SCUMM Console Ports - Turbo Duo Loom vs. Sega CD Monkey Island

LucasArts was established by computer game programmers, but by 1990 they were becoming increasingly involved into consoles.  Having the Star Wars and Indiana Jones licenses practically demanded home console games using the licenses.  Except for the port of Maniac Mansion for the NES, LucasArts produced or licensed nothing of note until the SNES.

LucasArts was interested in porting its highly acclaimed adventure games series, using the SCUMM engine, to consoles.  Their adventure games were relatively large by cartridge standards, but the new CD-ROM add-ons for the Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafx 16 could easily contain their adventure games and allow for 16-bit CD Audio.  LucasArts commissioned a port of Loom for the Turbo Duo and a port of The Secret of Monkey Island for the Sega CD.

Loom

Loom - Turbo Super CD Title Screen

Loom for the Turbo systems was intended to run on a Turbo Duo or its equivalent : a Turbo Grafx 16 with the TurboGrafx CD and a Super System Card.  It will also run on the Japanese equivalents.

The Turbo port is  graphically in between the 16 color floppy and the other (mostly) 256-color CD-ROM versions.  If I had to give a hierarchy of ports based solely on the graphics, it would go something like this :

Loom IBM PC 16-color floppy

• Atari ST 16-color floppy
• Amiga 16-color floppy
• Macintosh 16-color floppy

Loom 256-color FM-Towns CD 

Loom 256-color IBM PC CD

Loom 16/256-color Turbo CD

The Turbo CD and FM-Towns CD have similar CD-Audio tracks, which are used for music.  The first set of FM-Towns arrangements (first nine audio tracks) are used for the Turbo CD music.  Musically, this may be the best version, as the FM-Towns also uses second set of music tracks.  The second set sounds more like a synthesizer than the first set and in my opinion is inferior.  Unfortunately, the FM-Towns version plays the first set, then the second set and keeps repeating the second set.  

Loom Turbo Super CD 16 Color Original Background

What is odd is the graphics used on Turbo Loom.  Both the FM-Towns and the IBM PC have full 256-color graphics above the distaff.  Turbo Loom uses a mixture of backgrounds (including portraits) from the 16 and 256 color IBM PC releases.

Consider the sources of the closeups :

Bobbin Threadbare - 16 Color
Hetchel - 256 Color
Elder Atropos - 256 Color
Hetchel as Cynget - 16 Color
Master Goodmold - 256 Color
Fleece Firmflanks - 16 Color
The Dragon - 16 Color
Rusty Nailbender - 256 Color
Master Stoke - 16 Color
Dragon finds Rusty - 256 Color
Bishop Mandible - 16 Color
Cobb - 256 Color
Rusty as a Ghost - 256 Color
Lady Cygna Threadbare - 16 Color
Chaos - 256 Color

Generally, most of Loom island is taken from the 16-color version, with notable exceptions of the Dock, the Loom Sanctuary and Lady Cygna's gravestone closeup.  Crystalguard is entirely 16-color.  The beach, the Shepherd's forest and meadow are taken from the 256 color version, except for the interior of Fleece's hut. The exterior of the Dragon's volcano and its lair are 256 color, as is the Forge and the plain surrounding it. Bishop Mandible's cathedral and the Outside is 16-color except for the very end of the game.

Loom Turbo CD - 256 Color Original Background

The characters are always 256 color, as are most of the animated objects.  The distaff portion of the screen is 16 color regardless of version (although the FM-Towns version has a distaff that does not use the EGA palette).

Why did LucasArts take roughly 50/50 from each version when the Turbo Duo was capable of almost 256 colors (but only a 512 color palette)?  Storage was not an issue with a CD game.  One theory is that the remaining 256 color graphics were not available in time for the Turbo port, so LucasArts had to make do with whatever 256 color art was available at the time.  I am not satisfied with this theory because the FM Towns 256 color version, done in-house by LucasArts, was ready by April, 1991.  The PC CD version was ready by June of 1992.  The Japanese PC Engine Duo version was released in September of 1992 and the US Turbo Duo version followed in December.  I can see no reason why all the 256 color artwork would not have been available for the Turbo port.

An alternative view is the 256 color graphics that they did not use either did not look very good once the color depth had been reduced or they did not look good on a composite monitor.  No NEC console, whether Japanese or US, supported better than composite video at the time Loom was being ported.  What may have looked good through an RGB monitor on the development hardware may have looked like crap on composite.

In instances where the 16 color graphics are being used, the Turbo through a composite monitor looks scarcely better than a Tandy 1000 outputting the 16 color IBM PC floppy graphics to a composite monitor. I recently made a post extolling the underrated virtues of composite video on the SNES and Genesis, but this game was designed on a PC and looks best through a lossless analog connection.  In other words, it looks best on an RGB modded Turbo Duo.  Unfortunately, no NEC console in the TurboGrafx line, not even the SuperGrafx, has native RGB support.

