer I began playing Bionic Commando for the first time. I don’t own it for any other reason than the fact that I found it in a Goodwill years ago. The game often makes top game lists, so I decided to give it a playthrough.
Bionic Commando is not a fun game when you first start playing. I found the controls stiff and counter-intuitive. I approached an obstacle and my character was rooted to the ground as if I was being penalized in a normal game. I made my way to the top of the first building and read the text off the computer. Then I flubbed my next Tarzan swing and died. On my next life I immediately traveled right, because I’d already read the text on the computer console. I did not know that reading the text triggers events in the Bionic Commando. I ran out of level. There was nothing to do. My frustration level mounted.
Now let's imagine the process by which one sits down to make a “hidden gems” list. None of the well know good games are qualified. So if you do what I would do, you pull out some games in your library that you haven’t played and give them a try to see what grabs your attention. After twenty minutes you have decided if the game has potential for your “hidden gems” list. If Bionic Commando was hidden, and I used this method to make a hidden gems list, Bionic Commando would not make the cut.
As I’ve spent more time with the game it has become increasingly more enjoyable. Last night I reached Super Joe and the game had taken on an epic, cinematic feeling. I’ve been daydreaming about playing it at work. Now my point is not that Bionic Commando is a hidden gem; it regularly makes lists of top NES games. My point is that good games are not always fun in the first fifteen minutes of gameplay.
I bought the game Xexyz because I saw it on a hidden gems youtube video. The game is fun and reminds me of other games that I enjoy. However I nearly beat the game on my first play-through. I am not an expert gamer; in the past five years I think I’ve beaten Megaman 2 and a handful of turn-based RPGs. I believe that Xexyz often makes these lists because it is colorful, instantly intuitive, and varied enough in the first twenty minutes that people who have never played it before are instantly drawn in. That is not to say that Xexyz is a bad game. I’ve pulled it out of the drawer a handful of times and it is a go to when someone is visiting and they want to play something they haven’t played before. But playing Xexyz has not been a monumental “I’ll remember this fondly for years” kind of experience either.
Every time there is a “hidden gems” list someone mentions a game that is not “hidden” but most people think is bad. LJN games and Friday the 13th in particular tend to come up often.
I played Friday the 13th in the late 1990s. I played Friday the 13th a lot in the late 1990s. I was in middle school and my three best friends were mennonite brothers. They were not allowed to come to my house because of their religion so I spent most of my time at theirs. They were forbid television but they were allowed a commodore 64 monitor and NES. I do not know if this is common in that faith. I do know that we played a lot of NES; every time it was raining too hard to go outside, the temperature tipped below -15, we were too exhausted to sled anymore or too tired to work on our treehouse it was NES time. They only had Super Mario Bros. and Friday the 13th.
Given the amount of practice we were getting Mario Bros. was a pretty easy game. I can still usually beat it on my first try. Friday the 13th took us a longer time to figure out. Over bowls of Kraft Dinner mixed with ground venison and chicken flavored crackers we played hours of Friday the 13th. We made maps, we argued over the campers, and when we found Jason’s mom’s head we all about crapped our pants. To this day if it’s pouring down rain outside my mind will pull up some images of Friday the 13th. The game lingers in mind, hazy and pleasant, an artifact of some of the best times of my life.
When I was in college The Angry Nintendo Nerd hit the internet. I remember it well. In the early days of Youtube I was home from college and my friends little brother told me about this guy making NES videos. “He does this swearing thing that’s not very funny, but his videos are pretty good.” I watched, I laughed. Mentally I put Friday the 13th into the “only good because of nostalgia” category. I mean, everything LJN touched is crap, right? I was not the only one. I was wrong.
Friday the 13th has its current defenders on NA, and I agree with them. It is not a perfect game, and at first it is a very frustrating one. Nothing is clear and you die often. The game’s quirks are much harder to overcome than a bionic Tarzan arm. But if you put in the time there is a depth of enjoyment to be had. Friday the 13th is a true hidden gem. Google will tell you it is trash. Youtube will tell you, over and over, that it is one of the worst games ever made. But a sustained effort will reveal a deep pleasure.
In conclusion, I think we sometimes ask the wrong questions when looking for those hidden gems. The maligned games that have defenders are the hidden gems. A lot of us probably have them gathering dust in our collections.
