10 under-the-radar NES gems that should be remade now

#4 Wizards and Warriors

Wizards & Warriors

The original: Nowadays, the Wizard and Warriors franchise is best known for having romance novel cover model and pop culture punchline Fabio on the box art of its second game.

However, this second game by Rare (the developers behind 007 Goldeneye and Perfect Dark) for the NES was actually a lot of fun, and worth another look.

As the name implies, Wizards and Warriors is straight up sword and sorcery fare - an evil wizard has kidnapped a princess and a brave and noble night must face trials and tribulations in order to ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzZZZZZ Hmmmm? Oh, sorry. I dozed off there for a second.

The potential: Generally, when there's a game with a fantasy setting, it's usually an RPG with both convoluted mechanics and backstory.

And, there's nothing at all wrong with those games. But, while the "knight saving a princess from an evil wizard" trope might seem overdone, it really hasn't been. Not for a couple of console generations, anyway.

As a developer, Rare hasn't really been the same since Microsoft bought them, with more misses than hits. Sea of Thieves, while certainly by no means a dud, hasn't exactly lit the gaming world on fire.

Perhaps a back-to-basics fantasy story, with arcade-style gameplay and fun characters, could be just the thing to help them get their mojo back.

Plus, I hear Fabio isn't doing much these days.