On the PC and other versions, the main graphics window uses 320x136 pixels. The Turbo uses 338x136, but the cursor is limited to the right-most 320 pixels.  Virtually all this horizontal resolution can amazingly be squeezed into the viewable screen of a CRT.  If a screen is non-scrolling, then there will be a noticeable black border on the left side of the screen.  The same is also true of the leftmost side of a scrolling screen.  Vertically, the game does not appear to use any of the vertical space above the main graphics window, but the cursor will descend to line 240 and perhaps line 242, which is the absolute vertical limit of 240p.

Even though the PC Engine did have a mouse available for it, Loom does not support it.  However, it does have some neat options.  It can change the text speed, it can turn the sound effect and music, or just the music, off, and also has a sound test that allows you to listen to any of the CD audio tracks.  The Overture (from Swan Lake) is not otherwise heard in the game.  It also has an option to limit the animation to improve speed, but Loom is not an animation-heavy game (The Secret of Monkey Island is much more animated), so this option would not often be useful.

The saving system is non-intuitive.  Loom will save a game to the backup RAM of the CD unit.  However, it really only saves a checkpoint, the first being when after you reach the beach leading to the Shepherd's forest and Crystalguard.  So if you save prior to leaving Loom Island, you will load back to the very beginning before you acquire your distaff.  You can lose a lot of progress this way because the save points seem quite spread out.  Button I skips cutscenes, perhaps for this reason.

The Secret of Monkey Island

The Secret of Monkey Island Sega CD

The Secret of Monkey Island for the Sega CD is based on the IBM PC CD-ROM version, reducing the on-screen number of colors from 256 colors to a maximum of 64 colors, similar to the Amiga.  The actual game's hierarchy is less complicated :

The Secret of Monkey Island 16-color floppy

• Atari ST 16-color floppy

The Secret of Monkey Island 256-color floppy

• Amiga 32-color floppy

The Secret of Monkey Island 256-color IBM PC CD-ROM

• FM-Towns 256-color CD-ROM (uses 16-color inventory icons, Japanese and English available)
• Sega CD 64-color CD-ROM
• Macintosh 256-color CD-ROM (has graphical filtering option) 

The Sega CD does not use the save RAM inside the CD unit, instead it gives a 4-digit passcode to restore a game.  It is rather amazing that LucasArts could fit all the information needed to restore a game in essentially four bytes.  This passcodes will only restore your game if you have made a substantial achievement like completing one of the three trials.  Your inventory may not be exactly as you had left it, nor may your character be where you left him and the dialogue options may be reset (which is terrible for the sword fighting trial), but you will not get stuck because you don't have an object you need.  You may have to acquire some items again unfortunately.  Button C is used to skip dialogue, and this was probably implemented for this reason.

The Secret of Monkey Island Sega CD SCUMM Bar

Interestingly, this port has support for the Sega Mega Mouse peripheral, making it function much more closely to the computer versions.  This is not mentioned in the US manual or on the US box, but there is a symbol for it on the Japanese box.  The mouse support is present on both the Japanese and US versions of the game.  The game was not released in Europe.

The gameplay itself is not too bad, but it will slow down if there is a lot of animation on the screen.  Scrolling is also jerky when there is a lot of animation on the screen.  When you are selecting dialogue, the cursor disappears, even if you are using a mouse.  The only option of is to change the text speed.  The dialogue options are sometimes redone for this version to decrease the number of dialogue choices that use a second line.

The Secret of Monkey Island Sega CD Portrait

The graphics are dark, especially the backgrounds on Melee Island.  The backgrounds are those used from the Amiga version, 256-colors reduced to 32-colors, but the Sega color palette appears much darker than the Amiga palette.  I guess LucasArts believed that people would simply turn the brightness of their TV up if they felt the screen was too dark.  On the other hand, the character, object and inventory graphics have been converted from the 256 colors of the PC CD version.  The CD audio is more or less identical to the PC CD version and plays the music as it does in the PC CD version.  One positive thing to note is that the Genesis Model 1 and 2 always support RGB output, so the graphics can look pretty nice.

The load times are rather annoying.  There are load times for every time you enter into a new screen, begin dialogue, acquire an item and other characters move on the screen.  Much of this is due to the limited RAM available for the Sega CD.  The average 1992 PC would have had 4-8MB of RAM while the Sega Genesis and CD combined have 832KB.

So, Which is Better?

