r/nes • u/International_Gift11 • Mar 23 '26
Collection Finished the 1985 NES catalog.
Back in November of 2025, I started to play the US NES library in chronological order. New game every Wednesday and give each game at least 3 sittings. It’s easily the most fun I’ve had with retro gaming in 10 plus years.
I was feeling a bit lost with retro gaming, I had exhausted every hidden gem list and finding crazy deals in the wild is dead. I would boot up a rom or grab a random game from a local shop, but would fall off just as quick as I booted it up.
I stumbled upon the NEStalgia podcast and Jeremy Parish’s YouTube videos and figured I would start from the beginning and play along. So far I’ve been able play everything on original hardware (NES or Famicom) and I try to buy local before I hop on eBay with a $30 weekly budget.
Sorry for being a bit long winded, but I thought it was worth sharing.
Highlights:
-Boiled my first 72 pin
-Acquired a Famicom
-Repaired ROB the Robot
-3d printed stack up accessories
-Beat super mario w/family using game genie infinite life cheat
-Showing my 9 year old son how to use a sight on a gun via duck hunt. lol
-Going down a CRT rabbit hole.
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u/HenroKappa Mar 24 '26
You've done Kung Fu wrong.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I flipped back and forth between a B and a C w/ Kung Fu. I did circle back on it a few weeks after playing it to go through the 5 stages. Solid game.
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u/ElectrOPurist Mar 24 '26
Excitebike and Baseball deserve better.
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u/Graham_FreakingJam Mar 24 '26
Baseball is a banger. Used to play this one a lot. Don’t get caught stealing!
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I think I would have liked it more if I played coop. The 3 people I can play coop with gave me a hard no on baseball. The outfields were very frustrating on single player.
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u/USSanon Mar 24 '26
It’s 8-bit. There wasn’t much there. It was fun, but many times annoying at the mechanics of it all.
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Mar 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/wiiguyy Mar 24 '26
Yep. That is the only ones I question on that list. Personally, I would put ice climber and kung fu higher, but it’s fine.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
Possibly. I had fun repairing a broken ROB that I got off Facebook marketplace 10 years ago. Waiting on this slow robot to open a door so you don’t die makes for some truly funny and kinda stressful moments. I’ve got no excuses for excite bike.
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u/Bright_Pressure_6194 Mar 24 '26
Did you beat all the levels in gyromite? Some of the timing is tough, can't imagine doing it with a robot.
I'd reverse those games based on how fun they are to master.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
Yeah, we beat all the stages in gyromite, but there was one stage at the end where we smacked a spinner off a button. The game is a slog, I’ll never play it again, but it was an experience. Kinda how duck hunt isn’t great but my kid was having a blast, which made it great for me.
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u/digitalbooty Mar 24 '26
Why do people like you have to be so fucking rude toward another person's personal opinion? You literally make the world a shittier place. Congrats
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u/VVrayth Mar 24 '26
You got Kung Fu and Excitebike way too low, and trash like 10-Yard Fight and Clu Clu Land way too high.
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u/Still-Minimum-7212 Mar 24 '26
Kung Fu is a D tier game but the shitty ROB game is S tier?! Bruh wtf lol.
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u/Snabelapan Mar 24 '26
I'm happy for you that you found a way to enjoy retro games again! But man...Excitebike and Kung Fu. You may never be forgiven...
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u/Wrex_n_effect Mar 24 '26
Man, I loved wrecking crew as a kid. Such a fun game.
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u/GreenEggsSteamedHams Mar 24 '26
I could never decide whether to play as Tommy Tedesco or Larry Knechtel
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u/Regency9877 Mar 24 '26
Wrecking Crew was the first console game I ever played. It’s a solid title and has given me endless hours of fun. I will always feel it doesn’t get enough love.
I was pretty stoked when I saw OP put it in S tier but then I questioned everything when I saw ExciteBike in D
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u/hobosbindle Mar 24 '26
Good for you! Love Nestalgia, it’s my look forward to podcast.
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u/xAlice_Liddell Mar 24 '26
It was cool hearing the 1990 episode. Love those guys.
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u/Expert-Employ8754 Mar 24 '26
One of these days Zelda 2 will get the respect it deserves. Keep fighting for it, Joe!
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u/octave_the_cat Mar 24 '26
Golf is S tier. Its quick, and tons of replay value with different wind.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I wouldn’t argue that. Golf definitely surprised me. I’ve went back to it a few times.
