The Most Ahead-Of-Their-Time NES Games

It’s been said that the worst thing that can happen to a game is a bad score on Metacritic. But, actually, the worst thing that can happen to a game is for it to be released to the wrong audience at the wrong time.

You could make an incredibly ambitious game, but if you’re ahead of your time, it’s likely the only success you’ll see is your name in the special thanks of whatever takes inspiration from you ten years down the line. Nobody knows that feeling better than an NES game developer. These are the NES games that were truly ahead of the curve.

Famicom releases will count as being under the NES umbrella to broaden the scope of titles as much as possible.

Updated on January 23, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo: The NES library is so vast that many games can be counted among the ones ahead of its time. We’ve updated this article to include even more classics, showcasing what developers could do at the time with such limited tools.

10

Milon’s Secret Castle

A Complex Adventure Hidden In Mystery

Released in 1986, Milon’s Secret Castle stood out on the NES for its intricate gameplay and cryptic design. Players control Milon as he navigates a castle filled with hidden passageways, puzzles, and secrets, requiring trial and error to uncover the game’s mysteries. Unlike many action games of its time, Milon’s Secret Castle emphasized exploration and problem-solving over straightforward combat.

Its nonlinear progression, use of hidden mechanics, and requirement for observational skills made it feel ahead of its time. While its difficulty could be daunting, its influence is undeniable, paving the way for modern games that reward curiosity and persistence.

The Birth Of The Stealth Genre

When Metal Gear launched on the NES in 1987, it introduced players to a revolutionary new concept: stealth-based gameplay. Instead of relying on pure action, players had to guide Solid Snake through enemy territory using strategy, avoiding detection, and managing limited resources. The game’s emphasis on sneaking past foes rather than confronting them head-on was groundbreaking for the era.

Though originally developed for the MSX2 by Hideo Kojima, the NES version brought this unique gameplay experience to a wider audience. Metal Gear laid the foundation for the stealth genre, inspiring countless franchises and redefining what action games could be.

8

The Magic of Scheherazade

Blending Genres Before It Was Cool

Released in 1987, The Magic of Scheherazade is an NES title that dared to mix action-adventure gameplay with RPG mechanics, setting it apart from its peers. Inspired by the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, the game combined real-time combat with turn-based battles, an innovative fusion that predated many hybrid genres.

Players could recruit allies, explore richly designed environments, and travel through time to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Its ambitious storytelling and gameplay variety made it a standout experience for its time, and its influence can be seen in modern games that blur the lines between genres.

7

Metroid

The Game That Pioneered A Genre

The original Metroid gets a lot of undeserved flack these days for being incredibly vague, confusing, and hard to navigate, but that’s only because today, we all compare it to what came after the fact; titles like Metroid: Dread and Super Metroid, rather than compare it to what was actually out at the time it released.

The original Metroid presents itself like a modern-day immersive sim mixed with early elements of what would eventually become the metroidvania. It’s cruel and convoluted at times, yes. But in a way, that also makes it exactly what you’d want and expect from a game about exploring a hostile planet all alone.

6

River City Ransom

Grandfather To Grand Theft Auto?

River City Ransom is the godfather of all modern-day open-world games riddled with crime and violence. It’s a pixelated, rudimentary GTA or PayDay game, if you will. The game allows you to do things contemporary NES titles could only dream of. It has features like returning to previous areas of the game whenever you like and interacting with the city in non-violent ways when you aren’t busy throwing hands with an enemy gang.

Sure, it might be just a beat ’em up when you get right down to brass tacks, but the impressive scope of the game’s world and the freedom it offers you to explore and interact with it is downright incredible. Thankfully, the game’s reputation has only gotten better with time, and River City Ransom is available today on a wide variety of platforms.

5

Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest

It’s A Terrible Night For A Curse

Infamously, Castlevania 2 has the unenviable reputation of being the video game equivalent of a nasty aftertaste on an otherwise delightful flavor. It’s slow, it’s tedious, and the English version is borderline unbeatable without a guide, thanks to some wonky quirks in the translation. Nobody is arguing Castlevania 2 is some underappreciated masterpiece, but it isn’t all bad.

Castlevania 2 features an immersive day and night cycle, and that makes the curse at the center of the game’s plot feel much more real than it would otherwise. Many games make the night something to fear, but Castlevania 2 really put forth the effort in that regard long before it became common practice.

4

Sweet Home

Resident Evil’s Grumpy, Pixelated Older Cousin

Sweet Home is relatively well known these days as the primary inspiration behind the widely loved and critically acclaimed Resident Evil series. If you play the game for yourself, it will quickly become very apparent just how much the Spencer Mansion owes to the Miyama Manor, from the focus on inventory management to the metroidvania-esque design of the interior of the house.

Sweet Home also uses hidden notes and scattered optional pick-ups to tell the story of the manor from the perspective of those who came before, something that went beyond the scope of the film the game was based on and expanded the movie’s lore. That was unheard of for a video game to do back in 1989.

3

Star Tropics

Adventure Is Out There!

In 1990, Star Tropics somehow understood what made The Legend of Zelda really work. Utilizing a formula that by today’s standards feels awfully familiar, this game feels relatively similar to games we now call all-time classics. Considering what actual Zelda games were doing at the time, Star Tropics is a breath of fresh air in a retro package.

Star Tropics also forces you to use the physical goodies that come with the game’s physical copy to complete certain puzzles, like an actual letter from your in-game uncle being needed to decipher a certain code. Incorporating ARG elements, of all things, into a video game from the early 90s was a brave move and one we wouldn’t see again for a while, at least not in a triple-A title.

2

Nightshade

The Claws Of Satekh

Yeah, yeah, look: we all made fun of Nightshade back in the early days of YouTube game reviews, but when it comes right down to it, Nightshade was ahead of its time. The game was incredibly complex, featuring point and click segments, 2D fighting game segments, and perhaps its most unique feature: the popularity meter.

Depending on how skilled you are at performing good deeds around the fictional Metro City, the popularity meter will fill up, meaning more people on the street will recognize you, and you can access more areas of the city as you work to save the city from crime. That might not be unheard of today, but in 1992, game mechanics that made your actions matter very rarely existed, let alone to the degree they do in Nightshade.

Nightshade is also noteworthy for having a very self-aware sense of humor, which was uncommon in NES games at the time. The game’s staff actually credits themselves as “the ones who wrote the bad jokes,” so it’s got that going for it, too.

1

Cocoron

Gorgeous To Look At, Delightful To Play

Cocoron comes from Mega Man character designer Akira Kitamura and is one of the finest examples of stylistic creativity we’ve seen on the Famicom, or the NES, for that matter. The game is simply packed with charm and detail; if you didn’t know any better, you’d say this was a modern throwback platformer rather than an actual title from back in the day.

The music, composed by the same team who worked on the iconic Mega Man 2 soundtrack, is adorable and fits the lighter tone of Cocoron beautifully. While the game was largely underappreciated by Japanese review outlets back in 1991, the game has since garnered a cult following, which (rightfully) praises the game’s dedication to its visuals, consistently enjoyable gameplay, and quirky characters.