Famicom National Referendum - Japanese fan poll results (ongoing for the system's 40th Anniversary!)

[koifish | 556]

22 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Not a bad list, can't blame that spread.  Star Luster is a little surprising, I own this one and it's a lot of fun despite its age it is fairly unique and plays well.  It's interesting to see Nintendo's own fighter Joy Mech Fight got in high on the list that's a solid little fighting game that plays surprisingly well, almost feels like it has some early Custom Robo dna to it given how that one works out between the fights.  Rampart is a good good call, that game Konami made really shames the US release in comparison, it's not the same title, check it out.  I've been meaning to scoop that one up, just have not yet as I had it years ago.

Joymech is not entirely surprising; It came out 3 years after super famicom and 5 years after mega drive, 6 years after pc-engine and after the CD add-ons. In fact, you could get a 3DO or Neo Geo by that time, and a PlayStation or Saturn the year after. Probably hidden gem for that alone; Nobody was paying attention anymore.

I always wanted to see an attempt at joymech fight for game boy; I bet it could have been incredible, though you would need a big cartridge storage space for those days.

[Tanooki | 4,942]

I guess so, the date would support it as much.  But there it is, the only other as far as I can recall legit/licensed fighter for the system, or in a way the ONLY since FC got it, and NES got the TMNT fighters.  And this game destroys that janky Konami title control wise, and has far more substance and things to do too.  It's a shame it never made it out of there but it just was too late.  MM6, Warios Woods, gray cart Zeldas were far easier to market than some disjointed robot pixel parts fighting game at that rate.  It would have been endless reviewer baby snark how it just wasn't street fighter II.

[wongojack | 217]

Cool thread, I'm catching up on reading the history.  Has Punch Out appeared as an answer anywhere?  I haven't seen it.

[scaryice | 589]

7 hours ago, wongojack said:

Cool thread, I'm catching up on reading the history.  Has Punch Out appeared as an answer anywhere?  I haven't seen it.

Only for the "mic" question as a joke answer.

[scaryice | 589]

10 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I guess so, the date would support it as much.  But there it is, the only other as far as I can recall legit/licensed fighter for the system, or in a way the ONLY since FC got it, and NES got the TMNT fighters.

Keru Naguuru is on the hidden gem list also, and it's a fighter.

[scaryice | 589]

This week's results:

Question #38 (4/5-4/11) - When it comes to "4 character titles", what game comes to mind?

1	Xevious	17.5
2	Tetris	8.7
3	Life Force	8.6
4	Karateka	7.8
5	Door Door	6.0
6	Seicross	5.8
7	Getsu Fuuma Den	5.4
8	Ufouria	5.1
9	Mappy	2.9
10	Son Son	2.9
11	Milon's Secret Castle	2.3
12	Galaga	2.0
13	Karnov	2.0
14	1942	1.7
15	Pooyan	1.3
16	Puyo Puyo	1.2
17	Hanjuku Hero	1.1
18	Legend of Kage	1.1
18	Pro Wrestling	1.1
20	Contra	1.0

 

Xevious walks away with first place, doubling the second place Tetris. As before, these type of questions will be hard to comprehend unless you're looking at the Japanese spellings. Hopefully, this is the last of them, since they're not too interesting. It's mostly just a list of well-known games. Hebereke/Ufouria is on the list, which is probably because of the recent release of its sequel on modern platforms.

 

Next week's question: When it comes to simulation games, what comes to mind?

Koei stuff?. It all depends on what people consider simulation to be. I saw some people mentioning strategy rpgs like Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem, and some people mentioning sports games.

Edited April 11 by scaryice

[koifish | 556]

12 hours ago, scaryice said:

Next week's question: When it comes to simulation games, what comes to mind?

Koei stuff?. It all depends on what people consider simulation to be. I saw some people mentioning strategy rpgs like Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem, and some people mentioning sports games.

Super Mario Bros will be on there as an accurate portrayal of plumbing.

[scaryice | 589]

This week's results:

Question #39 (4/12-4/18) - When it comes to simulation games, what comes to mind?

1	Famicom Wars	22.6
2	Fire Emblem	22.1
3	Nobunaga's Ambition	8.7
4	Gachapon Senshi 2	5.0
5	King of Kings	3.8
6	Romance of the Three Kingdoms	3.1
7	Gachapon Senshi: Scramble Wars	2.8
8	Dai-2-ji Super Robot Taisen	2.6
9	Fire Emblem Gaiden	2.0
10	Dokuganryuu Masamune	1.9
10	Best Play Pro Yakyuu	1.9
12	Hanjuku Hero	1.5
13	Romance of the Three Kingdoms II	1.3
14	Sangokushi: Chuugen no Hasha	1.2
15	Nobunaga's Ambition III	1.2
16	Nobunaga's Ambition II	1.0
17	Gachapon Senshi 3	0.9
18	Dai Kaijuu: Deburas	0.7
18	Best Keiba: Derby Stallion	0.7
20	Gachapon Senshi 4	0.7

 

Very close finish for first place. Those are the two games I think of when I imagine "Famicom strategy rpg". The presence of the sequel likely led to Fire Emblem finishing second. There's four Gachapon Senshi games, three Nobunaga games (including the third one, which was released on the SNES in the US as "Lord of Darkness"), and three Romance games (including Namco's Sangokushi). Also, Best Play Baseball, which was a different take on the sport.