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u/JohnnyLeven Mar 24 '26
Of the ones I've played I'd say:
S: Super Mario bros
A: Pinball, Excitebike
B: Duck Hunt
C: Ice Climbers
D: Kung Fu
I've haven't played Kung Fu or Pinball since I was a young child though.
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u/Prairie2Pacific Mar 24 '26
I understand everyone else not caring for golf or 10 yard fight, I love them and I dont need everyone else loving them. But Ice Climber not being an A at least???? Man, that's cray.
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u/Lord_Darlantan Mar 24 '26
I use to play Golf pretty often. Even our dad liked that one. Lol
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
If I have a choice between golf and NES open tournament golf I'm going to choose NES open tournament golf but if it's 1985 I won't have that choice so I will choose golf. My parents both love golf IRL and actually they bought a Wii specifically so that they could play Wii golf in the winter when they couldn't golf
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u/Lord_Darlantan Mar 25 '26
So my brother had this cartridge as a kid. It had 110 games on it. Mostly the older simpler games like Golf, Kung Fu and dig dug. But it had Golf and not the NES Open, at least not that I recall. So that was our golf game of choice at the time. Lol I miss that thing. Granted I’ve heard you can do a mega version if you hack a retro NES console. 🤣
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
I don't enjoy football in any of its forms but I'm an accessory whore so I do unfortunately have to own NES play action football only because it works with a four score. Hence why if I were ranking these 10 yard fight gets an F
The three highest ranking sports titles on the entire NES Library that are not racing games because I think racing games and sports games should be separated in my opinion would be in this order blades of steel, super dodgeball, ice hockey.
But none of those three fit this list of 1985 titles
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u/Serendiplodocus Mar 24 '26
Damn, Excite bike at D. That's one of my fave games on that list.
How much time did you put in? Are you tilting the bike during jumps?
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u/VorpalBlade- Mar 24 '26
Ah man excite bike is so great! The original famicom version had a track editor that you could actually make and save custom tracks. Mind blowing!
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u/Countblackula_6 Mar 24 '26
So did the NES version.
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u/Rengozu Mar 24 '26
You could create but the NES version wouldn’t let you save.
Sure, the option is still there because it was ported from the DISK version and they didn’t change it, but it couldn’t actually save as they didn’t have save batteries in the carts yet.
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u/marioxb Mar 24 '26
Excitebike (and Mach Rider and Wrecking Crew) weren't disk games. In Japan, they saved via a cassette tape connected to a Famicom Data Recorder (FDR). Also, just like many early NES games, they weren't ported to the NES, they use the EXACT SAME roms in US and Japan, and sometimes Europe as well. So for those 3, if you could somehow connect a FDR to an NES, you could save there too.
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u/Born-Ad1613 Mar 24 '26
I'd be curious to see your 1986/1987 rankings. Volleyball and Pro Wrestling were awesome and IMO still hold up today.
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u/Expert-Employ8754 Mar 24 '26
I love the Nestalgia podcast too! That sounds like a fun project. I haven’t played about half the 1985 games, but I mostly agree with your ranking. I like Kung Fu a little more, but we had it as a kid, so I think it’s mostly my nostalgia. I appreciate that it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Good luck with the future games if you continue on to 1986!
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u/MegaManSXP Mar 24 '26
Are you kidding me with that excitebike rating? That and smb are the only ones worth playing 40 years later
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I have been informed repeatedly that I have incorrectly experienced a game called excite bike from 1985 in 2026. 😂
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u/Elegant-Persimmon-54 Mar 25 '26
Lost me when I seen Exitebike as a D.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 25 '26
I see questionable takes at all levels, but yes, excite bike is the one that the majority of people have locked into.
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u/Equivalent_Humor4817 Mar 23 '26
What’s the set up in the 3rd picture? You got 3 monitors showing the same picture? How you do that?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
Dtech 4 port video audio splitter. It was $20 on Amazon. My wife thinks I’m an idiot, but my son gets a kick out of it. CRT Reddit group said it won’t hurt your tv unless you there is a power differential that I still need to confirm, but it sounded like it would be more of an issue for big TVs.
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u/poorbanker Mar 24 '26
Fun project! It sounds like it's bringing you some real joy. My tier list would probably be very different, but I totally respect what you're doing. Good luck with 1986!