This is a hard decision, because I cannot honestly recommend either port.  Both have klunky saving and loading, and both have graphical issues.  The Secret of Monkey Island is too dark (but can be improved with RGB), Loom is too inconsistent.  Audio-wise, both are excellent.  There are noticeable slowdowns early in SoMI and lots of CD load times.  It is the load times that kill the Sega CD port.  Loom is a much simpler game and was better suited to the 8/16-bit consoles of the 4th Generation.  

IBM Character Fonts

IBM used several fonts during the life of the IBM PC line and soon thereafter.  Eventually the font support would be finalized into the standard VGA font, but there was quite an evolution to get there.

The first font set is  found in the IBM PC BIOS, starting at address FFA6E.  In PC BIOSes, whether from IBM or from another publisher like Phoenix, Award or AMI, you will always find a font beginning at this address.  This address contains the dot patterns, or glyphs, for the first, basic 128 ASCII characters. The font is always in an 8x8 pattern and essentially acts like a fallback for programs using graphics modes. You could only find the glyphs for the second, extended 128 ASCII characters on the display adapters themselves.

Note the extra pixel in the diamond character in the first row.  This is unique to the first IBM PC Model 5150 BIOS revision.  That pixel will be gone in the PC BIOS dated 10-19-81 and every other BIOS thereafter.  Note that the second 128 characters do not exist in the PC BIOS's ROM.

MDA & Hercules

MDA and Hercules-brand graphics cards share the same glyph patterns.  Their text mode uses a 9x14 text cell and you were strictly limited to the 256 characters contained in the Character Generator ROM on the display adapter.  If you wanted to use non-IBM characters with a basic Hercules Graphics Card, you would use the graphics mode.  A Hercules Graphics Card Plus or Hercules InColor Card can redefine the characters in text mode.  Here is what the demo screen looks like on an MDA or Hercules :

Interestingly, the MDA's Character Generator is an 8KB ROM chip, even though its font only takes 4KB.  The other 4KB contain the two CGA fonts described in the next section.  Apparently it was easier to use one ROM for both cards.  The IBM Part number on the chip is 6359300 or 5788005 and the ROM is a 9264 type, so it cannot be dumped or replaced by an EPROM without a pin adapter.  The Character Generator ROMs cannot be read by the system, so the glyph patterns are obtained via a ROM dump.

CGA & PCjr.

CGA text modes always use an 8x8 text cell and typically uses a thick, double-dot font.  A true IBM CGA card also has a thin, single-dot font.  This can be selected by bridging two solder pads just below the MC6845, but IBM did not provide a pair of pins to make this easy for end users.  The thick font was suitable in 40-column mode for TVs, but the thin font shows a lot of color fringing, a.k.a. artifacts.  IBM probably thought that the thin font was not such an important feature that it should be made accessible to end users.  Otherwise, many users would have probably complained that the text was too difficult to read on their TVs.

This is what the standard thick font looks like :

Note that there are four characters with minor differences between the Character Generator ROM font and the BIOS font.  They are listed as "8x8 different between card and BIOS" in the screenshot.

Here is the thin font, which may have been IBM's first attempt at ISO compliance :

The PCjr. fonts should be identical to the CGA fonts, but the thin font is not available.

Tandy 1000

The Tandy 1000 contains a Character Generator ROM that is mostly similar to IBM's CGA double-dot font, but there are some differences :

In the original 1000, the Character ROM is embedded in the Video Gate Array chip.  After the original 1000s, the Tandy integrated the Video Gate Array and MC6845s into a large VLSI chip.  This applies to the EX, SX, HX and TX.  Internal to these chips is a 2K Character Generator ROM.  In the above screenshot, the first 128 characters are correct because they are duplicated in the Tandy BIOS at address FFA6E.  It is very difficult to extract the patterns for the second 128 characters because they are not in an accessible or dumpable ROM.  Here is what the characters truly look like :

By the time of the TL and SL, Tandy was using the Tandy Video II chip and an external 16KB Character ROM with the 8x8 font and a 9x14 font that may or may not be identical to IBM and Hercules.  The Video Controller in the TL and SL and their successors could emulate MDA and Hercules text and graphics.

The Tandy default text mode uses a 8x9 text cell, but usually an 8x8 text cell can be used.  For most characters, the extra row is blank, but for some the ninth pixel row is a repeat of the eighth pixel row.

EGA

With the EGA, MCGA and VGA adapters, the Character Generator ROM would no longer be found on a separate ROM chip accessible only to the CRT Controller.  Instead, multiple character sets would be contained in the BIOS Extension ROM (for EGA and VGA) or within the BIOS (for MCGA).  As these adapters supported redefinable character sets in text mode, DOS could upload its own character set for display.

