I've been looking at buying a few homebrew NES games (Star Keeper, where are you???), and I've noticed that there are a good number of them out there.  Some of them are neat collector's items, while some are genuinely good games.  It's not to say a labor of love isn't a "good" game, but there are some that are simply hacks or reskins or just kind of...Well, there.

So for those of you who dabble in that market, I'm wondering if you had any suggestions on which ones are worth keeping an eye out for?  The ones I have on my list right now are:

• Star Keeper
• Lizard
• Black Box Challenge
• Battle Kid
• Battle Kid 2

That's about all I've seen so far.  But I haven't dug TOO deep.  Would love any thoughts and guidance!

Also if you have a copy of Star Keeper and don't want it anymore, we should talk.

The incident

Blade Buster

Power Coloring

Tailgate Party

The Mad Wizard

Study Hall

Super Russian roulette

So silly question....Where do you get carts of some of these?

Battle Kid 1 & 2, Study Hall, Power Coloring and Mad Wizard are on RetroUSB's site, among other games sold there.
http://www.retrousb.com/index.php...
http://www.retrousb.com/index.php...

The Incident is at KHan games.
http://www.khangames.com/store/...

A couple of different places make Blade Buster. OCD for one.
https://www.ocdreproductions.com/...

Super Russian Roulette unfortunately is sold out.
https://batlab-electronics.myshop...


 

Mostly, you have to search Google for them. Many of the producers and programmers have their own online stores. Unfortunately, some games only had limited runs, like Star Keeper, or discontinued, so you have to hope for something to show up on the secondary market. Mainly, if you know the specific title you are looking for, you can always ask here. Also, many have been released for free in ROM form or have demos, NESWorld has a nice list of free roms and demos. http://www.nesworld.com/article.p...

This thread is outdate, but is a pretty decent resource: http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

Some others worth checking out:
Eskimo Bob
Haunted Halloween Series
Anything by Khan Games, Sly Dog Studios, or Gradual Games
Star Versus



Some free ones to check out:
Anything written by Shiru (Alter Ego, Lawn Mower, LAN Master)
Streemerz v0.2
Sly Dog Sudios and Gradual Games have most of their games release in ROM form for free
Assimilate
Good stuff by the Mojon Twins

The list is pretty large. Lots of good stuff out there!!!

Legend of Owlia by Gradual Games
Quest Forge by Ludosity
Spook-o-tron by Sole Goose Productions

Legends of Owlia, Tailgate Party, and Streemerz are some really cool ones.

You might want to get 8-Bit Xmas 2017 while it's available. Some of the games are pretty simple, but you might as well get the whole multicart for 2013 (Solaris) and 2011 (Quadralords) which are both nice games. I haven't played it yet, but Cowlitz Gamers 2nd Adventure look likes the first Cowlitz game taken to the max with way better graphics and way more levels, so I'm excited to play that one.

I have a question about Battle Kid. I've been aware of the games for years and I know they're considered to be very difficult. Just how difficult? Is it I Wanna Be The Guy type stuff? That I just don't find enjoyable.

It's more platforming challenge and pattern based boss fights. It's not like IWBTG where the game constantly tricks you with BS. It has one hit deaths so it's still really tough. The second game has an easy mode where you can take 3 hits. IMO all the platforming is really do-able. The boss fights are the tough part, so if you can manage those, you'll probably be fine.

I wrote a blog post about this.

https://nesdoug.com/2017/10/31/a-...

Some of my favorites...
-Twin Dragons
-Haunted Halloween 85 and 86

This is a fun post, thanks!  There are a ton of these games out there...Has me excited to try my own hand at programming my own!

 

Battle Kid 2 is arguably the best NES game in existence. BK1 was excellent but had its flaws. BK2 is basically perfect, except the clone generator boss was just a tad too hard.

That's quite some praise!

Probably need to buy them both now.  Anyone make custom covers for UGC cases for those (or any) homebrew games?
 

Check thecoverproject.net

Battle Kid 2 has one.
https://www.mediafire.com/view/81...#

 

Battle kid 1 and 2 will always be my go too

aren't the actual boxes an extra five bucks or something?

They might be...But I've got a bunch of the UGC that I modified for NES that I want to use for uniformity!

 

^ Lol. Check out the current Homebrew contest thread for some currently available stuff and a few free downloads. http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

Today is the last day for Streemerz (free download link in the afore mentioned thread.) Currently some of my favorites. Also big shout out for SGP's Spook-o-tron.