Niahak's Place

Legacy of the Wizard – Action/Adventure (NES)
Falcom / Broderbund

Actually the fourth part of the Dragon Slayer series in Japan, Legacy of the Wizard is a quirky game in which most of the action the player takes is exploration.

It is, in fact, easy to get yourself hopelessly lost in the dungeon. If you can keep your directions straight, though, you may find an excellent, almost Metroid-ish, feel throughout the game.

Contra: Hard Corps – Action (GEN)
Konami

Although a part of the Contra series, this particular game makes several departures – which may have made it somewhat less popular than the SNES’ Contra 3. It’s a shame, because this is really a great game, and in my opinion a much better one.

Crash ‘n The Boys’ Street Challenge – Action (NES)
Technos, Inc

For those who played River City Ransom or Super Dodge Ball, the graphics – and perhaps the engine – may look somewhat familiar to you. A similarly-done title, CNTBSC is one of the few sports games I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Solstice – Puzzle (NES)
CSG Imagesoft / Software Creations

I usually don’t like puzzle games that much, but Solstice intrigued me – not only because of its name, but also its difficulty. The game is played in a 3-d isometric grid – sort of – and plays sort of like what Super Metroid would play like, if it were a puzzle platformer.

Dragon Warrior 4 – RPG(NES / Var)
Enix

Enix’s most successful RPG series, Dragon Warrior is now up to its eighth entry – now, of course, rechristened its original Japanese name, Dragon Quest. The series has a long history of refining formulas (like Koei) to make a great, if traditional, RPG experience.