The EGA BIOS supports an 8x8 text font when displayed on 200 line monitors, an 8x14 text font when displayed on 350 line color monitors and a 9x14 text font when displayed on a monochrome 350 line monitor.  The 9x14 characters are identical to the MDA characters, but many are shifted a pixel one direction or another to produce a more pleasing spacing (kerning) than MDA.  The 8x14 characters are mostly identical to the 9x14 characters, but there are differences.  The first 128 8x8 characters are identical to the PC BIOS and the second 128 8x8 characters are identical to the CGA thick text font.  All these fonts are stored, uncompressed, in the EGA 16KB BIOS extension.

This is the EGA and VGA and (for the first 128 characters) the standard PC BIOS 8x8 text font :

Here is the EGA and VGA 8x14 text font :

And the EGA and VGA 9x14 text font :

MCGA

MCGA includes a 8x8 and an 8x16 text font.  Actually, the MCGA, in addition to the standard 8x16 font, also contains four more 8x16 fonts, none of which ever obtained popularity.  These may have been IBM's attempt to be ISO compliant.

This is the standard 8x16 font for MCGA and VGA :

In addition, PS/2 Model 30s with a revision 0 BIOS contained an earlier version of the 8x16 font.  In this font, the zero character has a slash instead of a dot.

VGA

VGA supports the EGA 8x8, 8x14, 9x14 fonts and 8x16 and 9x16 fonts.  These are all found in the VGA BIOS ROM extension, which can be 24KB-32KB.  With 8x14 and 9x14 or 8x16 and 9x16, with EGA and VGA the glyphs are mostly the same and only one set is stored in the ROM unless there is a substitution for a particular glyph.  The BIOS adjusts for the ninth pixel column, for most characters the column will be blank; for others, the ninth column will repeat whatever is in the eighth.

Here is the final, standard 9x16 VGA font :

DOS Code Pages

The PC was originally designed by and intended for English speaking countries.  Support for other languages was a cumbersome exercise in the early days of MDA and CGA.  Eventually, DOS 3.3 introduced Code Pages, which when combined with an EGA or VGA card, allowed the user to set his PC to his country's symbols.  English language users would generally be content with the default DOS code page, 437, or the alternate English code page, 850.  Code Page 850 is more friendly to Western European languages than 437 but loses some of the drawing characters.  DOS's .CPI files would contain character sets for several code pages, each of which had character sets for 8x8, 8x14 and 8x16.  EGA.CPI contains 437, 850, 852, 860, 863, 865.  Here are 437 and 850 :

While the Tandy Video II chip found in the TL and SL does not support software redefinable fonts, it has support for 512 characters instead of just 256.  (EGA can also support 512 characters).  The first 256 are the characters in Code Page 437, the second 256 characters are those of Code Page 850.  However, as Tandy 1000s after the original can be upgraded to EGA or VGA, Tandy MS-DOS 3.3 supports Code Pages in 8x8, 8x9 and 8x14 text cell sizes.

ISO.CPI contains an English-language character sets suitable for ISO-compliant fonts :

Special thanks to NewRisingSun for all his help with this blog entry.

The Case for Composite

The SNES and Genesis lead the pack of the 4th generation of video game consoles.  The common versions of these consoles can support RGB without any more effort than acquiring a cable and a monitor.  The Turbo Grafx 16 can be modded to support RGB.  But in this article I will demonstrate that RGB is not always the best choice for 4th generation graphics, at least when dealing NTSC composite video

1.  Sega Genesis

The Sega Genesis usually uses a 320x224 graphics mode.  Some games use a 256x224 mode.  The 320x224 mode's horizontal resolution is so great that not all the pixels can be fully resolved in a composite video signal on a standard TV.  There is frequent color fringing in thin-font text through the composite signal.  Additionally, with alternating colors,  you can obtain color artifacts to give graphics a transparent or blending effect.  This effect was used fairly often and works best with long alternating vertical lines.

Unfortunately, this effect is lost with an RGB monitor.  Compare the Genesis screenshots on this page for examples : http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/screenshots.html

Here are some examples from several Sega Genesis games.  For these screenshots I am using Kega Fusion v3.64, with the normal RGB output and a video capture of a real Sega Genesis Model 1 for composite video.  In each pair of Genesis screenshots, you will see the RGB first, then the composite.

