The Top Six NES Games That Should Get 3D Classic Remakes

If you caught my Monday Top Picks last week, then you know I was focusing on the 3DS and what games I’d like to see Nintendo remake for it. Well, this week I’m listing the NES games I want to get the 3D Classic upgrade. 

Ugh. Seriously guys?

The 3D Classic games are enhanced version of classic NES games made to show off the 3D on the 3DS, though for the most part it isn’t very deep. I mean, it is a bunch of 8-bit sprites, how deep can it be? Whether you find the 3D interesting or not, it’s still a fun concept. However, the choices for games so far have been… questionable at best. The first was Excitebike, which was a fine choice, it’s a highly nostalgic and well remembered game for many gamers and the 3D was actually pretty cool. Then there was Xevious and Twinbee, two third party, shoot-em-up games that are okay but nothing I would imagine fans were demanding. Then there was Urban Champion. I will never understand Nintendo’s obsession with this game, it’s terrible. You could literally make a list of every other first party Nintendo game on the NES and every single other game on it would be a better choice than Urban Champion. The most recent 3D Classic was Kirby’s Adventure, which marks the first time a really great game got the treatment, as well as one that felt like a game by today’s standards. Gaming has come a long way since the NES days and games like Excitebike and Xevious might keep gamers entertained for a while, but they likely won’t hold their attention for long. It’s great to see a game like Kirby’s Adventure, and the upcoming Kid Icarus remake, get the treatment because, well, they can actually be beat.

So I’m going to take a look at the six NES games that should get 3D Classic remakes. Unlike the last list, I’m going to include third party games because, as I already mentioned, Xevious and Twinbee have gotten the treatment. I’m also not going to include any of the ten games Nintendo gave out for their 3DS ambassador program. While it would be great to get games like Super Mario Bros. or Metroid as a 3D Classic, a lot of people already have them plus, they seem like obvious choices at this point. So I’m looking at six games you can’t get on the 3DS at all yet. So let’s get started.

 

6. StarTropics

Surprise!

Yes, okay, I know you’re sick of me talking about this game. I’ve only made like, six lists and it’s been on three of them. I get it and this is the last time for now. I just, I really want Nintendo to care about this game. It’s not a masterpiece by any of stretch of the imagination but it has such character and a lot of promise. Giving it a 3D remake would put it back in a lot of people’s minds or just introduce it to people who don’t remember it from the NES days at all. It could also be a chance to release it in Japan, where it never came out. I mean, everybody and there brother loves Zelda and this is the same basic idea. Just replace Link with some American kid who uses baseball bats and yo-yos instead of a sword and boomerang and give him a jump button. It’s the same concept! Which also makes it kind of hard to do in 3D. The reason this game is so low on the list is because the 3D would likely be pretty shallow, even for the 3D Classic standards. The game is top down so nothing would really leap out at you or anything. Sure, I guess every time Mike jumps the 3D could be effective, as well as on the multiple layer bosses this game loves so much but on the whole, the game wouldn’t be as impressive in 3D as Excitebike or Kirby’s Adventure.

5. Double Dragon

Beatin' up women...IN 3D!

Another selection from my games that need to be revived list, Double Dragon would be a great choice for a 3D Classic remake. Back in the days of the NES and the arcade, beat-em-ups were all the rage. Walking to the right to beat up a bunch of guys so you can keep walking right? That stuff was classic and no game did it better on the NES than Double Dragon. While Nintendo sort of tried the 3D Classic beat-em-up thing with the horrible Urban Champion, Double Dragon actually has multiple people on the screen at one time as well as boss fights and levels, whereas Urban Champion is just bad. The 3D would likely just make the characters pop out more like Kirby does in Kirby’s Adventure but I think it would look pretty cool and I’d gladly pay 7 dollars for a good, 3D beat-em-up like Double Dragon. 

4. Castlevania

This boss is way harder than it looks.

The original Castlevania was such a good game. Walking to the left to whip the undead and make your way up to the dreaded Count Dracula was awesome and there was nothing like it on the NES at the time. The gameplay was solid, even if the controls were a little stiff, the graphics were great and the music is some of the best the NES has to offer, so it seems like a perfect fit for a 3D remake. Having Simon and the hoards of scary creatures that you encounter pop out would certainly be cool to behold and I’m sure it would sell a lot, too. It’s a classic and a lot of people really enjoy it. Not to mention it’s really hard, your seven bucks wouldn’t feel like a waste if only for how long it’ll take you to actually beat the game. While Dracula’s Curse, the third game in the series, is technically a better game than the first, it just wouldn’t feel right to me to remake and release it before the one that started it all. Give me the chance to fight Death and Dracula in 8-bit and 3D, Konami! And none of that Metroidvania stuff either!

