Let's Play 53: IGN's Best NES Games Ever: 80-71 Quiz

Answer: Barbarian

If you look at the box art for "Demon Sword", there is a half-naked giant barbarian (who looks rather like He-man), gazing at a sword blazing with fire. Given the box art, you will be quite surprised to discover that the main hero you control is actually a rather thin ninja in a red kimono.

Like most games, there are several differences in the Japanese version vs the American version. Japan's "Demon Sword" features six more levels and several bosses not present in the US version. There are also more items and magic spells and an extended ending.

Finally, the box art for the Japan "Demon Sword" is much more representative of the actual hero you play in the title.

Answer: Super Mario Bros.

After developing "Ice Climber", Morita was assigned as one of the main programmers for the original "Super Mario Bros." The characters from "Ice Climber" would go on to feature in the "Super Smash Bros." series.

According to Morita, the famous turtle cheat where you can get unlimited lives in "Super Mario Bros." was actually an accident. He is also the principal reason why fishing was introduced into the "Zelda" series, as one of his passions is fishing.

Here is a portion of an interview with Morita from the official "Zelda" website from Nintendo:

"The programming behind Nintendo's games, and my own approach to it, has changed vastly since the mid 1980s. The first game that I programmed, Ice Climber, was my warm-up on the NES, then I dove into the fascinating task of working on the code for 'Super Mario Bros'. And I had a real scare related to that project, which really taught me the importance of flawless code. Ever hear of the "unlimited Mario" cheat? The exact way to do it is a little complicated, but it involved the player setting up a scenario that allows Mario to bounce up and down on the same Koopa shell again and again and again. Points go up and up, leading to a steady flow of 1-Ups. I remember when we first heard about that cheat. We got a phone call from some kid, and Mr. Miyamoto and I both thought the call was a hoax--that such a thing was impossible! The programming was perfect . . . wasn't it? Well, we verified that the cheat worked. Fortunately, very fortunately, the "unlimited Mario" cheat had a ton of PR value as word spread, because I sweated bullets over what might happen!"

"Speaking of other groundbreaking projects, I still fondly recall how games like 'Doki Doki Panic'--the foundation for 'Super Mario Bros. 2' in North America--really stimulated my imagination as a programmer. That game was released for the Famicon Disk System in Japan, which--back in the day--was a truly fascinating system from a programming point of view. Of course, disk systems are common now, but then we were just exploring how the disk worked as an immense memory reservoir, which let me toy with many programming methods that I couldn't do with ROM. Working with my design partner, and getting very little guidance from others, we developed 'Doki Doki Panic' in ways that really pushed my skills. I really matured as a programmer during that time. Very interesting work.

Looking back, I'm very fortunate to have been one of the main programmers working on almost every game in the 'Zelda' series since it first began, since my programming has helped make 'Zelda' such a part of history. Now it's interesting to see how things have changed. While I used to do all of the programming for NES games, now I supervise a whole programming team, though I still do code myself, too, since I believe that staying very close to the art of programming is extremely important. Sometimes I feel myself thinking--when I see what some of the newer faces around Nintendo are conceiving--that such-and-such concept isn't true 'Zelda'! Listen to me! I have 20 years of experience here! But, really, having the fresh thoughts of young talents working on 'Twilight Princess' has really opened my eyes, and that makes me remember those first days working with Mr. Miyamoto on the first 'Zelda'. It's always essential to keep your mind open and learn from new ideas. I've known Mr. Miyamoto for many, many years. It's fascinating to watch him work now. On the surface, he looks like a perfectly pleasant middle-aged guy. But watch him make decisions! His words are extremely precise. His explanations carry a lot of weight. I never fail to be impressed by how he helps people grow and learn about game development. Which brings us back to 'Twilight Princess'. As I prepare to cook in the kitchen, I'm seeing extraordinary ingredients coming my way. If our programming can bring all of these flavors together, and with our help also add a touch of light-world zest and dark-world grit as needed, you can bet that 'Twilight Princess' will be the kind of memorable dish that will live up to the entire history of 'Zelda'."

Answer: Ring King

"Ring King", a game I had growing up, is a rather by the numbers boxing game. However, during the in-between round segments, there are some highly suggestive animations regarding the fighter and his corner men. Look up an online video and you'll see what I mean.

