Actually, if you want to count unlicensed games, I think Sunday Funday was the last NES game released in the US. For those who don't know, it's one of those awful Wisdom Tree games (i.e. Bible Adventures, Super 3D Noah's Ark).
And to add to the topic, look for *anything* made by Compile or Cave. Those two companies are the MASTERS of overhead shooters. Here's a quick overview of the body of work of each...
Compile:
- The Zanac series, which consists of three games: Zanac (NES), Zanac-EX (MSX), and Zanac X Zanac (PSX). The MSX, in case anyone asks, was a popular home computer in Japan and Europe which had quite a few great games; perhaps the most notable of these was Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which blows away the NES Snake's Revenge in every possible way. It also featured the first-ever Castlevania game, Vampire Killer.
Anyway...I feel this series is their greatest work, as it features an extremely unique AI system; basically, the better you play, and the better weapons you have, the tougher the game gets. As far as availability goes, the NES Zanac shouldn't be TOO tough to find, but the others never received US releases. =/
- The Guardic series, which consists of Guardic (MSX) and Guardic Gaiden (NES). The latter is known in the US as The Guardian Legend, and is right up there with Zanac in my view. It's sort of a combination of Blaster Master and their overhead shooters, with the ability to level up your many different weapons. Of all of the games I'm talking about, this is the one I would reccomend the highest, now that I'm thinking about it.
- Gun*Nac (NES). This is sort of like Zanac without the AI system...in its place, you have the ability to pick up money from enemies and buy weapons. The storyline is also rather humorous.
- The Aleste series. I know of three of these games, all of which were released in the US under different names. Among them are M.U.S.H.A. (Genesis), Space Megaforce (SNES), and Robo Aleste (Sega CD). I haven't actually played any of them, but I have heard nothing but good about all of them.
Cave:
- The Donpachi series (Donpachi, DoDonpachi, DoDonpachi Daioujou). Just pure madness that shows the goodness of newschool with oldschool values. =) The first one was arcade-only, while the second was released in Japan for arcade/PSX/Saturn and the third was for PS2 and also Japan-only.
- ESPGaluda. Their newest work of genius, also PS2 and also Japan-only. Included with the game is a "superplay" performed by one of Japan's best shmup players; he goes by "NAL" here, but is also an elite Virtua Fighter player (won the last national tournament) who uses the name "Homestay Akira". Another top VF player did some voice acting for this too, evidently...
That's all for now,
Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