We're now 75% of the way through the year of polls!

 

Next week's question: When it comes to a good story, what game comes to mind?

I'm expecting the usual rpgs like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Also interested to see how good the adventure/visual novel games do. A number of people are mentioning Famicom Detective Club on Twitter, but that game is in two parts, so it's unlikely to finish first. I doubt Portopia is interesting enough story-wise to finish super high.

Edited April 18 by scaryice

[Tanooki | 4,942]

Well there are others from the FDS library too like the Catherine mystery novel conversions, and a few others too so they may rate a way up the scale.

[scaryice | 589]

This week's results:

Question #40 (4/19-4/25) - When it comes to a good story, what game comes to mind?

1	Dragon Quest III	22.0
2	Dragon Quest IV	13.3
3	Mother	8.9
4	Shin Onigashima	5.0
5	Okhotsuku ni Kiyu	4.9
6	Famicom Detective Club (part 2)	4.5
7	Final Fantasy II	4.3
8	Final Fantasy III	3.8
9	Famicom Detective Club (part 1)	3.5
10	Megami Tensei II	2.0
11	Captain Tsubasa II	1.4
12	Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken	1.2
13	Metal Slader Glory	1.1
14	Fire Emblem	1.1
15	Dragon Quest II	1.0
15	Kirby's Adventure	1.0
17	Yuuyuuki	1.0
18	Lagrange Point	0.8
19	Sanma no Mei Tantei	0.7
19	Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Toki no Sugiyuku Mama ni	0.7
19	Doraemon: Gigazombie no Gyakushuu	0.7

 

DQ3 wins, of course. The end game stuff is memorable, but I'd say DQ4 might have a better story overall. Although, I still think 3 is the better game. I'd go with StarTropics in an NES poll.

 

Next week's question: When it comes to good special moves, what game comes to mind?

Tough one. I don't know if any fighting games like Joy Mech Fight are popular enough to finish first. Maybe just something basic like Mario 3?

[Tanooki | 4,942]

Special moves is kind of vague, so with that, I'd consider 'suits' special moves which to me puts Super Mario Bros 3 and Kirby's Adventure at the top of the list, so many moves there.  SMB3 with the frog ability, hammer, tanooki, etc.  Kirby and the so many differing captures and how that changes how to attack a stage or a boss.  Rockman any of them making that list I think would be obvious too with all the robot master abilities and other specials like the platforms, rush dog, etc.  Megami Tensei may get it again given the special you pick up with the demons you can recruit too.

[DefaultGen | 5,415]

I don't know how relatively popular anything is in Japan but I'm surprised Sweet Home didn't even get a minor nod. I was pretty shocked how horrifying it is for an 8-bit Nintendo game. It really stands out.

But then I looked up the lowest rated game and it's Doraemon vs the freaking Gigazombie.

This is the true face of terror

[Tanooki | 4,942]

Doraemon is a national treasure, like tezukas astro boy/tetsuwan atom, golgo-13, and a few others that lasted like 30-50+ years.  That definitely had some amount of draw to creeping into the rankings.

[scaryice | 589]

This week's results:

Question #41 (4/26-5/1) - When it comes to good special moves, what game comes to mind?

1	MUSCLE	12.3
2	Super Dodge Ball	8.1
3	Captain Tsubasa II	7.6
4	Captain Tsubasa	5.1
5	Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku	4.7
6	Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou	4.0
7	Joy Mech Fight	3.8
8	Hiryuu no Ken II	3.1
9	Flying Dragon	2.6
10	Mother	2.2
11	Dragon Ball Z	1.7
12	River City Ransom	1.7
13	Dragon Ball Z II	1.5
14	Fire Emblem	1.3
15	Dragon Ball 3	1.2
15	Ninja Jajamaru-kun	1.2
15	Famicom Jump	1.2
18	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu	1.2
19	Double Dragon II	1.1
20	Pro Wrestling	1.1

4 Kunios, 3 Dragon Balls (4 if you count Famicom Jump), and lots of fighting and wrestling. However, the MUSCLE/Kinnikuman nostalgia ends up on top. It's actually the second poll that game has won (#19 - tag). They love their MUSCLE over there... I like it better than Tag Team Wrestling, at least.

 

Next week's question: When it comes to -chan/-kun, what game comes to mind?

That would refer to the honorifics used in Japanese used mostly for younger boys/girls. "kun" is sometimes translated as kid, like Dracula-kun = Kid Dracula. Kunio-kun is the most obvious answer here, although like this poll it might be divided among multiple games. Maybe the Ninja-kun/Jajamaru-kun games too. Also expecting some joke votes for Jackie Chan.

 

 

 

[Tanooki | 4,942]

I'm fairly impressed to see (Kunio) Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu take the #2 slot as that seems almost out of nowhere, yet it does make a lot of sense.  If you play that single player you'll get a taste because every character you can choose on field has a special ground and air shot, though the captains are usually the most devastating.  But, there are a few other non-captains who have some utterly nasty moves when two go at it in 1on1 mode.  One shot a bumblebee is a good one, it spins but also loops the area fairly tightly in the same space so it's hard to snag as you could easily catch it or catch it in the side/back and it'll clear the entire area more or less nailing everyone.  The game has a lot of special attacks, probably the most of the system.