(I do love the AVGN and still watch all of his videos.)
Comments
I think you are correct in this assessment, and I would argue that most "hidden gems" videos are for people who are newer to the system. It's very cool to not be into the popular thing nowadays, and people tend to like feeling that smug superiority of knowing a game that their friends (at least the ones into gaming) have not heard of. Therefore, they can say, "Yeah I have the Marios/Zeldas/etc., but have you played THIS?" They get some gaming cred as a source of unique ideas and games.
That is why I have appreciated hidden gem discussions here on NA. People tend to tailor their lists when forum topics are made. You have the people new to the hobby who ask for aid in what games to get, and guys are quick to jump in and point out the "essential" games. Once the person's preferences are discussed (platformers/shmups/RPGs/etc.), less common games are often named. However, when an experienced NAer asks for suggestions, they usually clarify in their post, and the games that come out are often not on the average gamers radar, especially because of the incredible specialized knowledge that some members have. It's amazing, and you definitely hear of games you never had heard of before (at least I have). And, as you said, games can take a while to acclimate to, and most NAers, when offering suggestions, will point out which games require that, which I greatly appreciate.
Bionic Commando is much too common to be a hidden gem, although it is a neat take on action platformers!
Bionic Commando is much too common to be a hidden gem, although it is a neat take on action platformers!
This is also the first time I feel like I've read negative opinions about first impressions of it
The shooting system is stupid, BUT if you think about it, its kinda brilliant. Because of the silly nature of the shooting, its much more frantic, like a real shooting would be. It would be so easy to just walk past a bullet and shoot the guy "Commando" style. This style allows you to really move and use cover. Very smart.
I also have no idea why Battletoads Double Dragon for SNES gets hate or somehow inferior to the NES version. That game is awesome.
I think its crazy that the mennonites werent allowed to go to a friends house, but were allowed a game about a hockey mask wearing psycopath that murders children.
I know they got the machine second-hand. No one picked that particular game out at a store or anything.
I also know that the family left town very suddenly when I was in high school. The rumors were that the father had been too flexible with some of the rules and they were kicked out of the church. I don't know what happened. They were great friends to have growing up.
Bionic Commando is much too common to be a hidden gem, although it is a neat take on action platformers!
This is also the first time I feel like I've read negative opinions about first impressions of it
It didn't take me long to come around on it.
The most recent one I've come across is Trillion: God of Destruction. We didn't get many games with this particular spin on it (it's like Princess Maker, for those who are familiar with that franchise), and the execution, battle system, and storytelling are top-notch.
I think its crazy that the mennonites werent allowed to go to a friends house, but were allowed a game about a hockey mask wearing psycopath that murders children.
Not the same but one of my brother's best friend when we were growing up was a Jehova's Witness. But his parents were lax on the "no birthday" celebrations - so he and his brother always got new video games. Some people just really love their kids.
I agree completely and want to add my two cents when I'm not on mobile!
A game that qualifies for me is Lunar Pool. I just played this a couple days ago and had no expectations that a nes pool game with some sort of underlying space theme would be anything more than 8 bit dook.
But to my surprise,this game is actually pretty fun and gets pretty challenging. Definitely a hidden gem to me.
BTW if you want to get ahead of the 'hidden gem' price spike, do what I did. Play just about every game on emulator and be familiar with the library. Write down what you like and buy!
That's what I'm having to do with most of the Japanese imports I'm buying, but I just look at gameplay vids for each of them and mark each title as import, maybe import, or do not import. It's been a pretty reliable method, but I've certainly gotten a couple games that looked cooler than they actually were (damn you Dino Land).
A game that qualifies for me is Lunar Pool. I just played this a couple days ago and had no expectations that a nes pool game with some sort of underlying space theme would be anything more than 8 bit dook.
I've had Lunar Pool since childhood, and I agree that it's awesome. It's still my favorite pool game, with the pool mini game in Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 being second.
Rock 'N' Ball can also be a lot of fun with a friend.
BTW if you want to get ahead of the 'hidden gem' price spike, do what I did. Play just about every game on emulator and be familiar with the library. Write down what you like and buy!
That's what I did once while unemployed. But it was every rom in the "GoodNes" collection at the time, so every US and Famicom game that wasn't a hack\bad\overdump. At 10-15 mins a day, this took a while. Like, 5 months while; did it shortly after I broke in my newly revamped mamecab.
