Round 2 Bracket 24

[Nebuchanezzar]

Legend of Zelda, The (NES)

V

Ninja Gaiden (arcade)

[Paul]

I have no idea what Ninja Gaiden is, but I picked The Legend of Zelda. It has spawned one of the greatest series of games in the world.

[skittlebrau]

Ninja Gaiden is known as Shadow Warriors in Europe, Paul.

http://contra.classicgaming.gamespy.com/features/SHADOW.jpg http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/dec/ninja.jpg

Now you might know what it is, hehe.

Anyway, it's my nom' and I still have to go with Ninja Gaiden, even though it's gonna bite the dust here :( It's got the perfect blend of everything which makes it such an awesome game. Interesting characters, a compelling storyline, amazing graphics for its time, and an outstanding soundtrack to compliment the scenery and action. It was also one of the first, if not the first game to use cutscenes to tell a story, and that's revolutionary unto itself, only made better by the "acts" that follow each cutscene.

The Legend of Zelda may have started an empire and a slew of great games, but in all honesty, the very first one is just "good", and I prefer II over one if we're talking about 8-bit Zelda. Besides, how many Zelda games do we need in this tourney, anyway?

Oy, when this round ends, I'm gonna be all like:

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2082/ninjagai47xu1.gif

And all the Zelda dudes are gonna be all:

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9389/ninjagai63ks1.gif

[Sniper Squirrel]

Ninja Gaiden is a really cool game, but LOZ is a gaming classic that launcehed an amazing franchise

[Jims]

Voted for Zelda, but I wanted to comment that Ninja Gaiden's an amazing game too. Both games could've definitely made it to at least the third round.

[bovine_university]

You know what? I had such a fun time voting against the original Zelda in the last round that I'm going to do it again! Zelda will probably win and I doubt it will be nearly as close a vote or as fun as last time, but who knows, maybe I'll be surprised.

The original Zelda was a classic and under the right circumstances, could probably win this tournament. It had great dungeons, a terrific open-ended challenge, cool items to collect, and gameplay that is as timeless as ever. Still, Ninja Gaiden was one of my favorite gaming experiences on the NES. The levels were very difficult, but there was always enough spin on the gameplay and drive in the plot to leave you coming back for more whenever you died (and trust me, in a game like this, you will die, alot). The story was another of my most memorable experiences as a gamer, since the plot unfolded in a way I had never seen before in a video game. The cinemas were interesting, suspenseful, and gave this game an identity that became a standard today. The gameplay is fast, frantic, and difficult, but always possible within the realm of practice (so much practice). Zelda will probably win, but Ninja Gaiden gets my vote here.

[Kiyosuki]

I'm with the guys voting for Ninja Gaiden. This isn't anything personal against Zelda, its undeniably a milestone game and obviously its shown by how that series endures. But really thinking about it, judging them based off of how they are as games in their time, and not giving any thought to things like legacies or the like I remember enjoying Ninja Gaiden more. It was a pretty damn good sidescroller. The little cinema scenes stood out a lot at that time and the game felt really long and kind of epic. Until recently when it was revived by Team Ninja I considered it one of the all time forgotten gems of video games.

[sacrelicious]

Skittle is right! How many Zelda games do we need in this thing anyway...?

Well the answer is 3 and the original LoZ is one of them :)

[Tino]

Obviously the first Zelda game isn't too impressive now, but I think when I first played it and I am happy it inspired games like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

[SubSane]

Never played NG in the arcade, so LoZ wins it. First free roam game ftw.

[skittlebrau]

Doesn't necessarily have to be the arcade version, SubSane. I never played the arcade version, either 'cause all I had was Bad Dudes at the pizza place I played at, and I guess the owners thought one beat-'em-up game was enough :\ Bad Dudes is still awesome, though :bang:

But yeah, I'm gonna say about 95% of gaming nerds everywhere fondly remember the NES version more than anything else.

[Ryan]

legend of zelda