Earthworm Jim is particularly ugly looking with RGB :

Note the edges of the mountains in the background :

The waterfalls of the Sonic series just don't look as convincing in RGB, composite video gives them a transparency effect :

Also, compare the fronds of the palm trees in Sonic 2 :

Some games use a checkerboard pattern that allows for dithering to give a transparency effect.  It is not quite as seamless on a composite monitor as the vertical stripes method, but gives a more acceptable picture on an RGB monitor.  Streets of Rage 2 uses the effect to simulate the characteristics of a studio spotlight during the nightclub stage :

The effect looks obvious with RGB, as do the color limitations in this title screen for Echo the Dolphin :

You can even see dithering being used in Street Fighter II, which uses a 256x224 mode, to smooth out the color gradient's in the carpet in this stage :

However, sometimes composite video can produce some very unsightly artifacts, as shown in the empty life bars of Castlevania Bloodlines :

2.  Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo almost always uses a 256x224 graphics mode.  The Turbo Grafx 16 and CD typically used a similar mode but unlike the SNES could do a 320x224 mode.  Thus for games using these resolutions, artifact graphics are not typically available.  Even in these systems, shadows and smoke/fog do make some us of the less-than fine resolution of composite video :

However, late in the SNES's lifespan, Nintendo sought to improve the graphics quality of some of its games by creating 3D models of sprites and background tiles on advanced Silicon Graphics computers and then storing what was needed in a pre-rendered form on the cartridge.  Pictures of these graphics looked awesome on boxes and manuals and magazines.

Games with this look, like the Donkey Kong Country series, Killer Instinct, Super Mario RPG were very popular and helped extend the life of the SNES without a silly and expensive CD add-on.  When playing the game, they looked amazing back in the day.  However, when played through and emulator or to a lesser extent through RGB, the flaws cannot be denied.  The graphics have been so reduced in resolution from their SGI originals that they tend to look fuzzy, even with the perfection an emulator like higan 0.94 can provide :

Composite video can help hide the sharp edges from the down-conversion.  It is kind of like free anti-aliasing.

The SNES could do true transparency, but even so, dithering was sometimes used to provide something akin to free transparency.  The first screenshot, from Chrono Trigger, shows natural transparency by the light streaming in from the window :

The second screenshot, from Secret of Mana, shows true transparency with the water covering the rocks, and dithered transparency in the text box :

The final screenshot, from Mortal Kombat 3, shows a transparent effect with the life bars :

To give a flavor of more accurate dithering I used a composite capture device and real hardware (an early 2-chip PPU model revision).

Occasionally, Genesis-like artifacting does appear on the SNES.  Consider Kirby's Dream Land 3, which uses a 512x224 resolution.  The increased bandwidth of an RGB monitor can essentially resolve 512 pixels, but a composite monitor cannot, and the result is free transparency on the lower quality device.  Compare the following :

The first screenshot shows artifact graphics in the object partially covering Kirby, but you can see the gaps in between the lines.  The second screenshot shows the transparency effect you would see on a composite monitor.

The original model of the SNES is capable of S-Video output without modification, but you really begin to lose the transparent effects and forgiving qualities of composite video output.  In light of the successful development of HD Retrovision's component video cables for the SNES and Genesis, giving North American gamers the equivalent of RGB video out, this is a timely topic.

3.  Atari 5200 and 7800

Unlike the Atari 2600, the 5200 and 7800 support 320-pixel wide graphics modes.  The Atari 5200 uses the same hardware chips as the Atari 8-bit home computers.  Choplifter for the Atari 5200 was ported from the Atari 8-bit home computers, which was in turn ported from the Apple II.  All three versions use composite artifact color.  The Atari 5200 only has an RF connection, so unless you mod your system for S-Video (the Atari 800 has Separate Luma/Chroma on its video connector port), you will always see artifact color.  When Atari later released Choplifter for the XEGS, another Atari 8-bit home computer games console, it redid the graphics for a 160-pixel wide mode, eliminating artifact composite color.  Look here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-overlooked-artifact-color.html

The Atari 7800 also had a 320-pixel wide mode that supported artifact color, but relatively few games supported it.  Its 160-pixel mode was much easier to use and supported more colors on the screen.  One of the few games that do support artifact colors on the 7800 is Tower Toppler, a.k.a. Nebulus a.k.a. Castelian.  This might have been because the game was being ported to the Atari 8-bit and XEGS and the Atari 7800 at the same time by the same programmer.  As explained here, the Atari 8-bit version was canceled : http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/towertoppler/towertoppler.htm  The Atari 7800 only has RF output, so you will always see composite artifact colors when playing the game on a real, unmodded NTSC system.  Playing it on a PAL system will result in very stripey, sometimes monochrome graphics.  This video will show you what the graphics should look like :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA3SPS-RKDM

4.  Sega Master System

The Sega Master System does support composite artifact color after a fashion.  It uses a 256-pixel wide mode but unlike the NES, it does not use a fractional color pixels that give a 3-line staircase effect.  It also does not vary each frame by one pixel.  This has the effect of making artifact colors rather stable and vertical on the SMS but diagonal and shimmery on the NES.  Sometimes you can see this in games.  See here for more information : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2016/07/video-potpourri.html

250 NES Games Worth Playing

In my opinion, there are many indisputable classics on the NES.  I also recognize that the library contains many, many other games that may not be indisputable classics, but are worth playing.  I decided to make a list of the games I would recommend to somebody when they ask "what's a good NES game?"

