"What NES games would be best suited for a GameCube update?"

Remember the good old days where the NES reigned supreme and Nintendo and Sega were each others throats? Yes? Well, if you were given the choice what games would you pick from the olden times and give a Next-Gen update to? Well that’s what I’m going to be looking into in this investigation. Nintendo themselves have recently brought Metroid back from the dead and the sequal to Space Invaders has just recently been announced! Times are changing in the world of video gaming and maybe it’s about time we saw the re-release of some very familiar faces.

Ice Climber(s)

The NES had everything, a Fat Plumber, an elfin fellow, an Ape and a bloke dressed as an Eskimo. The original Ice Climber game (released in 1984) saw the player having to reach the top of a summit like mountain, whilst not falling horribly to your doom and running out of time. Though on your way you had to collect vegetables and with your trusty hammer and remove the animals. It became a sure fire hit back in the olden days, but really wasn’t exactly the most frilling of games and was soon disliked and left to collect dust on people’s shelves. However, a recent re-birth of the character(s) in the GameCube game, Super Smash Bros. Melee has suddenly sparked off people’s interest in the game. Nintendo were even bold enough to include it as a NES game on Animal Crossing. So what about a 3D update? Would it work? And would it have to be changed? Well from SSBM we now know that the main character(s), Popo and Nana can be rendered properly and nicely in 3D, we also saw an Ice Climber like stage for the Target Smash mini game in SSBM which was done quite well. It was all good fun, especially as a mini game but if Nintendo were to create a fully fledged game that matched the original it would get extremely boring too quickly. It was repetitive in the first place; I doubt there would be any way that Nintendo would be able to change this either. It would just be a jump up onto the platforms and reach the top affair.

This is all said and done, but if Nintendo totally re-invented the game and created an adventure game out of it, then maybe things would be a lot different. Maybe it would be like Mario Sunshine, where there’s a main area that you can roam around and can access the games levels, fine it would be original but it would be different for a re-invention of an old game. But I must say I’m not entirely sure how the games control mechanics would work. Possibly have Popo hit enemies with his hammer and/or have him throw Nana around like in the PS2 game, Whiplash.

Maybe it could work that way, but if Nintendo stuck to the original style then it would only be good as a mini game. Of course these are just conjectures, but the possibility of a return from the Ice Climbers is there and the proof is SSBM.

Duck Hunt

Now who remembers this? I sure do and I also remember the Light Gun that accompanied it! Duck Hunt is one of the most memorable games around and is still talked about and remembered in this present day and age. The game was simple, armed with the light gun, you could either shoot ducks or clay pigeons and that’s it, like I said, simple! However, though it had a very linear and simple approach it was addictive and extremely fun to play. So why not bring it back into the 3D realm? It would be great!

You could go around a whole “Legal” Shooting Park (or many different ones), shooting ducks and possibly other wildlife. Also of course the Light Gun would have to make a return (so would the dog). However, there would be some concerns over the content, if you were shooting other wildlife, Nintendo would have to opt for rather humorous and cartoon style of graphics and in keeping with a less “Mature” rating, blood would either have to be controlled or removed. That is of course if Nintendo were aiming at a really young audience, it could be a whole different affair if they marketed the game to a teen audience.

Of course we all wanted the shoot the dog secretly, and if the game were cartoon-like, maybe the option of shooting the dog could be included, but as this is Nintendo, you would just miss the dog, but the dog would pretend to play “dead” as they wouldn’t want to encourage cruelty to animals (which would be fair enough and I would support that). It would all depend on the audience they were aiming at.

Duck Hunt would be perfect for a 3D GameCube update, please bring it back! This would also be good marketing for Nintendo.

Duck Tales

Believe it or not but Duck Tales for NES was one of the most popular titles back in the day, and like Duck Hunt, is still remembered, and remixes of the tunes from the game are still being composed! Writing this has actually compelled me to go play the game again. Of course other games have been created from the Duck Tales television series, but this is best of the bunch. A simple remake would keep people very amused and to be honest it wouldn’t matter if it were in 2D or 3D, just as long as it received the well needed update it deserves.

In 3D the game would have to shine through though and updating a flat 2D NES game to a game with 3D levels would be quite difficult as there wouldn’t be much to go on. However, before people doubt this would work, the game was never created by the shabby game developer’s, Disney Interactive, but was created by Capcom. With Capcom at the helm once more they may be able to pull it off. There weren’t many moves in the game, all Scrooge was really equipped with was his cane, though a few other bits and pieces became accessible. The main moves were a golf-like swing and the best move in a video game, the pogo stick!

If kept to 2D then the game would be able to remain the same and maybe a few new levels could be added to the mix. Though a graphical and music update would definitely have to happen.

Duck Tales was fun and easily playable, if an update were to happen it would sell to the masses who bought it the first time around.

Maniac Mansion

You didn’t think I would miss one did you? Maniac Mansion is one of the best games ever created. It was crazy, mad and had a story about aliens and tentacle’s, it was great and highly addictive! (You could even put a hamster in a microwave!) Those who haven’t played Maniac Mansion listen up! because you’ve missed something very special. Maniac Mansion was a Click and Play style RPG (similar to Monkey Island where you clicked on action words on the bottom of the screen and such like), where you have to go save the lead characters Girlfriend. The game starts there, you enter the mansion and then your world gets turned upside down. And I will tell you this now before I carry on, I was playing this just last year and it’s still as addictive as it was years ago! Now with that said, I shall move back to the investigation.

I would say a definite “YES!” to a 3D GameCube update. Though the games mechanics would need a lot of tweaking, I believe it would still play very well in 3D. The Mansion would seem to be bigger and in 3D the player would get to see the mansion in more detail. I’m not entirely sure if the click and play aspect would still work, movement would be extremely limited and difficult to pull off in 3D. The game would have to change to a free roaming romp (using control stick instead of an arrow to point around), where you would have an available menu on the side where you’ll be able to pick the commands.

The music in the game ranged from heavy metal (to the best capabilities of the NES) to the more mellow style. But was still quite good for what it was trying to achieve and if it were given a GCN update, then we’ll be in for musical greatness.

If ever given the update I would be first in line to buy the game. There were a few mediocre sequals but none of them compared to this. It was one of those games that sucked you in and you wouldn’t emerge from your house for 3 whole days! And I’m sure an update would do exactly the same.

Well there you have it, 4 NES games from my past. Hopefully this won’t be the end though, I’ll dig through my NES games and maybe I’ll find 4 more that I can write about.