NES homebrew recommendations

[Gamegearguy | 224]

Finally got my NES up and running. I never did find the power cord, but I found a 3rd party one I got long ago (SJ Commanding Player. I'm a "Big Boy." the box told me that, lol). Now that I have a NES again, where can I buy some homebrews and what are your recommendations on some I should get? I only have one: Tailgate Party, since it uses the power pad.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

Blade Buster for shooters.

Legends of Owlia

Battle Kid 1 and 2

The Incident

 

[Deadeye | 1,596]

@Scrobinsruns a currently available thread here:

For recommendations:

My personal favs on currently available are Nebs n Debs, Haunted Halloween 86, Trophy, and NES Virus Cleaner.

No longer for sale, but on the secondary market, I'd recommend The Incident, The Mad Wizard (ROM is free), and Cowlitz Gamer's Second Adventure (ROM is available with suggested donation). 

If you have genre types you like, we can nail it down better.

[Scrobins | 1,725]

You might also like to read this thread, though it eventually went off the rails a bit...

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Trophy if you like Mega Man
Micro Mages if you like 4 player co-op
Armed for Battle if you like RTS
Mall Brawl if you like Double Dragon
Lizard if you like old-school NES action adventure games with an air of mystery
NES Virus Cleaner if you like one screen arcade games

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I forgot, STRREEEEEEMMMMERRRRZZZZ is the greatest of them all!!!!!

Edited April 6, 2021 by Dr. Morbis

[Tanooki | 4,933]

Khan Games amazing conversion of the original Leisure Suit Larry to the NES is a must.  Good luck locating it though.

[Gamegearguy | 224]

Where can I find Blade Buster?

Tell me more about STREEMERZ.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

2 hours ago, Gamegearguy said:

Tell me more about STREEMERZ.

At first blush it looks like a hack of Bionic Commando, (and as a guy who can't stand hacks, I avoided it for years for this reason), it is actually all original game code, based loosely on the concept crudely implemented in the Action 52 game of the same name.

In a nutshell, you've got a "streemer" that goes up at a 45 degree angle and grapples onto walls and whatnot, and each level is a giant obstacle course where you're trying to get from point A to point B.  Tons of options and a cool little story the first time through that you can skip in subsequent playthroughs - and there will be subsequent playthroughs.  Try it out today!

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

2 hours ago, Gamegearguy said:

Where can I find Blade Buster?

Tell me more about STREEMERZ.

Blade Buster from the source: http://hlc6502.web.fc2.com/Bbuster.htm. So damn good.

Streemerz at INL: http://www.infiniteneslives.com/action53.php. It was the feature game on the first Action 53 NesDev compo.  Rumor has that it will return to physical cart for the upcoming volume 4.

I'll give a shout out for Rollie from@Optomon, Spook-o-tron from @SoleGoose, and @Dullahan Software for Nebs N Debs. 

• https://rolliegame.com/
• https://www.solegooseproductions.com/?page_id=52
• https://www.nebsndebs.com/

 

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

Just realized, you're looking to buy but I'd suggest investing in a PowerPak/Everdrive to get started. Tons of homebrews were released as roms (free to ~$10). Try some stuff and buy physical copies of what you like. 

Blade Buster was never officially put to cart but I'm sure you can find some pirates from the repro guys if you must have physical and want to give your money to someone other than the dev.

[Gamegearguy | 224]

What is a Power Pak? NES everdrives are way expensive. $160?

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

PowerPak is the retroUSB version. That's also the source for the Battle Kid and the 8bit Xmas carts.  (The Xmas roms are also freely available from the site.) PowerPak is $135 but looks like it's unavailable at the moment.

I know they're expensive but for the cost of a couple brews, or even just one aftermarket, you will get a ton of mileage out of it.  If I bought one today, I'd go with the Everdrive.  Still dev supported but either one will work for you.

Edited April 6, 2021 by JamesRobot

[Deadeye | 1,596]

You can also get the standard Everdrive N8 instead of the pro model, which is between $98 -120, depending where you get it.  The pro model does have extra features though.
https://everdrive.me/cartridges/edn8nes.html
https://stoneagegamer.com/flash/nes/carts/original/

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,012]

11 hours ago, Gamegearguy said:

Where can I find Blade Buster?

Tell me more about STREEMERZ.

Streemerz is my favorite homebrew

[nesmaster14 | 435]

For starters I'd recommend:

• Super Bat Puncher
• Battle Kid
• Larry and the Long Look for a Luscious Lover (Leisure Suit Larry NES port)
• Blade Buster
• Streemerz
• The Mad Wizard (by Sly Dog Studios)
• Nomolos: Storming the Catsle
• Micro Mages (by the same guy who made Super Bat Puncher)

 

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

+1 Micro Mages

Black Box Challenge

Beerslinger if you like tapper

 

[Deadeye | 1,596]

40 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Beerslinger if you like tapper

 

I like Beerslinger.  I wish it had an arcade mode with high scores though. 

[Jono1874 | 144]

Micro Mages is great. If you buy it on Steam, they provide a ROM for you to put on an Everdrive.
There's also a very, very good port of Berserk out there, the guy only wants a couple bucks for the ROM. I can't seem to find a link.
Battle Kid is very good, but extremely hard.

My number one piece of advice is to get yourself an Everdrive if you want to play Homebrew though. There are several instances where you can buy the ROM from the devs who made the game.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Jono1874

[Gamegearguy | 224]

So nobody makes homebrew cartridges of NES games any more? How sad.

[Deadeye | 1,596]

4 minutes ago, Gamegearguy said:

So nobody makes homebrew cartridges of NES games any more? How sad.

Yes many do.  However some only release as digital or as both.

[Gamegearguy | 224]

Just got the cheaper Everdrive. I don't think I could spend that much on a fancier one. I just want one game at a time, so I hope this is a good way to go about doing this.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

31 minutes ago, Gamegearguy said:

So nobody makes homebrew cartridges of NES games any more? How sad.

Def they do.  But it can get very expensive especially in the aftermarket.  And a bunch of available roms for out of print physical carts.

 

 

23 minutes ago, Gamegearguy said:

Just got the cheaper Everdrive. I don't think I could spend that much on a fancier one. I just want one game at a time, so I hope this is a good way to go about doing this.

You won't regret.  Many demos and old school homebrew roms out there.  Try out what you can and then buy what you like/can afford.

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

I don't think alot of homebrew makers take advantage of the MMC chip anyways so a cheaper emulator is probably better for that purpose. 

I'm really just speculating though I could be ultra wrong

[Deadeye | 1,596]

@a3quit4swithout looking into it, Trophy is MMC3 and Haunted Halloween 86 is MMC1 are the only ones coming to mind. Many homebrews are nrom, unrom, bnrom, or gtrom.  GTROM is not fully compatible on flashcarts right now IIRC.

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

4 minutes ago, Deadeye said:

@a3quit4swithout looking into it, Trophy is MMC3 and Haunted Halloween 86 is MMC1 are the only ones coming to mind. Many homebrews are nrom, unrom, bnrom, or gtrom.  GTROM is not fully compatible on flashcarts right now IIRC.

Alright so I wasn't all wrong hahaha