One thing I wanted to do is to cover as many genres as possible.  Even though sports games are not my forte, I wanted to try and fill as many holes as possible.  There are virtually no Street Fighter II style fighting games on the NES, so what is there, if it is at all decent, gets on the list.  I did not include any casual games outside classic puzzlers, nor did I include games that typically will be categorized as edutainment.  

Some games are here solely because of their peripheral support.  R.O.B. is a waste of money and the Power Pad is extremely impractical to use, and I would not inflict the Power Glove or the U-Force on a friend.  But the Zapper was an integral part of the NES experience and there are good games for it.  Arkanoid is on this list because it is fun to play with its VAUS paddle controller.  

Some games I recommend with reservations.  If you want a 100% authentic version of the original Archon or M.U.L.E., you won't find it in these ports.  You will find the essential essence of both games, an excellent two player head-to-head game in Archon and an easy way to get 4 player M.U.L.E. for the latter.  North and South also qualifies in this.  Double Dragon II can be unforgiving to get the best ending, but add a few Game Genie codes to make it fairer.  Ditto for Ironsword and either Battletoads game.  

Usually with a game series I recommend all the games in the series.  You will see every Mega Man game here, although some are better than others.  However, there are certain entries in a series that are really weak and are not going to be on this list.  1942 is just too shrill and boring and Contra Force is too slow to stand alongside Contra and Super C.

Other games on this list just barely make the cut.  Strider for the NES does not compare to the arcade original or the Genesis conversion, but it has just enough, despite its bugs and oddness, to make the list.  WURM is almost a guilty pleasure for me, but it is one of the better games that tries to implement more than one style of gameplay (and does not have those stupid mazes like Golgo 13).  Godzilla is another, if it weren't for the excellent use of the license, it would be a very mediocre game.

Some computer game ports are on the list, others are not.  The Wizardry and Ultima series are best experienced on computer platforms, especially the latter.  I chose Swords and Serpents because it is a good and more forgiving Wizardry clone that can only be found on the NES.  Pool of Radiance has merit in that it is a less unforgiving version of the original game while still retaining the essence of it.  Maniac Mansion is far truer to its computer forebear than King's Quest V and has awesome and exclusive if repetitive music.

This list is limited to North American NES releases during the NES's official lifespan.  This includes games released from and including 1985 up to and including 1994.  Unlicensed games released during that time frame are included, but not thereafter.  There are no Famicom or PAL NES exclusives, and no homebrews or prototypes/reproductions.  The list would probably double if all those were included, but I have narrowed the list to cartridges you could actually find on this continent.  Of course, there are some expensive cartridges like Bubble Bobble 2 and Little Sampson on this list.  

There are some "classics" that won't be on this list.  The original TMNT was a top 10 seller for the NES, but I cannot recommend it over so many other games that were not colossal disappointments.  Ikari Warriors was popular, but Guerilla War and Iron Tank (also from SNK) are better than all three Ikari NES games combined.  

1943: The Battle of Midway

3-D Adventures of the WorldRunner

A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance

Adventure Island

Adventure Island 2

Adventure Island 3

Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

Adventures of Lolo

Adventures of Lolo 2

Adventures of Lolo 3

After Burner

Alien Syndrome

Archon

Arkanoid

Astyanax

Bad Dudes

Balloon Fight

Barker Bill's Trick Shooting

Baseball Simulator 1.000

Baseball Stars

Batman

Batman Returns

Batman: Return of the Joker

Battle of Olympus, The

Battletoads

Battletoads & Double Dragon

Bee 52

Bionic Commando

Blades of Steel

Blaster Master

Bomberman

Bomberman II

Bonk's Adventure

Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble Part 2

Bucky O'Hare

Burai Fighter

BurgerTime

California Games

Casino Kid

Casino Kid 2

Castelian

Castlevania

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Caveman Games

Chessmaster, The

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2

Clash at Demonhead

Cobra Triangle

Code Name: Viper

Commando

Contra

Cowboy Kid

Crystal Mines

Crystalis

Déjà Vu

Desert Commander

Destiny of an Emperor

Disney's Darkwing Duck

Disney's The Little Mermaid

Dizzy the Adventurer

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong 3

Donkey Kong Jr.

