Timeline | 1987: Mega Man

Mega Man didn't do so well initially in North America thanks in part to this weird artwork!

Mega Man was an action-platforming game for the NES (much like many of the popular games of the time) but differentiated it that it had multiple levels with distinct bosses that the player could take on in any order - this freedom of advancement was quite the novelty at the time and along with the pretty good graphics and difficult but rewarding gameplay made Mega Man a great game. It would go on to start one of Capcom's most successful franchises (with 6 Mega Man games on the NES alone). Later Mega Man 2 and 3 especially would be more financial successes for Capcom (and Mega Man 2 is widly regarded as the best of the original series) but the Original Mega Man set the stage for all those that would come before it.

A screenshot of Mega Man's Cut Man stage.

Mega Man was vibrant and fun to play, it had great graphics for the time, awesome music, great replayability and awesome boss battles (although they are hard!). Mega Man was released (in both Japan and North America) in December 1987. While the game did better in sales than Capcom had expected (especially in Japan) it lagged behind what it's creator thought it should have done, especially in the United States - he blamed the inaccurate box art of the North American version for this.

The European box art is much cooler I think.

After the 6 NES Mega Man Games, Capcom revamped the series with Mega Man X (the start of a new sub-series) on the SNES which they continued with X2 and X3 (although they also did Mega Man 7 on SNES as well). Later they would take the series to the PS1, N64, PS2, and handhelds (in the form of Battle Network games). More recently Mega Man received two neo-retro games for downloadable services (PSN, XBLA, eShop, etc.) called Mega Man 9 and 10 (8 was on the PS1) that returned to the NES style.

Today Capcom mainly uses Mega Man as a guest start (games like Project X Zone, anything Capcom vs., etc.) with his biggest appearance being alongside PacMan and Sonic as guest stars in the newest Super Smash Bros. (for 3DS and Wii U)

Further Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_(video_game)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man

Timeline | 1987: Metroid

Metroid was one of the shining examples of a great year for the NES.

Metroid launched on the NES in North America in August 1987. Like many of the best NES games coming out in America at the time, Metroid was a port from the Famicom Disk System in Japan and utilized a Password system in leui of an actual saving mechanism. Metroid was a triumph for the Action-Adventure genre of the time, it focused more on exploration than other games of the period and required the player to back track and explore to open different areas, unlock different items (several of which were necessary to win the game like the missiles and Ice Beam - something that was almost unheard of in a time when items like Mario's FireFlow were the norm).

A typical screenshot from Metroid, the EN in the top left is the player's Energy (Life).

The player in Metroid had an Energy indicator that could be refilled with Energy and reduced as they took damage. Metroid had an intricate back story (although you would have had to read the manual to know most of it) and was one of the first games to really inspire a sense of solitude and dark struggle onto the player (at least for me, especially on the NES). Once the final battle with Mother Brain occurs and the player is victorious, they then plant a bomb to destroy the entire enemy facility and have 999 seconds to escape (back track through the entire game)!

If you beat the game quickly enough it is revealed that Samus Aran (your character) is a woman! This was a huge surprise at the time and a big stepping stone to moving women out of the role of 'Damsel in Distress' to much stronger roles.

Metroid, and games like it, paved the way for more mature, intricate storylines and settings. Metroid also defined the 2D action-adventure/exploration genre so much that games like it are referred to as being in the style of Metroidvania (after Metroid and Castlevania, also quite important in the genre).

Metroid went on to found an important franchise for Nintendo, receiving sequels on the GameBoy (Metroid II: The Return of Samus) and SNES (Super Metroid - highly acclaimed). Metroid Prime on the GameCube (and its sequels, Metroid Prime 2 and 3 on the Gamecube and Wii) along with their slightly enhanced bundle Metroid Prime Trilogy, were very highly acclaimed. The game itself got an enhanced remake (in the form of Metroid: Zero Mission) on the DS along with Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime Hunters (and pinball) also on the DS. The last game (currently) in the franchise is 2011's Metroid: Other M, unfortunately the game was not received as well as previous games in the franchse and the franchise has seemingly gone dormant - hopefully it will be revived for the Wii U and 3DS soon!

