About This Blog

The Challenge
My name is Matt. My goal is to play, beat, review, and rank every NES game (officially licensed in North America). When it's over, I'll make a Top 674 NES Games video on YouTube.

The Rules
1) I have to beat every game I review. In the event the game has no ending (e.g. Donkey Kong, Pac-Man), I have to complete every "screen" in the game at least once.  I also make sure I've played every game for a minimum of half an hour.
2) In the event a game proves to challenging to reasonably complete (e.g. Silver Surfer), I reserve the right to resort to savestates and/or cheat codes. This will be noted in the game information, and you reserve the right to make fun of me.
3) In the event the game has multiple endings, I will beat the game at least once. I will make sure I've seen every ending, but I may use YouTube videos to view the alternate endings. This will also be noted in the game info.

The Criteria
I'm ignoring nostalgia, popularity, reputation, and legacy. The main criteria here is "bang for your buck" - if you paid $50 for this game brand new in the late 80s/early 90s, would you feel satisfied, or ripped off?

To this end, games are ranked from 0-4 in five different categories:

Graphics & Art Style - The graphical capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System were limited, but the best games still had distinctive, memorable graphics that remain iconic to this day.

Music & Sounds - Does the game have different music for every level, or one song that just plays over and over? Is the music catchy, or does it make you want to pull your hair out?

Controls - This category is pretty self explanatory. Does the game control well, or do you keep finding yourself getting killed through no fault of your own?

Story & Presentation - Most NES games weren't huge on plot - I'm not penalizing any game that focuses on princess rescuing as it's main motivation. This category is more concerned with atmosphere - does the game create a mood? Are their cut scenes to let you know when events are important?

Length & Replayability - Is the game short or long? Once you've beaten it, is there any reason to go back, or is that pretty much it?