During the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, gaming was changing. With the advent of home consoles, titles were becoming less focused on quick arcade action and more on deeper, narrative-heavy experiences. Games no longer just tasked players with going until they ran out of quarters – many had stories with endings that could be achieved.
Unfortunately, many of these games didn't allow players to save, because backup batteries for cartridges were expensive at the time. If players were lucky, they might have a password system. The following games are the best examples of 8-bit fun that can be completed in one go.
10 Contra's Alien Forces Could Be Defeated In Less Than 30 Minutes
Very few games epitomize "Nintendo hard" quite like Contra. Taking on the role of soldiers Bill and Lance, the game was a 2D run and gun with some brief 3D sections to spice things up. The numerous enemy soldiers, projectiles, and inability to take more than one hit made the 30 lives code essential for most players who wanted to see the end. While the game is really tough, it's not very long. If players are skilled enough and manage to retain their sanity, they can purge the alien menace in less than 20 minutes.
9 Players Must Master The Difficulty In Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden may not be long, but it does not go gently into that good night. The game is brutally difficult thanks to some intentionally sadistic design choices and some glitches. The first five stages are certainly tough – but manageable – once players memorize the level design and enemy patterns. However, once players defeat the Bloody Malth, the game goes into hyper-drive with constantly spawning enemies and hard to avoid projectiles. If players die at a boss, they're spawned right back to the beginning of the level – regardless of how many lives they have. What saves the game is its unlimited continues.
8 Metroid Broke New Ground With Its Non-linear Structure And Its Heroine
In contrast to the other side-scrolling action games on the system, which were traditionally separated into stages, Metroid featured a large interconnected world that gradually opened up as the player gained new abilities. The game also broke new ground by providing one of the earliest examples of a female heroine with intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran.
While the planet Zebes is fairly large and the game lacks the map feature of subsequent entries, the space pirates and Mother Brain can be defeated within an hour and a half. Best of all, the game features different ending screens depending on how quickly they finish the mission.
7 Little Nemo The Dream Master Took Players Through The World Of Dreams
Based on the newspaper comics from animation legend Windsor McCay and then-current Japanese animated film adaption, Little Nemo the Dream Master took players on a journey through the magical world of Slumberland. By feeding creatures candy, players could harness the power needed to acquire the six keys hidden throughout each stage. The Dream Master was yet another example of Capcom making a quality title out of a pre-established property. While the game has plenty of tough sections such as the train level, Nemo can successfully save King Morpheus within an hour.
6 Players Can Become A Champ Within The Hour In Punch Out!
Bringing the classic boxing title to home consoles, Punch Out! on the NES rewarded players who observed enemy tells and quick reflexes. Each fight is a part puzzle and part boxing simulator as players are tasked with looking at enemy ticks that let players know when to attack or dodge. While some of the cultural stereotypes are a bit less palatable nowadays, the presentation shines with expressive characters and slick animations. Players can rise through the ranks of the World Video Boxing Association and defeat Mike Tyson (or Mr. Dream in most re-releases) in half an hour.
5 Players Can Solve A Mystery And Rewrite History In Duck Tales
Capcom demonstrated its gift for crafting quality games with pre-established franchises during the days of NES. One of their finest licensed titles was the 2D platformer DuckTales. As Scrooge McDuck, players used their cane to be tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties. Rather than being entirely linear affairs, the game's four stages encourage lots of exploration. With levels that can be tackled in any order and three different endings that are determined by how much treasure the player accumulates, DuckTales on the NES boasts a great amount of replay-ability.
4 Players Can Vanquish The Count In Castlevania Long Before The Sun Sets
While the Japanese Famicom version of Castlevania allowed players to pick up where they left off, vampire hunters in Western territories had no choice but to face the count in one go. The game isn't very long, but the controls, design, and projectile heavy enemies will test any player who dares set forth in the eponymous castle. However, players who know what they're doing can best the vampiric forces long before the sun sets. While it may be maddeningly hard at times, there's nothing like the feeling of satisfaction after vanquishing Dracula.
3 Mega Man 2 Is Largely Considered The Blue Bomber's Finest Hour
The blue bomber is largely regarded as the face of Capcom, and his first three entries serve some of the best games the NES had to offer. The first title set the stage, but it was the second outing where the series really hit its stride. While the first entry had no save function, Mega Man 2 does have a password system if players aren't compelled to beat it in one go. With 8 unforgettable bosses, amazing power-ups, and wildly imaginative stages, this title made up for its predecessor's lower sales in Japan and launched the fighting robot into gaming superstardom.
2 The Legend Of Zelda Is More Open Than Many Of Its Successors
With the first Legend of Zelda title, Shigeru Miyamoto channeled his youthful memories of exploring the woods and going into caves to provide players with an epic fantasy. While later games would put more of an emphasis on narrative, the more open-ended structure and less hand-holdy nature of the original would later be invoked in the superb Breath of the Wild. While Hyrule is pretty big and filled with hazards, players who know what they're doing can defeat Ganon and save the eponymous princess in a little over two hours. That's not even taking sequence breaking into consideration.
1 Super Mario Bros. 3 Saw The Plumber At His best
Widely regarded as the best Mario title, Super Mario Bros. 3 made some smart refinements to the formula established in the first game and pushed the NES to its limits. With a new map screen filled with secrets to discover and enemies to challenge, the quest to save the princess featured different options and paths this time around. In addition, new enemies, power-ups, and abilities helped spice things up. While later releases on the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance would sport a save feature, the original release must be completed in one session.
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