Double Dragon

Double Dragon II: The Revenge

Dr. Mario

Dragon Fighter

Dragon Warrior

Dragon Warrior II

Dragon Warrior III

Dragon Warrior IV

Duck Hunt

DuckTales

DuckTales 2

Dudes with Attitude

Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball

Excitebike

Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy, The

Fantasy Zone

Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger

Faxanadu

Felix the Cat

Final Fantasy

Fire 'n Ice

Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, The

Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy, The

Freedom Force

Galaga: Demons of Death

Gargoyle's Quest II

Gauntlet

Gemfire

Ghosts'n Goblins

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode

Goonies II, The

Gradius

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Guardian Legend, The

Guerrilla War

Gun-Nac

Gun.Smoke

Gyruss

High Speed

Ice Climber

Ice Hockey

Immortal, The

Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II

Iron Tank

Jackal

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

Journey to Silius

Kabuki Quantum Fighter

Karnov

Kickle Cubicle

Kid Icarus

Kid Klown in Night Mayor World

Kid Niki: Radical Ninja

Kirby's Adventure

Kiwi Kraze

Krion Conquest, The

Kung-Fu

Kung-Fu Heroes

Krazy Kreatures

Legacy of the Wizard

Legend of the Ghost Lion

Legend of Zelda, The

Legendary Wings

Life Force

Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade

Little Nemo: The Dream Master

Little Ninja Brothers

Little Samson

Lone Ranger, The

Low G Man: The Low Gravity Man

M.C. Kids

M.U.L.E.

Mach Rider

Mafat Conspiracy, The

Magic of Scheherazade, The

Maniac Mansion

Marble Madness

Mario Bros

Mega Man

Mega Man 2

Mega Man 3

Mega Man 4

Mega Man 5

Mega Man 6

Mendel Palace

Metal Storm

Metroid

Mickey Mousecapade

Micro Machines

Mighty Final Fight

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Milon's Secret Castle

Ms. Pac-Man (Tengen)

NES Open Tournament Golf

Nightshade

Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

Nintendo World Cup

North & South

P.O.W.: Prisoners of War

Pac-Mania

Panic Restaurant

Pin*Bot

Pinball

Pinball Quest

Pipe Dream

Pirates!

Popeye

Power Blade

Power Blade 2

Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom

Pro Wrestling

Q*bert

Qix

R.C. Pro-Am

R.C. Pro-Am II

Rad Racer

Rad Racer II

Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2

Rampart

RBI Baseball

Renegade

River City Ransom

Rockin Kats

Rolling Thunder

Rush'n Attack

Rygar

S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team

Section Z

Shadow of the Ninja

Shadowgate

Shatterhand

Shinobi

Silkworm

Snake Rattle 'n' Roll

Snow Brothers

Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship

Solomon's Key

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos

Spiritual Warfare

Spy vs. Spy

StarTropics

Stinger

Strider

Super C

Super Dodge Ball

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Spy Hunter

Swords and Serpents

Tecmo Bowl

Tecmo Super Bowl

Tecmo World Wrestling

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project

Tetris

Tetris (Tengen)

Tetris 2

Thunder & Lightning

Tiny Toon Adventures

Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland

Tombs & Treasure

Totally Rad

Trojan

Trolls on Treasure Island

Uninvited

Vice: Project Doom

Wario's Woods

WCW World Championship Wrestling

Werewolf

Willow

Wizards & Warriors

Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power

Wrecking Crew

WURM : Journey to the Center of the Earth

Xexyz

Zanac

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Zen the Intergalactic Ninja

Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II

Zombie Nation

Honorable Mentions:

Adventures of Bayou Billy, The

Captain Comic

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones

Festers' Quest

Friday the 13th

Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

Jaws

Metal Gear

Mission: Impossible

Monster in my Pocket

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

Ultima

Wizardry: The Knight of Diamonds

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

The Forgotten Switch : The Atari 2600's B&W/Color Switch

The original Atari 2600 VCS had six switches to control the various game functions, Power On/Off, B&W/Color, Left Difficulty, Right Difficulty, Game Select and Game Reset.   In the early models of the console, there were six aluminum switches, symmetrically spaced on either side of the cartridge slot, three on the left, three on the right.  Later, Atari redesigned the console to reduce costs and put the left and right difficulty switches on the back of the console and used standard plastic switches instead of aluminum.  Even with this change, there were still two switches to the left of the cartridge slot and two to the right.  This continued into the Atari 2600jr, except that all the chrome switches had been replaced with plastic.  Nonetheless, the symmetry of the Atari 2600 is an aesthetic that has been seldom been so rigorously pursued in a console's design throughout its lifespan.

Atari 2600 Light Six Switch

The standard Atari joystick only had one button and the cartridges were too small at first for title screens, menus and logos.  Changing settings were done by these switches and the program reading the appropriate port.  Only the Power On/Off switch had a fixed function, it was connected directly to the electrical path that powered the console.  The other five switches were each connected to a bit on an I/O port.  The game could do whatever it wanted with them, but by convention the Game Select and Game Reset switches usually did just as they indicated.  While Left and Right difficulty were originally intended to set a handicap for one or both players, human or computer, they could just as easily be used to adjust game characteristics.

Atari 2600 Woodgrain Four Switch

The Black and White switch is the focus on this blog entry.  It is just as important as the other switches, yet too frequently overlooked and left off modern products.  The original intent of this switch was to alter the game to switch its colors when the switch was set to the B&W position.  The player should set it if playing on a B&W TV to improve contrast between the player/missile/ball graphics and the playfield/background.  The Atari 2600 had sixteen choices of colors or hues and eight levels of brightness or luminances.  Typically, when the B&W side of the switch was activated, the program would switch to using the eight monochrome shades offered by the 2600.  Sometimes, it would use more muted colors.  On a Color TV, the B&W choices would come very close to simulating what the image would like on a true B&W TV.  Here are two examples to show when this would be useful :

Combat - Color Switch

Combat - Color Switch on Simulated B&W TV

Combat - B&W Switch

Air-Sea Battle - Color Switch

Air-Sea Battle - Color Switch on Simulated B&W TV

Air-Sea Battle - B&W Switch

However, it is very important to remember that a B&W TV was often the second TV in American households in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  If the parents did not want the kids to hog the main TV with video games, they would hook the system up to a second TV.  Few U.S. TVs had two color TVs during this time frame.  Many kids grew up playing video games on B&W TVs, it is a very important part of retro gaming that is too often overlooked.

From 1977 until 1982, most Atari and then Activision (made up of ex-Atari programmers) games used the B&W/Color Switch as originally intended.  In fact, until Atari's silver label cartridges and Activision's special label cartridges, it is easier to compile a list of games that did not use the B&W/Color switch as originally intended.  They are as follows :

Atari/Activision Games that Do Not Support B&W

Atari

3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

Asteroids

Superman

Backgammon

Demons to Diamonds

Super Breakout

Yar's Revenge

Activision

Activision Decathlon

Crackpots

Dolphin

Enduro

Frostbite

Keystone Capers

Oink

Plaque Attack

Pressure Cooker

Robot Tank

Spider Fighter

When it comes to Atari Silver, Children's or Red labels or Activision's Special labels, unless the game was previously released as a text or picture label, it will almost certainly not use the B&W/Color switch as intended.  In addition, relatively few third party games released during the 2600's official lifespan use it.  There are some exceptions, and this is not intended to be a complete list but for illustrative purposes :

Other Companies that Support B&W as Originally Intended

Alien

Star Wars ESB

Bank Heist

Dragonstomper

Frogger

Music Machine

Star Voyager

Seamonster

Space Tunnel

Realsports Volleyball

M.A.S.H.

Malagai

Mega Force

Worm War I

Crash Dive

Revenge of the Beeksteak Tomatoes

Joust

Finally, there are several games that use the B&W switch for a special function unrelated to its original intent. Often it could be used to pause the game, but other games assigned a unique function to it.  Here is a list of games that I have verified :

B&W Switch used for Something Else

Space Shuttle (engine controls)

Cosmic Ark (turn on/off star field on some cartridges)

Fantastic Voyage (pause)

Solaris (inverts planet horizons)

Mouse Trap (removes playfield)

Starmaster (brings up Galactic Chart)

Beany Bopper (pause)

Flash Gordon (pause)

Spacemaster X-7 (pause)
Secret Quest (brings up Status Screen and password)

There are undoubtedly more games than on this list, but it serves as an illustrative example of why the B&W/Color switch should not be utterly ignored.  Devices like the Atari Flashbacks which do not include the B&W/Color switch will not function as originally intended with these games.  

Activision Logo

On a totally unrelated Atari 2600 subject, it is interesting to note how consistent Activision was with its in-game logo.  Activision always displayed its logo "Activision" on the game screen for every game.  In its early games like Fishing Derby, the logo would simply be present somewhere on the bottom of the screen.  For the later games, like Pitfall, the text Copyright 198x would appear, then the Copyright text would scroll up and Activision would appear. On games released near the crash, there would be a rainbow leading into the A in Activision.  The A itself was redesigned, otherwise the logo pixel pattern seems identical :

Scrolling Logo 1982-1983

Scrolling Rainbow Logo 1983-1984

Beamrider is the only game where the Activision logo is not always seen during gameplay from the pre-crash era.   Beamrider was the first game to use the (c) character instead of the word Copyright.  It is also the last time the rainbow version of the Activision logo would be used.  Ghostbusters is unique in that it does not have the word Activision is not using the standard appearance.   After Ghostbusters, the (c) and year would be instantly replaced with the non-rainbow Activision logo, no scrolling.  Also, if the game was licensed from another company, that company's name would appear after Activision's.