The 35 Most Graphically Mind-Blowing NES Games

Do you think that 8 bit games are primitive and outdated graphically? You are wrong!

The Nintendo Entertainment System is the most important console in the history of home gaming, but it is also fair to acknowledge that its technical limitations were many and that 8-bit may have been somewhat outdated for modern gamers.

However, with the Famicom / NES hardware remaining popular and active on the retail scene for over a decade, game developers had a lot of time to perfect their programming techniques and squeeze every last bit of power out of the iconic console.

This video explores in depth the Nintendo NES catalog in search of those games that still amaze us for their 16-bit-like graphics techniques, for their clever artistic design, or for the quality of their sound. Timeless games that made a pixel art for which time seems not to pass!

In this video you will find:

• A game curation showing the NES best graphics ever made
• A selection of moments that showcase the technical capabilities of the 8 bit (in all its splendor)
• Information related to each game such as release date, developer company, game genre and system it was released on.
• Official game box arts with a 3D presentation.
• Educative and/or critical comments on the importance of the video game and why you should play it

Intro and Outro Music

0:00 Intro
00:18 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
00:42 Batman: Return of the Joker
01:06 Summer Carnival '92: Recca
01:31Bucky O'Hare
01:55 Moon Crystal
02:19 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
02:44 Crisis Force
03:08 Nigel Mansell's World Championship
03:32 Cosmic Epsilon
03:56 Captain Tsubasa II: Super Striker
04:21 Journey to Silius
04:45 Metal Storm
05:09 Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari
05:34 G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
05:58 Mighty Final Fight
06:22 Super Mario Bros. 3
06:47 Blaster Master
07:11 Gradius II
07:35 Mr. Gimmick
08:00 Shatterhand
08:24 Vice: Project Doom
08:48 Little Samson
09:12 Slalom
09:37 Mitsume Ga Tooru
10:01 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2
10:25 Kick Master
10:50 Crystalis
11:14 Gremlins 2: The New Batch
11:38 Sword Master
12:03 Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
12:27 Mega Man 6
12:51 Contra
13:16 Kid Dracula
13:40 Battletoads
14:04 Kirby's Adventure
14:29 Outro

⚠️ All gameplay recording, game curation and opinions included in this video, as well as editing is completely done by me

Bits & Beats creates videos about the history of video games. In this channel you'll find comparisons, retrospectives, technical analysis, but, mostly, game curations with the idea of having an important task of preserving video games, and make them relevant to society at large.

Curation isn't just about digging up neat games, but it's also about preservation, interpretation, and using one's knowledge to make it relevant to people. With my videos I want older gamers to look back and remember the influence of video games on their lives, and new gamers to understand the larger context of the series they're playing for the first time today.

I put significant time and creative effort into each one of my videos, including research, digging into archives, playing video games and recording hours of footage, selecting specific clips, writing reviews for each title, and making a very careful video editing in the way to transmit both educational and entertaining values to my audience. Every video takes a lot of hours to produce, because I strive to give my audience a consistent, high-quality content.

Fidelity and preservation of the video games is essential in Bits & Beats, so the recordings are made with the highest bitrate quality. It is done this way to preserve original game look and sound through modern footage, with no superfluous additions. I recommend you watch the video at 4K and 60 frames per second to get the best possible viewing experience.

I hope you enjoy my videos and find them useful!

#BITSANDBEATS #nesgames #bestgraphics

[BitsBeats]

Although you will find some omissions, I hope you like the selection. I tried to make it as varied and balanced as possible. The NES catalog is spectacular! Enjoy

[Nails]

I remember when 3D graphics first started to become common. Everybody thought polygons were the future and that 2D spritework was outdated. Makes it kind of funny that NES visuals has aged a lot better than those very early polygon visuals.

[EsmeAmelia]

I love the way NES games look in general. Yes, I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so I might have a nostalgic bias, but there's a certain charm about NES graphics.

[DenverStarkey]

one that always impressed me graphically was Battle of Olympus. It has such a massive color palette for an 8 bit game it also had a good number of enemies and varied landscapes.

[GreyWolfLeaderTW]

You can tell the makers of Little Sampson were so proud of those 360 degree spin animations. They work them into as many scenarios as they can.

[kakolicht]

Most of the games on this list are from Konami, a reminder that it was once a respectful game company, not the cheap deceitful crap we have today.

[ophidianmind]

This is a nice list with many classic games on it. Batman: Return of the Joker on the NES surprisingly both looks and plays better than the Genesis version of the game. It's also nice to see Crystalis getting some attention, it's one of the best games on the NES in my opinion and it often gets overlooked.

For some more visually impressive NES/Famicom games, check out: Metal Slader Glory (this game required a much larger than usual Famicom cartridge to case the extra hardware required to display the graphics), The Immortal, Getsu Fuuma Den, Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei II, Sweet Home (the battle graphics are great), Xexyz, Nightshade, Gargoyle's Quest II, and Zen: Intergalactic Ninja.

[coct]

Agree with this one, especially with Kirby's Adventure and Battletoads. Those two are the winner for me.
Castlevania 3 is my personal favorite. A perfect combination between awesome graphic, awesome gameplay, and awesome music.

[OGM_OriginalGameMusic]

Crisis Force in particular blows me away. there's a proper sense of depth with the pixel art. amazing

[TheMichaelJordanofGambling]

Willow is omitted pretty regularly, but it’s probably the best looking NES title. I thought it was a SNES game when I first saw a play through, it’s that impressive.

[hkoizumi]

I used to program games in Assembly and I can appreciate these amazing visual more than average people. Some of the things that seem unnecessary was done just because it looks much more realistic. Such as splashes around the platform under waterfall. It's incredible!

[AshleyKrowed]

The team behind Castlevania 3's pixel art really made sure that the limitations of the pixel art would benefit a lot giving the game it's atmosphere. The sharp shading, the bright colors, the disturbing content, it almost reminds me of Caravaggio's pieces funnily enough.

[AzzureSky]

Good to see Kick Master getting on the list! It's one of better looking NES games I've ever see and barely anybody talks about it.

[DJZeeJay]

I'm happy to see Captain Tsubasa on this list. One of the best looking games on the NES. Always blew me away how good the effects for the special shots looked.

[dropkickrabbit]

It really is incredible how they were able to pull off these kinds of graphics on 8-bit hardware back in the day, especially with Revenge of the Joker, Metal Storm, Gradius II and Kirby’s Adventure.

[kosiak]

1994 was one of the best years in gaming. I was given a brand new NES, and all of those newly came out games of 1990-1993 were available to me

[deadsirius]

All this 8-bit music and imagery just makes me feel 11 years old again. If you're a bit younger it may be hard to understand but as primitive as this stuff looks today, if you were a kid back when this was the peak of home gaming, it was mesmerizing

[goatbone]

The Japanese version of Contra has animated trees in the opening level, probably should have shown that one.

[jitheshkumar]

Darwing Duck, Tiny Toon Adventures 1 & 2, Shadow of Ninja, Kunio Kun no Nekketsu Soccer League, Duck Tales, Mickey's Safari in Letterland, Double Dragon 3, Rush'n Attack.

[liususanto]

surprised too. I thought I already knew all the NES games 😍 apparently there are still many games with good graphics, with moving backgrounds too.
Here are my recommendations, I think the graphics are good 😀:
1. Zen Intergalactic Ninja
2. Power Blazer
3. Argus no Senshi