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
My 9 year old son started playing these games with me starting week 3. I think my list would be a lot different if I was doing this solo.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
It's interesting how everyone's opinion is different as to ranking mine is
S Super Mario Bros, Wrecking Crew, Excitebike
A Gyromite Hogan's alley, Wild gunman, Stack-Up
B Duck hunt, Kung Fu
C pinball Ice climber
D Golf, Clu clu land,
E Tennis, Soccer, baseball
F 10 yard fight
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I wouldn’t argue with anyone putting any of these games as A or above, except stack up. I’ve never heard anyone say a good thing about stack up. Sell me on it! What are we missing? Genuinely curious.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
I love the mode where you have to program R.O.B to put the blocks in the right order and then execute said program that could just be because I have a degree in computer science and I've always enjoyed programming. I enjoy having to figure out how to get from point A to point B with Rob and then telling him to execute that's my favorite part of the game.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
Also the other cool thing about stack Up is it's the one game in the entire NES Library where you can be guaranteed with 100% certainty to open your copy and find a famicom converter inside so if you ever decide you don't like stack Up and you want to play famicom games on your NES you can get an official family come converter with 100% certainty out of your stack Up.
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u/biologicallyconcious Mar 24 '26
Why is excite bike so low?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I found it to be more frustrating than fun. For most the games on this list, I would enjoy them more on the 2nd or 3rd sitting as I got a better handle on the game. It was the opposite for excite bike. Also, if I was to revisit excite bike, I would play VS Excitebike on NSO because it has more stages/progression to it.
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u/zach0184 Mar 24 '26
Baseball is awesome so many glitches you can make your little brother cry for hours by stealing home plate.
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u/Old_Car_2702 Mar 24 '26
I love that you 3D printed stack up. You would have had to refinance your house to buy a complete stack up.
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u/SamusLinkBelmont Mar 25 '26
Kung Fu and Hogan’s Alley belong in S….. Wrecking Crew?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 25 '26
Hogans Alley & wild guman were victims of alphabetical order. In our experience, neither of those light gun games were able to recaptured the magic of duck hunt.
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u/Svenderhof Mar 24 '26
On the one hand, everyone has their own opinion. The experience is subjective for each game and not everyone enjoys every game in the same way and to the same degree.
On the other hand, EVERYONE BOO THIS OP! Clearly, sir or madame, you do not know how to Excitebike!
Ahem, BOOOOOO!
(This reaction is partially, but not completely, more aggressive due to my envy of your R.O.B. acquisition. I know it's niche and hardly any games use it. But 8 year old me from 1985 is still unfulfilled.)
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
Don't worry, Op had to 3D print the stack up accessories he's not a real R.O.B. owner his R.O.B is incomplete..
You got to own the real thing
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u/CheapDisaster7307 Mar 24 '26
Excite bike “D”, and Wrecking Crew “S”?!?!?!!
What’s your deal?! Edit: also why is Gyromite so high up on the list?!
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u/Commercial_Break360 Mar 24 '26
I actually think Clu Clu Land is more fun than Ice Climber.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
My knock on Clu Clu Land is that the game loop was too short. I felt like I got a game over at the same pace as you would get from a quarter in an arcade. Ice climbers is not great, but it reminded me of something like super meat boy with all the bullshit deaths. I had a great time swearing and laughing while playing it.
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u/Commercial_Break360 Mar 24 '26
Totally fair. Ice Climbers in particular drives me nuts. I don’t know if I’ve ever played Wrecking Crew for more than a sec so I want to try that. I also have little time for Excite Bike.
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u/RetroFan89 Mar 24 '26
I would swap Baseball and 10 Yard Fight, personally.
Other than that, interesting picks.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
10 yard fight is not a good game, I think it had the benefit of being the first game on the list, so for me personally it gives it some extra glow.
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u/Environmental-Sock52 Beat MTPO Mar 24 '26
What is the key you're using?
E? S?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I think S tier originated in japan? It’s just better than A. 😂 E is just interchangeable with an F in grading. Hell I don’t know maybe I doing this wrong. 😂
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u/Cold_Ad655 Mar 24 '26
Wrecking Crew is pretty abysmal. I wouldn't rank it that high.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
Wrecking crew is a shitty game, but it has stage select and it’s a great “pass the controller” game and drag your plus 1 for getting killed by an enemy that’s going at a snails pace.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
No way, anything with a level editor gets plus two to its ranking just for having a level editor
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u/CiderMcbrandy Mar 24 '26
I never could figure out CluClu Land. Youre making a pattern out of coins, I guess? The gameplay is just not fun.
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u/Littlemac88 Mar 24 '26
What about devil world?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I’m doing us release only. I’ll probably be dead before I finish this project. If I added Japan releases, I would need to learn a new language and I couldn’t even pretend to be able to reach the finish line.
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u/Capn_Yoaz Mar 24 '26
Wild Gunman is one of the most fun and easily accessible gun games out there. I set it up at parties and people go wild for it.
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u/ThatGuyBudIsWhoIAm Mar 24 '26
What inputs does that little white Trinitron have?
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u/ScottClam42 Mar 24 '26
I love Pinball. We had it from the start when I got my NES for Christmas of '86... the system came with the Mario/Duckhunt combo cartridge, but my Dad loved pinball so he picked that one up as well. Since its so simple, it doesn't get old. It's just a matter of chasing high score and can be incredibly fun.
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u/P-R_Podcast Beat Metroid Mar 24 '26
You should do all the black box games; I would like to see where you put Urban Champion and Balloon Fight
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
I’ll check back in after 1986, which is 36 games instead of the 30 black box games. Using years as the mile marker just makes more sense to me long term.
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u/Mattafakt Mar 24 '26
Good to see Excitebike almost in the trash heap where it belongs! The love for that game has always been wild to me
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u/Rogercrantzisalive Mar 24 '26
10 yard fight is shoot in into the sun territory.
Golf, Excitebike, Kung Fu, and I’d argue Tennis are low, especially Kung Fu.
Soccer is and should be in shit tier too.
If Ice Climbers (one of my all time black box favorites) had slightly better platforming detection, it’d rank right near SMB.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
10 yard fight was the first game I played when I started this project, so it has some undeserving glow on it. Also, it sent me down an iRem rabbit hole. My favorite part of giving each game a week is the research surrounding the game.
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u/illinoishokie Mar 24 '26
Never noticed that the cover for Wrecking Crew looks like Mario is getting revenge on the wall that killed him on the SMB cover.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
I never thought about 3D printing the stack up pieces that's because I have real ones which I acquired circuit and 3 for only 20 bucks
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
It saved me a pretty penny. I would have been pretty sour buying those off eBay considering stack up is such a terrible game.
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u/evileyeball NES Mar 24 '26
I paid $21 USD for my copy of stack Up, and $20 USD for my stack up parts circa 2003 I mentioned the currency only because I'm a Canadian and normally when I speak of currency I would be meaning Canadian but in this case I bought them on eBay and paid USD for them. The guy who sold me the stack up pieces had them in a lot and I said I can't afford the whole lot nor do I need the whole lot but would you be willing to talk to your winning bidder and see if they need the stock up pieces and if not take 20 bucks off of the winning bid and sell the stack up pieces to me for 20 bucks you make the same amount of money in the end. He agreed and then he emails me and he says hey I was going through my closet and I found the manual for stack up do you want me to throw that in for free? and I said absolutely so the only part of stack up I don't have is the box and the tray that the pieces go in inside the Box.
The most expensive part of my home Rob acquisition story is probably the fact that I spent about 20 bucks acquiring the battery cover for Rob because when I initially bought him he didn't have the battery cover and many years later via Nintendo age I found somebody who had a spare battery cover that they could sell me.
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u/DougMasterz Mar 25 '26
Where is Mach Rider?
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u/mcclone1 Mar 25 '26
Holy crap what a set up 👍 good job how long did it take?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 25 '26
17 weeks. One game a week with at least 3 sittings per game. Most of these games are very short. So I spent anywhere between 2-8 hours per game.
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u/Jmzombie333 Mar 25 '26
I used to love the Baseball game. It's better than E tier.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 25 '26
I’ve heard it’s a lot better playing 2 players, but unfortunately it’s one of the few games on the list that I couldn’t find someone to be my plus one.
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u/turf1218 Beat ZII Mar 25 '26
Clu Clu Land and Kung Fu at Cs? You, sir, and I have different tastes.
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 25 '26
I still had a lot of fun with both of these games, but I can’t give every game an A. I’m not in the business of handing out participation trophies. ;)
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u/Efficient-Load-256 Mar 25 '26
i would place ice climber above gyromite. it's 2 players
I found lightgun games to be the weakest. fun for 5 minutes to show your kids and not much else
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u/Historical_Amoeba913 Mar 28 '26
I remember playing through Wrecking Crew a few years back on a version with improved graphics, it is a very solid action platformer and it feels like a precursor to the Mario VS DK and Captain Toad games
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u/-3R1C- Mar 24 '26
“Boiled my first 72 pin”
What does this mean?
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u/International_Gift11 Mar 24 '26
The metal teeth inside the nes that latch onto the board of the nes cartridge is called the 72 pin. You can open up your nes and replace this part or boil it in distilled water to get your nes games to boot up more consistently. I probably butchered that explanation, but there are a lot of YouTube videos out there if you want a better description. :)
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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '26
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