Video game endings back in the 80s and the early 90s were never really all that complicated. A short animation or a few screens, sometimes text only. But, hell, it still felt so rewarding when we were able to experience it for the first time after beating a hard game.
Given the fact that some NES titles were extremely hard (yes, top image from Ninja Gaiden, I'm looking at you) a lot of us probably never made it all the way to those games' great endings.
So let's gather the best looking and most memorable endings and see how they withstand the test of time.
Contra
Bionic Commando
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Metroid
Robocop
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Batman
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 5
Battletoads
Gradius II
Ninja Gaiden II
Anything else with a great ending on the NES? A hidden gem, or a Japan-only title? Show us with visual support in the comments below!
To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com
#strider
Before its demise, gaming studio GRIN was working on new entries in the Bionic Commando and Strider series, Spanish gaming website Anait Games reported today. More »
It might take some time getting used to the mechanics, but once your brain has rewired to Bionic Commando's method of madness then you'll find a real Game Boy gem.
"At the end of developing Bionic Commando, things got really messed up between the two companies," Mega Man creator and former global head of production at Capcom Keiji Inafune told me in an interview this week. Sitting in a quiet corner of Tokyo Game Show's business area, Inafune was addressing the retail version of BC developed by the now shuttered studio Grin -- a game that helped nail the coffin shut on the Swedish dev house, and scared Capcom off of its big third-party push. In case you weren't aware, at the end of BC's main campaign, it's revealed that the protagonist's bionic arm is, at least partially, made from his dead wife. Seriously.
"I don't even know what happened there," Inafune lamented. The project was apparently rife with development issues, which Inafune exemplified with a phrase that represented the attitude Grin and Capcom had for each other at the time: "Whatever, do what you want, I don't care."
Though he couldn't say what specifically happened to result in such a bizarre game ending, Inafune explained that the issue of foreign companies working with Japanese ones was at the heart of the situation. "At the beginning, things are very, very good between the two companies. Things get kind of weird from the middle, and it gets really bad at the end -- especially for the Japanese companies," he said of the development process.
"They should be more flexible about things," Inafune added, no doubt part of his decision to leave his long-time employer late last year. "If you don't do that, everything will become messed up from the middle. And that's the most important part. Not the beginning, but in the middle and finishing the game."
#fineart
Tony Holmsten, formerly of Sweden now living in Japan, has been working as a video game artist since 2002 at two of Sweden's biggest studio's, Battlefield developers DICE and the now-defunct Grin. More »
#nostalgia
Jay Pavlina recently released a sensation of a video game, a remix called Super Mario Bros. Crossover that allows gamers to play Super Mario Bros. as the heroes of Mega Man, Metroid and Castlevania. Other legends almost made it in. More »
Rumored over the weekend to have been revealed at Captivate 2010, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is now official. The game is slated to once again hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in Q1 2011 -- no PC version has been announced. While fans might have hoped development would be helmed by Might & Delight, the studio formed by the ex-Grin staffers responsible for the original Rearmed, the task's been handed to Fatshark, the studio behind Lead & Gold.
The sequel sees Nathan Spencer return, this time fighting the presumably evil General Sabio, "a new technologically sophisticated foe," who is "on the brink of launching a deadly missile attack." Rearmed 2 also promises new weapons, two-player co-op (no word if it's online this time) and new tunes from the same composers who created the brilliant soundtrack for the original Rearmed.
Of course, none of that is important because, as the debut trailer makes quite clear, Nathan has learned how to jump.
#genrebenders
Yesterday 2K Games panicked some gamers with news that the turn-based tactics series X-Com will return as a first-person shooter. What other classic video game franchise have had their genres changed, and how did they weather the transformation? More »
#genrebenders
Yesterday 2K Games panicked some gamers with news that the turn-based tactics series X-Com will return as a first-person shooter. What other classic video game franchise have had their genres changed, and how did they weather the transformation? More »