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_(video_game)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid

Timeline | 1987: The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda was one of the best on the NES and established one of Nintendo's greatest franchises.

The Legend of Zelda was released in North America in 1987 (after the sequel had already been released in Japan). The top-down action adventure game that focused on exploration was an awesome experience on the NES. The franchise that it would establish has become the 'hardcore' cornerstone of Nintendo's franchises.

Zelda was also important in that it was one of the first NES games with a save function, it had 3 save slots and you could save the game, shut off the system and restart from the save point later thanks to a battery powered RAM chip inside the cartridge. The game also had a 'Second Quest' after beating the game which was a more difficult version of the game with an additional dungeon.

A screenshot of Link fighting Octorock on the overworld

The basic setting of Hyrule and some of the iconic locations within Hyrule (like Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, etc.) were established in The Legend of Zelda along with the main character (Link) and his search for Zelda. The Triforce was in the game and a focus, but was split into 8 pieces instead of 3 like in most other Zelda games. The Legend of Zelda is also unique in that it did very little to lead the player and left them to discover what they needed to know on their own (you even have to find your sword in the first cave or you will die very quickly).

Later Nintendo would release a sequel to the Legend of Zelda called Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link which is the only Zelda game not officially called 'The Legend of Zelda' with a subtitle, it is also the only Zelda game that comes after the original game in the official Chronology (the rest are either prequels or come in another branch of the timeline).

A nice table of the Chronology of the Zelda series from Wikipedia shows the original Legend of Zelda second from the last in the first column.

The Legend of Zelda was the first NES game (besides the pack in Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt) to hit 1 million sales, and would eventually go on to sell over 6.5 million copies. Other Zelda games would come on every Nintendo console and handheld up until today (with the only exception being the Virtual Boy I believe)

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(video_game)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda

Timeline | 1987: Kid Icarus

Another awesome experience on the early NES

Another game that was originally released for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan in 1986, Kid Icarus came to the US in July 1987 and was an awesome experience. The game was an action-platformer like so many other games that were popular at the time. The things that set Kid Icarus apart were the flying & shooting aspects (shooting light arrows from a bow of course) the upgrade items that would increase the potency of Pit's (the main character) bow as long as his health bar was high enough. The game also had a password system which allowed a player to come back to certain points in the game after turning off the system.

A screenshot from Kid Icarus on the NES

Kid Icarus was an important early entry on the NES. It was not the best selling (although it did do well over a million sales) and was only mildy critically acclaimed, but Kid Icarus was a unique setting and experience. The game was a stepping stone to developing the greater games that the NES is known for and gave the NES a great base to build from. A sequel, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters would be released for the Game Boy in 1991 but the franchise would lay dormant for many years until a revival for the 3DS - Kid Icarus Uprising thanks mostly to the popularity of Pit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Icarus

Timeline | 1987: Castlevania

Castlevania was an amazing experience when it first arrive on the NES (in NA) in 1987

Originally produced by Konami in Japan for the Famicom Disk System, Castlevania was ported and localized for the NES in Northa America and released in May 1987. In Castlevania you play as Simon Belmont, a vampire hunter (with an awesome whip!) as you set out to storm the demonic Castlevania, the fortress of Count Dracula. The game was a platformer with quite a few items, enemies, secrets, bosses and great stuff to explore. 1987 was one of the better years on the NES and Castlevania was a big reason why.

A screenshot from Castlevania, showing Simon Belmont utilizing his whip - there was a slight but noticeable delay between the button press and the whip action in the game (this was intentional and a subtle way of imitating the relative slow speed of using something like a whip - as opposed to a gun for example)

Castlevania had great graphics for the time (later NES games would surpass it, but in the early days it was right up there with the best) and the smooth controls, and challenging but rewarding gameplay made the game a hit. There would be another two Castlevania games on the NES (and another on the SNES along with many more moving forward) making it a big hit for Konami. Konami released quite a few games for the NES but Castlevania was one of the most popular (right up there with Contra, the TMNT games, and of course Metal Gear released under their Ultra Games shell corporation to name a few).

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(1986_video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania