NES Games 1987: 30th Anniversary Quiz

Answer: Athena

Bored with daily life and venturing onto a dangerous journey, "Athena" has players controlling the Greek Goddess Athena to kick and fend off monsters. While on their journey, they are able to find armor, shields, and other weapons to help them defeat oversized enemies to move onto the next area. Various areas within the game are thematic in the sense that they represent various Greek environments. Levels include the World of Forest, World of Cavern, World of Ice, and World of Hell.

The goal of the game is to defeat the final boss Dante using various mythological weapons.

Answer: Simon

In the original "Castlevania" game release in 1986 in Japan and then in North America in 1987, players control the character Simon Belmont to go on a quest to defeat the final antagonist Dracula. There have been various games released in the series since its initial release including "Castlevania II: Simon's Quest", "Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse", and "Super Castlevania IV".

It has been highly praised as a game and was once ranked by IGN (Imagine Games Network) at #19 on their favorite NES games list.

Answer: Gotcha!

"Gotcha!" or "Gotcha!: The Sport" was a side-scrolling shooter game using the NES Light Gun. There were three levels in the game in which the player controls a paint-baller trying to capture the flag of the enemy and then returning to their home base. In order to do this, they must survive not being shot by the enemy, not run out of ammo, or run out of time.

Answer: Ganon

"The Legend of Zelda" by many is arguably one of the best video games of all time. It has spawned many games in its series on various platforms including NES, Super NES, Nintendo Wii, and GameCube. In the original NES game, players controlled the character Link to search for hidden levels, weapons, and defeat several bosses to collect pieces of a Triforce.

After doing so, they go to the final level of the game where they must defeat Ganon using silver arrows (which can only be found on the final level).

Answer: Top Man

Like many other games during the early period of Nintendo, there was no save option in the original "Mega Man" game. To complete the game, players control the character Mega Man to defeat six advanced robots (Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man and Elec Man). Once they have done so, they go to a final stage to defeat Dr. Wily (the creator of the robots).

The game has been considered extremely difficult as there was no save option nor was there a password option. To defeat the game, it had to be done in one shot without turning off the console. Top Man would be one of the final bosses in the "Mega Man 3" game.

Answer: Maridia

The area known as Maridia would not be included as a level or area in the "Metroid" series until "Super Metroid" came out for the SNES console in 1994. In "Metroid", players needed to collect various weapons and energy tanks in a final goal to defeat the Mother Brain.

The game was broken down into various areas of which there were two bosses to defeat; Kraid and Ridley. To defeat Kraid, players had to go to Brinstar. To defeat Ridley, players had to go to Norfair. The final showdown with the Mother Brain took place in Tourian.

Answer: Diskarmor

"Rygar", like "Super Mario Bros." and "Mega Man", did not have a save option nor was there a password option. This meant that players had to beat the game without turning off the console. Some players even left their machine on for days to achieve this feat.

The initial weapon used in the game, the "diskarmor", was unique as in most games, players did not start off the game with a weapon in hand, but rather had to search for one. It was also unique because the weapon itself (while a chained weapon) was more like a "yo-yo". To defeat the game, players had to visit the five Indora gods, receive a special item, and then head to King Ligar's castle for a final showdown.

Answer: Sixty-four (64)

In "Solomon's Key", players control the main character Dana to acquire a key and defeating enemies in order to advance to the next level. To defeat enemies, they were able to destroy blocks or create fireballs. In total, there were 50 rooms in the game and 64 total levels. "Solomon's Key" did not have a save feature or a password option, however, a cheat code could be used to continue starting at the level in which the last life was lost.

Answer: Letters

"Star Force" was initially released in 1984 as an arcade game as "Mega Force". In "Star Force", players control a ship called the Final Star and destroyed enemies for points. At the end of each level, they were required to defeat a boss. After doing so, they could move on to the next level. What made "Star Force" a memorable game is the fact that levels were not numbered, but instead named after letters of the Greek alphabet.

There were 24 levels in the game beginning with "alpha" and ending with "omega".

Answer: Top Gun

In "Top Gun", players pilot an F-14 Tomcat and must complete four missions successfully to win the game. They play the role of "Maverick" who was played by Tom Cruise in the 1986 movie "Top Gun". The four missions include a training mission, an enemy aircraft carrier, an enemy base, and an enemy space shuttle.

The game was proven to be extremely difficult as it required extreme precision by the player, particularly when landing the aircraft. If successfully completed, the final scene of the game shows a scene of the F-14 taxiing onto a carrier and the player waving to the aircraft crew.