Bionic Commando is much too common to be a hidden gem, although it is a neat take on action platformers!
This is also the first time I feel like I've read negative opinions about first impressions of it
honestly I felt exactly how OP did the first time I tried bionic commando
I find the type of "hidden gems" that you're referring to more on newer consoles (PS1 and newer), especially with niche genres like RPGs, puzzle games, and shooters. I'm finding out that when games got reviews of 70's or 60's, they still had redeeming qualities and were worth a look.
I feel like the PS1 library is so massive that there must be good stuff buried in there. It also lacks a forum as active as this one. I read playstation collecting from time to time, but things move pretty slowly over there. Maybe in five years? After NES, PS1 is probably my favorite.
I don't know if I agree with your sentiment on Friday the 13th, as I've not played it, but I like your post a lot. If you started a blog I'd definitely read it.
Thank you.
I also have no idea why Battletoads Double Dragon for SNES gets hate or somehow inferior to the NES version. That game is awesome.
I even used to love that game on Gameboy.
I find the type of "hidden gems" that you're referring to more on newer consoles (PS1 and newer), especially with niche genres like RPGs, puzzle games, and shooters. I'm finding out that when games got reviews of 70's or 60's, they still had redeeming qualities and were worth a look.
I feel like the PS1 library is so massive that there must be good stuff buried in there. It also lacks a forum as active as this one. I read playstation collecting from time to time, but things move pretty slowly over there. Maybe in five years? After NES, PS1 is probably my favorite.
PS1 is up there for me, but I think I like the PS2 a bit more. Both of those consoles have so many great games, though, you can't go wrong with either of 'em.
You're right about one thing, though, you do have to do a lot more research to find the good games on Sony consoles. Sega, too.
In other cases, the game really isn't bad at all, but simply makes the mistake of trying something different -- which means it takes effort to learn it and make it intuitive. And most people aren't friendly to that: they want to feel godlike, not humbled; they want to be flattered for doing things they already know how to do, not challenged to re-think their automatic habits.
(I also find that a lot of people completely flip out if a game makes them feel stupid or helpless -- it's like a threat to their ego, and they take it personally. Games with steep learning curves often fall into this category, and then get trashed for it.)
Originally posted by: Ozzy_98
Originally posted by: guitarzombie
BTW if you want to get ahead of the 'hidden gem' price spike, do what I did. Play just about every game on emulator and be familiar with the library. Write down what you like and buy!
That's what I did once while unemployed. But it was every rom in the "GoodNes" collection at the time, so every US and Famicom game that wasn't a hack\bad\overdump. At 10-15 mins a day, this took a while. Like, 5 months while; did it shortly after I broke in my newly revamped mamecab.
Its as simple as looking thru the library and going "Hmm... Burai Fighter... not familiar with it. Lemme check it out". "WOW! That was great! What else?"... "Hmmm Rocky and Bullwinkile... dont remember that one"... "OH GOD".
Bionic Commando was one of those for me, haha. I remember finally giving it a chance and being so stoked about it. I think it was after I played through Spider-Man 2 on X-box.
Bionic Commando is much too common to be a hidden gem, although it is a neat take on action platformers!
This is also the first time I feel like I've read negative opinions about first impressions of it
honestly I felt exactly how OP did the first time I tried bionic commando
Same here. As I said above... After giving up on it as a child, I got back to it when I was older and figured there had to be some sort of way to get through it.
Once I figured out that the grapple/swing IS your jump it all came together. I remember specifically realizing "Holy shit, I can swing around and that's how I "jump" "
Neat game. Probably will be even more fun next time I play it.
To the OP:
I think there are some games like this, but most NES games you can tell right away if the controls are any good.
Some have "bad"/slow controls but are still great games like Bayou Billy. Others have crappy controls and are crappy games, like Solomon's Key or Mappy Land, haha.
Ones like Bionic Commando are harder to find... My brain is braining about them right now.
I know what you mean, though. Some games don't get the love because of the "stiff"/limited controls. "Hidden Gem" might be a bit of a stretch.
Kid Nikki is another of my lesser known favorite Nintendo games. I love the art style and subtle humor. Enjoying this game really depends on playing it enough to get the timing down on your attack.