Gloves

As though a longer form game couldn't implement similar trappings? The fact that there's a time limit is a boon as it creates a more honed experience and provides a unique challenge. That same time limit doesn't invalidate it from the conversation nor mean that we can't compare similarly styled games which are themselves not bound by that same time limit.

That's totally fair, and I'll follow up with that I also don't like Metroid games lol. The first Castlevania was good though, and I've not played the rest of those. When I first played Battle Kid I was expecting (and was told to expect...) another I Wanna Be The Guy (which I loved), and was disappointed.

I just don't like Mega Man style games.

I didn't like Battle Kid personally, but agreed - when the game came out is irrelevant. If other newer games can't keep up then that's tough noogies. Can anybody name a homebrew that's a better NES platformer than SMB3?

See my statement above - I've played all those you've listed and would consider them all to be inferior, personally. GunTneR was horrible and the dev didn't really honor my purchase - I got the "put something in the game" tier and he was entirely unresponsive and didn't implement anything at all that I proposed. Oratorio is a rail-shooter, completely different genre. I don't wanna be the snobby jerk in the room, but I play a lot of shmups and I play them at a very high skill level with a very deep understanding of the genre. The games you listed aside from maybe Astro Ninja Man aren't in the same ballpark as Blade Buster, and I'd personally once again place the two in separate categories. The spaceship shooter with full mobility and the Space Invaders style are both valid and these two games are high caliber examples of each, but I'd not necessarily compare the two beyond surface level aesthetics.

HaraForce is cool, but it and others like it lack a certain nuance. There's no mystery. Scoring lacks discovery and strategy. A good shoot em up is challenging, looks nice, and is fun to play. A GREAT shoot em up IMO has a fairly low barrier to entry but a high skill ceiling, rewarding daring plays, patience, strategy, and memorization. Games like HaraForce and other shmups I've seen over the years on retro consoles for the most part lack what makes a truly GREAT shmup. Blade Buster rewards players for patience - orange ball enemies can be killed immediately, but if you wait for them to open you get bonus points. Big round enemies which enter the screen in 4 parts which come together can be destroyed prior to their joining for huge points. Early on in the game they show you that destroying two large orb enemies at the same time (they turn orange shortly before their deaths) will also grant a huge point bonus. Later on in the game this knowledge comes in handy as two of them come in staggered, and you have to partially damage them into orange (i.e. close to death) but not finish them until they're both on screen which takes a little bit to happen, all while dealing with other enemies, and when they converge on screen for that point bonus it's *chef's kiss*. Most shmups could be played for high score - do better, kill more enemies, and often just farm popcorn during infinite boss fights, and you'll get a huge score or even max it out. Blade Buster gives you a time limit and challenges you to master your knowledge of the game and that just takes the experience to a whole nother level that others don't seem to be bothering to replicate or work to go beyond. The closest imitators mostly just ask the question "how much shit can I toss at the player at once on the NES?", with some going way overboard and creating a miserable experience. Over Obj is a recent example of this - I found that miserable to play and I love bullet hells. People need to respect the platform and its limitations and work within it.

I play a LOT of homebrews. I also play a LOT of shmups. Making a GOOD shmup is not that easy especially on the NES with sprite flickering and slow down, both of which are almost non existent in the game which is basically a miracle. There's not a ton of shmups coming out and those that do aren't great. The other one on my nominations is the exception - Astro Ninja Man is excellent, it's just not my favourite type of shmup. Again, you alluded to there being games out of Japan which are better. Name some.

How is seeing Blade Buster sad? It's fucking phenomenal. Show me a better shmup on the NES.

I did see that you'd linked to a relevant section (I might argue that the "Share" section isn't a marketplace regardless), but given your explanation I'm arguing semantics; your point is fair. I just want to make sure people aren't getting the impression that this place is solely about buying old (or new old) games, especially when honestly not THAT many transactions take place here compared to, say, Facebook Marketplace.

The rules stipulate only: avoid voting for games already in the Hall, need to vote for ten games, and cannot vote for any game you were involved in making The only rule I've broken is #2, looking back on it. Please ignore that the Sage is a character in Super Tilt Bro..

Here's a list of 10 nominations. No particular order. Blade Buster Nebs n' Debs NEScape! Gruniozerca (note: your link to this in your listing of games is a 404) Astro Ninja Man Super Tilt Bro. Alwa's Awakening Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King Gotta Protectors: Amazon’s Running Diet Cowlitz Gamers’ Second Adventure

@Seth Can I ask you to make a slight adjustment when referring to VGS in your publications? I noticed that on your article, The Top 500 Indie NES Games, Vol. 9 - by Seth Abramson (substack.com), you refer to VGS as an "indie NES marketplace" and that's not indicative of what we represent. We're a community of gamers, on which you could say the core group has a primary affinity for retro gaming. I'd never call us a marketplace, nor would I say that the NES (or Nintendo in general) are our focus.

I'll take this in mind and make a new, better post.

2122, and agreed with doner.

My joke response is ShmupSpeed, which I'm sad to say isn't on your list at all. My actual response is Blade Buster.

It's not been updated in a while, but if you wanna participate I could always edit the OP with your scores, yeah!

The difficulty off the bat was a bit rough, it TOSSES you into it. That said, I think the difficulty especially of the first dance bit is just the wonky timing on button presses. This permeates the game - WHEN do I press each button? It's something I think you need to stumble through on your first go.

I have and was surprised to hear a ska soundtrack, that was a real treat lol I've not listened to ska at length for some time.

Maybe that's just an outside North America thing, or my memory is failing. Good, either way. I liked it a lot.

I played through Incredible Crisis on PS1 today and was blown away by how... unique it was. I don't think I'd ever even heard of it before, or I've at least forgotten if I have, and if it's not on a ton of "hidden gem" lists it deserves to be. It's a series of 25 mini games which tie together an absolutely ridiculously nonsensical (and hilarious) over the top story following members of a family as they each have just the most ridiculous day ever while trying to get home in time for grandma's birthday. The mini games are mostly simple in function, but were surprisingly difficult right from the start. Admittedly some of that is the game having odd timing on rhythm sections (and/or me sucking at rhythm mechanics) or throwing a lot at you at once, or demanding fast button presses at the same time as dodging. Anyway, super quirky title, highly suggest checking it out.

Please buy the pins they're super high quality and really dope and cool.

Yeah but on the flip - don't pretend like the site is unusable cuz you can't be bothered to click an "X", there's far more egregious stuff out there. I agree that it's a terrible idea to toss a newsletter sign up on a user's first visit, but it's also not broken the site and can be ignored (and a cookie is stored that makes it not show again).

Here ya go buddy:

Huuuge gangsta vibes. Dang.

This reminds me of a photo I sent my wife earlier.