LogFAQs > #884278976

Vice: Project Doom is an NES game I never really knew anything about back in the day. I just saw this print ad on the back cover of a magazine and thought it looked stupid as fuck:
http://www.gamingmagz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Vice-Project-Doom.jpg

But I heard it brought up once or twice in "hidden gems" discussions so 2 years ago when I saw a copy at a local shop I picked it up, and when I finally got around to playing it last fall, it shot up to my top 5 NES list. It's primarily a Ninja Gaiden style side scroller with a sort of sci-fi hardboiled detective theme, but it also has a couple Spy Hunter style driving stages and first person shooting gallery stages.

Astyanax is another NES game I hadn't tried until recently. It's another side scroller, in this one you have a power meter that fills automatically when you're not attacking so that your attacks are much more effective if you take your time and wait for the right time to attack. The same mechanic was also used in The Legendary Axe on TurboGrafx-16. There's also a 3-tier weapon upgrade system like Castlevania, but here each weapon is a valid option, depending whether you want stronger attacks, cheaper magic, or a balance of the two. It's not perfect though, your movement is a little slow and not very agile, and even though your character swings his weapon in an overhead arc, it only hits directly in front of you, so when you're getting the hang of the game you'll feel like your attacks are just passing through enemies.

And speaking of TurboGrafx games, Bonk's Revenge and Air Zonk were my favorites, but as TG16 games go they're pretty popular so I don't know if they count, even though TG16 as a whole is pretty overlooked.
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SuperNiceDog didn't have to reconcile his name...
But Dauntless Hunter is now MrGreenonion