Answer: Duck Hunt

"Duck Hunt" frequently came prepackaged with the NES, along with "Super Mario Bros.", making it one of the most common carts available. Due to how newer televisions work, all NES games that use the Light Gun Zapper will not work on newer television sets, rending these games unplayable. "Duck Hunt" is a staggeringly small game, coming in at a mere 192 kilobytes.

The dog from "Duck Hunt" has become rather notorious in the gaming culture due to his constant laughter when you miss the ducks. More than one gamer wished you could shoot the dog in addition to the ducks. The dog makes a cameo in "Barker Bill's Trick Shooting", and you can shoot him there.

Not all "villains" are truly villains. Some characters are actually on your side but you still hate anyway. One such game features a dog that jumps into bushes to scare a duck out of the brush. It is your job to kill these animals. And if you miss, man's best friend, the dog, does something rather annoying. The manual states: "The hound comes out and laughs at you." So much for moral support.

Answer: Double Dragon

Tradewest owned the "Double Dragon" franchise back in the early 1990s. Although a genuine cross over, the focus is largely on the "Battletoads" franchise. There are also some inconsistencies between the "Double Dragon" canon proper and this title. The game is also very difficult, just like the original "Battletoads", though thankfully there are no God-awful speeder stages or snake stages this time around.

Answer: Mermaid

Strangely enough, Konami released "The Goonies II" on the NES, without ever releasing the original title outside of Japan, other than as an arcade title. The game has developed a cult following over the years due to its successful combination of first person exploration and platforming elements. The Goonies must free a captured mermaid named Annie (not present in the film) and Mikey must free six of his captured friends.

The first game was released on the Famicom back in 1986, and also on the Famicom Disk System.

Answer: Pitfall!

David Crane, the main talent behind the "Pitfall!" series, left Activision and formed his own company, called Absolute Entertainment. "A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia" features a boy who feeds his blob various jelly beans. Each flavor of jellybean will turn the blob into different types of objects, creating a puzzle element to this side scrolling platformer. Originally Crane wanted to develop a toy line and a movie as well.

The game famously won the Parents' Choice Award in 1990 for portraying "Positive Human Values".

Answer: The Peter Gunn Theme

For years growing up, I always thought the Peter Gun theme was exclusive to "Spy Hunter", not realising it was music from an actual television show. Originally the developers wanted to use the James Bond theme but Midway couldn't get the licensing rights to do so, which led them to using the Peter Gun theme written Henry Mancini (who also wrote the Audrey Hepburn classic "Moon River", a la "Breakfast at Tiffany's").

Another game I had growing up, "Spy Hunter" features a spy who must travel down the freeway, fighting off helicopters and other hostile vehicles, all the while protecting civilians. In the NES version you can actually drive on the grass and water with the car. Eventually the game loops after a few different segments, and also features a boat sequence where you go off into a boathouse and cruise the river.

Overall, "Spy Hunter" is largely just an arcade title that doesn't really hold up to extended game play, such as other classic NES titles.

Answer: The King of Fighters

Ralf and Clark are the two main characters in "Ikari Warriors", and would later appear in the "King of Fighters" series back in the 1990s. They would also appear in "Metal Slug 6" (2006) and "Metal Slug 7" (2008). Ralf first appeared in "TNK III" (known as "Tank" in Japan"), though you did not control Ralf directly but instead the tank Ralf was driving. "Ikari Warriors" is based heavily on the "Rambo" franchise. It wasn't until the "King of Fighters" series that SNK really developed Ralf and Clark into distinguishably different characters.

For the American localization of "Ikari Warriors", Ralf and Clark had their names changed, for whatever reason, to Paul and Vincent, though they retain their original Japanese names in the "King of Fighters" series and the aforementioned two "Metal Slug" installments they appear in.

There would be two more NES sequels: "Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road" from 1986 and "Ikari III: The Rescue" from 1989.

Answer: Seven

After beating the initial level, you are presented with a world map with each level marked as a letter (A-G). The shortest route to Fat Kat is skipping A and C and going to Level B, then D, then F, then G. E is an optional level.

After beating G, you are taken to a second section of the World Map, with levels H, I, and J ahead of you. You can beat the game in a mere seven levels, completely bypassing four levels.

This (short) game also appeared as a feature article and on the cover of "Nintendo Power". I remember renting (and subsequently buying) this game on the strength of the co-op gameplay, as both players, one controlling Chip and the Dale, can have game bonding together.