3. Contra

Contra was bullethell before it was cool.

You want a game that’s going to get people to look into your little eShop, Nintendo? Well then this is the one. Contra could very well be the most well remembered and well liked NES game that wasn’t made by Nintendo, it’s just that good. Everybody remembers the Konami Code, everybody knows the Spread Gun is the best, Contra is awesome. All you did was run and shoot and try not to die, which was difficult because this game was hard. You want to beat Contra? You gotta be hardcore. This is the perfect choice for a 3D classic game for that reason alone. But it’s also just a great game and would look really cool in 3D, plus it has some semi-3D perspective sections, so the 3D could actually be effective in some places and that’s just cool. It’s hard to deny the impact Contra left on the NES and many gamers that played it, so let’s relive that impact with a remake in 3D. Come on, Nintendo, talk to Konami about it. They have some great games that would be awesome in 3D. Certainly better than Twinbee.

2. Super Mario Bros. 3

Eat your heart out, Tanooki Suit.

This is it, folks. This is the NES best game. Not just in my opinion but the masses opinion as well. When it comes to the NES, you can’t do much better than Super Mario Bros. 3. Nintendo took the classic formula that made the first one so great and improved on it 100 times over. The levels were bigger, more creative and more varied, with everything from desert levels to levels in the sky to levels where everything is huge. The power-up system was better, not only did you have the fire flower and super mushroom, but now you could use the infamous Tanooki suit and the Hammer Bro. suit. The graphics were better, the music was better, the controls were better, everything about Super Mario Bros. 3 was better and that’s why it would be a great candidate for a 3D remake, I guarantee no 3D remake before or after would sell better. The game is just solid gold from beginning to end and it’s actually pretty big too, with 8 worlds, each with quite a few levels. This game is easily worth the seven dollars it costs to buy a 3D classic game. Nintendo, you just reintroduced the world to the Tanooki Suit in Super Mario 3D Land, now it’s your chance to introduce them to where it got its start.

And I know what you’re thinking, if this is the best NES game, why is it number 2? Well, let me explain…

1. Mega Man (All of them)

This blew minds back in 1988.

When it comes to the 8-Bit NES, no company knew how to push it to it’s limits quite like Capcom and there’s no better example of that than the Mega Man games. The Mega Man games were titans of the NES era and had graphics and sound unparalleled by anything else the console had to offer. The original Mega Man might not look all that great by today’s standards or even by NES standards, but once you get into Mega Man 2, the games start to look amazing. By the time you’re at six, you start to wonder how Capcom got away with it. The sprites were huge and had more than five colors, something most NES games weren’t capable of, but Capcom found a way. The backgrounds were grand and detailed and often times didn’t just reuse the same background throughout the whole stage, no, they made different backgrounds for different sections and they all looked great. And the enemies and bosses? Amazing. Look at some of the Wily machines in the later games or hell, look at the dragon in Mega Man 2, that stuff was unreal. No game franchise looked better on the NES and no game franchise would look better in 3D than Mega Man. The beautiful sprite work would pop in ways it never did before and those Yoko Block puzzles? Forget about it! Of course, as beautiful as the sprites and music were, the games would be nothing without the gameplay and luckily Mega Man does not fail there. The gameplay was challenging but satisfying and discovering which weapon did what to each boss was a pretty unique feature at the time. Not to mention many of the games are really big. I mean, each game already had 6-8 robot masters and several Wily stages, but some of them even had more boss battle stages after the Robot Masters and multiple end castles. The Mega Man games are masterful examples of what the NES could do and every single one of them deserves the 3D Classic treatment. Here’s hoping Capcom is aware of that.

So there you go, the six NES games I want to see get 3DS remakes. Was there something I forgot? Something you want to see that I didn’t mention? Perhaps you really want to see 3D World Runner actually be in 3D or see what Square could do with Final Fantasy. No matter what the case, let me know what you think in the comments. Also, I’d like to know if any of you checked out the current 3D Classic games and what you think of them. 

Pictured: 3D.